Unit Six

The Pace of Life

Teaching Objectives

Students should be able toGrasp the main idea and structure of

the textLearn to distinguish supporting facts

from opinions, and to use both in their own writings

Master the key language points and grammatical structures

Lead-in ActivitiesRemarks about the pace of modern life

(1) In the past century we‘ve invented computers, production lines, white goods( 大型家电） , cars, trains, planes etc… — all justified as time savers. In theory we should have stacks of MORE time. And yet people talk as though they have less and less time. Either there is something seriously wrong in our obsession with "labor saving devices", or the stuff about the pace of modern life is made up.

Lead-in Activities (2) The modern pace of life is just too fast.

Everyday as you open your eyes in the morning, you have to move fast or you won't get things done on time. You have no time to enjoy breakfast; you have to run in order to catch a bus; you have to shout and yell to get other people moved; you have to be nervous all day long. Since what time we human become such miserable creatures? It's because of money, which can buy almost every thing in the world. With such a powerful stimulus, we people act like drug addicts and become oblivious to the true meaning of life.

Lead-in Activities Class Discussion– What did we use to expect from technology?

Has technology made our lives easier or more burdensome?

– Write down three examples in your life when time-saving devices actually caused you to waste or lose time. Compare what you have written with your partner.

– Have you thought of the reasons why people are time-stressed now?

Old Father Time Becomes a Terror

Contents

1. Background Information2. Text Organization3. Language Points4. Writing Styles5. Useful Expressions6. Word Study7. Information about Text B8. Assignment

1. Background InformationOld Father time: a personification of time.

He is usually depicted as an elderly

bearded man, dressed

in a robe, carrying an

hourglass or other

timekeeping device

(representing time's

constant movement)

and a scythe.

1. Background InformationRichard Tomkins: consumer indu

stries editor of the Financial Times, where he has been a member of editorial staff since 1983.

Tomkins was born in England in 1952. His formal education ended at the age of 17. Before becoming a journalist, he was a casual laborer, a factory worker, a truck driver, a restaurant cashier, a civil servant, and an assistant private secretary to a government minister.

1. Background Information He left government service in

1978 to hitchhike around the world, and on returning to the U.K. in 1979, joined a local newspaper as a trainee reporter

( 实习记者 ). He joined the Financial Times as a sub-editor ( 助理编辑 ) 4 years later. In this selection, he discusses the time squeeze that many people are experiencing and offers a way of combating the problem.

The press of the modern life makes people out of breath. However, Richard Tomkins' essay explores a reality of American life that many of us ignore at our peril: time-related stress. In his essay he points out the three kinds of reactions people have to time-famine. Finally, he analyzes several reasons for this and provides an answer.

2. Text OrganizationPart I. (Para. 1 – 11)

Three reasons of time stress

1. Technology, instead of liberating us, has enslaved us.

2. The Internet points the way to a second reason why we feel so time-pressed: the information explosion.

3. The third reason is rising prosperity.

2. Text OrganizationPart II. (Para. 12 – 18)

Not everyone is overstressed, and in the case of Americans they have actually gained more free time in the past decade.

Cited evidences:1. It only applies to half the population.

2. The feeling of pressure can be exaggerated or self-imposed

3. Americans have gained 5 hours a week in free time. 4. The gains were unevenly distributed.

2. Text OrganizationPart III. (Para. 19 – 23)

The perception of the time famine has provoked a variety of reactions:

1. An attempt to gain the largest possible amount of satisfaction from the smallest possible investment of time.

2. An attempt to buy time.

3. The growth of the work-life debate.

2. Text Organization

Part IV. (Para. 24 – 28)

The key to the problem and a remedy for the stress:

It is not more time we need: it is fewer desires.

How time stress is formed?

Technology /innovation

Convenience

More desires

Shortage of time

3. Language Points

(Para. 1) leaving us with ever-increasing quantities of time to waste (away) on idleness and pleasure.

[waste sth. on somebody/something]

e.g. Don't waste your money on that junk!

CF. waste away: to gradually become thinner and weaker, usually as a result of illness. 日益消瘦 , 日渐衰弱

waste away:

e.g. His muscles were slowly wasting away because of his illness.

There was nothing we could do -- she just wasted away and within six weeks she was dead.

NOTE: “away” is used to emphasize that an action continues

e.g. Sue was singing AWAY to herself in the bath.

