Book 6 Unit 5
Unit Five
1. Lead-in
Movie Clip
Watch the following video and then do the exercise. You can find the interpretation of some words and phrases in \ Book 6 Unit 5.mp4 (00:00 – 02:34)
Script
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oh, hello. Oh, hello.
Hi, how are you? Fine.
So do you ladies uh ... Come here often?
Do I come here? I come here a bit. I'm here you know from time to time. Do you go to school yet? Yep.
Yeah, that's it. So I think I had a class with you. Oh, yeah? What class? History. Maybe.
Yes, I think that's what it was. You don't necessarily ... may not remember me. You know I like it here. It doesn't mean I go here. I'm a genius. I am very smart. Hey.
Hey, how's it going? How are ya? Good. How ya doing?
What class did you say that was? History.
Just history. It must have been a survey course then. Yeah, it was. It was surveys. Right.
You should check it out. It's a good course. It'd be a good class. How'd you like that course?
You know, frankly, I found that class, you know, rather elementary.
Elementary. You know I don't doubt that it was. I uh I remember that class. It was ... um ... it was just between recess and lunch. Clark, why don't you just go away? Why don't you relax? Why don't you go away?
I'm just having fun with my new friend. That's all.
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- -
Are we gonna have a problem?
No no no no. There's no problem here. I was just hoping you might give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities especially in the southern colonies could most aptly be characterized as agrarian pre-capitalist. - Let me tell you something, all right?
- Hang on a sec. You're a first-year grad student. You just got finished reading some Marxian
historian, Pete Garrison probably. You're gonna be convinced of that till next month when you get to James Lemon. Then you're gonna be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania are entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year. You're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about, you know, the pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
- Well as a matter of fact, I won't because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of ... - \drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth,
especially inherited wealth.\right? Yeah, I read that, too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any
thoughts of your own on this matter? Or is that your thing? You come into a bar. You read some obscure passage and then pretend you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls? Embarrass my friend? (From Good Will Hunting)
Word Bank
1. elementary:
introductory, fundamental
e.g. I'm only familiar with the subject at an elementary level.
2. recess:
a pause from doing something, break
e.g. The students have a 15-minute mid-morning recess.
3. colony:
the country or district settled or colonized 殖民地
4. modality:
a particular method or procedure
e.g. The students are familiar with the traditional modalities of representing time and space.
5. agrarian:
relating to farming or farmers
e.g. China used to be a typically agrarian country.
6. regurgitate:
repeat after memorization
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e.g. For the exam, you must be able to regurgitate the information.
7. predicate (up)on:
involve as a necessary condition of consequence
e.g. Solving the problem is predicated on understanding it well.
8. plagiarize:
take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech e.g. He accused other scientists of plagiarizing his research.
9. pawn something off:
to persuade someone to buy or accept something of low quality e.g. The man tried in vain to pawn off an old bicycle to some girls.
Exercise
1. Clark interferes in the conversation because he wants to ___________.
A. discuss a problem with the boy B. impress the girl C. show off his history knowledge D. embarrass the boy 2. It seems Clark is ___________.
A. reciting someone's words
B. pretending that he knows more than he does C. seeking a fight
D. interested in the girls
Key: 1. D 2. A
Inspirational Quotes
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
— John Ciardi
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Book 6 Unit 5
Discussion
Do you think it is important for a college student to get A's on all subjects? Why?
II. Text I
Pre-reading Questions
1. You surely know what kind of student a straight-A student is, and you may also know what
\with that of illiteracy? Does \
2. Make a guess as to what kind of illiteracy the author is going to discuss in his essay, and what
made him think of such a subject.
General Reading
I. Which of the following do you think most appropriately describes a straight-A illiterate? A. A well-educated person, typically one with a Ph.D. degree, or working toward it, and with a high I.Q., but disabled by long-term exposure to academic jargon to write in clear, plain English.
B. A college student, usually one working toward a degree, who gets all A's for the courses he takes and is thus a promising candidate for a coveted fellowship, but is unable to verbalize his thoughts clearly because of over-concentration on academic readings.
C. A college student, a university professor, or any person of the academic world, who is an expert in using the academic jargon to express himself but at a disadvantage when communicating in plain everyday English.
Key: A
II. Determine whether the following statements are true or false.
1. In Degnan's opinion, of all those at university many are not able to read or write properly, and
this problem has already become a grave social concern.
2. The sort of writing the straight-A illiterates produce is hardly intelligible to others, but
crystally comprehensible to themselves.
3. If we compare straight-A illiteracy to a disease, as Degnan does, then the virus that causes
such a disease must be no other than the university professors.
4. Straight-A illiteracy is regarded as an important qualification for Ph.D. degrees and
fellowships by university authorities.
5. Although straight-A illiteracy affects fewer people than ordinary illiteracy, Degnan still
thinks it is worse than the latter type.
Key: 1. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. T
Background Notes
1. American Sociological Review: a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all
aspects of sociology. It is published by Sage Publications on behalf of the American
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Sociological Association. It was established in 1936.
