Unit 5
The Company Man
Contents
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Pre-reading questions
Background information
Structure analysis
Comprehension questions
Language points of Text I
Exercises
Comprehension questions of Text II
Oral activities
Writing practice
• Pre-reading questions
1. What do you think is the life of
a typical workaholic like?
2. How important do you think work
is to a person?
Background information (1)
• About the text and the author
• Ellen Goodman(1941 – ), journalist
and columnist who won a Pulitzer
Prize in 1980 for commentary. She
has written for Newsweek, the Detroit
Free Press, and the Boston Globe.
Her works include Turning Points
(1979), Close to Home (1979), and At
Large (1981).
Background information (2)
Ellen Goodman is an
American original. Her
abundant talents--intellect,
wit, style, news
judgment---set her apart.
Her Pulitzer Prize
winning commentary
appears in more than 375
newspapers
Background information (3)
• Goodman has been an innovative force
in American journalism. She once said,
“I think readers need to be less alienated
from editorial pages” and made them so
by expanding the debate on op-ed pages.
She has commented on the tumult（骚
动） of social change and its impact on
families, and shattered the mold of men
writing exclusively about politics.
• Goodman brings new readers to
editorial pages. She is widely acclaimed
as a voice of sanity, and readers depend
on her to help them make sense of their
changing lives and relationships. “I
have always read Ellen Goodman,” a
Sarasota, Fla., reader says. “She writes
on issues that concern me, no matter
where I’ve lived or where I moved.”
Background information (4)
• In 1980, Goodman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for Distinguished Commentary.
• Goodman’s work has won many other awards,
including the American Society of Newspaper
Editors Distinguished Writing Award in 1980.
She received the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil
Rights Award from the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights in 1988. In 1993, at its Seventh
Annual Exceptional Merit Media Award
Ceremony, The National Women’s Political
Caucus gave her the President’s Award. In 1994,
the Women’s Research & Education Institute
presented her with their American Woman Award.
Background information (5)
• Pulitzer Prize
• Any of several awards established by
Joseph Pulitzer and conferred （赠予）
annually for accomplishment in various
fields of American journalism, literature,
and music.
Pulitzer Medal
Some proverbs about work
• 1. Work while you work play while you play this is
the way to be cheerful and gay
• 2. Never put off the work till tomorrow what you
can put off today. 今日事，今日毕
• 3. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 只
会用功不玩耍，聪明孩子也变傻
• 4. Work smarter, not harder.更有技巧地 工作，而
不是更努力地工作。
• 5. Work has a bitter root but sweet fruit.--German
proverb 工作虽苦,果实却甘--德国 谚语
• 6. Many hands make light work.众人拾柴火焰高;
人多好办事。
• 7. Work makes the workman. 熟能生巧。
workaholic
Structure analysis of the text (1)
• In a colloquial style, the author paints an
ironic picture of the cutthroat life of a
company man and his family. The man
was a workaholic who died of a heart
attack, which surprised no one. His wife
lost him years ago to his work, and his
children did not know him well. To make
her writing more effective, the author
uses repetition and parallelism.
Structure analysis of the text (2)
• Besides, she deliberately varies the length of
the sentences. By mixing some unusually
short sentences with the long ones, the author
varies their weight and achieves emphasis and
impact. For example, in Paragraph 3, the short
sentence “Phil knew that.” Follows two long
sentences. This helps avoid monotony is
narration and emphasize Phil’s awareness of
the cutthroat competition.
Structure analysis of the text (3)
•
•
•
•
Paragraph 1
This is an introductory paragraph.
Paragraphs 2-6
This part reports how devoted the
man was to his work.
• Paragraphs 7-13
• This part describes Phil’s role in his
family.
• Paragraph 14-16
• This is the concluding part. After the
cause of Phil’s death being restated, the
author goes on to report the company
president’s inquire for his successor.
Comprehension questions (1)
• 1. what is meant by the sentence
“she would be well taken care of”
in Paragraph 8?
• Key: It means that the company
Phil worked for would provide
some financial help for his wife so
as to relieve her of any possible
worries about finance.
Comprehension questions (2)
• 2. why is the phrase “dearly
beloved” repeated when referring to
his children in Paragraph 9?
