复旦研究生综合英语2(修订版)_Unit5

1、Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayAdditional lnformation for the Teachers ReferenceText Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayWarm-up ActivitiesFurther ReadingWriting SkillsAdditional WorkUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayWarm-up Activities1. Russell writes in one of his works, “T

2、hree passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.” What are the passions that rule your life now?2. One of Russells famous quotes is, “The good life is one inspired by love and gui

3、ded by knowledge.” Try to present your own understanding and explanation of this sentence. Is his “good life” the same as yours?Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday A stupid mans report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into so

4、mething he can understand. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise. I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldnt wi

5、sh people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine. 3. Study the following Bertrand Russell Quotations:Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize

6、it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. If there were in the world today any large number of p

7、eople who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday In all affairs its a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. In the pa

8、rt of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying. It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. It is

9、 a waste of energy to be angry with a man who behaves badly, just as it is to be angry with a car that wont go. Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty a beaut

10、y cold and austere, like that of sculpture. Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth more than ruin more even than death . Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks i

11、nto the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man. No one gossips about other peoples secret virtues. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday Passive acceptance of the teachers wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It

12、 involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man. Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life. It causes man to seek and

13、 to accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position. Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence

14、. The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy I mean that if you are happy you will be good. The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution. The main things which seem to me important on thei

15、r own account, and not merely as means to other things, are knowledge, art, instinctive happiness, and relations of friendship or affection. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday The people

16、 who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others. The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.Unit 5 Refle

17、ctions on His Eightieth Birthday Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970), British philosopher, logician, essayist, and social critic, is best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. His most influential contributions include his defense of logicism, and his theories o

18、f definite descriptions and logical atomism. Along with G. E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one of the founders of analytical philosophy. He is also usually credited with being one of the two most important logicians of the 20th century, the other being Kurt Godel. Over the course of his

19、 long life spanning the 19th and 20thAdditional lnformation for the Teachers Reference1. Bertrand RussellUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaycenturies, Russell made significant contributions, not just to philosophy, but to a wide range of other subjects as well. Many of his writings on a wid

20、e variety of topics, including education, ethics, politics, history, religion and popular science, have influenced generations of readers. After a life marked by controversy, including dismissals from both Trinity College, Cambridge, and City College, New York, Russell was awarded the Order of Merit

21、 in 1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Also noted for his many spirited antiwar and anti nuclear protests, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97. In the autumn of 1920, after a short visit to Russia to study theUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth B

22、irthdayconditions of Bolshevism, Russell went to China for a course of lectures on philosophy at Peking University.Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayReflections on His Eightieth BirthdayNotesIntroduction to the Author and the ArticlePhrases and ExpressionsExercisesMain Idea of the Text Uni

23、t 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayMain Idea of the Text Russell uses the occasion of his eightieth birthday to recall his dedication to mathematics and philosophy and summarize the failures and success he has experienced in his life. Having devoted half of his life to mathematics and logic, h

24、is skepticism eventually leads him to the conclusion that there is no certainty in mathematics and much of what passes for mathematical knowledge is dubitable. Nonetheless, his strong interest in the logical basis of mathematics underpins a fascination with philosophy. At this point, his reflection

25、moves well beyond the personal level, for he also shares his keen insight into the self imposed tortures that human beings suffer. He assumes thatUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaymens inadequate mastery of nature and hostility to their fellows are the causes of human miseries and follies

26、past and present. He is a very disappointed witness of the scourge 20th century wars both so shaking the faith of people who grew up during the widespread 19th century optimism. Nonetheless, he has always had a certain degree of optimism and argues that wisdom and patience will sooner or later lead

27、the human race out of torture. He holds the firm conviction that social and political problems will eventually be solved through reforms in both institutions and character, which should be achieved by developing greater respect for diversity rather than by means of a dogmatic and precise gospel. Ben

28、eath all the load of horrors, he still looks forward to a world of free and happy human beings.Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970) was a British philosopher, mathematician and man of letters. He was born the grandson of Lord John Russell, who had twice served

29、as Prime Minister under Queen Victoria. Following the death of his mother (in 1874) and of his father (in 1876), Russell and his brother went to live with their grandparents. Following the death of his grandfather (in 1878), Russell was raised by his grandmother, Lady Russell. Educated at first priv

30、ately, and later at Trinity College, Cambridge, Russell obtained first class degrees both in mathematics and in the moral sciences. Introduction to the Author and the ArticleUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday Over a long and varied career, Bertrand Russell made ground breaking contribution

31、s to the foundations of mathematics and to the development of contemporary formal logic, as well as to analytic philosophy. His chief works include The Principles of Mathematics (1903), Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), Education and Social Order (1932) and Inquiry into Meaning and Tru

32、th (1940). In 1950 he received Nobel Prize for Literature. In the following article, Russell recalls how he devoted himself to mathematics and philosophy, what kind of success he achieved and what kind of failure, too, he experienced. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday The serious part of

33、my life ever since boyhood has been devoted to two different objects which for a long time remained separate and have only in recent years united into a single whole. I wanted, on the one hand, to find out whether anything could be known; and on the other hand, to do whatever might be possible towar

34、d creating a happier world. Up to the age of thirty-eight IBertrand RussellReflections on His Eightieth BirthdayTextUnit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaygave most of my energies to the first of these tasks. I was troubled by scepticism and unwillingly forced to the conclusion that most of wha

35、t passes for knowledge is open to reasonable doubt. I wanted certainty in the kind of way in which people want religious faith. I thought that certainty is more likely to be found in mathematics than elsewhere. But I discovered that many mathematical demonstrations, which my teachers expected me to

