ISSUE 1
Are You Busy?
M

ost people claim to be extremely busy. But I wonder if they are really any busier
than people who lived at other times. Maybe most people generally regard
themselves as being busy even if they are not. No one wants to admit to idleness orlaziness, not even to himself. It may also be that people are aware that there are somany possibilities of things to do that they feel compelled to do them all.

What keeps you busy?
1. My job
2. Family concerns
3. Cultivating relationships with others
4. My kids
5. Efforts to improve the quality of my life
6. I just pretend to be busy.

> claim : say that (sth) is true, even though there is no definite proof> regard ; think of (sth) or (sb) in a particular way> compel : force (sb) to do (sth)> cultivate : develop a friendship or relationship with (sb)1bus
Are youy?

Issue 1

Sample Answers(A) On weekends, there always seems to be some sort of family obligation I have to attend.
Someone is always having a birthday or anniversary or graduation or a wedding or other kindof family reunion. If nothing is scheduled and I think I will have some free time, it always seems
like a family emergency occurs, so I never have time for myself.
(B) Children are not only expensive but time-consuming as well! Every day I have to make surethey are doing their homework. They participate in sports and other activities that I have toattend, too. But even without these obvious instances, they always need my personal love
and attention on display. It wears me out!

SPEAK YOUR MIND
1. Who is the busiest in your family?
2. Do you have enough time to do what you want? Why or why not?
3. How do you spend your free time?
4. If your boss asked you to work overtime, would you agree?
5. Do you usually come home late or early? Why?
6. Who do you think are busier, kids or adults?
7. Which do you think is more important, making money or spending time withyour family or friends?
8. What is a typical example of how you waste time?
9. Who do you think are busier these days, men or women?

> obligation : moral or legal duty to do (sth)> emergency : unexpected situation that must be dealt with immediately> occur : happen> on display : presented in a visible, prominent manner> wear (sb) out : make (sb) feel extremely tired> overtime : extra hours that (sb) works beyond the minimum requirement> typical : having the usual features or qualities of a particular classification2

Speak Your Mind Helpers
1. Who is the busiest in your family?
(A) I am. I work nine to five plus overtime. When I return home, my wife expects me tohelp her with her chores and to take care of our kids while she cooks supper. But by
then I’m tired and just want to relax for a while.
(B) Being a housewife is always the busiest job in the world. My husband must thinkhousehold chores are a form of leisure activity. But, of course, even though he always
says he is ready to help, he never actually does any of these chores, so how could heknow what they’re like? If he would help me just one time he would never think thatway again. It’s not leisure, it’s hard work!

2. Do you have enough time to do what you want? Why or why not?
(A) It’s all just a matter of management, actually. There is more to life than merely workand obligation. The busier I am, the more disciplined I have to be, but I always
budget enough time for the important things. It’s only when I’m not very busy that I
find myself not accomplishing everything I want, because I get lazy.
(B) Maybe if I had two or three more hours a day, I could actually do some of the things Iwant to do. As it is, I’m always spending most of my time doing what other people
want me to do, and in the time left I’m too tired to do anything.

3. How do you spend your free time?
(A) I go to the movies every chance I get. It doesn’t have to be a particularly good film
to work its magic. Before long, I am living someone else’s exciting life, not my own
boring one anymore. Two hours later, I feel like a new person, refreshed and ready toresume my own existence.
(B) The best thing I can do with my free time is to spend it on my hobbies. I have several
collections of stamps and coins I’m working on. The beauty of it all is that the time isflexible. If I only have ten minutes a day to spare, that’s fine, but it’s also easy tospend hours at it.

> disciplined : well organized and following rules and standards> budget : plan> work : bring about> resume : start (sth) again after stopping temporarily> I’m working on : I’m dealing with> the beauty of (sth) : particular good quality that makes (sth) especially appropriate or useful3Speak Your Mind Helpers
4. If your boss asked you to work overtime, would you agree?
(A) Of course. What choice would I have? I want to get promoted and I certainly don’t
want to get fired!
(B) It depends on the circumstances. Once in a while it may be necessary to complete a
project that is taking longer than expected. But if I had a prior commitment with myfamily for some special occasion, I would respectfully decline and make it up someother time.

