Unit 1 Another School Year ---What For?
I. Warming-up: Discussion
l Are you enjoying your staying in the university? Why or why not?
l What is the purpose of a university or college?
l What are the advantages and disadvantages of formal education at school?
Suggested Answers:
Advantages:
l a systematic mastery of the knowledge required by the public education;
l an access to an atmosphere which is full of competition;
l opportunities of being together with those with whom you share the similar experience
l teachers are professionals in the field of education and can provide with what we expect from them;
……
Disadvantages:
l formal education pays much attention to similarity rather than individuality;
l those with special talents cannot exert (put to use) their potentiality at a formal school;
……
Ⅱ. Pre-class Work 1: Read the text and answer: What is the main idea of the text? (Do not refer to the notes, dictionaries or the glossary)
Ⅲ. Pre-class Work 2: Learn the new words and expressions listed on pages 8, 9 and 10.
Ⅳ. Pre-class Work 3: Read through the text, and then fill in the blanks in the sentences to see whether you have grasped the main ideas of the article.
l Get the students to read the text.
l Blanks filling
l Discussion and explanation
Ⅴ. Background Knowledge Introduction: The author and Proper Names
About the author: John Ciardi
John Ciardi (/ˈtʃɑrdiː/) was born in 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts, the child of Italian immigrants. He attended Bates College and Tufts College (now University) and received his master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1939. He is the author of more than forty volumes of poetry, among them The Collected Poems of John Ciardi (University of Arkansas Press, 1997), The Birds of Pompeii (1985), The Little That Is All (1974), Person to Person (1964), and Other Skies (1947).
Ciardi is perhaps best known for How Does a Poem Mean? (1959), which became a standard text for college and high school poetry courses. He also wrote an acclaimed translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, was a regular commentator on National Public Radio, and served as editor of Saturday Review for many years. He began his career teaching English at the University of Kansas City, and, after serving a three-year term in the Air Force, went on to teach at Harvard University in 1946. He remained at Harvard as the Briggs-Copeland Instructor in English until 1953, when he accepted a position at Rutgers University.
In 1961, Ciardi broke with the educational establishment to devote himself to his own literary endeavors, although he remained an active and visible member of the academic community through lectures, poetry readings, and appearances on educational television. He began writing children's poetry as a way of getting his own children interested in reading. These works, especially I Met a Man Who Sang the Sillies (1961), became tremendously popular. Ciardi was a vocal proponent of exposing poetry to mass audiences, and he made a conscientious effort to address the average reader through much of his work without sacrificing complexity or formal intricacy. His verse, which often eschewed contemporary poetic trends and the "elevated" themes Ciardi associated with romantic and sentimental sensibilities, gained a large public following.
Ciardi's awards and honors include a grant from The Fund for the Advancement of Education and the Prix de Rome from The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died of a heart attack in 1986 in Edison, New Jersey, but not before composing his own epitaph: "Here, time concurring (and it does); / Lies Ciardi. If no kingdom come, / A kingdom was. Such as it was / This one beside it is a slum."
A Selected Bibliography (Poetry: A Genesis (1967); Homeward to America (1940); Live Another Da (1949)
The Birds of Pompeii (1985)
Some proper names:
1． Aristotle
Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and the author of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics, he profoundly influenced Western thought. In his philosophical system theory follows empirical observation and logic, based on the syllogism, is the essential method of rational inquiry.
亚里士多德：希腊哲学家。柏拉图的学生，亚历山大大帝的教师，他的著述论及逻辑学，形而上学，伦理学，自然科学，政治学和诗学，对西方思想产生了深远影响，在其哲学体系里，理论服从实地观察和逻辑，以三段论为基础，基本上是理性研究的理论方法
German composer and organist of the late baroque period. Among the greatest composers in history, he wrote more than 200 cantatas, the Saint Matthew Passion (1729), the Mass in B minor (1733-1738), orchestral works such as the six Brandenburg Concertos, and numerous works for organ, harpsichord, other solo instruments, and chamber ensembles. Four of his children became noted musicians: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784); Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), an important figure in the development of the symphony; Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795); and Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782).
