新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第二册 unit01a_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！Time-Conscious Americans
[00:04.28]Americans believe no one stands still.
[00:09.65]If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind.
[00:15.52]This attitude results in a nation of people
[00:20.48]committed to researching,experimenting and exploring.
[00:26.93]Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully,
[00:33.30]the other being labor.
[00:37.08]"We are slaves to nothing but the clock,” it has been said.
[00:43.34]Time is treated as if it were something almost real.
[00:49.10]We budget it,save it,waste it,steal it,kill it,cut it,account for it;
[00:58.07]we also charge for it.
[01:01.85]It is a precious resource.
[01:05.70]Many people have a rather acute sense of the shortness of each lifetime.
[01:12.76]Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass,
[01:18.62]they cannot be replaced.
[01:22.62]We want every minute to count.
[01:26.58]A foreigner’s first impression of the U.S.
[01:31.33]is likely to be that everyone is in a rush -- often under pressure.
[01:38.17]City people always appear to be hurrying to get where they are going,
[01:44.15]restlessly seeking attention in a store,
[01:49.22]or elbowing others as they try to complete their shopping.
[01:54.55]Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country.
[02:01.57]Working time is considered precious.
[02:05.93]Others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they,too,
[02:12.59]can be served and get back to work within the time allowed.
[02:18.35]You also find drivers will be abrupt and people will push past you.
[02:25.19]You will miss smiles,brief conversations,and small exchanges with strangers.
[02:33.04]Don’t take it personally.
[02:36.82]This is because people value time highly,
[02:41.96]and they resent someone else “wasting” it beyond a certain appropriate point.
[02:48.91]Many new arrivals to the States will miss the opening exchanges of a business call,for example.
[02:57.08]They will miss the ritual interaction that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee
[03:04.25]that may be a convention in their own country.
[03:09.83]They may miss leisurely business chats in a restaurant or coffee house.
[03:16.20]Normally,Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over extended small talk;
[03:25.45]much less do they take them out for dinner,
[03:29.99]or for around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust.
[03:36.36]Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially,
[03:43.02]we start talking business very quickly.
[03:47.59]Time is,therefore,always ticking in our inner ear.
[03:53.46]Consequently,we work hard at the task of saving time.
[03:59.83]We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices;
[04:05.48]we communicate rapidly through faxes,
[04:10.24]phone calls or emails rather than through personal contacts,
[04:16.50]which though pleasant,take longer--especially given our traffic-filled streets.
[04:23.56]We,therefore,save most personal visiting
[04:28.49]for after-work hoursor for social weekend gatherings.
[04:34.75]To us the impersonality of electronic communication
[04:41.12]has little or no relation to the significance of the matter at hand.
[04:47.68]In some countries no major business is conducted without eye contact,
[04:54.84]requiring face-to-face conversation.
[04:59.38]In America,too,a final agreement will normally be signed in person.
[05:06.94]However,people are meeting increasingly on television screens,
[05:13.38]conducting “teleconferences” to settle problems
[05:19.14]not only in this country but also--by satellite--internationally.
[05:26.09]The U.S. is definitely a telephone country.
[05:31.74]Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business,to chat with friends,
[05:39.30]to make or break social appointments,to say “Thank you,”
[05:45.17]to shop and to obtain all kinds of information.
[05:50.75]Telephones save the feet and endless amounts of time.
[05:56.40]This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is superb here,