上外综合教程4Unit10电子教案

上外综合教程4Unit10电⼦教案
UNIT 10 THE IDIOCY OF URBAN LIFE
Section One Pre-reading Activities (2)
I. Audiovisual supplement (2)
II. Cultural background (2)
Section Two Global Reading (4)
I. Structural analysis of the text (4)
II. Rhetorical features of the text (4)
Section Three Detailed Reading (5)
I. Questions (6)
II. Words and Expressions (7)
III. Sentences (9)
Section Four Consolidation Activities (11)
I. Vocabulary (11)
II. Grammar (13)
III. Translation (14)
IV. Exercises for integrated skills (16)
V. Oral activities (17)
VI. Writing (18)
Section Five Further Enhancement (19)
I. Text II (19)
II. Memorable quotes (22)
Section One Pre-reading Activities
I. Audiovisual supplement
From Multiplicity
Watch the movie clip and answer the following questions.
Script:
Doug:Then I get resentful because l feel like I should have, you know maybe a little time for myself.It’s like work is first, my family is a close second and I’m a distant third,
bringing up the rear. You know?Is that crazy?
Dr. Leeds:I don’t know. I’m not a psychiatrist. Anyway, you don’t need one. If the problems on your mind are real, that requires real solutions.
Doug:Well, then ... What do you do?
Dr. Leeds:I told you. I make miracles. l create time. l make clones. Doug, sit down. I’m a geneticist. Fifteen years ago I started cloning viruses. And then, ten years ago, I cloned
an earthworm.
Doug:God bless you, sir.
Dr. Leeds:And then ... a chimp. And last year ... Last year ...
Man #1:H i there.
Dr. Leeds:Just in time.
Man #1:H ello.
Dr. Leeds:This is Doug Kinney. He is doing our new offices.
Man #1:O h, sure, I know Doug. You know, he and I went over the plans one day.
Dr. Leeds:Oh?
Man #1:Y ou were sailing.
Doug: Wait, wait, wait …
Dr. Leeds:You understand what I’m suggesting?
Doug:Yeah, sure. What’s not to understand? You xerox people.
Dr. Leeds:In a way.
Man #1:S ort of.
Dr. Leeds:The procedure takes about two hours. It takes more or less two hours. And in the end, you have everything you need. What is it that, you know, I need?
Doug:Time!
Dr. Leeds:All you need. For everything.
Doug:Say, I’m interested, you know. What would a ... you know, nothing fancy, just a basic, you know, just a basic ... clone-job cost?
Questions:
1. What is Doug’s compliant?
Answer: Doug feels guilty for his family because he is too overworked and overscheduled to find time for his wife and kids, let alone for himself. He is becoming resentful about the heavy burden.
2. What is Dr. Leeds solution to Doug’s problem?
Answer:Dr. Leeds offers a solution: Doug obviously needs to be cloned.
II. Cultural background
1.The author －Henry Fairlie
Henry Fairlie (1924－1990) was a British expatriate journalist and social critic. He spent 36 years as a prominent freelance writer on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in The Spectator, The New Republic, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and many other papers and magazines. He was also the author of five books, most notably The Kennedy Promise, an early revisionist critique of the U.S.
presidency of John F. Kennedy.
In 2009, Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations, was published as an anthology of his work. He wrote in a manner that was often “tongue-in-cheek” (intended to be humorous and not meant seriously) to point to some of the amusing things about city life.
2.Thoreau’s Walden
Modern people have long been tired and bored by the idiocy of city life. So they seek other possible ways of living away from city life. Thoreau’s Walden is an influential work of this type, in which the author isolates himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau’s other goals, and the whole project was
inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. Through the following quote, we may see his stance better.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
Section Two Global Reading
I. Structural analysis of the text
This text falls in the generic category of argumentation. Most argumentation consists of three parts: the thesis of the author, the evidence to support the thesis, and summary or conclusion of the argument.
This text follows this pattern too.
Part I (Paragraphs 1－2): The author presents the thesis of his argument: aggressively individualistic and atomized urban life today goes against both the purpose of the city and human nature, and thus is foolish.
Part II (Paragraphs 3－9): The author provides evidence for the idiocy of urban life, such as people living outside the city boundaries, maintaining the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off, and isolating themselves from nature.
Part III (Paragraph 10): The author reiterates his point.
II. Rhetorical features of the text
In any argumentation, the author has a thesis of his own. So does the author of this text. We can see from the title and the text proper that he takes a negative attitude towards urban life by using a lot of attitudinal words and expressions.
The following italicized words and expressions are used to express the author’s attitude towards city life:
The Idiocy of Urban Life
Urban life is aggressively individualistic and atomized.
Cities are not social places.
lunacy of modern city life
create simulations of it (rural life)
a pretence to bosky woodlands
City dwellers take their filth with them ...
Practice:
Can you find more such expressions?
... they maintain the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off.
work at their play with the same joylessness
These windows are a scandal ...