巴赫，约翰·塞巴斯蒂安：(1685-1750) 巴洛克时代晚期的德国作曲家和管风琴家。是历史上最伟大的作曲家之一。他写了200多首大清唱剧《马太受难曲》 （1729年），B小调弥撒曲（1733-1738年），管弦乐作品如六首 《勃兰登堡协奏曲》 和大量管风琴、拨弦古钢琴以及其它独奏乐器作品。他的四个孩子也成了著名的音乐家： 韦尔海姆·弗莱德曼·巴赫 （1710-1784年）； 卡尔·菲利浦·伊曼纽·巴赫 （1714-1788年），交响乐发展中的重要人物； 约翰·克里斯朵夫·弗雷德里奇·巴赫 （1732-1795年）；以及 约翰·克里斯蒂安·巴赫 （1735-1782年）
3． Chaucer
English poet regarded as the greatest literary figure of medieval England. His works includeThe Book of the Duchess (1369), Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1385), and his masterwork, The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400).
乔叟，杰弗里：(1340?-1400) 英国诗人，被认为是中世纪英国最伟大的文学家。他的作品包括《公爵夫人之书》 （1369年）， 《特洛伊拉斯和克莱希斯》 （C.1385年）以及他的杰作 《坎特伯雷故事集》 （1387-1400年）
4． Einstein
German-born American theoretical physicist whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. He won a 1921 Nobel Prize for his explanation of the photoelectric effect.
爱因斯坦，阿尔贝特：(1879-1955) 德裔美国理论物理学家，他创立的狭义和广义相对论使现代关于时间和时间性质的想法发生突破性进展并给原子能的利用提供了理论基础。 因其对光电效应的解释获1921年诺贝尔奖
5． Homer
Greek epic poet. Two of the greatest works in Western literature, theIliad and the Odyssey, are attributed to him.
荷马：希腊史诗作者创作了西方文学最伟大的两部作品《伊利亚特》 和 《奥德赛》
6． Shakespeare
English playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. His plays, many of which were performed at the Globe Theatre in London, include historical works, such asRichard II, comedies, including Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It, and tragedies, such as Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. He also composed 154 sonnets. The earliest collected edition of his plays, the First Folio, contained 36 plays and was published posthumously (1623).
莎士比亚，威廉：(1564-1616) 英国戏剧家和诗人，他的作品被认为是英语文学作品中最伟大的戏剧，其中大多在伦敦的全球戏院演出过，包括历史作品，例如《理查德二世》 ；喜剧包括 《无事自扰》 和 《如愿》 ；悲剧包括 《哈姆雷特》 、 《奥赛罗》 和 《李尔王》 。他还作过154首十四行诗。他最早的戏剧集子，第一对开本，包含了36个戏剧，并在他死后出版(1623年）
7． Virgil
Roman poet. His greatest work is the epic poem Aeneid, which tells of the wanderings of Aeneas after the sack of Troy.
维吉尔：罗马诗人。他最伟大的史诗《埃涅阿斯纪》 讲述了埃涅阿斯在特洛伊陷落后的流浪经历
VI. Detailed study of the text
1. Let me tell you one of the earliest disasters in my career as a teacher.
Let me tell you something that happened when I first became a teacher. It was one of the exasperating experiences in the first days of my teaching career.
The word “disaster” often means “an unexpected event such as a very bad accident, a flood or a fire that kills a lot of people or causes a lot of damage”. Here, used informally, it means “a complete failure”. The writer exaggerates the situation and uses the word humorously.
2. … I was fresh out of graduate school starting my first semester at the University of Kansa city.
… I had just completed my graduate studies and began teaching at the University of Kansas City.
Be fresh out of/from sth: to have just come from a particular place; to have just had a particular experience.
3. Part of the student body was a beanpole with hair on top who came into my class, sat down, folded his arms, and looked at me as if to say “all right, teach me something”.
The sentence tells us what an unfavorable impression the student left on the writer the first day he came to class. First, he was referred to as “ a beanpole with hair on top”. Also, his manners irritated the writer: instead of listening attentively and taking notes, he behaved as if he had paid to watch a show of some sort and was waiting to be entertained.
The word “beanpole” means “a thin person”.
Here the writer deliberately evokes a “beanpole”, a pole farmers use as a support in vegetable gardens.
