Unit 6 The Pace of life Text A Old Father Time Becomes a Terror

1. Unit 6 The Pace of life Text A Old Father Time Becomes a Terror By Qin yanrong Aug6,2007

2. The Pace of Life

3. Contents • Chapter I. • 1.Pre-reading tasks • Cultural notes • The stylistic skill • 2.While-reading tasks • text analysis • 3.Post-reading • ChapterII. Vocabulary • ChapterIII.Exs

4. Pre-questions • 1. How does the singer treat his diary? Why? (He treats it as a friend, to whom he can pour out his inmost feelings.) • 2. Can we infer what attitude the singer takes towards the pace of life today? (It’s unwise for people to be always in a rush, so much so that they don’t have time either for each other or for themselves.) • 3. Do you keep a diary? What sort of things do you write about? • 4. What does the singer think about how other people spend their time?

5. 1.Pre-reading tasksCultural notes: • 1. Richard Tomkins: consumer industries editor of the Financial Times, where he leads a team of journalists covering the consumer goods sector. On a day-to-day basis he writes mainly about advertising, marketing and brands, but he also specialises in feature-length articles that seek to understand and explain consumer trends, up to and including the point at which they merge with broader cultural shifts. Richard was born in Walsall, England, in 1952. Before becoming a journalist, he was (among other things) a factory worker, a truck driver, a restaurant cashier, a civil servant and an assistant private secretary to a government minister. He joined the Financial Times in 1983 after a four-year apprenticeship with his local newspaper. In this selection, he discusses the time squeeze that many people are experiencing and offers a way of combating the problem.

6. 1.Pre-reading tasksCultural notes: • Technology: has more than one definition. One is the development and application of tools, machines, materialsand processesthat help to solve human problems. As a human activity, technology predates both scienceand engineering. It embodies the human knowledge of solving real problems in the design of standard tools, machines, materials or the process. Thus it often characterizes inventions and gadgets using recently-discovered scientific principles and processes. However, even very old inventions such as the wheel exemplify technology.

7. Cultural notes: • 3. StressStudies suggest that stress can reduce the body’s ability to fight disease and can lead to serious health problems.Stress affects everybody every day. It is your body’s reaction to physical, chemical, emotional or environmental influences. Some stress is unavoidable (adj.不能避免的,不可避免的) and may even be good for us. Stress can keep our bodies and minds strong. It gives us the push we need to react to an urgent situation. Some people say it makes them more productive at work and gives them more energy.Too much stress, however, can be harmful. It may make an existing health problem worse. Or it can lead to other illnesses or disease if a person is at risk for the condition.

8. Cultural notes: • For example, your body reacts to stressful situations by raising your blood pressure and making your heart work harder. This is especially dangerous if you already have heart disease or high blood pressure. Stress is more likely to be harmful if you feel helpless to deal with the problem or situation that causes the stress.Anything you see as a problem can cause stress. It can be caused by everyday situations or by major problems. Stress results when something causes your body to act as if it were under attack. Causes of stress can be physical, such as injury or illness. Or they can be mental, such as problems with your family, job, health or finances. Many visits to doctors are for conditions connected with stress.The tension of stress can interfere with sleep or cause uncontrollable anger or sadness. A person may become more forgetful(adj.健忘的,易忘的) or find it harder to think clearly. Losing one’s sense of humor is another sign of an unhealthy amount of stress.Stress can lead to other health problems if people try to ease it by smoking, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or by eating more or less than normal. (VOA)

9. Cultural notes: • Harvard University: Established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard was named after its first benefactor, John Harvard, of Charlestown, Massachusetts. Upon his death in 1638, the young minister left his library and half his estate to the new College. In 1639, in recognition of John Harvard's bequest, the Great and General Court ordered "that the college agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridge shalbee called Harvard College." Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the College has grown from 9 students with a single Master into a University with an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates.

