Unit Five
Text A
The Company Man
Content
Background information
Warming-up activity
Text organization
Text analysis
Sentence study
Words and phrases
Background Information
What do you know about
workaholism?
Workaholism
• Workaholism is a modern addiction. Many
people have been afflicted by it.
• The cause of workaholism is that
professional achievements are tied up with
self-image.
Structure of “workaholism”
• The phenomenon is so widespread and its
social consequences so damaging that it
has acquired the nickname "workaholism,"
a combination of the words "work" and
"alcoholism".
Can you name some features of a
workaholic?
• They resist taking breaks or rewarding
themselves with vacations. If they must take
vacations, they're likely to be highly
organized and goal-oriented.
• The workaholic pushes and pushes, and as
he is approaching his goal, he needs another
one to work towards.
• A workaholic is not able to stop and enjoy his
accomplishments.
•Workaholics have high expectations of
their work, and their single-minded
focus on work negatively impacts other
areas of their lives such as family and
leisure.
Warm-up Activity
Group work: discussion
How important do you
think work is to a
person?
• Firstly, a hardworking person doesn’t
mean to work hard to death to prove
that he is working hard.
• Secondly, “All work and no play makes
Jack a dull boy.” We should save our
energy and time for something more
important.
• To do the job is just the means towards
a better life. We are working to live
rather than living to work. Working is not
the only constitute of life. We are working
every day to live a better life, so we should
not take the job far too seriously.
Why are workers willing to burn midnight
oil at risk in most companies?
Most employers
want their employees
to work longer hours
and reward them
with higher pay and
lots of benefits.
Text Organization
Part Division of the Text
Parts
Para(s)
Main Ideas
1
1~3
One of six vice-presidents,
Phil worked himself to death
2
4~6
Phil completely tied up
himself in work regardless of
his health.
Part Division of the Text
Parts
Para(s)
Main Ideas
3
7~12
A typical workaholic, Phil
totally neglected those
closest to him — his wife
and three children.
4
13~16
Phil’s boss said one thing at
the funeral and did quite
another soon afterwards.
Text Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis
• In colloquial style, the author Goodman
depicts ironically the life of a workaholic
and his family.
• What devices are adopted to make her
writing more effective?
• Repetition
• Parallelism
• Variation of length of sentences
• Find some examples from the text for each.
Part 1
(Paragraph 1-6):
Introductory part. This part
reports the sudden death of
Phil and his devotion to work.
What can you learn from the first
paragraph?
• He worked himself to death, finally and
precisely, at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
• What are the functions of the two adverbs
“finally and precisely” in this sentence?
• The 1st sentence provides information
concerning “who”, “what”, “how” and
“when”.
• “Finally” suggests the tragic ending of Phil.
“Precisely” highlights the exact time of
Phil’s death, thus stressing his devotion to
work.
Part 2
(Paragraph 7-13):
Phil’s role in family, his
relationship with his wife
and his children is
described.
Questions for consideration
• Can you describe the relationship between
Phil and his wife and his children?
• Why did Phil's wife try to conceal her
bitterness in front of the president at the
funeral?
– She was concerned about her financial situation after
her husband died.
– Phil provided well for his widow.
Part 3
(Paragraph 14-16)
The funeral. The writer
restates the cause of Phil’s
death, and the president’s
tendency in his choice of a
successor to Phil.
Question
• What effect does the last paragraph
achieve? And how?
Sentence Study
1. He was a perfect Type A, a workaholic, a
classic, …
【解析及翻译】
•
Type A: A 型行为者，为20世纪美国心脏病专家Meyer
Friedman和Roy H. Roseman的用语。 A型行为指一种行
为类型，特征为有高度的进取心及急迫感，性情急躁，凡
事认真求全，易引发心脏病。
他是一个地地道道的A 型行为者，一个工作狂，一个
典型的工作狂…
2. He is survived by his wife, Helen, forty-eight years old, a
good woman of no particular marketable skills, who worked
in an office before marrying and mothering.
【解析及翻译】
从句法上看， a good woman of no particular marketable
skills, 是个省略句，可补全为Helen is a good woman of no
particular marketable skills . 句中的be+ of +adj.结构，作定
语放在所修饰的名词woman后面。
他去世后留下自己的妻子海伦。这个四十八岁的女人
在结婚和生孩子前曾在一个办公室工作，没有什么特别的
适应人才市场的本领。
3. At the funeral, the sixty-year-old company president told
the forty-eight-year-old widow that the fifty-one-year-old
deceased had meant much to the company……
【解析及翻译】
句中的the fifty-one-year-old deceased的用法是
“the+形容词或名词”表示一类人或一类东西，谓语用复
数。
在葬礼上，六十岁的公司总裁对四十八岁的寡妇说五
十一岁的死者对公司来说举足轻重。
4.You could have picked hime out in a minute from
a lineup.
【解析及翻译】
句中包含了一个暗喻，把Phil 比作a lineup，形容其非
常容易被辩认出来（从一排为接受检查而列队的人）。
你能在一排人中立马认出他来。
Words and Phrases
1.precise a. exact, clear, and correct
精确的，准确的
• precise sales figures
It was difficult to get precise information.
--“She's a lot older than you, isn't she?'
--“Fifteen years, to be precise .”
precisely ad. precision n.
2.conceivable a. imaginable, that can be believed
可想到的，可想象的
It is conceivable that you may get full compensation, but it's
not likely.
We were discussing the problems from every conceivable
angle.
conceivably ad.
conceivably, interest rates could rise very high indeed.
conceive v. conception n.
3. executive a. [only before noun]
1) relating to the job of managing a business or
organization and making decisions
a commission with executive powers
executive body/committee etc (=a group of people
who have the power to make decisions)
2) for the use of people who have important jobs in a
company
the executive dining-room
3) expensive and designed for people who earn a lot of
money
executive cars/homes etc;
executive toys (=objects to play with at work)
4. survive v. continue to live or exist; live longer
than; remain alive after
比…活得长， 经…幸存
She survived her sons. 她的儿子都去世了，她还活
She survived her husband by three years. 她丈夫早她三年
去世。
It is a narrow escape that the whole family survive the
earthquake.
这次地震中一家人都幸免于难, 真是九死一生。
CF:
survive, continue, remain & last这些词都是动词，
都含有“继续存在”、“经受住”的意思。
• survive 可作及物和不及物动词，含有“幸免于难”、
“平安度过”之意。
• continue 为中性词，且不带任何感情色彩，指从开始到结
束之间的任何延伸过程。
• remain 指人或物移去、分离或毁坏后仍留在原地。
• last 即“持续”、“经受住”之意，特指某事物继续存在，
或最为普通意义上的时间持续。
5.compete vi. try to win sth. by defeating others
who are trying to do the same
与… 竞争，与…对抗
Although there were only four horses competing, it was an
exciting race.虽然只有四匹马竞争，但比赛很精彩。
Pattern:
• compete against (with)
• compete for
• compete in
与…竞争
为…竞争
在…中竞争
6.day off：day on which one does not have to
work 休息天
Yesterday was my day off. 昨天是我休息的日子。
I’m taking a week off over Christmas.
圣诞节期间我会休假一星期。
7.look sb. in the eye: look directly and without fear
at someone who is near
直视某人
He is a person of high moral principles, who can look
anyone straight in the eye.
他是个有高度道德原则的人，无论对谁都可以问心无愧。
CF:
in the eyes of
在某人的心目中; 在某人看来
have an eye for
有眼力,
keep an eye on
照料，照看
see eye to eye
同意
have one’s eye on
希望（或计划）获得