2. Malcolm Cowley (1898–1989): U.S. critic, and literary and cultural historian. He established
himself as an important writer in 1934 with the publication of Exile's Return. And in 1965, he was said to be, \to Edmund Wilson (1895–1972), one of America's foremost literary critics, the finest literary historian and critic alive in America\A Second Flowering Works and Days of the Lost Generation (1973).
Text Study Text
Straight-A Illiteracy James P. Degnan
1 Despite all the current fuss and bother about the extraordinary number of ordinary illiterates who overpopulate our schools, small attention has been given to another kind of illiterate, an illiterate whose plight is, in many ways, more important, because he is more influential. This illiterate may, as often as not, be a university president, but he is typically a Ph.D., a successful professor and textbook author. The person to whom I refer is the straight-A illiterate, and the following is written in an attempt to give him equal time with his widely publicized counterpart. 5
Book 6 Unit 5
2 The scene is my office, and I am at work, doing what must be done if one is to assist in the cure of a disease that, over the years, I have come to call straight-A illiteracy. I am interrogating, I am cross-examining, I am prying and probing for the meaning of a student's paper. The student is a college senior with a straight-A average, an extremely bright, highly articulate student who has just been awarded a coveted fellowship to one of the nation's outstanding graduate schools. He and I have been at this, have been going over his paper sentence by sentence, word by word, for an hour. \from his paper, \pause to catch my breath. \that statement,\I address the student — whom I shall call, allegorically, Mr. Bright — \his brow furrowed, tries mightily. Finally, with both of us combining our linguistic and imaginative resources, finally, after what seems another hour, we decode it. We decide exactly what it is that Mr. Bright is trying to say, what he really wants to say, which is: \demand.\
3 Over the past decade or so, I have known many students like him, many college seniors suffering from Bright's disease. It attacks the best minds, and gradually destroys the critical faculties, making it impossible for the sufferer to detect gibberish in his own writing or in that of others. During the years of higher education it grows worse, reaching its terminal stage, typically, when its victim receives his Ph.D. Obviously, the victim of Bright's disease is no ordinary illiterate. He would never turn in a paper with misspellings or errors in punctuation; he would never use a double negative or the word \incapable of saying, in writing, simply and clearly, what he means. The ordinary illiterate — perhaps providentially protected from college and graduate school — might say: \down at the shop better stock up on what our customers need, or we ain't gonna be in business long.\and professional journals that are the major sources of his affliction, he writes: \focus of concentration must rest upon objectives centered around the knowledge of customer areas so that a sophisticated awareness of those areas can serve as an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant to future commitments.\straight As on his papers (both samples quoted above were taken from papers that received As), and the opportunity to move, inexorably, toward his fellowship and eventual Ph.D.
4 As I have suggested, the major cause of such illiteracy is the stuff — the textbooks and professional journals — the straight-A illiterate is forced to read during his years of higher education. He learns to write gibberish by reading it, and by being taught to admire it as profundity. If he is majoring in sociology, he must grapple with such journals as the American Sociological Review, journals bulging with barbarous jargon, such as \integrative action orientation\actor\(the latter of which monstrous phrases represents, to quote Malcolm Cowley, the sociologist's way of saying \things are never described as being \They are \homologous\or \Nor are things simply \allotropic.\They \dichotomize\bifurcate\
Words and Phrases
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1. plight n. a sad or unfortunate situation
e.g. The plight of the disabled children moved her to tears.
2. as often as not: quite frequently; at least half the time
e.g. As often as not, he would go to the old woman's home and help her clean up the place.
3. articulate adj. able to express thoughts and feelings clearly and effectively
e.g. She is among the few articulate children in the nursery.
4. coveted adj. eagerly wished for or desired
e.g. She won the coveted first prize at the speech contest, much to our surprise.
5. decode v. change a coded message into intelligible language
e.g. Straight-A illiterates' writings are like coded messages difficult to decode.
6. affliction n. 1) (in this context) trouble
2) (literal meaning) sth. that causes pain or suffering e.g. A feeling of isolation is his chief affliction.
7. inexorably adv. inescapably
e.g. New technology marches on inexorably.
8. profundity n. profoundness; great depth of knowledge or thought
e.g. We didn't realize that the modest and unassuming man who talked to us a while ago was a scholar of great profundity.
9. grapple with: try hard to deal with; solve a difficult problem
e.g. As he will soon graduate from college, he is now grappling with the problem of whether to find a job or to pursue further studies.
10. monstrous adj. frightening, shocking
e.g. How could he ever have told such a monstrous lie!
11. homologous adj. 1) a biological term meaning \
not necessarily in function\
2) having the same or a similar relation
12. allotropic adj. being of several forms of a chemical element in the same state but with
different physical or chemical properties
13. dichotomize v. divide or separate into two parts
14. bifurcate v. divide into two branches
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Notes
1. the current fuss and bother: the present-day worry and anxiety
fuss — a show of unnecessary anger, anxiety, excitement, interest, etc. e.g. Don't make a fuss over that careless spelling mistake. Why did you make such a fuss about a small matter like that?