10. Cultural notes: • 5. Henley Centre: founded in 1974 by academics associated with the Henley Management College in Oxfordshire, notably the economist James Morrell. It was originally known as The Henley Centre for Forecasting, with a focus on business forecasting. It was initially run as a non-profit organization in partnership with the management college, before becoming privately owned in the early 1980s. It was acquired by WPP in the 1990s and now sits within the Kantar Group, WPP’s information, insight and consultancy division.

11. Cultural notes: • 6. McDonald’s: Ray Kroc, at 52 years old, invested his entire life savings to become the exclusive distributor of a milk shake maker called the Multimixer. Hearing about the McDonald's hamburger stand in California owned by Dick & Mac McDonald running eight Multimixers at a time, he packed up his car and headed West. It was 1954. Ray Kroc had never seen so many people served so quickly. He pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants to the McDonald brothers, convinced that he could sell eight of his Multimixers to each and every one. "Who could we get to open them for us?" Dick McDonald said. Well," Kroc answered, "what about me?"

12. Cultural notes: • Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines, Illinois restaurant in 1955 and never looked back. In 1965 McDonald's went public with the company's first offering on the stock exchange. In 1967, the first McDonald's restaurant outside the United States opened in Richmond, British Columbia. In 1968, the Big Mac sandwich was introduced, followed by the Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich in 1973. Milestones and accomplishments have followed ever since. Today, there are tens of thousands of McDonald's restaurants serving millions of people daily around the world. The incredible growth and success of McDonald's can be summed up with the first thought that went through Ray Kroc's mind when he first saw McDonald's: "This will go anyplace."

13. 1.Pre-reading tasksThe stylistic skill • In many ways, the style of this piece is typical of a certain variety of journalism. • It is clearly not a new story, but nonetheless belongs within the pages of a newspaper. • Such writing finds its home in the editorial or comment section where journalists and others contribute regular or occasional columns reflecting on topical issues.

14. The stylistic skill • Unlike news stories where reporters are expected to confine themselves to the facts; such columns are intended to give free range to the expression of personal opinion. • At the same time, particularly in the more serious papers (and the paper from which this comes, the Financial Times, certainly belongs to this category) the writer is expected to display this familiarity with the problem under discussion.

15. The stylistic skill • This is frequently achieved by employing concession. Thus, here the writer, having outlined the problem of the pressure of time, goes on to concede that not everybody is affected to the same extent. He then details the differences that exist before returning to his more general point and concluding with his solution, another characteristic ingredient of such editorial articles.

16. The stylistic skill • His general conclusion is hardly new, having been advice offered by philosophers for as back as one cares to go, but gains novelty set against the context to recent technological developments.

17. The stylistic skill • Although not a news story, the article nevertheless shares with newspaper reporting in general a taste for seeking support from the use of direct quotations from a number of different people. • These quotations are provided together with the name of the person and background information on them.

18. The stylistic skill • These details add human interest and support the argument by reference to the utterances of someone who appear to be in a position to know. • As the quotations record spoken rather than written English, the tone of language is often colloquial. • The frequent peppering of an article with this type of direct quotation stands in contrast to what is usual in a more purely academic essay.

19. 2.While-reading:Comprehension Questions • 1.What did we use to expect from technology? • 2.In what ways have inventions such as the motorcar and the aircraft affected our life? And what about the advent of washing machine? • 3.What new burdens has technology produced apart from cramming work into our leisure time? • 4.How fast is information generated today as compared to a couple of centuries ago?

20. 2.While-reading:Comprehension Questions • 5.What is Edward Wilson’s purpose in subscribing to sixty-old journals and magazine? • 6.What gives rise to our discontent with super abundance? • 7.Is everyone time-starved today? What percentage of the population is suffering under the stresses and strains of life today? • 8.What is stress envy, as conceived by Paul Edwards?

21. 2.While-reading:Comprehension Questions • 9.How much free time has the average American gained since the mid-1960s?How are the gains distributed between the sexes? • 10.What is meant by the “the growth of the work-life debate”? • 11.What does Godbey mean by saying “It’s the kid in the candy store”? • 12.For time stress, what remedy does the author offer?

