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

A series of tests in recent years has shown, Mr. Carr points out, that after spending time in quiet rural settings, subjects exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper. More than that, empathy (同感，共鸣)，as well as deep thought, depends (as neuroscientists like Antonio Damasio have found) on neural processes that are inherently slow.

I turn to eccentric measures to try to keep my mind sober and ensure that I have time to do nothing at all (which is the only time when I can see what I should be doing the rest of the time).?I have yet to use a cellphone and I have

never Tweeted or entered Facebook. I try not to go online till my days writing is finished, and I moved from Manhattan to rural Japan in part so I could more easily survive for long stretches entirely on foot.

None of this is a matter of asceticism (苦行主义);it is just pure selfishness. Nothing makes me feel better than being in one place, absorbed in a book, a conversation, or music. It is actually something deeper than mere happiness: it is joy, which the monk (僧侣) David Steindl-Rast describes as that kind of happiness that doesnt depend on what happens.

It is vital, of course, to stay in touch with the world. But it is only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.