Lesson Six

1. Lesson Six • Disappearing through the Skylight ------- By Oshborne Bennet Hardison Jr.

2. Aims • To know the features of scientific writing. • To analyse the structure of the text. • To understand the deeper meaning of the text. • To appreciate the language features

3. Teaching Contents • 1. Scientific writing • 2. Structuralism and the main idea of the text. • 3. Detailed study of the text • 4. Organizational pattern • 5. Language features • 6. Exercises

4. Time allocation • Writing style (15 min.) • Introduction of the text (20min.) • Detailed study of the text (100 min.) • Structure analysis (15 min.) • Language appreciation (15 min.) • Exercises (15 min)

5. Scientific writing (English for science and technology) 1. technical terms • cylinder block; carburettor; thermodynamics; etc. 2. objective: relying on facts, not involve emotion, • seldom use figures of speech, exclamation • the use of present tense • the use of passive voice

6. Scientific writing 3. sentences: a) complete • no contractions (dep't -- department) b) long 1) compound sentences 2) appositions 3) parenthesis 4) logical connectors • such as : however; but; also; yet; finally; while; as ; not only; just as ...so; etc.

7. Scientific writing • Generally this technical writing tends to be very formal. Yet the characteristics of any kind of language style is not absolute. In order to meet the needs of the work for popular science, many scientific workers try to adopt a more popular style. Then there comes a popular scientific and technical writing style.

8. Characteristics • limit the use of technical terms • examples--- to make the writing more vivid and appealing to the readers

9. Characteristics • figures of speech-- to make the sentences figurative so that the readers can easily understand andassociate them with what they are familiar with • noun pre-modifiers • game theory; human growth genes; theme park; museum villages;world car; etc

10. Structuralism • Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis practiced in 20th-century social sciences and humanities. 自然科学和人文科学

11. Structuralism • Methodologically, it analyzes large-scale systems by examining the relations and functions of the smallest constituent elements of such systems, which range from human languages and cultural practices to folktales and literary texts.

12. Structuralism • In the field of linguistics，the structuralist work of Ferdinand de Saussurelong served as model and inspiration.

13. Characteristic of structuralist thinking, • Saussure's linguistic inquiry was centered not on speech itselfbut on the underlying rules and conventions enabling language to operate.

14. Characteristic • Analyzing the social or collective dimension of language rather than individual speech, he pioneered and promoted • study of grammar rather than usage, • rules rather than expressions, • models rather than data, • langue语言 (language) rather than parole言语(speech).

15. Four procedures Levi-Strauss specified four procedures basic to structuralism. • 1）Structural analysis examines unconscious infrastructures 基层结构of cultural phenomena; • 2）It regards the elements of infrastructures as “relational,” not as independent entities实体

16. Four procedures • 3）It attends single-mindedly to system; • 4）It propounds (proposes) general laws accounting for the underlying organizing patterns of phenomena.

17. Detailed study of the text • Disappearing Through the Skylight is not only the title of this chapter but also the title of the book. • The book has a sub-title, “Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century”

18. C.B. Hardison, Jr. A well-known for his profound insights into the change in modern culture brought about by modern science and technology. His provocative views are stimulating and informative.

19. The book As for the central theme of this book, the writer says , “This book is about the ways culture has changed in the past century, changing the identities of all those born into it. Its metaphor for the effect of change on culture is “disappearance”.

20. The book In the 19th century, science presented nature as group of objects set comfortably and solidly in he middle distance before the eyes of the beholders. In the work of D’Arcy Thompson, published around the turn of the century, nature has disappeared. It has become a set of geometric and mathematical relations that lie under the surface of the visible.

21. In this key chapter • The writer puts forward the central theme of “disappearance”– nature disappears, history disappears and even the solid banks disappears. • He puts forward the idea of the universalizing tendency of science and technology

22. In this key chapter 3. The modern man is no longer a unique individual, the product of a special environment and culture. The homogeneous world he now lives in universalizes him. He becomes a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world. In this key chapter

23. In this key chapter 4. The disappearance of history is a form of liberation and this feeling of liberation is often expressed through play. The playfulness of science has produced game theory and virtual particles, in art it has produced the paintings of Picasso and Joan Miro and so on.

