Unit One Growing up
interest in things related to English courses.
bore: make (sb.) feel tired and lose interest
Examples: The speaker went on and on, and the audience grew bored by his speech. associate (with): join or connect together; connect or bring in the mind
Examples: We associate Egypt with pyramids.
I can’t associate this gentle young woman with the radical political essays she has written.
Jim wished to forget everything associated with his former life.
3. I hated the assignments to turn out long, lifeless paragraphs that were agony for teachers to read and for me to write: I found it painful to write long, boring essays as required by teachers; neither did teachers enjoy what I wrote.
turn out: produce
Examples: New computers are soon outdated since newer models are turned out constantly.
American film studios turn out hundreds of films every year.
agony: The suffering of intense physical or mental pain.
His last agony was over. 他临死的挣扎已经过去了。
He was in an agony of remorse. 他处于极端悔恨之中
be in agony 苦恼不安
death agony (=agony of death)临死时的痛苦, 垂死的挣扎
in agony of pain在痛苦的挣扎中
in an agony of处在极端...状态中
T asks students to give a heading of paragraph one. (Baker’s feelings about English courses.)
T explains language points and key sentences in paragraph two:
1. When our class was assigned to Mr. Fleagle for third-year English I anticipated another cheerless year in that most tedious of subjects.: When it was decided that Mr. Fleagle would teach us English during my third year in high school, I expected the English course to be as boring as before.
assign:
be assigned to a new post 被派到新的工作岗
assign property to another 把财产转让给别人
assign one's failure to idleness 将失败归因于懒惰
assign homework 留家庭作业
anticipate: expect (usu. followed by gerund or that-clause)
Examples: The police had anticipated trouble from the soccer fans and were at the ground in large numbers.
They anticipate that deaths from AIDS will have doubled by 2002.
ardently anticipate殷切地期望
confidently anticipate满怀信心地期望
2. tedious: boring and lasting for a long time
Examples: The movie was so tedious that many viewers left before it was over.
a tedious story 冗长乏味的故事tedious work 乏味的工作
3. reputation: (an) opinion (about sb. or sth.) held by others
Examples: Premier Zhou has a high reputation as a statesman in the world.
a man of no reputation默默无闻的人; 没有声望的人
a person of reputation有信誉的人, 体面的人
build up a reputation博得名声
a blot [smirch, stain] on one’s reputation 名誉上的污点
(Because this title produced an extraordinary sequence of metal images.)
4)What did he think Mr. Fleagle would do if he were to write the essay the way he wanted?
Why?
(He’d surely give it a failing grade. Because to write the article as he wanted would violate all the rules of formal composition.)
T explains language points and key sentences in part two (50minutes)
1. I prepared for an unfruitful year with Mr. Fleagle and for a long time was not disap-
pointed: I expected that things wouldn’t improve with Mr. Fleagle as our En glish teacher, and for a long time I was right in my expectations.
(Note that here is a touch of irony.)
2. Late in the year we tackled the informal essay: Late in the year we learned how to write informal essays and practiced writing them.
tackle: try to deal with;
Everyone has his problem to tackle.
The policeman tackled the thief.
3. distribute: to deliver or pass out
distribute books among the students
be distributed into three classes
distribute sth. to 把某物分[配, 发]给...
distribute sth. among 把某物分[配, 发]给...
4. face up to: to accept and deal with an unpleasant fact or problem大胆面向:
She must face up to the fact that she is no longer young. 她必须正视她已不再年轻这一事实。
They’ll never offer you another job; you might as well face up to it.
5. scan: look through quickly
Examples: The banker scanned the financial section of a dozen newspapers over breakfast. 6. This title produced an extraordinary sequence of mental images: At the sight of the title I saw an unusual series of pictures in my mind’s eye.
sequence: connected line of events, ideas, etc.
Examples: A sequence of bad harvests forced some African countries to ask for foreign aid. image: a picture formed in the mind
Examples: Many pop stars try to improve their public image by participating in charity events.
7. Vivid memories came flooding back of a night in Belleville whe n…for
supper.
Vivid memories of a night in Belleville when---for supper came flooding back. (The long prepositional phrase if placed at the end of the sentence for the sake of balance.)
vivid: able to produce sharp clear pictures in the mind; lifelike
Examples: The birds were painted in such a vivid way that a cat jumped up to catch them. 8. recall: bring back to the mind; remember (usu. followed by noun/gerund, or that-clause)
Examples: I r ecognize the face but can’t recall her name.
She recalled that she had to see the doctor again that afternoon.
9. argument: disagreement, quarrel
Examples: Mary found that compromise was always the best policy when she had an argu-ment
10. put down: write down
Examples: The housekeeper put down the daily expenses in a little notebook.