Our Unfortunate Convicts

1、Our Unfortunate Convicts CONTENTS George Bernard Shaw 1 The Crime of Imprisonment 2 3 Notes George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary

2、criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. George Bernard Shaw He was also an essayist, novelist and short story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein

3、 of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Issues which engaged Shaws attention included education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contrib

4、utions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Achievements Pygmalion (1913) a play by George Bernard Shaw in which Professor Henry Higgins teaches a poor Cockney woman, Eliza Doolittle, how to speak and behave like an upper class

5、 lady. The play was made into a musical (=a play that uses singing and dancing to tell a story) in 1956 and a successful film musical in 1964, both called My Fair Lady.Pygmalion (卖花女) Other Works by George Bernard Shaw The crime of Imprisonment The essay Our Unfortunate Convicts is an exerpt from th

6、e book The crime of Imprisonment. It was written as a preface of a British Labor Research Office Study in 1922. However, this book was republished in 1945 as a seperate volume in New York. The main idea of the book is criticizing the prison system of Britain at that time, and Shaws main purpose is t

7、o argue that the traditional penological theory is contradictory. NOTES retributory (LL. 5 6) = retributive adj. happening or inflicted as retribution报应的， 惩罚的 retributive justice 因果报应. retribution n. U punishment that someone deserves because they have done something very bad 报应；应得的惩罚 jailed in retr

8、ibution for his crimes 因犯罪而受监禁 the day, hour, moment, etc of retribution 报应的日子 时刻 瞬间等 NOTES vindictive (L. 6) adj. having or showing a desire for revenge; unforgiving 怀 有或显示报复心的; 不宽恕的 vindictive people, acts, urges, comments 企图报复的人们 行为心情评语. NOTES deterrent (L. 7) adj. making people decide not to do

9、something by making them realize that something unpleasant could happen to them 起制止作用的; 遏止的; 威慑的 deterrent weapons, measures 具威慑性的武器遏制性的手 段. deter vt. to stop someone from doing something, by making them realize it will be difficult or have bad results deter sb from (doing) sth The security camera w

10、as installed to deter people from stealing. NOTES Imbecile 1.N-COUNT 蠢人;傻瓜 If you call someone an imbecile, you are showing that you think they are stupid or have done something stupid. 语用信息：disapproval I dont want to deal with these imbeciles any longer. 我再也不想和这些笨蛋打交道了。 2.ADJ 十分愚蠢的;低能的 Imbecile means stupid. It was an imbeci