• Key: The phrase “delay beloved” is
repeated to create a sarcastic effect
for his relationship with his children
was far from being close and
intimate and he devoted too little to
his children.
Comprehension questions (3)
• 3. What do you think is the
relationship like between Phil and
the three children?
• Key: Refer to Paragraphs 9—12.
Successful as his was as a corporate
man, Phil was a failing father. His
eldest son knew so little about him
that he had to research his father by
asking the neighbors what he was
like.
His daughter had nothing to say when
staying along with him. And his
younger son, also his favorite,
remarked bitterly that his father and
he only boarded at the home. The
relationship between Phil and his
children was distant and estranged.
（疏远不和的）
Comprehension questions (4)
• 4.what is the implication of the ending?
• Key: It implies the story of Phil sees no
end: He will soon be replaced by an
equally hardworking guy who may
following in his steps and repeat the
same tragedy. Bosses are always on the
lookout for workaholics and they are
never in short supply. The ending is full
of sarcasm and bitterness.
Comprehension questions (5)
• 5. Do you think it is a sheer waste of
life to die so young for working so hard?
What can you learn from the story of
Phil?
Language points of Text I (1)
Part 1
precisely: exactly
• The train left the station at 2 o’clock
precisely..
synonyms:
exactly,
accurately,
definitely
Comprehension question
• What do these adverbs “finally and
precisely” imply?
“Finally” suggests the doomed ending of
the workaholic.
“precisely” emphasizes his devotion to
work.
Comprehension question
• Part 2 (Para 2-6)
• Why isn’t the name of the deceased
mentioned at the very beginning?
• What type of man was the deceased？
• What was the man’s position in the
company? Why does the author report it
in detail?
classic
• 1 typical having all the features that are
typical or expected of a particular thing or
situation
• classic example/mistake/case etc
• Too many job hunters make the classic
mistake of thinking only about what's in it
for them.
• 2 admired by many people, and having a
value that has continued for a long time:
• The Coca-Cola bottle is one of the classic
designs of the last century.
• a collection of classic cars
• 3 very good of excellent quality:
• Roy scored a classic goal in the 90th
minute.
• 4 traditional a classic style of art or
clothing is attractive in a simple
traditional way [↪ classical]:
• She chose a classic navy suit for the
ceremony.
classical
• 1 belonging to a traditional style or set of
ideas
• classical ballet/dance etc
• the classical theory of relativity
• 2 relating to music that is considered to be
important and serious and that has a value
that continues for a long time
• classical music/musician/composer etc
• a leading classical violinist
• a classical repertoire（保留节目）
• 3 relating to the language, literature etc of
Ancient Greece and Rome:
• classical literature / a classical scholar
• classical mythology
• 4 also classic
typical of a particular
thing or situation:
• the classical argument against democracy
• —classically /-kli/ adverb:
• a classically trained singer
• Classically, infection appears in the lower
jaw.
Language points of Text I (2)
• Conceivably conceivable adj.
• able to be believed or imagined [≠
inconceivable]:
• It is conceivable that
you may get full
compensation, but it's not likely.
• We were discussing the problems fromevery
conceivable angle.
• Conceivably, interest rates could rise very
high indeed.
Language points of Text I (3)
• overweight: weighing more than is
normal, necessary, or allowed,
especially having more body weight
than is considered normal or healthy
for one’s age or build.
• Compare: fat, obese, fleshy, stout（壮
士 的 ） , pudgy( 矮 胖 的 ） , plump,
chubby（圆胖的）
fat
obese
obese
fleshy
stout
pudgy
plump
chubby
Language points of Text I (4)
• Para 7-13
• survive by: to live longer than; to outlive
Eg. My father survived my mother by 10 years.
• marketable: wanted by purchasers or
employers.
e.g. There are many marketable products there.
It is a good idea to list your marketable
skills before heading for the job fair.
How to under stand the sentence—
A company friend said, “I know how
much you will miss him.” And she
answered, “I already have.”
--Pun She meant to say that Phil was so
engrossed in work that he neglected his
family. She had already lost him to his
work for many years.
