Unit 1 Thinking as a Hobby

Teaching procedures:

Ⅰ Warm-up questions Ⅱ Background Ⅲ Word study Ⅳ General understanding of the text Ⅴ Detailed study of the text Ⅵ Questions for discussion Ⅶ Language focus Ⅷ Exercises

ⅠWarming-up questions

1. What’s your hobby?

2. Do you regard thinking as your hobby?

3. What kind of questions do you often think?

Ⅱ Background 1. About the author Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 J

une 1993) was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies. He was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth.

In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Ⅱ Background

2. Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning

author William Golding about a group of British schoolboys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results. Its stances on the already controversial subjects of human nature and individual welfare .

Ⅱ Background

3. Gandi and Nehru Gandi (1869-1948) and Nehru(1889-19640 were b

oth leaders of the Fr—India Movement which aimed at winning national independence for india through non-violent, means. In the course of the struggle, they were jailed by the British government several times. But their efforts brought about the independence of India on Ahgust 15, 1947.

Ⅲ Word study

Word list1. acquaintance 2. anguish

3. bulge 4. compulsive

5. confer 6. confront

7. contradiction 8. contemplate

9. deficiency 10. lest

11. modest 12. penal

13.rotten 14. trifle

1. acquaintance

to make the acquaintance of sb, / make sb’s acquaintance 结识某人 ;

a speaking/nodding acquaintance 泛泛之交 / 点头之交

acquaint (fml) v acquaint sb with sth: to provide with information, make known to 使某人了解 eg: acquaint sb with facts

be acquainted ( with ) : to have met socially 与… 相识 eg: We are already acquainted.

2. anguish

anguish :points to the extremity of grief which so terrifies the spirit as to be insupportable 特指极度悲痛，至于精神上无法支撑的程度。

e.g. She was crushed by anguish on learning that her husband and children were burnt to death.

Excessive anguish may turn a person’s brain. The anguish of grief of the bereaved is beyond descriptio

n.

Compare : agony agony n most closely associated with physical pain, points to such sev

erity of it that the word is often used to denote the struggle and pain that may precede one’s death.

e.g. She had upset some boiling oil on her arm and was in agonies of pain

In his final agony, he called for the religious comfort which he had rejected for years. 在他弥留的剧烈痛苦中， 他要求宗教上的安慰，这是他多年来一直拒绝的。

The patient could not stand the sustained agonies any more. may be used figuratively. War refugees flocked to the neighboring country in the agony of despa

ir. 战争难民在极端的绝望痛苦中成群涌入邻国。 The old man was tormented by an agony of remorse. 这老人为极度的悔痛所折磨。

3.bulge

bulge v. to stick out in a rounded shape because sth is very full or tight. (cause to) swell beyond the usual size; curve outwards:

e.g. His leg was bulging with mosquito bites. He bulged his pockets with apples His pockets were bulging with apples. compare : protrude , swell, stick outprotrude v (cause to)stick out or project 突出，（使）伸

出 e.g. a shelf that protrudes from a wall 自墙壁伸出的架

子。 Protruding eyes/ teeth 凸眼（暴牙）

swell v i) (cause to) become greater in volume, thickness or force:

e.g. Wood often swells when wet. The river was swollen with melted snow. 河水因融雪

而上涨 His face began to swell up, eg from toothache. ii) may be used figuratively. eg He/ his heart was swelling with pride.stick out (cause to) project, stand out eg A rude boy sticking his tongue out at his sister. 一个向

他姐姐伸舌头的粗鲁男孩。

4. compulsive compulsive adj. 1) extremely interesting; fascinating e.g.

a compulsive novel about politics 有关政治的有趣的小说

2) (a) caused by an obsession

e.g. compulsive gambling/eating

(b) (of people) forced to do sth. By an obsession

e.g. a compulsive eater/ gambler/liar cf: compulsory: which must be done by law,by orders,etc

义务的 ～ education

5. conferi )to give or grant (a degree, title, favour). 授予（学位，头

衔，恩惠） confer sth on sb

ii) to consult or discuss （与某人）商谈；商议；讨论 confer (with sb) (on/ about sth)