2. to give him equal time with his widely publicized counterpart: to give as much attention as
has been paid to those illiterates like him, who are widely known to the public publicize — bring to public notice
e.g. The scientist does not want to have his experiment publicized before it is completed. The new dictionary sold quite well even though it was not publicized.
3. I am interrogating, I am cross-examining, I am prying and probing for the meaning of a
student's paper.: I am asking questions thoroughly, for a long time, and in detail; I am trying very hard to find out the meaning of a student's paper. Note how the author uses four different verbs to express the same idea forcefully.
interrogate — question formally for a special purpose, esp. for a long time and sometimes with the use of threat
e.g. The police interrogated the suspect for hours on end.
cross-examine — question sb. about the evidence he has already given in order to find out whether it is true or not
e.g. John was cross-examined on what he knew about the bribery scandal.
pry and probe — ask questions inquisitively and try to uncover some information e.g. It is objectionable to pry and probe into others' personal affairs.
4. \
derivations of certain multiple correlation coefficients.\: According to the author, this sentence is gibberish and its meaning is: \the sentence that the subject \choice ... multi-colinearity\corresponds to demand, the verb phrase \contingent upon\means \dependent on\and the noun phrase after upon \derivations ... coefficients\corresponds to supply. We must guard against this kind of gibberish in our own writing.
5. his brow furrowed: A more usual way of saying this is \knitted his brows\or \
frowned\
6. Bright's disease: There is actually a disease by this name, but the term here has no relation to
that disease at all. Here, the term refers only to \
7. the critical faculties: the natural mental power that makes sound judgment
8. irregardless: Regardless is sometimes misspelt as irregardless, a double negative that is
incorrect.
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9. providentially protected from college and graduate school: kept safe from college and
graduate school by divine interference
This is an example of irony. It is actually unfortunate for the ordinary illiterate to be kept out of institutions of higher learning.
providentially — involving divine interference; fortunately. Providential is the adjective form of providence, a divine force.
10. \
gonna be in business long.\: \people in the shop had better stock enough goods to meet the need of us customers; otherwise we are not going there to buy things any longer.\This is an example of ungrammatical English used by the ordinary illiterate.
11. Taking his cue from years of higher education: Following the examples or advice he has
been given for many years at college
take one's cue from ... — follow the advice or example of ...
e.g. Tom remained quiet at the discussion, and his sister took her cue from him.
12. \: This is the straight-A illiterate's
version of what an ordinary illiterate might say about stocking goods as shown in the preceding quotation. To put it in simple English, the sentence may read: \shopkeeper must know what the customers need so that he can tell what they really want from what they don't want when getting new supplies of goods.\
an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant — a commercial device to tell what is suitable from what is unsuitable
future commitments — what the shopkeeper has to do in future, i.e. stocking goods
13. the stuff: This word has a derogatory tone, referring here to \
14. journals bulging with barbarous jargon: journals filled with outrageously unintelligible or
meaningless writing
bulge with — be so full of sth. as to swell in size e.g. His briefcase bulged with confidential documents.
15. orientation toward improvement of the gratificational deprivation balance of the actor:
make adjustment to improve the balance between satisfaction and dispossession
Questions
1. What is the purpose of Degnan's writing?
Key: To find the cause of straight-A illiteracy.
2. Why does Degnan say that a straight-A illiterate is more influential? (para. 1)
Key: He is usually one who occupies a position at the top of the academic hierarchy; the way he writes is considered exemplary, and his judgment of what is appropriate is directive.
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3. Do you think Degnan's comparison of straight-A illiteracy to a disease is appropriate? Explain.
(para. 3)
Key: Yes. Like a disease, it victimizes healthy persons; it has its symptoms, and its agent.
4. What rhetorical and linguistic devices does Degnan use in para. 2 to highlight the extreme
difficulty in understanding Mr. Bright's paper?
Key: Repetition of the same structure: \emphasize the difficulty of the task; use of a periodical sentence: \we decode it.%use of cleft-sentence structure: \decide what exactly it is that ...\italicizing the word \
5. Why does Degnan insert the word \
Bright\
Key: The student given the name of Mr. Bright thus becomes a symbol.
6. Make complete the elliptical sentence \
Key: \and with it Degnan turns back from one type to the other.
7. What does Degnan's choice of the word \
Key: An attitude of contempt and disapproval.
8. Try to explain why the following pairs of sentences are the same in meaning. (para. 2)
a. The choice of exogenous variables in relation to multi-colinearity is contingent upon the derivations of certain multiple correlation coefficients. b. Supply determines demand.
Key: As intended by the student, \while \the derivations ... coefficients\corresponds to \This is a very abstruse sentence to unravel.
9. Reword the following sentences so that they are more easily understood. (para. 3)
a. The focus of concentration must rest upon objectives centered around the knowledge of
customer areas so that a sophisticated awareness of those areas can serve as an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant to future commitments.
b. Them people down at the shop better stock up on what our customers need, or we ain't
gonna be in business long.
