21. In Praise of Flattery
一．作者简介
Richard Stengel
Richard Stengel was born in New Y ork City. He attended Princeton University and studied English literature at Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Now, he is the managing editor of https://www.doczj.com/doc/137301368.html,. Until March of 2000, he was senior adviser and chief speechwriter for presidential candidate Bill Bradley. Before joining the campaign, Mr. Stengel was a Senior Editor at Time Magazine. In addition to his work for Time, he has been a frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the New Republic; he has written for the New York Times, GQ, and New York Magazine. He is the author of January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, a South African Town (1990), which was one of People Magazine’s Ten Best Books of 1990. He also collaborated with South African President Nelson Mandela (纳尔逊曼德拉) on the latter’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (1994). Mr. Stengel was also the Associate Producer on “Mandela,” the Oscar-nominated documentary. This excerpt is from his book You Are Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery (2000).
二．课文主旨要义
Main Idea: In this essay, the author talks about how the overflowing of the public flattery for the famous has undermined the private praise. He also traces back to the origin of flattery and explains how people change their attitudes toward it from a historical point of view.
三．语篇分析
1.课文结构分析
T ext organization
Part I (paras.1-4)
Far too much public flattery devalues the personal praise.
Part II (paras.5-15)
The nature of flattery has changed from a mortal stigma to the mortar that holds society together.
1) Perilous to status quo (paras. 5-6)
2) More personal with blossoming of the individual (paras. 7)
3) More favorable in a consumer society (paras. 8-9)
4) Advantages of personal flattery (paras. 10-15)
Part III (appendix) Tips
2.写作风格
Writing S tyle
The Adoption of the Second-Person Point of view
In this essay, the author adopts the second-person point of view when addressing the reader. The second-person point of view is often used in a letter, a dialogue, or a persuasion. The adoption of the second-person point of view is actually an imitation of a dialogue, which is to shorten the distance between the author and the reader and to establish a close relationship between the two.
3.修辞手法
Rhetoric
Metaphor
Metaphor is often used to make unfamiliar things familiar or abstract things specific. In this essay, the adoption of metaphor actually makes his point clearer and more effective.
1) ”There is a massive grade inflation of such public praise, a kind of halo effect around celebrity that results in a society-wide giving of praise where praise is mot due.”
The overabundance of public praise is compared to inflation. If inflation results in a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, the overabundance of public praise will make praise less valuable.
2) “The result is that such public flattery has debased and cheapened the currency of private praise.”
The value of private is compared to currency, i.e., money in actual use, especially circulating paper money. Private praise is becoming less and less valuable because of the overabundance of public flatter. (This metaphor is closely related with the previous one, in which the overabundance of public praise is compared to a massive grade inflation, so as to achieve coherence.)
3) Sociologist David Riesman once described this as the transition from “the invisible hand to the glad hand.”
The economic development has transformed the invisible hand to the gesture of welcome.
Now flattery is favorable and justifiable.
4) Small flatteries are part of the mortar that holds society together.
Flattery is indispensable to the interpersonal relationship in a society. With this metaphor, the importance of small flatteries is emphasized.
四．背景知识
1.Mike Ovitz
Mike Ovitz was the super agent（经纪人）in Hollywood. Ovitz founded Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975. Because of financial problems, he had to sell the agency in 1995 and became Disney executive only to leave the Mouse House in 1997. Since then, his reputation has been ruined.
2.Charles Darwin (查理达尔文)1809-1882)
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England. At sixteen, Darwin went to study medicine at Edinburgh University. Later, he went to Cambridge University to prepare to become a clergyman in the Church of England. After receiving his degree, Darwin served as an unpaid naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle, which departed on a five-year scientific expedition to the Pacific coast of South America on 31 December, 1831. Darwin’s resea rch resulting from this voyage formed the basis of his famous book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859). In the book, Darwin outlined his theory of evolution. Throughout his life, he continued to write on biology. After his death in 1882, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
3.Donald T rump(1946- )
Donald Trump is a famous US real estate （房地产）construction and developing businessman, who is among the richest. He wrote his memoir The Art of the Deal in 1987.
