研究生英语《阅读C》UNIT14.ppt

1、,研究生公共英语阅读CUNIT 14 The Fabric of Meaning,Background Information,Ego and Superego,In philosophy, the term ego, associated primarily with the German philosopher Fichte, for the T, the subject which is conscious of itself, thinks, has experience of and determines the outside world (the object or non-eg

2、o); in psychoanalysis, it refers to the conscious personality as opposed to the unconscious.,Ego and Superego,Superego refers to the idealized image that a person builds up of himself in response to authority and social pressures. Fundamentally unconscious, it rises to consciousness on critical occa

3、sion and serves as a kind of-policeman of the personality. (cf.id,the reservoir of mans instinctive drives, as defined by Freud. ),Age of Reason理性时期,A term applied to the Restoration and Augustan periods（古罗马皇帝 奥古斯都时期). So named because it was a period when the workings of reason were revered(尊敬). Fo

4、rm, balance, restraint, harmony, decorum(礼貌) and order are some of the main characteristics of the literature of the period.,Manifest Destiny,An ordering of human history regarded as inevitable and obviously apparent that leads a people or race to expand to geographic limits held to be natural or to

5、 extend sovereignty over a usually indefinite area. Also: the doctrine of or belief in such inevitable expansion.,昭昭天命,昭昭天命(Manifest Destiny)，为惯用措词，表达美国凭藉天命，对外扩张，散播民主自由的信念。昭昭天命的拥护者们认为美国在领土和影响力上的扩张不仅明显（Manifest ），且本诸不可违逆之天数（Destiny）。昭昭天命最初为十九世纪时的政治警句(catch phrase)，后来成为标准的历史名辞，意义通常等于美国横贯北美洲，直达太平洋的领土扩张

6、。,“昭昭天命”一词最初由1840年代杰克逊式民主的信徒所使用，用以宣传兼并今日的美西地区（俄勒冈属地、兼并得州、与墨西哥割让）。该词于1890年代复由共和党支持者用以在理论上作为美国介入北美洲以外事务的理由。,The Fabric of meaning is a piece of expository writing. The central thesis of the exposition is expressed by the title of the essay. Langer elaborates the importance of life symbols in a persons

7、 life and work. Life-symbols can give people spiritual support and any imaginative and intelligent persons who feel drawn to the realm of reality can see meaning and sense in the world.,Any man who loves his profession loves it not only for its practical use but also because it seems to have meaning

8、. In the essay Langer supports her views with copious evidence. She states that a mind which draws its sustenance from the surrounding world can function freely and confidently under great pressure of circumstances. In such a mind, no doubts of the meaning of life are likely to arise. By quoting Pro

9、fessor Whiteheads remarks, she confirms that the essence of freedom is the practicability of purpose.,Any destruction of the symbolic process is an abolition of human freedom. By citing some examples Langer points out that freedom of conscience is the basis of all personal freedom. It is a breach of

10、 personality to force a person to do something against his principles.,Meanwhile, Langer calls the readers attention to the two great threats to mental security in modern civilization: the new mode of living, which has deprived our minds of the old nature-symbols, and the new mode of working, which

11、makes personal activity meaningless and short of imagination.,Langer admits that technical progress is putting mans freedom of mind in jeopardy and numberless hybrid religions, mysteries, causes and ideologies spring up. A philosophy sees the state of noisy disagreement and disturbance as return to

12、a pre-logic state and lapses of rational interest caused by animal impulse. Langer thinks that it is the phase we must go through in continual pursuit of wider and clearer meanings. In the end she draws the conclusion that freedom cant be reborn without throes.,By means of persuasion, systematic rea

13、soning and direct proof, Langer eliminates opposing views without attacking those who hold them, avoids excessive appeals to emotions, presents cogently but fairly her position, and allows the reader to accept the conclusion advanced on the basis of evidence.,In the essay we can find an abundance of

14、 simple idiomatic expressions side by side with literary and historical allusions. For example: men who follow the sea have often a deep love for that hard life. ; Men fight passionately against being forced to do lip service .; . that systematic purveying of loose, half-baked ideas which our genera

15、tion knows as propaganda; the irrational forces of our animal nature must hold their Witches Sabbath; All it can show us as the approach to Parnassus is the way of factual data, hypothesis, trial, judgment, and generalization.,Language Points,1. They are the few who feel drawn to . which may acquire

16、 ritual value :,They are the few who are attracted by some realm of reality that contains their most important life-symbols and provide the cause of activities which may acquire ritual value.,2. Men who follow the sea have often a deep love for that hard life, which no catalogue of its practical vir

17、tues can account for:,Men who have become sailors have often a deep love for that rigorous life, which cant be explained in terms of its practical advantages. follow the sea is an idiom which means become a sailor.,3. But in their dangerous calling they feel secure; in their comfortless quarters the

18、y are at ease:,But they have no fear in their dangerous marine life and are quite relaxed and care-free in their uncomfortable conditions.,4 . a unified conception of life whereby it can be rationally lived:,a uniform conception of life by which we can live a rational life whereby: by which Examples

