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1、全新版大学英语综合教程第二册第4课虚拟世界 导语：以前的电视制片人Maia Szalavitz现在成为了作家。 在这篇文章中，她探讨了数字现实及其后果。 一路上，她将数字世界与“真实的”世界进行了比较，认识到电子维度的吸引力。下面是一篇关于虚拟世界的英语课文，欢迎大家阅读。 The Virtual World Part I Pre-Reading Task Listen to the recording two or three times and then think over the following questions: 1. Is the hero a student or an e
2、mployee? 2. What was he doing when the boss came in? 3. How did he act in front of his boss? 4. Can you guess what the texts in this unit are going to be about? The following words in the recording may be new to you: surf vt. (在网上)漫游 log onto 进入(计算机系统) unpredictable a. 不可预测的 Part II Text Maia Szalav
3、itz, formerly a television producer, now spends her time as a writer. In this essay she explores digital reality and its consequences. Along the way, she compares the digital world to the real world, acknowledging the attractions of the electronic dimension. A VIRTUAL LIFE Maia Szalavitz After too l
4、ong on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriends Liverpool accent suddenly becomes impossible to interpret after his easily understood words on screen; a secretarys clipped tone seems more rejecting than Id imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid hours become minutes, or secon
5、ds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days. For the last three years, since I stopped working as a television producer, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter. I submit articles and edit them via email and communicate with colleagues on Interne
6、t mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is also computer-assisted. If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, goin
7、g out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the endless snowstorm of96 on TV. But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though Ive become one with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another link in the Net. Others o
8、n line report the same symptoms. We start to feel an aversion to outside forms of socializing. We have become the Net critics worst nightmare. What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become a form of escape, a lack of discipl
9、ine. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult. I find myself shyer, more cautious, more anxious. Or, conversely, when suddenly confronted with real live humans, I get overexcited, speak too much, interrupt. I constantl
10、y worry if I am dressed appropriately, that perhaps Ive actually forgotten to put on a skirt and walked outside in the T-shirt and underwear I sleep and live in. At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to talk away in the background, something that Id never done previously. The voices o
11、f the programs are comforting, but then Im jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. Dateline, Frontline, Nightline, CNN, New York 1, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of
12、 no possible use to me. Work moves into the background. I decide to check my email. On line, I find myself attacking everyone in sight. I am bad-tempered, and easily angered. I find everyone on my mailing list insensitive, believing that theyve forgotten that there are people actually reading their
13、wounding remarks. I dont realize that Im projecting until after Ive been embarrassed by someone who politely points out that Ive attacked her for agreeing with me. When Im in this state, I fight my boyfriend as well, misinterpreting his intentions because of the lack of emotional cues given by our t
14、yped dialogue. The fight takes hours, because the system keeps crashing. I say a line, then he does, then crash! And yet we keep on, doggedly. Id never realized how important daily routine is: dressing for work, sleeping normal hours. Id never thought I relied so much on co-workers for company. I be
15、gan to understand why long-term unemployment can be so damaging, why life without an externally supported daily plan can lead to higher rates of drug abuse, crime, suicide. To restore balance to my life, I force myself back into the real world. I call people, arrange to meet with the few remaining f
16、riends who havent fled New York City. I try to at least get to the gym, so as to set apart the weekend from the rest of my week. I arrange interviews for stories, doctors appointments anything to get me out of the house and connected with others. But sometimes being face to face is too much. I see a friend and her ringing laughter is i
