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Lesson One. Thinking as a Hobby. By William Golding. Life Story of the Author. William Golding (1911-1993), a British writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, and who is known especially for his novel Lord of the Flies . .
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Lesson One Thinking as a Hobby By William Golding
Life Story of the Author • William Golding (1911-1993), a British writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, and who is known especially for his novel Lord of the Flies.
When William Golding (1911-1993) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983, the Nobel Foundation cited:"his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today".
Golding was born in Cornwall and educated at Brasenose College, Oxford.
Before WWII, he worked as a writer, actor, and producer with small theatre companies and as a teacher. William Golding acted in Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale
A Brief Introduction to the Text This text is about thinking, which is of extreme importance, because the linguistic competence is not just grammar and vocabulary, and a good training in logical and critical thinking is considered as a must in a good liberal arts education, which is employed to deal with more serious subjects and discuss more complex problems.
Questions for discussion 1. What does “hobby” refer to? 2. Why does author use this word in the title?
It’s very interesting for the author to use “hobby” in the title. By using this word he means that thinking is not just for professional thinkers like philosophers. It is something all educated people should enjoy doing. This special interest is often referred to as “idle curiosity”, and it is considered one of the most precious qualities in young scholars.
OUTLINE OF THE TEXT • The first part tells us how the subject of thinking was first brought up to the author and how he came to understand the nature of what he calls “grade-three thinking”, which he discovered, was no thinking at all, but a combination of ignorance, prejudice and hypocrisy. • The second part deals with “grade-two thinking”, which has nothing constructive to offer and destroys without the power to create. • The last part deals with the “grade-one thinkers”—people who set out to find the truth and get it.
Detailed study of the Text hobby: an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure. eg. He works in a bank, but his hobby is building model boats. 他在银行工作，但他的业余爱好是做船舶模型。 Any personal hobbies such as sports, music and collecting stamps never had a place in his life. 任何一种个人的业余爱好,如体育活动,音乐,集邮等等在他的生活中从未有过地位。
Paragraph 1: 1. I came to the conclusion that thee were three grades of thinking… to come to a conclusion means to reach/ arrive at/ draw a conclusion grade: an accepted level or standard 标准被接受的标准或水平 eg. This grade of wool can be sold at a fairly low price. 这种等级的羊毛可以以相当低的价格卖出.
Paragraph 2: • grammar school: • In Britain, it refers to a school for children over 11 who are academically bright. Today, there are few grammar schools. Most secondary schools are called “comprehensive” and take in all children over 11 whatever their abilities.In the US, a grammar school used to mean an elementary school, but it is now considered ole-fashioned. • study: a room intended or equipped for studying or writing eg. The dictionary is in my study. 那本词典在我的书房里。
nothing but: nothing except; only • eg: The doctor told her that it was nothing but a cold. • He cared for nothing but his name and position. • He was nothing but a coward.
She seemed frozen in an eternal panic lest the bath towel slip down any farther… lest: conj. for fear that 唯恐，以免： Note: The subjunctive mood is used in the clause lest introduces. eg. Be careful lest you fall from that tree. 要当心, 以免从树上摔下来。 I was afraid lest he might come too late. 我怕他来得太晚。
…and since she had no arms, she was in an unfortunate position to pull the towel up again. be in … position to do sth: to be able to do sth because or have ability, power or money to do it. eg I am not in a position to lend you money.
Next to her, crouched the statuette of a leopard, ready to spring down at the top drawer of a filing cabinet. crouch: 1. to stoop, especially with the knees bent: eg They crouched over the grate with a flashlight, searching for the lost gem. 2. to press the entire body close to the ground with the limbs bent: eg. a cat crouching near its prey.
Rodin’s Thinker: This is the most famous piece of art by the French sculptor August Rodin. It is said to be the statue that most clearly shows that abstract idea of thinking. The thinker is pondering so intensely that his toes are tightly clutching the ground.
Paragraph 3 • delinquent: n. a person who neglects or fails to do what law or duty requires. adj. failing to do what law or duty requires. 2. She was just busy being beautiful. P: From the boy’s point of view, the Goddess of Love was simply trying to remain beautiful.
Paragraph 4 I was not integrated. I was , if anything,disintegrated. integrated: forming a part of a harmonious group disintegrated: Here, it is used by the author to mean the direct opposite of “integrated”, and therefore means some kind of a trouble-maker. if anything: on the contrary eg. He is not known for his generosity. He is, if anything, quite miserly. The weather forecast says that it will not be warmer this winter. It will, if anything, even colder than last year.
Paragraph 9 • The muscular gentleman contemplated the hindquarters of he leopard in endless gloom. • contemplate: to think for a long time in order to understand better. • Eg. contemplated the problem from all sides; contemplated the mystery of God. hindquarters: the posterior part of a quadruped, adjacent to the hind legs
His spectacles caught the light so that you could see nothing human behind them. • P: The teacher’s glasses caught the light and therefore the boy could not see the teacher’s eyes. He could not have any eye contact. He could not have any communication with him.
