unit10

THE IDIOCY OF URBAN LIFETHE IDIOCY OF URBAN LIFE

Unit 10Unit 10

Watch the movie clip and answer the following questions.

1. What is Doug’s compliant?

Audiovisual supplementCultural information

Doug feels guilty for his family because he is too overworked and overscheduled to find time for his wife and kids, let alone for himself. He is becoming resentful about the heavy burden.

Dr. Leeds offers a solution: Doug obviously needs to be cloned.

2. What is Dr. Leeds’ solution to Doug’s problem?

Doug: Then I get resentful because I feel like I should have, you know maybe a little time for myself. It’s like work is first, my family is a close second and I’m a distant third, bringing up the rear. You know? Is that crazy?

Dr. Leeds: I don’t know. I’m not a psychiatrist. Anyway, you don’t need one. If the problems on your mind are real, that requires real solutions.

Doug: Well, then ... What do you do? Dr. Leeds: I told you. I make miracles. I create time. I mak

e clones. Doug, sit down. I’m a geneticist. Fifteen years ago I started cloning viruses. And then, ten years ago, I cloned an earthworm.

Doug: God bless you, sir.


Dr. Leeds: And then ... a chimp. And last year ... Last year ...

Man #1: Hi there. Dr. Leeds: Just in time.Man #1: Hello.Dr. Leeds: This is Doug Kinney. He is doing our new office

s.Man #1: Oh, sure, I know Doug. You know, he and I went

over the plans one day. Dr. Leeds: Oh?Man #1: You were sailing.Doug: Wait, wait, wait …Dr. Leeds: You understand what I’m suggesting?Doug: Yeah, sure. What’s not to understand? You xe

rox people.



Dr. Leeds: In a way. Man #1: Sort of.Dr. Leeds: The procedure takes about two hours. It

takes more or less two hours. And in the end, you have everything you need. What is it that, you know, I need?

Doug: Time! Dr. Leeds: All you need. For everything.Doug: Say, I’m interested, you know. What would

a ... you know, nothing fancy, just a basic, you know, just a basic ... you know clone-job cost?

1.The author － Henry Fairlie


Henry Fairlie (1924 － 1990) was a British expatriate journalist and social critic. He spent 36 years as a prominent freelance writer on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in The Spectator, The New Republic, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and many other papers and magazines. He was also the author of five books, most notably The Kennedy Promise, an early revisionist critique of the U.S. presidency of John F. Kennedy.

In 2009, Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations, was published as an anthology of his work. He wrote in a manner that was often “tongue-in-cheek” (intended to be humorous and not meant seriously) to point to some of the amusing things about city life.

2.Thoreau’s Walden


Modern people have long been tired and bored by the idiocy of city life. So they seek other possible ways of living away from city life. Thoreau’s Walden is an influential work of this type, in which the author isolates himself from society to gain a more objective understandingof it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau’s other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. Through the following quote, we may see his stance better.


“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

This text falls in the generic category of argumentation. Most argumentation consists of three parts: the thesis of the author, the evidence to support the thesis, and the summary or conclusion of the argument. This text follows this pattern too.Part I

(Paragraphs 1 — 2): The author presents the thesis of his argument: aggressively individualistic and atomized urban life today goes against both the purpose of the city and human nature, and thus is foolish.

Rhetorical featuresStructural analysis

Part II (Paragraphs 3 — 9): The author provides evidence for the idiocy of urban life, such as people living outside the city boundaries, maintaining the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off, and isolating themselves from nature.


Part III (Paragraph 10): The author reiterates his point.

In any argumentation, the author has a thesis of his own. So does the author of this text. We can see from the title and the text proper that he takes a negative attitude towards urban life by using a lot of attitudinal words and expressions.


• The Idiocy of Urban Life• Urban life is aggressively individualistic and atomized.• Cities are not social places.• lunacy of modern city life• create simulations of it (rural life) • a pretence to bosky woodlands• City dwellers take their filth with them ...

The following italicized words and expressions are used to express the author’s attitude towards city life:

Practice:Can you find more such expressions?


... they maintain the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off.work at their play with the same joylessnessThese windows are a scandal ...... the urban worker has no knowledge of the seasons.fetid central heatingno true sense of the rhythms of the seasonsThe city dweller reels from unreality to unreality.... city dwellers don’t know it (a Douglas fir) once had roots.

Detailed reading

THE IDIOCY OF URBAN LIFEHenry Fairlie

1 Between about 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. the life of the city is civil. Occasionally the lone footsteps of someone walking to or from work echo along the sidewalk. All work that has to be done at those hours is useful 　－　 in bakeries, for example. Even the newspaper presses stop turning forests into lies. Now and then a car comes out of the silence and cruises easily through the blinking traffic lights. The natural inhabitants of the city come out from damp basements and cellars. With their pink ears and paws, sleek, well-groomed, their whiskers combed, rats are true city dwellers. Urban life, during the hours when they reign, is urbane.

Detailed reading

2 These rats are social creatures, as you can tell if you look out on the city street during an insomniac night. But after 6 a.m., the two-legged, daytime creatures of the city begin to stir; and it is they, not the rats, who bring the rat race. You might think that human beings congregate in large cities because they are gregarious. The opposite is true. Urban life today is aggressively individualistic and atomized. Cities are not social places.

