新标准大学英语综合教程4unit2.docx

新标准大学英语综合教程4unit2.docx

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新标准大学英语综合教程4unit2

新标准大学英语综合教程4-unit2

Unit2

Activereading

（1）

Danger!

Booksmaychangeyourlife

Culturepoints

LewisCarroll（1832–1898）isthepen-nameofCharlesDodgson.Hewasapriest,amathematicianwho

taughtatOxfordUniversity,aphotographer,humoristandwriterofchildren’sliterature.Alice’sAdventures

inWonderland（1865）wasimmediatelysuccessful,amasterpiecewhichrevolutionizedchildren’sliterature,

givingcoherenceandlogicthroughwitandhumourtounlikelyorimpossibleepisodesinwhichimaginary

creaturesembodyrecognizablehumancharacteristics.HeisalsoknownforThroughtheLookingGlassand

whatAlicefoundthere（1871）andnonsensepoems,suchasTheHuntingoftheSnark（1876）.

WilliamCowper（1731–1800）:

anotableEnglishpoet,writerofhymnsandletter-writer.Hewrotegentle,

pious,directpoemsabouteverydayrurallifeandscenesofthecountrysidewhichhavebeenseenas

forerunnersoftheRomanticmovement:

ColeridgecalledCowper“thebestmodernpoet”.Hetranslated

Homer’sGreekepics.TheOdysseyandTheIliadintoEnglish.Anotherexampleofhisverseswhichhave

becomecommonsayingsis“Godmovesinmysteriousways,Hiswonderstoperform…”

JohnSteinbeck（1902–1968）:

AmericannovelistwhowasawardedtheNobelPrizeforLiteraturein1962.

TheGrapesofWrath（1939）isawell-known,longtragicnovelaboutanAmericanfamilyoffarmerswhoare

drivenofftheirlandinOklahomabysoilerosioninthefamous“dustbowl”era.TheyfleetoCaliforniato

whattheyhopewillbeabetterlife.ThebookwonthePulitzerPrizeandwasmadeintoafilmin1940.Other

well-knownnovelsincludeOfMiceandMen（1937）,CanneryRow（1945）,ThePearl（1947）,EastofEden

（1952）andanaccountofapersonalrediscoveryofAmerica,TravelswithCharlie（1962）.

JohnIrving（1942–）:

AmericannovelistandscreenwriterwhotaughtEnglishatcollegeandwasawrestling

coach.TheFourthHand（2001）isacomic-satiricalnovelaboutaTVjournalist,Wallington,whosehandis

seenbymillionsofviewerstobebittenoffbyacircuslion.Asurgeongiveshimahandtransplant（athird

hand）butthewifeofthedeaddonorwantstovisitherhusband’shandandhaveachildbyWallington,who

feelswherehisoriginalhandusedtobe（thefourthhand）.

AudreyNiffenegger（1963–）:

Americancollegeprofessorwhoteacheswritingtovisualartistsandshows

studentshowtomakebooksbyhand.Herfirstnovel,TheTimeTraveller’sWife（2003）–filmedin2009–isa

sciencefictionandromancebestselleraboutamanwhotravelsuncontrollablyintimetohisownhistoryand

visitshiswifeinherchildhood,youthandoldage.Hiswifeneedstocopewithhisabsencesanddangerous

lifewhilehetravels.Thestoryisametaphorfordistanceandmiscommunicationinfailedrelationships.

PaulTorday（1946–）:

aBritishbusinessmanwhoworkedforacompanythatrepairedship’senginesfor

manyyears.SalmonFishingintheYemen（2007）washisfirstnovel.Itisapoliticalsatireandcomedyabout

adullcivilservantwhobecomesinvolvedinaplantopopulatethedesertwithScottishsalmon.Politicians

managethemediato“spin”thisasaplantheysupportinordertodivertattentionfromproblemsinthe

MiddleEast.Therearethemesofcynicismandbelief,andEast-Westcultureclashes.

AleksandrSolzhenitsyn（1918–2008）:

aRussianwriterwhowasimprisonedinSovietlabourcampsin

1945;aftereightyears,hewasexiledtoKazakhstanandnotfreeduntil1956,whenhebecameateacher.

In1970hewasawardedtheNobelPrizeforLiteraturebutnotreceiveituntil1974.HewenttoGermany,

SwitzerlandandtheUSA,returningtoRussiain1994.Hisbestknownnovelswerebasedonhisexperiences

asaprisonerandinclude:

OneDayintheLifeofIvanDenisovich（1962）,CancerWard（1968）,TheGulag

Archipelago（1974–1978）.HislaterworkswereaboutRussianhistoryandidentity.

GrahamGreene（1904–1991）:

aBritishnovelist,short-storywriter,playwright,travelwriterandessayist.

Hewroteanumberofthrillers（hecalledthem

andthemembersoftheotherteamthrow（pitch）

theballand,whenitishasbeenhit,trytocatchitorgetitquicklytooneofthefourbases.Ifabatting

playercanhittheballhardenough,hecanrunroundallfourbasesbeforetheotherteamcangettheball

andthusscoremaximumpoints–withahomerun.Inthepassage,areallygoodbookisahomerun.

3Choosethebestanswertothequestions.

1WhyarewelikeAliceinwonderlandwhenwereadabook?

（a）Because,likeAlice,weoftenhaveaccidents.

（b）Becausereadingmakesusfeelyoungagain.

（c）Becausereadingopensthedoortonewexperiences.

（d）Becausebooksleadusintoadreamworld.

2Accordingtothewriter,whatistheadvantageofreadingoverreallife?

