新标准大学英语三unit10 第一篇文章 课件

1、,Text,Urban myths or Urban legends? 1 London has the most extensive network of underground tunnels in the world. But for some inhabitants, the tunnels are more than just convenient they live in them. The London Subterraneans are a race of people who live beneath the streets. Theyre human, but they d

2、ont speak English, and they have their own customs. Occasionally, a few of them come to the surface. They only appear at night through the drains in a dark backstreet, and if they hear footsteps, they hide in a dark alleyway and only come out when its quiet again. And before sunrise, they go back un

3、der ground. Very few Londoners have seen them, but the friend of a friend has seen them several times.,Text,2 True story? Probably not. Its a classic example of whats called in many languages an urban myth. An urban myth is a story you hear by word of mouth. It usually describes something which migh

4、t have happened, an apocryphal, second-hand story told as if it were true, just about plausible enough to be credible, about some event which has supposedly happened to a real person. Factual or not, its likely to rely on expert storytelling and on a trustworthy source, such as It happened to my bro

5、thers friends mother.,Text,3 However, some academics claim that urban myths are not really myths. According to them, a myth is a story which held some religious or spiritual significance for those who told it or listened in the past to it, and which contributed to the expression of shared beliefs an

6、d values. However improbable a myth might be, its always true for those who belong to that culture from which the myth comes.,Text,4 So should we use the term urban myths? Lets look at one of the most durable of urban myths, The Vanishing Hitchhiker. The basic story is that of a driver alone at nigh

7、t on a dark, country road, who sees a young woman hitchhiking. The driver stops and offers her a lift. Soon the driver drops the hitchhiker off at her destination, and they say goodbye. But its only when the driver stops later that he realizes the young woman has left behind a coat with her wallet,

8、or sometimes an old envelope in the pocket. He then goes to the address to return the coat.,Text,An old woman opens the door of the house, and the driver explains what has happened. It turns out that the coat does belong to the old womans daughter, but she was killed several years before on the same

9、 stretch of road where the driver picked her up. That day was the anniversary of the accident.,Text,5 In fact, like many myths, this story can be traced back to some time before the cars and roads of the 20th or 21st centuries, and to other countries or regions such as Sweden or East Africa. It also

10、 has other features common to the myth in its traditional sense. As we have already seen, its a story for those people who want to believe in it, and who share the same cultural values. It has been told and retold many times over the years, gathering embellishments which are specific to the culture

11、in which its set. Finally, its enjoyable, exciting and captivating to the listeners.,Text,6 Another well-known urban myth is about the baby alligators which parents on their return from Florida bring home to their children in New York. As the alligators grow in size, they are no longer cute and the

12、parents have to dispose of them down the toilet. But some of them survive, and as a result there are full-grown alligators living under the streets of Manhattan.,Text,7 This is also a myth in that it describes something of the geography of a city or a region, warning of possible dangers. In Greek my

13、thology, Odysseus sails between Scylla and Charybdis, the narrow and dangerous channel between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily. In the same way, the story of the alligators warns New Yorkers of the dangers which they may face when they use the subway.,Text,8 Urban myths can also be a moralit

14、y or “cautionary” tale. One of the best-known is the story of the man sitting in a hotel bar. Another person offers to buy him a drink. The next thing the man knows is that hes sitting in his hotel bath, with his body submerged in ice. On the wall is a note telling him not to move, but to call 911.,

15、Text,The operator, who is familiar with the situation, tells him to move very slowly, and to feel his lower back. If theres a tube protruding from it, it means that the mans kidney has been removed and sold to be transplanted. The moral of the story is: Be careful of anyone who offers to buy you a d

16、rink!,Text,9 Similarly, traditional myths show people how to behave appropriately in their societies. Gods act in such a way as to set the people a good example. Human beings behave nobly and courageously. Sometimes a human hero may be based on a real person, but may become a god because of his nobl

17、e actions.,Text,10 In recent years, we have seen the rise of the urban myths which are not circulated orally, but by email, in the form of messages, usually about a virus which can wipe out your hard drive. Its usually recognizable by the warnings of dire consequences if you dont pass on the message

18、 to others, and by the use of CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation marks! There are also web rumours which are based on the merest minor fact or speculation, and which passed around the Web, gathering further fictitious evidence to support them.,Text,11 But is this a myth? No, not in the traditional sens

19、e. In fact, a more accurate word for it would be a hoax, something which appears true but turns out to be false and deliberately misleading. True myths are always benign in their intentions.,Text,12 Urban myths have the characteristics common to all myths: They often record events, people believe in

