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UNIT 10 Do They Save Time or Waste Time?
Integrated Skills Development
Passage Overload: More Time Is Less Time
So you think you have some of the good things in life. You've got a video tape recorder and a device that answers the phone for you. And there's a gadget that turns off the lights when you're out. How about the electric knife, the coffee maker, the ice maker?
Feel good about having all that stuff? Or do you wonder whether the gadgets are running you instead of you them?
Americans apparently feel more hurried than ever these days. Part of the reason is trying to keep up with the demands on their time to purchase, store, service, repair, replace, and protect all those "time saving" machines. Add to them the problems of the extra car and the bigger house. And there's the RV parked on the side lawn. "Americans are eating up their leisure time by overloading themselves with all kinds of gadgets..." So says one expert in marketing.
The downfall of lots of homes is trying to keep up with all the things that go wrong. There's the time spent to call repair people. Next we must wait for them to show up. Then there's the high hourly rates. These may force many people into poor do-it-yourself jobs. And costly tools often save little time because of the small scale of home repairs.
Likewise, "labor-saving" appliances may lighten the house-work. But they save little time. Looking for the right electric knife or other new gadget and getting it ready for use often can take more time than doing the job by hand. Studies show we spend even more time on laundry than our grandparents did. That's because we have more clothes and wash them more often. Vacuum cleaners have raised standards of cleanliness. But they tempt people to spend more time than with a broom or dust rag.
Cars are another time gobbler. One expert says that tires and batteries last longer than they used to. But U.S. cars are more prone to break down than they were. Plus, there are more gadgets on them to go wrong. The growing complexity of the car means most owners can no longer play with a screwdriver and wrench under the hood to fix things themselves.
Another problem we face more and more is dealing with computers in place of people. Impersonal, cold, and error-prone machines are replacing clerks. So to fix errors in bills and other problems with a product or service often is a slow and maddening process.
The number of video games and other free time objects grows. And the pressure of choice joins in. Just to choose a free time activity from all the options taxes many people. And as people crowd their lives with things that eat up too much of their time, they come to feel that time is short. They feel they are in danger of wasting it.
In the end, then, the possessions we consume end up consuming us.
New Words and Expressions
add
V. 加，增加
apparently
ad. 表面上；明显地
appliance
n. 用具，器具，器械
battery
n. 电瓶，电池
