Period 3-4: Text Analysis(I)

I. Structure analysis

Theme: The author tells us to take thinking as a hobby, something we should all enjoy doing for its own sake. In other words we must all have intellectual curiosity.

The author divides thinking into three grades. Grade-three thinking is the lowest level, which is actually not thinking at all but a combination of ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy, and the author thinks that unfortunately most of us belong to this category. Grade-two thinking is a step further. It enables us to detect contradictions in grade-three thinkers' beliefs, but has nothing positive to replace them. Therefore we need to go still further and strive to find thetruth.

Despite the serious nature of the subject, the essay is written with a great sense of humor. Theauthor's purpose is to tell us how important it is to learn to think, but he does not do it in a straight lecture. Instead, he tries to achieve this aim by making the unthinking people appear ignorant, biased, self-contradictory, hypocritical, and generally silly and ridiculous. Through hilarious anecdotes, he laughs at the headmaster and Mr Houghton, ridicules British and American politicians and teases his pretty but dumb girl friend Ruth. But he also laughs at himself as the disintegrated boy at scbool, and for this he uses the first person narration. It should be noted that self-mockery is a very important kind of humor and can have an unusually powerful effect.

 

I. Introduction: There are three kinds of thinking and I myself could not think at all. (para. 1)

II. The three grades of thinking (paras. 2-32)

A. Grade-three thinking: the writer’s headmaster being an example (paras. 2-24)

1. The headmaster’s criticismof the writer for being unable to think (paras. 2- 14)

2. The writer's observation of his teachers to find out about thought (paras. 15- 21)

3. The writer's conclusion about grade-three thinking: feeling rather than thought, full of unconscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy (paras. 22-24)

B. Grade-twothinking (paras. 25-29)

1. Grade-two thinking: the detection of contradictions but unable to offer anything constructive(para. 25)

2. A typical grade-two thinker: the writer in his youth(paras. 26-28) .

3. The writer's conclusion about grade-two thinking (para.29)

C. Grade-onethinking (paras. 30-32)

1. Grade-one thinkers, aim at finding truth (para. 30)

2. The writer's wish to become a grade-one thinker(paras. 31- 32)

III. Condusion: Conversion of the writer into a Grade-one thinker (paras. 33-35).

 

II. Comprehension questions:

1. Section I (Para. 1 – Para. 15): At the headmaster’s office

     Why was he a frequent visitor to the headmaster’s study?

     What would he do when he found himself in a penal position before the headmaster’sdesk?

     What would he see when he was demanded to look up?

     How did he describe the three statuettes?

     Did he change his idea later?

     Why couldn’t he communicate with the headmaster?  

     What was the conclusion he came to in the end?  

     Can you briefly introduce the two characters: the headmaster & the boy?

2. Section II (Para. 16 – 24): Grade-three Thinking

     What is grade-three thinking?

     How did the author deal with grade-three thinkers at first?

     Did he changed his idea about this group of people later? What do you think happened with his encounter with the pious lady?

     What kind of person was Mr. Houghton?       

What he claimed	What he did
Telling me to  think  He had thought a  bit himself.  Always talking  about the clean life and the virtues of fresh air.  High-minded  monologues about the good life, sexless and full of duty.	Heavy drinking  Health ruined  Unaccustomed to  fresh air  Watching girls  out of sight  Settled  detestation of France & America

3. Section III (Para. 25 – 29): Grade-two thinking

     What is grade-two thinking?

     What kind of follies and contradictions did the author detect?

     What did he realize after his failed romance with Ruth?

4. Section IV (Para. 30 – 35): Grade-one thinking

     Why did the author decide to become a grade-one thinker?

     What were the benefits and costs of his grade-one thinking?

     What happened to his hobby in the end?