3. Language Points

(Para.2) And as each invention arrives, it eats further into our time.

[eat into something] phrasal verb

(1) to gradually reduce the amount of time, money etc that is available

e.g. John's university fees have been eating into our savings.

(2) to gradually damage or destroy something

e.g. Acid eats into the metal, damaging its surface.

(Para. 3) The motorcar, for example, promised unimaginable levels of personal mobility.

promise v.(1) to tell someone that you will definitely do or provide something or that something will Happen 允诺， 答应 [promise sth.] [promise to do sth.] [promise (that)] [promise somebody (that)] [promise sth. to sb. or promise sb. sth. ]

(2 ) to show signs of something 预示，暗示 [promise to be something] e.g. Tonight's meeting promises to be a diffic

ult one. dark clouds promising showers later

(3) I can‘t promise (anything) （我不敢保证） spoken used to tell someone that you will try

to do what they want, but may not be able to e.g. I'll try my best to get tickets, but I can't p

romise anything.

(4) I promise you （我担保，我保证） spoken used to emphasize a promise, warnin

g, or statement

e.g. I promise you, it does work!

promise n. keep a promise 信守诺言 break a promise 违背诺言 make / give a promise 做出承诺

（ Para.16 ） that is time left after working, sleeping, commuting, caring for children and doing the chores.

commute: (1) to regularly travel a long distance to get to

work 坐车上下班 [commute to/from/between] e.g. Jim commutes to Manhattan every day.

3. Language Points

(2) commute a sentence (to something)

technical to change the punishment given to a criminal to one that is less severe 减刑

e.g. Baldry's 20-year prison sentence was commuted to three years.

(3) commute something for/into something

technical to exchange one thing, especially one kind of payment, for another 交换

e.g. He commuted his pension for a lump sum. 他将他的救济金一次提出。

(Para. 18) working fathers in the U.K. average 48 hours of free time a week.

average (1) v. to be equal to a particular amount as an

average e.g. We average 8 hours' work a day. The rainfall averages 800 mm. a year. (2) adj. and n. e.g. The cars were being sold at an average price of $11000. The average of 3, 8 and 10 is 7.

3. Language Points

(Para. 21) And on-line retailers are seeing big increases in sales --- though not, as yet, profits: though they haven’t seen big increases in profits yet.

虽然利润尚未同样大副增长。as yet [used in negatives] until and including the pres

ent time - used to say that something has not happened although it may happen in the future 迄今，到目前为止

e.g. None of them had as yet discovered a deep, rewarding love.

3. Language Points

(Para. 22) You hear more about people taking early retirement or giving up high pressure jobs in favour of occupations with shorter working hours.

in favor of ： (1) in exchange for another thing (because th

e other thing is better or you want it more):

e.g. He abandoned teaching in favour

of a career as a musician.

3. Language Points

(2) In support of; approving 支持；赞同 e.g. We are in favor of her promotion to pr

esident.

我们赞成她升为总裁 I am in favor of stopping work now.

我赞成现在停止工作。(3) To the advantage of 有利于 e.g. The court decided in favor of the plainti

ff.

法庭的判决有利于原告

3. Language Points(Para.23)… if the hours gained are immediately

diverted to other purposes.

divert:

(1) to change the use of something such as time or money

[divert sth. into/to/(away) from]

e.g. The company should divert more resources into research.

公司应该把更多的资源用于研究。

(2) to change the direction in which something travels

[divert a river/footpath/road] e.g. The high street is closed and traffic is bei

ng diverted .(3) to deliberately take someone's attention fro

m something by making them think about or notice other things

[divert sb's attention away from] e.g. He'd been trying to divert suspicion awa

y from himself. A loud noise from the street diverted m

y attention.

4. Writing styles As the article is taken from Financial

Times, it belongs to a certain type of journalism. It is not a news-oriented journalism, like news stories, but such writing can finds its home in the editorial or comment section where journalist and others contribute regular or occasional columns reflecting on topical issues. Such columns are intended to give free range to the expression of personal opinions.

Characteristics: Contrast: In the first part of the article, the author

uses a lot of contrasts between the past and the present to tell us that technology has brought a great deal of changes to our lives, but meanwhile, it has also brought some unexpected social consequences, some of which can be conceived as a destructive process.

Read Part I (Para. 1 – 5) and see how this technique is used

Characteristics: Quotations

Although not a news story, the article nevertheless shares with newspaper reporting in general a taste for seeking support from the use of direct quotations. These quotations are provided together with the name of the person and background information on them.

