Unit4

1. Unit4

2. Cultural Information Audiovisual Supplement Watch the movie clip and answer the following questions. Pre-reading Activities - Audiovisual supplement 1 1. Where is the engine of the 911? In the back of the car. 2. What’s the secret of success of that factory? The product and their manufacturing process are one unit. Automation, technology and skilled human labor combine to build the Porsche 911. And the factory runs like a precision machine.

3. Cultural Information Audiovisual Supplement Pre-reading Activities - Audiovisual supplement 2

4. Cultural Information Audiovisual Supplement Narrator: A German factory builds one of the world’s most famous cars. The 911 is the icon of the sports car industry. It’s the shape, it’s the engine in the back, it’s the feel it gives you, it’s the emotion. The factory runs like a precision machine, building hundreds of engines a day. The product and our manufacturing process are one unit, and that’s our secret of success. Automation, technology and skilled human labor combine to build 16 versions of the Porsche 911, including the 911 GT3. Video Script1

5. Cultural Information Audiovisual Supplement 1. 2. Car culture has been a major niche lifestyle in America. In the 1950s, the post-war boom produced a generation of teenagers with enough income to buy their own cars. These cars became so much more than just modes of transportation. They were reflections of a lifestyle. The ability to tune and soup-up muscle cars gave average Joes the opportunity to show off their power, their speed and their style in a way that personified the car as character. Cultural information1

6. Cultural Information Audiovisual Supplement 3. Like Granny in Jan and Dean’s 1964 song “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” we can’t keep our foot off the accelerator. Cultural information2 4. We are crazy about our cars — and always have been. “The American,” William Faulkner lamented in 1948, “really loves nothing but his automobile.” 5. We dream of cars as we dream of lovers. Americans have always cherished personal freedom and mobility, rugged individualism and masculine force. 6.

7. Text Analysis Structural Analysis Global Reading - Main idea 1 “Out of Step” is an exposition that presents the absurdity of the Americans’ dependence on cars. The Americans, being so accustomed to using cars, have almost forgotten the existence of their legs. Wherever they go, they go in their cars. As a result, pedestrian facilities are neglected in city planning or rejected by the inhabitants.

8. Text Analysis Structural Analysis Structural analysis 1 The writer introduces his idea with an anecdote. In this part, the author presents the fact that the Americans are habituated to using cars for everything. In this part, the author shows that pedestrian facilities are neglected or discarded.

9. Detailed Reading Out of Step Bill Bryson Detailed reading1 After living in England for 20 years, my wife and I decided to move back to the United States. We wanted to live in a town small enough that we could walk to the business district, and settled on Hanover, N.H., a typical New England town — pleasant, sedate and compact. It has a broad central green surrounded by the venerable buildings of Dartmouth College, an old-fashioned Main Street and leafy residential neighborhoods. It is, in short, an agreeable, easy place to go about one’s business on foot, and yet as far as I can tell, virtually no one does. 1 2

10. Detailed Reading Nearly every day, I walk to the post office or library or bookstore, and sometimes, if I am feeling particularly debonair, I stop at Rosey Jekes Café for a cappuccino. Occasionally, in the evenings, my wife and I stroll up to the Nugget Theatre for a movie or to Murphy’s on the Green for a beer, I wouldn’t dream of going to any of these places by car. People have gotten used to my eccentric behavior, but in the early days acquaintances would often pull up to the curb and ask if I wanted a ride. “I’m going your way,” they would insist when I politely declined. “Really, it’s no bother.” 3 Detailed reading2 4

11. Detailed Reading “Honestly, I enjoy walking.” “Well, if you’re sure,” they would say and depart reluctantly, even guiltily, as if leaving the scene of an accident without giving their name. In the United States we have become so habituated to using the car for everything that it doesn’t occur to us to unfurl our legs and see what those lower limbs can do. We have reached an age where college students expect to drive between classes, where parents will drive three blocks to pick up their children from a friend’s house, where the letter carrier takes his van up and down every driveway on a street. 5 Detailed reading3 6 7