3 The lunacy of modern city life lies first in the fact that most city dwellers try to live outside the city boundaries. So the two-legged creatures have created suburbs, exurbs, and finally rururbs (rubs to some). Disdaining rural life, they try to create simulations of it. No effort is spared to let city dwellers imagine they are living anywhere but in a city: patches of grass in the more modest suburbs, broader spreads in the richer ones further out; prim new trees planted along the streets; at the foot of the larger backyards, a pretense to bosky woodlands.

Detailed reading

4 The professional people buy second homes in the country as soon as they can afford them, and as early as possible on Friday head out of the city they have created. The New York intellectuals and artists quaintly say they are “going to the country” for the weekend or the summer, but in fact they have created a little Manhattan-by-the-Sea around the Hamptons, spreading over the Long Island potato fields whose earlier solitude was presumably the reason why they first went there. City dwellers take the city with them to the country, for they will not live without its pamperings. The main streets of America’s small towns,

Detailed reading

which used to have hardware and dry goods stores, are now strips of boutiques. Old-fashioned barbers become unisex hairdressing salons. The brown rats stay in the cities because of the filth the humans leave during the day. The rats clean it up at night. Soon the countryside will be just as nourishing to them, as the city dwellers take their filth with them.

Detailed reading

5 Work still gives meaning to rural life, the family, and churches. But in the city today work and home, family and church, are separated. What the office workers do for a living is not part of their home life. At the same time they maintain the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off. They rush from the office to jog, to the gym or the YMCA pool, to work at their play with the same joylessness.

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6 Even though the offices of today’s businesses in the city are themselves moving out to the suburbs, this does not necessarily bring the workers back closer to their workplace. It merely means that to the rush-hour traffic into the city there is now added a rush-hour traffic out to the suburbs in the morning, and back around and across the city in the evening. As the farmer walks down to his farm in the morning, the city dweller is dressing for the first idiocy of his day, which he not only accepts but even seeks － the journey to work.

Detailed reading

7 In the modern office building in the city there are windows that don’t open. This is perhaps the most symbolic lunacy of all. Outdoors is something you can look at through glass but not to touch or hear. These windows are a scandal because they endanger the lives of office workers in case of fire. But no less grievous, even on the fairest spring or fall day the workers cannot put their heads outside. Thus it is not surprising that the urban worker has no knowledge of the seasons. He is aware simply that in some months there is air conditioning, and in others through the same vents come fetid central heating. Even outside at home in their suburbs the city dwellers may know that sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes it’s cold, but no true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the backyard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive.

Detailed reading

8 The city dweller reels from unreality to unreality through each day, always trying to recover the rural life that has been surrendered for the city lights. No city dweller, even in the suburbs, knows the wonder of a pitch-dark country lane at night. Nor does he naturally get any exercise from his work. 9 Every European points out that Americans are the most round-shouldered people in the world. Few of them carry themselves with an upright stance, although a correct stance is the first precondition of letting your lungs breathe naturally and deeply. Electric typewriters cut down the amount of physical exertion needed to hit the keys; the buttons of a word processor need even less effort, as you can tell from the posture of those who use them. They rush outto jog or otherwise Fonda-ize their leisure to try to repair the damage done during the day.

Detailed reading

10 Everything in urban life is an effort either to simulate rural life or to compensate for its loss by artificial means. It is from this day-to-day existence of unreality, pretence, and idiocy that the city people, slumping along their streets even when scurrying, never looking up at their buildings, far less the sky, have the insolence to disdain and mock the useful and rewarding life of the country people who support them. Now go out and carry home a Douglas fir, call it a Christmas tree, and enjoy 12 days of contact with nature. Of course city dwellers don’t know it once had roots.

Detailed reading

What is the purpose of mentioning rats as true city dwellers? (Paragraph 1)

The author mentions rats at the beginning of the article for the purpose of contrasting rats with human beings. In a sense, both rats and human beings are city dwellers, but there are differences between them in terms of life in the city. As natural inhabitants of the city, rats are social creatures and lead a stable urban life. By contrast, most human dwellers do not enjoy urban life but try to live outside the city boundaries; and they live an individualistic and atomized rather than gregarious life. Therefore, relatively speaking, rats are true city dwellers.

Detailed reading

What idiocy is there in the city dwellers’ trying to live outside the city boundaries? (Paragraph 3)

The idiocy of the practice lies in the pretence of the city dwellers. For one thing, they disdain rural life on the one hand, and on the other hand they try to simulate it by creating large or small patches of greenery around their suburb, exurb or rururb residences. For another, while they intend to live a rural life by going to the country, they have in fact spoiled the natural features of the rural areas and created urban surroundings where they have settled down. As a result their purpose fails in the end.

Detailed reading

Why does the author call the city dweller’s journey to work “the first idiocy of his day”? (Paragraph 6)

The author’s saying so reflects his attitude towards office work in the city. Unlike farming which is part of rural home life, joyless work in the city is separated, both physically and emotionally, from home life and consequently causes unnecessary frenzy. The worker’s going to and returning from work wastes a lot of time and thus is pointless, yet the worker “not only accepts but seeks” it. Hence the idiocy of “the journey to work”.

