Another School Year--What For?
• Warming-up Questions
• Background Information
Shakespeare/ Homer / Virgil / Dante / Aristotle
Chaucer / Eistein / La Rochefoucauld
•
Word Study
1. Verbal affixies
2. body / faculty / staff
3. testify / justify / verify / Certify
4. say / speak / talk / tell / converse
5. rather / fairly / quite / pretty
6. sensitive / sensible
• Writing Technique
Euphemism
• Text Analysis
Structure
Difficult Sentences
• Discussion
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?
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 (1685-1750),
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 bc.
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.
Word Study
1. Verbal affixies
-ize/ise
-fy
-en
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
to cause to be
purify / simplify / clarify / justify / notify / simplify /
classify identify / terrify / qualify / terrify
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)
1. 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.
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
谈话交谈，更正式
It is a pleasure to converse with you.
It is difficult to converse with people who do
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
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，可
置于a / an 之前。
A quite nice guy
a quite promising future
• pretty
1.
2.
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
• sensitive
a sensible suggestion
easily hurt, damaged, affected,
offended, upset
a sensitive nerve heat-sensitive
a sensitive girl
sensitive to criticism
Writing Technique
• Euphemism 委婉语
jump the fence
go to the electric chair
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
Text Analysis
• Structure
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.
•
Difficult Sentences
1. 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. 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
the bull Jumps the fence: to make trouble; to make out of
control.
go to the electric chair:
to be sentenced to death
3. They will be your income, and may it always suffice.
Paraphrase
Those professional skills will be rewarding
for your career and we hope that there
may always be opportunities of further
learning.
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.
4. You are on your way to being that new species of
mechanized savage, the push-button Neanderthal.
Paraphrase
You will soon become an uneducated,
ignorant person who can only work
machines and operate mechanical
equipment.
Note
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.
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 (slvaughn@kodak.com)
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 (msancomb@execpc.com)
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?