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[00:05.51]Hello and welcome to Words and Their Stories
[00:08.60]-- a weekly program from VOA Learning English.
[00:12.64]It can be said that the United States is a driving culture.
[00:17.40]The U.S., after all, is a big country
[00:20.72]and many Americans love cars.
[00:24.56]So, it is no surprise that many Americans English expressions
[00:29.60]come from the world of driving.
[00:32.68]One exciting example is "life in the fast lane."
[00:38.12]This expression comes from the country's large system of highways.
[00:43.92]The roads are marked with painted lines to keep vehicles safely apart.
[00:50.96]These lines divide each road into separate lanes.
[00:55.92]Most highways in the U.S. are wide enough
[00:59.00]for three or four cars to travel side-by-side.
[01:04.08]Many areas require that slow drivers drive in the far-right lane.
[01:10.88]Faster moving traffic operates in the middle lanes.
[01:15.96]The fastest cars drive on the far-left side -- also called the fast lane.
[01:23.24]Someone living in the fast lane is like a fast-moving car.
[01:29.36]They live dangerously, at breakneck speed.
[01:34.04]It is a way of life marked by a fast pace
[01:38.92]and usually the chase of immediate satisfaction.
[01:43.12]A person who lives in the fast lane
[01:46.60]is not happy to just live life quietly like other people.
[01:51.64]No. For someone living in the fast lane
[01:55.60]life is one exciting experience after another.
[02:00.60]Every night is a party!
[02:04.20]Living life in the fast lane can be a selfish way to live.
[02:09.56]Sometimes these people only care about finding their next big thrill.
[02:14.76]Such people might drink a lot of alcohol or use other drugs.
[02:21.04]They do not think twice about how their lifestyle
[02:25.08]may affect them down the road or how it may affect others.
[02:31.44]So, who lives in the fast lane?
[02:34.88]Living in the fast lane has a high price tag.
[02:38.84]You need lots of money for this kind of life.
[02:43.20]Some Hollywood movie actors are famous for their rich, fast-paced lives.
[02:50.20]Sports stars can have days filled with events, parties and groupies
[02:56.40]– people who like famous people and follow them.
[03:00.48]But you do not have to be famous to live in the fast lane.
[03:04.96]Many politicians, lawyers and business tycoons live in the fast lane.
[03:12.32]For them, life is full of movement, excitement and action!
[03:18.00]However, most people -- even actors and sports stars
[03:23.20]-- need to be well-rested to perform well.
[03:26.72]If not, they could burn out quickly.
[03:30.68]But getting a full 8 hours is usually not part of life in the fast lane.
[03:37.80]Many people who live in the fast lane are young.
[03:41.76]Sometimes, the fast lane leads them down a rocky road,
[03:45.92]or a very difficult phase.
[03:49.28]Others may hit a fork in the road.
[03:52.52]They must decide to stay in the fast lane
[03:56.48]or slow down to possibly have a longer and more meaningful life.
[04:02.28]And some never learn.
[04:05.20]Their life in the fast lane leads them to the end of the road – meaning they die.
[04:12.40]Rock musicians are known for living in the fast lane.
[04:18.08]We do not have time to name all of the performers
[04:21.80]who died young from their fast ways.
[04:25.76]Members of the rock band the Eagles lived in the fast lane.
[04:30.56]In fact, the group's founders, Glenn Frey
[04:34.12]and Don Henley, co-wrote a song about it.
[04:38.04]"Life in the Fast Lane" is one of their biggest hits.
[04:43.20]The two men were honest about this way of life,
[04:46.48]singing it will "surely make you lose your mind."
[04:50.68]You are listening: Life in the Fast Lane
[04:56.36]Glenn Frey died on January 18, 2016.
[05:00.92]As he aged, Frey did slow down.
[05:04.60]He became interested in health and physical fitness.
[05:09.04]But he died at the relatively young age of 67.
[05:13.92]I'm Anna Matteo.
[05:15.68]You are listening: Life in the Fast Lane
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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