Part of the student body: one of the students
The student body: all the students of the university
Body: a group of people who work or act together, often for an official purpose, or who are connected in some other way.
A law-making body 立法机构
The governing body of the university; 大学管理机构
4. two weeks later we started Hamlet
Obviously, the writer was teaching a course in Shakespeare. In such a course, generally five of Shakespeare’s plays are studied, Hamlet generally included.
5. Three weeks later he came into my office with his hands on his hips. “look,” he said, “I came here to be a pharmacist. Why do I have to read this stuff?”
Cultural Notes:
In American universities, an instructor has office hours during which students taking the course can go and ask questions or discuss term papers with him/her.
College students in the United States are required to take a number of courses in areas other than their major. That was why the pharmacy major took a course in literature.
With his hands on his hips: This shows that the student wasn’t carrying anything, and what’s more, this business-minded young man came to challenge his instructor, like customers questioning about the goods or service they have bought.
6. New as I was to the faculty, I could have told this specimen a number of things.
Though I was a new teacher, I knew I could tell him what a university was for, but I didn’t.
(我虽然经验不多)也讲得出这些道理（但我没有讲）
In the remaining part of the paragraph, the writer tells us what he could but did not say to the student.
Note that the writer now referred to the student as a specimen in a humorous way, meaning he was typical of a type of students who came to a university just to get training for a career, as if he were typical of a certain race of animals.
New to sth. Not yet familiar with sth. Because you have only just started, arrived, etc.
7. I could have pointed out that he had enrolled, not in a drugstore-mechanics school, but in a college and that at the end of his course meant to reach for a scroll that read Bachelor of Science.
I could have told him that he was now not getting training for a job in technical school but doing a B.S. at a university.
Mean to do sth: to intend to do sth.
Reach for sth: to try to obtain sth.
Read Bachelor of Science: to have Bachelor of Science written on the scroll.
8. It would certify that he had specialized in pharmacy, but it would further certify that he had been exposed to some of the ideas mankind has generates within its history.
The B.S certificate would be an official proof that the holder had special knowledge of pharmacy, but it would also be a good proof that he/she had learned / absorbed some profound ideas of the past.
Certify that…: to state officially, especially in writing that…
This is to certify that Ms. Li worked for IBM Beijing Office from January 1999 to June 2000.
Specialize in: to limit all or most of one’s study, business, etc. to a particular activity or subject,
Professor Li specializes in American drama.
My sister specializes in contract law.
Generate: to produce or create
They have a large body of young people who are capable of generating new ideas.
education is used in a broad sense, not only the process of acquiring knowledge and developing skills, but also that of improving the mind.
Enroll: to arrange for yourself or somebody else to officially join a course, school, etc.
He is enrolled in a two-month course for TOEFL.
What is the difference between training and education, according to the writer?
Training is preparation for a job, or a career, such as the training in a certain skill. Education, on the other hand, is learning to develop one’s mental and moral power.
10. I could…. For it to matter.
I didn’t actually say all this to him, because I didn’t think he would stay at college very long, so it wouldn’t be important whether or not he knew what university education was for.
Be around: to be present in a place; available.
Matter to sb: to be important or have an important effect on sb. / sth.
It doesn’t matter whether or not you agree. My mind is made up.
Does it matter if I write in pencil?
11. “For the rest of your life”…. Twenty-four hours.
Average out to: to come to an average or ordinary level or standard.
Meals at the University average out to about 10 yuan per day.
The couple’s income averages out to 5000 yuan a month.
12. but the average will tend to hold.
To be or remain in a certain state; continue
What he said still holds / holds good. ( is true) 他说的话依然有效。
Can the good whether hold? 这样好的天气还会继续下去么？
13. … be usefully employed: to spend
The old lady was busily employed in knitting sweaters for her grandchildren.
14. You will see to it that…. Of your incompetence.
You have to take responsibility for the work you do. If you’re a pharmacist, you should make sure that aspirin is not mixed with poisonous chemicals. As a farmer, you shouldn’t get bulls out of control. If you become a lawyer, you should make sure an innocent person is not sentenced to death because you lack adequate legal knowledge and skill to defend your client.
