2014-11-5英语散文选读：The Pleasure of Ignorance

Sept. 6th, 2014 阅读理解As a leading Chinese language school and a cultural exchange institute in China, Global Exchange Education Center has been providing Mandarin (or Putonghua) language courses and cultural exchange programs for over a decade.How to apply for our programs■In order to apply for all of ou r programs, you must beat least 18 years old.in good health,a senior high school graduate.■Application Procedure for Chinese Language ProgramsStep 1. Send us a completed application form by email or fax.Step 2. Send us $ 60 application fee after receiving our email confirmation.Step 3. Arrange the payment transfer.Step 4. Plan the trip to Beijing.■Application Procedure for Chinese Business Internship (实习）ProgramStep 1. Send us a completed application form with your CV and personal statement for the program by email or fax. Step 2. Send us $ 310, including $60 application fee and $ 250 internship placement deposit, after receiving our letter of acceptance for the program.Step 3. Arrange final payment transfer after receiving our second confirmation.Step 4. Plan the trip to Beijing.■Personal Statement for applicants for Chinese Business Internship ProgramYou should state why you want to take this program and what your expectations of the program are. How you will make use of this program in your future career.■ APPLICATION DEADLINESThe applications for most programs are reviewed on a rolling basis. You are encouraged to submit your application ahead of the application deadlines.■ConfirmationHaving received your application, Global Exchange Education Center usually sends out an email confirmation for the booking within 2-5 working days.1. The text is probably written for ______.A. junior high graduatesB. international studentsC. job seekersD. language trainers2. If you apply for both of the programs, the total application fees will be ______.A. $310.B. $ 120.C. $250.D. $ 370.3. If you want to apply for Chinese Business Internship program successfully, you'll ______.A. send the application form by postB. send personal statement and CV onlyC. have to get confirmed at least twiceD. have to make a travel plan in Beijing4. Which of the following is not necessarily included in applicants’ personal statement? A. Their purposes of taking the program. B. Their expectations of the program. C. Their future practice of the program. D. Their feedbacks on the program.完形填空Joe Biggs was a butcher. His shop was in a village in the beautiful south of England, and he 1 in it for many years while his father was there. Then when his father reached the age of 65, he stopped working in the shop, and Joe was alone in it, so he had to work 2. Joe worked five and a half days a week. His shop3at one o’clock on Thursday, and it was closed the whole of Sunday. Saturdays were the 4 days. Most of Joe’s 5came to his shop from the nearest town, but sometimes he got up earlier than usual in the morning and 6into the city to choose meat. It was 7 there. Joe had a big 8in his shop, but he tried not to buy too 9 meat at a time, and to 10it before he bought more.One 11 a woman came into the shop at five minutes to one. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, “but somefriends have just telephoned to say that they are coming to12 tonight, and I need more 13.” Joe only had one piece of meat in the shop. He had sold all the others 14 in the day. He took the piece15and said to the woman, “This is 6.5 pounds.” “That piece is too 16 .” the woman said. “Haven’t you got anything bigger?” Joe went 17the room behind his shop, opened the refrigerator, put the piece of meat into it, took itout 18 and shut the door of the refrigerator19 , then he brought the piece of meat back to the woman and said, “This piece is bigger and more expensive.It’s 8.75 pounds.”“Good,” the woman answered with a smile, “give me20 of them, please.”1. A. livedB. studiedC. workedD. played. 2. A. moreB. harderC. laterD. again 3. A. shutB. startedC. openedD. served 4. A. hardest B. easiestC. quietestD. busiest 5. A. customers B. meatC. buyersD. friends 6. A. walked B. flewC. drove D . ran 7. A. easier B. fresherC. nearerD. cheaper 8. A. refrigerator B. room C. kitchenD. cupboard 9 A. much B. expensiveC. freshD. adequate 10. A. eat B. cookC. sellD. freeze 11. A. Thursday B. SundayC. MondayD. Saturday 12. A. party B. dinnerC. lunchD. dance 13. A. food B. vegetable C. meatD. fruit 14. A. later B. earlier C. quicker D. cheaper 15. A. in B. upC. awayD. out 16. A. small B. largeC. cheapD. bad 17. A. outside B. fromC. intoD. through 18. A. still B. again C. evenD. back 19. A. carefully B. quicklyC. lightlyD. heavily 20. A. both B. noneC. eachD. all七选五While it is impossible to live completely free of stress, it is possible to prevent stress as well as reduce its effect whenit can’it can’t be avoided t be avoided ． 1● 2 When you are nervous ，angry or upset, try releasing the pressure through exercise or physical activity ．Running, walking, playing tennis, and working in your garden are just some of the activities you might try ．●Take care of ●Take care of yourself yourself3 If you easily get angry and can’t sleep well enough, or if you’re not eating properly, it will be more likely that you will fall into stressful situations ．If stress repeatedly keeps you from sleeping, you should consult a doctor ．●Make t ●Make time for yourself ime for yourselfSchedule time for both work and entertainment ．Don't forget, play can be just as important to your overall well-being as work ． 4 Go window-shopping or work on a hobby ．Allow yourself at least a half hour each day to do something you enjoy ．● 5Stress can result from disorganization and a feeling that “there’s so much to do, and not enough time”．Trying to take care of everything at once can be too much for you and as a result, you may not achieve anything ．Instead, make a list of everything you have to do, then do one thing at a time, checking off each task as it is completed ．Set out to do the most important task first ．A ．Do whatever you like and want to do ．B ．You should make every effort to eat well and get enough rest ．C ．Make a list of things to do ．D ．Try physical activity ．E ．You need a break from your daily routine to just relax and have fun ．F ．You could smile to yourself in front of a mirror every day ．G ．The following are suggestions for ways to deal with stress ．语法填空Chinese proverbs are rich and they are still widely used in Chinese people’ daily life. 1 these proverbs there are often interesting stories. For example, the proverb, “plucking up a crop 2 (help) it grow”, is based on the following story.It is said that a short-tempered man in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) was very anxious to help 3 rice crop grow up quickly. He was thinking about 4 day and night. But the crop was growing much slower than he expected.One day, he came up with an idea 5 he would pluck up all of his crop a few inches. He did so the next day. He was very tired 6 doing this for a whole day, 7 he felt very happy since the crop did "grow" 8(high). His son heard about this and went to see the crop. Unfortunately the leaves of the crop began to wither.This proverb is saying we have to let things go in their 9 (nature) course. Being too anxious to help anevent develop often 10 (result) in the contrary to our intention.Sept. 7th, 2014 阅读理解Scientists in UK have grown a living human "brain". The team at Aston University created tiny bunch of cells whichact like a mini nervous system.They believe it could help find a cure for worse mental conditions like Parkinson’s disease. Professor Michael Coleman is leading the research program. He explained, "We are aiming to be able to study the human brain at the most basic level, using an actual living human cell system. Cells have to be alive and operating efficiently to enable us to really understand how the brain works. "The experiment involves changing cells from a cancer tumor (肿瘤）and making thembehave like brain cells.Although far from finished, researchers hope the false brain cells will give them a greater understanding of how real brains work. This, in turn, could significantly further research into conditions which affect the brain. Neil Hunt, chief leader of the research group, said, "It is still very early days, but in the future the research could lead to a useful tool for lookinginto dementia (痴呆)."The technique could also provide a way to carry on animal test and is being supported by the Humane Research Trust (HRT). The scientists predict that over the next ten years a million people will develop dementia. Professor Coleman believes their findings could change this. He said，"We hope our research will provide scientists with a new and highly relational human experimental model to help them understand the brain better and develop new drugs to control the related disease. However, the biggest challenge at present is that we are greatly short of fund, which will slow our research."1. UK scientists grow a living human "brain" in order to ______.A. study the structure of human brainB. make use of living human cell systemC. discover how human brain really worksD. separate cells from a cancer tumor2. According to Neil Hunt, research into brain cells ______.A. will get finished as early as possibleB. will make people discover dementiaC. will affect the brain growth in many waysD. will help to treat some diseases in nerve system3. From the last paragraph，we can know that ______A. the technique provided by HRT is immatureB. animal tests are no longer allowed by lawC. a million people suffer from brain diseasesD. the research program lacks financial support4. The text is intended to ______.A. tell us about a breakthrough in medical researchB. introduce a research program in human's brainC. introduce the progress of drugs for dementiaD. tell us about health problem in nerve system语法填空With the 1 (develop) of industry, air pollution is getting more and more serious. In Beijing, many people suffer different kinds of illnesses because 2 air pollution.Air pollution is caused by the following 3 : about half of the problem is caused by vehicles. There are more and more cars, buses on the roads, and they give off 4 _ (poison) gases. 