19、: There is a way whereby he can be saved. She devised a plan whereby they might escape.,5. Any man who loves his calling loves it for more than its use; he loves it because it seems to have meaning:,Any man who loves his profession loves it not merely for its practical use, but because this professi

20、on seems to have meaning.,6 . how entirely realistic performance may point beyond themselves:,how completely realistic performances may not be mere individual behaviors.,7. interweave:,be woven or weave (something) together Examples: We went shopping yesterday and bought some curtains made of red cl

21、oth inter-woven with gold. The branches interwove to form an unbroken hedge. Your destiny is interwoven with mine.,8. Dreams can possess it at night.,evaporate before the light of day:,Dreams can possess the steady interweaving and remove the heaviest load of self-expressive needs, and cease to exis

22、t before the light of day.,8. Dreams can possess it at night.,evaporate before the light of day:,work off (1) remove by work or activity Examples: I was trying to work off excess weight by regular exercise. Heavy work with your hands will help to work off your anger.,8. Dreams can possess it at nigh

23、t.,evaporate before the light of day:,(2) finish (something) by working Examples: I hope to work off most of the urgent letters by tomorrow. How long does it take to work off the requirements for the degree?,9. Ritual comes to it as a natural response to the holiness or importance of real occasions:

24、,Accordingly, a mind has a natural response to the holiness or importance of real occasions.,10. apt to do something:,likely to do something; having a tendency to do something Examples: This kind of shoe is apt to slip on wet ground. When one is tired one is apt to make mistakes.,11. incorporate:,ma

25、ke something a part of a group; include Examples: They were unable to incorporate all his ideas in the new model of the car. The new housing development incorporates flats for old people.,12 . all bring their quota to imprison the souls of women and men:,. all these things take their share in keepin

26、g the souls of women and men in confinement.,13 . even such as belong to the very definition of its species:,. even suffering from the frustration of such purposes which belong to the very definition of its species.,14. Any miscarriage of the symbolic process is an abrasion of our human freedom:,Fai

27、lure to keep up the symbolic process deprives us of our freedom.,15 . that causes all sorts of distorted personal symbols . to envisage our problems clearly and negotiable:,. that causes all sorts of distorted personal symbols to intrude on unimaginative thought and judgment based on observation or

28、lack of logical power, knowledge, food for thought, or imagination to picture our problems in the mind clearly and acceptably.,16. encroach, intrude, invade, violate,These words refer to an unwelcome advance, usually upon someone elses territory or privacy.,Encroach,emphasizes the slowness or subtle

29、ty of an advance that may at first have proceeded without a countering complaint only to be recognized finally as a threat.,Encroach,Examples: powers of the executive branch that have gradually encroached on the rights of the other branches a mother-in-law whose attentions are not meant to encroach

30、on the privacy of the newly married couple urban sprawl that encroaches on unspoiled countryside,Intrude,is more often limited to overstepping of personal privacy than to territorial expansion. It suggests a situation in which a person or group has deliberately withdrawn in order to escape interrupt

31、ion - but without success.,Intrude,Example: parents who intrude on the secrecy of childhood,Intrude,Unlike encroach, however, intrude may more often be unintentional or sudden. Example: embarrassed at finding that he had intruded on the young lovers,Intrude,It can sometimes be used more generally, b

32、ut the note of a personal situation is still retained. Example: newspapers that attempt to intrude on the decision-making process,Invade and violate,are much harsher terms; they would never suggest unintentional acts, like intrude, nor gradual acts, like encroach. They may, in fact, suggest savagery

33、 and violence. Invade most readily brings to mind a military attack by one nation on another.,Invade and violate,Example: the day Hitler invaded Poland In other uses this context of military conquest is usually present as a negative connotation.,Invade and violate,Example: forests invaded by timber

34、speculators Violate has both a sexual and a legal context.,Invade and violate,Examples: a woman violated by her attacker a court ruling that basic constitutional rights had been violated In more general uses, it can express outrage at unethical tactics.,Invade and violate,Example: discrimination tha

35、t violates the very ideals most citizens hold sacred,17. It is prosaic to the point of total indifference, purely casual, devoid of that structure of intellect and feeling which we call personality:,It is so unimaginative that it has reached the stage of complete indifference, entirely casual, lacki

36、ng in that structure of intellect and feeling which we call personality.,18. No matter how fantastic may be the dogmas he holds sacred:,Here, he holds sacred is an attributive clause modifying dogmas.,19 . it is never a light matter to demand their violation:,. it is not an easy thing to violate the

37、 will or conscience of society.,20. Men fight passionately against being forced to do lip service, because the enactment of a rite is always, in some measure, assent to its meaning:,Men are strongly opposed to being forced to give verbal support or say some good words against their own will, because

38、 the performance of a rite is always, to some degree, consistent with its meaning.,pay/do lip service to,is an idiom which means say that one approves of or supports while not doing so in practice. e.g. He pays lip service to feminism but his wife still does all the housework.,21. consent, assent,Th

