Many people think a telephone is a necessity. But I think it is a pest (有害的事物) and a time waste. Very often you find it impossible to escape from it. If you have a telephone in your own house, you will admit that it tends to ring when you least want it to ring; when you are asleep, or in the middle of a meal or a conversation or when you are just going out, or when you are in your bath. Are you strong-minded enough to ignore it? You are not. You think there may be some important news or message for you. I can assure you that if a message is really important it will reach you sooner or later. Have you ever rushed crippling from the bath, or chewing from the table, or dazed from the bed, only to be told that you are a wrong number?
But you will say, you need not have your name printed in the telephone directory, and you can have a