Detailed reading

How do you understand the sentence “The city dweller reels from unreality to unreality through each day”? (Paragraph 8)

The quoted statement describes in what environment the city dweller lives and works. With the windows that never open, the modern office, artificially cooled in summer and heated in winter, alienates the worker from the true natural world. The home surroundings are no better. They provide the dweller with no true sense of the seasons either. In general, the city dweller is removed from nature and submerged in a man-made environment every day.

Detailed reading

What accounts for the fact that “Americans are the most round-shouldered people in the world”? (Paragraph 9)

This phenomenon is caused by the demerits of office work. Compared with physical labor in rural life, office work in the city needs very little physical exertion, but it requires long-time sitting with the same posture every day. Even the after-work exercises cannot compensate for the damage done to the physical constitution of the worker during work hours. This accounts for the round-shoulderedness of Americans.

Detailed reading

Group discussion: What are the major differences between city life and country life? Where do you prefer to live, in the city or in the country? Why?

Detailed reading

civil: a.

e.g.His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly.He’d been careful to be civil to everyone.

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(1) polite and formal

(2) applying to ordinary citizense.g.civil rights: basic rights that all people in a

society should havecivil aviation: aviation relating to ordinary people rather than military forces(3) of or occurring within the state or between or

among citizens of the statee.g.civil war: war between groups in a

countrycivil servant/service

Detailed reading

Derivation:civilize v. raise from a barbaric to a civilized state

e.g.Schools will help to civilize the wild tribes there.

cruise: v. & n.

Detailed reading

e.g.The plane is cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet.

(1) (of a vehicle or its driver) travel smoothly at a moderate speed

(2) sail or drive for pleasuree.g.They will be going cruising the Greek islands

next week.

insomniac

e.g.Insomniacs do not sleep because they worry about it, and they worry about it because they do not sleep.

Detailed reading

n. sb. who cannot sleep

a. experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness

e.g.insomniac old peopleinsomniac nights: sleepless night

The word “insomniac” here is used as a transferred epithet to modify something inanimate.e.g.

Even so, the risk of discovery was beginning to cause Pettit sleepless nights.He threw a reassuring arm round my shoulder.

rat race: fierce competition

Detailed reading

e.g. I really want to get out of the rat race.我真的想要远离这种你争我夺的生活。They longed to escape from the rat race and move to the countryside.他们渴望能够摆脱无情的竞争搬到乡下去。

The rat race is a term often used to describe excessive work. In general terms, if one works too much, one is in the rat race. It implies that many people see work as an endless pursuit with little reward or purpose.

More phrases of “rat”:

e.g. I couldn’t believe that they have been living in the rat trap for months.

Detailed reading

rat trap: (slang) incredibly run-down and dangerous rental housing where the residents lives are in danger (or at least very depressed) and rats often inhabit the walls

e.g. I will never trust such a rat fink.

rat fink: sb. who betrays the trust of compatriots by giving vital information to their enemies

Detailed reading

e.g.Your hair looks like rat’s nest!

rat’s nest: a big mess, usually applied to hair which has not been groomed or taken care of

rat hole: description of a place of residence declaring it to resemble the digs of a rat, complete with piles of belongings which threaten to topple over and smother the occupant

e.g.Do you want me to fight him for nothing in a rat hole?

disdain: v. think oneself superior to; reject

Detailed reading

e.g.The older musicians disdain the new, rock-influenced music.Our new neighbors seem to be disdaining to speak to us.

simulation: n. imitation of the conditions of (a situation etc.); resemblance

Detailed reading

e.g.simulation test 模拟考试I was quite deceived by her simulation of sorrow.

Derivation:simulate v. imitate, give the appearance of

e.g. In cheap furniture, plastic is often used to simulate wood.Anne simulated pleasure at seeing Simon, but really she wished he hadn’t come.

prim: a.

e.g.a prim garden

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(1) neat

e.g.She is much too prim and proper to go into a pub.

(2) very formal and correct in behaviour and easily shocked by anything rude

hardware and dry goods stores: A hardware store (AmE) is a shop selling tools and equipment that are used in the house and gardens.

Detailed reading

Dry goods store (AmE) sells clothes, thread, and other things.

Detailed reading

frenzy: n. uncontrolled and excited behaviour or emotion, which is sometimes violente.g. A gunman killed ten people in a murderous

frenzy today in that city.The audience worked themselves up into a frenzy as they waited for the singer to come on stage.

The minister was forced to resign after a scandal involving him and another minister’s wife.Their affair created a scandal in the office.

e.g.

Detailed reading

scandal: n.(1) sth. that causes a public feeling of outrage or indignation

Someone must have been spreading scandal.e.g.(2) malicious gossip

Derivation:scandalous a. giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputatione.g.He is a scandalous wife beater.

他是个殴打妻子的可耻之徒。

Detailed reading

reel: v. move from side to side unsteadily

She hit him so hard that he reeled across the room.

e.g.

Detailed reading

slump: v. & n.

I spent the evening slumped in front of the TV.e.g.

