(完整word版)Unit3OnReading练习答案

(完整word版)Unit3OnReading练习答案

Unit 3

On Reading

Consolidation Activities

I. Text Comprehension

1. Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose.

A.

To recommend some masterpieces for pleasurable reading.

B.

To let the readers share his experience of reading.

C.

To urge the exercise of personal taste in the selection of what to read from the books he is

going to recommend.

Key: [ C ]

2. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1). If books can fulfill your utilitarian purposes, you will find reading them enjoyable. [F]

2). All masterpieces, due to their importance and value acknowledged by critics, should be given

priority on readers’ booklists. [F]

3). The first criterion in book-selection is that the reader should get pleasure from his/her reading.

[T]

4). Reading habits vary from person to person, depending on individuals’ preferences. [T]

5). The author does not believe in skipping, because he often worries that he may have missed

something important and valuable in reading as a result of skipping. [F]

4. Explain in your own words the following sentences taken from the text.

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1. Even though many scholars highly praise a book, you don’t have to read it at all if you don’t

find it interesting.

2. Later on, when I finish my work, and I feel relaxed, and don’t want to beat my brains, I usually

read history, essays, criticism or biography, and in the evening I read a novel.

II. Writing Strategies

1) Read the following sentences that are structured in an inverted sequence.

a. Such books we read with resignation rather than with alacrity. (Paragraph 1)

b. That, however, they cannot do unless you enjoy reading them. (Paragraph 1)

c. Now of such books as this I mean to say nothing. (Paragraph 3)

d. ... but how you are to learn it I cannot tell you ...(Paragraph 6)

Try to give the normal order of these sentences and comment on their stylistic functions.

a. Normal sequence: We read such books with resignation rather than with alacrity.

Function: To create a closer relation between “books” in this sentence and “them” in the

preceding one.

b. Normal sequence: However, they cannot do that unless you enjoy reading them.

Function: To achieve emphasis by putting “that” at the beginning of the sentence.

c. Normal sequence: Now I mean to say nothing of such books as this.

Function: Both to achieve emphasis and to create a closer relation between “this” in the

sentence and what has been discussed in the preceding one.

d. Normal sequence: ... but I cannot tell you how you are to learn it ...

Function: Both to achieve emphasis and to create a closer relation between “it” in the

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sentence and “to know how to skip” in the preceding one.

2) With the exception of Paragraphs 1 and 4, the author supplies his own experiences in the

second half of each paragraph to shed more light on the suggestions he puts forward. Read these

experiences again, and identify the author’s viewpoints.

The author’s viewpoints involved in his personal experiences:

a. The author’s experience in reading George Eliot’s

Adam Bede (Paragraph 2) — to indicate

that masterpieces do not necessarily bring enjoyment in reading.

b. Reading certain books makes the author feel the richer (Paragraph 3) — to suggest that

what pleases one person does not necessarily please another.

c. The author’s reading habit (Paragraph 5) — to advise people that they need to read

according to their own interests.

d. The author’s experience as a bad skipper (Paragraph 6) — to prove that reading could be

more enjoyable, if you know how to skip.

III. Language Work

1. Explain the underlined part(s) in each sentence in your own words.

1). Such books we read with resignation rather than with alacrity.

read with unresisting acceptance because we know we have to; eagerness

2). The books I shall mention in due course will help you neither to get a degree nor to earn your

living.

later, after these introductory remarks

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3). I wish to deal only with the masterpieces which the consensus of opinion for a long time has

accepted as supreme.

for a long time have generally been accepted as the most important books

4). Don’t forget that critics often make mistakes — the history of criticism is full of the blunders

the most eminent of them have made ...

full of mistakes; famous and respected

5). ... I would not go so far as to pretend that to read a book will assuage the pangs of hunger or

still the pain of unrequited love ...

ease the painful feeling; kill

6). But who is going to acquire the habit of reading for reading’s sake, if he is bidden to read

books that bore him.

told to

7). It sets me off for the day.

warms me up and gets me ready for a whole day’s work

8). Later on, when my work is done and I feel at ease, but not inclined for mental exercise of a

strenuous character, I read history, essays, criticism or biography ...

ready for; a toilsome / difficult nature

9). ... I am aware I have not done it justice ...

have not treated the book in a way that is fair

10). I am apt to think that I might just as well never have read it ...

tend to; it might have been equally good if I had never read it (Note: it is a phrase used to

mean that another course of action would have an equally good result.)

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2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1). They received the news with resignation. (resign)

2). The company has begun to challenge the supremacy (supreme) of the current leading

manufacturers in the textiles industry.

3). All four proposals to the committee were unanimously (unanimous) approved.

4). Having achieved eminence (eminent) as an actor, he now intends to perform a comparable feat

in politics.

5). This part of the law is only applicable (apply) to companies employing more than five people.

