Intermediate passages 1 The best recruiting agents

11 Reading

This is an age of speed! Technological advance has brought jet airplanes and streamlined trains whizzing over transportation lines, helicopters carrying the mail, missiles hurtling through space; telegraphs, long-distance phones, radio, television, telstar and flashing communications. These are just a few examples of the Revolution in Speed, which is hastening us along in its breathless velocity. As for reading, thousands of newspapers, hundreds of magazines and dozens of books roll from the presses daily, speeded by technological invention. Yet no one has enough time to read as much as he would wish. We hurry all day long - workers hurry to their jobs in the morning and they hurry through the working hours in an attempt to accomplish as much as possible. After work they hurry home to hurry out in the evening to a business dinner, a social function, or one of many fascinating diversions. There is more reading to be done than ever before and less time in which to do it! What is the answer? Not more time in which to read, out the ability to read more in the time we have.

1. Technological advance

1. 
   made people's lives easier, but caused many of them to feel anxious because of its speed
   
2. 
   made speed the characteristic of our age, reflecting it onto our everyday life as well
   
3. 
   left people no time to read, and as a result television viewing became so commonplace
   
4. 
   decreased interest in reading though reading materials increased in number enormously
   

2. At work, as well as in their personal lives, people

1. 
   have to acquire different skills to use the new machinery
   
2. 
   should set aside more time for reading than they do for recreation
   
3. 
   have to learn as much about the new technology as possible
   
4. 
   have to act hurriedly so as to succeed in as many things as possible
   

3. The writer suggests that

1. 
   people should find a way to increase the amount of their reading in the limited time they are left
   
2. 
   whatever the person's job is, he has to read to keep pace with the speed of our age
   
3. 
   the time spent on social functions and recreation can be reduced in order to spare more time for reading
   
4. 
   people should learn to make a good selection of what to read in the little time they have