12. Detailed Reading We will go through the most extraordinary contortions to save ourselves from walking. Sometimes it’s almost ludicrous. The other day I was waiting to bring home one of my children from a piano lesson when a car stopped outside a post office, and a man about my age popped out and dashed inside. He was in the post office for about three or four minutes, and then came out, got in the car and drove exactly 16 feet (I had nothing better to do, so I paced it off) to the general store next door. 8 Detailed reading4

13. Detailed Reading And the thing is, this man looked really fit. I’m sure he jogs extravagant distances and plays squash and does all kinds of healthful things, but I am just as sure that he drives to each of these undertakings. An acquaintance of ours was complaining the other day about the difficulty of finding a place to park outside the local gymnasium. She goes there several times a week to walk on a treadmill. The gymnasium is, at most, a six-minute walk from her front door. 9 Detailed reading5 10

14. Detailed Reading Detailed reading6 I asked her why she didn’t walk to the gym and do six minutes less on the treadmill. She looked at me as if I were tragically simple-minded and said, “But I have a program for the treadmill. It records my distance and speed and calorie burn rate, and I can adjust it for degree of difficulty.” I confess it had not occurred to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in this regard. 11 12 13

15. Detailed Reading According to a concerned and faintly horrified 1997 editorial in the Boston Globe, the United States spent less than one percent of its transportation budget on facilities for pedestrians. Actually, I’m surprised it was that much. Go to almost any suburb developed in the last 30 years, and you will not find a sidewalk anywhere. Often you won’t find a single pedestrian crossing. I had this brought home to me one summer when we were driving across Maine and stopped for coffee in one of those endless zones of shopping malls, motels, gas stations and fast-food places. I noticed there was a bookstore across the street, so I decided to skip coffee and head over. 14 Detailed reading7 15

16. Detailed Reading Detailed reading8 Although the bookshop was no more than 70 or 80 feet away, I discovered that there was no way to cross on foot without dodging over six lanes of swiftly moving traffic. In the end, I had to get in our car and drive across. At the time, it seemed ridiculous and exasperating, but afterward I realized thatI was possibly the only person ever to have entertained the notion of negotiating that intersection on foot. 16 17

17. Detailed Reading The fact is, we not only don’t walk anywhere anymore in this country, we won’t walk anywhere, and woe to anyone who tries to make us, as the city of Laconia, N.H., discovered. In the early 1970s, Laconia spent millions on a comprehensive urban renewal project, which included building a pedestrian mall to make shopping more pleasant. Esthetically it was a triumph — urban planners came from all over to coo and take photos — but commercially it was a disaster. Forced to walk one whole block from a parking garage, shoppers abandoned downtown Laconia for suburban malls. 18 Detailed reading9

18. Detailed Reading In 1994 Laconia dug up its pretty paving blocks, took away the tubs of geraniums and decorative trees, and brought back the cars. Now people can park right in front of the stores again, and downtown Laconia thrives anew. And if that isn’t sad. I don’t know what is. 19 Detailed reading10 20

19. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1--Quesion 1 What kind of town is it? It is a small, pleasant and agreeable town. The inhabitants are friendly and willing to help. But although the town is compact, few people go about on foot.

20. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1--Quesion 2 What is considered the author’s “eccentric behavior”? Instead of riding a car, the author walks around the city, doing his shopping, going to the movies or visiting the café or bar. To people who are used to going everywhere in a car, he is an eccentric.

21. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1--Quesion 3 Why would drivers “depart reluctantly, even guiltily” when their offer was declined? With cars becoming the basic essentials of their life, people are so habituated to using the car for everything. The scene of somebody walking around seemed so unusual to them that they would naturally show their concern to him. When their offer to give him a ride was declined, they were sorry for not being able to help him out.

22. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1--Quesion 4 Why did the author say “Actually, I’m surprised it was that much”? When the author found that the newly planned suburbs totally overlooked pedestrian needs, he assumed there was no budget for pedestrian facilities at all. So he says he was surprised to learn that there actually was less than one percent of budget on it. Here the author writes with a touch of irony.

23. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1--Quesion 5 Why did Laconia change its downtown pedestrian mall to one with parking lots? Although the pedestrian mall was well decorated, shoppers were unwilling to walk to the stores from a parking garage. As a result, it was a commercial failure. The government had to compromise with the public preference.

24. Detailed Reading Class Activity Group discussion: What does the title mean? With the use of this title, the writer seems to suggest Detailed reading1– Activity 1 people no longer walk in America; the few people who do walk seem to be old-fashioned and “eccentric”.

25. New England 新英格兰，当地华人常称之为“纽英仑”，是位于美国大陆东北角、濒临大西洋、毗邻加拿大的区域。新英格兰地区包括美国的六个州，由北至南分别为：缅因州、新罕布什尔州、佛蒙特州、马萨诸塞州、罗德岛州、康涅狄格州。麻省首府波士顿是该地区的最大城市以及经济与文化中心。 全美50所頂尖大學中的13所和全美前50位的博雅教育學院中的13所都坐落在新英格蘭。其中包括8所常春藤盟校中的4所(布朗大學、達特茅斯學院、哈佛大學和耶魯大學) 等。

26. Almost from the beginning, there were important differences between the Southern and the New England colonies. In the South, the rich and powerful plantation owners were slow to develop a literature of their own. They preferred books imported from England. But in New England, the Puritans in England, who were fighting against the English king (in a war that lasted from 1642 to 1652. Therefore, they had a far stronger sense of unity. This was one of the reasons why culture and literature developed much faster than in the South. Harvard, the first college in the colonies, was founded near Boston in 1636 in order to train new Puritan ministers.

29. Detailed Reading sedatea. calm, serious and formal Detailed reading1– sedate e.g. She is a sedate old lady; she is caring but never talks much. The fight against a nuclear power station site has transformed a normally sedate town into a battlefield. v. make calm or sleepy, esp. with a drug e.g. The patient was heavily sedated and resting quietly in bed. Derivation: sedately(ad.),sedation(n.),sedative(a., n.)

30. Detailed Reading eccentric a. (of people or behavior) unconventional and slightly strange Detailed reading1– eccentric e.g. The old gentleman, who lived alone all his life, was said to have some eccentric habits. n. a person of unconventional and slightly strange views or behavior e.g. The old gentleman enjoyed a colorful reputation as an engaging eccentric.

31. Detailed Reading curbn. (British English: kerb) a line of raised stones separating the footpath from the road v. / n.(place) a control or limit on sth. undesirable Detailed reading1– curb e.g. Poor nutrition can curb a child’s development both physically and mentally. There will be curbs on drunk-driving from next month.

32. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1-- habituate habituate v. accustom by frequent repetition or prolonged exposure You must habituate yourself to reading aloud. By the end of the school term, the students had been habituated / accustomed / used to rising at five o’clock. e.g.

33. Detailed Reading contortion n. a twisted position or movement that looks surprising or strange Detailed reading1– contortion 1 e.g. The spectators cannot but admire the contortions of the gymnasts. Derivation: contort (v.) cause sth. to twist out of its natural shape and looks strange or unttractive

34. Detailed Reading Comparison: Detailed reading1– contortion 2 distort, twist, deform, contort, warp These verbs mean to change and spoil the form or character of sth. To distort is to alter in shape, as by torsion or wrenching; the term also applies to verbal or pictorial misrepresentation and to alteration or perversion of the meaning of sth. distort: e.g. The human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it. (Francis Bacon).

35. Detailed Reading Comparison: Detailed reading1– contortion 3 twist: Twist applies to distortion of form or meaning. e.g. a mouth twisted with pain He accused me of twisting his words to mean what I wanted them to. deform: If you deform sth., or if it deforms, its usual shape changes so that its usefulness or appearance is spoiled. e.g. Great erosion deformed the landscape. The earlier part of his discourse was deformed by pedantic divisions and subdivisions.