... the urban worker has no knowledge of the seasons.
fetid central heating
no true sense of the rhythms of the seasons
The city dweller reels from unreality to unreality.
... city dwellers don’t know it (a Douglas fir) once had roots.
Section Three Detailed Reading
THE IDIOCY OF URBAN LIFE
Henry Fairlie
1 Between about 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. the life of the city is civil. Occasionally the lone footsteps
of someone walking to or from work echo along the sidewalk. All work that has to be done at those hours is useful －in bakeries, for example. Even the newspaper presses stop turning forests into lies. Now and then a car comes out of the silence and cruises easily through the blinking traffic lights. The natural inhabitants of the city come out from damp basements and cellars. With their pink ears and paws, sleek, well-groomed, their whiskers combed, rats are true city dwellers. Urban life, during the hours when they reign, is urbane.
2 These rats are social creatures, as you can tell if you look out on the city street during an
insomniac night. But after 6 a.m., the two-legged, daytime creatures of the city begin to stir;
and it is they, not the rats, who bring the rat race. You might think that human beings congregate in large cities because they are gregarious. The opposite is true. Urban life today is aggressively individualistic and atomized. Cities are not social places.
3 The lunacy of modern city life lies first in the fact that most city dwellers try to live outside
the city boundaries. So the two-legged creatures have created suburbs, exurbs, and finally rururbs (rubs to some). Disdaining rural life, they try to create simulations of it. No effort is spared to let city dwellers imagine they are living anywhere but in a city: patches of grass in the more modest suburbs, broader spreads in the richer ones further out; prim new trees planted along the streets; at the foot of the larger backyards, a pretense to bosky woodlands.
4 The professional people buy second homes in the country as soon as they can afford them,
and as early as possible on Friday head out of the city they have created. The New York intellectuals and artists quaintly say they are “going to the country”for the weekend or the summer, but in fact they have created a little Manhattan-by-the-Sea around the Hamptons, spreading over the Long Island6 potato fields whose earlier solitude was presumably the reason why they first went there. City dwellers take the city with them to the country, for they will not live without its pamperings. The main streets of America’s small towns, which used to have hardware and dry goods stores, are now strips of boutiques. Old-fashioned barbers become unisex hairdressing salons. The brown rats stay in the cities because of the filth the humans leave during the day. The rats clean it up at night. Soon the countryside will be just as nourishing to them, as the city dwellers take their filth with them.
5 Work still gives meaning to rural life, the family, and churches. But in the city today work
and home, family and church, are separated. What the office workers do for a living is not part of their home life. At the same time they maintain the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off. They rush from the office to jog, to the gym or the YMCA pool, to work at their play with the same joylessness.
6 Even though the offices of today’s businesses in the city are themselves moving out to the
suburbs, this does not necessarily bring the workers back closer to their workplace. It merely means that to the rush-hour traffic into the city there is now added a rush-hour traffic out to the suburbs in the morning, and back around and across the city in the evening. As the farmer walks down to his farm in the morning, the city dweller is dressing for the first idiocy of his day, which he not only accepts but even seeks －the journey to work.
7 In the modern office building in the city there are windows that don’t open. This is perhaps
the most symbolic lunacy of all. Outdoors is something you can look at through glass but not to touch or hear. These windows are a scandal because they endanger the lives of office workers in case of fire. But no less grievous, even on the fairest spring or fall day the workers cannot put their heads outside. Thus it is not surprising that the urban worker has no knowledge of the seasons. He is aware simply that in some months there is air conditioning, and in others
through the same vents come fetid central heating. Even outside at home in their suburbs the city dwellers may know that sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes it’s cold, but no true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the backyard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive.
8 The city dweller reels from unreality to unreality through each day, always trying to recover
the rural life that has been surrendered for the city lights. No city dweller, even in the suburbs, knows the wonder of a pitch-
dark country lane at night. Nor does he naturally get any exercise from his work.
9 Every European points out that Americans are the most round-shouldered people in the
world. Few of them carry themselves with an upright stance, although a correct stance is the first precondition of letting your lungs breathe naturally and deeply. Electric typewriters cut down the amount of physical exertion needed to hit the keys; the buttons of a word processor need even less effort, as you can tell from the posture of those who use them. They rush out to jog or otherwise Fonda-ize their leisure to try to repair the damage done during the day.
