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This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown citizen who lived
in Rome in AD 52 wrote it.
We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all
these developments really improve the quality of our lives?
Picture this: You're rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a
QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and
louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all
night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?
Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why
do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any
electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead simpler lives.
One family in the UK went "back in time" to see what life was like without all the inventions we have
today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10, and Tomas, 7, spent nine
weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.
The grandmother, Lyn, said, "It was hard physically, but not mentally." She believed life was less
materialistic. "The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes," She said. The boys said they
fought less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed
from being a "trendy (时髦的), beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things."
Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!
Don't be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day.
Don't check your e-mail every day. Don't reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message
just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.
B. improvements of our life with technology
C. the important roles technology plays in our everyday life
D. major changes which will be likely to happen to technology
in order to _________.
B. tell us what life was like long time ago
C. make us wonder what causes such a thing to happen
D. point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same
B. they were curious about how people lived without modern inventions
C. they were troubled by modern inventions
D. living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them
B. Free
C. Be able to
D. Be found by others.
Who's in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry(模仿)，their passions a quotation.”
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug－we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix(一剂毒品)，we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom－the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot-control what other people think. People have their own agenda(日程安排), and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probable pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there's only one way－make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values－not values imposed from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more authentic(真实的), effective, purposeful and happy life.
What Oscar Wilde says implies that .
A. most people's thoughts are controlled by others.
B. we have thoughts similar to those of others.
C. most people have a variety of thoughts.
D. other people's thoughts are more important.
What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?
A. The price of taking the drug is freedom.
B. Changing opinions may cost us our freedom.
C. We may lose ourselves to please others.
D. We need to pay for what we want to get.
It can be concluded from the passage that .
A. it's important to accept others' opinions.
B. it's better to do what we like.
C. we shouldn't care what others think.
D. we shouldn't change our won opinions.
The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by .
A. making suggestions. B. analyzing causes and effects.
C. providing examples and facts. D. discussing questions
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