Read Part II (Para. 12 – 18) and see how this technique is used.

Characteristics: Concession In order to show the familiarity with the

complexity of the problem under discussion, the author often employs concession.

(1) outlining the problem of the pressure of time; (2) going on to concede that not everybody is affected to the same extent; (3) detailing the differences that exist before returning to his more general point ; (4) concluding with his solution.

5. Useful Expressions– 着手解决这一问题

– 越来越多的时间

– 但技术发展并没有把我们解放出来，而是使我们成为了奴隶。

– 使妇女摆脱繁重的西医劳作

set about untangling the problem

ever-increasing quantities of time

but instead of liberating us, technology has enslaved us.

free women from having to toil over the laundry

– 各种消息、事实和见解从世界的各个角落大量涌入。

– 不断开拓的学术前沿 – 这几乎到了羡慕压力的程度。

– 钟点日志

– 有报酬的工作

news, facts and opinions pour in from every corner of the world.

the expanding frontiers of scholarship

It’s almost got to the point where there’s stress envy.

hour-by-hour log

paying job

– 缺乏时间的感觉

– 引起各种反应

– 投入最少的时间以获得最大的满足

– 迅速发展的市场

the perception of time famine

provoke a variety of reactions

gain the largest possible amount of satisfaction from the smallest possible investment of time

a growth market

– 放弃压力大的工作去从事工作时间短的工作

– 理解问题，而不是回避问题

– 生性好奇

give up high pressure jobs in favour of occupations with shorter working hours

understanding the problem rather than evading it.

being curious by nature

Words that are related to time

• time-consuming 耗时的• time-pressed 时间紧迫的• time-starved 缺少时间的• time stress 时间紧迫• time famine 缺乏时间

5. Word Study

eat into convention oblige gender nurture confine

• eat into: (1) gradually reduce the amount of time, money e

tc that is available e.g. Our holiday has eaten into our savings. (2) gradually damage or destroy something 侵蚀 e.g. Acid eats into the metal, damaging its sur

face.

Cf. eat up: （ 1) to eat all of something（ 2) to use a lot of something, especially until th

ere is none left e.g. A big luxury car eats up money.

• convention:(1) all habits or traditions with any culture 习俗 synonym custom e.g. It is convention for Christian in church on Sunday.(2) a group of meeting in a large place. 会议 e.g. a teachers' convention(3) a formal agreement, especially between cou

ntries, about particular rules or behavior synonym pact, treaty e.g. conclude a military convention 缔结军事协定

Expressions often used

sign a convention 签订公约 social conventions 社会习俗 a matter of convention 常规问题 break away from convention

打破常规［惯例］ by convention 出于习俗 , 按照惯例

• oblige: (1) if you are obliged to do something, you hav

e to do it because the situation, the law, a duty etc makes it necessary

迫使，使感到必须做（某事） [oblige somebody to do something] [feel obliged to do something] e.g. The minister was obliged to report at least once every six months. The police obliged him to leave. Many parents feel obliged to pay for at

least part of the wedding.

(2) help someone by doing sth. that they have asked you to do施恩惠于，帮助

[happy/glad/ready to oblige] e.g. If you need a ride home, I'd be happy to oblige. Please oblige me by closing the door. 请帮我把门关上。(3) [would be obliged (if)] formal used when you are asking someone politely t

o do sth. e.g. I'd be obliged if you'd treat this matter as strictly

confidential.(4) (I'm) much obliged (to you) formal used to thank someone very politely e.g. I'm much obliged to you. 我非常感谢你帮忙。

• gender: (1) used primarily to refer to the grammatical ca

tegories of “masculine,” “feminine,” and “neuter”

(2) but in recent years the word has become well established in its use to refer to sex-based categories, as in phrases such as “gender gap”( 性别差异 ) and “the politics of gender”（性别政治） .

Cf. sex: referred to biological categories gender: referred to social or cultural categorie

s. e.g. The effectiveness of the medication app

ears to depend on the sex (not gender ) of the patient.

医疗的有效性似乎取决于病人的性别 In peasant societies, gender (not sex ) rol

es are likely to be more clearly defined. 在农业国家中，性别的角色易于有更清楚的定义 . Note: This distinction is useful in principle, but

it is by no means widely observed, and considerable variation in usage occurs at all levels.