10 Everything in urban life is an effort either to simulate rural life or to compensate for its loss
by artificial means. It is from this day-to-day existence of unreality, pretence, and idiocy that the city people, slumping along their streets even when scurrying, never looking up at their buildings, far less the sky, have the insolence to disdain and mock the useful and rewarding life of the country people who support them. Now go out and carry home a Douglas fir, call it a Christmas tree, and enjoy 12 days of contact with nature. Of course city dwellers don’t know it once had roots.
I. Questions
1. What is the purpose of mentioning rats as true city dwellers? (Paragraph 1)
Answer: The author mentions rats at the beginning of the article for the purpose of contrasting rats with human beings. In a sense, both rats and human beings are city dwellers, but there are differences between them in terms of life in the city. As natural inhabitants of the city, rats are social creatures and lead a stable urban life. By contrast, most human dwellers do not enjoy urban life but try to live outside the city boundaries; and they live an individualistic and atomized rather than gregarious life. Therefore, relatively speaking, rats are true city dwellers.
2.What idiocy is there in the city dwellers’ trying to live outside the city boundaries? (Paragraph 3) Answer: The idiocy of the practice lies in the pretence of the city dwellers. For one thing, they disdain rural life on the one hand, and on the other hand they try to simulate it by creating large or small patches of greenery around their suburb, exurb or rururb residences. For another, while they intend to live a rural life by going to the country, they have in fact spoiled the natural features of the rural areas and created urban surroundings where they have settled down. As a result their purpose fails in the end.
3. Why does the author call the city dweller’s journey to work “the first idiocy of his day”? (Paragraph 6)
Answer: The author’s saying so reflects his attitude towards office work in the city. Unlike farming which is part of rural home life, joyless work in the city is separated, both physically and emotionally, from home life and consequently causes unnecessary frenzy. The worker’s going to and returning from work wastes a lot of time and thus is pointless, yet the worker “not only accepts but seeks” it. Hence the idiocy of “the journey to work”.
4. How do you understand the sentence “The city dweller reels from unreality to unreality through each day”? (Paragraph 8)
Answer: The quoted statement describes in what environment the city dweller lives and works. With
the windows that never open, the modern office, artificially cooled in summer and heated in winter, alienates the worker from the true natural world. The home surroundings are no better. They provide the dweller with no true sense of the seasons either. In general, the city dweller is removed from nature and submerged in a man-made environment every day.
5. What accounts for the fact that “Americans are the most round-shouldered people in the world”? (Paragraph 9)
Answer: This phenomenon is caused by the demerits of office work. Compared with physical labor in rural life, office work in the city needs very little physical exertion, but it requires long-time sitting with the same posture every day. Even the after-work exercises cannot compensate for the damage done to the physical constitution of the worker during work hours. This accounts for the round-shoulderedness of Americans.
Class Activity
Group discussion:
What are the major differences between city life and country life? Where do you prefer to live, in the city or in the country? Why?
II. Words and Expressions
Paragraphs 1-2
civil: a.
(1) polite and formal
e.g.His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly.
He’d been careful to be civil to everyone.
(2) applying to ordinary citizens
e.g.civil rights: basic rights that all people in a society should have
civil aviation: aviation relating to ordinary people rather than military forces
(3) of or occurring within the state or between or among citizens of the state
e.g.civil war: war between groups in a country
civil servant/service
Derivation:civilize v. raise from a barbaric to a civilized state
e.g.Schools will help to civilize the wild tribes there.
cruise: v. & n.
(1) (of a vehicle or its driver) travel smoothly at a moderate speed
e.g. The plane is cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet.
(2) sail or drive for pleasure
e.g. They will be going cruising the Greek islands next week.
insomniac
(1) n. sb. who cannot sleep
e.g.Insomniacs do not sleep because they worry about it, and they worry about it because they do not sleep.
(2) a. experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness
e.g.insomniac old people
insomniac nights: sleepless night
The word “insomniac” here is used as a transferred epithet to modify something inanimate.
More examples of transferred epithet:
Even so, the risk of discovery was beginning to cause Pettit sleepless nights.
He threw a reassuring arm round my shoulder.
rat race:fierce competition
The rat race is a term often used to describe excessive work. In general terms, if one works too much, one is in the rat race. It implies that many people see work as an endless pursuit with little reward or purpose.
e.g.I really want to get out of the rat race.
我真的想要远离这种你争我夺的⽣活。

