Text Analysis

1.Theme

The theme is summed up at the very end. Let’s slow down and enjoy what nature offers us and what mankind has left us and rediscover life.

2.Structure

1) Part 1 (Paras. 1-3): Her ride on fast roads and her return trip of a country road.

2) Part 2 (Paras. 4-6): Now instead of later / Faster instead of slower / Superficially instead of thoroughly

3) Part 3 (Paras. 7-8): Slow down and rediscover life.

3.Detailed Questions

Question:

●What made the writer come to think about the lifestyle of American people?

The writer took a week’s vacation in West Virginia. When she took the Turnpike to get there, she found the trip fast but very dull. When she came back, she took another way to slow down and enjoy the county life, which she found full of fun. The contrast made the writer think about whether the fast lane life of modern American people is the only lifestyle of people.

●How do you understand “deferred gratification”?

In the past, Americans were patient to have their desires satisfied. They knew that it would take them some time to satisfy their needs. If they were patient enough, they would have more pleasure when they finally got what they wanted.

●What does the writer intend to emphasize, using this rhetorical question?

Eagle is the symbol of the U.S. When it is used as the logo of Express Mail, it has the symbolic meaning that the whole nation desires to be fast. The writer intends to emphasize that the Americans can no longer wait for anything. The slightest delay would get them angry beyond measure.

●How can personal relationships be “compressed”? How do you understand “quality time”?

The time we spend with our loved ones is compressed, so our personal relationships is no longer the same as before.

“Quality time” means you give full attention to someone in limited time. It is in contrast with “quantity of time”. In America, people are too busy to spend time with their loved ones, so they believe “quality time” is a solution. But actually, “quality time” means less time.

●How do you understand “iceberg principle”?

Icebergs float with only about 10% of their bulk above the surface of the water, therefore the much larger part is out of sight. Modern people are paying attention to surface of everything, but ignoring the real content, which is usually the core of everything.

●What suggestions did the writer give to the modern people?

The writer suggested that the modern people should slow down the fast pace, touching and enjoying every details of life. Only in this way, can we rediscover life.

●What is the meaning of “quick fix”?

“Fix” means solution. “Quick fix” in this essay means quick. It refers to the lifestyle of modern people who are impatient to get everything done and want to find the quick solution to everything.

4. Further Discussion

●Why did the writer take the turnpikes and interstates? Did they have any fun on the way?

●Why did the writer take another way back? How did she feel this time?

●What is the attitude of modern people to do everything? How does it affect our life?

●Why did the author write this article? Was she suggesting we stop using all time-saving techniques and products?

●Writing Devices

1. Contrast

A contrast paragraph or essay discusses the differences between (at least) two things.

This essay mainly discusses the differences between the lifestyle of modern American people and that of American people in the past.

In the first two paragraphs, the writer contrasts her featureless ride driving on fast roads and the pleasure of the return trip of a different route.

2.Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question implies that the answer is obvious—the kind of question that does not need actually to be answered. It is used for rhetorically persuading someone of a truth without argument, or to give emphasis to a supposed truth by stating its opposite.

Why is it that the featureless turnpikes and interstates are the routes of choice for so many of us? Why doesn't everybody try slowing down and exploring the countryside? (Para. 3)

●How dare anyone keep America waiting longer than overnight? (Para. 5)

●Why waste 45 minutes listening to the whole thing when someone else has saved us the trouble of picking out the best parts? (Para. 6)

●Why are we in such a hurry to save time? (Para. 7)

●If winter comes, can spring be far behind?—Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

●Didn’t I tell you he would forget?

●What difference does it make?

3. Repetition

Repetition is a major rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or emotional effect.

If we wanted a new sofa or a week at a lakeside cabin, we saved up for it, …

If we lived in the right part of the country, we planted corn…

If we wanted to be thinner, we simply ate less of our favorite foods and waited patiently for the scale to drop, a pound at a time. (Para. 4)

Then we take our fast money to a fast convenience store, … And if our fast meal doesn't agree with us, we hurry to the medicine cabinet for—you guessed it—some fast relief. (Para. 5)

●Sentence Paraphrase

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)