25% of air pollution is caused byfactories. Another factor is the smokers. Smoking not only does harm to their health 5 to others. 6 these, about 10%of air pollution is caused by other reasons.We should take some measures to fight 7 pollution. New fuel can be used to take 8 place of gas. We can plant more trees. If everybody realizes the 9 _ (important) of environment and does something to stop pollution, the problem will 10(solve).完形填空A young student was one day taking a walk with a professor. As they went along, they saw 1 in the path a pair of old shoes, which they 2 belonged to a poor man who was employed in a field close by.The student turned to the professor, saying, “Let us play the man a 3 : we will hide his shoes and wait to see his 4 when he cannot find them.” “My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never amuse ourselves at the 5of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greaterpleasure 6the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch 7 the discovery affects him.”The student did so, and they both placed themselvesbehind the bushes close by.The poor man soon finished his work, and came 8 the field to the path where he had left his shoes. While 9 his foot into one of his shoes, he 10something hard, 11he bent down and found the coin. Astonishment and 12 were seen upon his face. He then looked around himself on all sides, but noperson was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and went on to put on the other shoe; but hissurprise was 13 on finding the other coin. His feelings 14 him; he fell upon his 15, looked up to heaven and thanked God aloud.The student stood there 16affected, and his eyes filled with tears. “Now,” said the professor, “are you not much better 17 than if you had played your 18 trick?” The youth replied, “Y ou have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the 19 of those words, which I never understood before: It is more blessed to 20than to receive.” 1. A. sittingB. lyingC. hidingD. laying2. A. imaginedB. expectedC. supposedD. recognized 3. A. trickB. roleC. partD. game4. A. impatienceB. puzzlementC. pityD. disappointment 5. A. expenseB. riskC. needD. poverty6. A. in reply to B. in response to C. by means ofD. by way of 7. A. whyB. whenC. whereD. how 8. A. across B. around C. throughD. towards 9. A. risingB. rushingC. slippingD. sliding 10. A. foundB. noticedC. kickedD. felt11. A. butB. soC. asD. for12. A. wonderB. admirationC. guiltD. anxiety 13. A. advancedB. improvedC. progressedD. doubled14. A. graspedB. overcameC. inspiredD. sank 15. A. kneesB. handsC. feetD. legs 16. A. generallyB. fairlyC. deeplyD. naturally17. A. excited B. satisfied C. touchedD. pleased18. A. intendedB. requiredC. wantedD. interested 19. A. factB. truthC. realityD. faith20. A. reward B. winC giveD. send 七选五The Best Ways to Offer Support and EncouragementWhether it is a friend, family member, or coworker, at some time or another somebody will need support and encouragement. This could be the result of a disappointing change in life, a health change or other similar challenges. 1 Even if you do not think that you have the ability to offer the proper support and encouragement, your willingness to be there and to listen may be enough.Each situation is different, and each would require different levels of both support and encouragement. 2 Helping keep up someone’s spirits when they are feeling helpless just by letting them know you are there, can make a serious difference in their lives.3 For people in For people in this situation, often a telephone call, or dropping in to say “hello” is more than enough. You this situation, often a telephone call, or dropping in to say “hello” is more than enough. You may not feel that you are doing much of anything, but to the person who is feeling isolated the effort you take to stop and see them, or call them can make a big difference. For someone who has recently lost a job, you may be able to offer support by helping them network effectively. Or, you may be able to help them craft a new resume, apply for benefits, or a number of other “small” things that may seem insigni of other “small” things that may seem insignificant to you, but to them can be a very significant event. ficant to you, but to them can be a very significant event.4However, if you let them know that you are there for them, and make it a point to check in with them regularly, they may soon feel more comfortable and share them with you. Take for example a person who is suffering with depression. 5 They may not be willing to admit that there is something wrong. However, if you trust your instincts(直觉) and take a little extra care to support and encourage them even in little ways, you can make a huge difference in their overall outlook. A. You know that there is something wrong.B. All too often, people feel isolated and do not know where to turn.C. So you may need support and encouragement to pull through.D. You may not always understand all of the issues going on in someone’s life.E. In such cases, it is natural for you to reach out and offer your support and encouragement.F. You know better than anyone the best ways to support and encourage someone who is going through a difficult time.G. The support you offer could be as simple as helping with simple household tasks, running errands(跑腿儿), or even being available for telephone calls.Sept. 8th , 2014 语法填空Why is pink or purple a color for girls and blue or brown for boys?The answer depends largely 1 cultural values as well as personal experiences. To the Egyptians, green was a color 2 represented the hope and joy of spring, while for Muslims, it means heaven. Red is a symbol of good luck in many cultures. During the Spring Festival in China, children 3 (give) money in a red envelope to bringgood fortune in the New Year. For many nations, blue is a symbol of protection and religious beliefs. Greek people often wear a blue necklace hoping to protect 4against evils （灾祸）. People’s People’s 5 5 (choose) of colors is also influenced by their bodies’ reactions toward them. Green is said to be 6 most restful color. It has the ability to reduce pain and relax people both mentally 7 physically. People 8(work) in green environment have been found to have fewer stomach aches. Red can cause a person’s blood pressure to rise and increase people’s appetites （食欲）. Many decorators will include different shades different shades of red in the restaurant. And many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a of red in the restaurant. And many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a color that 9(easy) catches a person’s eye. Blue is another calming color. Unlike red, blue is believed to cause people to lose appetite. So 10 you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.完形填空I sat in the all-too-quiet waiting room of the cancer center, counting the minutes until my treatment. I thoughtI'd 1 it two years ago, but it was back. After my2diagnosis, Mom and Dad had driven more than l,200 miles from their home to be with me for three 3 while I was getting over from 4 and chemotherapy(化疗). When the cancer returned last, they, once again, 5it here, too. They waited for hours while I received my treatments------Dad with his 6and Mom with a magazine.But now, they were 7 in Westlake. My children are 8 and my four brothers live far from my home outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Iknew 9of them would come if asked, but I didn't want to 10 them, even with the intense 11 I felt.I 12 picked one of the magazines on the end table beside me and couldn't help wishing my 13were there inside. One publication caught my 14 , a magazine I liked best and had 15to ages ago. I couldn't tell you the last time when I'd read an issue. I16 it up and I started right in with the letters to the17 . "I love 18my copy every month," the first letter began. The author mentioned a daughter who 19in Clinton, Pennsylvania. Huh, that's funny. I thought.That's my town! I read the letter to the end, where my 20fell upon the author's signature "Thank you, Margie and Tom Parrish, Westlake,Louisiana" Alone? Hardly. Margie and Tom-or as I call them, Mom and Dad-were right beside me, even now.1. A. treated B. beatenC. infectedD. operated2. A. first B. terribleC. invisibleD. last 3. A. days B. monthsC. yearsD. hours 4. A. illness B. hospital C. workD. surgery 5. A. made B. putC. hopedD. arrived 6. A. pen B. glasses C. Bible D. smile7. A. in hospital B. back home C. at workD. in town 8. A. young B. caringC. strugglingD. full-grown 9. A. any B. someC. noneD. both10. A. scare B. disappointC. surpriseD. trouble 11. A. loneliness B. pride C. happinessD. anger 12. A. half-heartedly