36、accept, were full of fallacies, and that, if certainty were indeed discoverable in mathematics, it would be in a new kind of mathematics, with more solid foundations than those that had hitherto been thought secure. But as the work proceeded, I was continually reminded of the fable about the elephan

37、t and the Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaytortoise. Having constructed an elephant upon which the mathematical world could rest, I found the elephant tottering, and proceeded to construct a tortoise to keep the elephant from falling. But the tortoise was no more secure than the elephant,

38、 and after some twenty years of very arduous toil, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing more that I could do in the way of making mathematical knowledge indubitable. Then came the First World War, and my thoughts became concentrated on human misery and folly. Neither misery nor folly seem

39、s to me any part of the inevitable lot of man. And I am convinced that intelligence, patience, and eloquence can, sooner or later, lead the human race out of its self-imposed tortures provided it does not exterminate itself meanwhile.Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday On the basis of this

40、belief, I have had always a certain degree of optimism, although, as I have grown older, the optimism has grown more sober and the happy issue more distant. But I remain completely incapable of agreeing with those who accept fatalistically the view that man is born to trouble. The causes of unhappin

41、ess in the past and in the present are not difficult to ascertain. There have been poverty, pestilence, and famine, which were due to mans inadequate mastery of nature. There have been wars, oppressions and tortures which have been due to mens hostility to their fellow men. And there have been morbi

42、d miseries fostered by gloomy creeds, which have led men into profound inner discords that made all outward prosperity of no avail. Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayAll these are unnecessary. In regard to all of them, means are known by which they can be overcome. In the modern world, if

43、communities are unhappy, it is often because they have ignorances, habits, beliefs, and passions, which are dearer to them than happiness or even life. I find many men in our dangerous age who seem to be in love with misery and death, and who grow angry when hopes are suggested to them. They think h

44、ope is irrational and that, in sitting down to lazy despair, they are merely facing facts. I cannot agree with these men. To preserve hope in our world makes calls upon our intelligence and our energy. In those who despair it is frequently the energy that is lacking.Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightie

45、th Birthday The last half of my life has been lived in one of those painful epochs of human history during which the world is getting worse, and past victories which had seemed to be definitive have turned out to be only temporary. When I was young, Victorian optimism was taken for granted. It was t

46、hought that freedom and prosperity would spread gradually throughout the world by an orderly process, and it was hoped that cruelty, tyranny, and injustice would continually diminish. Hardly anyone was haunted by the fear of great wars. Hardly anyone thought of the nineteenth century as a brief inte

47、rlude between past and future barbarism. For those who grew up in that atmosphere, adjustment to the world of the present has been difficult. It has been difficult not Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdayonly emotionally but intellectually. Ideas that had been thought adequate have proved in

48、adequate. In some directions valuable freedoms have proved very hard to preserve. In other directions, especially as regards relations between nations, freedoms formerly valued have proved potent sources of disaster. New thoughts, new hopes, new freedoms, and new restrictions upon freedom are needed

49、 if the world is to emerge from its present perilous state. I cannot pretend that what I have done in regard to social and political problems has had any great importance. It is comparatively easy to have an immense effect by means of a dogmatic and precise gospel. But for my part I cannot believe U

50、nit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaythat what mankind needs is anything either precise or dogmatic. Nor can I believe with any wholeheartedness in any partial doctrine which deals only with some part or aspect of human life. There are those who hold that everything depends upon institutions,

51、and that good institutions will inevitably bring the millennium. And, on the other hand, there are those who believe that what is needed is a change of heart, and that, in comparison, institutions are of little account. I cannot accept either view. Institutions mould character, and character transfo

52、rms institutions. Reforms in both must march hand in Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdayhand. And if individuals are to retain that measure of initiative and flexibility which they ought to have, they must not be all forced into one rigid mould; or, to change the metaphor, all drilled into

53、one army. Diversity is essential in spite of the fact that it precludes universal acceptance of a single gospel. But to preach such a doctrine is difficult especially in arduous times. And perhaps it cannot be effective until some bitter lessons have been learned by tragic experience. My work is nea

54、r its end, and the time has come when I can survey it as a whole. How far have I succeeded, and how far have I failed? From an early age I thought of myself as dedicated to great and arduous tasks. Nearly three quarters of a Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthdaycentury ago, walking alone in t

55、he Tiergarten through melting snow under the coldly glittering March sun, I determined to write two series of books; one abstract, growing gradually more concrete; the other concrete, growing gradually more abstract. They were to be crowned by a synthesis, combining pure theory with a practical soci

56、al philosophy. Except for the final synthesis, which still eludes me, I have written these books. They have been acclaimed and praised, and the thoughts of many men and women have been affected by them. To this extent I have succeeded. But as against this must be set two kinds of failure, one outwar

57、d, one inward.Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth Birthday To begin with the outward failure: the Tiergarten has become a desert; the Brandenburger Tor, through which I entered it on that March morning, has become the boundary of two hostile empires, glaring at each other across a barrier, and griml

58、y preparing the ruin of mankind. Freedom has come to be thought weakness, and tolerance has been compelled to wear the garb of treachery. Old ideals are judged irrelevant, and no doctrine free from harshness commands respect. The inner failure, though of little moment to the world, has made my menta

59、l life a perpetual battle. I set out with a more or less religious belief in a Platonic eternal world, in which mathematics shone with a beauty like that of the last Cantos of the Unit 5 Reflections on His Eightieth BirthdayParadiso. I came to the conclusion that the eternal world is trivial, and th

60、at mathematics is only the art of saying the same thing in different words. I set out with a belief that love, free and courageous, could conquer the world without fighting. I came to support a bitter and terrible war. In these respects there was failure. But beneath all this load of failure I am st