英语时文泛读 Current News Articles for Extensive Reading

1. 英语时文泛读Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK II

2. People’s Place in Society

3. I. Overview • The 3 passages in this unit deal with the relationship between people and the society they live in.

4. Structure • In this unit, you will read 3 passages about the place and well-being of people in the contemporary society. Though focusing on different issues, they all convey a people-first message and indicate from different angles what governments and citizens can do to make this world a better place to live in.

5. Setting Happiness as a National Goal It’s about the core well-being of people, happiness, in the modern world. Text A

6. It’s about the safety problem in modern cities and how citizens may cope with it. When Armed Citizens Patrol the Streets Text B

7. It argues that modern cities should be designed on the people-first principle to guarantee the quality of urban life. Designing Cities for People, Rather than Cars… Text C

8. Focus of this session

9. II. Text A Setting Happiness as a National Goal • Main Idea of the Text • It is people’s happiness instead of sheer economic growth that should be set as the most important goal of a nation in the contemporary world.

10. Author Peter Richard Grenville Layard known as Richard Layard, (born 15 March 1934), is a British economist. He was founder-director of the LSE Centre for Economic Performance, a large research centre covering most areas of economic policy. Since 2000 he has been a member of the House of Lords. Background Information

11. Source THE FUTURIST is a bi-monthly magazine published since 1967 by the World Future Society and is a principal benefit of membership, read by 25,000 members worldwide. Edited by Edward Cornish, former president of the World Future Society, THE FUTURIST takes no stand on what the future will or should be like. The magazine strives to serve as a neutral clearinghouse of ideas. Each article and department item includes the name and address of an author or source to contact for more information and expand your network. Background Information

12. Jeremy Bentham was born Feb. 15, 1748, London and died June 6, 1832, London. He was an English philosopher, economist, and theoretical jurist, the earliest and chief expounder of Utilitarianism. Cultural Notes

13. Scandinavian, region of northern Europe usually defined as comprising Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. It is sometimes used more broadly to include Finland and Iceland. Norway and Sweden occupy the Scandinavian Peninsula, though Denmark is part of the North European Plain. The Scandinavian peoples are linked by cultural similarities, and they speak a closely related group of Germanic languages. Cultural Notes

14. core curriculum In a core curriculum, a predetermined body of skills, knowledge, and abilities is taught to all students. The core curriculum movement assumes there is a uniform body of knowledge that all students should know. Presumably, this curriculum will produce educated and responsible graduates for the community. Cultural Notes

15. The House of Lords consists of the Lords Spiritual, who are the most prominent bishops of the Church of England; and the Lords Temporal, who have either inherited the seat from their forefathers or appointed by the sovereign; and Law Lords (a special group chosen to assist the House in its judicial duties). The Lords do not receive salaries and many do not attend Parliament at all. Nowadays such composition is seen as being both sexist and elitist. Because Lords are appointed or given the right by their birth into a particular family, in Parliament they speak and vote as individuals, not as representatives of the greater interests of the country. But of course some civic-minded ones do try to serve their country rather than their own interests. Cultural Notes

16. A new social science field—the study of happiness—could ultimately transform how governments make decisions. Policymakers may one day use a system of national well-being indicators to track a country's happiness in the same way we now monitor economic conditions. Lord Richard Layard, one of Britain’s most prominent economists and a world expert on unemployment and inequality, has published a new book, Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, which describes this important new field. He argues that money can’t, in fact, buy happiness. Layard redefines what happiness is, how to get more of it, and provides bold recommendations for policymakers. Cultural Notes

17. Language Points Key Words & Expressions • on (the) average (para. 2): • taking the typical example of the group under consideration 通常，平均起来 • e.g. • Prices have increased on average by five percent. （ 平均起来价格涨了百分之五。）

18. Language Points • call for (para. 5): • to suggest strongly that something should happen or is necessary 要求，需要 • e.g. • More work doesn't necessarily call for more men. （增加工作量不一定要增加人员。 ） • e.g. • The letter calls for an investigation of the facts. （ 来信要求对这些事实进行调查。）

19. Language Points • discourage from (para. 10): • to try to prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something), or to have the effect of making (something) less likely 阻止 • e.g. • The rain discouraged us from going out. （ 雨使我们不能外出。）

20. Language Points Difficult Sentences • However, the last 30 years have seen a major scientific revolution, and we now know much more about what causes happiness—using the results of psychology and neuroscience. (para. 1) • 此处see即witness, 译为目睹，经历。类似的例句还有 The 19th century saw many changes (许多变革发生于19世纪。)

21. Language Points • Always at the top comes the quality of family life or other close personal relationships. (para.3) • 为了保持句子平衡，或为了强调表语或状语，或使上下文紧密衔接时，可以使用倒装。 • They arrived at a house, in front of which sat a small boy. • In a big bed of a big room lies a big man.