Transcript Another School Year--

Unit One
Another School Year —
What For?
Main Points
• About the author
– his voice
– how he pictures the world
– Other background information
• Check of Pre-class Work
• Text appreciation
– structure analysis
– topic discussion
• Language understanding
– sentence paraphrase
– word study
– writing techniques
Warming-up
Qs
1. Did you have a good holiday? What did you do
during the holiday?
2. Have you had any reflections on your first term
college life? What do you think is your most
impressive experience in the last semester?
3. According to your own understanding, what are
the major differences between high school and
college educations?
About the Author
• John Anthony Ciardi
was an American poet,
translator, and
etymologist.
Ciardi was born in
Boston's Little Italy.
He attended Bates
College, Tufts College
and the University of
Michigan.
• After serving in the
Army Air Corps during
World War II, he
taught at the
University of Kansas
City, Harvard, and
finally at Rutgers.
In 1961, he left his
tenured position
for an
independent career.
• Ciardi was well known for his poetry for adults and
children and his English translations of Dante Alighieri's
great works.
He worked with Isaac Asimov on collections of limericks.
As an etymologist, he is known for a three-volume
Browser's Dictionary and his broadcasts on National
Public Radio, both as host of A Word in Your Ear and as
a commentator for Morning Edition and Weekend
Edition. Etymologies and commentary on words such as
daisy, demijohn, jimmies (the sprinkles on doughnuts and
ice cream), gerrymander, glitch, snafu, cretin, and
baseball, among others, are available from the archives
of NPR's website.
He died on Easter Sunday, 1986 of a heart attack in
New Jersey, but not before composing his own epitaph:
Edward M. Cifelli is the author of John Ciardi: A
Biography; he has also edited The Collected Poems
ofJohn Ciardi.
• the millionaire poet: A humbly born son of Italian immigrants in
Boston’s Little Italy, Ciardi had built by 1986 a solid reputation in six
different areas as a kind of larger-than-life cultural legend.
• well known for his poetry, 21 volumes of it.
• master of what he liked to call the Unimportant Poem, the sort of
poem written to celebrate nothing more important than the sipping
of coffee at breakfast or the watching of birds in the backyard. He
wrote love poems too, and poems about his Italian heritage. He was
being humble when he called his poems "unimportant" because they
were about the most important subject of all not just his own life,
but everyone’s.
The Author’s Voice
Nona Domenica Garnaro
Nona Domenica Garnaro sits in the sun
on the step of her house in Calabria.
There are seven men and four women in the
village
who call her Mama, and the orange trees
fountain their blooms down all the hill and valley.
No one can see more memory from this step
than Nona Domenica. When she folds her hands
in her lap they fall together
like two Christs fallen from a driftwood shrine.
All their weathers are twisted into them.
There is that art in them that will not be carved
but can only be waited for. These hands are not
sad nor happy nor tired nor strong. They are
simply
complete. They lie still in her lap
and she sits waiting quietly in the sun
for what will happen, as for example, a petal
may blow down on the wind and lie across
both of her thumbs, and she look down at it.
Background
Information
William Shakespeare
Tragedies:
• (1) 'Hamlet', 'Macbeth', 'King Lear', 'Othello';
• (2) 'Antony and Cleopatra', 'Coriolanus', 'Romeo and
Juliet', 'Julius Caesar';
• (3) 'Richard II', 'Richard III', 'Timon of Athens';
• (4) 'King John', 'Titus Andronicus', 'Henry VI'.
Comedies:
(1)
• 'The Tempest',
• 'As You Like It',
• 'The Winter's Tale',
• 'The Merchant of Venice',
• Twelfth Night',
• 'Much Ado about Nothing',
(2)
• 'Cymbeline',
'The Merry Wives of Windsor',
• 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'; 'The Taming of the Shrew',
'Two Gentlemen of Verona',
'All's Well That Ends Well',
'A Comedy of Errors',
'Pericles',
'Love's Labour's Lost',
'Two Noble Kinsmen'.
Histories:
(1)
• 'Henry IV', Parts 1 and 2,
• 'Henry V',
• 'Richard II',
• 'Richard III',
• 'Henry VIII,;
(2) 'King John',
• 'Henry VI', Parts 2 and 3,
• 'Henry VI', Part 1.
Shakespeare’s Burial Site
Serious Plays, or Bitter Comedies:
• 'Measure for Measure',
• 'Troilus and Cressida'.
The Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre in London The Globe Theatre, where
dramatist William Shakespeare saw his plays performed
400 years ago, has been rebuilt near its original location on
the south bank of the Thames River in London, England.
The rebuilt theater opened in 1997 and offers performances
of Shakespeare’s plays during the summer.
Bach
• Bach, Johann Sebastian (16851750), was considered by many of
his peers to be the supreme
master of counterpoint
(compositional technique pitting
note against note or melody
against melody). This quality was
expressly illustrated in his fugal
compositions. In this excerpt from
his famous Toccata and Fugue in D
Minor, written in his early years as
a court organist, Bach expands on
the toccata (short, intricately
articulated keyboard movement)
form in an elaborately constructed
fugue.
Homer
• Homer, name traditionally assigned to the author of the
Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek
antiquity. Nothing is known of Homer as an individual,
and in fact it is a matter of controversy whether a single
person can be said to have written both the Iliad and the
Odyssey. Linguistic and historical evidence, however,
suggests that the poems were composed in the Greek
settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime in
the 8th century.
THE ILIAD
• The Iliad is set in the final year of the Trojan War, fought
between the Greeks and the inhabitants of the city of Troy. The
legendary conflict forms the background for the central plot of
the story: the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles. Insulted by his
commander in chief, Agamemnon, the young warrior Achilles
withdraws from the war, leaving his fellow Greeks to suffer
terrible defeats at the hands of the Trojans. Achilles rejects the
Greeks' attempts at reconciliation but finally relents to some
extent, allowing his companion Patroclus to lead his troops in
his place. Patroclus is slain, and Achilles, filled with fury and
remorse, turns his wrath against the Trojans, whose leader,
Hector (son of King Priam), he kills in single combat. The
poem closes as Achilles surrenders the corpse of Hector to
Priam for burial, recognizing a certain kinship with the Trojan
king as they both face the tragedies of mortality and
bereavement.
THE ODYSSEY
• The Odyssey describes the return of the Greek hero
Odysseus from the Trojan War. The opening scenes depict
the disorder that has arisen in Odysseus's household
during his long absence: A band of suitors is living off of
his wealth as they woo his wife, Penelope. The epic then
tells of Odysseus's ten years of traveling, during which he
has to face such dangers as the man-eating giant
Polyphemus and such subtler threats as the goddess
Calypso, who offers him immortality if he will abandon
his quest for home. The second half of the poem begins
with Odysseus's arrival at his home island of Ithaca. Here,
exercising infinite patience and self-control, Odysseus
tests the loyalty of his servants; plots and carries out a
bloody revenge on Penelope's suitors; and is reunited with
his son, his wife, and his aged father.
VIRGIL, or VERGI
(70-19 BC).
• The greatest of the Roman poets, Publius
Vergilius Maro, was not a Roman by birth.
His early home was on a farm in the village
of Andes, near Mantua. His father was a
farmer, prosperous enough to give his son
the best education. The young Virgil was
sent to school at Cremona and then to Milan.
At the age of 17 he went to Rome to study.
There he learned rhetoric and philosophy
from the best teachers of the day.
Mosaic of Virgil and the two
muses Cleo and Melpomene
• Virgil studied the Greek poets. He wrote his 'Eclogues'. These
are pastoral poems describing the beauty of Italian scenes. At
the suggestion of Maecenas he wrote a more serious work on
the art of farming and the charms of country life called the
'Georgics'. This established his fame as the foremost poet of his
age.
• The year after the 'Georgics' was published, he began his great
epic, the 'Aeneid'. He took as his hero the Trojan Aeneas,
supposed to be the founder of the Roman nation. The poem,
published after Virgil's death, exercised a tremendous influence
upon Latin and later Christian literature, prose as well as poetry.
Thus his influence continued through the Middle Ages and into
modern times.
This 1469 painting depicts Virgil
as he drafts the poem Georgics
(36-29 bc) before a statue of the
Greek goddess Artemis.
DANTE (1265-1321).
• One of the greatest poets in the history of
world literature, Italian writer Dante Alighieri
composed poetry influenced by classical and
Christian tradition.
• Dante’s greatest work was the epic poem La
divina commedia (1321?; The Divine Comedy,
1802).