Key: a. You must focus your attention on what your customers need so that you are able to tell what is necessary from what is unnecessary when you replenish your stock.
b. The shop assistants had better have in stock what our customers need, or we won't be in business long.
10. Compare briefly the two types of illiteracy. Which type in your opinion presents a graver
problem to society?
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Key: Open to discussion.
Activity
Try to collect some sentences from journal articles or M.A. theses, or Ph.D. dissertations in these fields and try to \them into plain, more intelligible English through joint efforts, and then summarize the linguistic features of this type of academic English.
Sentence patterns for your reference In ..., the author says ... In plain English, it means ... To summarize, ...
Organization and Development
Causal Analysis
Types of Causal Analysis
The basic method Degnan uses in this essay to accomplish his purpose is causal analysis, which is combined with definition and exemplification. There are two alternative ways to organize an essay developed by causal analysis, i.e. from the cause(s) to the effect(s), and from the effect(s) to the cause(s).
Examples from the Text
Degnan has followed the latter pattern.
The effect is stated at the beginning of the essay, that is, the phenomenon of the so-called straight-A illiteracy, and the cause is made clear near the end of it, i.e. the text-books and professional journals the straight-A illiterate is forced to read during his years of education.
Detailed Analysis
The four paragraphs which constitute the essay are closely connected.
In the first paragraph what Degnan does is to define the term straight-A illiteracy, which is highly necessary as it is a phenomenon little thought-of by the general public, and besides, the term itself is apparently paradoxical.
Although there seem to be no obvious cohesive ties between the first and the second paragraphs, they are closely connected in the sense that in the second paragraph Degnan uses his personal experience as an example to illustrate the definition he has given in the first paragraph.
If we take what he has narrated in the second paragraph as a specific instance of straight-A illiteracy, the third paragraph is a generalization of the phenomenon.
The cause stated in the concluding paragraph is suggested in the sentence \his cue from years of higher education, years of reading the textbooks and professional journals that are major sources of his affliction ...\
III. Text II
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Text Study Text
The Qualities of Good Writing
Jacqueline Berke
1 Even before you set out, you come prepared by instinct and intuition to make certain judgments about what is \what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.\this thought of Patrick Henry's would have come ringing down through the centuries if he had expressed this sentiment not in one tight, rhythmical sentence but as follows:
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to predict on the basis of my limited information as to the predilections of the public, what the citizenry at large will regard as action commensurate with the present provocation, but after arduous consideration I personally feel so intensely and irrevocably committed to the position of social, political, and economic independence, that rather than submit to foreign and despotic control which is anathema to me, I will make the ultimate sacrifice of which humanity is capable — under the aegis of personal honor, ideological conviction, and existential commitment, I will sacrifice my own mortal existence. 2 How does this rambling, \high-flown\give me death\Who will deny that something is \in Patrick Henry's rousing challenge that not only fails to happen in the paraphrase but is actually negated there? Would you bear with this long-winded, pompous speaker to the end? If you were to judge this statement strictly on its rhetoric (its choice and arrangement of words), you might aptly call it more boring than brave. Perhaps a plainer version will work better: Liberty is a very important thing for a person to have. Most people — at least the people I've talked to or that other people have told me about — know this and therefore are very anxious to preserve their liberty. Of course I can't be absolutely sure about what other folks are going to do in this present crisis, what with all these threats and everything, but I've made up my mind that I'm going to fight because liberty is really a very important thing to me; at least that's the way I feel about it.
3 This flat, \prose, weighted down with what Flaubert called \deposits\is grammatical enough. As in the pompous paraphrase, every verb agrees with its subject, every comma is in its proper place; nonetheless it lacks the qualities that make a statement — of one sentence or one hundred pages — pungent, vital, moving, memorable.
4 Let us isolate these qualities and describe them briefly. ... The first quality of good writing is economy. In an appropriately slender volume entitled The Elements of Style, authors William Strunk and E.B. White stated concisely the case for economy: \sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short or that he avoid all detail ... but that every word tell.\words, economical writing is efficient and aesthetically satisfying. While it makes a minimum demand on the energy and patience of readers, it returns to them a maximum of sharply compressed meaning. You should accept this as your basic responsibility as a writer: that you inflict no unnecessary words on your readers — just as a dentist inflicts no unnecessary pain, a lawyer no unnecessary risk. Economical writing avoids strain and at the same time promotes
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pleasure by producing a sense of form and right proportion, a sense of words that fit the ideas that they embody — with not a line of \phrase to clog the free flow of ideas, one following swiftly and clearly upon another.
