Cell Phones Are the New Cigarettes
When you get in your car, you reach for it．When you’re at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it．When you get into a lift, you play with it．
Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive thing in modern life, the cell phone．And experts say it is being more difficult for many people to curbtheir longing to hug it more tightly than most of their personal relationships．
With its shiny surface, its smooth and satisfying touch, its air of plexity, the cell phone connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away．In just the past 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 being 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 bee 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．
If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it’s because it has bee very widespread．Consider that in 1987, there were only 1 million cell phones in use．Today, something like 300 million Americans carry them．They far outnumber wired phones in the United States．
【小题1】Which of the following best explains the title of the passage?A．Cell phone users smoke less than they used to．B．Cell phones have bee as addictive as cigarettes． C．More people use cell phones than smoke cigarettes．D．Using cell phone is just as cool as smoking cigarettes．【小题2】The underlined word “curb” in Paragraph 2 means ．A．rescueB．ignoreC．developD．control【小题3】The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that ．A．women use cell phones more often than menB．talking on the phone while driving is dangerousC．cell phones do not necessarily bring people togetherD．cell phones make one-on-one personal contact easyB
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(答案→)B
解析：
【小题1】推断题。文章标题的意思是手机是一种新型的香烟。是一个比喻句，通过第二段Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive thing in modern life, the cell phone．可知手机已经成为了和香烟、咖啡一样让人迷恋的东西。故选B。
【小题2】推断题。文章第二段最后一句讲到对于一些人来说，他们难以处理好他们对手机的迷恋程度和人际关系交往中情感投入方面的事情。可知他们并不能够控制好这种关系，故选D。rescue 营救 ignore 忽视 develop 发展
【小题3】推断题。从文章第四自然段可知，手机的过度使用已经变成了一个社会问题，它阻碍了人与人之间的面对面交流，并没有将人们的关系拉的更近，因为很多人都只是一味的专心打电话而忽视了周围的亲人、朋友。故选C。