长难句释义

For four hours, our only real amusement consisted of counting exit signs and wondering what it would feel like to hold still again. (Para. 1)

Getting there certainly didn’t seem like half the fun; in fact, getting there wasn’t any fun at all. (Para. 1)

We toured a Civil War battlefield and stood on the little hill that fifteen thousand Confederate soldiers had tried to take on another hot July afternoon, one hundred and twenty-five years ago, not knowing that half of them would get killed in the vain attempt. (Para. 2)

We stuffed ourselves with spicy salads and homemade bread in an “all-you-can-eat” farmhouse restaurant, then wandered outside to enjoy the sunshine and the herds of cows—no little dots this time—lying in it. (Para. 2)

And we returned home refreshed, revitalized, and reeducated. (Para. 2)

In fact, most Americans are constantly in a hurry—and not just to get from Point A to Point B. Our country has become a nation in search of the quick fix—in more ways than one. (Para. 3)

Once upon a time, Americans understood the principle of deferred gratification. We put a little of each paycheck away “for a rainy day”. (Para. 4)

If we wanted a new sofa or a week at a lakeside cabin, we saved up for it, and the banks helped us out by providing special Christmas Club and Vacation Club accounts. (Para. 4)

And if we are in a hurry to lose weight, we try the latest miracle diet, guaranteed to take away ten pounds in ten days… unless we’re rich enough to afford liposuction. (Para. 4)

We like our information fast, too: messages flashed on a computer screen, documents faxed from your telephone to mine, current events in 90-second bursts on Eyewitness News, history reduced to “Bicentennial Minutes”. (Para. 5)

Even our personal relationships have become compressed. Instead of devoting large parts of our days to our loved ones, we replace them with something called “quality time”, which, more often than not, is no time at all. (Para. 6)

As we rush from book to music to news item to relationship, we do not realize that we are living our lives by the iceberg principle—paying attention only to the top and ignoring the 8/9 that lies just below the surface. (Para. 6)

When did it all begin, this urge to do it now, to get it over with, to skim the surface of life? (Para. 7)

But I am saying that all of us need to think more seriously about putting the brakes on our “we-want-it-all-and-we-want-it-nor” lifestyle before we speed completely out of control. (Para. 8)