（a）Thereismorevarietyinbooksthaninreallife.

（b）Wecanexperiencevarietyanddifferencewithoutgoingoutofthehouse.

（c）Thepeoplewemeetinabookaremoreinterestingthanrealpeople.

（d）It’shardertomakesenseofreallifethanabook.

3WhatdothesevennovelslistedinParagraph4haveincommon?

（a）Theirtitlesstimulateimagination.

（b）TheyrepresentthebestwritingbyBritishandAmericannovelists.

（c）Theyhavebecomeclassics.

（d）Youcanfindalloftheminanylocallibrary.

4Atwhatmomentinourlivesdobooksbecomeimportant?

（a）Assoonaswestartreading.

（b）Whenwestartbuyingbookstofillourshelvesathome.

（c）Whenwestartlisteningtobedtimestories.

（d）Onlywhenwearereadyforbooks.

5WhatclaimdidMertonmakeaboutthepoemsofWilliamBlake?

（a）TheyweresimilartotheworksoftheGreekwritersandthinkers.

（b）Theyhelpedhimunderstandthemeaningoflife.

（c）Theycreatedasenseofconfusion.

（d）Theytaughthimalotaboutmodernculture.

6Whatismeantbyahome-runbook?

（a）Abookwhichissogoodyouareunabletoputitdown.

（b）Abookthatthewholefamilycanenjoy.

（c）Achildren’sbookthatisreadandappreciatedbyadults.

（d）Abookthathitshardlikeahomeruninthegameofbaseball.

Dealingwithunfamiliarwords

4Matchthewordsintheboxwiththeirdefinitions.

1tomakesomeonefeelthattheydonotbelongtoyourgroup（exclude）

2tofailtodosomethingthatyoushoulddo（neglect）

3tomentionsomethingasanexample（cite）

4tobestrongenoughnottobeharmedordestroyedbysomething（withstand）

5inmostsituationsorcases（normally）

6tobeabouttohappeninthefuture（await）

5CompletetheparagraphwiththecorrectformofthewordsinActivity4.

WhenIlivedinBritain,oneofmyfavouriteradioprogrammeswascalled“DesertIslandDiscs”.The

formatwasalwaysthesame:

Guestcelebritieswereaskedtoimaginetheyhadbeenwashedashoreona

desertisland,andhadtochooseninebooks–

（1）excludingtheBibleandShakespeare,whichtheywere

alreadyprovidedwith–totakewiththemtotheisland,tohelpthem

（2）withstandthephysicalandmental

isolation.IsometimesliketothinkwhichbooksIwouldtake.（3）Normally,likemostpeople,Idon’t

havemuchtimeforreading,andIcould（4）citedozensofbookswhichIhaveneverreadbutwhichI

wouldliketo.It’sanopportunityIhave（5）awaitedallmylife,infact.ButwhatwouldIchoose?

Mostly

novels,probably,butIwouldn’t（6）neglecttoincludeavolumeortwoofpoetry.Myfirstchoice,Ithink,

wouldbeTolstoy’sWarandPeace.I’veneverreadit,butI’mreadytobelievethatitisoneofthemost

marvelousbookseverwritten.

6Replacetheunderlinedwordswiththecorrectformofthewordsinthebox.

1Inagoodnovel,thewriterandreadercommunicatewitheachother.（interact）

2Ihavetofaceuptotheproblemsoonerorlater.（confront）

3IreadthebookinonesittingandMarydidtoo.（likewise）

4E.M.ForsterwasoneofthemostimportantandrespectedBritishnovelistsofthe20thcentury.

（influential）

5Doyoubelievethataworkofliteraturecanactuallyleadtosocialchanges?

（induce）

6RobertBurnswasagreatpoetwhowroteinthelanguagevarietyspokeninScotland.（dialect）

7TheTimeTraveller’sWifeisthestoryofamanwhohasastrangeandinexplicablegeneticdisorder.

（mysterious）

7Answerthequestionsaboutthewords.

1Ifyouhavehadadisconcertingexperience,doyoufeelabit（a）tired,or（b）confused?

2Ifyouhaveavistaofsomething,canyou（a）seeorimagineit,or（b）goandvisitit?

3Wouldyouexpressgreatwrathby（a）smilingatsomeone,or（b）shoutingatthem?

4Ifyoufeelenchantedbyabook,doyou（a）likeitalot,or（b）notlikeitatall?

5Isawriterwhoissupremelytalented（a）verygood,or（b）quitegoodathisjob?

6Ifreadingfostersanunderstandingofcertainproblems,doesit（a）helpunderstanding,or（b）preventit?

7Ifyouaredesperatelytryingtogetajob,areyou（a）tryingveryhardtogetit,or（b）caringlittle

whetheryougetitornot?

8Isasensation（a）acertainty,or（b）justafeeling?

Readingandinterpreting

8Check（¸）thewriter’smainpurposeinwritingthepassage.

1Toshowthereaderhowtoreadfiction.

2Tosuggestthatfictionismorepowerfulthannon-fiction.

√3Topersuadethereaderthatreadingcanbealife-changingexperience.

4Toclaimthatbooksprovidethemeaningtolife.

5Torecommendsomemajornovelstoread.

9Workinpairs.Lookatthestatementsfromthepassageanddiscussthequestions.

1…whenwepickupabookweareabouttoenteranewworld.

Doyouagreewiththisstatement?

Isthistrueofeverybook?

Iagreewiththisuptoapoint,butitisnottrueofeverybookbecausewithsomebooksyoumay

alreadybeveryfamiliarwiththeworldofthoseparticularbookssoalthoughyoumightreadthem,th