(1) assume a drooping posture

He slumped onto the couch. e.g.

(2) fall or sink heavily

The real estate market slumped.e.g.

(3) fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly

Detailed reading

scurry: v. & n. run or move hurriedly, esp. with short quick steps

We all scurried for shelter when the storm began.Busy boats chug and scurry about the river.

e.g.

Detailed reading

insolence: n. the trait of being rude and impertinent; an offensive disrespectful impudent act

Her insolence greatly displeased the judge.Peter swept in, with his dignity and insolence. 彼得神气十足，目空一切、大模大样地走了进来。

e.g.

Urban life, during the hours when they reign, is urbane. (Paragraph 1)

Explanation:

Rats make city life courteous and refined when they dominate the city deep at night.

Detailed reading

City dwellers take the city with them to the country, for they will not live without its pamperings. (Paragraph 4)

Paraphrase:City dwellers create all kinds of city vogues in the country, for they will not live without these fashionable things.

Detailed reading

These windows are a scandal because they endanger the lives of office workers in case of fire. (Paragraph 7)

Paraphrase:These windows are disgraceful because they put the lives of office workers in danger if a fire should occur.

Detailed reading

No true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the backyard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive. (Paragraph 7)

Paraphrase:A lawn in the backyard and a few spindle-shaped trees struggling for life are not enough to give the dweller any true sense of the season changes.

Detailed reading

Word and phrase practice

Word derivation

Synonym / Antonym

Vocabulary Translation Integrated skillsOral activitiesWritingGrammar

1) The cars of these travellers drove smoothly south on Highway 203.


2) Some derided the dream of sending a man to the moon as insanity. Others viewed it as just another strategic move in the Cold War chess match.

3) She is a companionable girl. As a result, she has a lot of friends.

Replace the underlined part in each sentence with a word or phrase from the text in its appropriate form.

cruised( )

lunacy( )

sociable( )

4) Participants in the globe-circling Around Alone sailboat race spend most of it in isolation: one sailor, one boat, and a vast ocean.


5) With the exception of one poor performance, this musical is a good example in its field.

6) The pluses more than offset the inconveniences involved in making the trip.

solitude

( )

dreadful( )

compensated for( )


e.g.飞机在固定的慢航线上稳定飞行。The plane cruised in slow and routine flights.

cruise: travel at a steady speed in a car or airplane


e.g. 批评家嘲笑他的计划是一种经济上的疯狂。

Critics deride his scheme as economic lunacy.

lunacy: insanity, madness


e.g. 史密斯一家人很好交际。The Smiths are a sociable family.

sociable: inclined to companionship with others


e.g.城市越大越寂寞。

A greater city, a greater solitude.

solitude: a state of isolation


e.g.这真是一部糟糕的电影。This is really a dreadful movie.

dreadful: exceptionally bad or displeasing


e.g.光阴一去不复返。Nothing can compensate for the loss of time.

compensate for: balance the effect of sth.


1) idiot n. → idiocy n. → idiotic a.

e.g. 戴安娜突然意识到自己是个多么彻头彻尾的傻瓜啊。

我简直不能相信他会作出如此愚蠢的选择。

不要再问白痴的问题了！

Diana suddenly realized what an absolute idiot she had been.

I couldn’t believe his idiocy in the choice.

Stop asking idiotic questions!


2) urban a. → urbane a. → urbanity n.

e.g. 城市环境质量评价

由此一种温文尔雅、充满智慧的知性艺术发展起来了。

女主人招待客人进餐时得体而又风雅。

urban environmental quality assessment

Thus an urbane, witty, and intellectual art developed.

The hostess presided at table with tact and urbanity.


3) solitude n. → solitary a.

e.g. 我热爱安静的独处。

她非常喜欢独自吃的那顿饭。I love tranquil solitude.

She thoroughly enjoyed her solitary dinner.


4. exert v. → exertion n.

e.g. 尽你最大的努力！

尽量避免过度消耗体力。

Exert yourself to the utmost!

Try to avoid physical exertion.


5) insolent a. → insolence n.

e.g. 目空一切的人没有朋友。

你怎能忍受这样的侮慢呢？

The insolent have no friends.

How can you suffer such insolence ?


6. grieve v.→ grief n. → grievous a.e.g. 错失良机，悔之晚矣。

悲伤本身就是一剂药

亨利遭受到一次痛苦的打击。

It is too late to grieve when the chance is past.

Grief is itself a medicine.

Henry suffered a grievous blow.


7) lunacy n. → lunatic a.

e.g.这样的天气还开车，真是疯了！

她被关在精神病医院里。

It’s sheer lunacy driving in such weather ！

She is confined in a lunatic asylum .


8) habitat n. → habitant n. → habitation n.

e.g.科学家在鸟类的自然栖息地观察并研究它们。

花可以影响居住者的健康。

那里没有人居住的痕迹。

Scientists watch and study birds in their natural habitat.

Flowers can affect the health of habitants.

