问答题
For a man who wants the world to slow down, Carl Honore's moment
of clarity came in, of all places, an airport. The Canadian journalist was
leafing through a newspaper at Rome's Fiumicino airport when he spotted an ad
for a collection of condensed, one-minute bedtime stories for kids. At
first Honore, a self-described "speedaholic," was delighted at the idea of a
more efficient bedtime experience for his 2-year-old son. Then he was
horrified. "Have I gone completely insane?" he asked himself, and realized
the answer was "probably." Out of that epiphany came a best- selling book and a
whole new career for Honore as an international spokesman for the concept of
leisure."I'm attacking the whole cultural assumption that faster is better and
we must cram every waking hour with things to do," says Honore, who now lives in
London. In a world of bottom-line bosses and results-oriented parents, he dares
speak up in favor of the unabridged fairy tale. It's a message
people seem to want to hear. Since it appeared in April, In Praise of Slowness
has been translated into 12 languages and sold some 60,000 copies, landing on
best-seller lists in four countries; a British production company has bought
television rights. Honore celebrates, perhaps a bit prematurely, a worldwide
disillusionment with "the cult of speed." As evidence he cites the Slow Food
rebellion against McDonald's that began in Italy and has spread its gospel of
civilized dining and local products even to the unlikely precincts of New York
and Chicago. In a world in which some parents send their offspring to prep
courses for preschool, a growing number of schools around the world—about
800—are following the advice of the early 20th-century German educator Rudolf
Steiner to encourage children to play and doodle to their hearts' content,
putting off learning to read until as late as 7. Devotees of tantric sex attempt
to emulate the rock star Sting, who once boasted of slowing down his lovemaking
to the point where it lasted for eight hours. (He later confessed to
exaggerating, but the goal is still out there. ) In his own life, Honore has
substituted meditation for tennis and for television; he has taken off his
wristwatch, which means he's less worried about getting somewhere on time and
can drive there without speeding. These tokens of idleness are offset,
regrettably, by the demands of being a best-selling author and guru to leisure-
starved American executives, single mothers and college students who e-mail him
for advice on slowing down and want it now."Being a spokesman for slow has taken
over my whole life," he says, before dashing off for another
interview. Oddly, though, Honore's book has yet to catch on in
the country that arguably needs it most, the one that gave the world the
assembly line and the one-minute manager. Chained to cell phones and Black
Berrys, fueled by junk food and forced to work ever longer hours as their
employers cut jobs, frazzled American workers suffer from what the Seattle-based
independent television producer John de Graaf called Affluenza in his 2001 book
of the same name. It is the collective malaise of a materialistic society
that equates the good life with "the goods life. " "Technology is playing a
factor in making lives busier around the world," says de Graaf, who runs a
slowness advocacy group called Take Back Your Time."It's all the more necessary
to find ways to protect people's time off because you're on this electronic
leash all the time." By contrast, Europeans and even the
famously efficient Japanese are more receptive. Slow Food held its second
biennial gastronomic fair in Turin last month, drawing tens of thousands of
visitors, including Prince Charles, who took a couple of hours out of a European
tour to savor a pint of award-winning pale English ale. The Slow Cities movement
has won the backing of municipal officials in more than 100 towns and cities in
Europe, Japan and Brazil with a lengthy manifesto urging policies to reduce
noise and traffic, preserve the local esthetic and gastronomic customs and
establish more pedestrian zones and green spaces. The Society for the
Deceleration of Time held its 14th annual meeting in Austria last month to
promote what its organizers call "a more conscious way of living." Mastering
relaxation isn't something to attempt on your own, according to society member
Christian Lackner. "When everyone is telling you to go faster, as an
individual you do it," says Lackner."You need a movement, a way of building a
group of people who want to resist in order to make it easier to say, 'No, I
won't. ' " Perhaps Americans need to be reassured that the
slowness movement is not about fleeing to a cottage in rural Vermont. It's an
effort to strike the right balance between work and leisure. A few enlightened
companies like the accounting firm Ernst & Young are urging employees not to
check their office e-mail and phone messages on weekends. Just as the election
campaign reached a fever pitch in late October, leisure-minded Americans in 10
states were holding seminars on the perils of overwork and giving each other
15-minute massages on the second annual Take Back Your Time Day. The date was
picked because the nine weeks that remained until the end of the year equal the
amount of time the average American works in excess of his counterparts in
Western Europe. For that matter, if you believe the message on their T shirts,
the average American works longer than the average medieval peasant.
But the premium on long hours and productivity continues to dominate the
American workplace. Take Back Your Time has issued a six-point agenda for
legislative action that would require employers to provide a minimum of three
weeks' annual paid vacation and one week of paid sick leave. But—in contrast to
the widespread support these efforts have in European countries—only Sen. Edward
Kennedy's office has expressed interest in the proposals. For the foreseeable
future Americans are pretty much on their own in the revolt against the cult of
speed. Aria Veciana-Suarez vowed to stop eating at her desk earlier this year
after a repairman upended her computer keyboard and a shower of crumbs fell out
of the plastic rows. The Miami Herald columnist has cut back on the number of
speaking engagements she accepts and no longer sifts through readers' mail at
her kids' after-school football games."I don't have to use every minute of my
day in a useful way," says the mother of five."Productivity has its own price,
and it's a price that we don't often recognize." At least until we find
ourselves trying to shave a few minutes from the length of a bedtime story to
our children.
问答题
What does "the cult of speed" mean? (Para. 2)
【正确答案】It means the over pursuit of and devotion to the fast pace of life.
【答案解析】
问答题
What can be inferred from the second paragraph?
【正确答案】It can be inferred that the book In Praise of Slowness was quite popular, which indicates there is a worldwide tendency towards a more leisure life. This tendency can be found from the rebellion against fast food and the encouragement to children to start learning after 7 years old.
【答案解析】
问答题
In the book Affluenza, what is the author's attitude towards this phenomenon in America?
【正确答案】He disapproves of this kind of unhealthy lifestyle.
【答案解析】
问答题
According to the passage, what have been done towards Honore's suggestions in Europe and Japan?
【正确答案】A lot of efforts have been exerted to slow down in Europe and Japan: gastronomic fair has been held and attracted lots of people including some celebrities; some movement has been supported by the government; people are called on to be aware of their life style.
【答案解析】
问答题
What is the underlying meaning of the sentence "For the foreseeable future Americans are pretty much on their own in the revolt against the cult of speed."
【正确答案】It implies that American's fight against the cult of speed tends to be a task that depends on their own efforts to complete for there is little hope for them to get government help.