couple of years, the cell phone has challenged individuals, employers, phone makers and

　　counselors（顾问）in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined.

　　The costs are becoming even more evident, and I don't mean just the monthly bill. Dr. Chris

　　Knippers, a counselor at the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of

　　cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on-one personal contact, and an escape from reality.

　　Sounds extreme, but we've all witnessed the evidence: The person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him.

　　Is it just rude, or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me, but how is this improving the quality of life?

　　Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, notes that cell-phone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation. He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with. Despite the growing use of phones, e-mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don't have as many friends as our parents. "Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances via the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends," he says.

【浙江省杭州求是高级中学2013-2014学年高二上学期期中考试英语试卷】相关文章：

★ 河北省正定中学2014-2015学年高一上学期期中英语试卷Word版含答案

★ 浙江省杭州二中2014-2015学年高一上学期期中考试英语 Word版含答案

★ 2013年八年级上册寒假作业答案英语

★ 浙江省舟山中学2014-2015学年高一上学期期中考试英语试卷

★ 英语听力：为伦敦拿下首个欧冠 德罗巴变身奥运火炬手

★ 初中教材中的八个IT句型

★ 机器人总动员Wall-E对Eva的表白(视频)

★ 初中英语语法梳理和提高

★ 英语语法：状语

★ 浙江省温州市十校联合体2016-2017学年高一上学期期中联考英语试卷