Paragraph 11 • Be in anguish: extreme unhappiness caused by physical or mental suffering. Paragraph 12 leap to one’s feet: to jump up Please pay attention to the following phrases containing the word feet: rise / struggle / stagger to one’s feet.
Paragraph 17: • Sometimes, exalted by his own oratory, he would leap form his and hustle us outside into a hideous wind. • P: Sometimes he got carried away and would leap from his desk and hurry us outside into a cold and unpleasant wind.
Paragraph 20: • Yet in the middle of these monologues, if a girl passed the window, his neck would turn of itself and he would watch her out sight. • P: Here author is not laughing at the teacher’s interest in young girls. Rather he is ridiculing the contradiction between his high moral tone and the working of his genes which compels him to turn his head toward young girls.
Paragraph 23: • Technically, it is about as proficient as most businessmen’s golf, as honest as most politicians’ intentions, or as coherent as most books that get written. • P: This, ironical sentence shows that the author not only considers these people incompetent, dishonest and incoherent, but also despises most businessmen, distrusts most politicians and dislikes most publications.
Paragraph 25: • To hear our Primer Minster told about the great benefit we conferred on India by jailing people like Nehru and Gandhi. • confer sth on sb: offer or give sth to sb. eg. conferred a medal on the hero 授予英雄一枚勋章 conferred an honorary degree on her 授予她荣誉学位
Gandhi (1869-1948) and Nehru (1889-1964) were both leaders of the Free-India Movement which aimed at winning national independence for India through non-violent, civil-disobedience means. In the course of this struggle, they were jailed by the British government several times. But their efforts finally brought about the independence of India on August 15, 1947.
Gandhi (1869-1948) Nehru (1889-1964)
Paragraph 26: • Saint Jerome’s Vulgate: • This is the Latin translation of the Bile made by Saint Jerome at the end of the fourth century A.D. It is now used in a revised form as the Roman Catholic authorized version.
Argument flagged. • flag: to decline in interest; to become dull • eg. his flagging interest in the subject • 他对这问题的兴趣减退 • P: Argument flagged because Ruth did not know how to respond to this.
Paragraph 27: • …If we were counting heads, the Buddhists were the boys for my money. • P: if we were talking about the number of people who believe in this. I would bet on the Buddhists; I believe the Buddhists are greater in number.
Paragraph 28: • I lost Ruth and gained an undeserved reputation as a potential libertine. • libertine: one who acts without moral restraint; a dissolute person. • 放荡不羁的人行动没有道德约束的人；放荡的人
Paragraph 31: • I came up in the end with what must always remain the justification for grade-one thinking. I devised a coherent system for living. It was a moral system, which was wholly logical. • P: According to the author, grade-one thinking must be based on a coherent and logical system for living, in other words, a moral system, without which you cannot prove yourself to be a grade-one thinker. Judging buy the context, this system probably refers to one’s world out look and basic political beliefs and moral principles.
Paragraph 32: • It was Ruth all over again. • P: What happened to Ruth and me now happened again. My grade-two thinking frightened away many of my acquaintances.
Paragraph 33: • Had the game gone too far? In those prewar days, I stood to lose a great deal, for the sake of a hobby. • P: In those prewar days when many people were fully worked up to a political frenzy, it was very dangerous to voice different opinions. You might lose friends or your job.
Paragraph 34: • Now you are expecting me to describe how I saw the folly of my ways and came back to the warm nest. • P: Now you think I will tell you how I gradually saw my stupidity in being a grade-two thinker and therefore decided to give it up and return to the majority.
Paragraph 35: • But you would be wrong. I dropped my hobby and turned professional. • P: But you guessed wrong. I did not drop my hobby and give up thinking. Instead I went further and became a professional thinker.
Writing Styleof the Passage: • The essay is written with a great sense of humor.Laughter is his chief weapon. Through those hilarious anecdotes, he laughs at the headmaster and Mr. Houghton, ridicules British and American politicians and teases his girlfriend Ruth. He also laughs at himself as the disintegrated boy in school, and it should be noted self-mockery is a very important kind of humor and can have an unusually powerful effect.
What is Self-mockery? • Self-mockery is defined as a linguistic act in which the speaker makes a statement and then denies, invalidates, or expresses his/her non-serious attitude toward the content of the utterance.
Some Examples of Self-mockery • My picture was not yet displayed, so I was waiting for them to come and take a photograph of me. Oh, just kidding!
Assignments: • 1. Finish the exercises of this lesson • 2. Make up three sentences of self-mockery and try to answer what special effect they can achieve? • 3. Write an essay in about 200 words on the topic: What Kind of Thinker Are You?