5 Another basic quality of good writing is simplicity. Here again this does not require that you make all your sentences primerlike or that you reduce complexities to bare bone, but rather that you avoid embellishment or embroidery. The natural, unpretentious style is best. But, paradoxically, simplicity or naturalness does not come naturally. By the time we are old enough to write, most of us have grown so self-conscious that we stiffen, sometimes to the point of rigidity, when we are called upon to make a statement in speech or in writing. It is easy to offer the kindly advice \or sit down at a typewriter. Thus during the early days of the Second World War, when air raids were feared in New York City and blackouts were instituted, an anonymous writer — probably a young civil service worker at City Hall — produced and distributed to stores throughout the city the following poster:
Illumination is Required to be Extinguished on These Premises After Nightfall
6 What this meant, of course, was simply \imperative — clear and to the point — did not sound \long Latinate words and involved syntax (note the awkward passives \Required\and \be Extinguished\the words of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible, who felt no need for flourish, flamboyance, or grandiloquence. The Lord did not loftily or bombastically proclaim that universal illumination was required to be instantaneously installed. Simply but majestically \there be light: and there was light. ... And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.\7 Most memorable declarations have been spare and direct. Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy seemed to \ Maurois, for both men embodied noble themes in eloquently simple terms. Said Lincoln in his second Inaugural Address: \right as God gives us the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in ...\later President Kennedy made his Inaugural dedication: \a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love....\
8 A third fundamental element of good writing is clarity. Some people question whether it is always possible to be clear; after all, certain ideas are inherently complicated and inescapably difficult. True enough. But the responsible writer recognizes that writing should not add to the complications nor increase the difficulty; it should not set up an additional roadblock to understanding. Indeed, the German philosopher Wittgenstein went so far as to say that \can be said can be said clearly.\you are obliged to render it in clear, orderly, readable, understandable prose — else why bother writing in the first place? Actually, obscure writers are usually confused, uncertain of what they
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want to say or what they mean; they have not yet completed that process of thinking through and reasoning into the heart of the subject.
9 Suffice it to say here that whatever the topic, whatever the occasion, expository writing should be readable, informative, and, wherever possible, engaging. At its best it may even be poetic, as Nikos Kazantzakis suggests in Sorba the Greek, where he draws an analogy between good prose and a beautiful landscape:
To my mind the Cretan countryside resembled good prose, carefully ordered, sober, free from superfluous ornament, powerful and restrained. It expressed all that was necessary with the greatest economy. It had no flippancy nor artifice about it. It said what it had to say with a manly austerity. But between the severe lines one could discern an unexpected sensitiveness and tenderness; in the sheltered hollows the lemon and orange trees perfumed the air, and from the vastness of the sea emanated an inexhaustible poetry.
10 Even in technical writing, where the range of styles is necessarily limited (and poetry is neither possible nor appropriate), you must always be aware of \Take such topics as how to follow postal regulations for overseas mail, how to change oil in an engine, how to produce aspirin from salicylic acid. Here are technical expository descriptions that defy a memorable turn of phrase; here is writing that is of necessity cut and dried, dispassionate, and bloodless. But it need not be difficult, tedious, confusing, or dull to those who want to find out about mailing letters, changing oil, or making aspirin. Those who seek such information should have reasonably easy access to it, which means that written instructions should be clear, simple, spare, direct, and most of all, human: for no matter how technical a subject, all writing is done for human beings by human beings. Writing, in other words, like language itself, is a strictly human enterprise. Machines may stamp letters, measure oil, and convert acids, but only human beings talk and write about these procedures so that other human beings may better understand them. It is always appropriate, therefore, to be human in one's statement.
11 Part of this humanity must stem from your sense of who your readers are. You must assume a \stance.\Indeed this is a fundamental principle of rhetoric: nothing should ever be written in a vacuum. You should identify your audience, hypothetical or real, so that you may speak to them in an appropriate voice. A student, for example, should never \visualizing a definite group of readers — fellow students, perhaps, or the educated community at large (intelligent nonspecialists). Without such definite readers in mind, you cannot assume a suitable and appropriate relationship to your material, your purpose, and your audience. A proper rhetorical stance, in other words, requires that you have an active sense of the following:
1. Who you are as a writer. 2. Who your readers are.
3. Why you are addressing them and on what occasion. 4. Your relationship to your subject matter.
5. How you want your readers to relate to the subject matter.
Words and Phrases
1. instinct n. a natural ability or tendency to act in a certain way, without having to learn or think
about it
e.g. Instinct makes swallows go to the north in summer and to the south in winter.
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2. intuition n. the power of understanding or knowing something without reasoning or learned
skill
e.g. Intuition tells me that a feasible plan can be mapped out soon if everyone contributes to it.
3. at large: as a whole; in general
4. high-flown: extravagant and high-sounding
5. pungent: producing a sharp direct effect
6. engaging adj. attractive and delightful
7. cut and dried: clear and obvious, without any possibility of doubt
Notes
1. Patrick Henry (1736–1799): U.S. patriot, orator, and statesman. Before the American
Revolutionary War began in 1775, Henry rose to be a leading American opponent of British rule.
