Issue 17 [b]"The primary goal of technological advancement should be to increase [b]people's efficiency so [b]that everyone has more leisure time." [b][b][b]The speaker contends that technology's primary goal should be to increase [b]our efficiency for the purpose of affording us more leisure time. I concede [b]that technology has enhanced our efficiency as we go about our everyday [b]lives. Productivity software helps us plan and coordinate projects; [b]intranets, the Internet, and satellite technology make us more efficient [b]messengers; and technology even helps us prepare our food and access [b]entertainment more efficiently. Beyond this concession, however, I find the [b]speaker's contention indefensible from both an empirical and a normative [b]standpoint. [b]注意这种新结构：运用了大量的事实作出对原文观点的让步性同意，但是在最后还是有所创 [b]新的提出自己的读到见解。这种开头给人一种很爽的感觉——have forcibly posed your [b]viewpoints. 让我们记住：The speaker contends that…I concede that… [b]Beyond this concession, however, I find the speaker's contention [b]indefensible from both an empirical and a normative standpoint. [b][b][b][b]The chief reason for my disagreement lies in the empirical proof: with [b]technological advancement comes diminished leisure time. In 1960 the [b]average U.S. family included only one breadwinner, who worked just over 40 [b]hours per week. Since then the average work week has increased steadily to [b]nearly 60 hours today; and in most families there are now two breadwinners. [b]What explains this decline in leisure despite increasing efficiency that [b]new technologies have brought about? I contend that technology itself is [b]the culprit behind the decline. We use the additional free time that [b]technology affords us not for leisure but rather for work. As computer [b]technology enables greater and greater office productivity it also raises [b]our employers' expectations--or demands--for production. Further [b]technological advances breed still greater efficiency and, in turn, [b]expectations. Our spiraling work load is only exacerbated by the [b]competitive business environment in which nearly all of us work today. [b]Moreover, every technological advance demands our time and attention in [b]order to learn how to use the new technology. Time devoted to keeping pace [b]with technology depletes time for leisure activities. 精华：注意breed的含意： [b]generate, bring in [b]可以说，这就是自己的见解，这就是the power of having been thinking. 作者一反常 [b]规，提出advanced technology在给人类带来这样那样的方便的同时，反而在蚕食人的time [b]and energy. [b][b][b]I disagree with the speaker for another reason as well: the suggestion that [b]technology's chief goal should be to facilitate leisure is simply [b]wrongheaded. There are far more vital concerns that technology can and [b]should address. Advances in bio-technology can help cure and prevent [b]diseases; advances in medical technology can allow for safer, less invasive [b]diagnosis and treatment; advances in genetics can help prevent birth [b]defects; advances in engineering and chemistry can improve the structural [b]integrity of our buildings, roads, bridges and vehicles; information [b]technology enables education while communication technology facilitates [b]global participation in the democratic process. In short, health, safety, [b]education, and freedom--and not leisure--are the proper final objectives of [b]technology. Admittedly, advances in these areas sometimes involve improved [b]efficiency; yet efficiency is merely a means to these more important ends. [b]确实精彩！读者也会不得不承认technology has resulted in short, health, safety, [b]education, and freedom--and not leisure, the final destination. [b][b]In sum, I find indefensible the speaker's suggestion that technology's [b]value lies chiefly in the efficiency and resulting leisure time it can [b]afford us. The suggestion runs contrary to the overwhelming evidence that [b]technology diminishes leisure time, and it wrongly places leisure ahead of [b]goals such as health, safety, education, and freedom as technology's [b]ultimate aims. [b]精华： …value lies chiefly in … [b]The suggestion runs contrary to the overwhelming evidence that… [b]and it wrongly places … ahead of [b][b]This is really an outstanding response towards the paradox of technology’s [b]influence upon man’s life. The author shows us cogent reasoning , [b]insightful and persuasive analysis, and superior control of language. It [b]indeed deserves 6 scores. [b]