6.confrontConfront reality/ future / threat/ more challenges Be confronted with （ indicate state ） eg: At present time, we are confronted with great challenges.i)to bring face to face; confront sb with The prisoner was confronted with his accusers. When confronted with the evidence of his guilt, he confessed at o

nce. ii) be or come face to face with; The difficulties that confront us se

em insuperable. 我们所面临的困难似乎是不可克服的。 A soldier has to confront danger. iii) be opposite to My house confronts his. confrontation n

7. contradiction

contradiction n. eg: eliminate the ～消除矛盾 : be in ～ to 与…冲突 : Your behaviour is in direct ～ to your principles. Contradict: v eg: If you contradict me once more, you a

re fired. Contradictory adj contradictory statement

contradict: contra- : opposite to, against ; dict : to say vt. 1) 反驳，否认 2) 与…矛盾，与…冲突 vt. deny the truth of e.g. He contradicted what I said. 他否认我说的话。 vt. say the opposite of (what a person has said); deny the wo

rds of (a person) You must not contradict mummy. He is always contradicting me. vt. be opposed or contrary to The two accounts contradict each other. You contradict yourself.

8. contemplate vt. They contemplated each other for some minutes. vt. 仔细考虑 ,熟虑 <问题等 > · She is contemplating a change of work. 她在考虑换工作。

vt. 考虑 <做… > · He contemplated going to some health resort. 他考虑到某一休养胜地。

vt. 考虑 <…事 > · We are contemplating where we should travel [where to travel] to. 我们在考虑要到哪里去旅行。

vt. 期待 ,预期 · We did not contemplate such a consequence. 我们没有预料到会有这种结果。

vi. 沉思 ,默想 · All day he did nothing but contemplate. 他整天除了沉思外没做任何事。

9. deficiency

deficiency : a nutritional ～ 营养缺乏 the ～ in the system 制度的缺陷 a ～ of good sense 良知的缺乏

10.lest

conj. for fear that;so that...not · He took his umbrella lest it should rain. Take good care of yourself lest you catch cold. conj. （用于 fear,be afraid 等词之后） (after fear, b

e afraid etc.)that · I was afraid lest he should come too late.

10.modestadj. not thinking too well of oneself · A modest man will never boast of his merits. 谦虚的人决不夸自己的功劳。 · The more learned a man is,the more modest he usually is.

人越是有学问，通常越谦虚。 adj. not very big or very grand · He is a rich man but he lives in a modest little house. 他是个有钱人，但是他却住在一座简朴的小房子里。 adj. small,not much · Please accept this modest gift. 请接受这小小的礼物。 His request is more modest than yours. 他的请求比你的更

微不足道。

11. penal

adj. 刑事上的 ,刑法的 the penal code 刑法 a penal offense 刑事罪 penal servitude 监禁和劳役合并的一种惩罚 , 劳役刑 a penal sum 罚款 , 违约金 Penalty n.[C] 刑罚 ; 罚金 ,罚款 [for] · a penalty for violating traffic rules The penalty for disobeying the law was death. n.[C] 不利 ; 报应 the penalties of old age pay the penalty of... 受到…的报应 n.[C] 【运动】犯规的处罚 ,罚规 ; n.[C] (对上次优胜者所加的 ) 障碍或不利条件 ·

on [under] penalty of... 违者处以…之刑 Non-payment is forbidden under penalty of forfeiture.

12.rotten

rotten to the core a rotten child a rotten book rotten weather a rotten headache I'm feeling rotten this m

orning. It's a rotten shame.