Language points of Text I (5)
[paraphrase]
“…doing enough odd jobs to stay in grass and
food.”
…doing enough temporary jobs to stay alive
on drug and food.
• odd 1) strange, unusual
Eg. She gets odder as she grows older.
2) not even
3) a little more than
Eg. Thirty-odd years later…
grab at: seize … desperately
Language points of Text I (6)
• widow: a woman whose husband has
died, and who has not married again.
• widower: a man whose wife has died,
and who has not married again.
• Widow v. to make a widow or widower
of somebody.
• e.g. She calls her windowed
father/mother nearly everyday.
Language points of Text I (7)
• Deceased n. somebody who has died,
especially recently.
adj. the deceased father
• straighten out: to solve or settle: to
remove difficulties from something or the
doubt or ignorance in somebody’s mind.
• e.g. we need someone capable of
straightening out all the confusion.
• The road twisted and turned and then
straightened out.
Comprehension questions
• Did his children know him well?
• NO.
Language points of Text I (8)
• natural n. a person who has the natural
tendency of doing sth.
eg. He’s a natural for the post.
He is a natural at mathematics.
• inquiry: a request for help or information;
an investigation
• e.g. I’m writing to inquire about your
advertisement in The Times.
• Don’t hesitate to check with our workers at
the inquiry desk/office when in doubt.
Comprehension questions
• Why does the essay and with the
question the company president asked?
Exercises (1)
Translation exercises
• 1. 我的顶头上司是一个典型的工作狂，一年
到头每天工作10个小时以上。(workaholic)
• My immediate boss is typical workaholic, for he
works for over ten hours each day all the year
round.
• 2. 校长十分注重课外活动。他认为，课外活
动有助于培养学生对外部世界的极大兴趣。
(extracurricular)
• The principal attaches much importance to
extracurricular activities and he believes that they
will help to cultivate students’ tremendous
interest in the external world.
Exercises (1)
• 3. 星期一早上，他总是快速冲个澡，胡乱吃个
三明治，接着赶搭出租车去上班。(grab)
• He always grabs a shower, a sandwich and then a
taxi to go to work every Monday morning.
• 4. 既然你要离开公司了，你要在本周内清算帐
目。(straighten out)
• Since you are leaving the company, you should
straighten out the accounts within the week.
• 5. 为了及时完成他的博士论文，他经常熬夜。
(stay up)
• He often stays up late at night in order to finish
writing his Ph. D. dissertation on time.
Exercises (1)
• 6. 没有什么东西可以取代内心深处最深切的爱。
(replace)
• Nothing can replace the profoundest love in one’s
heart of heart.
• 7. 他被认为是总裁职位的当然人选，因为他已
经做了近10年出色的副总裁。(natural)
• He is considered a natural for the post of the
president, for he has been an excellent vicepresident for almost ten years.
• 8. 他实在太普通了，在人群中不会被挑选出来。
（pick out）
• He is just too common to be picked out from the
crowd.
Exercises (2)
• Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word
taken from the box in the proper form.
board
discreetly
executive survive
widow
deceased
precisely
classic
conceivably
grab
obituary workaholic
Exercises (2)
• 1. The woman survived
_________ her husband by
nine years.
grabs
• 2.The plot of the novel _________
the
reader.
• 3. Not wanting to draw any attention, Roy
went discreetly
__________ into the lecture hall.
deceased father
• 4. We learned about her ________
obituary in The Times.
by reading his ________
Exercises (2)
• 5.I do not understand how the arranged marriage
conceivably work out in the more
could ___________
traditional societies.
• 6. The old couple plans to __________
some
board
students from the university .
• 7. The new business writing course is oriented
towards executives
_________ and managers who wasn’t
the individual attention and focused training that
will help them write with impact and
effectiveness.
• 8. Upper-intermediate English learners are often
classics
encouraged to read the _________
of the
English and American literature.
Questions for Text 2
• What is a kind of fundamental malaise(不舒
服） which seams very common and which
poses difficult problems for the social
reformer?
• What is the first of the two causes that
prevent people from being as happy as one
might expect?
• What is the major cause that prevents people
from being happy as much as possible?
• How do you understand the statement that a
life which is all principle is a life on rails?
