Unit 8 We ’ re Only Human

Unit 8We’re Only Human Text A

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. ----Bertrand Russell 美好的人生是由爱所激励、由知识所引导的生活。 Life is real, life is earnest. 人生真实，人生真挚.

Content Questions

1. What are the qualities the author suggests we should have so as to arise above nature? Explain the reasons for having them respectively. 2. Why does the author caution us to beware of the pleasure principle? What is the difference between pleasure and happiness?

3. What are the basic desires for a good life that are mentioned to be the root of happiness? 4. What is your view on “Might is right” and the survival of the fittest ? Will you comment on the emphasis of ethics and morality in our life and in China’s modernization drive?

Every day in the United States of America: • 4,219 teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases • 2,329 teenagers unintentionally become pregnant • 908 teenagers who didn't intend on becoming pregnant obtain abortions • 1,000 adolescents begin drinking alcohol • 500 adolescents begin using illicit drugs • 16,000 crimes are committed on school

There are 600,000 drug addicted children in the United States. • 6% of boys between 16 and 18 carry guns outside the home for "protection." • While only four percent (4%) of inner-city school students report use of hard drugs, 13 percent (13%) report either dealing drugs or working for a drug dealer. • 51% of graduating high school seniors admit having used illicit drugs by the time they reach their senior year of high school

Language Points

Be elevated(p2): achieve a more important rank or status • Be elevated to the post of chancellor • Emotional stress can elevate blood pressure.(to increase in amount, significance or intensity) • Elevate pop singers to idols (consider it to be more important than it really is)

Drive(p6): a strong need or desire ; energy and determination • n. 车道＝driveway • I thought we might go for a drive.兜风 • disk drive • Rescuers battling through driving snow迎面扑来的劲雪 • China’s early intellectuals with background of oversea education played a major role in our nation’s drive toward democracy.(a special effort made by a group of people)

Derive(p7): derive pleasure or benefit from sth or sb • He is one of those happy people who derive pleasure from helping others. • Defensive behavior patterns derive from our subconscious fears. (A word or feeling derives from / is derived from)

Forge(p8) • ~ an alliance or relationship (create it through hard work and hope it to be lasting and strong) • ~ sth (achieve sth difficult): prisons often help inmates forge new careers. • ~ passport, banknote, document, painting, signature, etc. 伪造 • ~ a blade 铸剑

Honor(p10) • 授予Two American surgeons were last week ~ed with the Nobel Prize. • 荣幸 It’s my ~ to have your/ I’m ~ed by your confidence in me. • 信守The two sides agreed to ~ a ceasefire. • 庆祝City Bank is holding a dinner in ~ of the opening of their new branch in Shanghai. • 感谢President Bush will attend a concert in his ~ / in ~ of firefighters.

Commitment(p): a strong belief in an idea or system; 责任；承诺 • ~ to the ideals of Bolshevism • Work ~s forced her to uproot herself from Vancouver. • They made a ~ to nuclear nonproliferation.

commit a crime or a sin;commit suicidebe ~ted to sth致力于 The government ~ted billions of dollars for a program to reduce acid rain.(use specially专门用于) Think twice before you ~ yourself to working Sundays.(decide to do) It isn’t their diplomatic style to ~ themselves on such a delicate issue. (say what you really think or want to do表态)

If I could project you fifteen years into the future (p14): to device in the mind ----Project one’s country oversea 向海外介绍自己的国家 ----He projected the weather for the coming week. 预测下个星期的天气 ----The wall is projected in the middle.设计 ----A politician must project himself as a reformer if he wants to win an election. Project oneself as 营造自己形象 project slides onto a screen 放幻灯片 Project a new dam/carry out a project

Sustain(p17) • ~ the weight / the extra expenses承受 • An unshakable faith ~ me.支持 • ~ public interest/ the product’s quality • ~ a family / life 养家，维持 • ~ hardships / the shock / comparison经受 • ~ a defeat / a loss蒙受 • Sustainable growth可持续增长 • Sustained illness/attacks 久病;持续进攻

Initiative(p17) have/seize the initiativee.g.He did not have the initiative to start his own business.(掌握主动权) on one’s own initiativee.g He went to see the headmaster in his own initiative.(主动地) take the initiative e.g Why don’t you take the initiative and arrange a meeting? (带头) do sth. on one's own initiative主动地做某事

Courage is to life what broth is to soup. (simile) Carlos Lehder was to cocaine transportation what / asHenry Ford was to cars.

