90 10. Afterwards he reflected upon what had happened. His wife could wait, he thought, but the phone rang with the authority of Mussolini in a bad mood. Most of us probably have had this experience. We have been making a purchase when the phone rang and the clerk dropped us cold and got into a long conversation on the phone. Or perhaps we had a visitor in our office and interrupted the conversation to pick up the phone. Whatever is happening, the telephone comes first. 11. What is it about these things that makes us so obedient, and so oblivious to that which lies outside them—such as actual people? I once asked a man who was bellowing into a cell phone in the coffee shop in San Francisco why he was talking so loudly. A bad connection, he said. It had not crossed his mind that anything else mattered at that moment. Like computers and television, cell phones pull people into their own psychological polar field, and the pull is strong. I have watched people complete a conversation, start to put the thing away, and then freeze. They sit staring at it, as though trying to think of someone else to call. The phone is there. It demands to be used, almost the way a cigarette demands to be smoked. Does the person own the cell phone, or is it the other way around? 12. And what does that suggest about where this “communication revolution” is taking us? When I was in Hong Kong a year and a half ago, it was becoming a cell phone hell. The official statistics said that there was one phone for every two people, but it often felt like two for one. They were everywhere; at a table with four people, two or three might be talking on the phone. You’d see a couple on a date, and one was talking on the phone. 13. There is something lonely about a wired world, a world in which only personal desires are all that matters and to hell with everything else. And everything else starts to go to hell. So I’ll just close with a prediction. Noise is going to become a bigger issue in the next decade than smoke was in the last. It will be part of a big second wave of environmentalism—the fight against cognitive pollution, the despoiling of the aural and visual commons, whether by cell phones and Walkmen or by advertising everywhere. 14. It’s going to be a wrenching battle, but I predict at least one early victory. Quiet cars on Amtrak within five years. Meanwhile, I 91 have my eye on a company in Israel, called NetLine Technologies, that makes small portable devices to block cell phones. Technically, they are illegal, and I doubt that more technology ultimately is the answer. But they do raise a useful question. If some people can use technology to pollute the air we share, why can’t other people use technology to clean it up again? Explain what is meant by: 1. I would watch the kids’ faces, vacant and a little forlorn, and wonder what happens to kids whose parents aren’t there even when they are. 2. Cell phones affect life in ways that are, I suspect, beyond the capacity of the empirical mind to grasp. 3. They have turned Amtrak into a horizontal telephone booth. 4. This seemed like a no-lose proposition 5. The yakkers could yak, others could enjoy the quiet, and Amtrak could have a PR coup. 6. Why does the noise automatically take precedence over the quiet? 7. There is something about technology that enables it to take the front seat in any situation it enters; that is to say, there is something in ourselves that seeks to give it this seat. 8. But the phone rang with the authority of Mussolini in a bad mood. 9. Like computers and television, cell phones pull people into their own psychological polar field, and the pull is strong. 10. The official statistics said that there was one phone for every two people, but it often felt like two for one. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION 1. How does Rowe introduce the problem he is going to discuss in the essay? What method of development does he employ in the introductory part? Where does the introduction end? 92 2. Find the paragraph where the main idea is expressed. Does the essay have a stated thesis sentence? 3. What is the main problem with cell phones around which Rowe builds his argument? 4. Which aspect of social life does the author discuss as an example to support his point? Speak on the method of development he has applied? 5. What does Rowe think of the “notion that people are busily working on cell phones”? 6. How are paragraphs 8 and 9 linked? Discuss the role of the question “Why does the noise automatically take precedence over the quiet?” in connecting the two parts of the essay. 7. What is it in the technology that makes it addictive? What examples does the author include to prove that people tend to give the technology “the first seat”? Can you recall other similar situations when your interlocutors gave the cell phones, computers or other items priority over you? 8. How would you respond if someone you were dating took a call when you were having dinner together in a restaurant? 