完全堕落的 , 坏透了的 没有礼貌的孩子 很烂 [ 糟 ] 的书 令人厌烦的天气 剧烈的头痛 我今天早上感觉不舒服。 那真糟糕 [ 可惜 ] 。

13. trifle

n. a thing having little or no value · We have no time to waste on trifles. an unconsidered trifle 未经考虑的琐事 n. a small amount of anything, a little Send a trifle for your birthday. 送点小礼物祝贺你的生日。

The expense is a mere trifle. 这点花费算不了什么。 This dress is a trifle too tight. 这件衣服稍微紧了一些。

a trifle of sugar 少量食糖

vi. talk or act lightly,deal with (something)as though it were of slight importance

I‘m in no mood for trifling. 我无心嬉戏。 Don‘t trifle with serious matters. 别玩忽重要的事。 vi. amuse oneself with; handle idly; play or toy with

vi. spend one‘s time idly or wastefully

vt. spend (time, effort, money,etc.) on things having little value She had trifled away the whole morning. 她白白浪费了整整一个上午。

Ⅳ Genral understanding of the text

1. introduction to the text From the title, we can see the present text is about thinki

ng. The author’s use of the word “hobby” is very interesting. By using the word, the author means that thinking is not j

ust for professional thinkers like philosophers. It is something all educated people should enjoy doing. I

t’s important for young scholars’ healthy development, both mental and physical.

Ⅴ

Ⅳ Genral understanding of the text

Structure of the text The text can be neatly divided into three parts. Part one :(Paras.1---24) How the subject of thinking

was first brought up to the author and how he came to understand the nature of “grade-three thinking”.

Part two: (Paras. 25--29) The author’s analysis of the nature of “grade-two thinking” .

Part three: (Paras.30--35) The author’s understanding of the “grade-one thinking” and his desire for it .

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Questions: 1) How are the three statuettes described

by the boy ? 2) What do the three statuettes

symbolize? 3) What effect do the boy’s descriptions

have? 4) What are the characteristics of the three

grades of thinking?

1) How are the three statuettes described by the boy ?

Venus Leopard Rodin’s Thinker

naked with nothing but a bath towel; no arms; in an unfortunate position

crouching; naked naked, muscular, who sat, looking down; his chin on his fist and elbow on his

knee frozen in panic, worrying about the towel

ready to spring down at the top drawer from the cupboard

utterly miserable; contemplate the

hindquarters of the leopard in endless gloom

busying being beautiful busy being natural not miserable, an image of pure thought

2 ） What do the three statuettes symbolize?

They represented the whole of life. The leopard stood for all animal needs or desires; Venus stood for love ; The Thinker stood for thinking as a uniquely hum

an feature.

3 ） What effect do the boy’s descriptions have?

An humorous and sarcastic effect has been achieved by the author’s description of the statuettes, which established a background to support his later analysis of three grades of thinking and some human natures.

4 ） What are the characteristics of the three grades of thinking?

Grade-three :Ignorance, hypocrisy, prejudice, self-satisfied, contradictions (Mr. Houghton, nine tens of people)

Grade-two :Detecting contradictions; do not stampede easily; lag behind, a withdrawal, destroy but not create(Ruth, the author, (maybe) some acquaintances)

Grade-one :To find out what is truth, based on a logical moral system(few and far between)

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

1. Beyond the leopard was a naked, muscular gentleman.(para.2)

Pay attention to the following words in which “-ed” is pronounced as /-id/:

a naked man; a learned professor; that blessed morning; a wicked boy; the wretched life; our beloved country; ragged pants; my aged parents(But not in “a man aged 45”)

2. I was not integrated. I was, if anything, disintegrated.(para. 4)

integrated: forming a part of a harmonious group

disintegrated: Here, it is used by the author to mean the direct opposite of “integrated”, therefore means some kind of trouble-maker.

Note: this is not the way the word is normally used.

if anything: on the contrary, e.g. I never had to clean up after him. If anything, he did mos

t of the cleaning. I’m not ashamed of her. If anything, I’m proud.

3. On one occasion he headmaster leaped to his feet, reached up and put Rodin’s masterpiece on the desk before me. (Para. 13)

Three parallel verb phrases are used to describe the sequence of his actions.

to leap to one’s feet: to jump upto one’s feet 站起来 to leap to one’s feet 一跃而起to rise to one’s feet 站起身来to struggle to one’s feet 挣扎着站起来to stagger to one’s feet 蹒跚而立to help sb. to one’s feet 扶某人站起来to pull sb. to his feet 把某人拉起来to reach up: to move a hand or arm upward in order to touc

h, hold, or pick up sth.

