现代大学英语第二册Unit1AnotherSchoolYear-WhatFor

1、Unit 1 Another School Year-What For教学目的 了解作者及其背景知识；熟悉本文使用的写作手法；掌握委婉语；通过深刻理解文章内涵，培养学生社会洞察力和相关的讨论能力，同时掌握文中的核心语言点。教学内容 背景知识介绍作品赏析写作技巧语言理解教学重点 文学作品的赏析；文学中的修辞手法委婉语的使用构词法：词缀教学方法 多种教学法(讲授、问答、讨论、模仿、练习等)并用Warming-up: DiscussionDivide the class into several groups and make them have a discussion about the adv

2、antages and disadvantages of formal education at school.Suggested Answers:Advantages:1. a systematic mastery of the knowledge required by the public education.2. an access to an atmosphere whi ch i s ful l of competiti on3. opportunities of being together with those with whom you share the similar e

3、xperience4. teachers are professionals in the field of education and can provide with what we expect from them;Disadvantag:es1. formal education pays much attention to similarity rather than individuality;2. those with special talents cannot exert their potentiality at a formal school;Background Inf

4、ormation1. William ShakespeareTragedies:(1) 'Hamlet', 'Macbeth', 'King Lear', 'Othello'(2) 'Antony and Cleopatra', 'Coriolanus', 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Julius Caesar'(3) 'Richard II', 'Richard III', 'Timon of Athens

5、9;(4) 'King John', 'Titus Andronicus', 'Henry VI'.Comedies:'The Tempest',As You Like It','The Winter's Tale','The Merchant of Venice',Twelfth Night','Much Ado about Nothing','Cymbeline','A Midsummer Night's Dream'

6、;'The Merry Wives of Windsor','The Taming of the Shrew','Two Gentlemen of Verona','All's Well That Ends Well','A Comedy of Errors','Pericles','Love's Labour's Lost','Two Noble Kinsmen'.Histories:'Henry IV', Parts 1 a

7、nd 2,'Henry V','Richard II','Richard III','Henry VIII,;'King John','Henry VI', Parts 2 and 3,'Henry VI', Part 1.Serious Plays, or Bitter Comedies:'Measure for Measure','Troilus and Cressida'.2. Bach (1685-1750)Bach, Johann Sebastian

8、, was considered by many of his peers to be the supreme master of counterpoint (compositional technique pitting note against note or melody against melody). This quality was expressly illustrated in his fugal compositions. In this excerpt from his famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, written in his

9、early years as a court organist, Bach expands on the toccata (short, intricately articulated keyboard movement) form in an elaborately constructed fugue.3. HomerHomer, name traditionally assigned to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known of

10、Homer as an individual, and in fact it is a matter of controversy whether a single person can be said to have written both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Linguistic and historical evidence, however, suggests that the poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime i

11、n the 8th century BC.THE ILIADThe Iliad is set in the final year of the Trojan War, fought between the Greeks and the inhabitants of the city of Troy. The legendary conflict forms the background for the central plot of the story: the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles. Insulted by his commander in chi

12、ef, Agamemnon, the young warrior Achilles withdraws from the war, leaving his fellow Greeks to suffer terrible defeats at the hands of the Trojans. Achilles rejects the Greeks' attempts at reconciliation but finally relents to some extent, allowing his companion Patroclus to lead his troops in h

13、is place. Patroclusis slain, and Achilles, filled with fury and remorse, turns hiswrath against the Trojans, whose leader, Hector (son of King Priam), he kills in single combat. The poem closes as Achilles surrenders the corpse of Hector to Priam for burial, recognizing a certain kinship with the Tr

14、ojan king as they both face the tragedies of mortality and bereavement.THE ODYSSEYThe Odysseydescribes the return of the Greek hero Odysseus from the Trojan War. The opening scenes depict the disorder that has arisen in Odysseus's household during his long absence: A band of suitors is living of

15、f of his wealth as they woo his wife, Penelope. The epic then tells of Odysseus's ten years of traveling, during which he has to face such dangers as the man-eating giant Polyphemus and such subtler threats as the goddess Calypso, who offers him immortality if he will abandon his quest for home.

16、 The second half of the poem begins with Odysseus's arrival at his home island of Ithaca. Here, exercising infinite patience and self-control, Odysseustests the loyalty of his servants; plots and carries out a bloody revenge on Penelope's suitors; and is reunited with his son, his wife, and

17、his aged father. 4. VIRGIL, or VERGI (70-19 BC).The greatest of the Roman poets, Publius Vergilius Maro, was not a Roman by birth. His early home was on a farm in the village of Andes, near Mantua. His father was a farmer, prosperous enough to give his son the best education. The young Virgil was se

18、nt to school at Cremona and then to Milan. At the age of 17 he went to Rome to study. There he learned rhetoric and philosophy from the best teachers of the day.Virgil studied the Greek poets. He wrote his 'Eclogues'. These are pastoral poems describing the beauty of Italian scenes.At the su

19、ggestion of Maecenas he wrote a more serious work on the art of farming and the charms of country life called the 'Georgics'. This established his fame as the foremost poet of his age.The year after the 'Georgics' was published, he began his great epic, the 'Aeneid'. He took

20、as his hero the Trojan Aeneas, supposed to be the founder of the Roman nation. The poem, published after Virgil's death, exercised a tremendous influence upon Latin and later Christian literature, prose as well as poetry. Thus his influence continued through the Middle Ages and into modern times

21、.5. DANTE (1265-1321).One of the greatest poets in the history of world literature, Italian writer Dante Alighieri composed poetry influenced by classical and Christian tradition.Dante' greatest work was the epic poem La divina commedia (1321?; The Divine Comedy, 1802). It includes three section

22、s:the Inferno (Hell), in which the great classical poet Virgil leads Dante on a trip through hell;the Purgatorio (Purgatory), in which Virgil leads Dante up the mountain of purification; andthe Paradiso (Paradise),in which Dante travels through heaven. This passagefrom the Inferno (recited by an act

23、or) comes at the beginning of the epic, when Dante loses his way in the woods.The Divine Comedywas probably begun about 1307; it was completed shortly before his death. The work is an allegorical narrative, in verse of great precision and dramatic force, of the poet's imaginary journey through h

24、ell, purgatory, and heaven.In each of the three realms the poet meets with mythological, historical, and contemporary personages.Each characteris symbolic of a particular fault or virtue, either religious or political; and the punishment or rewards meted out to the characters further illustrate the

25、larger meaning of their actions in the universal scheme.Dante is guided through hell and purgatory by Virgil, who is, to Dante, the symbol of reason. The woman Dante loved, Beatrice, whom he regards as both a manifestation and an instrument of the divine will, is his guide through paradise.6. ARISTO

26、TLE (384-322 BC).One of the greatest thinkers of all time, an ancient Greek philosopher. His work in the natural and social sciences greatly influenced virtually every area of modern thinking.Aristotle was born in 384 BC in Stagira, on the northwest coast of the Aegean Sea. His father was a friend a

27、nd the physician of the king of Macedonia, and the lad spent most of his boyhood at the court. At 17, he went to Athens to study. He enrolled at the famous Academy directed by the philosopher Plato.Aristotle threw himself wholeheartedly into Plato's pursuit of truth and goodness. Plato was soon

28、calling him the "mind of the school." In later years he renounced some of Plato's theories and went far beyond him in breadth of knowledgeAfter his death, Aristotle's writings were scattered or lost. In the early Middle Ages the only works of his known in Western Europe were parts

29、of his writings on logic. They became the basis of one of the three subjects of the medieval trivium-logic, grammar, and rhetoric. Early in the 13th century other books reached the West. Some came from Constantinople; others were brought by the Arabs to Spain. Medieval scholars translated them into

30、Latin.The best known of Aristotle's writings that have been preserved are 'Organon' (treatises on logic); 'Rhetoric' 'Poetics' 'History of Animals' 'Metaphysics' 'De Anima' (on psychology); 'Nicomachean Ethics' 'Politics' and 'C

31、onstitution of Athens'.7. Geoffrey ChaucerCalled the Father of the English Language as well as the Morning Star of Song, Geoffrey Chaucer, after six centuries, has retained his status as one of the three or four greatest English poets.He was the first to commit to lines of universal and enduring

32、 appeal a vivid interest in nature, books, and people. As many-sided as Shakespeare, he did for English narrative what Shakespeare did for drama. If he lacks the profundity of Shakespeare,he excels in playfulness of mood and simplicity of expression.Though his language often seems quaint, he was ess

33、entially modern. Familiarity with the language and with the literature of his contemporaries persuades the most skeptical that he is nearer to the present than many writers born long after he died.The Canterbury TalesThe Tales is a collection of stories set within a framing story of a pilgrimage to

34、Canterbury Cathedral, the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. The poet joins a band of pilgrims, vividly described in the General Prologue, who assemble at the Tabard Inn outside London for the journey to Canterbury. Ranging in status from a Knight to a humble Plowman, they are a microcosm of 14th-centur

35、y English society.The Canterbury Tales contains 22 verse tales and 2 prose tales presumably told by pilgrims to pass the time on their way to visit a shrine in Canterbury, England.The tales represent nearly every variety of medieval story at its best. The special genius of Chaucer's work, howeve

36、r, lies in the dramatic interaction between the tales and the framing story.Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-80).Francois de La Rochefoucauld was born to one of the noble families of France on Sept. 15, 1613, in Paris. His notions of human faults and foibles grew out of a life immersed in the poli

37、tical crises of his time. The public life of his family was conditioned by the attitude of the monarchy toward the nobility-sometimes flattering, sometimes threatening. Having served in the army periodically from 1629 to 1646, La Rochefoucauld became one of the prominent leaders in the civil war fro

38、m 1648 to 1653. Wounded in 1649 and again in 1652, he finally retired from the struggle with extensive face and throat wounds and with his health ruined.The literary reputation of La Rochefoucauld rests on one book: 'Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales', published in 1665. Generally c

39、alled the 'Maximes', these moral reflections and maxims are a collection of cynical epigrams, or short sayings, about human nature-a nature that the author felt is dominated by self-interest. Typical of his point of view are the following sayings: "We seldom find such sensible men as th

40、ose who agree with us" "Virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea" "The surest way to be deceived is to think oneself cleverer than the others" and "We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire."After convales

41、cing, he settled in Paris where he became involved with a circle of brilliant and cultivated people who debated intellectual subjects of all kinds. As an exercise, they attempted to express their thoughts with the greatest brevity. In so doing they made great use of the epigram, or maxim, which crea

42、tes surprise through the devices of exaggeration and paradox. La Rochefoucauld soon gained mastery of this device. The first edition of his 'Maximes' contains, in fact, some longer selections along with the epigrams. Altogether he authorized five editions of the book in his lifetime, the las

43、t appearing in 1678. Two years later, on March 1 7,1680, he died inParis.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world lseading research universities, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.In 1865 the school was opened in Boston by geologist William B

44、arton Rogers, who became its first president.Throughout its history MIT has held a worldwide reputation for teaching and research. It was among the first schools to use the laboratory method of instruction, develop the modern profession of chemical engineering, and offer courses in aeronautical and

45、electrical engineering and applied physics.Word Study1. Verbal affixies-ize/ise: 1)to cause to be; to make; to becomemodernize / stabilize / realize / materialize / standardize / computerize / idealize /2) to put into stated place hospitalize / centralize / socialize-fy to cause to bepurify / simpli

46、fy /clarify /justify / notify /simplify / classify identify / terrify / qualify /terrify-en 1) to become darken / weaken / blacken / sadden2) to be made of wooden / golden / woolen2. body / faculty / staffbody1) .whole physical structure of a human being or an animal; main part of a human bodydead b

47、odya strong body2) . main part of sththe body of a ship the body of the theater, the main body of the book3) . object heavenly bodies a foreign body4) . group of people working or acting as a unita body of troops, a body of supporters, a legislative body, a government bodythe student body, the gover

48、ning body, the school body, an elected bodyfaculty5) . any of the power s of the body or mindthe faculty of the sight mental faculties6) . department or group of related departments in a universitythe Faculty of Law the Faculty of Science7) . the whole teaching staff in one of the departments or in

49、the whole universityThe entire faculty of the university will attend the meeting.staff (usu. sing)8) . group of assistants working together in a business, etc responsible to a manager or a person in authoritythe hotel staff the shop staffWe need more staff in the office. I have a staff of ten9) . Th

50、ose people doing administrative worka head teacher and her staff(校长及全体教师)The school staff are expected to supervise school meals.3. testify / justify / verify / Certify1) . testify declare as a witness, esp in court; give evidence提供证据，作证) Two witnesses testified against her and one in her favor.2) .

51、 justify show that sth / sb is right, reasonable or jus t (表明或证明某人或某事是正当 的，有理的或公正的)You shouldn t attempt to justify yourselfThey found it hard to justify their son s giving up saecure well-paid job.3) . verify to check; to make sure sth is true or accurate (证实, 核查)The computer verified the data was

52、loaded correctly.4) . certify to declare formally, esp in writing or on a printed document (尤指书面证明)He certified it was his wife s handwriting.4. say / speak / talk / tell / converse1) . say 其宾语通常是所说的话的内容，或用以表达出直接引语He hasn t said that he is leaving.He said, “ Good night ” , and went to bed.2) . speak

53、 用途较广,可指说或说话,还可指发言或演讲，通常是一人讲大家听The baby is learning to speak.Please don t speak with your mouth full of food.I d like to speak with you about my idea.We have invited her to speak on American politics.还可用来指会说或能够用某种语言说话。He speaks several languages.3) . talk 通常用来指两人或两人以上相互交谈，含着有谈话对象的意思 , 往往只调侃或闲聊We sat

54、 in the bar and talked for hours4) . tell 强调一人提供信息，其他人接受信息She told him to hurry up.She told me nothing about herself.5) . converse 谈话交谈，更正式It is a pleasure to converse with you.It is difficult to converse with people who do not speak your language5. rather / fairly / quite / pretty几个副词均可以表示“适度地”， “在

55、某种程度上”，或“不很”之意，常用于改变所修饰的形容词或副词的分量。1) . rathera. 既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。与褒义词连用时，听起来令人心情愉悦；rather good play rather poor workb. 与贬义词或中性词连用时，表示不赞成或不满意。rather hot rather smallc. 可与比较级或too 连用The house is rather bigger than we thought.Those shoes are rather too small.d.与a/an + adj. + n连用时，可置于 a / an 之前。a rather

56、nice day a rather pretty woman2) . fairly 词义最弱，多与褒义词连用 fairly tidy / friendly3) . quite和rather一样，在与a/an + adj. + n连用时，可置于 a / an之前。A quite nice guy a quite promising future4) . prettya.词义最强也最通俗，但词义的强弱受语调影响较大。A pretty simple question a pretty ugly mab.和rather一样既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。与褒义词连用时，听 起来令人心情愉悦；6. s

57、ensitive / sensible1) . sensible reasonable; having or showing good sensea sensible person a sensible suggestion2) . sensitive easily hurt, damaged, affected, offended, upseta sensitive nerve heat-sensitive a sensitive girl sensitive to criticism Writing Technique ( 20 minutes)Euphemism 委婉语Euphemism

58、, or “language pollution”, or “double speak”, as some call it, is often intended to obscure or hide the real situation.jump the fence pass away go to the bathroom senior citizengo to the electric chair rest in peaceladies roomsanitary engineercorrection centerdomestic helpmeat technologistsubstandard housingHe is a bit slow for his age.Text Analysis1. StructurePart I (para.1 8) describes the writer ' s encounter with osfeudentsPart II (par