B. carefully C. seriouslyD. anxiously13. A. brothers B. childrenC. friendsD. parents14. A. thought B. mindC. eyeD. hand15. A. referred B. subscribedC. turnedD. contributed16. A. put B. pickedC. setD. broke17. A. editor B. writerC. producerD. reader18. A. editing B. sendingC. receivingD. organizing19. A. studied B. workedC. diedD. lived20. A. gaze B. touchC. thoughtD. sense阅读理解Most of the people who appear most often and most gloriously in the history books are great conquerors and generals and soldiers, whereas the people who really helped civilization forward are often never mentioned at all. We do not know who first set a broken leg, or launched a seaworthy boat, or calculated the length of the year, or manured (施肥)a field; but we know all about the killers and destroyers. People think a great deal of them, so much so that on all the highest pillars (纪念柱) in the great cities of the world you will find the figure of a conqueror or a general or a soldier. And I think most people believe that the greatest countries are those that have beaten in battle the greatest number of other countries and ruled over them as conquerors. It is just possible they are, but they are not the most civilized.Animals fight; so do savages (野蛮人); hence to be good at fighting is to be good in the way in which an animal or a savage is good, but it is not to be civilized. Even being good at getting other people to fight for you and telling them how to do it most efficiently— this, after all, is what conquerors and generals have done －is not being civilized. People fight to settle quarrels. Fighting means killing, and civilized peoples ought to be able to find some way of settling their disputes other than by seeing which side can kill off the greater number of the other side, and then saying that that side which has killed most has won. And it not only has won, but, because it has won, has been in the right. For that is what going to war means; it means saying that might is right.That is what the story of mankind has on the whole been like. Even our own age has fought the two greatest wars in history, in which millions of people were killed or disabled. And while today it is true that people do not fight and kill each other in the streets— while, that is to say, we have got to the stage of keeping the rules and behaving properly to each other in daily life— nations and countries have not learnt to do this yet, and still behave like savages.1. In the opening sentence the author indicates that ________.A. conquerors, generals and soldiers should not be mentioned in history books.B. history books focus more on those who helped civilization forward.C. those who truly helped civilization forward is rarely mentioned in history books.D. most history books were written by conquerors, generals and soldiers.2. In the author’s opinion, the countries that ruled over a large number of other countries areA. certainly both the greatest and the most civilizedB. neither the most influential nor the most civilized.C. possibly the most civilized but not the most powerful.D. likely the greatest in some sense but not the most civilized.3. The meaning of “it means saying that might is right.”(The last sentence of Paragraph 2) is that ________.A. in a war only those who are powerful will win.B. those who are right should fight against those who are wrong.C. only those who are powerful have the right to go to war.D. those who fight believe that the winner is right and the loser wrong.4. In the third paragraph, what the author wants to convey to us is that ________.A. we have fought fewer wars but suffered heavier casualties.B. modern time is not so civilized compared with the past.C. our age is not much better than those of the past.D. World War I and World War II are different from previous wars.5. According to the passage, who helped civilization forward?A. The pioneers in science and technology.B. Conquerors and generals.C. Those setting disputes by force.D. The experts in military matters6. This passage is most likely taken from an article entitled ________.A. Who Should Be RememberedB. Civilization and HistoryC. War and World PeaceD. Great conquerors in the world七选五Doctors say anger can be an extremely damaging emotion, unless you learn how to deal with it. They warn that anger can lead to heart disease, stomach problems, headaches, emotional problems and possibly cancer.1 Some people express anger openly in a calm reasonable way. Others burst with anger, and scream and yell. But other people keep their anger inside. They cannot or will not express it. This is called repressing anger.For years many doctors thought that repressing anger was more dangerous to a person's health than expressing it. They said that when a person is angry, the brain releases the same hormones (荷尔蒙). They speed the heart rate, raise blood pressure, or sugar into the blood, etc. 2Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger can be dangerous. They believe that those who express anger violently may be more likely to develop heart disease, and they believe that those who keep anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure.3 They say the first step is to admit that you are angry and to recognize the real cause of the anger, then decide if the cause is serious enough to get angry. If it is, they say, “4 Wait until your anger has cooled down and you are able to express yourself calmly and reasonably.”Doctors say that a good way to deal with anger is to find humor in the situation that has made you angry. 5___________ A．Anger is a normal emotion that we all feel from time to time.B．Doctors say the solution is learning how to deal with anger.C．Expressing anger violently is more harmful than repressing it.D．Anger may cause you a cancer.E．Do not express your anger while angry.F．In general, the person feels excited and ready to act.G．They said that laughter is much healthier than anger.▲答案精析▲▲答案精析▲Sept. 6th , 2014 阅读理解 (广告信息类短文广告信息类短文))【文章大意】本文是针对国外学生如何在Global Exchange Education Center 申请有关中文学习的申请的具体要求。

英语散文欣赏：TheHappyDoor多看一些优秀的英语散文，有助于阅读能力的提升，今天大家带来经典英语散文阅读,希望能够帮助到大家，下面就和大家分享，来欣赏一下吧。

英语散文欣赏：The Happy DoorHappiness is like a pebble1(卵石) dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples2. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being3, since we find beggars, invalids4 and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend(红利，股息). But staying happy is an accomplishment5, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable6 and embittered7. There is, however, a cure so simple asto seem, at first glance, ridiculous; if you dont feel happy, pretend to be!It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling8(击退，抵制) people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged9 with grateful friends.英语散文：时不我待珍惜现在We convince1 ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby. Then we are frustrated2 that the kids arent old enough and well be more content when they are. After that were frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when we are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.The truth is, theres no better time to be happy than right now. Your life will always be filled with challenges3. Its best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have.Stop Waiting Stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced4, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.我们说服自己去相信，等我们结婚生子了，生活就会好起来。

英语学习资料：英国散文：wrenceMy balcony is on the east side of the hotel, and my neighbours on the right are a Frenchman, white-haired, and his white-haired wife; my neighbour on the left are two little white-haired English ladies. And we are all mortally shy of one another.When I peep out of my room in the morning and see the matronly French lady in a purple silk wrapper, standing like the captain on the bridge surveying the morning, I pop in again before she can see me. And whenever I emerge during the day, I am aware of the two little white-haired ladies popping back like two white rabbits, so that literally I only see the whisk of their skirt-hems.This afternoon being hot and thundery, I woke up suddenly and went out on the balcony barefoot. There I sat serenely contemplating the world, and ignoring the two bundles of feet of the two little ladies which protruded from their open door ways, upon the end of two chaises longues. A hot, still afternoon! The lake shining rather glassy away below, the mountains rather sulky, the greenness very green, all a little silent and lurid, and two mowers moving with scythes, downhill just near; slush! slush! sound the scythe-strokes.The two little ladies bee aware of my presence. I bee aware of a certain agitation in the two bundles of feet wrapped in two discreet steamer rugs and protruding on the end of two chaises longues from the pair of doorways upon balcony next me. One bundle of feet suddenly disappears; so does the other. Silence!Then lo! with odd sliding suddenness a little white-haired lady in grey silk, with round blue eyes, emerges and looks straightat me, and remarks that it is pleasant now. A little cooler, say I, with false amiability. She quite agrees, and we speak of the men mowing: how plainly one hears the long breaths of the scythes.By now we are tête-à-tête. We speak of cherries, strawberries, and the promise of the vine crop. This somehow leads to Italy, and to Signor Mussolini. Before I know where I am, the little white-haired lady has swept me off my balcony, away from the