2. predilections of the public: the inclination of the public; what the public prefer
3. action commensurate with the present provocation: action equal to the present
crisis/disturbance, referring to the British rule in the colonies
4. existential commitment: existing or present responsibility
5. mortal existence: human existence; this life
6. William Strunk, Jr. (1869–1946): U.S. educator, editor, and author, taught English at Cornell
University for forty-six years. He wrote the writing treatise, The Elements of Style (1918), which was acclaimed for its brevity and wit. The book was originally written for use in Strunk's classes, and was revised and updated three times by one of his former students, author E.B. White.
7. E.B. White: Elwyn Brooks White (1899–1985), U.S. writer. His crisp, graceful, and highly
individual style, as well as his independence of thought, made him one of America's leading essayists. His revised edition of W. Strunk's The Elements of Style was issued in 1959.
8. that the writer make all his sentences short or that he avoid all detail ... but that every
word tell: Note the use of the verbs without an -s added at the end for the third person singular pronoun and nouns. This is because the sentence is in the subjunctive mood, expressing necessity.
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9. \: unnecessary words. Deadwood literally means \
also refers to \
10. City Hall: the administration building of New York City
11. resorted to long Latinate words and involved syntax: made use of words of Latin origin
and complicated rules of grammar. Illumination, require, extinguish, and premises are all words of Latin origin.
12. the King James Version of the Bible: an English version of the Bible prepared in England
under King James I (1603–1625) and published in 1611. It is also called the Authorized Version.
13. flourish, flamboyance, or grandiloquence: elaborate, showy, or pompous expression
14. \said, let there be light: ... darkness he called Night.\: This is from Chapter I of
Genesis, Old Testament.
15. Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865): the sixteenth president of the U.S.A. (1861–1865). His
second Inaugural Address was made on March 4, 1865.
16. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963): the thirty-fifth president of the U.S.A. (1961–1963).
His Inaugural Address was made on January 20, 1961.
17. speak to each other across the span of a century: speak alike in spite of the long stretch of
one hundred years between the two presidents
18. Ludwig (Josef Johann) Wittgenstein (1889–1951): one of the leading figures in
twentieth-century philosophy
19. Suffice it to say ... that ...: It is enough to say that ...
This phrase is used to indicate that one is saying enough to make one's meaning clear while withholding something for reasons of brevity.
20. Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957): Greek poet and novelist. Sorba the Greek is one of his
works.
21. Cretan: of the island of Crete, a Greek island in the Mediterranean, to the southeast of
mainland Greece
22. a manly austerity: a gentlemanly simplicity
23. between the severe lines: between the plain and simple lines (of trees)
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24. \: the person who is curious to get some information
25. that defy a memorable turn of phrase: that oppose an impressive or extraordinary style of
writing
Comprehension
I. Answer the following multiple-choice questions.
1. According to Berke all the following are basic qualities of good writing EXCEPT
_________. A. clarity B. economy C. explicitness D. simplicity
2. The language of the poster produced by an anonymous civil servant at City Hall during
WWII was characterized by all the following EXCEPT _________. A. the use of long words instead of short ones
B. the use of words of foreign origin instead of native ones C. the use of complicated sentence structures D. the use of the direct, imperative mood
3. Technical writing bears all the following features EXCEPT _________.
A. obvious B. emotional C. direct D. human
4. For a writer to be human in his writing, it is of primary importance that he _________.
A. make his writing as readable as possible B. have a clear idea who he is writing for C. know what he is writing about
D. maintain a good relationship with his readers
Key: 1. C 2. D 3. B 4. B
II. Discuss the following questions.
1. What, according to Berke, are the three major qualities of good writing? How does she
explain each of them?
2. How do you interpret the human nature of writing, which Berke emphasizes so much in
para. 10?
3. Berke's article ends with a list of five questions which she thinks a writer should keep in
mind while writing. What do you think her own answers to these questions were when she was writing this article?
4. How would you assess your own writing in the light of the qualities which Berke says
good writing is to possess?
Key:
1. Economy (Refer to para. 4).
Simplicity (Refer to paras. 5, 6, and 7). Clarity (Refer to para. 8).
2. Whatever is written, it is written by a human being to be read by another human being or
other human beings. Thus writing is interpersonal by nature. 3. Probably her answers to these questions would be:
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(1) A professor of English, an instructor of writing.
(2) Those who have a relatively high level of education but nevertheless need help to improve their writing.
(3) To provide some guidelines concerning writing in an essay to be read by the public.
(4) Specialized, someone who is in the field.
(5) Implement the principles in their own writing practice. 4. Individual assessment.
IV. Paragraph Writing
Writing Technique
Process
What Is Process Writing?
When you want to learn how to operate a dish-washer, you may probably have a knowledgeable person show you how or give you a clear explanation of the process. In a process, the writer describes a series of steps or stages by which something is accomplished.
What Is Process?
Baking cookies, following instructions to install a smoke alarm and refinishing a table are all processes. The recipe for a chocolate cake, for instance, presents a classic formula for process writing. It is composed of a list of ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, chocolate, etc.), followed by a detailed list of instructions for incorporating these materials, step by step, to produce the desired end product: a chocolate cake. A process, therefore, answers the question of how something operates or how something happens.