9. How many paragraphs does the conclusion of the essay comprise? What methods of development does Rowe use? Is it effective? 10. Draw parallels between the solutions offered by Rowe and by Asimov in “There’s No Way to Go But Ahead”. 11. Do you share Rowe’s claim that increasing reliance on cell phones has had negative effects on both the users of these cell phones and the people who are near them? Give your pros and cons. 12. How fair is Rowe’s assessment of cell phones? Do you think he should have discussed how cell phones can make a positive contribution to society? Or was he wise to stay focused on the negative aspects of these phones? 93 EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY Match the words in Column A with their definitions in Column B A B 1) hub a) (esp.of sth unpleasant or annoying) to surround sb/sth in large numbers 2) muffin b) to force sb to do sth by using threats 3) forlorn c) to talk continuously about things that are not very serious 4) squishy d) not knowing about or not noticing something that is happening around you 5) to gab e) something (a process) that takes a lot of time and effort 6) sanctuary f) to make a place less attractive by damaging or destroying it 7) to besiege g) the central and most important part of a particular place or activity 8) to yak h) to talk too proudly about sth you own or sth you have done 9) to coerce i) appearing lonely and unhappy 10) haul j) a safe place, especially one where people who are being chased or attacked can stay and be protected 11) to brag k) soft and wet 12) oblivious l) to talk continuously, usually about things that are not important 94 13) to bellow m) a small sweet cake often containing small pieces of fruit 14) to despoil n) to shout in a loud deep voice, especially because you are angry YOUR TURN 1. Discuss the ways computers (television or other means of communication, other modern technical appliances) affect the public life. Write an evaluation in which you appraise both the positive and negative aspects of form of technology you are discussing? 2. Would it be true to say that the idea of family values has changed radically in the last fifty or so years? If you share this point, discuss some possible causes that may account for this change. If you disagree, compare family values in different centuries using reliable sources and concrete examples to prove your point. Think of appropriate ways to begin and conclude your essay. Other Possible Topics • “Advertising is one of the most unpleasant features of modern life.” • “Teaching machines have come to stay.” Are they desirable? • To what extent have modern means of communication altered the pattern of our daily life during this century? 95 Checklist for Revision. Topic and purpose • Is my topic clear? • Does my writing have a specific purpose? • Does my writing achieve its purpose? Audience • Will everything I have written be clear to my audience? • Will my audience find my writing interesting? Will my audience respond in the way that I’d like it to? Voice and word choice • Is the impression my writing conveys the one I intended it to convey? • Is my language appropriately formal or informal? • Have I avoided vague, undefined terms? • Have I avoided jargon that my audience won’t understand? • Have I avoided clichés? • Have I avoided slang, odd connotations, euphemisms, and gobbledygook except for novelty and humor? Content and development • Have I avoided including unnecessary or unrelated ideas? • Have I developed my topic completely? • Have I supplied enough examples or details that support the statements I’ve made? • Have I given credit to the sources I have used? • Are my sources of information unbiased, up-to-date, and authoritative? 96 Form • Have I followed a logical method of organization? • Have I used transitions, or connecting words to make the organization clear? • Does the writing have a clear introduction, body, and conclusion? Supplementary Reading: Seyler, D.: “Read, Reason, Write”. Hairston, M.: “Successful Writing”. Langan, T.: “College Writing Skills With Readings”. Meriwether, N.: “Writing Essays. Strategies for Success”. 97 Supplementary Reading Materials Narration The Mulberry Tree By Betty Russell Mr. Grump’s mulberries were big, plump, and tempting. At the edge of his yard stood two large trees, loaded with luscious blue- black mulberries. Although I would not have dreamed of stealing, I picked a few off the grass and ate them; the other kids followed. The berries tasted so good. There were eight of us: Alice, Dorothy, and Shirley, my sisters, and our friends, the four Smith sisters. I was ten years old and they were all younger. We often played at a vacant lot near our homes. There we would feel our cans at the “red haw” [hawthorn tree]. We used the red haws to string for necklaces or for pretend food when we played house. That afternoon, however, we had taken a different way to the red haw