阅读理解。
It's interesting that technology often works as a servant for us, yet frequently we become a servant to
it. E-mail is a useful tool but many feel controlled by this new tool. The average business person is getting
about 80 e-mails per day and many feel that about 80% of the messages in their "Inbox" are of little or no
value.
So, I have four suggestions to help you to become better at "Erasing E-mail".
Get off the lists. The best way to deal with a problem is to never have it. If you are receiving a lot of
unwanted e-mails, ask to be removed from the various lists. This would include your inclusion in
unwanted lists.
"Unlisted address". Just as you keep an "unlisted" telephone number that you share only with those
whom you want to have direct access to, you might want to get a separate e-mail address only for the
important communications you wish to receive.
Check it once or twice per day. Many I speak with are becoming chained to their email server,
monitoring incoming email continuously. Maybe this is because e-mail creates its own sense of urgency,
but most of the communications are not all that urgent. I respond to them a couple of times per day.
Deal with it. As you open each e-mail, do one of the following:
a. If it requires a quick response, respond to it and delete it.
b. If it requires a response but is not the best use of your time, try to find someone else to do it.
c. If it is going to take any serious amount of time to respond, schedule it for action in your Day
Planner and then download the message, save it, or print it out for future action.
I personally receive about 250 e-mails per day and by practicing the suggestions above, I can handle
that volume in about an hour, taking advantage of this fantastic tool but not being controlled by it to make
sure I'm doing more important tasks in my day.
1. If you get unwanted e-mails, the best you can do is to ________.
A. make a list of them
B. put them into unwanted lists
C. send them to a special address
D. ask to be deleted from different lists
2. For the important communications, the writer suggests that you ______.
A. have a direct access for them
B. have several e-mail servers for them
C. get a separate e-mail address for them
D. get an unlisted phone number for them
3. To avoid being chained by the coming e-mails, what you can do is to ________.
A. respond urgent ones only
B. reply to all of them at the same time
C. handle them a couple of times daily
D. keep replying to e-mails all day long
4. To deal with an e-mail you get, you can do the following EXCEPT _______.
A. responding right away if it's urgent
B. downloading every e-mail before you reply
C. scheduling it for later reply if it takes much time
D. asking someone else to reply to it if it's not at your convenience
