英语沙龙：Work and Play

Work and Play

Our everyday existence is divided into two phases,

as distinct as day and night.

We call them work and play.

We work so many hours a day,

and when we have allowed the necessary minimum

for such activities as eating and shopping,

the rest we spend in various activities

which are known as recreations,

an elegant word which disguises the fact

that we usually do not even play in our hours of leisure,

but spend them in various forms of passive enjoyment¹ or entertainment —

not playing football but watching football matches;

not acting², but theatre-going;

not walking, but riding in a motor coach.

Therefore we need to define clearly the difference

not only between work and play but,

equally, between active play and passive entertainment.

It is, I suppose,

the decline of active play —

of amateur sport —

and the enormous growth of purely³ receptive entertainment

which has given rise to a sociological interest in the problem.

If the greater part of the population,

instead of indulging in sport,

spend their hours of leisure “viewing” television programmes,

there will inevitably⁴ be a decline in health and physique.

And in addition, there will be a psychological problem,

for we have yet to trace the mental and moral consequences

of a prolonged diet of sentimental⁵

or sensational⁶ spectacles on the screen.

There is, if we are optimistic,

the possibility that the diet is too thin

and not nourishing enough to have much permanent effect on anybody.

Nine films out of ten seem to leave absolutely no impression on the mind

or imagination of those who see them:

few people can give a coherent account of the film

they saw the week before last,

and at longer intervals⁷ they must rely on the management

to see that they do not sit through the same film twice.

1 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

4 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

5 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

6 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

7 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。