Oral activities
• There is never a short supply of people
like Phil, especially in modern societies
with fierce competition and
overwhelming pressure. How can Phil
avoid their tragedy? Discuss in group
and list some rules they can follow to
improve their lives.
writing
• Career or Family: which is more
important?
• Sample:
• When asked about their opinion of career
and family, people always respond
differently. Some people deem it more
important to pursue their career, while there
are always other people who argue that
family should be the number one in one’s
life.
• It goes without any question that career plays
a key role in our life. In the very first place,
career can give us an aim to live on. Without
career, much of our living time will be
certainly wasted. What’s more, career can
provide us with a means to live on. Most of
the people earn their income from a job. On
the other hand, family is also an indispensable
part of life, as many people will admit. Family
is always regarded as a place where we can
escape from troubles in life. In addition, we
can obtain a sense of belonging to from family.
Without it, anyone will feel lonely and
desperate.
• In my opinion, career and family are not in
opposition to each other. Rather, they can
enhance each other so that one’s life can
become better and better. Therefore, it’s not
a choice between right and wrong, but one
between ideal and practical.
Work to live or live to work
•
Given some facts in our society, I feel that we have to work to live,
but we should perform to the best of our potential when we work. At
this very moment, such a notion that you’re living to work ought to be in
your mind.
Without work, we are incapable of making money, which leads to
problems with normal living. The person who works to live has a strong
sense of responsibility for his family. However, he also spends proper
time staying with his family to enjoy happiness and relax himself. He
who can tackle the relationship between work and family well is always
leading a meaningful and pleasurable life.
Since he tries his best to support his family, he works at full blast.
While working, he devotes himself to it. He acts with integrity and is
even addicted to work. It seems that he’s living to work, not only for the
pleasing profits of his factory, but for the prosperity of his country.
Thus, sometimes “Work to Live” and “Live to Work” are not
contradictory. It’s up to you to coordinate the contact between them.
Style Analysis of "The
Company Man"
• In the Company Man, the main character,
Phil, literally works himself to death after
decades of hard work and dedication to his
company. Ellen Goodman, a columnist,
wrote this newspaper article in order to show
that hard work does not always have its
benefits. In life, we must slow down from
our hectic (busy) schedules to appreciate life
itself.
• The vivid diction describes the sarcasm that
Goodman has towards Phil. Goodman
composes her paragraphs with careful
rhythm and beat; she repeats “finally and
precisely ” three times. Phil’s constancy and
lack of variation are embodied in rigid words
such as always, of course, and type A.
Extreme diction such as overweight,
nervous, and workaholic convey Phil as a
worrywart with no fun at all in his life. These
words mock Phil as a man solely obsessed
with work that had lost track of his priorities.
• The descriptions of Phil in the Company
Man are sardonically accusatory(控诉） of
the present way people live in society.
Goodman makes light of how Phil is a
heart attack waiting to happen, his seventyhour workweeks and egg sandwiches. Of
course, used three times, translates as the
acceptance that we have towards
intolerable living conditions in order to
fulfill the American dream. Like many
Americans, Phil is constantly obsessed
about his work and whether or not he will
ascend to the top position. Through these
details she describes the monotonous,
repetitive way that society exists today.
• Throughout the column, images negatively portray
the lifestyle that Phil lives. Superficially, all seems
well because his family lives a comfortable
existence. Emotionally, however, his family has
missed his emotional support for years. His wife,
Helen, gave up trying to compete with his work
years ago. All of his children grew up in a so-called
normal family with a father and mother. At his
funeral, though, they do not have enough memories
about him to say a proper eulogy（颂词）. Phil
himself was overweight and unhealthy, obsessed
with work and negligent with his personal life.
Goodman condemns the lifestyle that Phil leads by
using negative and poignant（尖锐的） imagery.
• Goodman utilizes this column as a caveat警
告 to the overworked, overstressed characters
in society to seize the day. In this day and
age, after the attacks on America on
September 11, 2001, this article applies even
more so to our lives. We accomplish
absolutely nothing when we waste away
preoccupied in our work. By appreciating
life our livelihood will increase and life will
be worth its troubles and distractions once
more.