See to it: to make sure that:
Can you see to it that all the invitations are delivered today?
I’ll see to it that everything is ready before the guests arrive.
Go to the electric chair: (=electrocute处电刑) to be punished by being killed on the electric chair, that is, by passing electricity through the body.
15. Along with everything else, they will probably be what puts food on your table, supports your wife, and rear your children.
In addition to all other things (such as satisfaction) these professions offer, they provide you with a living so that you can support a family--- wife and children.
Along with: in addition to sb / sth; in the same way as sb. / sth.
16. They will be your income, and may it always suffice.
They: the skills It: your income
May it always suffice: I hope your income will always be enough. (In other words, the writer hopes that the skills he learns at college will always provide him and his family with a living>
17. … what do you do with those other eight hours?
Do with: deal with
They do not know what to do with all the garbage here.
What shall we do with the children when we’re away?
He is a person who is difficult to deal with. (get along with)
We can’t do with such carelessness. (bear)
18. Will the children ever be exposed to a reasonably penetrating idea at home?
Will your children ever hear you talk about something profound at home?
Be exposed to: if you are exposed to sth, you are put in a situation in which you might be influenced by it.
Studying abroad, he was exposed to a new way of life.
To learn more about the world we live in, we should be exposed to different cultures.
Reasonably: to a degree that is fairly good but not very good , e.g.
She wants to find a place reasonably close to her university.
Our university is not one of the top ten, but reasonably well known both at home and abroad.
Penetrating idea: one that requires the ability of understanding clearly and deeply
19. Will you be presiding over a family that maintains some contact with the great democratic intellect?
Will you be head of a family who brings up the kids in a democratic spirit?
Preside over: to be in charge or to control a meeting or an event, here used humorously
Maintain contact with: to keep in touch with, here used figuratively
The great democratic intellect: the level of ideas possible in a society based on the belief that all people are equal politically or socially
20. Will there be book in the house?
Will you be reading serious books (not just popular fiction)?
21. Will there be a painting a reasonably sensitive man can look at without shuddering?
What kind of pictures will you put up in your house? Will you have a painting in your house that shows some taste on your part?
22. this particular pest pest: (informal) an annoying person or a thing
23. Me, I’m out to make money.
Be out to do sth. / for sth.: to be trying to get or do sth
The company is out to break into the European market.
Look out for such end-of-the-year sales. These shops are out to trick you into buying what you don’t need.
24. “I hope you make a lot of it,” I told him, “because you’re going to be badly stuck for something to do when you’re not signing checks.”
Note the sarcastic tone of the writer. In spite of what he had said, the student didn’t seem to be convinced. What the writer meant here is something like this: If you don’t have any goal in life apart from making money to satisfy your desire for material riches, go ahead and make a lot of it.
Be stuck for sth: not to know what to do in a particular situation
In the middle of the speech, he was stuck for words ( he didn’t know how to go on)
Signing checks: paying for what you’ve bought by signing checks
25. … to put you in touch with what the best human minds have thought.
… to expose you to / make you understand the ideas, opinions and thinking of the best philosophers, scientists, writers and artists in human history.
26. If you have no time for Shakespeare, for a basic look at philosophy, for the continuity of the fine arts, for that lesson of man’s development we call history – then you have no business being in college.
If you don’t want to improve your mind and broaden your horizon by studying a little literature, philosophy and the fine arts and history, you shouldn’t be studying here at college.
That lesson of man’s development we call history: 我们称之为历史的人类发展过程中有教育意义的经历。Here, “that lesson of man’s development” is the object of the verb “call”; “history” is an objective complement.
Lesson: an experience which acts as a warning to you or an example from which you should learn 能给人以警戒，或使人从中获取教训的经历。
Man: (singular) the human race
Man lives in almost all parts of the world.
Man’s knowledge of nature continues to grow.
This is the greatest of discoveries known to man.
Have no business doing sth. / have no business to do sth
To have no right to do sth, shouldn’t have been / be doing sth.
You’ve no business telling me what to do.
He has no business criticizing her about her make-up.
She has no business reading your mail.
