Unit Six
The Pace of Life
Teaching Objectives
Students should be able to
Grasp the main idea and structure of
the text
Learn to distinguish supporting facts
from opinions, and to use both in their
own writings
Master the key language points and
grammatical structures
Lead-in Activities
Remarks 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.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Background Information
Text Organization
Language Points
Writing Styles
Useful Expressions
Word Study
Information about Text B
Assignment
1. Background Information
Old 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 Information
Richard Tomkins: consumer
industries 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 Organization
Part 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 Organization
Part 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 Organization
Part 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
Shortage
of time
Convenience
More desires
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
difficult 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
promise anything.
(4) I promise you （我担保，我保证）
spoken used to emphasize a promise,
warning, 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
3. Language Points
（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.
(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。
3. Language Points
(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
present 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
the other thing is better or you want it more):
e.g. He abandoned teaching in favour
of a career as a musician.
(2) In support of; approving 支持；赞同
e.g. We are in favor of her promotion to
president.
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
plaintiff.
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
being diverted .
(3) to deliberately take someone's attention
from 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
away from himself.
A loud noise from the street diverted
my 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
set about untangling the problem
– 越来越多的时间
ever-increasing quantities of time
– 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。
but instead of liberating us, technology
has enslaved us.
– 使妇女摆脱繁重的西医劳作
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。
news, facts and opinions pour in from
every corner of the world.
– 不断开拓的学术前沿
the expanding frontiers of scholarship
– 这几乎到了羡慕压力的程度。
It’s almost got to the point where there’s
stress envy.
– 钟点日志
hour-by-hour log
– 有报酬的工作
paying job
– 缺乏时间的感觉
the perception of time famine
– 引起各种反应
provoke a variety of reactions
– 投入最少的时间以获得最大的满足
gain the largest possible amount of
satisfaction from the smallest possible
investment of time
– 迅速发展的市场
a growth market
– 放弃压力大的工作去从事工作时间短的工作
give up high pressure jobs in favour of
occupations with shorter working hours
– 理解问题，而不是回避问题
understanding the problem rather than
evading it.
– 生性好奇
being curious by nature
Words that are related to time
•
•
•
•
•
time-consuming
time-pressed
time-starved
time stress
time famine
耗时的
时间紧迫的
缺少时间的
时间紧迫
缺乏时间
5. Word Study






eat into
convention
oblige
gender
nurture
confine
• eat into:
(1) gradually reduce the amount of time, money
etc 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
surface.
Cf. eat up:
（1) to eat all of something
（2) to use a lot of something, especially until
there 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
countries, 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
have 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
to 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
categories of “masculine,” “feminine,” and
“neuter”
(2) but in recent years the word has become
well established in its use to refer to sexbased 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
categories.
e.g. The effectiveness of the medication
appears 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 )
roles 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
while 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
there are four choices marked A, B, C and D.
Choose the ONE answer that best completes
the sentence.
1. In Chinese teaching, teachers often _____
facts
D
down the children’s throats.
A. insert
B. burden
C. pour
D. cram
D
2. I’ve been _____
since eight o’clock this morning,
preparing my presentation for tomorrow’s class.
A. on the movement
B. on the action
C. in the procedure
D. on the go
D a feast of music from
3. The forthcoming concerts ____
around the world.
A. promote
B. advocate
C. provoke
D. promise
4. Cigarette smoking combining with irregular life will
____________
the risks of lung cancer.
B
A. double
B. multiply
C. expand
D. add
5. People are now ordering and purchasing virtually
anything over the Internet. books, compact disks, even
A
sticks are available from websites that seem to _______
almost daily.
A. spring up
B. go in existence
C. strike up
D. come round
B
6. Today, as multimedia technology _________,
the
number of available tools is growing correspondingly.
A. fulfill
B. proliferates
C. deliver
D. favor
B himself to
7. The President seemed willing to _____
Senate desires.
A. divert
B. devote
C. accommodate
D. oblige
8. The ______
A
of medical knowledge are being pushed
farther outwards every year.
A. frontiers
B. borders
C. areas
D. fields
B
9. The secretary took down in _______
what was said.
A. shortage
B. shorthand
C. summary
D. conclusion
10. Increasing the powers of ________
is one part of
D
school education.
A. knowledge
B. ability
C. diversion
D. perception