There are no signs of human habitation.

impolite, rude, ill-mannered

1. The buttons of a word processor need even less effort, as you can tell from the posture of those who use them.

Synonym: bearing, stance

2. Between about 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. the life of the city is civil.

Antonym:


3. You might think that human beings congregate in large cities because they are gregarious.

Synonym: friendly, social, sociable

4. Urban life today is aggressively individualistic and atomized.Antonym: modestly, timidly, gently


5. He is aware simply that in some months there is air conditioning, and in others through the same vents come fetid central heating.

Synonym: smelly, stinking, foul, malodorous

6. No true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the back yard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive.

Synonym: thin, lanky

7. Disdaining rural life, they try to create simulations of it.Antonym: accept, respect

8. The New York intellectuals and artists quaintly say they are “going to the country” for the weekend or the summer.

Synonym: strangely


Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated skillsOral activitiesWriting

Emphasis sentence

Active voice and passive voice

— A cleft sentence with “it” can emphasize the subject, object or adverbial of a sentence.


For example:It was I who received the promotion.

— Sentences introduced by a clause beginning with what are also used to emphasize a specific subject or object.

For example:What we need is a good long shower.


— In order to emphasize something we feel strongly, the auxiliary verbs “do” and “did” can be used in positive sentences.

For example:No that’s not true. John did speak to Mary.

— Invert the word order by placing a prepositional phrase or other expression (at no time, suddenly, little, seldom, never, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence followed by inverted word order.

For example:Hardly had I arrived when he started complaining.


Practice: Emphasize the underlined part of the following

sentences. 1. The awful weather drives him crazy.

It is the awful weather that drives him crazy.

2. He needs a second thought.What he needs is a second thought.

3. I believe that you should think twice about this situation.

I do believe that you should think twice about this situation.


4. A report is expected.

What is expected is a report.

5. I understand little what was happening.

Little did I understand what was happening.

6. I have seldom felt so alone.Seldom have I felt so alone.


Active voice and passive voice The active voice is the “normal” voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.

For example:

Mrs. Smith cleaned the office. (active)The office was cleaned by Mrs. Smith. (passive)


Practice:Turn the following sentences into passive voice.

1. Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.

An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa. 2. The girls ate the pizza.

The pizza was eaten by the girls.

3. Someone stole my car yesterday.

My car was stolen yesterday.

4. The musician played the guitar.The guitar was played by the musician.


5. That group of trick-or-treaters tossed the pumpkin off the bridge. The pumpkin was tossed off the bridge by that group of trick-or-treaters.

6.The city will raise the subway fare to $1.50 next week.

The subway fare will be raised to $1.50 next week by the city.

1. 政府承诺将不遗余力地支持我们的环保项目。 (spare no effort)

If you spare no effort, you do anything that is necessary to achieve success.


Translate the following sentences into English.

The government promises that it will spare no effort to support our environmental protection projects.

Practice：我们必须全力维护社会稳定。

只要还有一线希望，我们就要付出百倍的努力。


We must spare no effort in maintaining social stability.

As long as there is a glimmer of hope, we will spare no effort.

2. 她来之前对中国的历史、地理和文化一无所知。 (have no knowledge of)


If you have no knowledge of sth., you have no idea of it.

She had no knowledge of Chinese history, geography and culture before she came to China.

Practice：我对数学一窍不通。

我不知道他的下落。


I have no knowledge of mathematics.

I have no knowledge of his whereabouts.

3.幼儿园里燃起的大火危及 23个孩子的生命。 (endanger)


If sth. endangers you, it poses a threat to or presents a danger to you.

The fire that broke out in the kindergarten endangered 23 children’s lives.

Practice：你如果吸烟，就会危及健康。

心脏病的发作有可能直接危及患者的生命。


You will endanger your health if you smoke.

The heart attacks may directly endanger the patients’ lives.

4. 我们竭力把他从那个话题上扯开，因为我们知道他会泄露机密。 (head)


If you head sth., you direct its course or determine the direction of it.

We tried our best to head Henry off the topic, because we knew he would reveal confidential information.

The ship headed for shore.


Practice：避开这个棘手的问题。

这艘船向岸边驶去。Head off this awkward question.

5. 演讲人洪亮的声音在大厅里回荡。 (echo)


If sth. echoes, it resounds or rings with sound.

The sonorous voice of the speaker is echoing round the hall.

Father’s words echoed in his hearts.


Practice：他的声音在山谷中回荡。

父亲的话在他的心头回荡。

His voice echoed in the valley.

6. 勤勉和忠诚有时可以弥补能力不足。 (compensate for)


If sth. is compensated for, it is made up for or amended for.

Industry and loyalty sometimes compensate for the lack of ability.

Nothing can compensate for the loss of one’s health.


Practice：这家公司必须偿付给你差旅费。

失去健康是无法补偿的。

The firm must compensate you for your traveling costs.

7. 就我所知，他是从激烈的竞争中挣脱出来的少数人之一。 (rat race)


If you are in a rat race, you are in fierce competition.

As far as I know, he was one of the few people who got out of the rat race.

My father was at last able to get out of the rat race in the city and buy a house in the quiet countryside.


Practice：这项工作简直是一场斗争，你干得越快，老板就要你干得还要快。

我父亲在 60 岁时终于得以摆脱城市中你争我夺的无情竞争，在僻静的乡下买了一幢房子。

This job is a rat race. The faster you work, the faster the boss wants you to work.