31. You are on your way to being that new species of mechanized savage, the push-button Neanderthal.
You will soon become an uneducated, ignorant person who can only work machines and operate mechanical equipment ( one who doesn’t know anything about literature, music, the fine arts, culture in general, etc.)
On the / one’s way to: on the point of experiencing or achieving
She is on the way to becoming a full professor.
That bright young man is on his way to being the sales manager of the company.
Nancy is well on her way to a nervous breakdown.
New species of mechanized savage: new type of humans who are intellectually simple and not developed and who can only work machines
The push-button Neanderthal: an uneducated, ignorant person who can only use / operate machines by pushing the buttons
32. Our colleges inevitably graduate a number of such life forms, but it cannot be said that they went to college: rather the college went through them – without making contact.
A number of such push-button savages get college degrees. We cannot help that. But even with their degrees, we can’t say that these people have received a proper college education. It is more accrate to say that they come through college without learning anything.
Life forms: used sarcastically, meaning these people are living creatures, but can’t think and reason
Go through (a person) (like a dose of salts): (of food, etc,) to be quickly excreted / to pass through the body as waste matter without being digested: here, used figuratively and sarcastically.
33. No one gets to be a human being unaided.
No one can grow up to be a civilized person without the help of others.
Get to be / to do sth: to reach the point at which you are, feel, know, etc. sth.
Once you get to know her better, you’ll realize she is compassionate at heart.
His absent-minded is getting to be a big problem.
34. there is not time enough in a single lifetime to invent for oneself everything one needs to know in order to be a civilized human.
To become a civilized person, you need to acquire the knowledge and develop the culture a civilized society needs. One lifetime is too short to create an environment for him to become civilized.
A single lifetime: the time during which a person is alive
A civilized human: a person who is pleasant, charming and without roughness of manner 有素养的人
35. You pass the great stone halls of, say, M.I.T., and there cut into the stone are the names of the scientists.
If you pass the great stone hall of a university, M.I.T (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for example, you’ll see the names of the scientists cut into the stone.
Say: for example
There cut into the stone are the names of the scientists: the names of scientist are carved in stone as memorials.
36. The chances are that few, if any, of you will leave your names to be cut into those stones. …those great scholars of the past.
Only very few, if any at all, of you will turn out to be great scientists and have your names cut into those stones. But if you were attentive enough in your high school physics class, any of you knows more about physics than many of those scientists whose names are cut into the stones.
(the) chances are: it is likely
37. You know more because they left you what they knew, because you can start
from what the past learned for you.
You know more about physics not because you’re more talented than those scholars of the past, but because they left their knowledge to you, and because everything you first learn is what people learnt in the past. In other words, all human knowledge has been accumulated by people living in the past and has been passed onto us. You learn all this before you do any original research, or any research of your own.
What the past learned for you: what people in the past learned and passed on to you
38. and as this is true of the techniques of mankind, so it is true of mankind’s spiritual resources.
This is the way we learn and develop the techniques of mankind. This is also how we inherit and advance mankind’s spiritual resources.人类技术的发展是如此，人类精神财富的积累也是如此。
Be true of ( a person or a situation): to apply to
It’s a wonderful opera. The music is superb. The same is true of the acting.
The young tend to look ahead while the old like to look back upon the past. This is true of all nations.
39. When you have read a book, you added to your human experience.
When you have read a book, you have enriched your life.
Add to: to increase
40. Read Homer and your mind includes a piece of Homer’s mind.
When you read Homer’s works, you are sure to learn some of his insights.
读一读荷马的史诗，你的头脑里就有了荷马的一些思想。
41. Through books you can acquire at least fragments of the mind and experience of Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare --- the list is endless.
Through reading their books, you can at least learn a bit of the thinking and experience of such literary giants as Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare --- there have been so many great thinkers and writers that it’s impossible to list them all here.
通过书，你至少能获得维吉尔、但丁、莎士比亚等无数前人的一点点思想的火花。
42. For a great book is necessarily a gift; it offers you a life you have not the time to live yourself, and it takes you into a world you have not the time to travel in literal time.
Because a great book is something given to us to enrich our lives. It presents to you a kind of life you don’t have a chance to experience yourself, and it describes for you places you don’t have time to visit actually.
