Part 2. Opting for a slower pace of life in the 21st century.

A. Keywords.

life, fast, slow down.

Vocabulary.

embrace, drench.

Now listen to the first part of a report on how some people opt for a slower pace of life in the 21st century. Read the outline first, while listening focus on some supporting details. Then answer the questions.
As you may have noticed life is fast-paced.
We travel on bullet trains and jets. News comes to us at the speed of light.
And with cell phones and the Internet and of course, fast food, most people rush through their days, trying to do more in less and less time.
But not everyone. Some people are trying to slow down, and instead of racing through life, actually experience it.
Journalist Carl Honore admits that not long ago his life was a breathless race with time.
"In the old days, when I was a speedaholic, if you like, my whole life was just a long list of things to do.
To finish all those tasks, day after day, Mr Honore says he became obsessed with saving time whenever he could... a minute here, a few seconds there.
He says people usually don't realize that their whole life has turned into an exercise in hurry up until they get a wake up call... and something stops them in their tracks.
Mr Honore's wake up call came three years ago when he began reading bedtime stories to his 3-year-old son.
I'd go into his room at the end of the night and I just couldn't slow down.
I'd be speed reading The Cat in the Hat, which is ridiculous. I heard about a series called one-minute bedtime story, which is a horrible idea, but in my first reaction was, What a great idea, I must get some.
And that's when I caught myself, and I just thought "No, this has gone too far."
To improve the quality of life, Mr Honore says, people need to embrace what he calls "the philosophy of slow".
"I think that one of the cultural assumptions we make nowadays is that slow is bad and that slowing down means being lazy, or unproductive or giving up.
But the opposite is true. Now more than ever in this high-tech 24/7 technology drenched society, we need moments if slowness.
When you work more slowly, you actually work better, your productivity goes up.
So you know, sometimes you have to go fast at work. People need to do things at the right speed.
They need to re-learn the lost art of shifting gears.