They longed to escape from the rat race and move to the countryside.
他们渴望能够摆脱⽆情的竞争搬到乡下去。

More phrases of “rat”:
rat fink: sb. who betrays the trust of compatriots by giving vital information to their enemies
e.g.I will never trust such a rat fink.
rat trap: (slang) incredibly run-down and dangerous rental housing where the residents lives are in danger (or at least very depressed) and rats often inhabit the walls
e.g.I couldn’t believe that they have been living in the rat trap for months.
rat hole: description of a place of residence declaring it to resemble the digs of a rat, complete with piles of belongings which threaten to topple over and smother the occupant
e.g.Do you want me to fight him for nothing in a rat hole?
rat’s nest: a big mess, usually applied to hair which has been ratted
e.g.Your hair looks like rat’s nest!
Paragraphs 3-9
disdain:v. think oneself superior to; reject
e.g. The older musicians disdain the new, rock-influenced music.
Our new neighbors seem to be disdaining to speak to us.
simulation: n. imitation of the conditions of (a situation etc.); resemblance
e.g.simulation test 模拟考试
I was quite deceived by her simulation of sorrow.
Derivation:simulate v.imitate, give the appearance of
e.g.In cheap furniture, plastic is often used to simulate wood.
Anne simulated pleasure at seeing Simon, but really she wished he hadn’t come.
prim: a.
(1)neat
e.g. a prim garden
(2) very formal and correct in behaviour and easily shocked by anything rude
e.g.She is much too prim and proper to go into a pub.
hardware and dry goods stores:
A hardware store (AmE) is a shop selling tools and equipment that are used in the house and gardens. Dry goods store (AmE) sells clothes, thread, and other things.
frenzy:n.uncontrolled and excited behaviour or emotion, which is sometimes violent
e.g. A gunman killed ten people in a murderous frenzy today in that city.
The audience worked themselves up into a frenzy as they waited for the singer to come on stage.
scandal:n.
(1) sth. that causes a public feeling of outrage or indignation
e.g.The minister was forced to resign after a scandal involving him and another minister’s wife.
Their affair created a scandal in the office.
(2) malicious gossip
e.g.Someone must have been spreading scandal.
Derivation:scandalous a.giving offense to moral sensibilities and injurious to reputation
e.g.He is a scandalous wife beater.
他是个殴打妻⼦的可耻之徒。