5. Do you usually come home late or early? Why?
(A) I have to go home early every day. Someone needs to take care of the kids after
school and cook supper for the family.
(B) Unfortunately, I get home later and later. I can’t get out of the office until my boss
leaves, and he seems to want to live there! And then, I feel obligated to spend timewith my fellow workers. It’s important to have close friendships at work, and we allneed to unwind from a hard day. But I wish I could just go home at a decent hourand spend more time with my family.

6. Who do you think are busier, kids or adults?
(A) Kids think they are busy, because they have not experienced the grown-up world yet.
I know that I would love to be a youngster again and deal exclusively with my childish
problems instead of the really serious ones I have to grapple with every day now.
(B) Adults must forget what it was like to be my age. They complain about how busy
they are, but it seems like they always have the time to do the things they want to do.
They can go out whenever they want, watch TV, read a book, or meet their friends.
But all I ever do is study. If I’m not studying, I’m sleeping. I have no free time at all.

> flexible : capable of changing; adaptable> fired : dismissed> prior : coming before in time, order, or importance> commitment : promise to do (sth)> decline : refuse politely to do or accept (sth)> make up : compensate> obligated : forced> unwind : become free of worry or tension; relax> at a decent hour : at an early or reasonable time
> exclusively : only
> grapple with : try hard to deal with4

Speak Your Mind Helpers
7. Which do you think is more important, making money or spendingtime with your family or friends?
(A) It is certainly more enjoyable to spend time with loved ones, but that isn’t thequestion. Most of us don’t have any option in life. If we don’t work hard, we don’t
work at all, and if we don’t work, we don’t eat or have a roof over our heads. So it’svery important to make money, even though I would rather be with my family.
(B) I used to think that money was everything and that my family would thank me for all
the hard work I put in on their behalf. But I was wrong. I was a stranger to my wife,and my kids hardly knew me. Now, when it’s too late, I realize that I was not only
depriving myself of their presence, but I was depriving them of mine as well. If I could
do it all over again, my priorities would be different.

8. What is a typical example of how you waste time?
(A) Now that I think about it, I guess that all the time and money I spend playing
electronic games is the biggest time-waster in my life. In a typical week, this is way
over half of my free time! I guess I should spend more time with other people.
(B) I like to gossip with my friends. I’ll spend hours and hours every week on the phone orat a coffee shop or bar talking to all my friends. Meanwhile, the important goals I’ve
set myself are just receding further into the future.

> roof over (one’s) head : place to live
> on their behalf : for their welfare> priority : (sth) important, that must be done first or needs more attention than anything else
> gossip : talk about other people or about things that are not important> recede : become more distant5

9. Who do you think are busier these days, men or women?
M : As always, men are busier than women are.
F : What! How can you say that?
M : Maybe, at one time, “A woman’s work is never done” was true. But these days, awoman can do all of her housework in a few hours and have lots of leisure time toshop and meet her friends before her husband and children get home. I wish I had
life that easy!
F : You aren't a woman, and it’s obvious you don’t know what you are talking about.
M : Obviously I’m not a female. But that doesn’t mean that I’m ignorant.
F : The modern woman has to get up early in the morning, fix breakfast for her family,
get her children ready for school, get herself dressed, go to work, spend a hard dayon the job, come home, help kids with homework, do the housework, prepare supper, do the dishes, put the kids to bed, finish any work that she has taken home withher from the office, deal with her husband’s needs, and then finally go to sleep. Andthen, early the next day, she starts the routine all over again.
M : Nevertheless, I spend far more time at work than my wife does. Even after hours, I
have to meet with clients to further the company’s interests.
F : You mean you go to fancy restaurants and expensive bars instead of going homeand helping your wife.
M : It may seem like fun to an outsider, but it is actually very stressful. I really just want to
be at home.
F : Once a man’s done with work, he’s done! But a woman has to maintain two jobs,
one at home and one outside the house. No wonder she gets old so fast.
M : Oh, come on! Women outlive men by several
years. I’m convinced that the hard work shortens
men’s lives, and the women get to save theirenergy and live longer.
F : No. But maybe women are so busy they aren’t
able to drink or smoke or overeat the way men
do — it’s those activities which kill them off, notthe work!

> fix : prepare> routine : usual way of doing things> further : help (sth) succeed or be achieved> outlive : live longer than (sb) else
> kill off : destroy completely6