4. Nature had endowed the rest of the human race with a sixth sense and left me out. (Para. 15)

a sixth sense: a keen intuitive ( 直觉的 ) power. Here the author means the ability to think.

to endow sb with sth: to provide sb. with a natural quality or talent

e.g. She is one of those lucky women who are endowed with both sharp brain and great beauty.

Everybody, except me, are born with the ability to think.

5. You could hear the wind, trapped in his chest and struggling with all the unnatural impediments. His body would reel with shock and his face go white at the unaccustomed visitation. He would stagger back to his desk and collapse there, useless for the rest of the morning. (Para. 19)

struggling with all the unnatural impediments: The fresh air had to struggle with difficulty to find its way to his chest because he was unaccustomed to this.

His body would reel and his face go white: He would stagger or be thrown off balance and his face would turn white.

useless for the rest of the morning: unable to do anything for the rest of the morning

Note the humorous effect achieved through the use of the exaggeration and formal style.

6. Mr. Houghton was given to high-minded monologues about the good life, sexless and full of duty. (Para. 20)

to be given to: To be habitually inclined to do (sth.): e.g. He is much given to blowing his own trumpet. She was given to hasty decision. They were much given to senseless gossip. high-minded monologue: a highly moral speech. Obviously in Mr. Houghton’s clean life, there is no plac

e for alcoholic drink, sex, and other worldly pleasures. This is, of course, ironical.

7. Yet in the middle of these monologues, if a girl passed the window, his neck would turn of itself and he would watch her out of sight. In this instance, he seemed to me ruled not by thought but by an invisible and irresistible spring in his neck. (Para. 20)

to turn of itself: To turn by itself; to turn on its own irresistible spring: Metaphor is employed here, it refers t

o his sexual impulse. The author is ridiculing the contradiction between his hig

h moral tone and the working of his genes which compels him to turn his head toward young girls.

8.Technically, it is about as proficient as most businessmen’s golf, as honest as most politicians’ intentions, or as coherent as most books that get written. (Para. 23)

This ironical sentence shows that the author not only considers those people incompetent,dishonest and incoherent, but also despises most businessmen, distrust most politicians and dislikes most publications.

9. I no longer dismiss lightly a mental process. (Para. 24) I no longer consider the way grade-three thinkers think

unimportant because they account for nine-tenths of the people and therefore have great power. Now I know that ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy are very powerful enemies.

10. They have immense solidarity. They usually represent the great majority. Note that the author does not have any romantic ideas abo

ut mass wisdom. In fact, he believes that most people are parrots. They like to follow the crowd or jump(climb) on the bandwagon(join others in doing sth fashionable or likely to be successful).

11. A crowd of grade-three thinkers, all shouting the same thing, all warming their hand at the fire of their own prejudices… Man enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way on the side of a hill. (Para. 24)

all warming their hands at the fire of their own prejudices: all feeling very content and happy because they share the same prejudices

The author thinks that it is probably human nature to enjoy agreement because it seems to bring peace, security, comfort and harmony.

12. Grade-two thinkers do not stampede easily, though often they fall into the other fault and lag behind. Grade-two thinking is a withdrawal, with eyes and ears open. It destroys without having the power to create. (Para. 25)

to stampede: to get easily frightened and run with the crowd

to fall into the other fault: to go to the other extreme, that is to act too slowly and lag behind

withdrawal: detachment: (冷漠 ) as from social or emotional involvement; refusing to be part of the crowd

13. It set me watching the crowds cheering His Majesty the King and asking myself what all the fuss was about, without giving me anything positive to put in the place of that heady patriotism. But there were compensations. (Para.25)

fuss: too much attention or excitement to unimportant things to put in the place of: to replace heady: inclined to go to your head and make you intoxicated

( 极其兴奋的 ) (a heady trend; heady success; heady days) Compensation: pay, reward It made me watch people shouting in joy and support of the King

and wonder what this senseless excitement was all about although I did not have anything good to replace this exciting or intoxicating patriotism. But I did get something out of it.