• It includes three sections:
• the Inferno (Hell), in which the great classical
poet Virgil leads Dante on a trip through hell;
• the Purgatorio (Purgatory), in which Virgil
leads Dante up the mountain of purification;
and
• the Paradiso (Paradise), in which Dante travels
through heaven. This passage from the Inferno
(recited by an actor) comes at the beginning of
the epic, when Dante loses his way in the
woods.
The illustration shows Dante standing
in front of the mountain of Purgatory,
with hell on his right and heaven on his
left.
The Divine Comedy
• was probably begun about 1307; it was completed
shortly before his death. The work is an allegorical
narrative, in verse of great precision and dramatic
force, of the poet's imaginary journey through hell,
purgatory, and heaven.
• In each of the three realms the poet meets with
mythological, historical, and contemporary
personages. Each character is symbolic of a
particular fault or virtue, either religious or political;
and the punishment or rewards meted out to the
characters further illustrate the larger meaning of
their actions in the universal scheme.
• Dante is guided through hell and purgatory by Virgil,
who is, to Dante, the symbol of reason. The woman
Dante loved, Beatrice, whom he regards as both a
manifestation and an instrument of the divine will, is
his guide through paradise.
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC).
• One of the greatest thinkers of all time, an ancient Greek
philosopher. His work in the natural and social sciences
greatly influenced virtually every area of modern thinking.
• Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira, on the northwest
coast of the Aegean Sea. His father was a friend and the
physician of the king of Macedonia, and the lad spent most
of his boyhood at the court. At 17, he went to Athens to
study. He enrolled at the famous Academy directed by the
philosopher Plato.
• Aristotle threw himself wholeheartedly into Plato's pursuit of
truth and goodness. Plato was soon calling him the "mind of
the school." In later years he renounced some of Plato's
theories and went far beyond him in breadth of knowledge.
•
• After his death, Aristotle's writings were scattered or lost.
In the early Middle Ages the only works of his known in
Western Europe were parts of his writings on logic. They
became the basis of one of the three subjects of the
medieval trivium--logic, grammar, and rhetoric. Early in
the 13th century other books reached the West. Some
came from Constantinople; others were brought by the
Arabs to Spain. Medieval scholars translated them into
Latin.
• The best known of Aristotle's writings that have been
preserved are 'Organon' (treatises on logic); 'Rhetoric';
'Poetics'; 'History of Animals'; 'Metaphysics'; 'De Anima'
(on psychology); 'Nicomachean Ethics'; 'Politics'; and
'Constitution of Athens'.
Geoffrey Chaucer
• Called the Father of the English Language as well as the Morning
Star of Song, Geoffrey Chaucer, after six centuries, has retained
his status as one of the three or four greatest English poets.
• He was the first to commit to lines of universal and enduring
appeal a vivid interest in nature, books, and people. As manysided as Shakespeare, he did for English narrative what
Shakespeare did for drama. If he lacks the profundity of
Shakespeare, he excels in playfulness of mood and simplicity of
expression.
• Though his language often seems quaint, he was essentially
modern. Familiarity with the language and with the literature of
his contemporaries persuades the most skeptical that he is nearer
to the present than many writers born long after he died.
Works
• The following list supplies approximate dates
for when Chaucer's works were completed:
'The Book of the Duchess' (1369);
'The House of Fame' (1374-84);
'The Parliament of Birds' (1374-81);
'Troilus and Criseyde' (1385);
'Canterbury Tales' (1387-1400).
• His last, longest, and most famous work was the
'Canterbury Tales'. His writing dominated English
poetry up to the time of Shakespeare.
The Canterbury Tales
• The Tales is a collection of stories set within a framing story of a
pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, the shrine of Saint Thomas
à Becket. The poet joins a band of pilgrims, vividly described in
the General Prologue, who assemble at the Tabard Inn outside
London for the journey to Canterbury. Ranging in status from a
Knight to a humble Plowman, they are a microcosm of 14thcentury English society.
• The Canterbury Tales contains 22 verse tales and 2 prose tales
presumably told by pilgrims to pass the time on their way to visit
a shrine in Canterbury, England.
• The tales represent nearly every variety of medieval story at its
best. The special genius of Chaucer's work, however, lies in the
dramatic interaction between the tales and the framing story.
LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, Francois de
(1613-80).
• Francois de La Rochefoucauld was born to one of the noble
families of France on Sept. 15, 1613, in Paris. His notions of
human faults and foibles grew out of a life immersed in the
political crises of his time. The public life of his family was
conditioned by the attitude of the monarchy toward the
nobility--sometimes flattering, sometimes threatening. Having
served in the army periodically from 1629 to 1646, La
Rochefoucauld became one of the prominent leaders in the
civil war from 1648 to 1653. Wounded in 1649 and again in
1652, he finally retired from the struggle with extensive face
and throat wounds and with his health ruined.