4.John Milton (约翰密尔顿1608-1674)
John Milton was a poet, essayist, playwright, historian, and diplomat. He was born in Cheapside, London, in 1608. When he was young, he received an excellent education in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and Italian. He attended Christ’s College, C ambridge, at the age of sixteen and got a master’s degree. In 1638, Milton embarked on an Italian journey. The experience was described in his Second Defence of the People of England(1654). When the English Civil War broke out, Milton’s attentions shif ted from private to public concerns. Abruptly began writing prose and pamphlets during the early 1640s. Then, he became
Cromwell’s（克伦威尔）Latin secretary for foreign affairs. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Milton departed from public life. Though he spared harsh punishment, he lived in peril. He became completely blind since 1652, and then he devoted his time to poetry. Paradise Lost（失乐园）was published in 1667. It was followed in 1671 by Paradise Regained （复乐园）. Samson Agonistes, a verse tragedy, appeared in the same volume as Paradise Regained.
5.Dante Alighieri (但丁1265-1321)
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet and one of the towering figures of European literature. He was a native of Florence （弗罗伦萨）of noble ancestry. In 1302, he was exiled and he left Florence never to return. In his exile, he wrote the verse collection, The Banquet, De vulgari eloquentia(Concerning V ernacular Eloquence), the first theoretical discussion of the Italian literary language and On Monarchy, a major Latin treatise on medieval political philosophy. He is most famous for the epic poem The Divine Comedy（神曲）, a profoundly Christian vision of human temporal and eternal destiny. It is an allegory of universal human destiny in the form of a pilgrim’s journey through hell and purgatory, guided by the Roman poet V irgil, then to Paradise, guided by Beatrice. By writing it in Italian rather than Latin, Dante almost singlehandedly made Italian a literary language.
6.Bill Clinton (比尔克林顿1946- )
Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, served two terms in that position from 1992 to 2000. His politica l career began in 1976 when he became Arkansas’（阿肯色州）attorney general（总检察长）. Two years later he was elected the nation’s youngest governor. Though in 1980, he was not re-elected, he regained the governorship in 1982, a position he retained for five consecutive terms（连任五届）. In 1992, he won the presidential campaign and became the first president born after World War II and the first to be elected in the uncertain post-Cold War era. In 1995-1996 he was involved in the “Whitewater affair,” an investigatio n into alleged improprieties by the president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a 1980’s Arkansas land deal. In 1998, he was once again involved in an “inappropriate relationship” with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, which made Clinton the first elected president in U.S. history to be impeached（弹劾）. The impeachment was unsuccessful, so Bill Clinton returned to office until the end of his term.
9. Dale Carnegie (卡内基1888-1955)
Dale Carnegie was born on a small farm in Maryville Missouri. He attended Warrensburg State Teachers College, and became a salesman for Armour and Company in Nebraska. When he moved to New Y ork City, he began to give classes in public speaking at the Y oung Men’s Christian Association. Soon he was developing courses on his own and writing pamphlets on public speaking, which, according to him, was the quickest way to establish self-esteem. He published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1930. “Believe that you will succeed, and you will” and “Learn to love, respect and enjoy other people” are two of his most fa mous maxims.
11. David Riesman (1909-)
David Riesman is a US sociologist and lawyer. He was professor of social science at University of Chicago between 1949 and 1958. Then, he worked at Harvard. He was the author of The Lonely Crowd and coauthored The Academic Revolution.
12.Jean-Jacques Rousseau (让雅克卢梭1712-1778)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an insightful philosopher whose influences can be found in almost every trace of modern philosophy today. He was born on June 28, 1712 in Geneva, Switzerland and raised by his uncle and aunt. In 1742, he moved to Paris. In his early writing, Rousseau contended that man is essentially good, a “noble savage” when in the “state of nature” and that good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society. In his essay,Discourse on the Arts and Sciences(1750), he argued that the advancement of art and science had not been beneficial to mankind. His most important work is The Social Contract, in which he talked about the relationship of man with society. Rousseau attacked the institution of private property, so he is considered a forebear of modern socialism and Communism. He argued that politics and morality should not be separated. Rousseau’s idea of education had a significant influence on modern educational theory for he minimizes the importance of book learning, while places a special emphasis on learning by experience. What’s more, he recommends that a child’s emotions should be educated before his reason. His other major works include the Confessions and Emile, a basic discourse on education.