39、ese words refer to a positive response or to congruence between or among things.,consent,is restricted to the giving of permission or the accepting of a proposal or request. Examples: The first sergeant consented to the corporals request for an emergency leave. She consented to his proposal of marri

40、age.,Consent,always implies the power not to consent. Example: The king gave willing consent to his sons marriage to a princess, and reluctant consent to his daughters marriage to a commoner.,assent,Where consent often implies the permission of a superior, assent can indicate the approval of an equa

41、l. The word, furthermore, is most often limited to an affirmative response to a statement or opinion. Example: She assented to the doctors assertion that her son was ill, but would not consent to having him hospitalized.,22 . so that the very expression of an alien mythology, incompatible with ones

42、own vision of fact or truth works to the corruption of that vision:,. so that the very expression of an unfamiliar mythology, not in logical agreement with ones own vision of fact or truth, causes the incorrect change of that vision.,23. overt, open, public,These words refer to things that are made

43、amply evident by direct expression.,Overt,Overt indicates attitudes, feelings, and behavior that are put into words or acted upon, rather than intimated or suppressed.,Overt,Examples: an overt declaration of his desire to marry her an overt homosexual rebellious feelings that had passed the talking

44、stage and were about to become overt,Open,Open refers to things done in an honest or unashamed manner, indifferent to criticism or reproof.,Open,Examples: easy to be open if you have nothing to hide arguing that the gun laws were open invitations to violence an open declaration of their stand on the

45、 controversial proposal,public,While a person may be open with his friends about his beliefs, be might still not wish to make public either his affairs or his attitudes. Public, thus, is an extreme case among these words, suggesting a deliberate revealing of oneself to the populace at large.,public,

46、Examples: a public announcement that he would no longer be responsible for debts incurred by his wife a public address on foreign policy voracious audiences who turn the private lives of movie stars into public scandals,24 . to maintain it in the face of the confounding pattern of enacted heresy is

47、more than average mentality can do:,. to maintain the minds orientation in the face of complex pattern of enacted heresy is so difficult that it is beyond ordinary mentality.,In this sentence more than can be understood as beyond. The word what is omitted in the comparative clause.,Examples: That is

48、 more than the workers could stand. Some of the stories were more than the children could believe.,25. If, now, the field of our unconscious symbolic orientation is . and therewith our effectual purposes:,If, now, the field of our unconscious symbolic orientation is suddenly disturbed by tremendous

49、chances in the external world and in the social order, we lose our control, our belief and also our effectual purposes.,26. in jeopardy:,in state of danger or risk of not succeeding Examples: His foolish behavior may pot his whole future in jeopardy. Such a gamble against odds would put their whole

50、venture in jeopardy.,27. half-baked:,an informal use which means not thought out or studied thoroughly Examples: We wish Tom would not take our time at meetings to offer his half-baked ideas. We cannot afford to put the government in the hands of people with half-baked plans.,28 . as there were evan

51、gelical missions and watch-and-ward societies in the world of our fathers:,just like in old times there were missionaries to convert people according to the Christian doctrines and societies in which people were always being watched for their activities.,29. no wonder that .:,it is not surprising th

52、at . Examples: This book is good indeed. No wonder (that) you like it so much. No wonder (that) you couldnt find the pen it had fallen behind the chair.,30. emotive, emotional,Emotive tends to mean causing or producing emotion - especially, emotion as distinct from reason. Example: The bread shortag

53、e became an emotive issue, and riots seemed inevitable.,30. emotive, emotional,Emotional can still be used in this way, though its commoner meanings which emotive does not share - are rather different: undergoing emotion or revealing emotion. Examples: a very emotional young man, easily moved to tea

54、rs an emotional farewell,30. emotive, emotional,So emotional language would usually mean heartfelt language, imbued with deep feeling, though it could also mean the same as emotive language, language deliberately designed to provoke emotions - typically feelings of anger, or an irrational and indign

55、ant response.,31. Only as one culture supersedes another, every new insight is gained with the life of an older certainty:,Only as one culture takes the place of another, every new insight is gained at the cost of an older certainty.,32. replace, displace, supercede,These words refer to a situation

56、in which the place of one thing is taken by another.,Replace,Replace is the most informal and most natural of these words, referring to any simple substitution for whatever reason. Example: She replaced the amber necklace with a string of pearls to see which she liked better.,Replace,The word, howev

57、er, is especially used to indicate the substitution of something new or functioning for something old, worn-out, or lost. Examples: an offer to replace the missing volume of the encyclopedia She replaced the old, battered throw pillows with new ones.,Displace,Displace, by contrast, indicates the dis

58、lodging or forcible removal of one thing by another, without necessarily suggesting that the first had become unusable or ineffective.,Displace,Examples: republics in which new regimes displace old ones with wearying predictability the growing number of employees being displaced by computers,Superse

59、de,Supersede is the most formal of these words and indicates that a substitution occurs because the new thing is better, more modern, or more effective than the old.,Supersede,Examples: consumers who have been taught to believe that this years models actually supersede those of the year before economic planning that would slowly supersede older hit-and-miss methods,Supersede,The word may sometimes suggest mere substitution be