新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 4t05a

[-1:-7.00]leaves a vacuum;they may never come back.
[-1:-8.00]The condition of loneliness rises and falls,
[-1:-9.00]but the need to talk goes on forever.
[-1:10.00]It's more basic than needing to listen.
[-1:11.00]Oh,we all have friends we can tell important things to,
[-1:12.00]people we can call to say we lost our job
[-1:13.00]or fell on a slippery floor and broke our arm.
[-1:14.00]It's the daily succession of small complaints and observations and opinions
[-1:15.00]that backs up and chokes us.
[-1:16.00]We can't really call a friend to say we got a parcel from our sister,
[-1:17.00]or it's getting dark earlier now,
[-1:18.00]or we don't trust that new Supreme Court justice.
[-1:19.00]Scientific surveys show that we who live alone
[-1:20.00]talk at length to ourselves and our pets and the television.
[-1:21.00]We ask the cat whether we should wear the blue suit or the yellow dress.
[-1:22.00]We ask the parrot if we should prepare steak,or noodles for dinner.
[-1:23.00]We argue with ourselves over who is the greater sportsman:
[-1:24.00]that figure skater or this skier.There's nothing wrong with this.
[-1:25.00]It's good for us,and a lot less embarrassing
[-1:26.00]than the woman in front of us in line at the market who's telling the cashier
[-1:27.00]that her niece Melissa may be coming to visit on Saturday,
[-1:28.00]and Melissa is very fond of hot chocolate,
[-1:29.00]which is why she bought the powdered hot chocolate mix,
[-1:30.00]though she never drinks it herself.
[-1:31.00]It's important to stay rational.
[-1:32.00]It's important to stop waiting and settle down and make ourselves comfortable,
[-1:33.00]at least temporarily,and find some grace and pleasure in our condition,
[-1:34.00]not like a self-centered British poet
[-1:35.00]but like a patient princess sealed up in a tower,
[-1:36.00]waiting for the happy ending to our fairy tale.
[-1:37.00]After all,here we are.It may not be where we expected to be,
[-1:38.00]but for the time being we might as well call it home.
[-1:39.00]Anyway,there is no place like home.