6). The museum houses a fascinating miscellany (miscellaneous) of nautical treasures.

7). I’m not sure of the chronology (chronological) of the events.

8). The children sat listening attentively (attention) to the story.

9). My own inclination (incline) would be to look for another job.

10). He strenuously (strenuous) denies all the allegations against him.

3. Fill in the blank(s) in each sentence with a phrase taken from the box in its appropriate

form.

incline | resign | class as | with equanimity | rob of | stall off |

apt | dip into | apply to extract | do justice to | set off

1). She didn’t really do justice to herself in the interview.

2. He resigned from the company to take a more challenging job.

3). A last-minute injury robbed me of my place on the team.

4). It’s the sort of book you can just dip into now and again.

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5). That bit of the form is for foreigners — it doesn’t apply to you.

6). No one seemed inclined to help.

7). I’m 17, but I’m still classed as a child when I travel by bus.

8). She’s in her eighties now and apt to be a bit forgetful.

9). She’s finally stopped crying — now don’t set her off again.

10). The oil which is extracted from olives is used for cooking.

11). The thief broke into the office while his accomplice stalled off the security guard.

12). He received the news of his mother’s death with remarkable equanimity.

4. Explain the meaning of the underlined part in each sentence.

1). There is a supreme moment at the end of the opera.

a moment which causes great excitement

2). The air was so still that not even the leaves on the trees were moving.

There was so little wind

3). He bade them to leave at once.

ordered or told

4). If symptoms persist, seek medical attention.

visit a doctor

5). The kitchen roof is apt to leak when it rains.

likely to

6). She felt that life had lost most of its savour.

pleasure and interest

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7). Somebody set the alarm off.

made the alarm bell ring

8). I incline to disagree with you on that point.

I more disagree than agree

9). I’ve only dipped into the book.

read a few pages of the book, not from cover to cover

10). The winner has been disqualified for cheating, so justice has been done.

fairness has been achieved

5. Correct the errors in the following passage. The passage contains ten errors, one in each

indicated line. In each case, only one word is involved.

Corrections should be done as follows:

Wrong word: underline the wrong word and write the correct word in the blank.

Extra word: delete the extra word with an “×.”

Missing word: mark the position of the missing word with a “∧” and write the missing word

in the blank.

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Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad led a fascinating life. Born in

Poland, he moved around the world as a sailor and

(1)

language

eventually settled in England. He must have been

an excellent language’s learner as he soon

became a famous English writer. He wrote a large

(3)

exploited

(2)

with

number of short stories and a lot of novels, mainly

about the sea. Many also, as he lived around 1900,

(4)

sinking

were concerned

∧colonialism.

Nostromo exposed

the way Western capitalism sometimes exploiting

the third world, and

Lord Jim was about a ship’s

officer who lost his honor when he abandoned

(5) to

passengers on a sunk ship. Perhaps his most

famous and powerful book is

The Heart of

(6)evil

Darkness. A decent man, Marlow, is sent to

(7) over

investigate what has happened to Kurtz, an ivory

trader, based a long way up one of the great African

(8) for

rivers. Kurtz’s behavior has become increasingly

(9) basis

odd, and his employers want to know what has

(10) presence

happened. As Marlow travels up to the river,

moving into the heart of Africa, through thick,

dangerous jungle, he finds himself also traveling

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into the heart of darkness, man’s savagery and

evilness. But at the very heart he finds, not an

African, but Kurtz, the representative of white

civilization, who has turned himself over into a

god-king, ruling over his own tribe. Terrible things

happen, and eventually the mad Kurtz dies

whispering, “Oh, the horror, the horror.” The story

has been filmed for a number of times, and was

used by Coppola as the base for his film

Apocalypse

Now, a study of the American present in Vietnam. It

remains a powerful warning of the danger of

superiority.

6. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE appropriate word.

The Beauty of Reading

All good books have one thing in (1) common — they are truer than if they really (2) happened

and after you have finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards,

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it all (3) belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and

the places and how the weather was.

— Ernest Hemingway

Books, as we all know, are the stepping stones to human progress, for they reflect the world’s

greatest minds. However, they are only gaudy ornaments on the (4) shelves until someone reads

them. So it is reading that (5) makes the difference. Reading is to the mind what food is to the (6)

body, for it transforms the way people understand the world, invokes self-awareness and helps to

fulfill (7) personal potential.

Reading unfolds a sketch of the real world in front of readers’ (8) eyes. Books present the

landscape and stories of the whole world beyond the (9) limitations of time or space. And by

reading, readers get to (10) know exotic cultures and traditions, enjoy numerous anecdotes, and

even (11) experience the legendary life of their idols. In this regard, reading (12) enables people to

understand the world from a new perspective.

Reading motivates personal development. Merely (13) sustaining life is a vegetable state.