• The literary reputation of La Rochefoucauld rests on one book:
'Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales', published in
1665. Generally called the 'Maximes', these moral reflections
and maxims are a collection of cynical epigrams, or short
sayings, about human nature--a nature that the author felt is
dominated by self-interest. Typical of his point of view are the
following sayings: "We seldom find such sensible men as
those who agree with us"; "Virtues are lost in self-interest as
rivers are lost in the sea"; "The surest way to be deceived is to
think oneself cleverer than the others"; and "We always like
those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we
admire."
• After convalescing, he settled in Paris where he became
involved with a circle of brilliant and cultivated people who
debated intellectual subjects of all kinds. As an exercise, they
attempted to express their thoughts with the greatest brevity. In
so doing they made great use of the epigram, or maxim, which
creates surprise through the devices of exaggeration and
paradox. La Rochefoucauld soon gained mastery of this device.
The first edition of his 'Maximes' contains, in fact, some
longer selections along with the epigrams. Altogether he
authorized five editions of the book in his lifetime, the last
appearing in 1678. Two years later, on March 17, 1680, he
died in Paris.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of
the world’s leading research universities, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. In 1865 the school was opened in
Boston by geologist William Barton Rogers, who
became its first president.
Throughout its history MIT has held a worldwide
reputation for teaching and research. It was among the
first schools to use the laboratory method of instruction,
develop the modern profession of chemical engineering,
and offer courses in aeronautical and electrical
engineering and applied physics.
U.S.A. Map
2001-09-20 11:41:58
Check of
Pre-class Work
• Students’ Book
P11 Pre-class Work IV
Disaster
Be fresh out of /
from
A beanpole with
hair on top
Pharmacy: drugstore-mechanics
Pill-grinding
Expose
Certify that
Pharmacist
Engineer
Lawyer
Be out to do sth. /
for sth.
Be stuck to do
new species of mechanized savage
the push-button Neanderthal
• new type of humans who are
intellectually simple and not
developed and who can only work
machines
• An uneducated, ignorant person who
can only use / operate machines by
pushing the buttons.
Check of words
A. Can you describe the following
action?
B. Can you use the words you just
learned to fill in the blanks?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Informally we can call an annoying person or a
thing as a ___.
We may use another word to say something is
pretty enough. ___
Mr. Li ____ in pharmacy.
This machine could ____ electricity in case of a
power failure.
He is ___ in a two-month course for TOFEL.
f. They lack experience because they
are ___ from college.
g. A person who is quite
understandable of art is said to be
___.
h. ___ is called the “father of English
poetry” and one of the greatest
narrative poets of England.
Text Appreciation
Structure analysis
Topic discussion
Structure
analysis
Part I (para.1 – 8)
describes the writer’s encounter with one of his
student.
Part II (para. 9 – 14)
restates what the writer still believes to be the
purpose of a university: putting its students in
touch with the best civilizations the human race
has created.
Topic
discussion
This speech begins with an interesting incident between the professor and
one of his students in the professor’s early days of teaching.
 Under what circumstances did the professor meet the student?
 What did the student look like? How did he behave?
 What was the course the professor offered? Was the student
interested? What did he say to the professor one day?
 What kind of a teacher was the professor? Did he try hard to
convince the student that he was wrong?
 Do you think the young student finally agreed with the teacher?
 How do you think the story ended?
Fourteen years later, the professor still sticks to his principle and never
stops to try to convince the listeners. Try to find out the professor’s
point of view.
 Why did the professor draw a line between training and
education? In what way are they different?
 Are universities only for job training according to the
professor? What else should a student strive for in a
university?
 Why did the professor talk about how people should spend
the 24 hours in a day? Do you think it was a good argument?
 How did the professor try to prove the importance of bookreading?
 How would you respond if you are the professor?
 Is education for living or making a living?