20、 them, they have been passed on by word of mouth and exaggerated, they often contain a moral or warn of possible dangers in particular situations or contexts, and they advise people what to do or how to behave. In their way, for listeners in the 21st century, they are just as real as the myths of th

21、e Greeks, Romans, Celts, Vikings, Mesopotamians and Chinese from years gone by.,Text,13 But the one difference is that true myths always feature gods or heroic near-gods, or stories about the creation of the world and its natural phenomena, such as lightning or sacred mountains. 14 In contrast, urba

22、n myths are more mundane. The London Subterraneans are far from god-like, neither the hitchhiker nor the driver is heroic, the New York alligators dont symbolize natural phenomena, and while the story of the hapless businessman may be a cautionary tale, it hardly acts as a model for heroic behaviour

23、.,Text,15 So in conclusion, the urban myth is not a myth at all, but a legend, which is a story about the more recent past, and is based on historical events and human heroes, or fairies, witches or other fictitious characters. The urban myth is only a myth in the secondary sense of the word: someth

24、ing which turns out to be untrue.,Text,都市神话还是都市传奇？ 1 伦敦有着世界上最为庞大的地下隧道网络。但是对某些伦敦居民来说，隧道不仅仅给他们的生活提供了便利他们还以此为家。伦敦地下人是生活在街道下面的一族。 他们属于人类，却不会说英语，他们有自己的风俗习惯。他们中的个别人偶尔也会到地面上来。他们只有在晚上才会从一条黑魆魆的偏僻街道的下水道里钻出来，到地面上活动，而且一听到脚步声，他们就会躲到黑暗的小巷子里藏身，直到没有了动静才出来。日出之前，他们又会回到地下。没有几个伦敦人真正见过他们，但是某人的朋友的朋友曾经见过他们好几次。,Text,2 这是真事

25、吗？很可能不是。这是在很多语言中被称为都市神话的一个典型例子。都市神话是你通过口口相传听来的故事，讲述的是一些可能发生过的事情，一个杜撰的，从别处听来的故事，却被当作真事来讲，听起来像真的似的。不论是真是假，都市神话依赖的是讲故事的技巧以及来源的可靠性，比如“这件事发生在我弟弟的朋友的母亲的身上。”,Text,3 但是，有一些学者认为都市神话并非真正的神话。在他们看来，神话故事对于讲故事和过去听故事的人来说都有某种宗教或精神层面的意义，而且神话帮助人们表达共同的信仰和价值观。不管一个神话看上去是多么匪夷所思，对于那些从属于这些文化的人来说，它们永远是真实可信的。,Text,4 那么我们该不该用

26、“都市神话”这个术语呢？ 让我们来看一下经久不衰的都市神话之一：“消失的搭车客”。故事的大概是：一个司机独自开车行驶在漆黑的乡村公路上，他看到一位年轻女子在路边要搭车。司机停下来，让她上了车。很快司机就把她送到了目的地，他们相互道别。可直到后来停车时司机才发现，这个年轻女子落了一件外套在车上，兜里还装着一个钱包，有的故事是兜里装着个旧信封。于是他按照钱包里或信封上的地址把外套送回去。,Text,一位老妇人开了门，司机向她讲述了事情的经过。原来，这件外套是老妇人女儿的，而她的女儿已经在几年前的车祸中去世了，车祸的地点正是司机让她上车的那个地方。那一天也正是车祸的周年纪念日。,Text,5 事实上

27、，和许多别的神话一样，这个故事可以追溯到20世纪或是21世纪的汽车和公路出现之前的其他国家和地区，比如瑞典和东非。这个故事还具有传统神话所共有的其他一些特征。正如我们所看到的，这个故事是讲给那些愿意相信它并持有相同的文化价值观的人听的。多年以来，这个故事被人们讲了又讲，在不同的地方还被添加了专属于各地文化的一些元素。最后，这个故事变得好玩、刺激，引人入胜。,Text,6 另外一个很出名的都市神话是关于佛罗里达小短吻鳄鱼的故事，大人们去佛罗里达度假，回纽约的时候会给孩子们带几条小鳄鱼。后来短吻鳄越长越大，不像小时候那么可爱了。大人们只好把它们扔进抽水马桶里冲掉。但是其中一些短吻鳄活了下来，所以现

