你是不是狂熱地追趕時尚？在我們當中有很多人迷戀最新的手機遊戲和玩具，以至於沉浸在這些遊戲的虛幻世界中。我們為什麼會迷戀虛擬遊戲和曇花一現的潮流呢？本期選文探討一時的流行給我們所帶來的利與弊。
課文內容Vocabulary: crazes 詞彙：風行一時的東西
Have you got an addictive nature? Are you unable to stop yourself joining in with the latest obsession for collecting or doing something? This probably describes most of us because it's only human nature to not want to miss out on something that everyone else is talking about.
Most fads arrive suddenly and enthusiasm for them spreads quickly. They become a talking point on social media; we read about them, give them a try and, before we know it, we are hooked. In the past, these have been objects such as toys and games. Maybe you were the proud owner of a Rubik's cube, which became the best-selling toy of all time – around 350 million have been sold so far.
Now, technology is driving the latest crazes. In some parts of the world, flavour of the month is Pokémon Go – a game that uses augmented reality, where little virtual monsters pop up onto your phone and you have to catch them. And games such as Angry Birds and Minecraft are other crazes, available on smartphones and tablets, that have been hard to put down.
Our keeness to participate in crazes has been analysed by experts. One of them, Dr Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist, explains that we want to experience the benefit that another person, or group of people, have experienced from something and this "hooks into an ancient evolutionary fear of being left behind or abandoned by our tribes"; we have to join in or lose out.
Although becoming addicted to a computer game might not seem like a 'benefit', it can at least give you credibility or popularity among your friends. It allows you to learn new skills and gives you something to talk about at parties!
But fashions come and go and most fads are just a flash in the pan so if one of them is not your cup of tea, don't worry: there'll be a new craze arriving very soon. Look at the addiction to the unsophisticated loom bands – those little rubber bands you could make jewellery and other things out of. For a brief period they were the must-have item for any schoolchild, now they're the bargain bucket item in a discount shop or worse still, trash filling up our landfill sites! What crazes have you been addicted to?