-ize/ise
1. Verbal affixes
Word
Study
to cause to be; to make; to become
modernize / stablize / realize / crystalize /
materialize
standardize / computerize / idealize / capitalize
to put into stated place
hospitalize / centralize / socialize
-fy
to cause to be
purify / simplify / clarify / justify / notify /
simplify /
classify identify / terrify / qualify / terrify
-en
to become
darken / weaken / blacken / sadden
to be made of
wooden / golden / woolen
2. body / faculty / staff
• body
1. whole physical structure of a human being or an animal;
main part of a human body
dead body
a strong body
2. main part of sth
the body of a ship
the body of the theater
the main body of the book
3. object
heavenly bodies
a foreign body
4. group of people working or acting as a unit
a body of troops
a body of supporters
a legislative body
a government body
the student body
the governing body
the school body
an elected body
•
Faculty
1.
any of the power s of the body or mind
the faculty of the sight
mental faculties
2. department or group of related departments in a
university
the Faculty of Law
the Faculty of Science
3. the whole teaching staff in one of the departments or
in the whole university
The entire faculty of the university will attend the
meeting.
Staff (usu. sing)
group of assistants working together in a
business, etc responsible to a manager or a
person in authority
the hotel staff
the shop staff
We need more staff in the office.
I have a staff of ten
2. Those people doing administrative work
a head teacher and her staff
(校长及全体教师）
The school staff are expected to supervise
school meals.
•
1.
3. testify / justify /
verify / Certify
• testify declare as a witness, esp in court; give evidence
（提供证据，作证）
Two witnesses testified against her and one in her favour.
• justify show that sth / sb is right, reasonable or just
（表明或证明某人或某事是正当的，有理的或公正
的）
You shouldn’t attempt to justify yourself
They found it hard to justify their son’s giving up a
secure well-paid job.
• verify
to check; to make sure sth is true or
accurate
（证实，核
查）
The computer verified the data was loaded
correctly.
• certify to declare formally, esp in writing or on a
printed document
（尤指书面证明）
He certified it was his wife’s handwriting.
4. say / speak / talk / tell / converse
• say
• speak
其宾语通常是所说的话的内容，
He hasn’t said that he is leaving.
或用以表达出直接引语
He said, “Good night”, and went to bed.
用途较广，可指说或说话，
The baby is learning to speak.
Please don’t speak with your mouth full of food.
还可指发言或演讲，通常是一人讲大家听
I’d like to speak with you about my idea.
We have invited her to speak on American politics.
还可用来指会说或能够用某种语言说话。
He speaks several languages.
• Talk
通常用来指两人或两人以上相互交谈，含着有
说话对象的意思, 往往只调侃或闲聊
We sat in the bar and talked for hours
• Tell
强调一人提供信息，其他人接受信息
She told him to hurry up.
She told me nothing about herself.
• Converse
do
谈话交谈，更正式
It is a pleasure to converse with you.
It is difficult to converse with people who
not speak your language.
5. rather / fairly / quite
/
pretty
几个副词均可以表示“适度地”，“在某种程度上”，或
“不很”意
思，常用于改变所修饰的形容词或副词的分量
rather
1. 既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。与褒义词连用时，
听起来令人心情愉悦；
rather good play rather poor work
2. 与贬义词或中性词连用时，表示不赞成或不满意。
rather hot
rather small
3. 可与比较级或too连用
The house is rather bigger than we thought.
Those shoes are rather too small.
4. 与a/an + adj. + n.连用时，可置于a / an 之前。
a rather nice day a rather pretty woman
• fairly
• quite
可
• pretty
1.
2.
词义最弱，多与褒义词连用
fairly tidy / friendly
和rather一样，在与a/an + adj. + n.连用时，
置于a / an 之前。
A quite nice guy
a quite promising future
词义最强也最通俗，但词义的强弱受语调影响较大。
A pretty simple question a pretty ugly man
和rather一样既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。
与褒义词连用时，听起来令人心情愉悦；
6. sensitive / sensible
• sensible
reasonable; having or showing good
sense
a sensible person
a sensible suggestion
• sensitive easily hurt, damaged, affected,
offended, upset
a sensitive nerve
a sensitive girl
heat-sensitive
sensitive to criticism
•
1.
Difficult Sentences
New as I was to the faculty, I could have
told this specimen a number of things.
Paraphrase
Note
specimen:
Though I was a new teacher, I
knew I could tell him what a
university was for, but I couldn’t.
a person who is unusual in some way.
Here it refers to the student who
challenges the teacher.
2. I could have pointed out that he had enrolled,
not in a drugstore-mechanics school, but in a
college and that at eh end of his course
meant to reach for a scroll that read
Bachelor of Science.