28、在有一些成年短吻鳄在纽约曼哈顿街区下面游荡。,Text,7 这也是一个神话，因为它描绘了一个城市或地区的地理状况，提醒人们注意某些潜在的危险。在希腊神话中，奥德修斯在意大利大陆和西西里岛之间狭窄而危险的海峡里航行，前有女海妖斯库拉，后有海妖卡律布狄斯。短吻鳄的故事也同样是要提醒纽约人，坐地铁的时候要注意安全。,Text,8 都市神话也可以是道德故事或是“警示”故事。这其中最有名的是，一个男子坐在旅馆的酒吧间喝酒，有一个人请他喝了一杯。等他醒来的时候，发现自己躺在房间的浴缸里，身子被埋在冰块下面。墙上贴了一张纸条告诉他不要乱动，立刻打911。,Text,接线员遇到过很多这样的情况，让他去摸一下后

29、背下部，动作一定要缓慢。如果脊部插着一根管子，那就说明他的肾被人摘走了，卖掉供人移植了。这个故事的寓意是：如果有人请你喝酒，你一定要提高警惕。,Text,9 同样，传统神话也告诉人们在各自的社会中应该如何恰当地为人处事。在神话中，神之所以如此行事，是要为人类树立一个好榜样。神话中人的行为高尚且勇敢。有时候神话中的人类英雄在历史上可能确有其人，可能正因为他们的高尚行为而变成了神。,Text,10 近年来， 越来越多的都市神话不是通过口口相传，而是通过电子邮件的形式广为流传的，这些邮件通常是告诉大家要小心某一种病毒，它会删除你硬盘里的文件。通常只要看到那种“如果不把这封信转发给别人，就会有灾难性的

30、后果”的警告，而且用了很多大写字母和惊叹号，你就知道这是一个都市神话。还有很多网络传言，它们对一些微不足道的小细节添油加醋，或者是捕风捉影，在流传过程中加入了越来越多的虚假证据，以证明它们的真实性。,Text,11 但这是神话吗？不是，不是传统意义上的神话。事实上，有一个更为准确的词“骗局”，就是一些看上去是真的，而最终发现是假的，并且是用来故意误导人的东西。真正的神话其动机总是善意的。,Text,12 都市神话具有所有神话所共有的一些特征：它们通常记录了一些事件，人们相信它们的真实性，它们以口头形式代代相传，并且被逐渐夸大，它们通常包含一个道德寓意，或是警示某种特定情形或情况下可能存在的危险

31、，它们告诉人们应该做什么、怎么做。从形式上看，对于21世纪的听众来说，它们和希腊、罗马、凯尔特、维京、美索不达米亚以及中国的神话一样真实可信。,Text,13 但不同的是，真正的神话里总是有神或者接近神的英雄人物，有的神话讲述了创造世界和世界上的一些自然现象，如雷电、圣山之类的。 14 与之相反，都市神话更为世俗化。伦敦的地下人和神灵没有半点关系，那个搭车客和司机也不是什么英雄，纽约的短吻鳄不代表什么自然现象，那个倒霉的商人的故事虽然是警示性的，但也绝对说不上是为英雄行为树立了榜样。,Text,15 总之，都市神话根本就不是神话，它是一种传奇，讲述一些新近发生的事情，故事是依据历史事件和人类英

32、雄，或者仙女、女巫及其他的虚构人物来编排的。都市神话中的神话这个词我们只能从它的次要意项去理解：一些并非真实的东西。,Text,Words a minor street away from the main roads 偏僻街道；小巷；后街 e.g. 1. We took a short cut through the backstreets of Kings Cross. 我们从金斯路口的后街抄了近道。 2. The Backstreet Boys is a very famous American band. 后街男孩是美国著名的乐队。,Words the art of telling a

33、 story 讲故事；说书；讲故事（或说书）的技艺 e.g. Storytelling is one of the earliest forms of folk art. 说书是民间艺术最早的一种形式。,Words destroy 杀死；毁掉 e.g. Her lover came up with hundreds of schemes for disposing of her husband. 她的情人想出了许多干掉她丈夫的计划。 4) defeat someone in a game, competition etc. 战胜；打败 e.g. The league champions qui

34、ckly disposed of the opposition. 联赛冠军很快打败了对手。 Word family: disposal n.,Words a particular system of values and principles of conduct, especially one held by a specified person or society 道德；（尤指特定社会或人的）道德观 e.g. 1. We should strengthen professional morality study. 我们应该加强职业道德研究。 2. Behind all the argum

35、ents lies the issue of the morality of the possession of nuclear weapons. 引起所有这些争论的问题是拥有核武器是否道德。 Word family: moral a. be considered as a typical or perfect example of sth. 象征（某事物）；作为（某事物）的象征 e.g. 1. What does the Statue of Liberty symbolize? 自由女神像象征什么？ 2. For many people, cars symbolize personal fr