glassy lake, the veiled mountains, the two men mowing, and the cherry trees, away into the troubled ether of international politics.I am not allowed to sit like a dandelion on my own stem. The little lady in a breath blows me abroad. And I was so pleasantly musing over the two men moving: the young one, with long legs in bright blue cotton trousers, and with bare black head, swinging so lightly downhill, and the other, in black trousers, rather stout in front, and wearing a new straw hat of the boater variety, ing rather stiffly after, crunching the end of his stroke with a certain violent effort.I was watching the curiously different motions of the two men, the young thin one in bright blue trousers, the elderly fat one in shabby black trousers that stick out in front, the different amount of effort in their mowing, the lack of grace in the elderly one, his jerky advance, the unpleasant effect of the new "boater" on his head -- and I tried to interest the little lady.But it meant nothing to her. The mowers, the mountains, the cherry trees, the lake, all the things that were ACTUALLY there, she didn't care about. They even seemed to scare her off the balcony. But she held her ground, and instead of herself being scared away, she snatched me up like some ogress, and swept me off into the empty desert spaces of right and wrong, politics, Fasci *** and the rest.The worst ogress couldn't have treated me more villainously.I don't care about right and wrong, politics, Fasci *** , abstract liberty, or anything else of the sort. I want to look at the mowers, and wonder why fatness, elderliness, and black trousers should inevitably wear a new straw hat of the boater variety, move in stiff jerks, shove the end of the scythe-strokes with a certain violence, and win my hearty disapproval, as contrasted with young long thinness, bright blue cotton trousers, a bare black head, and a pretty lifting movement at the end of the scythestroke.Why do modern people almost invariably ignore the things that are actually present to them? Why, having e out from England to find mountains, lakes, scythe-mowers and cherry trees, does the little blue-eyed lady resolutely close her blue eyes to them all, now she's got them, and gaze away to Signor Musolini, whom she hasn't got, and to Fasci *** , which is invisible anyhow? Why isn't she content to be where she is? Why can't she be happy with what she's got? Why must she CARE?I see now why her round blue eyes are so round, so noticeably round, It is because she "cares." She is haunted by that mysterious bugbear of "caring." For everything on earth that doesn't concern her she "cares." She cares terribly because far-off, invisible, hypothetical Italians wear black shirts, but she doesn't care a rap that one elderly mower whose stroke she can hear, wears black trousers instead of bright blue cotton ones. Now if she would descend from the balcony and climb the grassy slope and say to the fat mower: "Cher monsieur, pourquoi porlez-vous les pantalons noirs? why, Oh, why do you wear black trousers?" -- then I should say: what an on-the-spot little lady! -- But since she only torments me with international politics. I can only remark: What a tiresome off-the-spot old woman!They care! They simply are eaten up with caring. They are so busy caring about Fasci *** or Leagues of Nations or whether France is right or whether Marriage is threatened, that they never know where they are. They certainly never live on the spot. They inhabit abstract space, the desert void of politics, principles, right and wrong, and so forth. They are doomed to be abstract. Talking to them is like trying to have a human relationship with the letter x in algebra.There simply is a deadly breach between actual living and this abstract caring. What is actual living? It is a question mostly of direct contact. There was a direct sensuous contact between me, the lake, mountains, cherry trees, mowers, and a certain invisible but noisy chaffinch in a clipped lime tree. All this was cut off by the fatal shears of that abstract word FASCISM, and the little old lady next door was the Atropos who cut the thread of my actual life this afternoon. She beheaded me, and flung my head into abstract space Then we are supposed to love our neighbours!When it es to living, we live through our instincts and our intuitions, Instinct makes me run from little over-earnest ladies; instinct makes me sniff the lime blossoms and reach for the darkest cheery. But it is intuition which makes me feel the uncanny glassiness of the lake this afternoon, the sulkiness of the mountains, the vividness of near green in thundersun, the young man in bright blue trousers, lightly tossing the grass from the scythe, the elderly man in a boater stiffly shoving his scythe strokes, both of them sweating in the silence of the intense light.。

I'm going to talk today about the pleasures of everyday life. But I want to begin with a story of an unusual and terrible man. This is Hermann Goering. Goering was Hitler's second in command in World War II, his designated successor. And like Hitler, Goering fancied himself a collector of art. He went through Europe, through World War II, stealing, extorting and occasionally buying various paintings for his collection. And what he really wanted was something by Vermeer. Hitler had two of them, and he didn't have any. So he finally found an art dealer, a Dutch art dealer named Han van Meegeren, who sold him a wonderful Vermeer for the cost of what would now be 10 million dollars. And it was his favorite artwork ever.00:56World War II came to an end, and Goering was captured, tried at Nuremberg and ultimately sentenced to death. Then the Allied forces went through his collections and found the paintings and went after the people who sold it to him. And at some point the Dutch police came into Amsterdam and arrested Van Meegeren. Van Meegeren was charged with the crime of treason, which is itself punishable by death. Six weeks into his prison sentence, van Meegeren confessed. But he didn't confess to treason. He said, "I did not sell a great masterpiece to that Nazi. I painted it myself; I'm a forger." Now nobody believed him. And he said, "I'll prove it. Bring me a canvas and some paint, and I will paint a Vermeer much better than I sold that disgusting Nazi. I also need alcohol and morphine, because it's the only way I can work." (Laughter) So they brought him in. He painted a beautiful Vermeer. And then the charges of treason were dropped. He had a lesser charge of forgery, got a year sentence and died a hero to the Dutch people. There's a lot more to be said about van Meegeren, but I want to turn now to Goering, who's pictured here being interrogated at Nuremberg.02:15Now Goering was, by all accounts, a terrible man. Even for a Nazi, he was a terrible man. His American interrogators described him as an amicable psychopath. But you could feel sympathy for the reaction he had when he was told that his favorite painting was actually a forgery. According to his biographer, "He looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world." (Laughter) And he killed himself soon afterwards. He had discovered after all that the painting he thought was this was actually that. It looked the same, but it had a different origin, it was a different artwork.02:56It wasn't just him who was in for a shock. Once van Meegeren was on trial, he couldn't stop talking. And he boasted about all the great masterpieces that he himself had painted that were attributed to other artists. In particular, "The Supper at Emmaus" which was viewed as Vermeer's finest masterpiece, his best work -- people would come [from] all over the world to see it -- was actually a forgery. It was not that painting, but that painting. And when that was discovered, it lost all its value and was taken away from the museum.03:24Why does this matter I'm a psychologists -- why do origins matter so much Why do we respond so much to our knowledge of where something comes from Well there's an answer that many people would give. Many sociologists like Veblen and Wolfe would argue that the reason why we take origins so seriously is because we're snobs, because we're focused on status. Among other things, if you want to show off how rich you are, how powerful you are, it's always better to own an original than a forgery because there's always going to be fewer originals than forgeries. Idon't doubt that that plays some role, but what I want to convince you of today is that there's something else going on. I want to convince you that humans are, to some extent, natural born essentialists. What I mean by this is we don't just respond to things as we see them, or feel them, or hear them. Rather, our response is conditioned on our beliefs, about what they really are, what they came from, what they're made of, what their hidden nature is. I want to suggest that this is true, not just for how we think about things, but how we react to things.04:27"So I want to suggest that pleasure is deep -- and that this isn't true just for higher level pleasures like art, but even the most seemingly simple pleasures are affected by our beliefs about hidden essences. So take food. Would you eat this Well, a good answer is, "It depends. What is it" Some of you would eat it if it's pork, but not beef. Some of you would eat it if it's beef, but not pork. Few of you would eat it if it's a rat or a human. Some of you would eat it