Unit 3 The Generation Gap

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one comes after it.

——George Orwell

每一代人都自以为比前人更聪慧，比后人更英明。

——乔治·奥威尔

Detailed Reading

Ⅰ. Difficult Sentences

1. (Title) “Father Knows Better”

1. What does “Father knows better.” mean?

(=“Father knows better.” or “Father, you know better than that.” literally means Father was wise enough not to do something. Actually it does not have this meaning. It means Father was not wise when he meddled with his children’s affairs.)

2. How many times does this sentence occur in the text? What can you infer from the sentence?

(=This sentence occurs six times in the text. The children said it satirically to show their disapproval of Father’s meddling with their affairs. )

2. (LL.39~40) “I’m sure he’s a good worker but a typical teenager, if you know what I mean.”

1. What did Father mean by saying this?

(=Father was proud of his son as he thought his son would work well, but he was a little worried that his son was a boy and he might make some mistakes in his work.) 2. What was the manager’s response?

(=As a young man, the manager didn’t understand a father’s feeling, and showed no interests.)

3. (LL.42~43) “And I assure you that if there are any subjects that need to be addressed, Sean

and I will have a man-to-man talk.” 1. What is a man-to-man talk?

(=A talk that takes place between two men, especially two men who need to discuss a serious personal matter.)

2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=你放心，要是有什么问题需要解决的话，我和肖恩会开诚布公地谈一谈的。)

4. (LL.60~61) “If that sort of thing happened only once in a while, it wouldn’t be so bad. Overall,

I wouldn’t want to trade my dad for anyone else’s.” What can you infer from the sentence?

(=Father was always meddling with his children’s affairs, and the children disliked it.

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However, the children loved Father and if he interfered with their affairs only once in a while, they could bear it. )

5. (LL.91~92) “Through clenched teeth, the words are in a monotone and evenly spaced.”

Translate the sentence into Chinese. (=咬紧牙，一字一顿地说。)

6. (L.134) “Why back in my day– ”

1. Paraphrase the sentence. (=Well, when I was young, we didn’t behave like that.)

2. What does the sentence imply?

(=It implies a gap between the young generation and the older generation.)

7. (L.138) “Get this over with, more likely.”

1. What is the correct order of this sentence? (=It is more likely to get this over with. )

2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=还不如说，是把这份罪受完算了。)

8. (LL.166~168) “And it’s not just one of us who’ve felt the heavy hand of interference. Oh, no,

all three of us live in constant dread knowing that at any time disaster can strike…” Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=不止我一个人深受他横加干预之苦。哦，绝非我一个人。我们兄妹三个整天提心吊胆，知道倒霉的是随时可能来临…)

Ⅱ. Words and Expressions

1. (Title) know better: behave in a more sensible and acceptable way

* He is old enough to know better.

* 他很明事理，不至于以貌取人。

(=He knows better than to judge by appearances.)

Pattern: know better than sb. know better than to do sth.

2. (L.3) location: n. a place or position

* This is a suitable location for a camp.

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* 目击者向警察指出事故的确切地点。

(=Witnesses showed the police the exact location of the accident.)

3. (L.10) embarrass: vt. make (sb.) feel awkward or ashamed

* It embarrassed him that he had to give a talk in front of a lot of people.

* I don’t like making speeches in public. It’s so embarrassing.

* I was really embarrassed when I couldn’t answer the teacher’s question.

4. (L.16) dumb: adj.

1) foolish

* That was a dumb thing to do.

* He was so dumb that he left his keys at home again.

2) unable to speak

* The terrible news struck us all dumb.

* 他生来不能说话，但是他设法找到一个好工作。

(=He was born dumb, but he has still managed to get a good job.)

5. (L.18) in unison: acting in the same way at the same time

* All the babies cried in unison.

* 国际社会准备一致反对恐怖主义。

(=The international community is ready to work in unison against terrorism.)

6. (L.20) consist of: be made up of

* The city of New York consists of five boroughs.

* The committee consists of scientists and engineers.

Collocation:

consist in 等于；在于

CF: consist, compose, comprise & constitute 这几个词都是动词，都有“组成”的意思。

consist 是个不及物动词，与介词of一起连用，不可用于被动语态。consist的主语表示

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事物的整体，of后的宾语表示事物的组成部分。例如： * Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen. 水由氢和氧组成。

* North America consists of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 北美洲包括美国、加拿大和墨西哥。

compose的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。但在被动语态中正好相反。

例如： * The United States, Canada, and Mexico compose North America. 美国、加拿大和墨西

哥合起来构成北美洲。 * Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. 水由氢和氧组成。

Comprise用作及物动词，有两种用法：传统规则认为其主语应当为事物的整体，宾语应

当为事物的组成部分，词义为“由……组成，由……构成”；另一种趋势是用comprise表达“组成，构成”的意思，此时其主语为事物的组成部分，宾语为事物的整体。 * North America comprises the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 北美洲包括美国、

加拿大和墨西哥。 * Ten stories comprise the book. 十个故事组成了这本书。

constitute的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。例如： * The United States, Canada, and Mexico constitute North America. 美国、加拿大和墨

西哥合起来构成北美洲。 * Seven days constitute a week. 七天为一周。

7. (L.57) fade: vi.

1) lose color or brightness

* The wallpaper has faded.

2) disappear slowly

* The sound of thunder faded away into the distance.

* 随着天气越来越冷，他早锻炼的热情逐渐消失了。

(=Her enthusiasm for early-morning exercises faded as the weather was getting colder and colder.)

Collocation:

fade away fade out

逐渐消失 逐渐消失；淡出

8. (L.61) overall:

1. adv. in general

* Overall, prices are still rising.

* Overall, I like her, despite her faults.

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