Paraphrase
I could have told him that he was
now not getting training for a job in a technical
school but doing a B.S. at a university.
Note
mean to do sth:
a to intend to do sth.
reach for sth. :
to try to obtain sth.
read Bachelor of Science: to have Bachelor of
Science written on the scroll.
3. It would certify that he had specialized in pharmacy, but it
would further certify that he had been exposed to some of
the ideas mankind has generated within its history.
Paraphrase
The B.S. certificate would be an official
proof that the holder had special knowledge of pharmacy, but
it would also be a proof that he/ she had learned / absorbed
some profound ideas of the past.
Note
certify that…: to state officially, especially in writing
that…
specialize in: to limit all or most of one’s study, business, etc.
to a particular activity or subject.
generate: to produce or create sth.
They have a large body of young people who are
capable of generating new ideas.
This machine can generate electricity in case of a
power failure.
4. That is to say, he had not entered a technical training
school but a university and in universities students
enroll for both training and education.
Paraphrase
Here the word education is used in a
broad sense, not only the process of acquiring
knowledge and developing skills, but also that of
improving the mind.
Note
enroll: (BrE enrol) to arrange for yourself or
somebody else to officially join a course, school,
etc..
5. I could have told him all this, but it was
fairly obvious he wasn’t going to be around
long enough for it to matter.
Paraphrase
I didn’t actually say all this to him,
because I didn’t think he would stay at college very
long, so it wouldn’t be important whether or not he
knew what university education was for.
Note
be around:
to be present in a place; available
matter (to sb): to be important or have an
important effect on sb. / sth.
6. Nevertheless, I was young and I had a high
sense of duty and I tried to put it this
way…
Paraphrase
Instead of telling him the
importance of an all-around education, I tried to
convince him from a very practical point of view.
Note
put:
to express or say sth. in a particular
way.
Can you put it in another way?
I really don’t know how to put it. I don’t
really hate the city. I don’t love it either.
7. “For the rest of your life,” I said, your days
are going to average out to about twentyfour hours.”
Note
average out to:
(informal) to come to an
average or ordinary level or standard, especially
after being higher or lower.
Meals at the university average out to about 10 yuan
per day.
The couple’s income averages out to 5,000 yuan a month.
The restaurant’s monthly profits averaged out at 30% last
year.
8. They will be a little shorter when you
are in love, and a little longer when you
are out of love, but the average will
tend to hold.
Note
hold (= hold good): to be true or valid, to
apply
9. For eight of these hours, more or less,
you will be asleep.
Note
more or less:
approximately.
She works 12 hours a day, more or less.
another meaning of the idiom: basically,
essentially, almost
I’ve more or less finished my composition.
We have more or less reached an agreement on the
matter.
10. … be usefully employed.
Note
be employed in doing sth.:
spend your time doing sth.
(written) to
The old man’s days were employed in reading,
writing, and doing Chinese boxing.
The old lady was busily employed in knitting
sweaters for her grandchildren.
11. You will see to it that the cyanide stays out
of the aspirin, that the bull doesn’t jump the
fence, or that your client doesn’t go to the
electric chair as a result of your
incompetence.
Paraphrase You have to take responsibility for the
work you do. If you’ re a pharmacist, you
should make sure that aspirin is not mixed with
poisonous chemicals. As an engineer, you shouldn’t get
things out of control. If you become a lawyer, you
should make sure an innocent person is not sentenced
to death because you lack adequate legal knowledge
and skill to defend your client.
Note
see to it that: to make sure that
Can you see to it that all the invitations are delivered
today?
I’ll see to it that everything is ready before the guests
arrive.
the bull jumps the fence:
to make trouble; to make out
of control.
go to the electric chair:
to be sentenced to death; to be
punished by being killed on the electric chair, that is, by
passing electricity through the body
12. Along with everything else, they will
probably be what puts food on your table,
supports your wife, and rears your children.
Paraphrase
In addition to all other things
(such as satisfaction) these professions offer, they
provide you with a living so that you can support a
family: wife and children.
Note
along with:
in addition to sb. / sth.; in the same
way as sb. / sth.
13. They will be your income, and may it always
suffice.
Paraphrase
further learning.
Those professional skills will be rewarding
for your career and we hope that there
may always be opportunities of
Note
May: in formal English, “may” is used to express a hope or
wish
May you happy new year.
May you a happy holiday.
May peace finally prevail.
May our country be prosperous and our people happy.