Thoroughly (14) living life requires continuous exploration of mankind itself. And reading enhances

people’s capacity to judge themselves in a moral and rational way, and then correct their (15)

misunderstanding of the concept of themselves.

Reading develops potential. Books are the legacies that great geniuses leave to (16) mankind.

And reading provides readers with a shortcut by which they can get (17) access to their great

minds. The beauty of reading is just like the sunshine, illuminating (18) everything. By reading and

getting access to great (19) minds, readers tend to be encouraged and enlightened, (20) which

naturally makes life more meaningful.

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IV. Translation

1. Translating Sentences

Translate the following sentences into English.

1). 她欣然接受了那笔钱。(with alacrity)

She accepted the money with alacrity.

2). 但是他并未能从胜利中获得满足，因为他发现有个无辜的男孩在战斗中被杀死了。(extract)

However, he could extract no satisfaction from the victory, because he found that an

innocent boy had been killed in the battle.

3). 关于这一点，专家们的意见并不一致。(unanimous)

The experts are not unanimous on this point.

4). 人们说受过良好教育的人在作重要决定时往往会犹豫再三。(apt to)

They say that well-educated people are apt to hesitate too much before they make

important decisions.

5). 尽管他已经晋升为总经理，但是他的权力欲望依然没有得到满足。(assuage)

Despite his promotion to general manager, his desire for power was not assuaged.

6). 这是又一首关于单恋痛苦的诗。(unrequited)

It’s just another poem on the pain of unrequited love.

7). 这部小说不完全是按时间顺序写的。(chronological)

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The novel is not entirely written in a chronological order.

8). 要充分欣赏这部电影，你就必须再看一遍。(do justice to)

You must watch the movie again to do it justice.

9). 那场悲剧三年之后，她才开始恢复平静。(equanimity)

She did not begin to regain her equanimity until three years after the tragedy.

10). 如果你想喝杯咖啡的话，我们还有时间呢。(be/feel inclined to)

There is still time if you feel inclined to have a cup of coffee.

2. Translate the following passage into Chinese.

The Life I Desired

That must be the story of innumerable couples, and the pattern of life it offers has a homely

grace. It reminds you of a placid rivulet, meandering smoothly through green pastures and shaded

by pleasant trees, till at last it falls into the vasty sea; but the sea is so calm, o silent, so indifferent,

that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness. Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature,

strong in me even n those days, that I felt in such an existence, the share of the great majority,

something amiss. I recognized its social value. I saw its ordered happiness, but a fever in my blood

asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights. In my

heart was desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous

shoals if I could only have change — change and the excitement of the unforeseen.

参考译文

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我渴望的生活

这一定是世间无数对夫妻的生活写照，这种生活模式给人一种天伦之美。它使人想起一条平静的溪流，蜿蜒畅游过绿茵的草场，浓荫遮蔽，最后注入烟波浩渺的汪洋大海；但是大海太过平静，太过沉默，太过不动声，你会突然感到莫名的不安。也许这只是我自己的一种怪诞想法，在那样的时代，这想法对我影响很深：我觉得这像大多数人一样的生活，似乎有点儿不对劲。我承认这种生活有社会价值，我也看到了它那井然有序的幸福，但我血液里的冲动却渴望一种更桀骜不驯的旅程。这样的安逸中好像有一种叫我惊惧不安的东西。我的心渴望一种更加惊险的生活。只要生活中还能有变迁——变迁以及不可知的刺激，我愿意踏上怪石嶙峋的山崖，奔赴暗礁满布的海滩。

V. Oral Activities

1.

Giving A Talk

Reading is important to almost everyone and reading different books will have different

impacts on us. In his “Of Study,” Francis Bacon says, “Reading maketh a full man.” and

“Histories make men wise; poems, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral,

grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.” And in this article, W. Somerset Maugham suggests

that some books have a lifelong effect on us by saying “... I think I should not be quite the man I

am if I had not read them.” Have you ever read a book that has changed you in your life? If there is

such a book, give a talk about it.

(For reference)

Once I read a book called

Another Me in the World. I read it so long ago that I can’t

remember its author anymore. But the touching story never leaves my mind, not even for a day. It

is a true story about the friendship between a white millionaire and a black tramp. Ron Hall is a

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wealthy businessman in the art trade, but his life is empty with no friends around. Under the

influence of his wife, he starts to engage in the public welfare undertakings. He exposes himself to

Denver Moore, a black tramp, when food is being distributed in the church.

The two gradually develop a strong friendship and join hands to devote themselves to public

welfare undertakings. Finally they change the living conditions of the New York homeless. This

book impresses me a lot, because the true story proves to me that friendship can overstep race

and class. Loyalty and trust are the most important factors in friendship.