Characteristics of Process
One major characteristic of a process is that it is composed of different steps, aided by an account of each of the steps so as to direct the readers to go along with the explanation. If one step is omitted or even poorly presented, then the string of connections snaps apart.
Example
Read the excerpt that follows. Notice how the writer describes the steps of the process in the order as they occur.
The ancient pyramids of Egypt continue to fascinate and amaze people nearly five thousand years after the Egyptians built them. Constructing each massive pyramid was difficult and dangerous labor, requiring thousands of workers and years of toil. First, heavy limestone blocks were taken from quarries located near the Nile River. Then, the blocks were transported by wooden boats to a point as close as possible to the intended building site of the pyramid. Next, the blocks were unloaded and slowly hauled to the actual site by means of sledges positioned atop wooden rollers. As construction proceeded, the Egyptians moved each successive block into position using ramps made of bricks of dried mud. Incredibly, the huge pyramids were completed without the aid of bulldozers, cranes, trucks, or other modern-day construction equipment. Even
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so, the tallest pyramid rose higher than a forty-story building! Equally remarkable, numerous pyramids still stand today, almost fifty centuries since their construction.
Techniques of Process Writing
In organizing a process, the first necessary part is to list the series of steps, which are to be arranged in their correct order. Most processes are performed step by step in a chronological order: step 1 is usually completed before step 2 is undertaken. A good process should reflect the sequence in which the process is undertaken in order to make the procedure logical and easy for readers to follow.
The second part, then, is to specify the relationships between these steps. Unless we make such relations clear, our readers will be left with the impression that the various steps occur far apart in time and space, or that there is no necessary causal link between them. Since much of the process writing is concerned with how one event or idea leads to another, we can imagine how important it is to be able to show these relationships.
When describing a process, we may use appropriate transitional words and phrases such as first, then, and next (as is done in the above short selection) to link the steps.
What Makes Good Process
The purpose of an essay that describes a process is usually to inform, but the purpose may also be to persuade readers that a process is preferable. Whichever the purpose, a successful process must be clearly explained, with language precisely used, all the important details included, all the steps presented in their exact order of execution, and reasons for steps of the process given, where necessary.
Exercise
Structure an essay that describes a process using chronological order, to show the sequence in which the steps must be performed or the sequence in which the steps occur.
Hints:
An effective way to structure your essay is to list all the steps in their natural order, and use explicit transitional expressions to begin each \
Writing Practice
Write an essay of about 300 words on the topic of \Week\
Hints:
You can focus on one Internet service or tool to tell the process of making online friends. If you choose weibo, for example, include all the necessary steps, including setting up an account, getting to know others, inviting people to become friends, staying in touch with them, sending birthday or holiday blessings, etc.
V. Comprehensive Exercises
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Book 6 Unit 5
Listening Audio Clip
Book 6 Unit 5.mp3 (00:00 – 01:39)
Exercise
Listen to the following talk and fill in the following blanks with information from the talk.
For years, I have listened to students and faculty talk about their (1) _______ program experiences. Recently (2) _______ undergraduate student from Oregon State University talked about their Taiwan (3) _______. According to their (4) _______, Taiwan parents have more (5) _______ over their college student children than American parents. They decide universities, (6) _______ of study, jobs and careers, and even (7) _______ relationships. Female Taiwan students use less (8) _______ than American students, but use (9) _______ more often to (10) _______ themselves.
Key:
(1) exchange (2) three
(3) experience (4) impression (5) influence (6) areas (7) romantic (8) make-up (9) clothes (10) express
Translation
English-Chinese Translation
1. The person to whom I refer is the straight-A illiterate, and the following is written in an
attempt to give him equal time with his widely publicized counterpart.
译文：
我指的是一个全A文盲，写下下面这段文字，让大家同样多地了解到他们不广为人知的一面。
讲解： 原文中的give him equal time with ...如果直译成“给予他们同样……”，将令人费解。这里可以加一个词“大家”，同时在忠于原文意思的基础上，对widely publicized加上否定词并移位，令译文组织起来更为流畅。
2. It attacks the best minds, and gradually destroys the critical faculties, making it impossible
for the sufferer to detect gibberish in his own writing or in that of others.
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Book 6 Unit 5
译文： 这种状况侵害了最聪明的头脑，而且渐渐损伤了批判性思维的能力，令受害者无从发现自己文章或他人文章中的胡言乱语。
讲解： 正确的理解是翻译的前提。在上下文中，句首的it指的是Bright's disease，而making it impossible ...中的it指代to detect gibberish in his own writing or in that of others。
3. For writing such gibberish he is awarded straight As on his papers (both samples quoted
above were taken from papers that received As), and the opportunity to move, inexorably, toward his fellowship and eventual Ph.D.
