Lesson6_(Book_2)_Disappearing_Through_the_Skylight

1、.,Lesson 6,Disappearing Through the Skylight By Osborne Bennet Hardison Jr.,.,Aims,To know the features of scientific writing. To analyse the structure of the text. To understand the deeper meaning of the text. To appreciate the language features,.,Teaching Contents,1. Scientific writing 2. Structur

2、alism and the main idea of the text. 3. Detailed study of the text 4. Organizational pattern 5. Language features 6. Exercises,.,O.B. Hardison, Jr. (1928 -1990),.,O.B. Hardison, Jr.,O.B. Hardison, Jr. (1928 -1990) Born in San Diego, California in 1928. , he received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the Un

3、iversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949 and 1950, respectively, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1956. He taught at schools that included Princeton and the University of North Carolina, and he became University Professor of English at Georgetown in 1984.,.,Hardison, English

4、professor (Georgetown), Shakespearean scholar, and amateur physicist, is always entertaining and often thought-provoking A Scholarly Writer Mr. Hardison wrote numerous books and articles, as well as poetry and book reviews. His scholarly concerns ranged from Renaissance literature to technology and

5、change in modern society.,.,He is the author of Lyrics and Elegies (1958), The Enduring Monument (1962), English Literary Criticism: The Renaissance (1964), Toward Freedom and Dignity: The Humanities and the Idea of Humanity (1973), Entering the Maze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture (1981) and

6、 Disappearing Through the Skylight (1989/1990).,.,Entering the Maze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture,In this book, Hardison begins to review the ways in which the central concepts in nature, history, language, art, and human evolutions have changed under the impact of modern science and techno

7、logy.,.,C.B. Hardison, Jr.,Well-known for his profound insights into the change in modern culture brought about by modern science and technology. His provocative views are stimulating and informative.,.,Questions,How do you think of science and technology? What advantages do they have? What disadvan

8、tages do they have? What is culture?,.,Culture,Culture is most commonly used in three basic senses: Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture; An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and

9、social learning; The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group.,.,Culture,The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, r

10、itual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next. Cultural Dictionary,.,Low culture,High Culture is usually associated with those that are refined, educated, and/or wealthy. The elite.Low Culture is associated with the common people, those less educated and poor. The masses.,.,Low cultu

11、re,Low culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures. Reality television, popular music, escapist fiction, Kitsch, slapstick, camp, toilet humor, yellow journalism, porno

12、graphy, and exploitation films are often cited examples of low culture. It has often been stated that in postmodern times, the boundary between high culture and low culture has blurred.,.,Disappearing Through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century,.,Disappearing Through the Sk

13、ylight is not only the title of this chapter but also the title of the book. The book has a sub-title, “Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century”,.,The Book,As for the central theme of this book, the writer says , “This book is about the ways culture has changed in the past century, changing

14、the identities of all those born into it. Its metaphor for the effect of change on culture is “disappearance”.,.,The Book,As for the “disappearance”, Hardison says, “In the nineteenth century, science presented nature as a group of objects set comfortably and solidly in the middle distance before th

15、e eyes of the beholder. In the work of DArcy Thompson, published around the turn of the century, nature has disappeared. It has become a set of geometric and mathematical relations that lie under the surface of the visible. .Today, nature has slipped, perhaps finally, beyond our field of vision.”,.,

16、A logical conclusion can be found in the final paragraph of this key chapter that “As surely as nature is being swallowed up by the mind, the banks, you might say, are disappearing through their own skylights”.,.,Disappearing Through the Skylight,The metaphorical phrase “Disappearing Through the Sky

17、light” is used to describe the changed appearance of modern banks which seem to be disappearing.,.,Main views in this key chapter,The writer puts forward the central theme of “disappearance” nature disappears, history disappears and even the solid banks disappears. (Central Theme) He puts forward th

18、e idea of the universalizing tendency of science and technology. (The universalizing effect and reflection is world styles.),.,Main views in this key chapter,3. The modern man is no longer a unique individual, the product of a special environment and culture. The homogeneous world he now lives in un

19、iversalizes him. He becomes a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.,.,Main views in this key chapter,4. The disappearance of history is a form of liberation and this feeling of liberation is often expressed through play. The playfulness of science has produced game theory and virtual particles, in a

20、rt it has produced the paintings of Picasso and Joan Miro and so on.,.,Scientific writing (English for science and technology),1. technical terms cylinder block; carburettor; thermodynamics; etc. 2. objective: relying on facts, not involve emotion, seldom use figures of speech, exclamation the use o

21、f present tense the use of passive voice,.,Scientific writing,3. sentences: a) complete no contractions (dept - department) b) long 1) compound sentences 2) appositions 3) parenthesis 4) logical connectors such as : however; but; also; yet; finally; while; as ; not only; just as .so; etc.,.,Scientif