36、eedom. 对很多人而言，汽车象征着个人的自由。,Words less important than sth. else 第二的；次要的；间接的 e.g. 1. All other considerations are secondary to his safety. 现在首先要考虑的是他的安全，其他事均是次要的。 2. This is a secondary source of information. 这是资料的第二手来源。,Words get rid of sth. completely (the meaning originated from the act of wiping a

37、mark off a surface) 彻底摧毁；彻底消灭 e.g. 1. The government is trying to wipe out drug trafficking. 政府正设法做到彻底消灭毒品交易。 2. The earthquake wiped out the whole town. 地震毁掉了整个城镇。 3. Your bravery has wiped out your earlier disgrace. 你这次的勇敢行为彻底洗刷了你以前的耻辱。 4. The tribe has been wiped out by disease and violence. 这个部落

38、已经被疾病和暴行彻底摧毁。,Words & Phrases,Londoner someone who was born in or who lives in London, England 伦敦人 e.g. She married a Londoner when she was 20. 她20岁的时候嫁给了一个伦敦人。,Words & Phrases,Odysseus a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homers epic poem 奥德修斯（希腊神话传说中的人物；荷马史诗奥德赛中的主人公）,Words & Phrases,In

39、 the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Greeks tricked the enemy into bringing a huge wooden horse within the walls of Troy. The Trojans had no idea that Greek soldiers were hidden inside, under the command of Odysseus. That night they emerged and opened the city gates to the Greek army. Troy was des

40、troyed.,Scylla （意大利西西里岛东北海岸外墨西拿海峡上的）锡拉岩礁 In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite its counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within an arrows range of each otherso close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pa

41、ss too close to Scylla and vice versa. Scylla was a horrible sea monster with four eyes, six long necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. Her body consisted of twelve tentacle-like legs and a cats tail and with four to six dog-heads ringing her waist.,Wor

42、ds & Phrases,Words & Phrases,Scylla,Charybdis 卡律布狄斯漩涡（位于锡拉岩礁的对面） In Greek mythology, Charybdis was a sea monster, once a beautiful naiad. She takes form as a huge bladder of a creature whose face was all mouth and whose arms and legs were flippers and who swallows huge amounts of water three times a

43、 day before belching them back out again, creating whirlpools. The myth has Charybdis lying on one side of a blue, narrow channel of water. On the other side of the strait was Scylla, another sea-monster. The two sides of the strait are within an arrows range of each other, so close that sailors att

44、empting to avoid Charybdis will pass too close to Scylla and vice versa.,Words & Phrases,Words & Phrases,Traditionally the strait has been associated with the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily.,Sicily the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, comprising an autonomous region of Italy 西西里岛

45、,Words & Phrases,New Yorker: someone who was born in or who lives in New York, USA 纽约人 e.g. 1. He thanked heaven that he was a New Yorker, and about to ally himself with one of his own kind. 他暗自庆幸自己是纽约人，并将与一个自己同类人结成眷属。 2. The man is a native New Yorker. 那个男人是土生土长的纽约人。,Words & Phrases,Celt a member o

46、f a group of peoples inhabiting much of Europe and Asia Minor in pre-Roman times 凯尔特人 e.g. You have the paradox of a Celt Being the smooth Oxonian 作为一个圆滑的牛津人，你具有凯尔特人自相矛盾的特点。,Words & Phrases,Mesopotamian someone who was born in or who lives in Mesopotamia 美索不达米亚人 Mesopotamia is an ancient region of S

47、W Asia in present-day Iraq, lying between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Its alluvial plains were the site of the civilizations of Akkad, Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.,Words & Phrases,A ziggurat to build on a raised area is a temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Iran, having the fo

48、rm of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.,Very few Londoners have seen them, but the friend of a friend has seen them several times. People who believe in the Subterraneans do not claim to have seen them but to have been told the story. Such information is referred to as “second-han

49、d”. Here the story is third-hand, from a friends friend. In other words, it is highly unreliable. 翻译： 没有几个伦敦人真正见过他们，但是某人的朋友的朋友曾经见过他们好几次。,Language Points,It usually describes something which might have happened, an apocryphal, second-hand story told as if it were true, just about plausible enough to

50、be credible, about some event which has supposedly happened to a real person. The word apocryphal means doubtfully true, probably untrue. The books of the Bible were chosen from a large number of texts. The rejected ones are to be found in a collection called the Apocrypha, the books which do not contain reliable information and are not sacred. As a metaphor, the adjective might be used in