36. Detailed Reading Comparison: Detailed reading1– contortion 4 contort: If you contort sth., or if it contorts, it twists out of its normal shape and looks strange or unattractive. e.g. a face contorted with rage a contorted line of reasoning warp: Warp can refer to a turning or twisting from a flat or straight form. e.g. The floorboards had warped over the years. It also can imply influencing sb. in a way that has a harmful effect on how they think or behave. e.g. Prejudice warps the judgment.

37. Detailed Reading bring sth. home to sb. make sb. realize sth. Detailed reading1– bring sth. home to sb. 1 The news report has brought home to us all the plight of the prisoners of war. e.g. Comparison: drive sth. home to sb., hit / strike home drive sth. home to sb.: make sb. realize sth., esp. by saying it often, loudly, angrily, etc. The professor drove home to them that they must finish the writing assignment by Friday. e.g.

38. Detailed Reading Comparison: Detailed reading1– bring sth. home to sb. 2 hit / strike home:(of remarks, etc.) have the intended (often painful) effect e.g. You could see from his expression that her sarcastic comments had hit / stricken home.

39. Detailed Reading entertain v. consider an idea, etc. or allow yourself to think that sth. might happen or be true Detailed reading1-- entertain He refused to entertain our proposal. entertain ideas, doubts, etc. e.g.

40. Detailed Reading negotiate v. get over or past (an obstacle, etc.) successfully; manage to travel along a difficult route Detailed reading1– negotiate 1 e.g. The only way to negotiate the path is on foot. Frank Mariano negotiates the dessert terrain in his battered pickup.

41. Detailed Reading Practice: Detailed reading1– negotiate 2 那攀登者得攀越一陡峭岩石。 那马轻易跳过了栅栏。 The climber had to negotiate a steep rock face. The horse negotiated the fence with ease.

42. Detailed Reading coo v. speak in a soft, gentle, and loving way, esp. when expressing surprise Detailed reading1– coo e.g. “How wonderful to see you again, darling,” she cooed. The little girl is always cooing over those parrots of hers.

43. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1– anew anew adv. (fml.) again or one more time, esp. in a different way e.g. The scientists started the experiment anew. The film tells anew the story of her rise to stardom.

44. Detailed Reading In the United States we have become so habituated to using the car for everything that it doesn’t occur to us to unfurl our legs and see what those lower limbs can do. Detailed reading1– In the United States … Paraphrase: People in the United States tend to drive for basically every purpose, so much so that they have forgotten that they still have legs and about what their legs can do.

45. Detailed Reading Detailed reading1– I confess it … I confess it had not occurred to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in this regard. Paraphrase: I admit that I have never realized I had been so stupid.

46. Detailed Reading … I was possibly the only person ever to have entertained the notion of negotiating that intersection on foot. Detailed reading1– I was possibly … Paraphrase: … I was likely to be the only person who had ever attempted to cross that intersection on foot.

47. Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated Skills Oral Activities Writing Consolidation Activities- Vocabulary main Word Derivation Phrase Practice Synonym / Antonym

48. Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated Skills Oral Activities Writing Consolidation Activities-Phrase practice 1 1)agree v.→ agreeable a. → agreement n. e.g. 我同意他对情况的分析。 I agree with his analysis of the situation. 我觉得他极易相处。 I found him most agreeable. 与雇主们的协议终于达成了。 An agreement with the employers was finally worked out.

49. Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated Skills Oral Activities Writing Consolidation Activities-Phrase practice 2 2) eccentric a./n. → eccentricity n. 这个俱乐部里好像都是怪人。 e.g. The club seemed to be full of eccentrics. 他的怪僻之一是睡觉睡在床底下而不睡在床上。 One of his eccentricities is sleeping under the bed instead of on it.

50. Vocabulary Grammar Translation Integrated Skills Oral Activities Writing Consolidation Activities-Phrase practice 3 3) acquaint v. → acquaintance n. → acquainted a. e.g. 那位律师了解委托人生意上的详情。 The lawyer acquainted himself with the details of his client’s business affairs. 他交友甚广。 He has a wide circle of acquaintances. 你对莎士比亚的作品熟悉吗? Are you acquainted with the works of Shakespeare?