Unit 10 Text I The Transaction

1. Unit 10 Text I The Transaction

2. Lead-in questions • 1. Do you often read fiction? And have you ever wondered how fiction is written? • 2. Have you ever attempted to write fiction or non-fiction or poetry? Where do you think the insurmountable difficulty rests? • 3. What do you think are the essential qualities that make a successful writer?

3. Background information • William Knowlton Zinsser (born 1922-- )is a writer, editor, and teacher. He began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune, where he worked as a feature writer, drama editor, film critic, and editorial writer, and has been a longtime contributor to leading magazines.

4. Throughout the 1970s, Zinsser taught writing at Yale University where he was a master of Branford College. He served as executive editor of the Book-of-the-Month Club from 1979 to 1987. he now lives in New York City, his hometown, and teaches at the New School and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

5. “The Transaction” is part of the first chapter of his book On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Non-Fiction, which shows how to apply the author’s four principles of writing: clarity; simplicity; brevity; and humanity. He stressed the importance of reading your writing aloud to hear how it sounds and illustrates the difference between good and bad nouns, and good and bad verbs. Specific examples are given to show how writing can be improved.

6. Background information • Plato, the great Greek philosopher, expressed his philosophic ideas in the form of dialogue where different aspects of truth were better presented. Some later writers, such as Oscar Wilde, also adopted the form of dialogue to convey their most subtle ideas. Through dialogue between people on an equal footing, we get the revelation that different, sometimes even seemingly contradictory elements, can co-exist so harmoniously within the range of one truth.

7. Structural analysis • The article clearly falls into two main parts. The first part records in detail the author’s personal experience of attending a panel discussion in a school. In the second part, he moves from this specific experience to some of his general opinions towards writing. Study the whole essay and find out which paragraph is the transitional paragraph shifting the essay from a specific example to the general discussion of the topic.

8. Part I is devoted to the answers given by two writers to the students’ questions. The vivid record of the author’s experience will usher in his revelation on the truth of writing. • Part II is a kind of generation of the essence of writing.

9. Questions for Part I • 1. Do you think the process of the activity is within the expectation of both the speakers and the audience? • 2. How does an avocational writer differ from a professional writer in light of some principles of writing?

10. 3. How did the author take the difference？ • 4. What would be the possible influence on the students as suggested by the writer?

11. Questions for Part II • 1. What is the right way of writing, according to the author, if there is any? • 2. What does the writer mean when he says that all of the writers are “vulnerable and tense”?

12. 3. What does the author mean when he says “ultimately the product that any writer had to sell is not the subject being written about , but who he or she is”? • 4. What does the author think is the very thing that makes a piece of good writing?

13. 5. . Why does the writer say “it’s not necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become deeply involved with a writer who did”? What does the writer think is the very thing that makes a piece of good writing?

14. 5. What does the writer mean that such principles cannot be taught but can be learned? • 6. What does the title mean?

15. bohemian放浪者, 放浪的; 波希米亚的 • Bohemia 波希米亚 • bohemianism 玩世作风 • E.g 1. a bohemian life style. • 放浪不羁的生活方式。 • 2. Understanding the Bohemian Style Costume • 解读波西米亚风格服装

16. 3. Just remember, with bohemian chic, anything goes. • 只要记住，只要有波希米亚的风格，什么东西都可以。 • 4. That famous film star leads a bohemian life. • 那位著名的电影明星过着放荡不羁的生活。 • 5. Mr King was highly educated, but was a Bohemian down to his boots.金先生受过很好的教育，但他是一个极其脱俗不拘小节的人。

17. Rhetorical features of the text • A bulky part of the whole essay consists in presenting pairs of different, even opposing ideas and methods via the rhetorical trick of contrast. Read and find such examples. • What does the author endeavor to tell the reader by presenting pairs of opposites?

18. paraphrase • 1. Writers are likely to take writing earnestly and anxiously , and therefore not able to express themselves naturally. • 2. The writer should be able to convey his emotions and personality in his writing, so the reader may understand him without going into the actual situation where he writes.