22、ic writing,Generally this technical writing tends to be very formal. Yet the characteristics of any kind of language style is not absolute. In order to meet the needs of the work for popular science, many scientific workers try to adopt a more popular style. Then there comes a popular scientific and

23、 technical writing style.,.,Characteristics,limit the use of technical terms examples- to make the writing more vivid and appealing to the readers,.,Characteristics,3. figures of speech- to make the sentences figurative so that the readers can easily understand and associate them with what they are

24、familiar with 4. noun pre-modifiers game theory; human growth genes; theme park; museum villages; world car; etc,.,Rhetorical devices,Metaphor Analogy Rhetorical question Repetition Balanced structure Task: Try to find examples of each rhetorical device used in the text.,.,Organizational pattern,The

25、 chapter is clearly and logically organized. The authors views are presented at the beginning of a paragraph: science is committed to the universal and developed or illustrated in the paragraph itself or by succeeding paragraphs. Major examples 1) automobile industry (para 28) 2) modern art (para 91

26、3) 3) modern culture (para.14-15) 4) architect of banks (1619),.,Detailed study of the text,.,Find and comment on the use of topic sentences.,The writer s views are generally clearly and succinctly presented as a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph and then developed or illustrated in

27、the paragraph itself or by succeeding paragraphs.,.,Commit: vt.犯(错误), 干(坏事), 把.交托给, 提交, 答应负责,1) to promise or give your loyalty, time or money to a particular principle, person or plan of action; give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause. The government must commit itself to improving h

28、ealth care. She is known chiefly for her commitment to nuclear disarmament. 2) to do something wrong or illegal commit crimes/ murder/rape/arson/ suicide / adultery/error/offence, etc 3) To consign for future use or reference or for preservation: commit something to paper;commit something to memory,

29、.,Science is committed to,Science is engaged in the task of making its basic concepts understood and accepted by scientists all over the world. This concept of universality and uniformity is one of the basic views of the author. Universal: relating to, extending to, or affecting the entire world or

30、all within the world; worldwide:,.,As science becomes successful, more and more people accept its basic concepts. This proves the universality. thermodynamics - (sing) 热力学,.,mutation change, alternation,a change in the genetic structure of an animal or plant that makes it different from others of th

31、e same kind(转变; 突变; 变异) A series of mutations has resulted in large grains of wheat. a mutation that causes mice to be born blind technical a change in a speech sound, especially a vowel, because of the sound of the one next to it,.,For many years there were two schools of genetics- a Western geneti

32、cs and a Soviet genetics put forward by Lysenko. Lysenko put forward the theory that environmental stress produces genetic changes and these are transmitted.,.,discredit,discredit: to make sth stop believing that sth is true -discreditable: bad and unacceptable, causing people to lose respect Cf. Cr

33、edit belief; trust; confidence to believe or admit that someone has a quality, or has done something good creditable : deserving praise or approval,.,Para 2.,science: (universalized) universality technology: universalizing tendency: world homogeneous (uniform; same; alike * diversity) world /interna

34、tional style diminishment of identities and differences disappearance of history.,.,Corollary,corollary: corollaries countable formal something that is the direct result of something else corollary of/to Is social inequality the inevitable corollary of economic freedom? Technology naturally follows

35、seience. It also displays the tendency toward universalizing.,.,homogeneous,homogeneous: consisting of people or things that are all of the same type; having similarity in structure because of common descent. = uniform; similar or identical The working class is not quite so homogeneous in its politi

36、cal preference. Cf. heterogeneous; instantaneous,.,The spread of technology with its universalizing tendency is what makes different countries and people look more similar or identical. As childrens thoughts and feelings are shaped by this sameness, their sense of differences among cultures and peop

37、le becomes weak. Diversity: difference; variety,.,variety variation,.,Para 3,The automobile shows very clearly this universalizing influence of science and technology. Clarity: clearness of appearance; clearness of thought or style; lucidity NB: The writer uses four para.s to develop the ideas in th

38、is short topic sentence.,.,streamline流线型的,1. to form something into a smooth shape, so that it moves easily through the air or water. All these new cars have been streamlined. efforts to streamline the production process 2. to make something such as a business, organization etc work more simply and

39、effectively. Streamlined Economics: things related to the ecnomy of automobile manufacturing, such as production costs, consumer appeal, sale price, etc. Asset: a valuable or desirable thing,.,innovation -making change introducing new things technical innovations in industry,.,A technological breakt

40、hrough like streamlining or all-welded body construction may not be accepted at first by all car makers but if it proves itself to be important in raising the efficiency or improving the economics of the car it will reappear, maybe in different forms, and will not only be accepted but regarded as a

41、valuable thing by all car manufacturers.,.,Todays automobile do not display any unique features to show they are manufactured by a certain company or country. cylinder - 汽缸 block -main part of a petrol engine, consisting of the cylinder and valves 汽缸与阀,.,carburetor -that part of an internal combusti

42、on engine in which petrol and air are mixed to make an explosive mixture (内燃机中的) 汽化器,.,Para5,The car model, called Fiesta, seems to have disappeared completely. Metaphor. The car is compared to ship. A world car: because many parts of the car were manufactured by different countries. This car, howev

43、er, soon disappeared completely from the market. inevitable -that cant be avoided, that is sure to happen,.,It was the automotive equivalent of the International Style.,The idea of a world car is similar to the idea of having a world style for architecture. Or: As architecture was moving toward a co

44、mmon International Style, it was natural for the automobile to do the same.,.,equivalent n. sth that has the same use, function as sth else A good quilt can be the equivalent of at least three blankets. be hard put to it (to do sth) - find it difficult He was hard put to explain what had happened.,.