22. 2.While-reading:Text Organization • Introduction:Part One—(Paras 1-11) • The author gives three reasons why we feel so time-pressed today.(technology,the information explosion,rising prosperity) • thesis sentence:(L46)So we suffe from what Wilsoncalls discontent with supe abundance---the confusion of endless choice. • Body:analysis of reasons:Part Two—(Paras 12-18) • Not every one is time-stressed, and in the case of Americans they have actually gained more free time in the past decade. Part Three—(Paras 19-23) • The perception of time-famine has triggered a variety of reactions. Conclusion:Part Four —(Paras 24-28) The author pins down the crux of the problem and puts forward a remedy for the stress we feel. concluding sentence:It is not more time we need:it is fewer desires.

23. How does technologyaffectour life • The motorcar causes more traffic problems than it promises to solve. • The aircraft creates a high demand for time-consuming journeys that we never dreamed of. • The washing machine, contrary to our expectations, multiplies the hours spent on washing and ironing. • Instead of making our lives easier, technology goes so far as to cram extra work into our leisure time. • Technology produces the new burden of dealing with faxes, e-mails and voicemails. • Technology eats further into our time by forcing us to handle software glitches on computers and filling our heads with useless information from the Internet .

24. synonyms • 1.“越来......越多” • ever-increasing quantities of (L2) • ever-larger quantities of (L43) • cf.“一小部分" • (L31) a tiny fraction of • (L36) a handful of • (L41) a minute proportion of

25. synonyms • 2.eat into(L6)/spreadinto(L22)/ • reduce/destroy/intrude into • 3.multiply(L21)/add(L23)/proliferate(L35)

26. Special word • "promise":make sth possible • e.g. • 1.(L8)The motorcar promised unimaginable levels of personal mobility. • 2.(L11)the aircraft promised new horizons,too. • 3.(L17)In the home, washing machines promised to free women from having to toil over the laundry.

27. Interesting Quotations • (L85)One is an attenpt to gain the largest possible amount of satisfaction from the smallest possible investment of time. • (L92)If you lose some money you can earn some more, but if you waste time you can never get it back. • (L61)If you're not stressed, you're not succeeding.

28. 3.Post-reading: • Discussion: • What did we use to expect from technology? Has technology made our lives easier or more burdensome? • Do you agree with the author that all time-liberating techniques in relieving the widespread sense of time famine are doomed to failure?

29. Discussion • Why should we feel so time-pressed? • Does money bring greater freedom? • How do you think of the view that technology brings more time and leisure?

30. Post-questions • 1.Has technology made our life easier or more burdensome? Give examples to illustrate your view. • 2.The author makes mention of “stress envy” in para.14.What do you think are the possible sociological motivation behind it? • 3.Do you agree with the author that all time-liberating techniques in relieving the widespread sense of time famine are doomed to failure? Is cutting back on human desire the ultimate solution? Why or why not?

31. Post-questions • Can you give some examples on how technology has changed? • Do you agree that people nowadays are much lazier than before owing to advanced technology? • What should we do to deal with the stress in our life? • Related words and expressions: • invention, facilities, washing machine, microwave oven, Internet, various, confusing, colorful, automatic, entertain, amuse, spare time, relax, consult, physical exercises

32. Chapter II.VocabularyLanguage Points • 1. on the go / upon the go: be busy (inf) active or busy [口]在进行活动, 忙碌; 刚要动身; 有醉意 • Examples: • I’ve been on the go all week, preparing my thesis. • I was on the go all day and went home at about 10’oclock in the evening.

33. Language Points • 2. set about：begin（a task）；start（doing sth.）（used in the pattern：set about sth./doing sth.; no passive）开始, 着手; 散布(谣言) ; [口]攻击; [俚]接连殴打, 乱打 • Example: • The school authorities must set about finding solutions to the campus security problems. • My mom and I set about clearing up / clearing the table after the guests left. 动手收拾(餐桌) • --set about one's work开始工作

34. Language Points • 3. eat into: gradually reduce the amount of (sth. valuable); damage or destroy腐蚀; 侵蚀; 消耗; 用掉一部分(eat in在家里吃饭, eat out) • Examples: • All these car expenses are eating into our savings. • Responsibilities at home and work eat into his time. • Our holiday travel has eaten into the money we saved.我们的假日旅游耗费了我们积蓄起来的钱。 • Acid eats into the metal, damaging its surface.

