晨读英语美文 Work and Play

》》》》》》》》一键领取入口《《《《《《《

Work and Play

[00:08.38]Our everyday existence is divided into two phases, 

[00:16.68]as distinct as day and night. 

[00:18.99]We call them work and play. 

[00:21.93]We work so many hours a day, 

[00:24.79]and when we have allowed the necessary minimum 

[00:27.30]for such activities as eating and shopping, 

[00:29.50]the rest we spend in various activities 

[00:32.44]which are known as recreations, 

[00:34.08]an elegant word which disguises the fact 

[00:37.13]that we usually do not even play in our hours of leisure, 

[00:40.00]but spend them in various forms 

[00:42.35]of passive enjoyment or entertainment  

[00:44.58]not football but watching football matches; 

[00:48.07]not acting, but theatre-going; 

[00:50.93]not walking, but riding in a motor coach.

[00:53.98]Therefore we need to define clearly the difference 

[00:59.67]not only between work and play but, 

[01:02.31]equally, between active play and passive entertainment. 

[01:06.46]It is, I suppose, 

[01:08.63]the decline of active play  

[01:10.05]of amateur sport  

[01:11.81]and the enormous growth of purely receptive entertainment 

[01:15.19]which has given rise to a sociological interest in the problem. 

[01:19.24]If the greater part of the population, 

[01:22.54]instead of indulging in sport, 

[01:24.49]spend their hours of leisure viewing television programmes, 

[01:28.12]there will inevitably be a decline in health and physique. 

[01:31.97]And in addition, there will be a psychological problem, 

[01:36.23]for we have yet to trace the mental and moral consequences 

[01:39.83]of a prolonged diet of sentimental 

[01:42.25]or sensational spectacles on the screen. 

[01:44.75]There is, if we are optimistic, 

[01:48.16]the possibility that the diet is too thin 

[01:50.44]and not nourishing enough 

[01:52.11]to have much permanent effect on anybody. 

[01:53.96]Nine films out of ten seem 

[01:56.83]to leave absolutely no impression on the mind 

[01:58.99]or imagination of those who see them: 

[02:01.16]few people can give a coherent account of the film 

[02:04.99]they saw the week before last, 

[02:06.08]and at longer intervals they must rely on the management 

[02:10.02]to see that they do not sit through the same film twice.