19. vocabulary • 1. unconventional; 2. socialize; • 3. dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized; • 4. sensitive to the stimulus in life, sharply aware of expressing their natural feelings in an artistic way; • 5. serve the writer’s purpose most effectively and efficiently;

20. II • 1-4 transaction; cluttered; arduous; humanity; • 5-8 committed; gusto; bewildered; solitary; • III • 1-4 drudgery; uncirculated; asocial; unmentionable; 5-8 irresistibly; intensive; exclamations; literary;

21. IV • 1-4 stick to; fiddling with; took up; hang out; 5-8 run away from; going broke; bring along; drawn into; • V • 1-4 team/group; easy; questionably; occupation; 5-8 stylish/fashionable; gregarious; liberty/freedom; confusion;

22. VI • 1-4 refresh; go and attend; live a fairly satisfactory life; be responsible for; 5-8 talk about; explain; interrupting; came; • Grammar • Free indirect speech is a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech. (It is also referred to as free indirect discourse, free indirect style, or discours indirect libre inFrench.)

23. What distinguishes free indirect speech from normal indirect speech is the lack of an introductory expression such as "He said" or "he thought". It is as if the subordinate clause carrying the content of the indirect speech is taken out of the main clause which contains it, becoming the main clause itself. Using free indirect speech may convey the character's words more directly than in normal indirect, as devices such as interjections and exclamation marks can be used that cannot be normally used within a subordinate clause.

24. Free indirect speech resembles indirect speech in shifting tenses and other references, but there is generally no reporting clause and it retains some features of direct speech .

25. He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. "And just what pleasure have I found, since I came into this world?" he asked. • He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. He asked himself what pleasure he had found since he came into the world. • He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. And just what pleasure had he found, since he came into this world?

26. 1. Direct speech gives the exact words in the report, and in writing and print uses quotation marks. A wide range of verbs can be used to indicate the type of utterance or the way in which something is said, such as answer, ask, comment, cry, enquire, exclaim, etc.

27. Indirect speech: verbs are generally “backshifted” in tense to align them with the time of reporting, and other changes, such as in pronouns and adverbials of time and place, are made for the same reason.

28. Free direct speech lacks a reporting clause to show the shift from narration to reporting； it is often used in fiction to represent the mental reactions of characters to what they see or experience.

29. II • 1. free direct speech; 2. free indirect speech; 3. free indirect speech; • 4. free direct speech 5. free indirect speech 6. free direct speech 7. free direct speech 8. free indirect speech • III • Sue asked Jim what he had done the night before. Jim replied that he had just stayed at home and watched TV.

30. Sue asked why he hadn’t rung her up. Jim explained that he had had a terrible headache. Sue suggested going/ that they should to the cinema that evening. Jim refused. Sue said that it was OK and she understood. Jim told her that he would ring her the following day. Sue said never mind and apologised for disturbing him.

31. IV 1-5 • 1. She told the children not to point. • I advised the boys not to read in bad light. • I asked Mary to lend me her pen for a moment. • She begged him not to drive too fast. • 5. The announcer reminded his listeners to listen to the first programme in the new series at 8:00.

32. 6. He urged me to look everywhere. • The policeman ordered the crowd to keep moving. • 8. He warned his son never to lend money to people he didn’t know. • V • When we use negative adverbials or only + adverbial at the beginning of a sentence,

33. the subject and verb are inverted. The auxiliary appears before the subject. • When we put an adverbial phrase of direction or place at the beginning of a sentence, we sometimes put an intransitive verb in front of the subject.

34. 1-4 • Only after a year did I begin to see the results of my work. • Under no circumstances can customers’ money be refunded. • On a hill in front of them stood a great castle. • Hardly had I arrived when I had a new problem to cope with.

35. 5. Rarely could she have been faced with so difficult a choice. • 6. A few miles further on lies the enchanting suburb of Balham. • 7. At no time was the president aware of what was happening. • 8. Here comes Mary.

36. Translation I • 1. 他在医院辛辛苦苦上了一天班后回到家，马上就坐到一叠黄色的稿纸跟前开始写作，让自己那紧张劳累的感觉烟消云散。 • 2. 我说，写作是一门手艺，不是一门艺术，要是因为没有灵感而逃避写作，那是在自欺。 • 3. “我喜欢象征!”Brock 医生叫道，然后，他眉飞色舞地描绘了将象征融入作品时的快乐。 • 4. 这是一个如何使用英语，以期文字最有力而芜杂最少的问题

37. II • These modernist artists look vaguely bohemian. • Don’t fool yourself; he is by no means a pure boy as you think. • He is a frequent guest in some chic cafes and bars which mainly cater to foreigners. • He gave an account of his adventurous experiences in Africa with gusto.