35. Language Points • 4. in reality: in actual fact; really • Examples: • Some famous private schools are theoretically open to the public, but in reality are attended by those who can afford the fees. • He is much smaller in reality than he looks on the television.

36. Language Points • 5. multiply: increase in number or quantity; add a number to itself a particular number of times 使增加, 使在数量、数字或程度上增加 • Examples: • Multiplying large quantities in one’s head has become a lost art since the arrival of the calculator. • Efficiency would be -lied several times with the new technology..效率将提高好几倍。 • to multiply one's chances of success 增加个人成功的机会 • To breed or propagate繁殖或增殖 • When animals have more food, they generally multiply faster. 动物如果吃得多，通常繁殖也快。

37. Language Points • 6. fraction:small part, bit, amount or proportion(of sth.) 一小部分；些微 • Examples: • Only a (small) fraction of my friends have video recorder. • 我的朋友中只一小部分人有录像机。 • Mother's careful with her money, and spends only a fraction of her earnings.母亲用钱很审慎,只花自己收入很小的一部分。 • moved a fraction of a step forward.移了一小步 • The black miners in South Africa used to earn only a fraction of the wages paid to white miners doing equivalent work. • 分数 • 1/3 and 5/8 are fractions. 三分之一和八分之五是分数。 • a fraction of一小部分 • a fraction of a second一秒钟的若干分之几, 一转眼的工夫 • not by a fraction一点也不 • to a fraction[口]地地道道地, 百分之百地

38. Language Points • 7. pour in:go into a place quickly and in large numbers • Examples: • Tourists poured onto Shanghai on National Day. • many football fans poured into the stadium to have a look at their favorite football players.

39. Language Points • 8. minute: very small in size or amount • Examples: • Only a minute amount of money is needed. • Studies show that water contains minute quantities of lead.

40. Language Points • 9. oblige: 迫使，使感到必须做（某事） • She was obliged to go. 她不得不走。 • Circumstances oblige me to do that. • 情况使我不得不那样做。 • The police obliged him to leave. 警方强迫他离开。 • do sth. for (sb.) as a favor or small service (used in the pattern: oblige (sb.) (with sth. /by doing sth.)) To make indebted or grateful施恩惠于，帮助; 使感谢或感激： • Examples: • I am obliged to you for your gracious hospitality.我很感谢你的热情好客 • I am sorry I cannot oblige you. • 很抱歉, 我不能答应你的请求。 • Please oblige me with your presence.务请光临。 • Will any gentleman oblige the lady (with your seat)? • 请哪位先生给这位女士让个座位好吗? • Please oblige me by leaving me alone. • --He obliged me by keeping the matter quiet; • 对事情保密帮了我的忙； • Much obliged![口]谢谢! • vi.To do a service or favor帮…忙，施恩惠;做好事, 效劳： • --The soloist obliged with yet another encore(经要求而再唱).独奏演员又演了一个节目 • --I'll do any thing within reason to oblige. • 凡能做到的我都愿效劳[尽力]。

41. Language Points • 10. abundance:quantity that is more than enough; plenty (followed by of) 丰富, 充足, 富裕; 多 • Examples: • The visitor to Oxford has an abundance of sights to see. • --The tree yields an abundance of fruit.这树结果甚多。(大量的; 丰富, 许多) • --abundance of the heart热情洋溢; 感情充沛 • of abundance富裕的 • --a year of abundance丰年 • --a life of abundance富裕的生活 • in abundance富有 • By the mid-15th century paper was available in abundance.可供 货源充足。 • --He wished to have money in abundance.他希望富有。

42. Language Points • 11. forecast: tell in advance; predict • Examples: • The means of forecasting natural disasters, such as floods, and hurricanes, have improved immensely as science and technology have advanced. • Because the behavior of weather systems is chaotic, it is impossible to forecast the details of weather more than about two weeks in advance.