8. 他留下了一些士兵来清除敌人的最后阵地。 (clean up)


If you clean up things, you put them in order or tidy them up.

He left a few men behind to clean up the last of the enemy positions.

You should always clean up after a picnic.


Practice：他们结清了旧债。

野餐后你们总应该清理一下。

They cleaned up old debts


Dictation

Cloze


Dictation You will hear a passage read three times. At

the first reading, you should listen carefully for its general idea. At the second reading, you are required to write down the exact words you have just heard (with proper punctuation). At the third reading, you should check what you have written down.

In one sense, / we can trace all the problems of the American city / back to a single starting point: / we Americans don’t like our cities very much. That is, on the face of it, absurd. / After all, more than three-fourths of us now live in cities, / and more are flocking to them every year. / We are told that the problems of our cities / are receiving more attention, / and scholarship has discovered a whole new field in urban studies.


Dictation


Nonetheless, it is historically true: / in the American psychology, / the city has been a basically suspect institution, / filled with the corruption of Europe, / totally lacking that sense of spaciousness / and innocence of the frontier / and the rural landscape.

The United States began (1) a largely rural nation, (2) most people living on small farms or in small towns and villages. (3) the rural population continued to grow in the late 1800s, the urban population was growing (4) more rapidly. Still, a majority of Americans lived in rural areas in 1900. Many of those Americans had settled on the plains in the 1800s. New machines for use in (5) were invented in this period, but horses, oxen, and people (6) provided most of the power that operated the machinery.

Cloze

as____

with_____


much______

While______

farming_________

still_____


While farmers now produced cash crops (crops grown (7) sale), they were still remarkably self-sufficient, often making or trading for nearly everything required by their own families. Perhaps it is that self-sufficiency that gives (8) life a special place, even today, in the minds of Americans.

rural______

for ____


as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

“As” together with its object “a large rural nation” functions as the adverbial of manner.



as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

as____


Here “with most people living …” is an absolute construction, within which “with” introduces the logic subject while “living …”, the present-participle phrase, acts as the logic predicate.


as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

as____


We usually use “while” to say that two longer actions or situations go or went on at the same time.


as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

as


According to the context, here “much” is needed to modify the comparative degree of the adverb “more rapidly”.


as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

as


Here following “in”, a noun or gerund is expected. According to the previous part of the passage, “farming” is appropriate, which means the activity or business of being a farmer.


as____

with_____

much______

While______

farming_________

still_____

as____


In this disjunctive clause introduced by “but”, “still” is the best choice here in terms of logic.


rural______

for ____ as


The phrase “for sale” means “available for people to buy”.


rural______

for ____


According to the context and the logic of the passage, “rural” here is proper.


Giving a talk

Having a discussion

environment (air, afforestation, parks), construction (buildings, roads …), economy (high-tech industry, finance …), culture (galleries, museums, performance …)

Giving a talk

Topic: Suppose you are a city dweller and an American friend of yours is visiting your city. Now have a dialogue with him/her and tell him/her about the great changes that have taken place in your city in the past few years.


Words and phrases for reference:

Topic: The process of urbanization is accelerating in China and more and more people are rushing into cities. There are different views about this phenomenon. Some people think that urbanization is making life better while others tend to believe that it has more disadvantages than advantages. Form two opposing groups to debate on the topic “Urbanization: Good or Bad?”


a. Urbanization brings more jobs. In cities where large population concentrates, more job positions are available in security, manufacturing and service industry.b. Urbanization brings poverty. Rural migrants are attracted by the possibilities that cities can offer, but they often settle in shanty towns and experience extreme poverty (facing the problems of sheltering, education, social security, etc.).

Viewpoints for reference:



Suppose your parents live in the country and do not like city life.

Write a 250-word letter to persuade them to come and stay with you in the city for a couple of months. In the first part of your letter, send your invitation. In the second part, tell them what changes have taken place in the city in recent years. And in the final part, tell them what arrangements you have made for their visit and urge them to come immediately.


Suggested outline:

Dear mom and dad, I am looking forward to your coming to Beijing … Beijing as the capital of China, an international metroplis has ① better facilities, ② better medical condition and ③ diversified cultural life, etc. I will arrange for everything if you would like to come …Best wishes,XX

Text II Memorable quotes

Lead-in question

Text

Questions for discussion

Lead-in question

What concept has been rooted in the American consciousness?A. the world of urban America as a merry and prosperous place B. the world of urban America as an evil and desolate placeC. the world of urban America as a busy and tiring place


1 I don’t pretend to be a scholar on the history of the city in American life. But my thirteen years in public office, first as an officer of the U.S. Department of Justice, then as Congressman, and now as Mayor of the biggest city in America, have taught me all too well the fact that a strong anti-urban attitude runs consistently through the mainstream of American thinking. Much of the drive behind the settlement of America was in reaction to the conditions in European industrial centers － and much of the theory supporting the basis of freedom in America was linked directly to the availability of land and the perfectibility of man outside the corrupt influences of the city.