only if it's a strangely colored piece of tofu. That's not so surprising.05:02But what's more interesting is how it tastes to you will depend critically on what you think you're eating. So one demonstration of this was done with young children. How do you make children not just be more likely to eat carrots and drink milk, but to get more pleasure from eating carrots and drinking milk -- to think they taste better It's simple, you tell them they're from McDonald's. They believe McDonald's food is tastier, and it leads them to experience it as tastier.05:30How do you get adults to really enjoy wine It's very simple: pour it from an expensive bottle. There are now dozens, perhaps hundreds of studies showing that if you believe you're drinking the expensive stuff, it tastes better to you. This was recently done with a neuroscientific twist. They get people into a fMRI scanner, and while they're lying there, through a tube, they get to sip wine. In front of them on a screen is information about the wine. Everybody, of course, drinks exactly the same wine. But if you believe you're drinking expensive stuff, parts of the brain associated with pleasure and reward light up like a Christmas tree. It's not just that you say it's more pleasurable, you say you like it more, you really experience it in a different way.06:13Or take sex. These are stimuli I've used in some of my studies. And if you simply show people these pictures, they'll say these are fairly attractive people. But how attractive you find them, how sexually or romantically moved you are by them, rests critically on who you think you're looking at. You probably think the picture on the left is male, the one on the right is female. If that belief turns out to be mistaken, it will make a difference. (Laughter) It will make a difference if they turn out to be much younger or much older than you think they are. It will make a difference if you were to discover that the person you're looking at with lust is actually a disguised version of your son or daughter, your mother or father. Knowing somebody's your kin typically kills the libido. Maybe one of the most heartening findings from the psychology of pleasure is there's more to looking good than your physical appearance. If you like somebody, they look better to you. This is why spouses in happy marriages tend to think that their husband or wife looks much better than anyone else thinks that they do.07:17(Laughter)07:19·A particularly dramatic example of this comes from a neurological disorder known as Capgras syndrome. So Capgras syndrome is a disorder where you get a specific delusion. Sufferers of Capgras syndrome believe that the people they love most in the world have been replaced by perfect duplicates. Now often, a result of Capgras syndrome is tragic. People have murdered those that they loved, believing that they were murdering an imposter. But there's at least one case where Capgras syndrome had a happy ending. This was recorded in 1931. "Research described a woman with Capgras syndrome who complained about her poorly endowed and sexually inadequate lover." But that was before she got Capgras syndrome. After she got it, "She was happy to report that she has discovered that he possessed a double who was rich, virile, handsome and aristocratic." Of course, it was the same man, but she was seeing him in different ways.08:10As a third example, consider consumer products. So one reason why you might like something is its utility. You can put shoes on your feet; you can play golf with golf clubs; and chewed up bubble gum doesn't do anything at all for you. But each of these three objects has value above and beyond what it can do for you based on its history. The golf clubs were owned by John F. Kennedy and sold for three-quarters of a million dollars at auction. The bubble gum was chewed up by pop star Britney Spears and sold for several hundreds of dollars. And in fact, there's a thriving market in the partially eaten food of beloved people. (Laughter) The shoes are perhaps the most valuable of all. According to an unconfirmed report, a Saudi millionaire offered 10 million dollars for this pair of shoes. They were the ones thrown at George Bush at an Iraqi press conference several years ago.09:01(Applause)09:03Now this attraction to objects doesn't just work for celebrity objects. Each one of us, most people, have something in our life that's literally irreplaceable, in that it has value because of its history -- maybe your wedding ring, maybe your child's baby shoes -- so that if it was lost, you couldn't get it back. You could get something that looked like it or felt like it, but you couldn't get the same object back. With my colleagues George Newman and Gil Diesendruck, we've looked to see what sort of factors, what sort of history, matters for the objects that people like. So in one of our experiments, we asked people to name a famous person who they adored, a living person they adored.09:41So one answer was George Clooney. Then we asked them, "How much would you pay for George Clooney's sweater" And the answer is a fair amount -- more than you would pay for a brand new sweater or a sweater owned by somebody who you didn't adore. Then we asked other groups of subjects -- we gave them different restrictions and different conditions. So for instance, we told some people, "Look, you can buy the sweater, but you can't tell anybody you own it, and you can't resell it." That drops the value of it, suggesting that that's one reason why we like it. But what really causes an effect is you tell people, "Look, you could resell it, you could boast about it, but before it gets to you, it's thoroughly washed." That causes a huge drop in the value. As mywife put it, "You've washed away the Clooney cooties."10:29·(Laughter)10:31So let's go back to art. I would love a Chagall. I love the work of Chagall. If people want to get me something at the end of the conference, you could buy me a Chagall. But I don't want a duplicate, even if I can't tell the difference. That's not because, or it's not simply because, I'm a snob and want to boast about having an original. Rather, it's because I want something that has a specific history. In the case of artwork, the history is special indeed. The philosopher Denis Dutton in his wonderful book "The Art Instinct" makes the case that, "The value of an artwork is rooted in assumptions about the human performance underlying its creation." And that could explain the difference between an original and a forgery. They may look alike, but they have a different history. The original is typically the product of a creative act, the forgery isn't. I think this approach can explain differences in people's taste in art.11:20This is a work by Jackson Pollock. Who here likes the work of Jackson Pollock Okay. Who here, it does nothing for them They just don't like it. I'm not going to make a claim about who's right, but I will make an empirical claim about people's intuitions, which is that, if you like the work of Jackson Pollock, you'll tend more so than the people who don't like it to believe that these works are difficult to create, that they require a lot of time and energy and creative energy. I use Jackson Pollock on purpose as an example because there's a young American artist who paints very much in the style of Jackson Pollock, and her work was worth many tens of thousands of dollars -- in large part because she's a very young artist.12:02This is Marla Olmstead who did most of her work when she was three years old. The interesting thing about Marla Olmstead is her family made the mistake of inviting the television program 60 Minutes II into their house to film her painting. And they then reported that her father was coaching her. When this came out on television, the value of her art dropped to nothing. It was the same art, physically, but the history had changed.12:29I've been focusing now on the visual arts, but I want to give two examples from music. This is Joshua Bell, a very famous violinist. And the Washington Post reporter Gene Weingarten decided to enlist him for an audacious experiment. The question is: How much would people like Joshua Bell, the music of Joshua Bell, if they didn't know they were listening to Joshua Bell So he got Joshua Bell to take his million dollar violin down to a Washington . subway station and stand in the corner and see how much money he would make. And here's a brief clip of this. (Violin music) After being there for three-quarters of an hour, he made 32 dollars. Not bad. It's also not good. Apparently to really enjoy the music of Joshua Bell, you have to know you're listening to Joshua Bell. He actually made 20 dollars more than that, but he didn't count it. Because this woman comes up -- you see at the end of the video -- she comes up. She had heard him at the Library of Congress a few weeks before at this extravagant black-tie affair. So she's stunned that he's standing in a subway station. So she's struck with pity. She reaches into her purse and hands him a 20.13:40$(Laughter)13:42(Applause)13:44The second example from music is from John Cage's modernist composition, "4'33"." As many of you know, this is the composition where the pianist sits at a bench, opens up the piano and sits and does nothing for four minutes and 33 seconds -- that period of silence. And people have different views on this. But what I want to point out is you can buy this from iTunes. (Laughter) For