英语自考本科高级英语笔记-上册-Lesson_Two

Lesson Two Four Choices for Young People Words and Expressions

Text Explanation

1president of the senior class

senior class here means 毕业班

In America, freshman, sophomore, junior and senior is used to state the students in the first to fourth year in college.

2the adult world

the society run by adults

3The world is in pretty much of a mess

The world is in total disorder. To be in a mess: 处于杂乱，混乱的状态。

4…what have they got to teach our generation?

They have got nothing to teach our generation.

5That kind of lesson we can do without.

We don't need that kind of instructions, for we can manage things by ourselves without them.

6The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imerfect ( We can take that for granted), but how to deal with it.

not…but... means 不是…而是…。Take something for granted means视某事为当然。

7For all its harshness and irrationality, it is the only world we've got.

In spite of the fact that the world is cruel and irrational, it is the only world we have.

8Drop Out

To reject conventional social values and to withdraw from social responsibilities-脱离社会。 People who practice this are called dropous. Students who withdraw from school are also call dropouts-辍学者。

9with or without of hallucinogens

with or without taking drugs

10In one way or another, it's practitioners batten on the society

They benefit from the society in one way or another.

11But for the poor in spirit, with low levels of both energy and pride, it may be the least intolerable choice available.

But for those who are morally weak, it may be the most tolerable choice or the easiest choice.

12…except the polar regions, the frontiers are gone.

Very few regions on earth remain unsettled except the Arctic region and the Antarctic region.

13Our planet, unfortunately, is running out of noble savages and unsullied landscapes…

Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer noble savages and unspoiled landscapes on earth.

14gentleman farmers

people who own farms but direct others to do most of the farming.

15the stream of migration is flowing the other way.

People are migrating or flowing in a large number from the countryside to the cities.

16some dashing and charismatic figure

someone who is energetic and has great popular appeal

17These are the ones whose revolutions did not come off; they have been able to keep on cheerfully plotting their holocausts right into their senescence.

Their revolutions did not actually take place. They only made secret plans for mass destruction of human lives and stopped at that level, thus bringing no harm to society and themselves. So they were able to keep on doing so till their old age. They cheerfully did so because it satisfied their romantic desires.