译文： 因为这些一窍不通的文字，他的论文都得了A（上面引用的两个例子都来自得A的论文），而且他能势如破竹地获得奖学金、最终被授予博士学位。
讲解： 在原文中，he is awarded的宾语包括straight As on his paper和the opportunity ...。翻译时由于一处转换了主语（“他”转为“他的论文”），要注意在另一处做相应的调整。成语“势如破竹”也较好地传达了move, inexorably, toward ...的意思。
4. As I have suggested, the major cause of such illiteracy is the stuff — the textbooks and
professional journals — the straight-A illiterate is forced to read during his years of higher education. He learns to write gibberish by reading it, and by being taught to admire it as profundity.
译文： 就如我曾提到的，造成这种文盲的主要原因是全A文盲在接受多年高等教育期间被迫读的那些东西——教科书和专业期刊。他先是读这些东西，又被教导要对这些东西敬若深义，然后自己也学会了写这些文理不通的东西。
讲解： 在这段话的第一句中，the straight-A illiterate is forced ...是修饰the stuff的定语，鉴于前面还有一个破折号隔开的补充说明部分，建议先译后面的定语从句，而把破折号部分后置。第二句中有两个by引导的动名词短语，在翻译时要处理好这里的逻辑关系。
Chinese-English Translation
1. 尽管他曾经有过光辉的过去，但到了晚年他又穷又病，境况可怜。(plight) Translation:
Despite the fact that he had had a glorious past, in old age he was in a piteous plight, poor and ill.
2. 为了找到解决这个问题的方法，已经做了很多的实验。(in an attempt to) Translation:
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Book 6 Unit 5
Many experiments have been made in an attempt to find a solution to the problem.
3. 女孩一般比男孩发音清晰。(articulate) Translation:
A girl tends to be more articulate than a boy.
4. 这本手册旨在解读肢体语言。(decode) Translation:
This handbook is intended to decode body language.
5. 我发觉她对这件事的看法有了变化，虽然十分微妙。(detect) Translation:
I detected a change in her opinion on this matter, subtle as it was.
6. 垂危病人的病房在一号楼。(terminal) Translation:
The wards for terminal cases are in Building One.
7. 我们必须设法解决那个难题。(grapple with) Translation:
We must grapple with that knotty problem.
8. 不管到那里，他总是拿着一只塞满文件的手提包。(bulge with) Translation:
No matter where he goes, he always carries a briefcase bulging with documents.
Error-correction Exercise
The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it in the following way:
For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a \∧\you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a dash \—\blank provided at the end of the line.
EXAMPLE:
When ∧ art museum wants a new exhibit, it never buys things in finished form and hangs them on the wall. When a natural history museum wants an exhibition, it must often build it.
1. an 2. never 3. exhibit
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Book 6 Unit 5
The British love to think of themselves as polite, and everyone knows how fond they are of their \yous\requires at least seven and eight of these. Another sign of our good manners is the queue. New-comers to British could be forgiven for thinking that queuing rather than football is the most superior national sport. Finally, of course, motorists generally stop at crossings. But does all these mean that the British should consider themselves more polite than their European neighborhood? I think not. Take forms of address for example. The average English person — when he happens to work in a hotel or department store — had rather die than call a stranger \some European countries this is the most basic of common address. Our universal \democratic, but it means that we are forced to seek out complicating ways to express politeness. Actually, I am all for return to the use of \thee\thou\Thee and thou are old-fashioned poetic words for \for strangers and professional relationships. And of course, the English find touching and other show of friendship truly terrifying. Have you noticed how the British hardly ever touch? Personally, I find the Latin habit of shaking hands or a friendly kissing quite charming. Try kiss the average English person, and they will take two steps backwards in horror, or, if their escape is assured, you will find your lips touching the back of their heads. Now what could be more frightening than that? 1. ___________ 2. ___________ 3. ___________ 4. ___________ 5. ___________ 6. ___________ 7. ___________ 8. ___________ 9. ___________ 10. ___________ Key:
1. and: or （seven和eight是选择而不是并列的关系） 2. British: Britain （Britain表示“英国”） 3. most: most （superior不能用最高级修饰） 4. these: this （用单数this统称上述这些情况）
5. neighborhood: neighbors （neighbors是“邻居”的意思）
6. had: would （would rather ... than ...表示“宁可……也不……”）
7. complicating: complicated （形容词complicated是“复杂的”的意思） 8. return: returning （需要动名词短语）
9. show: shows （show是可数名词，前面有other）
10. kiss: kissing （try doing something表示“尝试做某事”）
Skill Development
动名词短语的用法
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Book 6 Unit 5
英语的动名词形式上由动词加ing构成，兼具动词（后面可以接宾语）和名词（本身可作主语或宾语）的特点。改错题对动名词短语的考查往往体现在，是否在需要用动名词短语的地方用了恰当的动名词短语。 要判断一个动词是否该用它的动名词形式，需要结合语法、词汇知识考虑是否其所在的动名词短语在句中充当名词短语的角色（作主语、宾语，等等）。例如练习的第8项，return to ...应该是I am all for（我完全赞同）的对象，即充当介词宾语。那么，return应当为returning。在一般情况下，两个行为动词不会连用，因此第10项的Try kiss是有问题的，应该把后面的kiss改为kissing。动词结构try doing something表示“尝试做某事”。
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