Unit 8

1. TextⅠ On Buying Books Unit 8 郧阳师专英语系综合英语教研室

2. Useful Information The old saying :“To open a book is always helpful.”clearly shows us how good it is to read a book. Reading is a good thing, but we must pay great attention t the choice of books. It’s true that we can derive benefits from good books. As a matter of fact, books are always enclosed with profits, showing you the great wisdom of human. L.M Alcott ---That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed withprofits. Advantage of reading books. The future is a mystery and books help us build our own future. Your fate may be changed by books.“Knowledge changes fate.”Books teach us to learn life, truth, science and many other useful things. They increase our knowledge, broaden our minds and strengthen our character, enlarge our experience and do many other things that we can’t do without them. In other words, books are our good teachers and wise friends. This is the reason why our parents always encourage us to read more books.

3. Proverbs about books • ★ A book that remains shut is but a block. • 藏书不读如藏木。 • ★ Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. • 读书如择友，宜少而精。 • ★ Books are the ever-burning lamps of accumulated wisdom. • (--- G.W. Gurtis) • 书籍乃储积智慧之不灭明灯。(---葛迪斯) • ★ A good book is a best friend who never turns his back upon us. • 好书如挚友，永远不相负。 • ★ Only two classes of books are of universal appeal. The very best and the very worst.(----F.M.Ford) • 只有两类书有广泛的吸引力：真正的最好的和最坏的。 • ★ Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.(---F.Bacon) • 书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。 • ★ Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few; we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.(---John Ruskin) • 生命是短暂的，而其中寂静的时光更少，我们不应花其中的 宝贵时间去读无价值的书。

4. Type of the Text Argumentation essay tries to make the reader agree with its point of view and support it, to persuade him to change his mind or behaviors, and to approve a policy or a course of action that it proposes. The purpose of argumentation is to convince and persuade. Argumentation frequently makes use of the other three types of writing—description, narration, and above all exposition. Key features of argumentative writings: A good and effective argument has the following basic features: 1) It clearly defines the issue and has a clear position. 2) The argument is well reasoned and well developed. 3) It has an appropriate tone and credible persona. On Buying Books is a short, simple and straightforward piece of persuasive writing.

5. Writing Style • On Buying Books is a piece of argumentation. The style is informal and it suggests everyday talk. • Generic you is used a great deal to show the informal tone. The writer addresses the reader directly and does not miss the opportunity to give the reader his personal advice. • The first person pronoun is used to express the writer’s personal opinion and to make his subjective assertions. • A subjective point of view is adopted. The passage is written from the point of view of the book-lover who has a limited purse with unlimited interests rather than the bookseller who, of course, wishes to sell as many books in as short a time as possible.

6. Questions • 1.Do you visit bookshop often? What kinds of books attract you most? • 2.What is usually your purpose of visiting a bookshop, to buy books or just to browse among books? • 3.Which do you prefer to visit, a bookshop with open shelves or one with closed shelves? • 4.How much help do you want to get from a bookshop assistant?

7. Structure of the Text Para.1—describing how easy it is to become absorbed in even an unplanned visit to a bookshop. Para.2---giving reasons for such absorption and suggesting how the assistants should behave. Para.3---warning against the dangers of buying on impulse---that is, an unplanned purchase of something that has just happened to catch your eye. Para.4---telling an anecdote that illustrates how a perfect bookseller should behave. The theme or the subject (Namely, it is how time spent in a bookshop canbe most enjoyable.) is directly established at the beginning of the passage to draw the reader into the essay . The whole passage can be divided into four parts. Topic sentence in each paragraph is the first sentence. The main idea of each paragraph is the following.

8. Language Points ●…just to find shelter from a sudden shower. shelter: 1)[u]n. cover and protection 掩蔽 find /take shelter from 避难，躲避 give shelter to 庇护 be a shelter from 成为躲避…的处所 lend the shelter of one’s name and position to sb. 利用自己的名誉地位庇护某人 under the shelter of 在…的庇护下 [c]n.掩蔽，蔽身避处 an air-raid shelter a bus shelter ●Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your… Whatever:1) to introduce an adverbial clause of concession, followed by a verb which omitted “be”. e.g. The debt should be paid, whatever the cost. 2) pron. to introduce a nominal clause which is equal to “anything that…” e.g. The cat eats whatever people give or offer. 3) adj. any ,all of e.g. I make use of whatever ways my friends thought about to the problem.

9. 4) Used in negative sentences or in interrogative sentences. n.+whatever : 丝毫的，根本的 ●You soon become engrossed in some book or other, … Be (completely/thoroughly/totally) engrossed in: be absorbed in, be taken up (全神贯注于，热心于) ●…and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment 1)appointment: keep an appointment 守约 break/lose an appointment 失约 make an appointment with 与人约会/定 cancel an appointment 取消约会 have an appointment 有约会 by appointment 依照约会 fix/fulfill an appointment 践约/守约 2) the past participle: used as fronting attributive of the nouns A..表示已完成的被动动作或已完成的主动动作。 e.g. cheated kid 受骗的小孩 escaped workers逃工 B.不表示动作完成与否，而只是表示被动。 e.g. guided missile导弹 so-called achievements所谓的成就 ●You can wander round such places to your heart’s content. To one’s heart’s content:as much as one likes 尽情地 e.g. He dare not play to his heart’s content for fear that he would fail his

10. final exam. ●—ing participle:往往表被修饰词所发出的动作，即分词动作的逻辑主语是它 所修饰的词。　　 Verbal noun:所修饰词不能充当其逻辑主语，只说明名词的特性、功能。 e.g. a sleeping (-ing participle) girl: a girl who is sleeping a sleeping (verbal noun) bag: a bag for sleeping. ●…，the assistant should retire discreetly and look as if … retire:vi.move back;move away;seekshelter retire to private life隐居 retire to one’s own room退到自己的房间 retire before enemy　由敌前撤退 ●…, however, happened to be so well illustrated … illustrate: v. to add picture to sth. written 加上插图/图解 In the text, it means" make the meaning of sth. clearer by giving related examples.(举例说明；例证)” illustration: n.插图，例证 ●run up (bills/debts/account/overdraft)等连用:to make /become greater or larger (使变大，使增大)

11. ●indulge: yield to , gratify (满足，迁就) be indulged in : 沉溺于（不好/有害的事情） indulgent: a. ●beckon: signal or summon as by nodding or waving 向…示意 beckon to sb. // Beckon sb. to do sth. ●tell sb. off: rebuke severely; reprimand (严厉指责，谴责) Telling-off: n. ●Apart fromrunning up a huge account,… apart from: except for; as well as; in addition to; besides e.g. This is a good composition, apart from a few misspelling. Note: except for:若介宾与其前面所提到的总体不属于同类事物，表“不包括，除…之外，” 反之，我们用“except”表“除…外还有” run up: increase, add to the amount of, grow quickly in amount e.g. She is a well-dressed woman and used to run up a big bill at store department. At the end of each month, my brother always finds that he has run up a huge account at college. ●“I put it there in case anyone was tempted to buy it,” he said. In case—If it should happen that (someone might be…) e.g. I left a message to my husband in case he would worry about me. He closed the windows in case his younger sister caught a bad cold.

12. Discussion 1. Are Second-hand Bookshops Worth Visiting? 2. Are you satisfied with the service in local bookshops?

13. Write an argument entitled by On Borrowing Books. You’d better imitate Text I On Buying Books. You are asked to write at least 150-500 words within one hour. Logic thought and fluent expression should be considered. Homework