13.Christopher Lasch(1932-1994)
Christopher Lasch was an American historian. He received a Ph.D from Columbia University in 1961. After teaching at the University of Iowa (1961–66) and Northwestern University (1966–70), he became a professor of American history at the University of Rochester.
His main works include The New Radicalism in America (1965), The Agony of the American Left (1969), Haven in a Heartless World (1977), The Culture of Narcissism (1979), The Minimal Self (1985), and The True and Only Heaven (1991).
14.Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773)
Lord Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, was Fourth Earl of Chesterfield and an English politician. His most famous work is his collection of Letters to His Son, advice on the model of female conduct books to his illegitimate son.
15.John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher-economist. He had a great impact on 19th-century British thought, not only in philosophy and economics but also in the areas of political science, logic, and ethics. His philosophical works include the System of Logic (1843), and the Principles of Political Economy (1848). His political views come through in On Liberty (1859), in which he argues that freedom is being endangered by the power of public opinion. Mill is mainly remembered today, however, for his contributions to ethical and social theory.
16.Robert Smith Surtees (1803-1864)
Robert Smith Surtees was an English novelist. In a series of humorous sketches Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities(1838) first published in the New Sporting Magazine, he created John Jorrocks, the sporting grocer. The novel Handley Cross (1843) continued the career of Jorrocks. His other novels include Hawbuck Grange (1847), Hillingdon Hall (1845), Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour(1853), Ask Mamma(1858), Plain or Ringlets?(1860), and Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds (1865).
17.Plutarch (c.45-c.120)
Mestrius Plutarchus (known to history as Plutarch) lived a long and fruitful life in the little Greek town of Chaeronea. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Plutarch became famous in the Roman Empire because of his writings and lectures. He also took an active part in local affairs, even serving as mayor. Guests from all over the empire congregated in his country estate for serious conversation, presided over by him. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays and other works are now known collectively as the Moralia.
18.T om Hanks (汤姆汉克斯1956- )
Tom Hanks is a leading actor in Hollywood. He won Oscar Prize twice for his excellent
performances in Philadelphia（费城1993）and Forrest Gump (阿甘正传1994). He also starred in such films as Sleepless in Seattle (西雅图不眠夜1993), You’ve Got Mail （邮件传情(1998) and Saving Private Ryan (拯救大兵瑞恩1998).
19.Giacomo Casanova (卡萨诺瓦1725-1798)
Giacomo Casanova was an Italian ecclesiastic, writer, soldier, spy, and diplomatist. After he was expelled from a seminary for scandalous conduct, he launched a dissolute career, traveling widely in Europe. In 1774 he returned to V enice as a spy for the V enetian inquisitors of state. He spent his late years (1785-98) as librarian to the Count von Waldstein in Bohemia and began to write his autobiography, The Story of My Life, which gave a splendid picture of 18th-century Europe and established his reputation as an extraordinary seducer of women.
20.Rembrandt (伦勃朗1606-1669)
Rembrandt was a Dutch Baroque Era （巴洛克时期）painter and engraver. His paintings are characterized by luxuriant brushwork, rich colour, and a mastery of chiaroscuro. What’s more, he was a master of light and shadow. His drawings constitute a vivid record of contemporary Amsterdam life. He was especially skillful in painting portraits and self-portraits.
五．课文导读
（1）生词（词表以外）
1. self-assurance (L4) n.
2. self-esteem (L7) n. 自尊
3. celebrities (L13) n. 名流，著名人士
4. charismatic (L23) a. 有个人魅力的
5. the Renaissance (L31) 文艺复兴
6. perilous (L31) a. 危险的
7. transition (L71) n. 转变，过渡
8. undeserving (L82) a. 不配受到的，不该得到的
9. clichéd (L88) a. 充满陈词滥调的，陈腐的，老一套的
10. rituals (L91) n. 仪式
11. compassion (L93) n. 同情
12. unto prep. (古)（书面语）对，给，于
13. dearth (L113) n. lack of 缺乏
14. squeamish (L131) a. 过于拘谨的
15. overdo (L151) vt. 做过了头
16. odious (L154) a. 令人厌恶的
(2)短语
1.soft soap (L5) n. flattery, puffery He and I are great chums, and a little soft soap will go a long way with him.
