Come on, admit it -- you like living at breakneck speed.
好了，承認吧――你就喜歡忙得團團轉。

Life in the Fast Lane

James Gleick

1 We are in a rush. We are making haste. A compression of time characterizes many of our lives. As time-use researchers look around, they see a rushing and scurrying everywhere. Sometimes culture resembles "one big stomped anthill," say John P. Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey in their book Time for Life.

人在快車道

詹姆斯·格利克

我們東奔西忙。我們急急匆匆。時間緊迫是我們許多人的生活特點。時間利用研究者環顧四周，只見人人忙亂，處處步履匆匆。有時文明就像是“一個被踩癟的大蟻冢”，約翰·P·魯賓遜和杰弗里·戈德比在《生活時間》一書中寫道。

　
2 (1) Instantaneity rules. Pollsters use electronic devices during political speeches to measure opinions on the wing, before they have been fully formed; fast-food restaurants add express lanes. Even reading to children is under pressure. The volume One-Minute Bedtime Stories consists of traditional stories that can be read by a busy parent in only one minute.
即時行為主宰著一切。人們發表政治演說時，聽眾尚未形成看法，民意調查人員就利用電子裝置進行當場測定；快餐店增設了快速通道。甚至給孩子念故事也得趕時間。《一分鐘臨睡前的故事》一書收的都是讓忙碌的家長僅用一分鐘就能講完的老故事。


3 There are places and objects that signify impatience. The door-close button in elevators, so often a placebo used to distract riders to whom ten seconds seems an eternity. Speed-dial buttons on telephones. Remote controls, which have caused an acceleration in the pace of films and television commercials.
許多場所和物件都表明人們有急躁情緒。電梯里的關門按鈕常常起心理安慰作用，好讓那些連10秒鐘都覺得漫長難捱的乘梯人分散注意力。還有電話機的快撥鍵。還有可使影片和電視廣告快速播放的遙控器。


4 Time is a gentle deity, said Sophocles. Perhaps it was, for him. These days it cracks the whip.(2) We humans have chosen speed, and we thrive on it -- more than we generally admit. Our ability to work and play fast gives us power. It thrills us.
時間之神溫雅從容，索福克勒斯如是說。他那時或許如此。當今社會時間揚鞭催人。我們人類選擇了速度，憑借著速度而繁榮興旺――其程度超過人們所普遍承認的那樣。我們快節奏工作、娛樂的本領賦予我們力量。我們為此興奮不已。

5 And if haste is the accelerator pedal, multitasking is overdrive. These days it is possible to drive, eat, listen to a book and talk on the phone -- all at once, if you dare. David Feldman, in New York, schedules his tooth flossing to coincide with his regular browsing of online discussion groups. He has learned to hit PageDown with his pinkie. Mike Holderness, in London, watches TV with captioning so that he can keep the sound off and listen to the unrelated music of his choice. An entire class of technologies is dedicated to the furtherance of multitasking. Car phones. Bookstands on exercise machines. Waterproof shower radios. 如果匆忙是加速器的踏板，一心多用就是超速檔。如今，完全可能做到邊開車邊吃東西邊聽錄音書籍邊打電話--要是你敢這么做。紐約的大衛·費爾德曼把用潔牙線清潔牙縫安排在日常瀏覽網上討論之時。他已經學會用小手指敲擊下行鍵。倫敦的邁克·霍爾德內斯看帶字幕的電視節目，這樣他就能把音量調低到聽不見，好欣賞自己喜歡的與電視節目無關的音樂。有一整套的技術專門用來促進一心多用。如汽車電話。如健身器材上的擱書架。如防水的淋浴間收音機。

6 Not so long ago, for most people, listening to the radio was a single task activity. Now it is rare for a person to listen to the radio and do nothing else.
不久以前，對大多數人而言，聽收音機是一項單一的活動。如今極少有人在聽收音機時，別的什么也不干。