A new study suggests that the roundtheclock availability that cell phones have brought to people's lives may take a toll on family life. The study,which followed more than 1,300 adults over 2 years, found that those who consistently used a mobile phone throughout the study period were more likely to report negative “spillover” between work and home life—and,in turn,less satisfaction with their family life.
Spillover essentially(本质上)means that the line between work and home begins to become unclear. Work life may invade home life when a parent is taking jobrelated calls at home,for instance—or family issues may start to take up work time. For example,a child may call mum at work,telling her “microwave exploded”,explained Noelle Chesley,an assistant professor of sociology at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee and the author of the study. The problem with cell phones seems to be that they are allowing for even more spillover between work and home.
This may be especially true for working women,the study found. Among men,consistent use of mobile phones seemed to allow more work issues to creep (潜入)into family time. But for women,the spillover tended to go in both directions. Being “connected” meant that work cut into home time,and family issues came into work life.
Cell phones seem to be opening more lines for stressful exchanges among family members. But there may be ways to control the spillover,according to Chesley. Employers, she said,could look at their policies on contacting employees after hours to make sure their expectations are “reasonable”.For their part,employees could decide that cell phones go off during family time, Chesley said.
What does the underlined phrase “take a toll on” probably mean in Paragraph 1?
A.explaining. | B.founding. | C.extending | D.damaging. |
According to Chesley,what is the best solution to the problem caused by cell phones?
A.Separate work hours from family time. |
B.Refuse to use cell phones. |
C.Ignore coming calls during family time. |
D.Encourage women to stay at home. |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
A.cell phones affect men as much as women |
B.cell phones seem to be convenient to families |
C.cell phones make the line between work and home unclear |
D.we can do nothing to solve the problem |
What is the main idea of the passage?
A. How to control the negative spillover caused by cell phones. |
B.How work life invades home life. |
C.Consistent use of cell phones makes people feel less satisfied with their work. |
D. Cell phones cause negative "spillover" between work life and home life. |