• nurture: (1) to help a plan, idea, feeling etc to develop 培育，培养

e.g. European union is an ideal that has been

nurtured since the post-war years. a hatred of foreigners nurtured by the media(2) to feed and take care of a child or a plant wh

ile it is growing 养育，培养 e.g. plants nurtured in the greenhouse nurture a student's talent. 培养学生的才能

nurture cultivate foster nurse

The central meaning shared by these verbs is to promote and sustain the growth and development of…

e.g. nurturing hopes 滋生希望 cultivating tolerance 培养耐性 foster friendly relations 促进友善的关系 nursed her business through an

economic downturn.

经济衰退中精心料理她生意

• confine ：(1) LIMIT▶ ◀

to keep someone or something within the limits of a particular activity or subject

sym. restrict [confine something to something] e.g. We confined our study to 10 cases. [confine yourself to (doing) something] e.g. Owen did not confine himself to writing

only one type of poem.

(2) KEEP SOMEBODY IN A PLACE▶ ◀

to keep someone in a place that they cannot leave, such as a prison

[confine somebody to something] e.g. Any soldier who leaves his post will be

confined to barracks (=made to stay in the barracks) .

[be confined in something] e.g. He was allegedly confined in a narrow, dark

room for two months.

(3) STOP SOMETHING SPREADING▶ ◀

to stop something bad from spreading to another place

[confine something to something] e.g. Firefighters managed to confine the fire

to the living room.(4) STAY IN ONE PLACE▶ ◀

(usu. passive) if you are confined to a place, you have to stay in that place, especially because you are ill

e.g. Tom is confined to a wheelchair. She's confined to bed with flu.

5. Exercises for Unit 6

Directions: For each of the following sentences Directions: For each of the following sentences there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the ONE answer that best completes Choose the ONE answer that best completes the sentence.the sentence.

1. In Chinese teaching, teachers often _____ facts dow1. In Chinese teaching, teachers often _____ facts down the children’s throats. n the children’s throats.

A. insert A. insert B. burden B. burden

C. pour C. pour D. cramD. cram

D

2. I’ve been _____ since eight o’clock this morning, 2. I’ve been _____ since eight o’clock this morning, preparing my presentation for tomorrow’s class. preparing my presentation for tomorrow’s class.

A. on the movement A. on the movement B. on the action B. on the action C. in the procedure C. in the procedure D. on the go D. on the go

3. The forthcoming concerts ____ a feast of music from 3. The forthcoming concerts ____ a feast of music from around the world. around the world.

A. promote A. promote B. advocate B. advocate C. provoke C. provoke D. promise D. promise

4. Cigarette smoking combining with irregular life will 4. Cigarette smoking combining with irregular life will ____________ the risks of lung cancer.____________ the risks of lung cancer.

A. double A. double B. multiply B. multiply C. expand C. expand D. add D. add

D

D

B

5. People are now ordering and purchasing virtually 5. People are now ordering and purchasing virtually anything over the Internet. books, compact disks, even anything over the Internet. books, compact disks, even sticks are available from websites that seem to _______ sticks are available from websites that seem to _______ almost daily. almost daily.

A. spring up B. go in existence A. spring up B. go in existence C. strike up D. come round C. strike up D. come round

6. Today, as multimedia technology _________, the 6. Today, as multimedia technology _________, the number of available tools is growing correspondingly.number of available tools is growing correspondingly.

A. fulfill A. fulfill B. proliferates B. proliferates C. deliver C. deliver D. favor D. favor

7. The President seemed willing to 7. The President seemed willing to _________ himself to _ himself to Senate desires. Senate desires.

A. divert A. divert B. devote B. devote C. accommodate C. accommodate D. oblige D. oblige

A

B

B

8. The 8. The ____________ of medical knowledge are being pushed of medical knowledge are being pushed farther outwards every year. farther outwards every year.

A. frontiers A. frontiers B. borders B. borders C. areas C. areas D. fieldsD. fields

9. The secretary took down in 9. The secretary took down in ______________ what was said. what was said.

A. shortage A. shortage B. shorthand B. shorthand C. summary C. summary D. conclusion D. conclusion

10. Increasing the powers of 10. Increasing the powers of ________________ is one part of is one part of school education. school education.

A. knowledge A. knowledge B. ability B. ability C. diversion C. diversion D. perceptionD. perception

A

B

D