In literal time: in reality
43. A civilized mind is, in essence, one that contains many such lives and many such worlds.
Basically, a cultured and educated person should know about such great variety of lives and worlds.
In essence: basically, by nature
He is in essence an outgoing person.
In essence they were asking for the impossible.
44. If you are too much in a hurry, or too arrogantly proud of your own limitations, to accept as a gift to your humanity some pieces of the minds of Aristotle, or Chaucer, or Einstein, you are neither a developed human nor a useful citizen of a democracy.
如果你急着去赚钱，或是对自己的物质甚为得意，从而把亚里士多德或乔叟或爱因斯坦的思想---这个提高你的品德修养的礼物拒之门外，那么你既不是一个发展到成熟阶段的人，也不是一个民主社会有用的成员。
If you are too much in a hurry: If you are too anxious to make money
(or if you are) too arrogantly proud of your own limitations: (or if you are) too ignorant to see your limitations
accept as a gift… Einstein: to accept some of the thinking of … Einstein as something that will help cultivate in you the quality of being a human.
45. I speak, I’m sure, for the faculty of the liberal arts college and for the faculties of the specialized schools as well,…
My remarks apply to … and the same is true of…
Liberal arts: subjects of study that develop students’ general knowledge and ability to think, rather than their technical skills
46. … when I say that a university has no real existence and no real purpose except as it succeeds in putting you in touch , both as specialists and as humans, with those human minds your human mind needs to include.
要是一所大学不能使你们学生，无论作为专门人才还是普通人，去接触那些你们的头脑应该有的那些大师们的思想，那么，这所大学就没有直正的办学宗旨，也就没有存在的必要了。（我说的这番话适用于……）
Both as specialists and as humans: as persons who have specialized and are trained in a certain subject or skill and as civilized creatures and thinking animals
47. The faculty, by its very existence, says implicitly: “We have been aided by many people, and by many books, in our attempt to make ourselves some sort of storehouse of human experience.”
The existence of the faculty of the liberal arts college itself says in an implied way: “ In our effort to make our faculty a place where our students can experience a variety of life they don’t have time to live themselves, we get a lot of help from many people and books, present and past…”
49. “We are here to make available to you, as best we can, that expertise.”
“Our role/ job/ task is to do our best to provide such knowledge for you ( to become both specialists and civilized humans).”
(be) here to do sth.: used to show your role in a situation, e.g.
We’re all here to help you.
VII. Word Study
1. Verbal affixies
-ize/ise
l to cause to be; to make; to become
modernize / stablize / realize / crystalize / materialize / standardize / computerize /
idealize / capitalize
l to put into stated place
hospitalize / centralize / socialize
-fy
l to cause to be
purify / simplify / clarify / justify / notify / simplify / classify identify / terrify / qualify /
terrify
-en
l to become
darken / weaken / blacken / sadden
l to be made of
wooden / golden / woolen
2. body / faculty / staff
body
l whole physical structure of a human being or an animal; main part of a human body
dead body, a strong body
l main part of sth
the body of a ship the body of the theater
the main body of the book
object
heavenly bodies, a foreign body
group of people working or acting as a unit
a body of troops a body of supporters
a legislative body a government body
the student body the governing body
the school body an elected body
Faculty
l any of the power s of the body or mind
the faculty of the
sight mental faculties
l department or group of related departments in a university
the Faculty of Law
the Faculty of Science
l the whole teaching staff in one of the departments or in the whole university
The entire faculty of the university will attend the meeting.
Staff (usu. sing)
l group of assistants working together in a business, etc
responsible to a manager or a person in authority.
the hotel staff the shop staff
We need more staff in the office.
l Those people doing administrative work
a head teacher and her staff (校长及全体教师）
The school staff are expected to supervise school meals.
3. testify / justify / verify / Certify
l testify declare as a witness, esp in court; give evidence（提供证据，作证）
Two witnesses testified against her and one in her favor.
l justify show that sth / sb is right, reasonable or just （表明或证明某人或某事是正当的，有理的或公正的）
You shouldn’t attempt to justify yourself
They found it hard to justify their son’s giving up a secure well-paid job.
l verify to check; to make sure sth is true or accurate（证实，核查）
The computer verified the data was loaded correctly.
l certify to declare formally, esp in writing or on a printed document （尤指书面证明）
He certified it was his wife’s handwriting.