THE CITY John V. Lindsay


2 What has this to do with the predicament of the modern city? I think it has much to do with it. For the fact is that the United States, particularly the federal government, which has historically established our national priorities, has simply never thought that the American city was “worthy” of improvement － at least not to the extent of expending any basic resources on it.


3 Antipathy to the city predates the American experience. When industrialization drove the European working man into the major cities of the continent, books and pamphlets appeared attacking the city as a source of crime, corruption, filth, disease, vice, licentiousness, subversion, and high prices. The theme of some of the earliest English novels － Moll Flanders for example － is that of the innocent country youth coming to the big city and being subjected to all forms of horror until justice － and a return to the pastoral life － follow.



4 The proper opinion of Europe seemed to support the Frenchman who wrote: “In the country, a man’s mind is free and easy …; but in the city, the persons of friends and acquaintances, one’s own and other people’s business, foolish quarrels, ceremonies, visits, impertinent discourses, and a thousand other fopperies and diversions steal away the greatest part of our time and leave no leisure for better and necessary employment. Great towns are but a larger sort of prison to the soul, like cages to birds or pounds to beasts.”


5 This was not, of course, the only opinion on city life. Others maintained that the city “was the fireplace of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the cold dark world.” And William Penn planned Philadelphia as the “holy city,” carefully laid out so that each house would have the appearance of a country cottage to avoid the density and overcrowding that so characterized European cities.


6 Without question, however, the first major thinker to express a clear antipathy to the urban way of life was Thomas Jefferson. For Jefferson, the political despotism of Europe and the economic despotism of great concentrations of wealth, on the one hand, and poverty on the other, were symbolized by the cities of London and Paris, which he visited frequently during his years as a diplomatic representative of the new nation. In the new world, with its opportunities for widespread landholding, there was the chance for a flowering of authentic freedom, with each citizen, freed from economic dependence, both able and eager to participate in charting the course of his own future. America, in a real sense, was an escape from all the injustice that had flourished in Europe － injustice that was characterized by the big city.


7 This Jeffersonian theme was to remain an integral part of the American tradition. Throughout the nineteenth century, as the explorations of America pushed farther outward, the new settlers sounded most like each other in their common celebration of freedom from city chains.8 The point is that all this opinion goes beyond ill feelings; it suggests a strong national sense that encouragement and development of the city was to be in no sense a national priority － that our manifest destiny lay in the untouched lands to the west, in consistent movement westward, and in maximum dispersion of land to as many people as possible.


9 This belief accelerated after the Civil War, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the first waves of immigration were being felt around the country as immigrants arrived in urban areas. The poverty of the immigrants, largely from Ireland and Northern Europe, caused many people in rural America to equate poverty with personal inferiority － a point of view that has not yet disappeared from our national thinking. Attacks on the un-American and criminal tendencies of the Irish, the Slavs, and every other ethnic group that arrived on America’s shore were a steady part of national thinking, as were persistent efforts to bar any further migration of “undesirables” to our country.


10 With the coming of rapid industrialization, all the results of investigations into city poverty and despair that we think of as recent findings were being reported － and each report served to confirm the beliefs of the Founding Fathers that the city was no place for a respectable American.11 Is all this relevant only to past attitudes and past legislative history? I don’t think so. The fact is that until today, this same basic belief － that our cities ought to be left to fend for themselves － is still a powerful element in our national tradition.


12 Consider more modern history. The most important housing act in the last twenty-five years was not the law that provided for public housing; it was the law that permitted the FHA to grant subsidized low-interest mortgages to Americans who want to purchase homes. More than anything else, this has made the suburban dream a reality. It has brought the vision of grass and trees and a place for the kids to play within the reach of millions of working Americans, and the consequences be damned. The impact of such legislation on the cities was not even considered － nor was the concept of making subsidized money with the suburbs. Instead, in little more than a decade 800,000 middle income New Yorkers fled the city for the suburbs and were replaced by largely unskilled workers who in many instances represented a further cost rather than an economic asset.

13 And it was not a hundred years ago but two years ago that a suggested law giving a small amount of federal money for rat control was literally laughed off the floor of the House of Representatives amid much joking about discrimination against country rats in favor of city rats.14 What happened, I think, was not the direct result of “the city is evil and therefore we will not help it” concept. It was more indirect, more subtle, the result of the kind of thinking that enabled us to spend billions of dollars in subsidies to preserve the family farm while doing nothing about an effective program for jobs in the city; to create government agencies concerned with the interests of agriculture, veterans, small business, labor, commerce, and the American Indian but to create no Department of Urban Development until 1965.



15 In other words, the world of urban America as a dark and desolate place undeserving of support or help has become fixed in the American consciousness. And we are paying for that attitude in our cities today.


About the text ― This text is taken from The City published by W.W. Norton and Company in 1969.


About the author ― John V. Lindsay was born in 1921 and died of illness in 2000. He belonged to the Republican Party and served as the 103rd mayor of New York City from 1966 to 1973.

Much of the drive behind the settlement of America was in reaction to the conditions in European industrial centers － and much of the theory supporting the basis of freedom in America was linked directly to the availability of land and the perfectibility of man outside the corrupt influences of the city. (Paragraph 1) ― The major reason why people came to settle in America is that they did not like the living conditions in European cities and they wanted to get more land and live a better life without the negative influences of the city.