45、,Para. 6: As in automaking,This is an elliptical balanced sentence. The full sentence may read: “Things that are happening in automaking are similar to those happening in architecture.”,.,.,1962 Lincoln Continental Convertible,.,1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III,.,Cadillac,.,1932 Volkswagen Beetle T

46、ype 12,.,Volkswagen Beetle,.,Today, at a distance of 500 paces, one finds it difficult to see any difference in the various car models that are in the same price range. Tell one from another Make: The style or manner in which a thing is made: 制作样式：生产某事物的风格或方式： disliked the make of her coat. 不喜欢她衣服的样

47、式,.,Traits.history: special features in American cars that clearly displayed the special influence of American history and culture Visible evidence. Ferdinand Porshe: the obvious features in a Volkswagen Beetle car clearly showed how the idea of sreamline, first put forward by DArcy Thompson and the

48、n developed by Carl Breer and Ferdinand Porsche, was applied in the manufacture of automobile.,.,Para 7,If man . Creator: This short balanced topic sentence introduces the second important view of the writer. Man creates machines and the machines then turn around and change those who created them. M

49、an creates the World Car and by driving this kind of car the modern man himself becomes universalized. He is becoming a cosmopolitan.,.,No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture.,The modern man no longer has very distinct individual traits shaped by

50、 a special environment and culture,.,How has man become cosmopolitan?,He drives cars that have the same basic features. When he goes shopping, he finds the climate in all the shops is the same because they are all similarly air-conditioned. When he travels he finds all the airports to be familiar be

51、cause they are all constructed along similar lines and the hotels to have the same amenities. In a word, he finds himself at home in all countries and places.,.,cosmopolitan -of or from all or many different parts of the world the gatherings at the United Nations Assembly 联合国各种世界性集会,.,The price of t

52、he word, the benefit limitations,The disadvantage of being a cosmopolitan is that he loses a home in the old sense of the word. The benefit of being a cosmopolitan is that he begins to think the old kind of home probably restricts his development and activities. Suspect: to think it probable or like

53、ly; to guess; to suppose,.,Para 8,The universalizing irresistible: The compelling force of technology to universalize cannot be resisted. Imperative: A command; an order.,.,Barring .culture,Excepting a great disaster brought about by a nuclear war, the universalizing power of technology will continu

54、e to influence modern culture and the consciousness of people who inhabit that culture. barring: unless there should be; excepting prep.不包括, 除非 His back is broken and, barring a miracle, he wont walk again.,.,Inhabit: To live or reside in. 居住：住或居住在 To be present in; fill: 在出现；填满： Old childhood memor

55、ies inhabited the attic. 旧日儿时的记忆充满了阁楼,.,Para.9,From this paragraph onwards the writer puts forward and develops the main theme of this chapter and the central theme of his book -the insubstantiality of the world, the disappearance of traditional concepts, of the material objects we used to see with

56、our ordinary eyes. This is specially and clearly reflected in modern art and architecture.,.,Francis Picabia (1879-1953)皮卡比亚,.,Francis Picabia (1879-1953),A French painter, poet, and typographist, associated with both the Dada and Surrealist art movements. French Dadaist /Surrealist Painter,.,达达主义是一

57、场兴起于一战时期的苏黎世，波及视觉艺术、文学（主要是诗歌）、戏剧和美术设计等领域的文艺运动。达达主义是20世纪西方文艺发展历程中的一个重要流派，是第一次世界大战颠覆、摧毁旧有欧洲社会和文化秩序的产物。达达主义作为一场文艺运动持续的时间并不长，波及范围却很广，对20世纪的一切现代主义文艺流派都产生了影响。,.,Machine Turn Quickly, 1916-1918, tempera on paper, United States National Gallery of Art,.,The Joy in Blindness / Bonheur de laveuglement. 1947.

58、Oil on wood. Private collection.,.,Dada or Dadaism,Many Dadaists believed that the reason and logic of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in artistic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality.,.,Ant

59、i-art,Anti-art is a loosely-used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art. The term is associated with the Dada movement and is generally accepted as attributable to Marcel Duchamp pre-World War I, when he began to use found objects as art.,.,Anti-art,An expression of anti-art can take the form of art or not. In general, anti-art rejects only some aspects of art. Depending on th