a dollar 99, you can listen to that silence, which is different than other forms of silence.14:16(Laughter)14:18Now I've been talking so far about pleasure, but what I want to suggest is that everything I've said applies as well to pain. And how you think about what you're experiencing, your beliefs about the essence of it, affect how it hurts. One lovely experiment was done by Kurt Gray and Dan Wegner. What they did was they hooked up Harvard undergraduates to an electric shock machine. And they gave them a series of painful electric shocks. So it was a series of five painful shocks. Half of them are told that they're being given the shocks by somebody in another room, but the person in the other room doesn't know they're giving them shocks. There's no malevolence, they're just pressing a button. The first shock is recorded as very painful. The second shock feels less painful, because you get a bit used to it. The third drops, the fourth, the fifth. The pain gets less. In the other condition, they're told that the person in the next room is shocking them on purpose -- knows they're shocking them. The first shock hurts like hell. The second shock hurts just as much, and the third and the fourth and the fifth. It hurts more if you believe somebody is doing it to you on purpose.15:24&The most extreme example of this is that in some cases, pain under the right circumstances can transform into pleasure. Humans have this extraordinarily interesting property that will often seek out low-level doses of pain in controlled circumstances and take pleasure from it -- as in the eating of hot chili peppers and roller coaster rides. The point was nicely summarized by the poet John Milton who wrote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."15:57And I'll end with that. Thank you.15:59(Applause)*。

The Pleasure of Learning（学习的乐趣）By Gilbert Highet（吉尔伯特· 哈厄特）As more schools are set up today, learning is compulsory. It is an Ought, even worse, a Must, enforced by regular hours and rigid discipline. And the young sneer at the Oughts and resist the Musts with all their energy. The feeling often lasts through a lifetime. For too many of us, learning appears to be a surrender of our own will to external direction, a sort of enslavement.This is a mistake. Learning is a natural pleasure, inborn and instinctive, one of the essential pleasures of the human race. Watch a small child, at an age too young to have had any mental habits implanted by training. Some delightful films made by the late Dr. Arnold Gesell of Yale University show little creatures who can barely talk investigating problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, making discoveries with the passion and absorption of dedicated scientists. At the end of each successful investigation, there comes over each tiny face an expression of pure heartfelt pleasure. ...But if the pleasure of learning is universal, why are there so many dull, incurious people in the world? It is because they were made dull, by bad teaching, by isolation, by surrender to routine, sometimes, too, by the pressure of hard work and poverty, or by the toxin of riches, with all their ephemeral and trivial delights. With luck, resolution and guidance, however, the human mind can survive not only poverty but even wealth.This pleasure is not confined to learning from textbooks, which are too often tedious. But it does include learning from books. Sometimes when I stand in a big library like the library of Congress, or Butler Library at Columbia, and gaze around me at the millions of books, I feel a sober, earnest delight hard to convey except a metaphor. These are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of hearing, and just as the touch of a button on our stereo will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes, one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking, mind to mind, heart to heart.But, far beyond books, learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of experience. One of the best-informed men I ever knew was a cowboy who rarely read a newspaper and never a book, but who had ridden many thousands of miles through one of the western states. He knew his state as thoroughly as a surgeon knows the human body. He loved it. Not a mountain, not a canyon which had not much to tell him, not a change in the weather that he could not interpret. And so, among the pleasures of learning, we should include travel, travel with an open mind, an alert eye and a visit to understand other peoples, other places, rather than lookingin them for a mirror image of oneself. If I were a young man today, I should resolve to see ?nbsp;no, to learn ?nbsp; all the 50 states before I was 35.Learning also means learning to practice, or at least to appreciate, an art. Every new art you learn appears like a new window on the universe; it is like acquiring a new sense. Because I was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland, a hideous 19th-century industrial city, I did not understand the slightest thing about architecture until I was in my 20s. Since then, I have learned a little about the art, and it has been a constant delight. ... As for reading books, this contains two different delights. One is the pleasure of apprehending the unexpected, such as when one meets a new author who has a new vision of the world. The other pleasure is of deepening one's knowledge of a special field. ... Learning extends our lives (as Ptolemy said) into new dimensions. It is cumulative. Instead of diminishing in time, like health and strength, its returns go on increasing, provided ...Provided that you aim, throughout your life, as you continue learning, to integrate your thought, to make it harmonious. If you happen to be an engineer and also enjoy singing in a glee club, connect these two activities. They unite in you; they are not in conflict. Both choral singing and engineering are examples of the architectonic ability of man: of his power to make a large plan and to convey it clearly to others. Both are aesthetic and depend much on symmetry. Think about them not as though they were dissociated, but as though each were one aspect of a single unity. You will do them better, and be happier.Much unhappiness has been suffered by those people who have never recognized that it is as necessary to make themselves into whole and harmonious personalities as to keep themselves clean, healthy and financially solvent. Wholeness of the mind and spirit is not a quality conferred by nature, or by God. It is like health, virtue and knowledge. Man has the capacity to attain it; but to achieve it depends on his own efforts. It needs a long, deliberate effort of the mind and the emotions, and even the body.During our earthly life, the body gradually dies; even the emotions become duller. But the mind in most of us continues to live, and even grows more lively and active, enjoys itself more, works and plays with more expansion and delight. Many people have played themselves to death, even eaten and drunk themselves to death.Nobody has ever thought himself to death. The chief danger confronting us is not age. It is laziness, sloth, routine, stupidity ?nbsp; forcing their way in like wind through the shutters, seeping into the cellar like swamp water. Many who avoid learning, or abandon it, find that life is drained dry. They spend 30 years in a chair looking glumly out at the sand and the ocean; on a porch swing waiting for somebody to drive down the road. But that is not how to live.No learner has ever run short of subjects to explore. The pleasures of learning are indeed pleasures. In fact, the word should be changed. The true name is happiness. You can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning.[作家简介]《学习的乐趣》这篇文章是美籍苏格兰作家吉尔伯特·哈厄特写。

The Pleasure of LearningStep one ProverbsLearning is like sailing a boat up stream—to keep progressing or be washed backward. (Learning is like rowing up stream, not to advance is to drop back.)Never too old to learn.The brighter you are, the more you have to learn.越聪明的人，越需要学习。

—— D. Herold 赫罗尔德A foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.外语是人生斗争的一种武器。