14. She claimed that the Bible was literally inspired. I countered by saying that the Catholics believed in the literal inspiration of Saint Jerome’s Vulgate and the two books were different. Argument flagged. (Para. 26)

literally inspired: a true historical record; a factual account of God’s divine plan and prophecies. This is the belief of fundamentalists.

Saint Jerome’s Vulgate: The Latin translation of the Bible, used in a revised form as the Roman Catholic authorized version

to flag: to become dull “Both Methodists and Catholics believed that their Boo

ks are a true record of the God’s divine plan.” The author used this example to defy Ruth’s illogical opinion, therefore the argument became dull because Ruth didn’t know how to respond to it.

15. That was too easy, said I restively since there were more Roman Catholics than Methodists anyway; … (Para. 27)

restively : restlessly, difficult to control one’s emotion Here, the author pointed out Ruth’s logical error. The n

umber of people who hold a view is no proof of its validity.

16. I slid my arm around her waist and murmured that if we were counting heads, the Buddhists were the boys for my money. She fled. The combination of me arm and those countless Buddhists was too much for her. (Para. 27)

if we were counting heads : if we were talking about the number of people who believe in this

the Buddhists were the boys for my money : I would bet on the Buddhists; I am sure, they are greater in number

too much for her: More than she could accept or bear Note the author’s description of the contrasting combinatio

n of his intimate action and strong defiant expressions, which eventually made Ruth withdraw and give up as a grade-two thinker.

17. I was given the third degree to find out what had happened. I lost Ruth and gained an undeserved reputation as a potential libertine. (Para. 28)

to be given the third degree: To be severely questioned or interrogated

The author lost his girlfriend and won a bad name even as a grade-two thinker, satisfying himself by finding out deficiencies but not seeking for the truth. Note the effect of the author’s self-mockery.

18. To find out the deficiencies of our elders satisfies the young ego but does not make for personal security. It took the swimmer some distance from the shore and left him there, out of his depth. (Para. 29)

to satisfy one’s ego: To make one fell proud of one’s ability and cleverness

to be out of his depth :To be in the water that is too deep for you to stand in and breathe

The author uses this metaphor to express the idea that grade-two thinking has its limitations. It does not have anything positive to offer.

19. I came up in the end with what must always remain the justification for grade-one thinking. I devised a coherent system for living. It was a moral system, which was wholly logical. (Para. 31)

According to the author, grade-one thinking must be based on a coherent and logical system for living, in other words, a moral system, without which you cannot prove yourself to be a grade-one thinker. Judging by the context, this system probably refers to one’s world outlook and basic political beliefs and moral principles.

20. It was Ruth all over again. I had some very good friends who stood by me, and still do. But my acquaintances vanished, taking the girls with them. (Para. 32)

all over again: repeated What had happened to Ruth and me now happened agai

n. My grade-two thinking frightened away many of my acquaintances.

21. Had the game gone too far? In those prewar days, I stood to lose a great deal, for the sake of a hobby. (Para. 33)

to go too far: to go beyond what is reasonable and acceptable

game: his grade-two thinking which he takes as a hobby to stand to lose: to be likely to lose In those pre-war days when many people were fully wo

rked up to(逐渐达到 ) a political frenzy, it was very dangerous to voice different opinions. You might lose friends or your job.

22. Now you are expecting me to describe how I saw the folly of my ways and came back to the warm nest… (Para. 34)

Now you think I will tell you how I gradually saw my stupidity in being a grade-two thinker and therefore decided to give it up and return to the majority of grade-three thinkers.

23. But you would be wrong. I dropped my hobby and turned professional. (Para. 35)

But you guessed wrong. I did not drop my hobby of thinking ( here, we can say he might give up the hobby of grade-two thinking). Instead I went further and became a professional thinker.

Ⅵ Questions for discussion

1. Give a brief description of the three grades of thinking with your own illustrations.

2. What kind of thinker are you?

Ⅶ Language focus

1. Vocabulary Verb: slip, integrate Noun: rule, integration Conj. : lest Idioms of “stand”2. Grammar Focus Parallel constructions Subject complementTense & Verb forms

Ⅷ Exercises

Omitted.

Unit 1 Thinking as a Hobby