【原文】

For years I have been mercilessly lampooned by friends and acquaintances alike for my unorthodox lifestyle choice of having no TV. In an age of increasingly large plasma flat-screens and surround sound, digital home entertainment systems which accost you the minute you walk into someone’s house, people regularly look at me like I’m either severely handicapped or chronically hard done by when I mention that I have no television. I can see the mixture of genuine pity, raw pathos and sheer disbelief in their faces as they stare at me open-mouthed.

To be sure, television is a great invention, if handled in moderation. The composite etymological derivation (from the Greek and the Latin words – literally meaning “to see from afar”) tells of a tremendous technological feat which certainly deserves to be applauded. What’s more, if one is discerning, it can be the source of some quality entertainment, instruction and enjoyment. Some of the nature documentaries and arts programmes on BBC 2 are truly fantastic and are well worth the license fee alone.

But the sad reality is that young people are rarely discerning and, by dint of poor time management skills, often end up wasting an inordinate amount of precious, never-returning time watching trash, their brains wallowing in a trough of mental lethargy.

【譯文】

多年來(lái)，我一直堅(jiān)持不買(mǎi)電視，這種不合常規(guī)的生活方式使我受到朋友和熟人們的無(wú)情奚落。在這個(gè)等離子平板電視越來(lái)越大、數(shù)字家庭娛樂(lè)設(shè)備無(wú)處不在的時(shí)代， 你一進(jìn)別人家便會(huì)感受到它們的存在。當(dāng)我提到我沒(méi)有電視時(shí)，人們看我的眼神往往就像我要么有嚴(yán)重的缺陷，要么就是長(zhǎng)期受到不公平的對(duì)待。他們目瞪口呆地盯 著我，我能看出他們臉上混雜著發(fā)自內(nèi)心的同情、毫不掩飾的憐憫和完完全全的不相信。

當(dāng)然，電視是一項(xiàng)偉大的發(fā)明，如果使用適度的話。這個(gè)復(fù)合派生詞（來(lái)自希臘和拉丁詞匯，字面意思是“遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地看”）描述的是一個(gè)值得贊揚(yáng)的、無(wú)與倫比的技術(shù)壯舉。同時(shí)，如果我們有足夠的辨識(shí)力，它還是優(yōu)質(zhì)的娛樂(lè)、指導(dǎo)和享受之源。BBC 2頻道的一些自然紀(jì)錄片和藝術(shù)節(jié)目就非常出色，單單是看這幾個(gè)節(jié)目，你的有線電視費(fèi)便花得值得了。

然而令人悲哀的現(xiàn)實(shí)是，年輕人大多缺乏辨識(shí)力，而且由于不善管理時(shí)間，他們最終往往浪費(fèi)過(guò)多一去不復(fù)返的寶貴時(shí)間收看垃圾節(jié)目，讓大腦沉溺于精神倦怠的深淵中。

【評(píng)析】

評(píng)析：文章出處為出處Mailonline，作者是Lindsay Johns，講的是沒(méi)有電視的好處。在這樣一個(gè)信息化社會(huì)，沒(méi)有電視確實(shí)很另類。作者在第一段中便生動(dòng)地描繪了人們得知他沒(méi)有電視時(shí)的反應(yīng)。

第一段難度較大的單詞有l(wèi)ampoon，諷刺；unorthodox，非傳統(tǒng)的；還有一個(gè)需要注意的詞組是hard done，受到不公平對(duì)待的。

第二段講了電視積極的一面，如果使用得當(dāng)?shù)脑挘梢蕴峁└哔|(zhì)量的娛樂(lè)和教育。生詞有etymological，詞源的。

第三段說(shuō)很多青年會(huì)把寶貴時(shí)間用于收看垃圾節(jié)目，需要注意的詞組是by dint of，由于；生詞有inordinate，過(guò)度的，過(guò)多的；trough，水槽，低谷，這里意譯為深淵。