Antipathy to the city predates the American experience. (Paragraph 3) ― The hatred of the city existed before the settlement of America began.



Moll Flanders (Paragraph 3) ― Moll Flanders, or to give it its full title, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, was written by Daniel Defoe in the form of a fictional autobiography of the girl known as Moll and it was published in 1722.

the Frenchman (Paragraph 4) ― Pierre Charron (1541 －1603), a French philosopher and theologian. The following part of this paragraph is taken from his work Cities.



William Penn (Paragraph 5) ― William Penn (1644 － 1718) has been regarded as the first hero of liberty for his pursuit of religious tolerance and interracial peacemaking. He is known as the founder of Pennsylvania.


Thomas Jefferson (Paragraph 6) ― Thomas Jefferson (1743 － 1826) served as American president from 1801 to 1809.


The point is that all this goes beyond ill feelings … (Paragraph 8) ― The point is that this was more than a simple dislike …


the Civil War (Paragraph 9) ― the war between the Union and the Confederate states, which broke out in 1861 and ended in 1865


the Founding Fathers (Paragraph 10) ― the founders of the United States such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.


FHA (Paragraph 12) ― Federal Housing Administration


Great towns are but a larger sort of prison to the soul, like cages to birds or pounds to beasts. (Paragraph 4) ― This is a famous quote of the French philosopher and theologian Pierre Charron. It means that a city is just like a prison where the convicted are kept, just like cages for birds or pounds for beasts. A pound is a place where stray dogs or cats are kept until they are claimed by their owners.


... the city “was the fireplace of civilization, whence light and heat radiated out into the cold dark

world.” (Paragraph 5) ― Here the city is metaphorically compared to a fireplace which bestows the warmth

and light of civilization on those in the surrounding countryside.


the new world (Paragraph 6) ― one of the names used for the non-Afro-Eurasian parts of the Earth, specifically the Americas. When the term originated in the late 15th century, the Americas were new to the Europeans, who previously thought of the world as consisting only of Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively, the Old World).


housing act (Paragraph 12) ― The U.S. National Housing Act of 1934 was passed during the Great Depression in order to make housing and home mortgages more affordable. It created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. It was designed to stop the tide of bank foreclosures on family homes. Both the FHA and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation worked to create the backbone of the mortgage and homebuilding industries. Some unintended consequences were that it did little to improve inner city housing but intensified segregation of races, and further promoted the single family detached


dwelling as the prevailing mode of housing, which furthered the phenomenon of suburban sprawl. The Housing Act of 1937 builds on this legislation. Here Lindsay refers to the 1949 version of the National Housing Act, which permitted the FHA to grant low-interest mortgages to Americans who want to purchase a home.


Department of Urban Development (Paragraph 14) ― Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1965 created HUD as Cabinet-level agency. Robert C. Weaver became the first HUD Secretary on January 18, 1966.


1. Why has there been a strong anti-urban attitude in the mainstream of American thinking?It is consistently believed that the city is characterized by injustice and it is a place full of corruption, filth, disease, vice, licentiousness, subversion and high prices. By contrast, the country is considered free and natural.


2. To whom can this thinking be traced back? Why?According to the author, Thomas Jefferson was the first major thinker to express a clear antipathy to city life because he frequently witnessed the sharp contrast between the rich and the poor in European cities such as London and Paris and advocated an escape from the injustice of the European cities to get real freedom in the new world.


3. What is the author’s attitude towards the antipathy to the city?The author is dissatisfied with the current condition of urban life in America and unhappy with the strong anti-urban attitude that has existed in the mainstream of American thinking for about 200 years. His dissatisfaction can be sensed throughout the text, especially in the last sentence of the text: “And we are paying for that attitude in our cities today.”


1. Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.

— Desmond Morris

2. I suppose the pleasure of country life lies in the externally renewed evidences of the determination to live.

— Vita Sackville-West


Questions for discussion

Is it Better to Live in the City or the Country?

1) The city is an exciting place, and although I like visiting the countryside on vacations, I prefer having people nearby who would be there if I need a hand. 2) The city always has something going on － events, new restaurants, etc. 3) Living in the city means being around more stores, people, jobs, and shorter distances to get from one place to another.

Advantages of urban life:

Guidance:

1) Living in the country sets you back from the frantic pace of the modern day. 2) You have nature in abundance, rather than in selected plots surrounded by a parking lot. 3) You have longer distances between neighbors, hence more yard space for the kids. 4) Homes are also cheaper.


Advantages of country life:


It all depends, then, on what your preference is as to where you’d be happiest. If you like to be around people, dislike being out in the sun much, and cannot bear to drive through a few miles of cornfields just to get to the nearest shopping center, then the country is not for you. And if you have anxiety attacks, are an outdoorsy person, or enjoy animals, country living wouldn’t be all that bad for you.

Conclusion:


Desmond John Morris (1928 － ) is a British zoologist and ethologist, also known as a surrealist painter, television presenter and popular author.


Victoria Mary Sackville-West, The Hon Lady Nicolson, (1892 － 1962), best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and poet. She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage, and her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf.

unit10

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