Every day, millions of people juggle work and personal obligations trying to get ahead andkeep up with the pace of life. They work long hours and fit in personal errands like banking and shopping during lunch and weekends. They take classes for work, attend conferences, andtackle the latest technology, trying to keep ahead of the competition. E-mail, voice mail,regular mail, faxes and FedEx—the very things that were supposed to make their lives easier—pull at them for attention, forcing them to put the things that are personally important on the back burner. It’s no wonder that books on simplicity have become so popular—the desire toend this madness is high. 每天都有無數(shù)的人要同時做好工作、處理好個人的事情、想辦法遙遙領(lǐng)先并跟上生活的節(jié)奏。他們長時間地工作,趁吃午飯和周末的時間打理一些私事,比如說去銀行、逛商店。他們?yōu)榱斯ぷ饕细鞣N各樣的課、參加各種各樣的會、掌握各種最新技術(shù),目的就是想在競爭中保持優(yōu)勢。電子郵件、語音郵件、普通郵件、傳真通信以及聯(lián)邦快遞——這些原本應(yīng)該使他們的生活更加輕松的東西——牽扯著他們 的注意力、迫使他們把個人的重要事情暫時擱在一邊。難怪提倡生活簡單化的書會如此受歡迎——大家都迫切希望結(jié)束這種瘋狂的生活方式。
You have a choice about how to live your life, about how you spend your time. You can either continue with the way things are and hope it gets better, or you can do something about it. 對于如何生活、如何支配你的時間,你可以有自己的選擇,要么一如既往,希望情況會好起來;要么采取行動,改變現(xiàn)狀。
Vocabulary
millions of 許多的
juggle v. 同時做
personal a. 個人的
obligation n. 義務(wù)
get ahead 領(lǐng)先
keep up with 跟上
the pace of life 生活節(jié)奏
fit in 插入
errand n. 差事
bank v. 把錢存入銀行
weekend n. 周末
attend v. 參加
conference n. 會議tackle v. 處理
latest a. 最新的
technology n. 技術(shù)
keep ahead 領(lǐng)先
competition n. 競爭
voice mail 語音郵件
regular mail 普通郵件
fax n. 傳真
FedEx n. 聯(lián)邦快遞
be supposed to 認為必須
pull at 用力拉
put...on the back burner把…暫時擱下
It’s no wonder that... 難怪…
simplicity n. 簡單
popular a. 流行的
end v. 結(jié)束
madness n. 瘋狂