新视界大学英语综合教程第三册Unit5Activereading课文及翻译.docVIP

--- --- Unit 5 Active reading The lonely American 1 Americans in the 21st century devote more technology to staying connected than any society in history, yet somehow the devices fail us: Studies show that we feel increasingly alone. Our lives are spent in a tug-of-war between conflicting desires – we want to stay connected, and we want to be free. We lurch back and forth, reaching for both. How much of one should we give up in order to have more of the other? How do we know when we it right? 2 Yet people in this country continue to drift apart. We need to know why. 3 First, let ’ s look aftrethneetic busyness of our lives. Americans may be the only people in the world who believe that each individual has the right and the capacity to fit whatever he or she wants into one small life. America is the original “ You can be anything you want if you really try, and it ’ s never too late to start trying 4 A good friend described the impact of busyness on our neighborhoods brilliantly: “to Being nei mean visiting people. Now being nice to your neighbors means not bothering them. ” People ’ s lives how busy they are. Lives also are shaped by the respect and deference that is given to busyness – especially when it is valued above connection and community. If people are considerate, they assume that their neighbors are very busy and so try not to intrude on them. Dropping by is no longer neighborly. It is simply rude. 5 We treat socializing as if it ’ s a frivolous diversion fromhtahnedtarastkhsear tthan an activity that is essential to our well-being as individuals and as a community. Soon our not bothering to call people (or even email them) gets read by others as a sign that we are too caught up in the busy sweep of our own lives to have time for them. Our friends are not surprised. Our relatives may be indignant, but even they know how hard it is. An unspoken understanding develops. It ’ s too bad that we ’ ve lost touch, but that ’ s just the way it is. 6 The pace of ev