reel: v.move from side to side unsteadily
e.g.She hit him so hard that he reeled across the room.
Paragraph 10
slump: v. & n.
(1) assume a drooping posture
e.g.I spent the evening slumped in front of the TV.
(2) fall or sink heavily
e.g.He slumped onto the couch.
(3) fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly
e.g.The real estate market slumped.
scurry: v. & n.run or move hurriedly, esp. with short quick steps
e.g.We all scurried for shelter when the storm began.
Busy boasts chug and scurry about the river.
insolence: n.the trait of being rude and impertinent; an offensive disrespectful impudent act
e.g.Her insolence greatly displeased the judge.
Peter swept in, with his dignity and insolence.
彼得神⽓⼗⾜，⽬空⼀切、⼤模⼤样地⾛了进来。

III. Sentences
Paraphrase/ explanation
1. Urban life, during the hours when they reign, is urbane. (Paragraph 1)
Explanation:
Rats make city life courteous and refined when they dominate the city deep at night.
2. City dwellers take the city with them to the country, for they will not live without its pamperings. (Paragraph 4) Paraphrase:
City dwellers create all kinds of city vogues in the country, for they will not live without these fashionable things.
3. These windows are a scandal because they endanger the lives of office workers in case of fire. (Paragraph 7) Paraphrase:
These windows are disgraceful because they put the lives of office workers in danger if a fire should
occur.
4. No true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the backyard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive. (Paragraph 7)
Paraphrase:
A lawn in the backyard and a few spindle-shaped trees struggling for life are not enough to give the dweller any true sense of the season changes.
Section Four Consolidation Activities
I. Vocabulary
1.Word derivation
1) idiot a. → idiocy n.→ idiotic a.
①戴安娜突然意识到⾃⼰是个多么彻头彻尾的傻⽠啊。

Diana suddenly realized what an absolute idiot she had been.
②我简直不能相信他会作出如此愚蠢的选择。

I couldn’t believe his idiocy in the choice.
③不要再问⽩痴的问题了！
Stop asking idiotic questions!
2)urban a.→ urbane a.→ urbanity n.
①城市环境质量评价
urban environmental quality assessment
②由此⼀种温⽂尔雅、充满智慧的知识分⼦艺术发展起来。

Thus an urbane, witty, and intellectual art developed.
③⼥主⼈招待客⼈进餐时得体⽽⼜风雅。

The hostess presided at table with tact and urbanity.
3) solitude n. → solitary a.
①我热爱安静的独处。

I love tranquil solitude.
②她⾮常喜欢独⾃吃的那顿饭。

She thoroughly enjoyed her solitary dinner.
4)exert v.→ exertion n.
①尽你最⼤的努⼒！
Exert yourself to the utmost!
②尽量避免过度消耗体⼒。

Try to avoid physical exertion.
5) insolent a.→ insolence n.
①⽬空⼀切的⼈⽆朋友。

The insolent have no friends.
②你怎能忍受这样的侮慢呢？
How can you suffer such insolence ?
6) grieve v.→ grief n.→ grievous a.
①错失良机，悔之晚矣。

It is too late to grieve when the chance is past.
②悲伤本⾝就是⼀剂药
Grief is itself a medicine.
③亨利遭受到⼀次痛苦的打击。

Henry suffered a grievous blow.
7)lunacy n. → lunatic a.
①这样的天⽓还开车，真是疯了！
It’s sheer lunacy driving in such weather！
②她被关在精神病医院⾥。

She is confined in a lunatic asylum .
8) habitat n.→ habitant n.→ habitation n.
①科学家在鸟类的⾃然栖息地观察并研究它们。