24. Science is committed to… • Science is engaged in the task of making its basic concepts understood and accepted by scientists all over the world. This concept of universality and uniformity is one of the basic views of the author.

25. thermodynamics -- (sing) 热力学 • science of the relations between heat and mechanical work

26. genetics --- • science (branch of biology) dealing with heredity

27. mutation – change, alternation • a change in the genetic structure of an animal or plant which causes a new sort of animal or plant to develop A series of mutations has resulted in large grains of wheat. • a very important change in the structure or organization profound mutations in culture and attitudes

28. discredit (fml) –- refuse to believe or have confidence in cause the truth to seem doubtful • His theories were discredited by scientists. • Scientific discoveries have discredited religious belief. (question)

29. corollary (fml)– a corollary of sth is an idea, argument or fact which is the direct result of it 必然的结果 = consequence • this change is the inevitable corollary of the social revolution.

30. homogeneous --- having similarity in structure because of common descent = uniform • The working class is not quite so homogeneous in its political preference.

31. Children … diminishes • Children who grow up in this world feel that countries and people are more or less the same. As their thoughts and feelings are shaped by this sameness. Their sense of differences among cultures and people becomes weak.

32. diversity • – variety, difference

33. innovation --- • making change introducing new things • technical innovations in industry

34. streamline – make more efficient (by simplifying, getting rid of , wasteful method etc) • 提高效率 • ~ production

35. streamlined --- adj. Having nothing likely to impede progress 有效率的 • ~ controls / methods 高效率管理/方法

36. streamlining --- design or construct a contour (outline) that offers the least resistance in moving through air, water etc. 流线型

37. economics --- thing related to the economy of automobile manufacturing, such as production costs, consumer appeal, sale price, etc

38. asset --- • a valuable or desirable thing benefit 财产, 资本, 有价值的东西 • An asset is someone or sth that is considered useful or that helps a person or organization to be successful • Her only ~ was a gentle nature. • With all his experience abroad he was a major ~ to the company.

39. cylinder --- 汽缸 • block --- • main part of a petrol engine, consisting of the cylinder and valves 汽缸与阀

40. carburetor --- • that part of an internal combustion engine in which petrol and air are mixed to make an explosive mixture (内燃机中的) 汽化器

41. inevitable --- • that can’t be avoided, that is sure to happen

42. equivalent – n. sth that has the same use, function as sth else • A good quilt can be the equivalent of at least three blankets. • be hard put to it (to do sth) --- find it difficult • He was hard put to explain what had happened.

43. As in … automaking • This is an elliptical balanced sentence. The full sentence may read: “Things that are happening in automaking are similar to those happening in architecture.”

44. If man …. creator • This short balanced topic sentence introduces the second important view of the writer. Man creates machines and the machines then turn around and change those who created them. Man creates the World Car and by driving this kind of car the modern man himself becomes universalized. He is becoming a cosmopolitan.

45. cosmopolitan --- of or from all or many different parts of the world • the ~ gatherings at the United Nations Assembly 联合国各种世界性集会

46. The price … of the word • The disadvantage of being a cosmopolitan is that he loses a home in the old sense of the word. • The benefit of being a cosmopolitan is that he begins to think the old kind of home probably restricts his development and activities.

47. suspect • To think it probable or likely; guess; suppose

48. The universalizing … • The compelling force of technology to universalize cannot be resisted.

49. Barring ..culture • Excepting a great disaster brought about by a nuclear war, the universalizing power of technology will continue to influence modern culture and the consciousness of people who inhabit that culture. • barring: unless there should be; excepting

50. Para.9 • From this paragraph onwards the writer puts forward and develops the main theme of this chapter and the central theme of his book ---the insubstantiality of the world, the disappearance of traditional concepts, of the material objects we used to see with our ordinary eyes. This is specially and clearly reflected in modern art and architecture.