2012年12月英语六级真题阅读原文_大学英语阅读

2012年12月英语六级真题阅读原文

The urgency of slowing downto find the time and space to thinkis nothing new, of course, and wiser souls have always reminded us that the more attention we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to place it in some larger context. Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. He also famously remarked that all of mans problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone

When telegraphs and trains brought in the idea that convenience was more important than content, Henry David Thoreau reminded us that the man whose horse trots (奔跑), a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.

Marshall McLuhan, who came closer than most to seeing what was coming, warned, When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself.

We have more and more ways to communicate, but less and less to say. Partly because we are so busy communicating. And we are rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardly register that what we need most are lifelines.

So what to do? More and more people I know seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation (沉思), or tai chi (太极);these arent New Age fads (时尚的事物) so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age. Two friends of mine observe an Internet sabbath (安息日) every week, turning off their online connections from Friday night to Monday morning. Other friends take walks and forget their cellphones at home.