14. … what do you do with those other
eight hours?
Note
do with:
(in questions with “what”) to
take action with regard to.
What shall we do with the children when we’re
away?
What do you do with rice straw in your country?
They do not know what to do with all the
garbage here.
15. Will the children ever be exposed to a reasonably
penetrating idea at home?
Paraphrase
Will your children ever hear you talk about
something profound at home?
Note
be exposed to (usually a new idea or feeling):
to be given
experience of it, or introduce to it.
To learn more about the world we live in, we should be
exposed to different cultures.
Studying abroad, he was exposed to a new way of life.
reasonably: to a degree that is fairly good but not very good
She wants to find a place reasonably close to her university.
Our university is not one of the top ten, but reasonably well
known both at home and abroad.
penetrating idea: one that requires the ability of
understanding clearly and deeply
16. Will you be presiding over a family that
maintains some contact with the great
democratic intellect?
Paraphrase
Will you be head of a family who
brings up the kids in a democratic spirit?
Note
preside over: to be in charge or control a meeting
or an event, here used humorously
maintain contact with: to keep in touch with, here
used figuratively
the great democratic intellect: the level of ideas
possible in a society based on the belief that all
people are equal politically or socially
17. Will there be a book in the house?
Paraphrase
Will you be reading serious books
(not just popular fiction)?
18. Will there be a painting a reasonably sensitive man
can look at without shuddering?
Paraphrase
What kind of pictures will you put up
in your house? Will you have a painting in your house
that shows some taste on your part?
19. this particular pest
Note
pest: (informal) an annoying person or a thing
20. Me, I’m out to make money.
Note
be out to do sth. / for sth.:
to be trying to
get or do sth.
The company is out to break into the European
market.
Look out for such end-of-the-year sales. These
shops are out to trick you into buying what you don’t
need.
21. “I hope you make a lot of it,” I told him, “because
you’re going to be badly stuck for something to do
when you’re not signing checks.”
Note
Note the sarcastic tone of the writer. In spite of what he
had said, the student didn’t seem to be convinced. What the
write meant here is something like this: If you don’t have any
goal in life apart from making money to satisfy your desire for
material riches, go ahead and make a lot of it.
be stuck for sth: not to know what to do in a particular
situation.
In the middle of the speech, he was stuck for words (=he
didn’t know how to go on).
signing checks: paying for what you’ve bought by signing
checks
22. … to put you in touch with what the
best human minds have thought.
Paraphrase
to expose you to / make you
understand the ideas, opinions and thinking of the
best philosophers, scientists, writers and artists in
human history.
23. If you have no time for Shakespeare, for a basic look at
philosophy, for the continuity of the fine arts, for that lesson
of man’s development we call history — then you have no
business being in college.
Paraphrase
If you don’t want to improve your mind and
broaden your horizon by studying a little literature, philosophy
and the fine arts and history, you shouldn’t be studying here
at college.
Note
that lesson of man’s development we call history:
我们
称之为历史的人类发展过程中有教育意义的经历；here, “that
lesson of man’s development” is the object of the verb “call”;
“history” is an objective complement.
lesson: an experience which acts as a warning to you or an
example from which you should learn
have no business doing sth. / have no business to do sth. : to
have no right to do sth., shouldn’t have been / be doing sth.
You’ve no business telling me what to do.
He has no business criticizing her about her make-up.
She has no business reading your mail.
24. You are on your way to being that new species
of mechanized savage, the push-button
Neanderthal.
Paraphrase
Note
You will soon become an uneducated,
ignorant person who can only work
machines and operate mechanical
equipment.
1. on one’s way to: on the point of experiencing or
achieving
2. new species of mechanized savage:
new types of humans who are intellectually simple
and not developed and who can only work machines
3. The push-button Neanderthal:
an uneducated, ignorant person who can only use /
operate machines by pushing the buttons.
25. Our colleges inevitably graduate a number of such
life forms, but it cannot be said that they went to
college; rather the college went through them —
without making contact.
Paraphrase
A number of such push-button savages get
college degrees. We cannot help that. But even with their
degrees, we can’t say that these people have received a
proper college education. It is more accurate to say that they
come through college without learning anything.
Note
life forms:
used sarcastically, meaning these people are
living creatures, but can’t think and reason.
go through (a person) (like a dose of salts): (of food, etc.) to
be quickly excreted / to pass through the body as waste
matter without being digested; here, used figuratively and
sarcastically
26. No one gets to be a human being
unaided.