Scientists watch and study birds in their natural habitat.
②花可以影响居住者的健康。

Flowers can affect the health of habitants.
③没有⼈居住的痕迹。

There are no signs of human habitation.
2. Words and phrases practice
Give a synonym for each underlined word or phrase.
1) The cars of these travellers drove smoothly south on Highway 203. (cruised)
cruise: travel at a steady speed in a car or airplane
e.g.
飞机在固定的慢航线上稳定飞⾏。

The plane cruised in slow and routine flights.
2) Some derided the dream of sending a man to the moon as insanity. Others viewed it as just another strategic move in the Cold War chess match. (lunacy)
lunacy: insanity, madness
e.g.
批评家嘲笑他的计划是⼀种经济上的疯狂。

Critics deride his scheme as economic lunacy.
3) She is a companionable girl. As a result, she has a lot of friends. (sociable)
sociable:inclined to companionship with others
e.g.
史密斯⼀家⼈很好交际。

The Smiths are a sociable family.
4) Participants in the globe-circling Around Alone sailboat race spend most of it in isolation: one sailor, one boat, and a vast ocean. (solitude)
solitude: a state of isolation
e,g,
城市越⼤越寂寞。

A greater city, a greater solitude.
5) With the exception of one poor performance, this musical is a good example in its field. (dreadful) dreadful: exceptionally bad or displeasing
e.g.
这真是⼀部糟糕的电影。

This is really a dreadful movie.
6) The pluses more than offset the inconveniences involved in making the trip. (compensated for) compensated for: balance the effect of sth.
e.g.
光阴⼀去不复返。

Nothing can compensate for the loss of time.
3. Synonym / Antonym
1. The buttons of a word processor need even less effort, as you can tell from the posture of those who use them. Synonym: bearing, stance
2. Between about 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. the life of the city is civil.
Antonym: impolite, rude, ill-mannered
3. You might think that human beings congregate in large cities because they are gregarious. Synonym: friendly, social, sociable
4. Urban life today is aggressively individualistic and atomized.
Antonym: modestly, timidly, gently
5. He is aware simply that in some months there is air conditioning, and in others through the same vents come fetid central heating.
Synonym: smelly, stinking, foul, malodorous
6. No true sense of the rhythms of the seasons is to be had from a lawn in the back yard and a few spindly trees struggling to survive.
Synonym: thin, lanky
7. Disdaining rural life, they try to create simulations of it.
Antonym: accept, respect
8. The New York intellectuals and artists quaintly say they are “going to the country” for the weekend or the summer. Synonym: strangely
II. Grammar
1) Emphasis sentence
- A cleft sentence with “it” can emphasize the subject, object or adverbial of a sentence.
For example:
It was I who received the promotion.
- Sentences introduced by a clause beginning with what are also used to emphasize a specific subject or object.
For example:
What we need is a good long shower.
- In order to emphasize something we feel strongly, the auxiliary verbs “do” and “did” can be used in positive sentences. For example:
No that’s not true. John did speak to Mary.
- Invert the word order by placing a prepositional phrase or other expression (at no time, suddenly, little, seldom, never, etc.) at the beginning of the sentence followed by inverted word order.
For example:
Hardly had I arrived when he started complaining.
Practice:
Emphasize the underlined part of the following sentences.
①The awful weather drives him crazy.
Answer: It is the awful weather that drives him crazy.
②He needs a second thought.
Answer: What he needs is a second thought.
③I believe that you should think twice about this situation.
Answer: I do believe that you should think twice about this situation.
④A report is expected.
Answer: What is expected is a report.
⑤I understand little what was happening.
Answer: Little did I understand what was happening.
⑥I have seldom felt so alone.
Answer: Seldom have I felt so alone.
2) Active voice and passive voice
The active voice is the “normal”voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.
For example:
Mrs. Smith cleaned the office. (active)
The office was cleaned by Mrs. Smith. (passive)
Practice:
Turn the following sentences into passive voice.
① Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Answer: An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
② The girls ate the pizza.
Answer: The pizza was eaten by the girls.
③ Someone stole my car yesterday.
Answer: My car was stolen yesterday.。