2. suck up (to) (L9) : try to gain the favor of (someone in power), as by attentive and obedient behavior Sucking up to the teacher won’t get her any high marks, and will only make her unpopular with the other children.
3. butter up (L10): try to get the favor or friendshiop of (a person) by flattery or pleasantness He began to butter up the boss in hope of being given a better job.
4.worn out (L21) : unfit for further use The machine is worn out and will have to be replaced.
5. nothing less than (L28) : almost, completely His words are nothing less than nonsense.
6. fiddle with (L34) : fool around , tamper with Such a notice might discourage anyone tempted to fiddle with the investment company’s funds.
7. hot water(L45): trouble John’s thoughtless remark about religion got him into a lot of hot water.
8. ingratiate oneself (with) (L57) : bring oneself into favor He tried to ingratiate himself with the boss by giving her presents.
9. hold back (L63) : keep back, prevent the development of someone Y oun show promise as a musician but your lack of practice is holding you back.
10. figure out (L80) : work out, understand by thinking I can’t figure out what he’s trying to say.
(3) 难句改写
Paraphrases of Some Difficult Sentences
1. Someone with as much self-assurance and discernment as you would want not soft soap but unvarnished candor. (L. 4)
I should not flatter you because the people like you who are confident and able to make your own judgment only need frankness.
2. In fact, the higher your self-esteem, the more susceptible you are to flattery. (L. 7) Actually, the more you pride yourself, the more likely you are affected by flattery.
3. The language of superlatives has become worn out and phony. (L. 20)
In our language the words with superlative form have lost their effect. Sometimes, they are even considered unreal or insincere.
4. If you brown-nosed the King into making you a lord, you were unfairly fiddling with the status quo. (L. 33)
If you flattered the King and thus became a lord, you are destroying the established social order by dishonest means.
5. But flattery began even before Eden. (L. 36)
Flattery existed even before God created men. (It is a metaphor, which is to say that flattery existed in the ancestry of human beings.)
6. Once social mobility became a good, flattery lost its moral stigma and became just another tool of social advancement. (L. 54)
When social mobility became something favorable, i.e., when people were free to develop themselves, flattery was no longer considered something bad. Besides, it was adopted as a means to be promoted.
7. This shift in character ultimately robbed flattery of much of its moral sting. (L. 76)
This change has finally made flattery a little more favorable, for people no longer take it as something evil.
8. Out of both compassion and convenience, we almost never contest other people’s depictions of themselves. (L. 97)
For the sake of our personal comfort or advantage and because of our sympathy with others, we usually do not refute the ot hers’ talks about themselves.
六．课后练习
（1）解释词义
Explain the Following Words with the Help of the Context Clues
1.immune (to) (L3)
2.soft soap (L5)
3.susceptible (L7)
4.absurd (L12)
5.celebrity (L13)
6.nonverbal (l38)
7.in hot water (L45)
8.unique (L51)
9.moral sting (L74)
https://www.doczj.com/doc/137301368.html,e out ahead (L104)
（2）细节问答
1.Why does the author flatter his readers in the beginning of the passage?
2.What are the characteristics of the public flattery /praise?
3.What are the characteristics of the personal /private flattery/praise?
4.(L14) “There is a massive grade inflation of such public praise.” What does “inflation”
mean?
5.(L47) “We believed him because it was a pleasing fiction.” What does “pleasing fiction”
mean?
6.(L66) “For Carnegie was both a cause and ……the signature of the service economy.”
How do we understand “character” and “personality” in this sentence?
7.What does “ the invisible hand to the glad hand” (L71) mean?
8.(L92) “It is the tactical omissions of everyday life that make society possible.”What
does “the tactical omissions of everyday life” refer to?
（2）改写
1.(L17) The result is that such public flattery has debased and cheapened the currency of
private praise.
2.(L38) Y ou can even make the case that it’s evolutionarily adaptive behavior.
3.(L62) Carnegie knew that once you can fake sincerity, there is nothing holding you back.
4.(L104) It’s a transaction in which both parties come ahead.
5.(L108) More people are flattered into virtue than bullied out of vice.