4. say / speak / talk / tell / converse
say 其宾语通常是所说的话的内容， He hasn’t said that he is leaving.
或用以表达出直接引语He said, “Good night”, and went to bed.
speak 用途较广，可指说或说话
The baby is learning to speak. Please don’t speak with your mouth full of food.
还可指发言或演讲，通常是一人讲大家听I’d like to speak with you about my idea.
We have invited her to speak on American politics.
还可用来指会说或能够用某种语言说话。He speaks several languages.
talk 通常用来指两人或两人以上相互交谈，含着有话对象的意思, 往往只调侃或闲聊
We sat in the bar and talked for hours
tell 强调一人提供信息，其他人接受信息
She told him to hurry up. She told me nothing about herself.
converse 谈话交谈，更正式It is a pleasure to converse with you.
It is difficult to converse with people who do not speak your language.
5. rather / fairly / quite / pretty
几个副词均可以表示“适度地”，“在某种程度上”，或“不很”意思，常用于改变所修饰的形容词或副词的分量。
l rather
既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。与褒义词连用时，听起来令人心情愉悦；
rather good play, rather poor work
与贬义词或中性词连用时，表示不赞成或不满意。
rather hot, rather small
可与比较级或too连用
The house is rather bigger than we thought.
Those shoes are rather too small.
与a/an + adj. + n.连用时，可置于a / an 之前。
a rather nice day, a rather pretty woman
l fairly 词义最弱，多与褒义词连用
fairly tidy / friendly
l quite 和rather一样，在与a/an + adj. + n.连用时，可置于a / an 之前。
A quite nice guy, a quite promising future
l pretty
词义最强也最通俗，但词义的强弱受语调影响较大。
A pretty simple question, a pretty ugly man
和rather一样既可与褒义词连用也可与贬义词连用。与褒义词连用时，听起来令人心情愉悦；
6. sensitive / sensible
l sensible reasonable; having or showing good sense
a sensible person
a sensible suggestion
l sensitive easily hurt, damaged, affected, offended, upset
a sensitive nerve heat-sensitive
a sensitive girl sensitive to criticism
VIII. Text Analysis
1. Structure
l Part I (para.1 – 8): describes the writer’s encounter with one of his students.
l Part II (para. 9 – 14): restates what the writer still believes to be the purpose of a university: putting its students in touch with the best civilizations the human race has created.
2. Difficult Sentences
l New as I was to the faculty, I could have told this specimen a number of things.
Though I was a new teacher, I knew I could tell him what a university was for, but I couldn’t.
specimen: a person who is unusual in some way. Here it refers to the student who challenges the teacher.
l You will see to it that the cyanide stays out of the aspirin, that the bull doesn’t jump the fence, or that your client doesn’t go to the electric chair as a result of your incompetence.
You have to take responsibility for the work you do. If you’re a pharmacist, you should make sure that aspirin is not mixed with poisonous chemicals. As an engineer, you shouldn’t get things out of control. If you become a lawyer, you should make sure an innocent person is not sentenced to death because you lack adequate legal knowledge and skill to defend your client.
see to it that: to make sure that
the bull Jumps the fence: to make trouble; to make out of control.
go to the electric chair: to be sentenced to death
l They will be your income, and may it always suffice.
Those professional skills will be rewarding for your career and we hope that there may always be opportunities of further learning.
May: in formal English, “may” is used to express a hope or wish
May you happy new year.
May you a happy holiday.
May peace finally prevail.
May our country be prosperous and our people happy.
You are on your way to being that new species of mechanized savage, the push-button Neanderthal.
You will soon become an uneducated, ignorant person who can only work machines and operate mechanical equipment.
on one’s way to: on the point of experiencing or achieving
new species of mechanized savage: new types of humans who are intellectually simple and not developed and who can only work machines
The push-button Neanderthal: an uneducated, ignorant person who can only use / operate machines by pushing the button.
IX. Exercises: More Work on the Text
l List the useful phrases and expressions
l Grammar work on Page 21,22
l Written work: My understanding of the purpose of a university
