综合英语第二册课件unit2

1、Tyranny of the Urgent,Charles E. Hummel,Tyranny: n.,unfair or cruel use of power or authority e.g. the tyranny of military rule (fig) submit to the tyranny of inflexible office hours,I Pre-reading Questions,1. Do you often feel pressed by time? Do you hate meeting deadlines? 2. Do you think you are

2、successful in managing your time? Why or why not? Have you ever thought of ways to improve the management of your time?,II Text,Background information: The American View of Time Americans treat time as if it were something almost tangible: they budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, and ac

3、count for it; they also charge for it. It is a precious commodity. Most Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calendars. These calendars may be divided into intervals as short as fifteen minutes.,As a result, Americans work hard at the task of saving time. They communicate

4、 rapidly through telexes, phone calls or memos rather than through personal contacts. People are meeting increasingly on television screens to settle problems by “teleconferences”. In the U.S., it is taken as a sign of competence to solve a problem, or fulfill a job successfully with rapidity. Consi

5、der the Chinese view of time!,“The U.S. is definitely a telephone country.”,2. Text Analysis,This is a well-organized argumentative essay. Para 1-2 Introductory part: can not really help relieve people of the pressure. Para 3-5 Body: the pressure in our life originates from the mishandled problem of

6、 . Para 6 Concluding part: we are slaves to“ ”.,the prolongation of time,priorities,the tyranny,of the urgent,Comprehension of the textPart （P1-2）,Qs: 1.How does the author introduce his topic? 2. Why do people wish for a thirty-hour day? Does the author believe that this extra time will help people

7、 to ease the pressure?,A1: The author introduces his topic with a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question posed for its rhetorical effect without the expectation of a reply (eg: Why me?). Rhetorical questions encourage the listener to think about th

8、e (often obvious) answer to the question. When a speaker states, How much longer must our people endure this injustice?, no formal answer is expected. Rather, it is a device used by the speaker to achieve an emphasis.,A2: People always find themselves in short supply of time. An extra six hours may

9、relieve them of the pressure. No. The author does not think that the prolongation of time may solve the problem of short-age of time once for all because ones work is endless. With this extra time, he believes, people could only afford to do more work rather than all the work.,Language points,1. tra

10、il a long line or series of marks that is left by somebody/something e.g. He went inside, leaving a trail of muddy footprints behind him. Translate: 飓风过后满目疮痍。 The hurricane left a trail of destruction behind it.,2. haunt to be always in the thoughts of; return repeatedly to the mind of e.g. Thirty y

11、ears after the earthquake he is still haunted by images of death and destruction. The memory of that day still haunts me. (of ghosts) visit (a place) regularly: a haunted house,3. exacting (of a person or piece of work) demanding much care, effort and attention e.g. an exacting teacher/piece of work

12、 Volunteers are needed for an exacting assignment. synonym demanding exact v. insist on and obtain; require e.g. exact obedience from ones staff (fml) Her work exacts great care and attention.,Part 2（P3-5）,Qs: 1 ) What is the problem of priorities? 2) When are people liable to frustration? 3) Why do

13、 people often delay an important task?,A1: What should people deal with first when confronted with endless tasks? Urgent vs. Important,A2: When they find numerous tasks unfinished and especially when they find that they have left the important tasks aside. A3: People are constantly driven by urgent

14、tasks while they are usually given more time to accomplish important tasks. As a result, they are likely to lack a sense of urgency for important tasks.,Language points,1. dilemma e.g. The doctor faced a dilemma as whether he should tell the patient the truth or not. The president finds himself in a

15、 dilemma over how to tackle the crisis. synonym predicament,2. priority c something that is regarded as more important than others Education is a top priority. Our first priority is to improve standards. Financial security was high on his list of priorities. You need to get your priorities right. (A

16、merican English) You need to get your priorities straight. 2) u priority (over something) high or top place among various things to be done Club members will be given priority. The search for a new vaccine will take priority over all other medical research. prioritize v. : to put tasks, etc. in orde

17、r of importance,3. misgiving : doubt, distrust, or fear, esp. about a future event The plan seemed utterly impractical and I was filled with misgiving about it. Translate: 我对是否接受那份工作顾虑重重。 I have serious misgivings about taking that job.,4. crowd out to keep out for lack of space e.g. Pressure on stu

18、dy space has crowded out new students from many university libraries. The article was crowded out of yesterdays edition. prevent sb/sth from operating successfully Translate: 小商店受到大超市不断排挤。 Small shops are being crowded out by the big supermarkets.,5. He didnt realize how hard his maxim hit. It often

