大學(xué)英語綜合教程第二冊 4

[00:00.00] Maia Szalavitz formerly a televlsion producer,now spends her time as a writer. [00:06.27]In thls essay she explores digtal reallty and its consequences.Along the way,She compares the digital World to the'real'World [00:16.51]acknowledging the attractions of the electronic dimension [00:21.03]A VIRTUAL LIFE by Maia Szalavitz [00:25.81]After too long on the Net,even a phone call can be a shock. [00:31.22]My boyfriend's Liverpool accent suddenly becomes impossible to interpret after his easily understood words on screen; [00:40.05]a secretary's clipped tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be. [00:46.99]Time itself becomes fluid-hours become minutes,or seconds stretch into days. [00:55.82]Weekends,once a highlight of my week,are now just two ordinary days. [01:03.16]For the last three years,since I stopped working as a television producer, [01:08.81]I have done much of my work as a telecommuter.I submit articles and edit them via email and communicate with colleagues [01:19.31]on Internet mailing fists. My boyfriend lives in England,so much of our relationship is also computer-assisted. [01:28.48]If I desired,I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything.I can order food, and manage my money, [01:38.53]love and work.In fact,at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, [01:47.13]going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries.I watched most of the endless snow-storm of '96 on TV. [01:57.21]But after a while,life itself begins to feel unreal.I start to feel as though I' ve become one with my machines, [02:06.09]taking data in,spitting them back out,just another link in the Net.Others on line report the same symptoms. [02:15.47]We start to feel an aversion to outside forms of socializing.We have become the Net critics' worst nightmare. [02:25.01]What first seemed like a luxury,crawling from bed to computer,not worrying about hair,and clothes and face, [02:32.82]has become a form of escape,a lack of discipline. [02:37.23]And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, [02:42.82]coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult. [02:46.82]I find myself shyer,more cautious,more anxious.Or,conversely,when suddenly confronted with real live humans [02:57.37]I get overexcited,speak too much, interrupt.I constantly worry if I am dressed appropriately, [03:05.18]that perhaps I've actually forgotten to put on a skirt [03:09.88]and walked outside in the T-shirt and underwear I sleep and live in. [03:14.90]At times,I turn on the television and just leave it to talk away in the background, [03:21.51]something that I'd never done previously. The voices of the programs are comforting, [03:28.59]but then I'm jarred by the commercials.I find myself sucked in by soap operas, [03:34.49]or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline," "Frontline," "Nightline," [03:41.86]CNN,New York 1,every possible angle of every story over and over and over, [03:50.56]even when they are of no possible use to me.Work moves into the background.I decide to check my email. [03:58.60]On line,I find myself attacking everyone in sight.I am bad-tempered,and easily angered. [04:05.81]I find everyone on my mailing list insensitive, [04:09.39]believing that they've forgotten that there are people actually reading their wounding remarks. [04:15.63]I don't realize that I'm projecting until after I've been embarrassed by someone [04:21.59]who politely points out that I've attacked her for agreeing with me. [04:26.14]When I' m in this state,I fight my boyfriend as well, [04:30.47]misinterpreting his intentions because of the lack of emotional cues given by our typed dialogue. [04:37.55]The fight takes hours,because the system keeps crashing.I say a line,then he does,then crash! And yet we keep on,doggedly. [04:49.65]I'd never realized how important daily routine is: dressing for work, sleeping normal hours. [04:56.49]I'd never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company. [05:01.14]I began to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging, [05:07.02]why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse,crime,suicide. [05:15.56]To restore balance to my life,I force myself back into the real world. I call people, [05:23.03]arrange to meet with the few remaining friends who haven't fled New York City. I try to at least get to the gym, [05:30.89]so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week. I arrange interviews for stories, [05:37.14]doctor's appointments-anything to get me out of the house and connected with others. [05:42.62]But sometimes being face to face is too much. [05:46.67]I see a friend and her ringing laughter is intolerable-the noise of conversation in the restaurant,unbearable. [05:54.87]I make my excuses and flee.I re-enter my apartment and run to the computer as though it were a place of safety. [06:03.23]I click on the modem,the once-annoying sound of the connection now as pleasant as my favorite tune. [06:10.13]I enter my password. The real world disappears. [06:14.57]Language Sense Enhancement [06:17.50]2 Read aloud the following poem [06:20.40]Happily Addicted to the Web [06:23.32]Doorbell rings, I'm not listening, From my mouth, drool is ghstening,I'm happy-although My parents are not [06:33.17]Happily addicted to the Web.All night long,I sit clicking,Unaware time is ticking,There's beard on my cheek, [06:43.93]Same clothes for a week,Happily addicted to the Web. [06:49.34]Friends come by;they shake me,Saying, "Yo,man! [06:54.38]Don't you know tonight's senior prom?"With a shrug,I replied, "No, man;I just discovered letterman-dot-com!" [07:03.63]I don't phone, don't send faxes,Don't go out, don't pay taxes,Who cares if someday They drag me away? [07:12.56]I'm happily addicted to the Web! [07:15.80]3 Read the following quotations.Learn them by heart if you can. You might need to look up new words in a dictionary. [07:24.66]Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all John F.Kennedy [07:33.46]A computer does not substitute for judgment any more than a pencil substitutes for literacy. [07:41.04]But writing without a pencil is no particular advantage. Roberts S.McNamara [07:48.98]A computer will do what you tell it to do,but that may be much different from what you had in mind. Joseph Weizenbaum [08:01.12]4 Read the following humorous story for fun: [08:05.93]An illnois man left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation In Florida, [08:12.96]His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. [08:18.63]When he reached his hotel,he decided to send his wife a quick email. [08:24.40]Unfortunately,when typing her address, he missed one letter. [08:29.68]And his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before [08:38.79]When the grieving widow checked her mail,she took one look at the monitor [08:44.28]let out a piercing scream,and fell to the floor in a dead faint. [08:50.05]At the sound,her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen: [08:56.61]Dearest Wife, [08:58.49]Just got checked in.Everything prepared for arrival tomorrow.

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