38. 5. One of his objectives in life is to unite his vocation with his avocation. • 6. The elderly are vulnerable to the deceit practiced by dishonest sales people. • 7. This magazine is frequently covered with glamorous actresses. • 8. I really feel fed up with commercial gimmicks on TV.

39. III • 专业作家和业余作家对于文学创作有着不同的、甚至截然相反的看法。专业作家强调努力追求完美，因此他们认为修改是写作的要素，而业余作家则认为作品应该反映作者最自然的真我。专业作家将写作看成一种职业，坚持不懈地为写出上乘作品而努力，而业余作家则将写作看成一种爱好，从中可以得到很多快乐。

40. 专业作家孤独而辛劳，收获的是”两耳不闻窗外事“的快乐，而业余作家往往喜欢社交，经常光顾时尚别致的餐馆和咖啡屋。总之，不同的人可能有不同的写作习惯和写作风格，重要的是写作应该反映一个人的思想、情感和个性。专业作家孤独而辛劳，收获的是”两耳不闻窗外事“的快乐，而业余作家往往喜欢社交，经常光顾时尚别致的餐馆和咖啡屋。总之，不同的人可能有不同的写作习惯和写作风格，重要的是写作应该反映一个人的思想、情感和个性。

41. cloze • 1-6 succeed; person; because; once; fact; characterize; 7-10 subject; such; create; readers; not; with;

42. Essay writing: how to write a cause-and-effect essay • 1. Why are you such a good/poor/mediocre student? • 2. How can we as individuals have positive/negative effects on the environment? • 3. What are the typical causes of poor behavior I the classroom? • 4. What are the effects of illiteracy?

43. 5. What are the effects of being beautiful/ugly/poor/wealthy? • 6. Explain the effects of stress on you. Focus by limiting hour analysis to a specific situation. • 7. What is the value of having a pet? Or a hobby?

44. Unit 1 • 1. I planned to keep silent and act in such a way that nobody would notice that I was only a newcomer in college. • 2. For three days, I had not been to the cafeteria due to my feeling of humiliation and shame. Instead, I stayed alone in my room and ate junk food of various kinds from a vending machine which was in just the right place to aid me in avoiding others.

45. 3. It didn’t matter whether or not you were widely accepted or admired, you did not have to behave to the liking of everybody else. • Vocabulary • 1. I had just the feeling of a newcomer at college without the strength a mature student might possess.

46. 2. my apparent confidence; 3. some food to appease [ə‘pi:z]vt.使平息; 使满足 my hunger（as well as my anxiety); 4. going with the tide was no longer crucial to one’s success; 5. foolish and glaring mistakes; • II • 1-4 distress; clutched; pose; sneaked; • 5-8 preoccupation; shackles; curse; deliberation

47. III • 1-4 assure; discretion; relaxation; humiliate; 5-8 strategy; embarrassment; maneuverable; immaturity; • IV • 1-4 live up to; headed for; seek out; has broken out; 5-8 groped for; trying…on; go out to; tipped off; • V • 1. indistinct/vague; 2. indiscreetly; 3. self-restraint/self-control;

48. 4. sensible/intelligent; 5. manner/behavior; 6. excited/agitated; 7. sneak; 8. mature/sophisticated; • VI • 1-4 became popular; respect; keep up; lead to; 5-8 understand; found; use; start; • Grammar II • My decision to resign was wise. • 2. Their readiness to accept the peace agreement really surprised the diplomatic world.

49. 3. My determination to pass the test helped me. • 4. Her failure to get into college disappointed her parents. • 5. My willingness to cooperate was appreciated. • 6. His refusal to help surprised me. • The proposal that we should import more equipment is to be discussed at the meeting. • 8. Who can have told you that puzzles me.

50. III DBCC; ABDB; • IV • 1. I spent the afternoon seeking out each of my classrooms so that I could make a perfectly timed entrance before each lecture. • 2. He wore glassed and a false beard so that nobody would recognize him. • 3. The stranger spoke very slowly so that I could understand what he said.