19、 returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities. (Para. 4) rebuke：to speak angrily to e.g. He was rebuked for cheating. Paraphrase: He did not realize what an impact his words had on me. They often return to my mind and reproach me with the grave problem of priorities.,

20、Part 3（P6）,Qs: 1 ) Why does the author say: A mans home is no longer his castle? 2）What does tyranny of the urgent mean?,Reference,A1: A castle is a strongly-built building against attacks, especially as in former times. In old days, one might be kept away from all the worries about work once he was

21、 back home. But in modem times, with the development of telecommunication, one can hardly avoid being interrupted even when he is at home.,A2: The tyranny of the urgent implies that the urgent things outweigh everything else. As people tend to give priorities to things that are urgent, they are like

22、ly to neglect things that are important, but less urgent.,1. breach to break (a promise, agreement, etc.); to make a gap in e.g. The government is accused of breaching the terms of the treaty. breach the enemy defences breach n. (please refer to dictionary),2. imperious (too) commanding; expecting o

23、bedience from others an imperious gesture/look/command 傲慢的姿势、飞扬跋扈的样子、专横的命令,3. devour to use up all of something; to eat hungrily or greedily; destroy Her job devours all her energy. He devoured half of his burger in one bite. fig She devoured the new detective story. Translate: 大火吞噬了大片森林。 fig Fire d

24、evoured a huge area of forest.,4. But in the light of times perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. in the light of in view of, considering In the light of recent incidents, we are asking our customers to take particular care of

25、their personal belongings. prominence the fact or quality of being well-known and important Messi came to prominence during the World Cup in Germany. Most of the papers give prominence to the same story.,Paraphrase:,But from a long-term perspective, they no longer seem to be important as they promis

26、ed, and we suffer from a sense of loss when we recall those important tasks left undone.,Organization of the text,Thesis: We should not let the urgent matters take priority over important ones. Supporting idea 1: The prolongation of the day would not help us finish all our work. (evidence) Supportin

27、g idea 2: The root cause of our failure to complete all the tasks is not shortage of time, but the critical problem of priorities. (evidence) Conclusion: We need to see through the deceptive appearance of the urgent tasks and focus our attention and energy on the important ones.,Rhetorical features:

28、,Parallelism: So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less ( Paragraph 2 ); we have left undone those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done ( Paragraph 3).,Parallelism(1),Parallelism: Parallelism or parallel construction is used

29、for the expression of similar thoughts in a balanced way. By “balanced way” is meant a balanced, or coordinated arrangement of grammatical structures. Here are some ways in which parallel construction are formed.,Parallelism(2),1. words related in meaning and belonging to the same grammatical catego

30、ry are joined together in phrases, e.g., sugar and salt walking or running neither hungry nor cold firm but kindly,Parallelism(3),2 The grammatical structure are kept in balance, e.g. She likes going to the country and having picnics there. or, She likes to go to the country and to have picnics ther

31、e. but not, She likes going to the country and to have picnics there.,Parallelism(4),3 Similar structures are arranged in a series, following the same trend of thought, e.g., The roads have been made broader, the buildings have been built higher, and the whole town has been improved a great deal. At

32、 school, I learn from teachers. At home, I learn from my parents. I love singing. I love dancing. But I love cooking best of all.,Parallelism(5),Parallelism can make sentences clear, forceful, lively, and effective. Parallel constructions are usually linked by coordinating conjunctions such as: and

33、but nor or bothand eitheror neithernor. not onlybut also,Phrases,(P2) catch up (on/with something): to spend time or efforts doing something that you have had not time to do properly until now. He shut himself away for a month to catch up on his academic work. catch up (with somebody): to reach some

34、body in front of you by walking faster; to reach the same standard or level as they are.,(P3) apart from,1) It is used to refer to something, often something small or unimportant, which is an exception to the general situation or state of affairs. = excepting for 除了以外（别无）；除去 She had no money, apart

35、from the five pounds that Christopher had given her. Apart from his nose he is quite good-looking. 2) In addition to除了以外（尚有）；不止 Apart from the injuries to his face and hands, he broke both legs.,A relationship between ideas of approximately equal importance. In English, there are three basic coordin

36、ators: and, or, but. Other familiar coordinators are yet, so, bothand, not onlybut (also), eitheror, neithernor, etc. Most declarative sentences are in normal order. Those beginning with then, there, here, so (meaning “in the same way”, “also”), neither, nor (meaning “also not”), never, little, often, not only, not until, hardly, scarcely, thus, no sooner(than), etc., are usually in inverted orde