One discovers his ignorance only through learning.Learning without thought is useless; thought without Learning is dangerous.Learning is wealth to the poor, an honor to the rich, and an aid to the young and a support and comfort to the aged. (Emmons)Step two Background informationAuthor Gilbert HighetGilbert Arthur Highet (June 22, 1906 – January 20, 1978) was a Scottish-American classicist, academic, writer, intellectual, critic and literary historian.Born in Scotland, Gilbert Highet is best known as a mid-20th-century teacher of the humanities in the United States. He attended Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford, becoming a fellow of St John's College, Oxford in 1932, where he remained for six years. He had met his wife, the well-known novelist Helen MacInnes, while they were fellow-students at Glasgow, and they married in 1932. In 1938 he was appointed to the chair of Latin & Greek at Columbia University. He stayed at Columbia until 1971 (except for British Army service[1] during World War II). He became an American citizen in 1951, following his appointment as Anthon Professor of Latin Language and Literature in 1950. Highet devoted most of his energy to teaching, but he also aspired to raise the level of mass culture and achieved broader influence by publishing essays and books, hosting his own radio program, acting as a judge for the Book-of-the-Month Club, and serving on the editorial board of Horizon magazine.His words:Gilbert Highet conceived of his work as the fostering of a tradition."These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but 'minds' alive on the shelves," Highet wrote. He believed that "The chief aim of education is to show you,after you make a livelihood, how to enjoy living; and you can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning."As a scholar in an era in which democracy, communism, and fascism vied for supremacy, he believed it was the duty of the intellectual to support freedom and defend pluralism. "The aim of those who try to control thought is always the same," he wrote. "They find one single explanation of the world, one system of thought and action that will (they believe) cover everything; and then they try to impose that on all thinking people." Above all, he was devoted to learning from the past. "History is a strange experience," he wrote in the introduction to an essay on Byzantium. "The world is quite small now; but history is large and deep. Sometimes you can go much farther by sitting in your own home and reading a book of history, than by getting onto a ship or an airplane and traveling a thousand miles. When you go to Mexico City through space, you find it a sort of cross between modern Madrid and modern Chicago, with additions of its own; but if you go to Mexico City through history, back only 500 years, you will find it as distant as though it were on another planet: inhabited by cultivated barbarians, sensitive and cruel, highly organized and still in the Copper Age, a collection of startling, of unbelievable contrasts." Despite this, as Highet showed above all in his masterpiece The Classical Tradition, it was possible to discover in the past a great humanizing river of learning which connected the present to the Biblical and especially the Greek and Roman civilizations, and through his marvelously evocative, graceful prose to make one feel at home in that flow of past lives, and to long for it. Highet tended to be critical of contemporary literature, attributing to it decadent qualities.He himself was a great teacher. "When Gilbert Highet entered the classroom, one felt as though the curtain were going up on a Broadway play, with a living legend in the lead. He reminded students (not surprisingly) of a British Army officer— of the kind portrayed by Jack Hawkins in motion pictures—tall, erect, handsome, clean-shaven, and impeccably dressed. He consistently gave his audience a commanding performance, whether he spoke or sang or stood or walked, with a presence comparable to that of Laurence Olivier or John Houseman. ... With his powerful and speculative mind, he gave his students an extraordinary intellectual experience, capped by a showmanship perhaps unparalleled in the American college classroom."WorksAn Outline of Homer (1935)The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature (1949)The Art of Teaching (1950)Man's Unconquerable Mind (1954)Juvenal the Satirist: A Study (1954)Poets in a Landscape (1957)The Anatomy of Satire (1962)The Immortal Profession: The Joys of Teaching and Learning (1976)Another solution (1951) one of Highet's few fictional pieces, published in Harper's Magazine.Step three General introduction of the textThis is an essay of argumentation, which begins by pointing out a misconception about learning and the ways of learning, and then argues that learning is a kind of pleasure and a life-long endeavor. Gilbert Highet uses convincing examples to illustrate his points and organizes his arguments one after another so that the reader will understand his points and fins learning a necessary, pleasant and rewarding part of his/ her life.About ArgumentationargueTo argue means to provide reasons for or against something, especially clearly and in proper order. When you are for or against something and intend to make your point of view understood and accepted, you write argumentative. A piece of argumentative written work expresses the writer’s own idea on a subject instead of merely assembling facts.Purpose:An argumentative essay tries to make the reader agree with its point of view and support it, to persuade him to change his mind or behavior, and to approve a policy or a course of action that it proposes.An argumentative essay tries to make the reader agree with its point of view and support it, to persuade him to change his mind or behavior, and to approve a policy or a course of action that it proposes.DefinitionArgumentation is the type of writing in which writers try to encourage readers to accept their point of view on a controversial issue. A piece of argumentative written work expresses the writer’s own idea on a subject instead of merely assembling facts. Methods:Exemplification 例证法Deductive Method 推理法Inductive Method 归纳法Cause and Effect 因果Analogy 类推，类比Comparison and Contrast 对照和对比Quotation 引证Subjunctive 假设法Overall structure of an argumentationⅠIntroduction:Issue; Background information; Definition of termsⅡ Claim: Thesis statementⅢ Body: reasons and evidence; Emotional appeals; RefutationⅣ Conclusion: Restatement of claim; Final appeal; Urge to take actionThe issue --- a controversy, a problem, or an idea about which people disagree and hold different points of view.The claim--- the point of view the writer tries to prove about the issue, usually the writer’s view on the issueThe support--- ideas and information intended to convince readers that the claim is sound or believable. The three common types of support are reasons, evidence and emotional appeal.Types of support:Reasons: general statements that back up a claim, explaining why a viewpoint on an issue is reasonable or correct. Reasons should belogical (i.e. making sense)reasonable (i.e. fair)Evidence: what writers use to support or verify reasons. Evidence should be relevant (i.e. appropriate to the case in hand)sufficient (i.e. as much as you need to verify a reason)Types of evidence exemplified:Claim: Reading aloud to preschool and kindergarten children improves their chances of success in school.Facts (i.e. a statement that is true or can be verified), e.g. First-grade children who were read to as preschoolers learn to read earlier than children who were not read to.Statistics (i.e. facts in figures), e.g. A 1998 study demonstrated that reading aloud to children produced a 16 percent improvement in the children’s ability to recognize words used in a story.Expert opinion, e.g. Dr. Maria Morealle, a child psychologist, urges parents to read two or three children’s stories to their children daily.Examples, e.g. Stories about unfamiliar places or activities increase a child’s vocabulary. For example, reading a story about a farm to a child who lives in a city apartment will acquaint the child with such new terms as barn, plow, and tractor.Observation from personal experience, e.g. When I read to my three-year-old son,I notice that he tries to repeat words.Emotional appeal: which evoke the needs or values that readers care deeply about.appealing to needsappealing to valuesThe refutation --- which recognizes / acknowledges and argues against opposing viewpoints.Guiding principle: finding a weakness in the opponent’s argument.○1by casting doubt on the opponent’s reasons;○2by questioning the accuracy, relevancy, and sufficiency of the opponent’s evidence (facts, examples, statistics and expert testimony)○3Structure of the refutation:○4Briefly acknowledge the opposing views.○5Then respond and point out why it/they is/are wrong.How to write a good argumentation:Although they can take different shapes, argumentative essays have certain basic features in common. If you wish to write a good argumentative essay, you should try your best to meet the following requirements:(1) A debatable pointIn organizing an argument well, you should first give a well-defined theme, or clearly state your point of view of the issue in the opening paragraph. It is imperative that the paper should have a debatable point, that is, something which can be viewed from more than one angle and is therefore open to dispute. Generally speaking, the following are not good themes.1) Mere statement of facts.“Chinese doctors use acupuncture anesthesia to perform certain operations” is a fact that cannot be debated. But if it is changed into “Acupuncture anesthesia should replace conventional anesthesia in all operations”, it becomes debatable.2) Statements of personal preference“Ba Jin is my favorite author” expresses personal preference which does not lead to dispute. But a statement like “Ba Jin is the greatest Chinese writer of the 20th century” is disputable and sufficient evidence should be provided.3) Viewpoints that are generally accepted or can be easily verifiedIt is universally known that “noise pollution is harmful to people’s health”, but it is not generally accepted that “noise pollution is the most harmful of all environmental pollution”. The former viewpoint can be proved, but the later is arguable.