Lesson One
Text A
Thinking as a Hobby
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
Pu Dong-mei
Contents
1. Teaching Objectives
2. In-class Discussion
3. Background information:
1) about the author
2) about the text
4. Language points
5. Text analysis: 1) theme; 2) structure
6. Writing devices: exposition with sense of humor
Teaching Objectives
 1. Introduction to the theme: three grades of thinking
and their features
 2. Introduction to the statues: Venus and Rodin’s
thinker
 3. Comprehension of the whole text
Venus
据说它是在1820年，在希腊爱琴海米洛岛的山洞里被发现
的，这座雕像高2.14米，用大理石雕刻。作者不追求
纤巧细腻，而以浑厚朴实的艺术手法处理。
法国人视其为国宝，现收藏在卢浮宫里，成为其三“镇馆
之宝”之一。它优美，端庄，美得使人无法想象。
因为雕像在发现时折断了两个手臂，阿芙罗蒂德的罗马名
字叫做维纳斯，于是它就被人们称为“断臂的维纳
斯”。这个名字流传开以后，“米洛的阿芙罗蒂德”
这个原来的称呼反倒被遗忘了。
这座雕像自从被发现后，一百多年来一直被公认为希腊女
性雕像中最美的一尊。她貌美婀娜，体态万方，给人
以崇高、庄重、典雅的感觉。丰满的胸部，浑圆的双
肩、柔韧的腰肢，都呈现出一种成熟的女性美。她既
有女性的丰腴妩媚和温柔，又有人类母性的纯洁、庄
严和慈爱，体现了充实的内在生命力和人类的精神智
慧。雕像的躯体采取螺旋状上升的趋向，略微倾斜，
各部分的起伏变化富有音乐的节奏感；下肢从舒卷自
然的衣褶中显示出人体的动态结构，给雕像增添了丰
富的变化和含蓄的美感。
Venus
Venus of Milo
Venus de Milo (about 150—100 BC) is
considered by many art historians to be
the ideal of Hellenistic beauty. It was
carved out of marble and stands
approximately 205 cm (6 ft 10 in) high.
Rodin’s Thinker
The Thinker is a bronze and marble
sculpture by Auguste Rodin, whose first
cast (铸塑), of 1902, is now in the Musée
Rodin in Paris; there are some twenty
other original castings as well as various
other versions, studies, and posthumous
(死后出版的) castings. It depicts a man in
sober meditation battling with a powerful
internal struggle. It is often used to
represent philosophy.
About the author
William Golding (1911-1993), a British writer who won the Noble
Prize for Literature in 1983, and who is known especially for his
novel Lord of the Flies. 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. During the war he served in the Royal Navy in
command of a rocket ship. He returned to writing and teaching
after the war.
About the author cont’d
Lord of the Flies did not appear until 1954 when it was an
immediate success. The intrinsic cruelty of man is at the heart of
many of Golding’s novels. He often presents isolated individuals
or small groups in extreme situations dealing with man in his
basic condition stripped of trappings, creating the quality of a
fable. His novels are remarkable for their strikingly varied
settings.
He won Noble Prize in literature because his works“具有清晰的现实主
义叙述技巧以及虚构故事的多样性与普遍性，阐述了今日世界人类的状况”
获1983年诺贝尔文学奖。
William Golding’s main works
Poems (1934)
Lord of the Flies (1954)
The Inheritors (1955)
Pincher Martin (1956)
Free Fall (1959)
The Spire (1964)
Darkness Visible (1979)
The Trilogy Rites of Passage (1980, Booker Prize)
Close Quarters (1987)
Fire Down Below (1989), republished under the general title
To The Ends of the Earth
About the text
The author concludes that there were three grades of thinking.
The subject of thinking was first brought up to the author by his
headmaster, in whose study he was shown the statuettes of
Venus, leopard and the Thinker, which stands for love, nature and
pure thought respectively.
The author was demanded to learn thinking there.
Theme
Thinking is not just for professional thinkers like
philosophers.
It is something all educated people should enjoy
doing, and it is considered one of the most
precious qualities in young scholars for the
healthy mental development.
The summary of the characteristics of the three
grades of thinking
People like Mr. Houghten provided the author the image of gradethree thinking, which is often full of unconscious prejudice,
ignorance and hypocrisy.
The grade-two thinker tends to find the deficiencies of the others,
and may enjoy moments of delight, but it does not make for
personal security.
The grade-one thinking demands people not only ask what truth is
but also set out to find and get it .
Though grade-one thinkers were few, the author aspired to become
one of them and devised a coherent moral and logical system for
living.
The author stood to lose a great deal for his determination, but finally
he dropped his hobby and turned professional in that.
Structure
 Part 1 (Paras. 1-24 ):How the subject of thinking was
first brought up to the author and his understanding of
the nature of “grade-three thinking”
 Part 2 (Paras. 25-29):The author’s analysis of the
nature of “grade-two thinking”
 Part 3 (Paras. 30-35):The author’s understanding of
the “grade-one thinking” and his desire for it
Comprehension Q
1. How are the three statuettes described by the boy
and what do they symbolize?
2. What effect do the boy’s descriptions have?
3. How did the author describe the following figures to
demonstrate his analyses of different grades of
thinking?
4. How did the author describe the following figures to
demonstrate his analyses of different grades of
thinking?
Translation on Page 18
1) I knew I could expect my brother to stand by me
whatever happened.
2) As a general rule, young people tend to be more
interested in the present and the future.
3) Both sides will stand to lose of they do not
compromise.
4) It is our hope to make all the courses and teaching
materials integrated.
5) The Chinese written language has been a major factor
for integrating our nation.
Translation on Page 18
6) In traditional Chinese art, the bamboo often stands for
moral integrity and uprightness.
7) The great majority of the people stand for further
reform.
8) Queen Elizabeth the First ruled England for 45 years,
and the country prospered under her rule.
9) The truth is always in the hands of a small minority at
first. That’s the rule.
10) Democracy means that the majority rules, but the
minority’s right to disagree is also respected. These
two basic rules are of equal importance.
Translation on Page 18
11) A nation cannot be strong unless it is well-integrated
economically, politically and culturally as well as
geographically.
12) The party was boring, so she slipped out of the room
and went home.
13) The road was muddy. He slipped and fell into the
river.
14) One day I was drowning my sorrows in a restaurant
because I was broke when he came and slipped a roll
of money into my hand.
15) The Court of Florida ruled that it was necessary to
recount the votes.
Translation on Page 18
16) The idea that the sun moves round the earth ruled
ancient scholars for more than a thousand years.
17) These hutongs are an integral part of old Beijing.
18) Days slipped by and I still had not made much
progress.
19) He weighted every word carefully lest he should
make a mistake.
20) Her health was such that she would not go out in the
sun even in winter lest she get sunstroke.
Translation on Page 26
1) You can force a student to attend classes, but you
cannot force him to think.
2) The study of literature can help you to understand not
only other people but also yourself.
3) You can improve your writing by reading safe models
and by practicing writing.
4) In the Middle Ages, people believed that the earth was
flat and that it was the center of the universe.
5) I can afford neither the time nor the money to play
golf with those big cheeses.
Translation on Page 26
6) Xiao Jin could not decide whether to apply for graduate studies
right after college or to get a job first.
7) Love cures people—both those who give it and those who receive
it.
8) Excellent firms don’t believe in perfection, only in constant
improvement and constant change.
9) Many things cannot be learned in the classroom, such as planning
one’s time, working on one’s won and managing one’s won
affairs.
10) In the past ten years people, especially old people, have been
concerned more about their health than about their income.