Conform to(p22) • The meat market can continue only if it is radically overhauled全面检查 to conform with/to strict EU standards. (to meet the rules or the desired quality) • I am well aware that we all conform to one stereotype or another. (very similar to) • In conformity with a law or regulation or sb’s wishes根据，符合

Adam and Eve • Adam from earth, and Eve from Adam’s rib, The Garden of Eden • The temptation of the serpent • The fall of man, the original sin • The expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden • Fulfill vows of penance

Devastating(p25): very destructive • Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriage. • He returned to his best with a devastating display of galloping and jumping. (very impressive) • A few days before, a fire had devastated part of Windsor Castle.

Transitory(p26): lasting only for a short time • Most teenage romances are transitory. • Temporary: lasting for only a limited time • Most adolescent problems are temporary.

Metonymy (借代)与Metaphor (隐喻)的区别 • 隐喻是不同类事物的比拟(comparing materials across domains),借代是同一类事物的比拟(comparing materials within domains)。 • The city has its philharmonic (高雅之处) but also its poverty.

以典型的人体组织、四肢或器官借代抽象行为或能力以典型的人体组织、四肢或器官借代抽象行为或能力 • Karajan had ruled his august orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic – oh which he had been named conductor for life in 1995 – with a brilliant ear and an iron fist.（卡拉扬在1955年被任命为柏林交响乐团终身指挥，从此他就以敏锐的听觉和坚强的手腕控制着这个尊严的乐队。） • Economy Minister Zelia Cardoso de Mello is Brazil’s best foot forward.（经济部长卡多佐·德梅洛代表了巴西的新人新政，正在全力以赴，奋起直追。）

以人名借代事物或观念 • He reads Shakespeare. • “There is no way to satisfy rival claims(相互冲突的要求),” said lieutenant colonel Patrick J. Garvey.” You want to use crack troops in a surprise attack, unexpected and covered, and yet you stage a Cecil B. De Mille （塞西尔·德米尔式的）operation. The effect is sure to be offset.”（著名导演以埃及艳后中的壮观场面而闻名）

以动、植物借代某种特征 • There was one great difference between us. My father had tremendous self-confidence in his judgment. I lacked that confidence, so I tried to get the smartest guys I could find around me. I wanted able people and I didn’t care whether they were prickly pears（霸王树上的仙人果）or not.

地理上的局部借代整体 • Business lobbyists政治说客on Capitol Hill（国会）are keeping close tabs密切关注on what is known as the “Family and Medical Leave Act”.

以工具或容器借代邻近的实体或概念 • Palestinian strikes and Israeli curfews （宵禁）are the tit for tat of a lengthening struggle that is causing economic distress on both sides of the battle lines. The pain is great but so is the determination of the adversaries to soldier on, unaware that a two-way sword takes double toll.（巴勒斯坦人的罢工与以色列的宵禁针锋相对，长期的斗争使双方在经济上同样蒙受损失。双方虽都很痛苦，仍决意冲突下去，殊不知冤冤相报，两败俱伤。） • He is a veteran member of the Massachusetts bar.（律师界）

以商品的商标唤起相近的联想 • It reads like a movie script from 1960s,that landmark decade of idealism and day-glo politics.（目前的情形有如一部60年代写的电影脚本。那十年是理想主义抬头、浮夸政治盛行的十年。）

以专业术语借代特定的概念 • As a defensive-backfield守卫型coach for Syracuse University’s football team, Randy Edsall spends hours putting X’s and O’s on blackboards and exhorting规劝players in Saturday showdowns.

Unit 8 We ’ re Only Human