课后练习答案
（1）解释词义
1.unable to be harmed because of special powers in oneself
2.flattery
3.easily influenced
4.false or foolish, against reason or common sense
5. a famous person
6.not carried out by the use of words
7.in trouble
8.being the only one of its type, special
9.sense of evil
10.benefit from
（2）细节问答
1.The author tries to point out the special features that his readers might have and to show us
how we can flatter the others effectively and appropriately.
2.directed to movie stars and celebrities, underserved, excessive, shallow, absurd
3.in personal communications, earnest, small, mutually rewarding
4.The definition of “inflation” is the value of something is decreased caused by an increase in
the supply of something. Here, the overabundance of public praise is compared to flattery. The overflowing public praise has made praise less and less valuable.
5.What Clinton said pleased the people though he didn’t mean it.
6.character: the particular combination of qualities that makes someone a particular type of
person
personality: someone’s character, especially the way they behave towards other people
7.The service economy has made flattery more overt and favorable.
8.In our daily life, we skillfully avoid refuting the others’ talks about themselves.
（3）改写
1.Such public praise results in the decrease of the value of personal praise.
2.Y ou can even regard flattery as the behavior that is the result of the development so as to be
suitable for new conditions.
3.Carnegie knew that if you can pretend you are sincere when you flatter other persons, nothing
will prevent your development.
4.It’s a mutually rewarding exchange from which two parties can get benefits
5.Some people are forced not to do evil things, but more people become virtuous by being
praised.
七．课后测验
Choose the best answer to each of the following questions:
1.In the beginning of the passage, the author flatters his readers because he is trying to show
________.
A.why people would want not flattery but frankness
B.why wise people are immune to flattery
C.how confident people are more susceptible to flattery
D.how we can flatter others effectively and appropriately
2.All of the following can be used to describe public flattery except________.
A.deserved
B.shallow
C.absurd
D.overabundant
3.In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the flattery was considered dangerous because
________.
A.it was a means of being promoted
B.it was a device exploited by tyrants
C.it would undermine the social order
D.it would weaken the democracy
4.Flattery began to become more personal in________.
A.the frontier days
B.the Middle Ages
C.the Renaissance
D.the modern time
5.In the author’s opinion, private flattery is ________.
A. a golden rule
B. a mutually rewarding exchange
C. the essence of utilitarianism
D.moral sting
6. Small flatteries are now considered necessary because ________.
A.social mobility has become favorable
B.they can redeem praise and hold society together
C.they are the signature of the service economy
D.the social man lives in the opinion of others
7.According to the passage, reflexive praise of movie stars and celebrities gives rise to
________.
A. their pride
B. their popularity and affluence
C. an inflation of praise
D. their self-esteem
8.Tolerance and popularity of flattery are products of ________.
A. moral corruption
B.the consumer society
C.the Renaissance
D.the individualism
9.It can be concluded that the author pleads for ________.
A.less exaggeration in flattery
B. more personal exchange of flatteries
B.more fake sincerity in flattery
C.more social control over flattery
10.When you want to flatter someone for the story he writes, you are advised to say:________.
A.Y ou are the best writer
B.Y our novel put Hemingway (海明威)to shame
C.Y ou are better than I thought you were
D.The beginning of the story is a bit slow, but except for that, it’s really good
答案 1.D 2. A 3. C 4. C 5.B 6.B 7. C 8. B 9. B 10.D
1）第1行：我不想开篇就赞美你们的智慧，因为你们这样显然已经功成名就的人是不会被这样的吹捧所打动。
2）第13行：社会上到处充斥着已大大贬值的公开称赞，正是名人身上所笼罩的光环效应导致了秦始皇在不该赞美发时候大唱赞歌。
3）第66行：因为卡耐基不仅使美国人的天性从重视性格转向强调个性，他本人也亲身体验到了这种转变。这是从拓荒时期粗鲁的个人主义向作为服务经济基本特征“祝你愉快”这种自信的转变。
4）第108行：英国小说家罗伯特·史密斯·瑟蒂斯写道：“有些人因受到威逼而改邪归正，但更多的人是因为得到赞扬而变得品德高尚。”
5）第114行：有时，你甚至得称赞某个赞扬的举动，以肯定这赞扬是适时恰当的。