Lesson One
Thinking as a Hobby
By William Golding
Life Story of the Author

William Golding (1911-1993), a British
writer who won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1983, and who is known
especially for his novel Lord of the Flies.
William Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983
William Golding and His Family
When William Golding (1911-1993) was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, the Nobel
Foundation cited:
"his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic
narrative art and the diversity and universality of
myth, illuminate the human condition in the world
of today".
Golding was born
in Cornwall and
educated at
Brasenose
College, Oxford.
Before WWII,
he worked as a
writer, actor,
and producer
with small
theatre
companies and
as a teacher.
William Golding acted in
Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale
A Brief Introduction to the Text
This text is about thinking, which is of
extreme importance, because the
linguistic competence is not just
grammar and vocabulary, and a good
training in logical and critical thinking is
considered as a must in a good liberal
arts education, which is employed to deal
with more serious subjects and discuss
more complex problems.
Questions for discussion
1. What does “hobby” refer to?
2. Why does author use this word in the title?
It’s very interesting for the author to
use “hobby” in the title. By using
this word he means that thinking is
not just for professional thinkers like
philosophers. It is something all
educated people should enjoy doing.
This special interest is often referred
to as “idle curiosity”, and it is
considered one of the most precious
qualities in young scholars.
OUTLINE OF THE TEXT



The first part tells us how the subject of
thinking was first brought up to the author and
how he came to understand the nature of
what he calls “grade-three thinking”, which he
discovered, was no thinking at all, but a
combination of ignorance, prejudice and
hypocrisy.
The second part deals with “grade-two
thinking”, which has nothing constructive to
offer and destroys without the power to create.
The last part deals with the “grade-one
thinkers”—people who set out to find the truth
and get it.
Detailed study of the Text
hobby: an activity or interest pursued outside
one's regular occupation and engaged in
primarily for pleasure.
eg. He works in a bank, but his hobby is building
model boats.
他在银行工作，但他的业余爱好是做船舶模型。
Any personal hobbies such as sports, music and
collecting stamps never had a place in his life.
任何一种个人的业余爱好,如体育活动,音乐,集邮等
等在他的生活中从未有过地位。
Paragraph
1:
1. I came to the conclusion that thee were
three grades of thinking…
to come to a conclusion means to reach/ arrive
at/ draw a conclusion
grade: an accepted level or standard
标准被接受的标准或水平
eg. This grade of wool can be sold at a fairly
low price.
这种等级的羊毛可以以相当低的价格卖出.

Paragraph 2:



grammar school:
In Britain, it refers to a school for children
over 11 who are academically bright. Today,
there are few grammar schools. Most
secondary schools are called “comprehensive”
and take in all children over 11 whatever their
abilities.In the US, a grammar school used to
mean an elementary school, but it is now
considered ole-fashioned.
study: a room intended or equipped for
studying or
writing
statuette:n. a small statue 小雕塑

One was a lady wearing nothing but a
bath towel.
nothing but: nothing except; only
 eg: The doctor told her that it was
nothing but a cold.
 He cared for nothing but his name and
position.
 He was nothing but a coward.

She seemed frozen in an eternal panic
lest the bath towel slip down any
farther…
lest: conj. for fear that 唯恐，以免：
Note: The subjunctive mood is used in
the clause lest introduces.
eg. Be careful lest you fall from that tree.
要当心, 以免从树上摔下来。
I was afraid lest he might come too late.
我怕他来得太晚。
…and since she had no arms, she was in
an unfortunate position to pull the towel
up again.
be in … position to do sth: to be able to
do sth because or have ability, power or
money to do it.
eg I am not in a position to lend you
money.
Next to her, crouched the statuette of
a leopard, ready to spring down at the
top drawer of a filing cabinet.
crouch:
1. to stoop, especially with the knees
bent:
eg They crouched over the grate with
a flashlight, searching for the lost
gem.
2. to press the entire body close to the
ground with the limbs bent:
eg. a cat crouching near its prey.
Rodin’s Thinker:
This is the most
famous piece of art
by the French
sculptor August
Rodin. It is said to
be the statue that
most clearly shows
that abstract idea of
thinking. The
thinker is pondering
so intensely that his
toes are tightly
clutching the ground.
Paragraph 3
delinquent: n. a person who neglects or
fails to do what law or duty requires.
adj. failing to do what law or duty requires.
2. She was just busy being beautiful.
P: From the boy’s point of view, the Goddess
of Love was simply trying to remain
beautiful.
1.
Paragraph 4
I was not integrated. I was , if anything,disintegrated.
integrated: forming a part of a harmonious group
disintegrated: Here, it is used by the author to mean the direct
opposite of “integrated”, and therefore means some kind of
a trouble-maker.
if anything: on the contrary
eg. He is not known for his generosity. He is, if anything, quite
miserly.
The weather forecast says that it will not be warmer this
winter. It will, if anything, even colder than last year.
Paragraph 9
The muscular gentleman contemplated the
hindquarters of he leopard in endless gloom.
 contemplate: to think for a long time in order
to understand better.
 Eg. contemplated the problem from all sides;
contemplated the mystery of God.
hindquarters: the posterior part of a
quadruped, adjacent to the hind legs

His spectacles caught the light so that you
could see nothing human behind them.
 P: The teacher’s glasses caught the light
and therefore the boy could not see the
teacher’s eyes. He could not have any eye
contact. He could not have any
communication with him.

