【正文】 . 10 The recent introduction of paper and quasipaper clothing carried the trend toward disposability a step further. Fashionable boutiques and workingclass clothing stores have spouted whole departments devoted to gaily colored and imaginatively designed paper apparel. Fashion magazines display breathtakingly sumptuous (expensive and grand) gowns, coats, pajamas, even wedding dresses made of paper. The bride pictured in one of these wears a long white train of lacelike paper that, the caption writer notes, will make ―great kitchen curtains‖ after the ceremony. 11 Paper clothes are particularly suitable for children. Writers one fashion expert: ―Little girls will soon be able to spill ice cream, draw pictures and make cutouts on their clothes while their mothers smile benignly at their creativity.‖ And for adults who want express their own creativity, there is even a ―paintyourselfdress‖ plete with brushes. Price: $ . 12 Price, of course, is a critical factor behind the paper explosion. Thus a department store features simple Aline dresses made of what it calls ―devilmaycare cellulose fiber and nylon.‖ At $ each, it is almost cheaper for the consumer to buy and discard a mew one than to send an ordinary dress to the cleaners. Soon it will be. But more than economics is involved, for the extension of the throwaway culture has important psychological consequences. 13 We develop a throwaway mentality to match our throwaway products. This mentality produces, among other things, a set of radically altered values with respect to property. But the spread of disposability 新編英語教程 5 下 (Unit 815全冊課文整理版 ) ants 05 4 through the society also implies decreased durations in manthing relationships. Instead of being linked with a single object over a relatively long span of time, we are linked for brief periods with the succession of objects that supplant it. From: and , pp. 128133. TEXT II （ P 127） The DoItYourselfers Alvin Toffler 1. In 1956 the American Telephone amp。 Telegraph Company, creaking under the burden of exploding munications demand, began introducing new electronic technology that made it possible for callers to directdial their longdistance calls. Today it is even possible to directdial many overseas calls. By punching in the appropriate numbers, the consumer took on a task previously done for him by the operator. 2. In 197374 the oil squeeze triggered by the Arab embargo sent gasoline prices soaring. Giant oil panies reaped bonanza profits, but local fillingstation operators had to fight a desperate battle for economic survival. To cut costs many introduced selfservice fuel pumps. At first these were an oddity. Newspapers wrote funny feature stories about the motorist who tried to put the fuel hose into the car radiator. Soon, however, the sight of consumers pumping their own gas became a monplace. 3. Only 8 percent of . gas stations were on a selfservice basis in 1974. By 1977 the number reached nearly 50 percent. In West Germany, of 33,500 service stations some 15 percent had shifted to selfservice by 1976, and this 15 percent accounted for 35 percent of all the gasoline sold. Industry experts say that it will soon be 70 percent of the total. Once more the consumer is replacing a producer and being a prosumer. 4. The same period saw the introduction of electronic banking, which not only began to break down the pattern of banker39。s hours but also increasingly eliminated the teller, leaving the customer to perform operations previously done by the bank staff. 5. Getting the customer to do part of the job!known to economists as externalizing labor cost!is scarcely new. That39。s what selfservice supermarkets are all about. The smiling clerk who knew the stock and went and got it for you was replaced by the pushit yourself shopping cart. While some customers lamented the good old days of personal service, many liked the new system. They could do their own searching and they wound up paying a few cents less. In effect, they were paying themselves to do the work the clerk had previously done. 6. Today this same form of externalization is occurring in many other fields. The rise of discount stores, for example, represents a partial step in the same direction. Clerks are far and few between。 the customer pays a bit less but works a bit harder. Even shoe stores, in which a supposedly skilled clerk was long regarded as a necessity, are moving to selfservice, shifting work to the consumer. 7. The same principle can be found elsewhere, too. As Caroline Bird has written in her perceptive book, The Crowding Syndrome, More things e knocked down for supposedly easy assembly at home . . . and during the Christmas season shoppers in some of the proudest old New York stores have to make out sales slips for clerks unable or unwilling to write. 8. In January 1978 a thirtyyearold government worker in Washington, ., heard strange noises emanating from his refrigerator. The customary thing to do in the past was to call in a mechanic and pay him to fix it. Given the high cost and (he difficulty of getting a repairman at a convenient hour, Barry Nussbaum read the instructions that came with his refrigerator. On it he discovered an 800 telephone number that he could use to call the manufacturer! Whirlpool Corporation of Benton Harbor, Michigan!free of charge. 9. This was the CoolLine set up by Whirlpool to help customers with service problems. Nussbaum called. The man at the other end then talked him through a repair, explaining to Nussbaum exactly which bolts to remove, which sounds to listen for and!later!what part would be needed. That guy, says Nussbaum, was superhelpful. He not only knew what I needed to do, he was a great confidence builder. The refrigerator was fixed in no time. 10. Whirlpool has a bank of nine fulltime and se