43. Language Points • 12. nurture: care for and educate (a child); cultivate; encourage the growth of (sth.); nourish培育，教育；训练; 培养：促进成长或发育；给…营养物；喂养 • Examples: • nurture a student's talent. • 培养学生的才能 • nurturing hopes; 滋生希望 • Nurture your mind. 发展你的心智。 • nature and nurture本性和教养, 遗传和环境 • The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同 的教育。 • a delicately nurtured girl一个娇生惯养的女孩 • She nurtured the child as if he had been her own.她把那孩子当作自己的来养育。 • Parents want to know the best way to nurture and raise their child to adulthood.养育他们的孩子长大成人. • With one year’s observation the biologists have found how dolphins socialize(使适应群体生活), breed, and nurture their young and how they communicate. 喂养 • The local government has taken measures to nurture the state-run factories. 扶植

44. Language Points • 13. offspring: (plural unchanged) child or children of a particular person or couple • Examples: • Heredity is the process of transmitting biological traits from parent to offspring through genes. • Asexual reproduction produces offspring that are genetically identical to their parent.

45. Language Points • 14. provoke:cause (sth.) to occur or arouse ( a feeling etc.) • Examples: • People’s concern over genetically modified food has provoked a global debate that shows no sign of ending soon. • They argued that NATO enlargement could provoke Russian hostility and lead to regional instability.

46. Language Points • 15. streamline: make (sth.) more efficient and effective; give a streamlined form to (sth.) 使（企业、组织等）简化并更有效率;使现代化; 使成流线型 • To simplify.使简单化 • To organize.组织 • Examples: • Corporate mergers can result in job losses because management combines and streamlines departments within the newly merged companies.优化组合 • Some racing cars are streamlined for speed and are single-seated. • streamlined流线型的; 现代化的, 最新式的

47. Language Points • 16. divert: turn(sb./sth.) aside from a course ,direction ,etc. into another 使转向,从一条道路或方向转向： • Examples: • Traffic was diverted around the scene of the accident.疏导交通绕过出事现场 • Some dams divert the flow of river water into a pipeline, canal, or channel. • A ditch diverted water from the stream into the fields. 一条沟渠把水从河里引向田间。 • Traffic was ordered to divert to another road because of the repair of the main road."由于主干道在进行修理,所以命令车辆改道行驶。" • The government is planning to divert the river to supply water to the town.政府正计划改变河道为那座城镇供水。 • Money set aside for development was being diverted to finance the famine relief operations. (把资金拨充其他用途) • He was trained as an actor, but diverted to diplomacy.他受过演员的训练, 但改行做了外交工作。 • To distract转移…的注意力： • A loud noise from the street diverted the students’ attention.街上一阵喧闹声转移注意力。 • How can we divert her thoughts from her sad loss?我们怎样才能使他不再想到她可悲的损失? • To entertain by distracting the attention from worrisome thoughts or cares; amuse消遣，娱乐:通过把注意力从烦恼之事上转移开而娱乐 • He often diverts himself in singing.他常唱歌消遣。

48. Language Points • 17. be doomed to: (sth.) be certain to happen, and you can do nothing to prevent it (used in the patterns: be doomed to sth. be doomed to do sth.) • Examples: • Their plan seemed to be doomed to failure. • He thought that he was doomed to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

49. Chapter III.EXERCISE for Unit 6 • I’ve been ________since eight o’clock this morning, preparing my presentation for tomorrow’s class. • It would be better to admit the problem openly and _________ tackling it. 3. The boys got into a _______ over the rules of the games. • All these car expenses are ________our savings. 5. The forthcoming concerts _________ a feast of music from around the world.

50. EXERCISE for Unit 6 6. Some famous private schools are theoretically open to the public, but _______ are attended by those who can afford the fees. 7. The wealth of industrial society could only come from the ______ of the masses. 8. Cigarette smoking combining with irregular life will _______the risks of lung cancer. 9. Some people argue that globalization will bring the______so far enjoyed only by wealthy industrialized nations to the developing countries.