Paragraph 11

Be in anguish: extreme unhappiness caused
by physical or mental suffering.
Paragraph 12
leap to one’s feet: to jump up
Please pay attention to the following phrases
containing the word feet:
rise / struggle / stagger to one’s feet.
Paragraph 17:
Sometimes, exalted by his own oratory, he
would leap form his and hustle us outside
into a hideous wind.
 P: Sometimes he got carried away and
would leap from his desk and hurry us
outside into a cold and unpleasant wind.

Paragraph 20:


Yet in the middle of these monologues, if a girl
passed the window, his neck would turn of itself
and he would watch her out sight.
P: Here author is not laughing at the teacher’s
interest in young girls. Rather he is ridiculing the
contradiction between his high moral tone and the
working of his genes which compels him to turn
his head toward young girls.
Paragraph 23:


Technically, it is about as proficient as most
businessmen’s golf, as honest as most politicians’
intentions, or as coherent as most books that get
written.
P: This, ironical sentence shows that the author
not only considers these people incompetent,
dishonest and incoherent, but also despises most
businessmen, distrusts most politicians and
dislikes most publications.
Paragraph 25:
To hear our Primer Minster told about the great
benefit we conferred on India by jailing people like
Nehru and Gandhi.
 confer sth on sb: offer or give sth to sb.
eg. conferred a medal on the hero
授予英雄一枚勋章
conferred an honorary degree on her
授予她荣誉学位

Gandhi (1869-1948) and Nehru (1889-1964)
were both leaders of the Free-India Movement
which aimed at winning national independence
for India through non-violent, civildisobedience means. In the course of this
struggle, they were jailed by the British
government several times. But their efforts
finally brought about the independence of India
on August 15, 1947.
Gandhi (1869-1948)
Nehru (1889-1964)
Paragraph 26:
Saint Jerome’s Vulgate:
 This is the Latin translation of the Bile made
by Saint Jerome at the end of the fourth
century A.D. It is now used in a revised form
as the Roman Catholic authorized version.

Argument flagged.
 flag: to decline in interest; to become dull
 eg. his flagging interest in the subject

他对这问题的兴趣减退
 P: Argument flagged because Ruth did
not know how to respond to this.

Paragraph 27:
…If we were counting heads, the Buddhists
were the boys for my money.
 P: if we were talking about the number of
people who believe in this. I would bet on
the Buddhists; I believe the Buddhists are
greater in number.

Paragraph 28:



I lost Ruth and gained
an undeserved
reputation as a
potential libertine.
libertine: one who acts
without moral restraint;
a dissolute person.
放荡不羁的人行动没有
道德约束的人；放荡的
人
Paragraph 31:


I came up in the end with what must always
remain the justification for grade-one thinking. I
devised a coherent system for living. It was a
moral system, which was wholly logical.
P: According to the author, grade-one thinking
must be based on a coherent and logical system
for living, in other words, a moral system, without
which you cannot prove yourself to be a grade-one
thinker. Judging buy the context, this system
probably refers to one’s world out look and basic
political beliefs and moral principles.
Paragraph 32:
It was Ruth all over again.
 P: What happened to Ruth and me now
happened again. My grade-two thinking
frightened away many of my acquaintances.

Paragraph 33:
Had the game gone too far? In those prewar
days, I stood to lose a great deal, for the
sake of a hobby.
 P: In those prewar days when many people
were fully worked up to a political frenzy, it
was very dangerous to voice different
opinions. You might lose friends or your job.

Paragraph 34:
Now you are expecting me to describe how I
saw the folly of my ways and came back to
the warm nest.
 P: Now you think I will tell you how I
gradually saw my stupidity in being a gradetwo thinker and therefore decided to give it
up and return to the majority.

Paragraph 35:
But you would be wrong. I dropped my
hobby and turned professional.
 P: But you guessed wrong. I did not drop
my hobby and give up thinking. Instead I
went further and became a professional
thinker.

Writing Style of the Passage:

The essay is written with a great sense of humor.
Laughter is his chief weapon. Through those
hilarious anecdotes, he laughs at the headmaster
and Mr. Houghton, ridicules British and American
politicians and teases his girlfriend Ruth. He also
laughs at himself as the disintegrated boy in
school, and it should be noted self-mockery is a
very important kind of humor and can have an
unusually powerful effect.
What is Self-mockery?

Self-mockery is defined as a linguistic act
in which the speaker makes a statement
and then denies, invalidates, or
expresses his/her non-serious attitude
toward the content of the utterance.
Some Examples of Self-mockery

My picture was not
yet displayed, so I
was waiting for
them to come and
take a photograph
of me. Oh, just
kidding!
Sometimes self-mockery is
shown in the form of pictures
Assignments:
1. Finish the exercises of this lesson
 2. Make up three sentences of self-mockery
and try to answer what special effect they
can achieve?
 3. Write an essay in about 200 words on the
topic: What Kind of Thinker Are You?
