Faster instead of slower: Not only do we want it now; we don't even want to be kept waiting for it. This general impatience, the "I-hate-to-wait" attitude, has infected every level of our lives. Instead of standing in line at the bank, we withdraw twenty dollars in as many seconds from an automatic teller machine. Then we take our fast money to a fast convenience store (why wait in line at the supermarket?), where we buy a frozen dinner all wrapped up and ready to be put into the microwave... unless we don't care to wait even that long and pick up some fast food instead. And if our fast meal doesn't agree with us, we hurry to the medicine cabinet for—you guessed it—some fast relief. We like fast pictures, so we buy Polaroid cameras. We like fast entertainment, so we record our favorite TV show on the VCR. We like our information fast, too: messages flashed on a computer screen, documents faxed from your telephone to mine, current events in 90-second bursts on Eyewitness News, history reduced to Bicentennial Minutes. Symbolically, the American eagle now flies for Express Mail. How dare anyone keep America waiting longer than overnight?
只求快速，不肯放慢：我们不仅想现在拥有，甚至一刻都不愿意等待。这种普遍的不耐烦和“讨厌等待”的态度已经影响到了我们生活的方方面面。我们不会去银行排队，而是用20秒从自动取款机内取出20美元。然后拿着快速取出的钱去一家便利店（为什么要在超市里排队呢？），在便利店里我们买已包好的、只需放在微波炉里热一下就可以吃的速冻晚餐……如果我们确实连那点时间也懒得等的话，我们还可以吃一些快餐。如果我们吃了快餐后感觉不舒服，我们就赶紧去药柜找——你猜对了——一些可以快速缓解疼痛的药。我们喜欢快照，因此我们买宝丽来一次成像照相机。我们喜欢快捷的娱乐，因此我们把最喜爱的电视节目用录像机录下来。我们也喜欢快捷地传递信息：信息在电脑屏幕上闪现，文件从你的手机传真到我的手机上，时事浓缩到90秒钟的《目击新闻》栏目中，历史被概括成“200周年中的重要瞬间”。美国国家的象征——秀鹰，现在也成了邮政速递的标志。有谁胆敢让美国等到第二天？