tree, past Mr. Grump’s house. When we saw all those big dark berries going to waste underneath the trees, we decided to fill our cans. Then we thanked “Mr. Mulberry Tree” and ran home. Our mother washed the berries and put them in a big bowl for supper. That evening we piled whipped cream on the berries for dessert. We felt so proud because there were enough to treat the whole family. Two days later all eight girls agreed it was time for more berries and cream. Our parents, thinking the trees were in the empty lot with the red haws, gave permission to go. To our dismay, when we reached the tree, there were no berries on the ground. Even the lower half of the trees were bare of fruit. Lucy Smith and my sister Alice, tomboys of the group, climbed a tree, and started jumping and shaking the branches. Mulberries fell like black rain. We had started to fill our cans, when suddenly a voice thundered, “What are you kids doing? I’m going to call the police. You are on MY property STEALING my mulberries!” 98 Within seconds Lucy and Alice slid down from the tree. The other kids were running in different directions. Alice grabbed five- year-old Shirley by the hand, and they ran toward home. I turned to pick up my can and, to my horror, saw Mr. Grump holding my seven-year-old sister, Dorothy, up by the back of her neck. Her feet dangled in the air. “Let her go!” I shrieked. “I’m going to hand you both over to the police,” he yelled. He held her with one hand and tried to reach me with the other. We circled—he, trying to reach me, and I, trying to reach Dorothy. But I could not get close enough to grab her without his grabbing me. So I ran up and threw the berries, can and all, in his face. He released his grip on Dorothy, and I snatched her hand. As we cut across yards and down an alley, we could still hear Mr. Grump’s yelling. When we reached our yard, we slumped against the back of the garage to catch our breath. Our hearts seemed ready to leap out of our chests. How long we leaned there, I don’t know. Then we sneaked in the house. I hid in the closet under the stairs. Dorothy ran upstairs and hid with Alice under their bed. Shirley ran to the kitchen and clung to Mom like a second skin. When dinner was ready, Mom made us come out of our hiding places and demanded to know what we had done. No one said a word. For two days we stayed in the house, expecting the police to come any moment and take us away. Our fear and guilt stayed with us for a long time. “Thou shall not steal” was a commandment we never forgot. 99 Description Miss Furness 1 By Rebecca West There was a geography mistress whom we rather liked, Miss Furness, one of the few teachers we could imagine ourselves choosing to go on knowing when we had grown up. She had a timid, wavering voice, and green eyes, with flecks of dark green on a light green iris, like gooseberries, and sandy hair which curved across the front of her head in a high hollow crescent, the shape of a boat turned upside down. We used to imagine her walking across England and coming to the Severn or the Wye or the Ouse, and taking off this crescent and launching it the right way up and floating in it to the opposite shore, shading her green eyes and calling apologetically, “Ahoy, there.” She obviously wanted to be nice, she flushed and had to force her voice when it came to saying, “And now for those girls who failed,” and she taught her subject in a quite interesting, gasping way. Even physical geography, which tells so many things one does not want to know, such as why there is night and day, was interesting because she spoke of the stars with such wistful respect. So we were very pleased when she asked us to tea, particularly as she lived in a part of Lovegrove we liked very much, where a dozen early- Victorian villas stood white and betowered and battlemented round a three-corned scrap of village green, shaded by a row of tall old limes. The house was as nice as we had expected. Miss Furness’s grandfather had bought it from the builder and her father and mother had moved there when he had given up teaching epigraphy at Oxford. There was a feeling that the same people had always lived there, and that there had always been enough money, which we liked very much. Nothing was shabby. She showed us everything, moving and speaking as hesitantly as if she were not hostess but guest. She put a timid forefinger to the curtains, to the wallpapers, which alike were a rich-coloured paste of little flowers, and told us that they were the work of William Morris; and she took us to the fireplaces, where 1 Miss Furness. From The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West. . method of development does he employ in the introductory part? Where does the introduction end? 92 2. Find the paragraph where the main idea is expressed damaging or destroying it 7) to besiege g) the central and most important part of a particular place or activity 8) to yak h) to talk too proudly about sth