英语听力精选进阶版 6239

Living without the Media 在没有网络媒体的世界中生活

Are you a media addict 1 who would go mad after two hours without TV, friend requests, exciting online games and your mobile – or would you easily survive?

Recently, university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called Unplugged. It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours.

Unplugged is being run by Dr Roman Gerodimos, a lecturer in Communication and Journalism 2 at Bournemouth University. The experiment is now over but he doesn't yet know the full findings.

However, during the experiment, Dr Gerodimos said there were already signs of how much the exercise affected 3 volunteers. He said: "They're reporting withdrawal 4 symptoms, overeating, feeling nervous, isolated 5 and disconnected."

During their 24-hour ordeal 6, three of the experiment's guinea pigs had to endure one intrusion from the media: a BBC reporter plus cameraman who followed them around for the day. They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline, but of course, they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops.

Elliot Day wrote: "Today, my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air. Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty my life felt without the radio or newspapers."

From Caroline Scott, we read: "I didn't expect it, but being deprived of the media for 24 hours resulted in my day-to-day activities becoming so much harder to carry out than usual… I didn't break out in a cold sweat like our lecturer expected us all to, but it's not something I would like to do again!"

And Charlotte Gay wrote: "I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been my mobile; not only is it a social gadget 7, it's my main access point of communication."

Earlier in the year, a UK government study found that in the UK we spend about half our waking hours using the media, often plugged into several things at once. And a recent study by Nielson found that on average, US teenagers send and receive over 3,000 texts per month – that's about six texts per waking hour.

So, with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate, how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?

Glossary 词汇表

addict 有…瘾的人 

friend request 好友请求 

to observe 尝试去做某事 

unplugging 停止（原意指拔掉插头） 

the full findings 完整的调查结果 

withdrawal symptom 脱瘾症状(戒除某习惯时所引起的痛苦和不适) 

overeating 过度饱食 

isolated 与世隔绝的 

to be disconnected （与现实）分离的 

ordeal 煎熬 

guinea pig 参加试验的人 

to endure 忍受 

intrusion 入侵 

offline 脱机的 

to be thrown up into the air 被打乱 

to be deprived of 不能使用 

to break out into a cold sweat 吓得浑身冒冷汗 

gadget 小工具 

waking hours 醒着的时间 

to set aside 留出来