“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.” This may sound like something someone would say today. But, in fact, an unknown citizen who lived in Rome in 53 AD wrote it.

We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and they can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?

Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a message from your friend appears on the screen, and the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?

Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead simpler lives.

One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons, Benjamin and Thomas, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.

The grandmother, Lyn, said, “It was hard physically. But not mentally.” She believed life was less materialistic. “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes,” she said. The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（時(shí)髦的）,beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things”.

Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain time of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day.

Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.

With the Internet and so much information available, we are expected to know everything all the time, but sometimes don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Make sure you spend some time talking to your family. Set aside one evening a week when you don’t turn on the television. Play cards and chat instead.

Get a low-neck hobby. Every day do something in the old-fashioned way, such as walking to have a face-to-face meeting instead of using the e-mail or telephone, or making a birthday card.

Don’t worry too much about life—laugh more!

73. The writer uses the quote at the beginning of the passage to___________ .

A. share a truth about life

B. tell us what life was like a long time ago

C. make us wonder what happened in Rome in 53 AD

D. point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same

74. Why did the family choose to spend some time in a 1940s house?

A. Because they loved to live simple lives.

B. Because they were curious about how people lived without modern inventions.

C. Because they were troubled by modern inventions.

D. Because living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them.

75. What do you think the underlined word “available” in the first suggestion offered by the writer means?

A. Busy on line.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Free.

C. Be able to.　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Be found by others.

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