Unit 1 Ways of Learning

Unit 1 Ways of Learning Text A Learning, Chinese style

Answer the following questions: • Where and when did the incident take place? • Who are the main characters in this incident? • What were the author and his wife doing in Nanjing? • What is the attitude of the author and his wife toward Benjamin’s efforts in inserting the key into the slot? • What is the attitude of the hotel staff toward it? • What did the author learn from this incident?

An essay is usu. made up of three parts: • A beginning • The body part • A conclusion

Ways to introduce a topic: • Stating the topic directly • Posing a question • Quoting from others • Telling a story (experience, anecdote)

Language points: • Reflect on: (1) think carefully about 反省 (2) do harm to 有损于 e.g. Japan should reflect on its foreign policies. The lie you told reflects on your honesty.

Attach: (1) fasten or join (one thing to another) e.g. Be sure to attach the label to your luggage. (2) 依附，附属 Jinhua No.2 Middle School is attached to Zhejiang Normal University. • Be attached to • Attach importance to

Not in the least: not at all e.g. The student didn’t seem in the least concerned about her own study. Though wealthy, he was not in the least happy.

Find one’s way: arrive at • Initial: of or at the beginning, first e.g. the initial issue of the magazine the initial stage of the experiment • Assist: help assist sb. to do sth. assist sb. in doing sth. assist sb. with sth.

somewhat: to some degree; a little • Await: wait for • On occasion: occasionally on one occasion on the occasion of on more than one occasion

Neglect: (1) give too little attention to e.g. He gave too much attention to his career and neglected his family. (2) fail, esp. because of carelessness or forgetfulness e.g. Don’t neglect to lock (locking) the door when you leave. c.f.ignore overlook

Relevant: directly connected to the subject • Relevance • Irrelevant • Be relevant/irrelevant to • 他的外表与他是否是一位好老师是不相关的。

Investigate: try to find out information about investigation : e.g. The matter is under investigation.

Throw light on: explain, make clear e.g. The video tape threw some light on how the British soldiers abused the Iraqis. The story throws light on the differences between Chinese and western ways of learning.

Translate the sentences: • 警察仍在调查事故发生的起因。 • 他在日记中说明了他为什么要离家出走。 • 写作文时，所有的句子都应该和主题相关。 • 她的美丝毫不让我心动。 • 你不用帮我，我自己能行。 • 如果我们努力，我们能在这学期实现通过四级的目标。

Language points: • Critical: very important; very serious e.g. This patient is still in a critical condition. How well you study is critical to the success of your career. The situation in the Middle East is very critical. Critic / criticize /criticism /critical Be critical of: be particular about 挑剔

Make up for: compensate for e.g. we're working fast to try and make up for lost time. 我们在努力工作，试图补偿失去的时间. He makes up for his slowness by working twice as hard as everyone else.　他为了弥补自身的迟钝，投入了别人两倍的心力来工作。 Hard work can often make up for a lack of intelligence．勤奋工作往往可以弥补智力的不足。

Figure out: understand 算出, 估计, 推测; 解决; 了解, 领会到; 断定. e.g.孩子们没有花很多时间就算出了正确的答案. It didn't take the children long to figure out the correct answer. He's trying to figure out a way to solve the problem. 我琢磨不透他为什麽要辞掉工作.

In retrospect: upon reflection e.g. The young man knew in retrospect that he should have married his first love. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t chosen English as my major.

Come to one’s rescue: e.g. The little girl was in trouble, and she held the belief that someone would come to her rescue. So much so that: to such a degree that e.g. Some parents spoil their children, so much so that they never ask them to do anything.

Continual / Continuous • ________ interruptions • _________ interruption

Apply to:1) be relevant to The law applies only to foreigners. 2) write a letter or fill in a form in order to ask formally for He applied to the university for scholarship. Apply/application/ applicant

Scan para.11-13, and answer the following questions: • Can you find words like “Chinese” and “westerner” or “American” or “the west” in each paragraph? • What method of comparison and contrast is used here?

In terms of: 在……方面 He is not satisfied with his job in terms of income. It is difficult to express it in terms of science.要用科学的字眼来表达它是很困难的。 Staying up late makes him at his worst in terms of physical situation.熬夜使得他的体力状况处于低潮。那些数字是以百分数表示的.The figures are expressed in terms of a percentage/in percentage terms.

Priority: sth that one must do before anything else; 优先权,优先顺序,优先 You must decide what your priorities are.你应该分清轻重缓急. Rebuilding the area is a (top) priority. Housework is low on her list of priorities.在她那些非做不可的事情中, 家务活并不重要. The Government gave (top) priority to reforming the legal system.政府将改革法制列为工作的重点.

Evolve: (cause to) develop gradually The story evolved into a tragedy. Popular music evolved from folk songs. He has evolved a new theory after many years of research.他经过多年的研究, 逐渐总结出了新的理论.

Contrast: compare so that differences are made clear (contrast A and/with B) The author contrasts Chinese ways to learn with Americans’. In contrast:相反，相对比而言 In contrast to the cold weather in the North, the South is much warmer. He is always reading, but his brother, in contrast, just watches TV all day.

On the other hand: used to add a new and different fact to a statement 在另一方面 • on the contrary: used when one says a statement is not true (用于否定某一陈述）正相反（to the contrary:相反，放句末) • In contrast: used of two very different facts that are both true(用于两件对立的事实) 与此相反(相比之下)

It’s cold, but ____ ,it is not raining. It was warm yesterday, but ___, it’s very cold today. ---- It’s cold. ---- _____, it’s hot. I will go on with my work unless I get the order_____.

Promote: help to grow or develop We can’t sacrifice environmental protection to promote economic growth. He was promoted manager of the personnel department. 经常锻炼有助于身心健康。

Emerge • Emergence • Emergency • Emergent

Pick up: gain, learn The children have picked up the local accent.孩子都学会了当地口音了。 She soon picked up French when she went to live in France.她到法国居住后很快就学会了法语。 I don’t know where he picked up that bad habit.

Topic for discussion • Should we develop children’s creativity first or train them in basic skills first?

Ways to conclude an essay: • A restatement of the main points previously mentioned; • A proposed solution; • A quotation from some book or person; • A prediction of future developments; • A suggestion for further study;

Assuming (that) • Valid: based on truth or sound reasoning They put forward many valid reasons for solving the problem. scientific theories must be backed up with valid evidence. The ticket is valid for a month. A credit card is not a valid proof of identity.

Worthwhile • Worth one’s while • Worthy • Worth

Superior • Inferior • Prior • Junior • Senior

Writing assignment: • College Lectures and Discussion (1) 大学里教学有讲授式和讨论式两种 (2)这两种方式有什么长处和不足 (3)我的看法

Unit 1 Ways of Learning