(2) Sufficient evidenceIn the body of the essay, you must provide sufficient evidence, including reasons, facts, statistics, opinions of reliable authorities, etc. to support or prove your point of view or proposition that is stated or hinted in the opening paragraph. Since the point of your paper is not a fact, a statement of personal taste, or a viewpoint universally accepted, you will have to provide sufficient evidence to convince the reader. Sufficient evidence includes common knowledge; specific examples; hard, not soft, evidence, or facts, not opinions, unless the opinions are expert and authoritative; statistics; and quotations from authorities. Valid evidence is that which is clearly and directly connected with the point to be proved.(3) Good logicIt is obvious that good logic is even more important to argumentation than to any other types of writing. All the facts and reasons that are given as evidence should be logically connected with the conclusion and with each other. Any fallacy in logic or wrong step in reasoning would leave the reader in doubt about the whole argument.There are generally two ways of reasoning:1) Inductive reasoning 归纳Inductive reasoning is the more common way. When you use inductive, you start with facts and proceed from facts to a general conclusion. In other words, you move from specific examples to a general statement.2) Deductive reasoning 演绎The process is just the opposite of inductive reasoning — it moves from a general statement to a specific conclusion. It works on the model of syllogism（三段论法）—a three-part argument in which there are two statements, known as the major premise and the minor premise, and a conclusion.(4) Clear logicA typical argumentative essay consists of three parts: an introduction which identifies the issue to be discussed and explains the importance of such a discussion; a body which presents the evidence; and a conclusion in which the proposition, if it is stated at the beginning, is reaffirmed.In the body, it is advisable that you devote the first one or two paragraphs to a consideration of the other side of the case before stating and amplifying your own views. Then in each paragraph that follows, you should arrangeA. from the least to the most important,B. from the most familiar to the least familiarC. from the easiest to accept or comprehend to the most difficult.(5) Good use of the other three types of writing— description, narration, and especially the various methods of exposition.(6) An honest and friendly attitudeTo argue is not to quarrel. The force of an argument does not come from abuse, sarcasm, exaggeration, or fierce attacks, but from solid evidence, logical reasoning, and careful analysis. A domineering or hostile tone could only raise doubts about your good faith andimpairs the credibility of your argument, whereas an honest and friendly attitude will help win the trust of your readers.Take care that you neither overstate or understate, and avoid overuse of such words and phrases as “perhaps”, “maybe”, “sometimes”, “most often”, “nearly always,” “I think “, “in my opinion”, which invariably weaken the force of your argument.Step Four Comprehension of the text:The main idea:Subject:Attitude:。

The Love Song of J. Alfre‎d Prufr‎o ckT.S.Eliot‎1.S’io‎crede‎s se che mia rispo‎s ta fosse‎2. A perso‎n a che mai torna‎s se al mondo‎,3.Quest‎a fiamm‎a stari‎a senza‎piu scoss‎e.4.Ma perci‎o cche‎giamm‎a i di quest‎o fondo‎5.Non torno‎vivo alcun‎,‎s’i’odo‎il‎v ero,6.Senza‎tema‎d’infam‎i a ti rispo‎n do.7.Let us go then, you and I,8.When the eveni‎n g is sprea‎d out again‎s t the sky9.Like a patie‎n t ether‎i zed upon a table‎;10.Let us go, throu‎g h certa‎i n half-deser‎t ed stree‎t s,11.The mutte‎r ing retre‎a ts12.Of restl‎e ss night‎s in one-night‎cheap‎hotel‎s13.And sawdu‎s t resta‎u rant‎s with oyste‎r-shell‎s:14.Stree‎t s that follo‎w like a tedio‎u s argum‎e nt15.Of insid‎i ous inten‎t16.To lead you to an overw‎h elmi‎n g quest‎i on ...17.Oh,‎do‎not‎ask,‎“What‎is‎it?“18.Let us go and make our visit‎.19.In the room the women‎come and go20.Talki‎n g of Miche‎l ange‎l o.21.The yello‎w fog that rubs its back upon the windo‎w-panes‎,22.The yello‎w smoke‎that rubs its muzzl‎e on the windo‎w-panes‎,23.Licke‎d its tongu‎e into the corne‎r s of the eveni‎n g,24.Linge‎r ed upon the pools‎that stand‎in drain‎s,25.Let fall upon its back the soot that falls‎from chimn‎e ys,26.Slipp‎e d by the terra‎c e, made a sudde‎n leap,27.And seein‎g that it was a soft Octob‎e r night‎,28.Curle‎d once about‎the house‎, and fell aslee‎p.29.And indee‎d there‎will be time30.For the yello‎w smoke‎that slide‎s along‎the stree‎t,31.Rubbi‎n g its back upon the windo‎w-panes‎;32.There‎will be time, there‎will be time33.To prepa‎r e a face to meet the faces‎that you meet;34.There‎will be time to murde‎r and creat‎e,35.And time for all the works‎and days of hands‎36.That lift and drop a quest‎i on on your plate‎;37.Time for you and time for me,38.And time yet for a hundr‎e d indec‎i sion‎s,39.And for a hundr‎e d visio‎n s and revis‎i ons,40.Befor‎e the takin‎g of a toast‎and tea.41.In the room the women‎come and go42.Talki‎n g of Miche‎l ange‎l o.43.And indee‎d there‎will be time44.To wonde‎r,‎“Do‎I‎dare?“‎and,‎“Do‎I‎dare?“45.Time to turn back and desce‎n d the stair‎,46.With a bald spot in the middl‎e of my hair--47.(They‎will‎say:‎“How‎his‎hair is growi‎n g‎thin!“)48.My morni‎n g coat, my colla‎r mount‎i ng firml‎y to the chin,49.My neckt‎i e rich and modes‎t, but asser‎t ed by a simpl‎e pin--50.(They‎will‎say:‎“But‎how‎his‎arms‎and‎legs‎are‎thin!“)51.Do I dare52.Distu‎r b the unive‎r se?53.In a minut‎e there‎is time54.For decis‎i ons and revis‎i ons which‎a minut‎e will rever‎s e.55.For I have known‎them all alrea‎d y, known‎them all:56.Have known‎the eveni‎n gs, morni‎n gs, after‎n oons‎,57.I have measu‎r ed out my life with coffe‎e spoon‎s;58.I know the voice‎s dying‎with a dying‎fall59.Benea‎t h the music‎from a farth‎e r room.60.So how shoul‎d I presu‎m e?61.And I have known‎the eyes alrea‎d y, known‎them all--62.The eyes that fix you in a formu‎l ated‎phras‎e,63.And when I am formu‎l ated‎, spraw‎l ing on a pin,64.When I am pinne‎d and wrigg‎l ing on the wall,65.Then how shoul‎d I begin‎66.To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?67.And how shoul‎d I presu‎m e?68.And I have known‎the arms alrea‎d y, known‎them all--69.Arms that are brace‎l eted‎and white‎and bare70.(But in the lampl‎i ght, downe‎d with light‎brown‎hair!)71.Is it perfu‎m e from a dress‎72.That makes‎me so digre‎s s?73.Arms that lie along‎a table‎, or wrap about‎a shawl‎.74.And shoul‎d I then presu‎m e?75.And how shoul‎d I begin‎?76.Shall‎I say, I have gone at dusk throu‎g h narro‎w stree‎t s77.And watch‎e d the smoke‎that rises‎from the pipes‎78.Of lonel‎y men in shirt‎-sleev‎e s, leani‎n g out of windo‎w s? ...79.I shoul‎d have been a pair of ragge‎d claws‎80.Scutt‎l ing acros‎s the floor‎s of silen‎t seas.81.And the after‎n oon, the eveni‎n g, sleep‎s so peace‎f ully‎!82.Smoot‎h ed by long finge‎r s,83.Aslee‎p ... tired‎... or it malin‎g ers,84.Stret‎c hed on the floor‎, here besid‎e you and me.85.Shoul‎d I, after‎tea and cakes‎and ices,86.Have the stren‎g th to force‎the momen‎t to its crisi‎s?87.But thoug‎h I have wept and faste‎d, wept and praye‎d,88.Thoug‎h I have seen my head (grown‎sligh‎t ly bald) broug‎h t in upon a platt‎e r,89.I am no proph‎e t--and here抯‎no great‎matte‎r;90.I have seen the momen‎t of my great‎n ess flick‎e r,91.And I have seen the etern‎a l Footm‎a n hold my coat, and snick‎e r,92.And in short‎, I was afrai‎d.93.And would‎it have been worth‎it, after‎all,94.After‎the cups, the marma‎l ade, the tea,95.Among‎the porce‎l ain, among‎some talk of you and me,96.Would‎it have been worth‎while‎,97.To have bitte‎n off the matte‎r with a smile‎,98.To have squee‎z ed the unive‎r se into a ball99.To roll it towar‎d some overw‎h elmi‎n g quest‎i on,100.To say: “I‎am‎Lazar‎u s, come from the dead,e back to tell you all, I shall‎tell‎you‎all“--102.If one, settl‎i ng a pillo‎w by her head,**103.Shoul‎d say: “That‎is‎not‎what‎I‎meant‎at all;104.That‎is‎not‎it,‎at‎all.“105.And would‎it have been worth‎it, after‎all,106.Would‎it have been worth‎while‎,107.After‎the sunse‎t s and the doory‎a rds and the sprin‎k led stree‎t s,108.After‎the novel‎s, after‎the teacu‎p s, after‎the skirt‎s that trail‎along‎the floor‎-- 109.And this, and so much more?--110.It is impos‎s ible‎to say just what I mean I111.But as if a magic‎lante‎r n threw‎the nerve‎s in patte‎r ns on a scree‎n:112.Would‎it have been worth‎while‎113.If one, settl‎i ng a pillo‎w or throw‎i ng off a shawl‎,114.And turni‎n g towar‎d the windo‎w, shoul‎d say:115.“That‎is‎not‎it‎at‎all,116.That is not what I meant‎,‎at‎all.“117.No I am not Princ‎e Hamle‎t, nor was meant‎to be;118.Am an atten‎d ant lord, one that will do119.To swell‎a progr‎e ss, start‎a scene‎or two,120.Advis‎e the princ‎e; no doubt‎, an easy tool,121.Defer‎e ntia‎l, glad to be of use,122.Polit‎i c, cauti‎o us, and metic‎u lous‎;123.Full of high sente‎n ce, but a bit obtus‎e;124.At times‎, indee‎d, almos‎t ridic‎u lous‎--125.Almos‎t, at times‎, the Fool.126.I grow old ... I grow old ...127.I shall‎wear the botto‎m s of my trous‎e rs rolle‎d.128.Shall‎I part my hair behin‎d? Do I dare to eat a peach‎? 129.I shall‎wear white‎flann‎e l trous‎e rs, and walk upon the beach‎. 130.I have heard‎the merma‎i ds singi‎n g, each to each.131.I do not think‎that they will sing to me.132.I have seen them ridin‎g seawa‎r d on the waves‎bi‎n g the white‎hair of the waves‎blown‎back134.When the wind blows‎the water‎white‎and black‎.135.We have linge‎r ed in the chamb‎e rs of the sea136.By sea-girls‎wreat‎h ed with seawe‎e d red and brown‎137.Till human‎voice‎s wake us, and we drown‎.J·阿尔弗瑞德‎·普鲁弗洛克‎的情歌查良‎铮译1.假如我认为‎，我是回答2.一个能转回‎阳世间的人‎，3.那么，这火焰就不‎会再摇闪。