2. Having A Discussion

In the opening text of this unit, W. Somerset Maugham puts much emphasis on the word

“enjoy.” He thinks that reading should be enjoyable and that, if we are reading under an

obligation, it is hard to be enjoyable. But the fact is that, most of the time, students, especially

those majoring in language and literature, are forced to read in order to fulfill their assignments.

They cannot enjoy those books, can they? On the basis of your understanding, please hold a group

discussion on whether we can enjoy reading under an obligation.

(For reference)

Most of the time, reading under an obligation is not an enjoyable experience, especially when

we are not interested in what we are reading. Besides, the limitation of time for finishing it and the

deadline for the paper to be handed in make things even worse. However, many of us may have

this experience: we start reading a book under an obligation reluctantly, but the more we read, the

more we are attracted to it. Once we are absorbed in the reading, we forget all about the

obligation or the time pressure and just read on. So I think it is important to form a good habit of

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reading as well as a good attitude towards it. Once we learn how to really “enjoy” reading, we

shall be able to turn an unpleasant reading experience into a pleasant one.

VI. Research Paper Writing

Developing a Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is one sentence or two in your essay containing its focus and telling your

readers what it is about. The lack of a thesis statement may well be a symptom of a lack of focus.

The thesis statement is also a good test for the scope of your intent. The principle to

remember is that when you try to do too much, you end up doing less or nothing at all. Can we

write a good paper about the influence of WWI on literature?

At best, such a paper would be vague and scattered in its approach. Can we write a good paper

about WWI and the American literature in the 1920s? Well, it’s getting near, but that’s still an

awfully big topic. How about a paper about WWI and the Lost Generation in the American

literature in the 1920s? Now it is narrowing down to something less general, but we still need a

focus, for example, the causal relationship between the war and the Lost Generation as evidenced

by Hemingway’s novels, or especially the main characteristics of such a relationship, that we can

probably write about in just a few pages.

Then the thesis statement goes: The First World War, with its destructive power, has given rise

to disorientation characteristic of the Lost Generation in the United States in the 1920s, which is

evidenced by Hemingway and his novels.

Therefore, a good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should

disclose briefly how you plan to do it. Standards for a good thesis include:

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1. A thesis is specific. Although general terms can be narrowed and defined elsewhere in the

paper, a good thesis supplies a specific subject and a clear direction for your paper. The specific

facts, details and examples that you use will help to clarify the idea that you are trying to express.

Compare the two statements below:

Poor: Aerobic exercise is good for you.

Better: Aerobic exercise may be part of a weight loss

healthy heart.

2. A thesis is restrictive. Just as you need to narrow the subject of a thesis statement, so you will

need to narrow the assertion about the subject. When you restrict the scope of your assertions in

the thesis your writing will be more focused. The length of your paper will determine how

restricted your thesis will be.

Compare the two statements below:

Poor: There are many advantages to having professional sports teams in Houston.

Better: Having professional sports teams in Houston has political, social and economic

program, but it is also the way to a

advantages.

3. A thesis is unified and expresses one main idea. A good thesis may sometimes include a

secondary idea only if it is strictly subordinated to the main one. It is wise to write your thesis

before you draft an outline and definitely before you begin writing your paper.

Compare the two statements below:

Poor: My difficulties in English literature are unbelievable, but I am doing very well in algebra.

Better: I am getting better grades in algebra than in English literature, because I seem more

comfortable with exact concepts like numbers and formulas.

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Further Enchantment

Text II

WHY WE READ

Katha Pollitt

Text Comprehension

1. Answer the following multiple-choice questions:

1). What does the author mean by saying “... while we have been arguing so fiercely about which

books make the best medicine, the patient has been slipping deeper and deeper into a coma.”?

A. There is no point arguing about which books make the best medicine

B. Arguing about which books make the best medicine leads to the coma of the patient

C. What we are discussing is of little use for our real situation.

D. Books are of no use for patients

Key [ C ]

2). What are the most important books for children?

A. The books their parents ask them to read.

B. The books from school assignments.

C. The books from the library, in bookstores or on their friends’ shelves.

D. The books they find for themselves.

Key [ D ]

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3). According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A. There can be a common national purpose of reading.

B. Hawthorne’s being on the syllabus would be just a choice part arbitrary, part a nod to the

national past, part a kind of reverse affirmative action.

C. The canon debaters have a lower expectation of their handful of chosen books.

D. People always need professional help to read books.

Key: [ B ]

4). What do the canon debaters take for granted?

A. The books on the list are the only books that are going to be read.

B. The more you read the more you understand what you read.

C. Only when a book becomes a textbook can it be read.

D. Our students only read textbooks.

Key: [ C ]

5). What’s the author’s attitude towards the canon debaters’ purpose of reading?

A. Ironic. B. Supportive. C. Indifferent. D. Opposed.

Key : [ A ]

2. