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编者
2000年6月
Unit One How To Grow Old
About the author
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3d Earl, 1872-1970, British philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer; b. Wales. The grandson of Lord John Russell, the 1st Earl Russell, he succeeded to the earldom in 1931. While teaching at Cambridge Univ. Russell produced his most important works, Principles of Mathematics(1903) and, with Alfred North WHITEHEAD, Principia Mathenetica (3 vol., 1910 – 13), in which he attempted to show how the laws of mathematics could be deduced from the basic axioms of logic. His work influenced on 20th-cent. symbolic logic, SET theory in mathematics, and LOGICAL POSITIVISM, especially in the work of his student Ludwig WITTFENSTEN. An undogmatic but zealous rationalist, Russell was deeply convinced of the logical independence of individual facts and the dependence of knowledge on the data of original experience. Well known for his social views, he was an active pacifist during World War I. In 1927 he and his wife founded the highly experimental Beacon Hill School. His liberal views on marriage, sex, adultery, and homosexuality made him controversial during most of the 1930s. He abandoned pacifism during World War II in the face of the Nazi threat but reverted to it after the war, becoming a leader in the ―ban the bomb‖ movement to halt the manufacture of nuclear weapons. In the 1960s he and Jean-Paul SARTRE organized European opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Russell‘s radicalism kept him from a traditional academic career, and he supported himself chiefly by his writings, many of them widely read, e.g., Marriage and Morals(1929), A History of Western Philosophy(1945), and his autobiography (3 vol., 1967-69). In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
Ressell had one of the most widely varied and persistently influential intellects of the 20th century. During most of his active life, a span of 3 generations, Russell had at any time more than 40 books in print ranging over philosophy, mathematics, science, ethics, sociology, education, history, religion, politics and polimic. The extent of his influence resulted partly from his amazing efficiency in applying his intellect (he normally wrote at the rate of 3000 largely unaltered words a day), his memory, and his aristocratic independence, and partly from his deep humanitarian feeling that was the main spring of his actions. His first major undertaking in the field of logic and mathematics had a profound influence upon philosophy in the western world. In his middle years, his books on morals, politics, education, pacifism, and other subjects were an illumination and encouragement to the rebellious layman. Finally, during the last decades of his life (just as he felt himself in danger of becoming respectable by sheer weight of years), he became an inspiration to idealistic youth throughout the world in his active opposition to the manufacture of H-bombs and to the war in Vietnam.
―How to grow old‖ was taken from his book Portraits from Memory, which was published in 1956.
_________________________________
About the text
Theme of the text:
How not to grow old
Structure:
Para 1 Introduction
Para 2-5 The way of not getting old
Paragraph 6 Conclusion
Para 1
In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, … … ---- A surprising beginning? A way to attract attention? Or a kind of skill to start a passage in a most direct and straightforward way?
My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. ---- Can you? Please notice the tone (humorous?) in the first part of the paragraph concerned with describing his ancestors.
as regards ---- (also with regard to, in regard to) a phrase indication what one is saying applies to the fact they have just mentioned
As regards the car, I put an advertisement in the paper.
With regard to the gas fire, we hardly use it.
My upbringing was fairly strict in regard to obedience and truthfulness.
… … was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, … … ----What a metaphor! And the latter part of the sentence is even more unexpected. In the sentence, we also find the use of euphemism (= a polite word or expression that people use when they are talking about something which they or other people find unpleasant or embarrassing, such as death or sex). Some nor examples are given below:
● A man is helping the police with inquires. (A suspected criminal is detained by the police and
probably under close arrest.)
● A large accident (= the explosion of a nuclear power station)
●Armed emergency (= a small-scale war in which large numbers of people are being killed,
buildings destroyed, etc.)
●under-achiever (= a school-child who is backward or merely bore form the neck upwards)
●The locus of evaluation (= the classroom)
●Lower ability group (= s low learners)
● A member of the lower socio-economic bracket (= a poor person)
●Terminal illness (= a fatal illness)
cut off ---- stop something, esp. speech or the supply of electricity, gas, water, etc.
If this bill is not paid within five days, your gas supply will be cut off.
If you speak for too long, the chairwoman will cut you off.
If you are having a phone conversation and you are cut off (=lose communication
with the person you are speaking to), phone the operator.
who was a friend of Gibbon ----usually we say ―a friend of so-and-so‘s‖. When we want to emphasize the idea that somebody is one of the friends of a famous person, then we say ―He is a friend of so-and-so.‖
Gibbon ---- Gibbon, Edward, 1734—94, English historian. He is the author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (6 vol., 1776—88), one of the most influential historical works of modern times. Gibbon also wrote a subtle and interesting autobiography, Memoirs of His Life and Writings (1796). He served in Parliament from 1774 to 1783.
Girton College ----The first women‘s college at Cambridge University, founded in 1896.
word ---- (archaic) speak
relate ---- (fml or literary) tell (a story) or describe (a series of events)
She related the events of the past week to the police.
He relates how at the age of 23 he was interned in a prison camp.
melancholy ----unhappiness or sadness, esp. that which is felt for a long period of time and
without any obvious reason
a melancholy piece of music
melancholy autumn days
He is an actor who is famous for roles full of sentimental melancholy.
part from ---- separate from
To be parted from him even for two days made her sad.
dismal ---- sad and without hope
The outlook is dismal ---- no-one thinks he is going to get better.
“madre snaturale” ----(Italian) Literally, an unnatural mother. The phrase means here ―What an extraordinary mother!‖
her recipe ---- her way of doing things
the proper recipe for remaining young ----that is to keep oneself busy. {―Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.‖ --- AndréMaurois (1885—1967), French author, critic. The Art of Living, ―The Art of Growing Old‖(1940).}
still less ---- (also much less) let alone; not to mention (to make a negative statement stronger) At the age of fourteen I had never even been on a train, still less an aircraft.
brevity ---- lasting only a short time; shortness
The first of these two poems is an anguished reflection on the brevity of life.
(Nor will the old people, once they manage to keep themselves busy with some wholesome things, be haunted by the thought that their days are numbered.)
Para 2
As regards health, I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. ---- It seems that many others have many things to say about their experience of living a long life. You might try your students to see whether they happen to know any of those different ?recipes‘ offered by different people on different newspapers, or the same newspaper at different times.
on the ground ---- a phrase used to introduce the reason (cause or argument) based on a (the) fact or belief (that)
An EU national could not be deported solely on the ground of his conviction.
She is suing the company on the grounds of unfair dismissal.
Do you have any ground for suspecting them?
We have grounds to believe that you have been lying to us.
He refused to answer on the grounds that she was unfairly dismissed.
mostly ---- The word is used to indicate that a statement is generally true, for example, true about the majority of a group of things or people, or true most of the time.
The men at the party were mostly fairly young.
A rattlesnake hunts mostly at night.
Para 3
absorption ---- If you have an absorption in something, you are so interested in it that it takes up a lot of your time and energy.
With his new appointment in 1911, his absorption shifted.
Her absorption in her work ( = giving of all her attention to it ) is so great that she
thinks about nothing else.
I t does not do to live in memories … ---- For old people, thinking of the past will not bring them any goodness. Compare the idea with the following lines by W. B. Yeats:
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep …
One?s own past is a gradually increasing weight ---- When people are getting old, they tend to spend more time thinking of their past experiences, which will prove to be a big burden for them.
If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true. ---- Self-deceiving (to plug one‘s ears while stealing a bell) is obviously not to be encouraged, but in some cases, especially for old people, it is not always unhelpful.
Para 4
clinging to youth ----used predicatively, the phrase means showing undue interest in one‘s children after they have grown up.
(If you cling to an idea or a way of behaving you continue to believe in its value or importance, even though it may no longer be valid or useful, e.g. cling to old, inefficient method of doing things)
sucking vigour from its vitality ---- When an old person wants to be young-at-heart by indulging himself in the good old days, he is simply trying to go south by driving the chariot north.
callous ---- unkind or cruel; without sympathy or feeling for other people
It might sound callous, but I don‘t care if he‘s homeless. He is not living with me.
He is so callous about it all.
contemplative ----―in quiet withdrawal‖ ??? Literally the word means ?considering (a particular thing) for a long time in a serious and quiet way‘ (e.g. Her mood is calm and contemplative.) philanthropic ---- showing generosity towards other people and in a sincere way to help them, esp. by giving money (to poor people)
Few companies offer money purely as a philanthropic gesture ---- they ?re usually after
something in return.
… owing to the length of infancy ---- because of the fact that human being spends much more time bringing up their offspring
Para 5
impersonal ----not involving or relating to any particular person; not being influenced by personal feelings
The teacher‘s criticism of the class was impersonal.
She mentioned no names in her impersonal criticism of the staff.
(cf. Hospitals always seem such impersonal places ( = a place lacking human warmth and interest ) ---- rows of identical beds in dull gray rooms. She has a very cold and impersonal manner.)
… wisdom born of experience … ---- wisdom as a consequence of long and varied experience; ? born of ‘ means coming from
He was born of a noble/wealthy family.
Love is born of heart, not mind.
His wish to become a doctor was born of a desire to help sick people.
exercise ----If you exercise authority, rights, responsibilities, etc. you use them well and effectively
Chinese culture used to exercise considerable influence in western countries.
They have no intention of exercising restraint.
It is a book designed to help you exercise the right to buy your council house.
concern oneself with ----give one‘s attention to something, because you think it is important The people hope that today‘s cadres concern themselves as deeply as Jiao Yulu with the
well-being of the masses.
render ---- give; provide (assistance, help)
We‘ll not forget those who rendered us help in time of need.
Para 6
In the young there is a justification for the feeling. ---- It is reasonable and understandable if young people ? are oppressed by the fear of death ‘. ? Justification ‘ indicates ? a good reason or explanation for doing something ‘. e.g.
We all have justification for what we do.
There‘s no justification for higher rate interests.
( be ) cheated ( out ) of ---- be unfairly prevented from obtaining or achieving something ( that should belong to one )
He thought that he had been cheated of some of his wages by his employer.
She claimed that her cousin had cheated her out of her inheritance.
The French team feel the weather cheated them of their victory.
whatever work it was in him to do ---- whatever work he had the ability to do.
abject ---- ( of a person or behaviour ) not having any respect for yourself; not proud or brave an abject coward/beggar
an abject apology/request
This policy has turned out to be an abject failure.
ignoble ---- ( esp. of behabiour ) that you should be ashamed of
an ignoble action/idea
She is accused of playing an ignoble part in the plot.
until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede ---- Until gradually a person becomes one with the
universe.
and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life ----毛主席也说过要把自己有限的生命投入到无限的为人民服务中去。
An individual human existence should be like a river … ---- In this and the next sentences, both simile and metaphor are adopted. While the former is an explicit comparison between essentially unlike things, introduced by a c onnective ? as ‘, ? like ‘ or ? than ‘, such as,
My heart is like a singing bird.
I wonder lonely as a cloud.
I‘m weaker than a woman‘s tear.
the latter is that unlike objects are identified with each other for the purpose of emphasizing one or more aspects of resemblance between them, for instance,
The camel is the ship of the desert.
Life is no more than a walking shadow.
the thought of the rest ---- Here rest is a euphemism for death.
_________________________
Translation
Fr om ―some old people are oppressed by the fear of death … ‖ to ―… and painlessly lose their individual being‖
有些老年人由于害怕死而感到精神沮丧/闷闷不乐。年轻人有这种感觉是情有可原地。担心会在战斗中阵亡的年轻人，想到自己再也无法享受生活所提供的最美好的东西时，理所当然地感到痛苦。但是对于老年人来说，他经历了人生的酸甜苦辣，自己能做的事情都做到了，再怕死就未免有些可鄙和不光彩了。要克服这种怕死的念头，最好的办法——至少在我看来是如此——就是使自己关心更多的事情，关心那些不跟自己直接有关的事情，到后来自我的壁垒就会慢慢消失，个人生活也就越来越和社会生活融合在一起。人生应该就像条河流，开头河身狭小，夹在两岸之间，河水奔腾咆哮，流过巨石，飞下悬崖。后来河面逐渐展宽，两岸离得越来越远，河水也流得比较平缓，最后流进大海，与海水浑然一体，看不出任何界线，从而结束其单独存在的那段经历，但毫无痛苦之感。
Unit One How to Grow Old
Key to Exercise II
1.related
2.melancholy
3.inquire
4.dismal
5.recipe
6.wholesome
7.callous
8.philanthropic
9.justification 10.undue 11.abject 12.contain
13.receded 14.absorption 15.ignoble 16.decay
17.known 18.indifferent 19.weariness 20.contemplative Key to Exercise III
1.sustained
2.life
3.retire
4.immerse
5.activity
6.physically
7.at
8.not
9.prolong 10.forms
11.exercises 12.about 13.take 14.against 15.intensive
16.fear 17.crucial 18.past 19.extensive 20.fun
21.favours 22.explosive 23.disadvantage 24.relaxed https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,zy
26.idea 27.zest 28.subjects 29.Thinking https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,plaining
31.criticizing 32.funeral 33.life-stretcher 34.life-shorteners 35.But
36.overstress 37.must 38.terms 39.may 40.way
41.concerned 42.are 43.on 44.long-lived 45.not
46.longevity 47.little 48.enjoy 49.people 50.not
51.but 52.of 53.day 54.walks 55.day
56.Over 57.that 58.the 59.feeling 60.against
61.bore 62.more https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,ugh 64.by 65.life
Key to Exercise IV
I am not sure that I can draw an exact line
between wit and humor. Perhaps the distinct is
so subtle that only those can decide∧have long white beards. ∧I am quite positive that of the two, humor is∧more comfortable and the more livable quantity. Humorous persons, if their gift is
genuine and not a merely shine upon the surface,
are always agreed companions and they sit through ∧evening best. They have pleasant mouths turned up at the corners. ∧These corners the great Master of marionettes has fixed the strings, and he holds them in the nimblest fingers to twitch them at 1.distinction
2.who
3.But
4.the
5.quality
6.mere
7.agreeable
8.the
9.To
10.√
11.his
the slightest jest. And the mouth of a witty man
is hard and sour until the moment of ∧discharge. Nor is the flash from a witty man ever comforting, whereas a humorous man radiates∧general pleasure and is like other candle in the room.
I admire wit, but I have not real liking for it.
It has had been too often employed against me, whereas humor is always an ally. Because it never points an impertinent finger out into my defects. Humorous persons do not sit as explosives on a fuse. They are safe and easy comrades. But∧wit‘s tongue is as sharp as a donkey driver stick. It
may gallop∧faster for its prodding, yet the touch behind is too persuasive for my comfort.12.But
13.its
14.always
15. a
16.another
17.no
18.had
19.Because
20.out
21.like
22. a
23.driver‘s
24.the
25.√
Key to Exercise V (for reference only)
1.The rich businessman could never forget the day when he parted from his friends and
relatives and came to Hong Kong in search of a job.
2.The couple was cheated of the joys of life by having too many children.
3.It is no use complaining; we must do something to solve the problem.
4.I never spoke to that man, still less insulted him.
5.Despite the current trend of peace and development, some western governments still cling to
the practices of antagonism of the Cold War era。
6.My parents told me to read law on the ground that it is more useful than literature.
7.He was suddenly cut off by a heart attack.
8.As regards its quality, our country‘s primary education can well compare with that of the
United States.
Unit Two Nine Years For A and B
About the author
Christopher is a British critic. The present text is his review of Caught in the Web of Words,a biography of James A. H. Murry by his granddaughter K. M.Elizabeth Murray.
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About the text
Dr. Johnson was the greatest man who made a dictionary.---- Samuel Johnson (1709—84) was one of the most important 18th century English writers. His Dictionary Appeared in 1755. It was the most famous English dictionary before Webster, and perhaps the best before the Oxford English Dictionary.
Before Johnson no standard dictionary of the English existed. The want had troubled speakers of English for some time, both because Italian and French academies had produced major dictionaries of their own tongues, and because in the absence of any authority, English seemed to change utterly from one generation to another…A dictionary could help retard such change. In 1764 a group of London publishers commissioned Johnson, still an unknown author, to undertake the project. He hoped to finish in three years; it took him nine. But the quantity and quality of the work he accomplished, aided only by 6 part-time assistants, made him famous as ? Dictionary Johnson‘. The dictionary remained a standard referenc e book for 100 years.
His achievement is notable in 3 respects:
1.its size(40,000 words)
2.the wealth of illustrative quotations(about 114,000 quotations gathered from the best English writers)
3.the excellence of its definitions ( Though a small selection concentrates on a few amusing or notorious definitions, the great majority are full, clear and totally free from eccentricity. Indeed, many of them are still repeated in modern dictionaries.)
James A. H. Murray was the man who made the greatest dictionary. ---- Murray, Sir James Augustus Henry, 1837—1915, English lexicographer. From 1879 he was editor of the New English Dictionary( the Oxford English Dictionary), the major work of his career; it was published in 1928.
The Oxford English Dictionary is the largest dictionary of the English language that has ever been published. The O. E. D. Consists of 12 volumes and contains over 400,000 words. Its essential feature is what we often refer to as the historical method. The meaning and form of each word in the Dictionary are traced from their earliest appearance on the basis of an immense number of quotations collected by more than 800 volunteer readers. James Murray edited nearly half of the Dictionary, the other scholars responsible for the rest of the work being Henry Bradley, Sir William Craigie and Dr. C. T. Onions.
― a harmless drudge‖ ---- In Dr. Johnson‘s Dictionary the word lexicographer is defined as ―a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge ‖ . (18 世纪英国文豪Samuel Johnson 称字典编撰为success without applause, diligence without reward<无偿劳作, 虽成无荣>, 又称编字典的人为unhappy mortals [ 不幸的噍类] , harmless drudges [无害的苦工] , 指的是惨淡经营充其量只指望无害的结果。--- ---前言，英汉大词典)
“Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the
or iginal, and detailing the signification of words.‖ --Samuel Johnson
―Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense recompense has been yet granted to very few.‖
--Samuel Johnson
drudgery ---- hard boring work
I thought feminism was about liberating women from enforced domestic and maternal
drudgery.
Electronic information retrieval will remove much of the drudgery of research and leave time for the more interesting bits.
drudge ---- a person who does hard boring work
I feel like a real drudge –I‘ve done nothing but clean all day!
His wife is treated as a mere drudge.
vista ---- a view that is long rather than broad; prospects or possibilities
He could see through the tall windows a vista of green fields.
As dean, he opened up exciting vistas of (= new possibilities for ) inter-departmental links.
In an already troubled region, fresh conflict like this raises frightening vistas.
Classically derived words ---- words of Greek or Latin origin
Will-o? –the-wisp ---- a bluish moving light seen at night over wet ground because of the burning of waste gases from decayed plants; an undependable person or idea, aim that can not be reached Chase up ---- take action in order to discover something
They had to chase up the shop to deliver the bed.
black ---- The word is used here to mean ? bad ‘ or ?hopeless ‘ . (Some people avoid using black to mean bad, as it might offend black people.)
When his business failed he experienced black despair.
The future looked black ( = without hope ).
If you paint a black picture of a situation you describe it as extremely bad. If a person is not as black as he they are painted they are not as bad as people say they are. A black comedy is a film, play, etc. That looks at the amusing side of things we usually take very seriously, like death or illness. Black humour is an amusing way of looking at or treating something that is serious or sad. The black marke t is things bought and sold, money changed, etc. illegally.
get a move on ---- ( slang ) hurry; move quickly
He will never finish the work if he doesn‘t get a move on.
The dictionary is taking longer to record linguistic events than they take to happen ---- New words and expressions constantly find their way into speech while the dictionary requires much longer time to record these linguistic phenomena.
keep up ---- continue doing or having something
You are doing well, keep it up.
When I stopped studying I was still keen to keep up my French.
If you keep up appearances you pretend to be happier, less poor, etc. than you really are, because you do not want people to know how bad your situation is: They were unhappily married but kept up appearances for the sake of their children.
go for ---- be true for or relate to
What Mary‘s just said goes for me too ( = I agree with what she said ).
You really need to smarten up your appearance, Chris, and I don‘t know what you lot are
smiling about , because the same goes for the rest of you.
return ---- revenues; profit
The return/returns on the money we invested was/were very low.
nagging---- criticizing or complaining repeatedly and annoyingly, often as a way to persuade ( someone ) to do something
The way he keeps on nagging about the smallest things really gets on my nerves.
( If something such as a worry, doubt or question is nagging( at ) you, it is continuously and annoyingly in your mind: Several worries were nagging ( at ) her. )
falter ---- lose strength or purpose and ( almost ) stop
The dinner part conversation faltered for a moment.
Her friends never faltered in their belief in her.
providence ---- an influence which is not human in origin and is thought to control whether or not people receive the things which they need
As a monk he trusts to divine that he will receive food.
Willpower---- the ability to control one‘s thoughts and the way in which one beha ves; determination
It took a lot of willpower to stay calm and not panic.
He succeeded through an enormous exercise of willpower.
Converge ---- move towards or meet at one place
All the paths across the park converge at the main gate.
There was once a big difference between the two politicians, but now their ideas seem to be converging ( = becoming similar ).
Would he have acknowledged that one of the things providence did for him was mercifully to withhold a full sense of the task that was never to end for him? ---- When he started to undertake the enterprise, he obviously didn‘t have any idea as how difficult the task was. Neither did he know that he would never see the publication of the whole dictionary in his life. Maybe all this had been arranged by God, who was so kind to him as to keep all this from his awareness ( in order to keep up his spirits ). Murray might have felt obliged to God if he were aware of God‘s painstaking intentions then.
magnitude ---- the large size or importance ( of something )
They don‘t seem to grasp the magnitude of the problem.
set out (on, as, in) ---- begin ( a plan of action, esp. with a particular aim )
She set out as an actress with the help of the director.
Like so many young people before them, they set out to change the world.
to set out on one‘s lifework
pertinacity ---- strong persistence or determination
Like so many successful politicians, he can pursue his goals with pertinacity.
be alive to ---- be thinking about or aware of ( something ); be keen or sensible to
I ski for the excitement, but I‘m also always alive to the risks.
He had to leave Scotland ---- His first wife was seriously ill and the doctor advised her to move south where the climate might suit her better. So he went to London with her.
scholarship ---- serious detailed study
Her recent book on Chinese verbs is a work of great scholarship.
Recent historical scholarship has contradicted many commonly held ideas about the Roman invention.
indispensable ---- too important not to have; necessary
First published in 1927, the charts remain an indispensable resource for researchers.
She is good but not indispensable ( for the team ) – no player is.
Other remarkable philologists of his day---- Henry Sweet, Fredrick J. Furnivall, and some others.
dedicate ( oneself to ) ---- give completely ( one‘s energy, time etc. )
He has dedicated his life to scientific research.
The new President said she would dedicate herself to protecting the rights of the old. illustrative ---- showing as examples or explanations
Falling house prices are illustrative of ( are examples that show ) the crisis facing the
construction industry.
cull ---- gather together for being chose
Cull important facts from the mass of evidence
150musicians, singers, dancers and actors culled from all over the country
winnow ---- reduce ( a large number of people or things ) to a much smaller number by judging their quality
we‘ve winnowed down the bunch of people that we originally saw and come up with a short- list of eight.
“ Scriptorium ” ---- An iron shed which Murray set up in the garden of his house. The shed was lined with pigeonholes for word-slips.
shape ---- cause ( a thing, an activity, etc. ) to develop in a particular way
It was the Greeks who shaped the thinking of Western man.
… and did every other kind of work that could make the dictionary as good as humanly possible ---- and made every effort to ensure the perfection of the dictionary – as far as human capacity was concerned
He beavered---- Beavers are supposed to be very hard-working, hence the expressions ― an eager beaver ‖ and ― to work like a beaver ‖. The word is used here as a verb, meaning ― work hard ‖.
He badgered ---- The badger is a kind of burrowing animal. ― He badgered ‖ means he went deeply into his subject.
chase wild geese ---- A wild-goose chase is an attempt to catch or find something one cannot possibly obtain ( esp. because it does not exist or is not there ): The false clue sent us north on a wild-goose chase, while the criminals escaped southwards.[ From a kind of 16C horse race in which each horse had to follow exactly the erratic course of the leader, forming string like that of geese in flight. ]
Robert Louis Stevenson ---- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-94, Scottish novelist, poet, and essayist. His first books, An Inland Voyage( 1878 ) and Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879 ), were accounts of his wanderings on the Continent. In 1880 he went to the US, where he married Frances Osbourne. Four plays written with W.E. HENLEY had little success, but the adventure novel Treasure Island (1883 ) and A Child?s Garden of Verses ( 1885 ) were very popular. In 1886 came two of his best-known works, Kidnapped, an adventure tale set in Scotland, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a science fiction thriller with moral overtones. The Mster of Ballantrae ( 1889 ) was begun at Saranac Lake, N.Y., where Stevenson, a tuberculosis sufferer, had gone in search of a congenial climate. In 1889 he settled in Samoa, where he wrote three novels with Lloyd Osbourne, his stepson. He died there, leaving Weir of Hermiston ( 1896 ) and St. Ives ( 1897 ) umfinished.
James Russell Lowell ---- Lowell, James Russell, 1819-91, American man of letters; b. Cambridge, Mass. His poetry ranges from the didactic –The Vision of Sir Launfal (1848) -- to the satiric –The Bigelow Papers (1848; 2d series, 1867) – to the critical –A Fable for Critics (1848).
A professor of modern languages at Havard (1855-76), he was also the editor of the Atlantic Monthly (1857-61) and the North American Review (1864-72). He later turned to scholarship and criticism, and his essays were collected in Fireside Travels (1864), Among My Books (1870; 2d series, 1876), and My Study Windows (1871). As U.S. minister to London (1877), Lowell did much to increase European respect for American letters and institutions, and his speeches in England, published as Democracy and Other Addresses (1887), are among his best work.
apt ---- suitable or right for a particular situation
Chris produced an apt comment which summed up how we all felt.
take pride in ( something or someone ) ---- feel very pleased about ( it or them ) If you don‘t take professional pride in your work, you‘re probably in the wrong job.
( Be proud of is to feel satisfaction and pleasure because of something which has been done or owned: He’s very proud of his daughter’s achievements. She says she is a feminist and proud of it. )
at your will ---- at your disposal; as you like
echo ---- one who imitates another, as in opinions, speech, or dress
irrational quantity ---- irrational number [ noun, Mathematics ] any real number that cannot be expressed as an integer or as a ratio between two integers.
An Eminent Victorian ---- Queen Victorian reigned over England from 1837 to 1901. This period is often called the Victorian Age, and an important person of the period an eminent Victorian. Here the two words Eminent Victorian are capitalized. Apparently the writer is referring to Eminent Victorians, a collection of biographies written by Lytton Strachey.
sneer ( at )---- express or show in one‘s facial expression a very strong lack of respect ( for someone or something they consider to be of little value or interest ), esp. in a way that is unkind and rude
You may sneer, but a lot of people like my way of doing things.
They‘ll probably sneer at my new shoes because they are not leather.
thrill ---- feel extremely excited, usually because of something pleasant
Just standing beside her thrilled him.
He thrilled ( = reacted with pleasure ) to her voice.
contemplate ---- spend time considering ( a possible future action ), or to consider ( one particular thing ) for a long time in a serious and quiet way
I‘m contemplating going abroad for some time.
I‘m contemplating a change of job.
skimp---- use less time, money, material, etc. than one really needs ( for doing something properly, so that the result is unsatisfactory )
Never skimp on your warm-up exercises.
Many old people skimp ( on ) their food and heating in order to meet their bills.
( self- ) abnegation ---- allowing oneself to have ( something which gives one pleasure ) or to give it up
He praised the minister‘s ? enthusiasm, competence and abnegation ‘
( = not giving importance to himself or his desires or needs ).
attainable ---- reachable; achievable
We must ensure that we do not set ourselves goals that are not attainable.
arduous ---- difficult, tiring and needing a lot of effort
An arduous climb/task/journey
in that ---- because; from the fact that
I prefer his plan to yours in that I think it‘s more practical.
He speaks poor Chinese in that he thinks has been abroad for two years.
Murray … felt within the present a profound community … ---- He felt that linguistically or culturally there was something profound which the present had in common with both the past and the future.
community---- friendship that is created and maintained between people or groups who are different in some ways ( association )
They are anxious to strengthen this sense of community.
( Community service is work that people do to help other people without payment, and which young criminals whose crime was not serious enough for them to be put in prison are sometimes ordered to do. Community spirit is friendliness and understanding between local people: The presence of so many outsiders has ruined the community spirit. )
from which it inherited its whole language of thinking, feeling and pledging---- The present inherited from the past the entire language expressive of man‘s thinking, feeling and undertaking.
that future which will inherit ---- That future ( repeated for the sake of emphasis ) which will inherit from the present.
appeal ---- make a serious or formal request, esp. to the public, for money or help
They‘re appealing for clothes and blankets to send off to the earthquake victims.
The police are appealing to the public for any information about the missing girl.
credit ---- praise, approval or honor
He got no credit for solving the problem.
Her boss took credit for it/took all the credit instead.
The use of Ms for Miss or Mrs. has rapidly gained credit in recent years.
Translation
From ? He took pride in what he was doing,… ‘ to ? weep not for me, weep for yourselves and your children.‘
他以自己的工作为荣，却从不自傲。他不愿别人为他作传：“我不算什么――如果你们对字典有什么要写的，那就请便――不过就将我写成一段神话，一个回声，或一个无理量，或者干脆别提我。”然而他是不能被遗忘的，对这位我们所了解的维多利亚时代的杰出人物决不可轻视。他的一生平淡无奇，却高尚无比，使其传记虽缺乏刺激，但十分感人。面临着连续不断的压力，要求他简化这部字典的编撰工作时，他考虑了辞职。“这项工作比我伟大，比其他任何编写者都伟大。”只有一个崇高的人才会这样说，才会以这份真诚与无私声明：“我决不会放弃它，但同时，我也决不会妨碍任何人更好更快地完成这部字典。
尽管这种生活十分艰苦伤神，但并不残酷。一个人如此透彻地了解自己，明白自己能做什么，并有充分理由对此感到满足，这样的生活决不会残酷。默里，如同他的朋友们和同事们，认为当今不仅和过去有着深刻紧密的联系（从过去我们继承了整个思维、感觉和誓约语言），而且和未来同样不可分离，未来将继承当今的一切。他们劳作，是为了他们的后代，还有后代的后代，他们一直这么说。现在正是默里后代的后代中的一个撰写了他的生平传记。正是他，在诚聘自愿者时说：“如果你们对参加我的工作不感兴趣，并不想由此得到公众的赞誉，我便不需要你们，别为我难过，为你们自己和你们的后代难过吧。”
Unit Two Nine Years for A and B
Key to Exercise II
1.impart
2.drudgery
3.pertinacity
4.vista
5.magnitude
6.slippery
7.converged
8.faltered
9.withhold 10.indispensable 11.culled 12.winnowing
13.apt 14.skimped 15.enterprise
Key to Exercise III
1.principally
2.except
3.to
4.and
5.authority
https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,age
7.what
8.say
9.once 10.over
11.offered 12.dictionary 13.for 14.brought 15.way
16.one‘s17.the 18.anyone 19.with 20.eccentric 21.definitions 22.only 23.first-hand 24.not 25.simply
26.task 27.vast 28.literature 29.cover 30.copy
31.word 32.occurrence 33.ordinary 34.each 35.context 36.itself 37.writing 38.bound 39.such 40.editing
41.As 42.alphabetized https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,pleted 44.anywhere 45.illustrative 46.places 47.that https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,e 49.some 50.discards 51.re-reads 52.stack 53.are 54.Finally 55.hard-and-fast 56.what 57.about 58.influenced 59.ought 60.or
61.not 62.about 63. a 64.of 65.meant
66.or 67. a 68.example 69.in 70.we
71.word 72.but 73.from 74.of 75.audible 76.regard 77.is 78.of 79.else 80.speak
81.by 82.the 83.it 84.new https://www.360docs.net/doc/4817980052.html,
86.words 87.have 88.today
Key to Exercise IV
The meaning or meanings of a word are determined by
usage. If we want to know what a word means, we
must find ∧by studying concrete cases in which the
word is actually used by the speakers and writers.
The objectively scientific investigator of the
meaning of a word must, for practice, depend chiefly
on written material alone. One‘s memory of past conversations is notoriously reliable, and the
practical difficulties involved in taking conver-
sations∧verbatim make it needful to fall back on printed matters as the chief source for the concrete
cases which must be studied. But luckily there is 1.out
2.the
3.objective
4.in
5.alone
6.unreliable
7.√
8.down
9.matter
10.But
available for study a vast mass amount of printed material, and these material yields an abundance
of concrete cases in which the word under the study occurs. Indeed, a word in a general use occurs in
print so often that the investigator∧overwhelmed by
the abundance of his material, unless he limits∧to
a selection: he can study only a smaller proportion
of the total number of the occurrences of the word
over investigation. Thus, the word mahogany must
∧appeared in print several million times during the present century alone, and no investigator or no
group of investigators could find the time or the
money need to study all these occurrences of the
word. This difficulty is a familiar one to scientific research. The method under investigation used
in such cases is that of sampling in random. One
collects∧many concrete cases as one can handle,
and then proceeds to st udy the cases that will have
been collected, make the assumption that the cases collected are representative for the whole body of pertinent material.11.amount
12.this
13.the
14. a
15.is
16.himself
17.small
18.the
19.under
20.have
21.no
22.√
23.needed
24.in
25.of
26.at
27.as
28.will
29.making
30.of
Key to Exercise V (for reference only)
1.As soon as he arrived in Bangkok, the premier plunged into a period of intense diplomacy.
2.A typhoon is drawing near. We will suffer loss if we don't get a move on.
3.Politicians are usually alive to the needs and wishes of their constituents during an election
year.
4.If you are not going to help, at least don't get in the way.
5.Although the dividends are the same, this is a better investment in that it is quite safe.
6.She sewed beautifully and took pride in her work.
7.You are chasing wild geese; the men you are looking for have long since left Guangzhou.
8.The way Mr. Wu receives visitors with complaints makes for a good story.
9.The charge against this man goes for anyone who trespasses on my land.
10.They readily grasped at our proposal so as to extricate themselves from the dilemma.
Unit Three The Unhappy American Way
* It is embarrassing to live in the most comfortable time in history and not be happy.
* Happiness is not best achieved by those who seek it directly.
_________________________________
About the author
See ? How To Grow Old‘
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1950, Russell claimed that the fundamental motives of most people are acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, and love of power. In this essay, he analyzes two of the reasons behind the unhappy outcomes of these motives in American life as he viewed it.
About the text
no doubt ---- probably
No doubt he will help us if we ask him.
… but the pric e of alcohol and tobacco in my country has provided sufficient external causes for melancholy.---- Going to the pub is still among the most popular social activities among the adults in Britain today.
… has crossed the Atlantic ---- has reached the land of the United States of America
somber ---- serious, sad and without humour or amusement
a somber atmosphere/voice/face
somber parents waiting for the news of their children
outlook ---- a person‘s view of life; a person‘s way of understanding a nd thinking about something
he has a strange/fairly positive outlook on life.
in the course of ---- during
In the course of the interview it became clear that he was not suitable for the job.
In the course of lifetime‘s research, she made so me very valuable discoveries.
malaise ---- a general feeling of bad health or lack of energy, or an uncomfortable feeling that something is wrong (esp. with society ) and a lack of ability to change the situation She wrote about the depression and malaise ( = lack of interest and energy ) felt by women
trapped in their urban homes.
They claim it is a symptom of a deeper and more general malaise in society.
millennium ---- one of the periods of a thousand years before or after the birth of Jesus Christ. 1987 is in the second millennium AD The millennium is a period of a thousand years during which Christ will rule on earth, according to the belief of some Christians, thus a period of great peace, happiness, prosperity, etc.; an imagined golden age
opulent ---- behaving or made in a way which shows great wealth; having great wealth
an opulent hotel/restaurant
an opulent lifestyle
radiant ---- obviously very happy, or very beautiful
He gave a radiant smile when he heard the news.
You were at your most radiant this morning.
frantic ---- almost out of control because of extreme emotion, such as desire, anxiety, etc.
Exams always drive him frantic --- he gets so nervous.
tickle ---- excite agreeably; gratify
Could you see anything that tickles you/tickles your fancy (that you like and want to have)? palate ---- intellectual or aesthetic taste; a sense of taste
… and an almost frantic longing for something that might tickle the jaded palate ---- ( figurative ) and a very strong desire to have some interesting things happen to them, so that their otherwise boring life could be changed, and they would have something interesting to do, to feel, and to taste.
thwart ---- frustrate; stop ( something ) from happening
All his attempts to become rich were thwarted.
His holiday plans have been thwarted by the strike.
indulge ---- satisfy
Will you indulge my curiosity and tell me how much it cost?
He indulges her every whim.
livelihood ---- ( the way someone earns ) the money people need to pay for food, a place to live, clothing, etc.
They earn their livelihood from farming.
For most of the people of the country, a home, clothing and a means of livelihood were pressing concerns.
grand ---- of great importance or distinction
The Jacksons think they are very grand (= important and better than other people) but
they‘re not really.
de rigueur ---- ( adj. ) demanded by fashion, custom, etc.
At the place where I work, smart suits are de rigueur for the women.
Among the kids in my class, it‘s de rigueur to have a girl friend.
demeanor ---- conduct; behaviour
His demeanor is beyond reproach.
gaiety ---- a feeling of happiness and excitement