现代大学英语精读2 Lesson10_The Richer the Poorer

Lesson 10: The Richer, the Poorer
1. Warm-up activities
2. Word building
ambition: ambitious (adj.)
clarity: clarify, clear (v. & adj.)
contrast: contrast (v.)
expand: expansion (n.)
fantasy: fantastic, fantasize (adj. & v.)
frugal: frugality (n.)
grieve: grief, grievous (n. & adj.) (relief, relieve)
indulge: indulgent: indulgence (adj. & n.)
intolerable: intolerance (n.) (tolerate, tolerable, tolerance)
marvel: marvelous (adj.)
miracle: miraculous (adj.)
transform: transformation (n.)
3. Vocabulary
ambition
1) meaning
野心勃勃？有雄心壮志的？approving or derogatory?
an ambitious plan (a plan that needs a lot of work to be carried out successfully) 2) use
of getting it.
He is ambitious for success.
to become famous.
of getting the job.
3) collocations
实现抱负：achieve, fulfill, realize one’s ambition (dream)
conscience (-the part of your mind that tells you whether what you’re doing is right or wrong)
1) meaning
х他有良心。

√他问心无愧。

(He doesn’t feel guilty because he knows he has done nothing wrong.)
He has a bad/ guilty conscience. х他没有良心。

