Ex.4. This is an abstract from a speech. PROOFREAD the text for the forms of the Infinitive and the Gerund and the choice between them

I want to begin this evening by being asked all of you: How many of you live your lives by the clock? Are you guilty of any or all of the following: To speed? To skip a meal? Frequenting fast-food restaurants? Orderingmeals over the phone? Getting angry in a traffic jam? To honk your horn if that terrible person in the car ahead of you waits more than two seconds to resume having driven when the light changes to green? Becoming impatient if some idiot in the supermarket is moving his cart too slowly? Dividing up your day into small blocks, like half hours or even quarter hours? Carrying around a daily planner in which you’ve got everything scheduled, including parties and entertainment, for the next several weeks?

I, too, used to be guilty of overschedulemy life and charge through everything I did, but fortunately I saw the light. My having changed my basic relationship with time is probably the best thing I ever did. I’m an anthropologist, and about six years ago I did some field work on group relationships among the Navajo people in Arizona and New Mexico. My work included to spend time with Navajo elders, to observetheir activities, and recording many of the things they said. One thing I learned very quickly was that the notion of hurrying is basically foreign to the Navajo.

I was assigned to an elderly man named Mr. Begay. I would be spending my days with him and watch what he did. I loved being allowed to participate in Navajo culture, but at first I was irritated by Mr. Begay’s taking so long to doing things, and I’m sure he was amused at my becomingso impatient with him.

Gradually, though, I started slowing down and enter into the Navajo lifestyle. For many Navajos, having started and finished things at prescribed times is basically alien. Accomplishing something takes as long as it takes. Eventually I started looking at things in a new way, and today I’d say that my having been given this opportunity to seeing how another culture deals with time probably taught me more than any other single thing.

I remember to go to pueblo dances later on and to be amused by tourists who were impatient for the dancing to begin. I’d hear irritated voices saying things like, “When are they going starting the dance? It was supposed to start at 11:30. If they don’t hurry, we’re going to have miss our lunch reservation.”

But at those pueblo dances, Native Americans start dancingwhen they’re ready to start. Things take as long as they take. Now it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we in the mainstream culture gave some thought to adopting part of that lifestyle. Too many of us want everything being instantaneous: fast food, microwavable meals, instant money from automatic tellers, instant credit. When things don’t go according to schedule, we feel stress, and stress can kill us. And it keeps us from being enjoyed things as we experience them.

OK. Now let’s take a break – a leisurely break. When we come back, I’ll give you some suggestions for slow things down.

Date: 2015-09-24; view: 443; Нарушение авторских прав