Paraphrase
No one can grow up to be a
civilized person without the help of others.
Note
get to be / to do sth:
to reach the point at
which you are, feel, know, etc. sth.
Once you get to know her better, you’ll realize
she is compassionate at heart.
His absent-mindedness is getting to be a big
problem.
27. There is not time enough in a single lifetime to
invent for oneself everything one needs to know in
order to be a civilized human.
Paraphrase
To become a civilized person, you
need to acquire the knowledge and develop the
culture a civilized society needs. One lifetime is too
short to create an environment for him to become
civilized.
Note
a single lifetime:
the time during which a person
is alive.
a civilized human:
a person who is pleasant,
charming and without roughness of manner 有素养的
人
• SB P3
• Style
Writing
Technique
As it is originally a talk, the writer adopts a basically colloquial and
familiar style. As you read, the feel as if the professor is talking
to you face to face. To recreate the scene of his encounter with
the tall boy in his office, he uses the direct speech. This way,
the reader can imagine the ignorance of the student. The
sentence structure is generally not very complicated. But there
are a few long and involved sentences in the second part of the
text, for example, the last sentence in Para. 12. And the last
paragraph consists of two very long ones.
The tone in the first part is humorous and mildly sarcastic. The pharmacy
major is referred to as “a beanpole with hair on top”, “this specimen”
and “this particular pest”.
• Style of Public Speech
Writing
Technique
1. Paralinguistic features
1) Degree of formality: higher than casual
speech and unscripted commentary.
2) Degree of publicity: higher than casual speech,
close to unscripted commentary.
3) Preparedness
4) Channel limitation
2. Linguistic features
1) Syntax
A: Sentence structure
B: Verb phrases
C: Noun phrases
D: Sentence type
2) Lexis
A: Use of big words and multi-morpheme words.
B: Use of uncommon words. In the first speech
there are altogether 22 words that are not
recorded in “A General Service List”, amounting
to 13.6% of the total. (p. 236)
C: Nominalization: Substitution of noun phrases for
verbs or other kinds of phrases.
Example: On my induction into the presidency.
D: Use of abstract words. (p. 237)
E: Use of inclusive we.
3) Rhetorical devices
• Euphemism 委婉语
jump the fence
go to the electric chair
Writing
Technique
Euphemism, or “language pollution”, or “double speak,” as some call
it, is often intended to obscure or hide the real situation.
pass away
go to the bathroom
senior citizen
correction center
meat technologist
He is a bit slow for his age.
rest in peace
ladies’ room
sanitary engineer
domestic help
substandard housing
Further
discussion
• Value of College Education
A girl is going to give up her chance of receiving
college education in order to pursue her dream of
becoming a performer. Her father is worried about
her and posted a message on the internet, expecting
advice from other internet surfers.
寄件者：Steve Vaughn ([email protected])
主旨：Value of college education View this article only
网上论坛：rec.arts.theatre.misc
日期：1996/07/09
I hope I am posting my question to an appropriate
newsgroup. I apologize if not. My daughter is entering
her senior year in high school and plans to pursue a
career in theatre. She has wanted to be a performer
since she was very little and is a hard working, focused
person. She has received training in dance, voice, and
acting both in and outside of high school. She recently
informed us that a college education (degree) may not
be of that much value to her career, except for the
networking benefits from attending one of the top
flight theatre programs. I believe her current voice
and acting teacher has planted this seed. I would be
very appreciative of the opinions of anyone in
professional theatre regarding the importance of a
college education degree for someone planning to work
in this business. Her mother nor I have any experience
in this field. Thanks for your help.
The following letter is from one of the internet
surfers who are interested in this topic.
寄件者：Mary Beth ([email protected])
主旨：Re: Value of college education View this article only
网上论坛：rec.arts.theatre.misc
日期：1996/07/10
While a degree won't help your daughter get an
acting job (in that educational credentials aren't
necessary, talent is), I firmly believe in the value of
an education. Her schooling should help her to hone
her craft, and therefore will be a plus if she is truly
looking to pursue theatre as a career. Additionally, if
she is a vocalist, the training she should get will be
invaluable. I would suggest she look into colleges and
universities with reputations for good theatre and/or
music programs. Good luck to her!
Suppose you are also one of the interested
internet surfers, what will you say to the father
of the girl in your letter of reply?
Thank you
for
your
patience!