√他问心有愧。

(He feels guilty about sth because he knows it was wrong.)
I can’t help you in (all) conscience. 凭良心不能……
(I can’t help you because I think it is wrong)
内疚，不安
(I feel guilty because I know I’ve done/ say something wrong.)
2) compare
conscience
认真地
contrast
1) compare
’re similar or divergent
2) use
The contrast between the two sisters is remarkable.
She is a contrast to her sister in temper.
Her affected manners are in great contrast to/ with her appearance. 形成对比
The old method is better by contrast. 对比之下
embrace
1) similar expressions
embrace: hug sb to show love or affection
2) use
Wolfe embraced his new life with enthusiasm. (accept a belief, change, theory willingly and enthusiastically) The report embraces many important points. (include, contain)
3) compare
抱了一抱
怀抱着
expand
1) compare
c.f. prolong, lengthen, enlarge, amplify, magnify
2) fill in the blanks with “expand, extend, prolong”…
Iron expands when it is heated.
You should expand the short story by 50 pages.
The garden extended to the lake.
The hot weather extended well into October.
She extended a warm welcome to them.
Some people have tried to find means to prolong their life.
She decided to extend her stay.
Their business is expanding.
frugal
1) compare
2) use
3) fill in the blanks with prepositions
’s always frugal of her money.
He’s lavish in/ with/ of his money (help, hospitality).
He lavished his money on his girlfriend. (He spend a lot of money on his girlfriend.)
humble
1) compare
2) use
’re better than other people) 谦卑的
a humble jo
b 低下的
humble birth/ origin (low in social status or class)
in my humble opinion (a polite way of emphasizing one’s opinion)
’s wrong and make an apology.)
indulge
1) use
Sometimes she will indulge in a glass of wine. (allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of)沉溺，放纵You can indulge yourself without spending a fortune.
He did not agree with indulging children. (satisfy sb. and treat them with special kindness) 纵容迁就The rich father indulged his son with a lot of pocket money.
2) 溺爱的父母? an indulgent parent
license
1) compare
执照，许可证
证明
2. an official document you receive when you have completed a course or training
2) use
business/ driving license
birth/ graduation certificate
The more license I allow you, the more you take. (permission)
marvel
1) compare
do/ work marvels (a thing or person that fills you with admiration and surprise) 令人惊叹的人或事miracles (a very wonderful and surprising event) 奇迹
wonders (a remarkable thing or event) 令人惊讶的事
2) use
This new computer is the marvel of modern science.
The tourists marveled at the beauty of the lake.
3) find the sentence that is not appropriate
You are a marvel. How can you take up 3 jobs at the same time?
Everybody will marvel when they see it.
He has written a marvelous poem. (It’s/ What …!/ Isn’t it a…)
*It was a not a marvelous performance. (*Is it a …)
*Please write a marvelous article on this topic.
miserly
1) compare
miserly
misery
2) adjectives with “ly”?
friendly, deadly, orderly, timely
retire
1) compare
retire, resign, quit, fire, sack, dismiss, discharge, lay off
2) Translate
He retired from the army.
She retired to her room/ bed. 回房睡觉
3) forms
vi.+P. P.
a retiring person (-who is shy and avoids meeting other people)
transform
1) compare
transfer, transmit, transport, transplant, translate
2) fill in the blanks
His message was transmitted by radio. 传播疾病，传递信息
The goods will be transported to Tokyo by air.
The clerk was transferred to another department. 转学，调动工作
The principle of relativity can be translated into simpler terms. 用简单易懂的语言表达
Without an organ transplant he would survive only hours.
4. Expressions
▲lean: thin in a strong healthy way
Small in amount or quality
▲worldly possessions : worldly goods, one’s belongings
▲look after babies: baby-sit
▲go errands for sb: do or get sth for someone by making short trips
▲add up to: amount to, make a total amount of; lead to a particular result
e.g. Her savings add up to $ 2, 000.
His help won’t add up to much for the project
▲clerk: vi. work as a clerk
▲variety store: a shop which sells many different kinds of goods, often at low prices
▲wardrobe: a collection of clothes (of one person)
▲Her freshman year found her unable to indulge his fantasy.
Recent decades have witnessed great changes in computer technology.
▲put one’s mind to/ set one’s minds on/ make up one’s mind to do sth
e.g. She has put her mind to improving her pronunciation.
▲straight out of high school= immediately after graduating from high school
▲in rags: wearing very old / worn-out clothes here: in poverty (figurative)
They were often in rags and never in riches. (They were often poor and never had much money) ▲have sense to do sth= be sensible enough to do
sense: good understanding and sound judgment
▲better off/ worse off= live a better or wealthier life
▲doorstep: house
▲dump sb: end relationship with sb.
Here: leave the children for Lottie to deal with
▲trapped by the blood tie: She felt she could not escape from the family relationship.
She was put into an unpleasant situation by the family relationship
▲be through with sth: finish
▲go about sth/ doing sth: start working on sth
▲she work her way from to…= She worked on one room after another
(indicate the movement of her action)
▲She suffered Bess’s embrace.= She accepted Bess’s embrace motionlessly.
▲sleep like a rock= have a dead/ deep/ heavy/ sound sleep
▲the love she live by= the love that she maintained her life with
▲How have the years used / treated you? =How have you been over the years?
▲count the years: calculate the total number of the years
the days that count= the days that are important or valuable
▲keep up one’s heels= to be relaxed and enjoy oneself
5. Paraphrase
Over the years Bess had lived each day as if there were no others.
Over the years in spite of her sister’s urge to prepare for her old age, Bess seized every minute to enjoy herself as if she would die the next day.
She decided to keep her money for clothes. When she entered high school, she would wear a wardrobe that no one else would be able to match.
She decided to keep her money to buy clothes when she started high school. Then no other girls in her school would have more and better clothes to wear than she did
Lottie expected to be settled with a home and family while Bess was still waiting for Harry to earn enough money to buy a marriage license.
With her savings in the bank, Lottie wanted to get married and settled down for a comfortable life while Bess’s boyfriend couldn’t even earn enough money to get a marriage license.
Or:When Lottie was financially ready to get married and settle down, Bess’s boyfriend couldn’t even earn enough money to get a marriage license.
Two or three times she was halfway persuaded, but to give up a job that paid well for a homemaking job that paid nothing was a risk she was incapable of taking.
Two or three times, urged by others, she thought seriously about marrying. But she didn’t beca use that would mean she had to give up a well-paying job and become a housewife/ homemaker who didn’t get paid for all the work she did. This was something she couldn’t make herself accept. That Lottie had a doorstep was only because her boss, having bought a second house, offered Lottie his first house at a price so low and terms so reasonable that it would have been like losing money to refuse.
When Lottie’s boss bought a new house, he offered his old house at a very low price and very generous terms, which made Lottie think that it would be foolish not to accept this offer. So it was because her boss’s kindness that Lottie now had a home of her own. (Probably the terms were to pay the house over a long period of time.)
Passing her gleaming mirrors, at first with vague awareness, then with painful clarity, Lottie saw herself as others saw her, and couldn’t stand the sight.
When she walked past her shiny mirrors, Lottie noticed, at first dimly, then clearly, how old and worn she looked. She came to know, painfully, exactly how she looked to others. She disliked her appearance and couldn’t bring herself to look into the mirrors any more.
She went on a spending spree from the specialty shops to beauty salon, emerging transformed into a woman who believed in miracles.
Then she began visiting specialty shops and beauty salons, spending money lavishly and
wastefully to improve her looks. She marveled at result and came to believe that impossible could happen if a person set her mind on it.
Her face reflected the joys and sorrows of her remembering, and above all, the love she lived by that enhanced the poorest place, the humblest person.
As she talked, Lottie could see that the years she had lived with Harry was full of both joys and sorrows, and that the most important thing was his love for her. This love had made her poorest place a paradise and the second-rate player, her husband, a perfect man to her.
6. Text comprehension
comparison Between Lottie & Bess
Lottie : has one simple aim in life: to work hard, save hard, and prepare for her old age. She tried hard to earn money even when she was a little girl. She looked after babies, ran errands for the old, worked as a clerk after school in a store, and finally got a job in a restaurant. She never stopped working and she never spent money if she could help it. She never married and lived all alone. Now when she reached her sixties, she had a house, a bank account, but she obviously had not enjoyed life.
Bess:Lottie’s sister, was a entirely different stor y. She liked to go outside & play when she was a child. She never worried about the future. She married young to a second-rate horn player. They were always poor and lived like Gypsies. But they loved each other and obviously enjoyed life. By the time she reached her sixties, she had lost her husband and she had no children and she had nothing in the world she could call her own. But she had no regret about her life.2) When the two sisters met at their old age, the contrast was very interesting. Lottie had a house and money in the bank, but had had no fun in life whereas her sister had had a lot of fun in life but had no house, no money, no property of any kind except the shirt on her back. And it was the rich sister Lottie who envied the poor sister Bess.
(1) Who is richer and who is poorer?
(2) Would you rather be Lottie, who has not much fun in life, but is financially secure in
her old age or Bess, who has had a full exciting life but is alone and penniless at the same age, or neither of them? How should we spend our life? A wise man once said that happiness is somewhere between too much and too little. Do you agree?。