This is the age of the quick action. We have instant satisfaction, fast food, speed reading, mobile phones; even the stress management books have titles like “Stress Management in 60 Seconds”.
Canadian Classics Professor Margaret Visser points out that the perception that we have “no time” is one of the most strict concepts of Western culture. Visser says that “no time” is used as an excuse and also as a spur(刺激); it both stimulates us and forces us, just as a concept such as ‘honour’ did for the ancient Greeks. According to Visser, the feeling that Westerners have “no time” is abstract, quantitative, amoral(非道德性的), unarguable, bringing pressure on each person as an individual. At the same time, the “no time” excuse escapes censure by claiming to be a condition created entirely out of our good fortune.
Life offers “so many pleasures, so many choices”.
The fact that women now work outside the home has contributed to the “no time” trend. But more important, Visser says, is the fact that feeling rushed has bee an important ponent(成分) of our economy. Marketing of “time-saving” products causes people to buy more and work longer. So we eat out or buy prepared food to save time. The fax-it-to-my-car technology only contributes to the constant hurry. In our rushed and exhausted state, even the obligation(义务) to sit down to casual meal with family seems like a pressure. In parison with the decision to act on a sudden whimz (一时的兴致) to consume a microwave mug of soup， the act of eating together and not getting up from the table until everyone else has finished seems an incredibly time-consuming event. Being in one’s own personal hurry in the West is somehow “free and preferable”
【小题1】The word “censure” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to “ ”A．examinationB．forceC．blameD．pressure【小题2】Which of the following doesn’t contribute to feeling rushed?A．Marketing of time-saving products.B．The fax-it-to-me-car technology.C．Eating together and not getting up until everybody has finishedD．Longer working hours.【小题3】We can learn from the passage that “no time” trend .A．brings pressure on the individualB．is very desirable to the individualC．is not harmful if you have no control of eventsD．has caused heart diseases and psychological problemsC
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(答案)C
解析：
【小题1】猜词题，根据上下文来看，人们以have no time为借口，其实是想为自己逃脱苛责找借口。
【小题2】细节推理题，从最后一段倒数第二句话the act of eating together and not getting up from the table until everyone else has finished seems an incredibly time-consuming event可以找到答案，这里的time-consuming就是指不忙，很浪费时间的，所以并不能说明对方感到时间的紧迫。
【小题3】推理题，全文讲这个时代是一个脚步匆匆的时代，人们因为忙而不得不找各种借口说自己没有时间干某事，正如文中说的一样, the feeling that Westerners have “no time” is abstract, quantitative, amoral(非道德性的), unarguable, bringing pressure on each person as an individual.，我们可以判断个人的压力是非常大的。