Reading 1: This is Water
1. What’s the point of the fish story?
The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hard est to see and talk about. 2. What is our natural default-setting, according to Wallace? Do you agree with him? If yes, give examples; if no, exampl es too, please.
I am the absolute center of the universe, the real est, most vivid and important person in existence.
Yes, I do. The worl d as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the l eft or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other peopl e’s thoughts and feelings how to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real.
3. Is it possibl e for us to adjust our natural default-setting? If yes, how? And by the way, why should we adjust it?
A: Yes, it is. We shoul d pay attention to what’s going on insid e me and stay alert and attentive instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue insid e your own head. what’s more, we shoul d l earn how to Think and how to d ecid e.The reason why shoul d we adjust it is that thinking in the way of d efault-setting that we experience the boring, frustrating, crowed parts of adult life.
B: Yes, it is. Learning how to think------Learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. If we d on’t adjust it, we will be total ly nosed.
4. What does it mean by ‘learn ing how to think’? And what is the justifiable way to think?
Learning how to think really means l earning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.
5. What is the meaning of college education? Do you agree? If yes, further explains please, if no, define your meaning of college education and further illustrate it.
Coll ege education is that it enabl es my tend ency to over-intell ectualize stuff, to get l ost in abstract argument insid e our head instead of simply paying attention to what’s going on right in front of us.
6. What did Wallace refer to as ' the work of choosing'?
A:When you are going through petty, frustrating craps, you need to make a conscious choice of how to think and what to pay attention to.
B：Make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to.
7. What is the only True matter of the long, lonely 'day in and day out'?
B：The only thing what’s capitally true is that you get to d ecid e how you are going to try to see it. You get to consciously decid e what has meaning and what
d oes not. You get to d ecid
e what to worship.
8. Why did Wallace suggest the graduating seniors to worship some spiritual things instead of anything else, say money and power?
An outstanding reason for choosing some sort of spiritual things to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
9. How did Wallace define the real important freedom and if you would like to, please give your definition of freedom.
The really important kind of freed om involves attention, awareness, discipline, effort, and being abl e truly abl e to care about other peopl e and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in my pretty little unsexy ways, every day.
10. Finally, what is water?
The most obvious, important realities are the hard est to see and talk about. Reading 2: Moon Landing Faked.
1. Why pathological explanations cannot be sufficiently used to explain conspiracy theories?
Because conspiracy theories are not just the implausibl e visions of a paranoid minority. There are so many peopl e coming to believe in it.
并不是少数妄想狂的难以置信的幻觉。
2.How do you understand contradictory conspiracy theory?
出于一种更高层次的信仰，严重的对权威的不信任。
3. What is the definition of “conspiracy theory” (Para.7)? Who might those “powerful individuals and organizations” be?
A conspiracy theory is usually d efined as an attempt to explain the ultimate cause of an important societal event as part of some sinister pl ot conjured up by a secret alliance of powerful individuals and organizations.
Government or officials.
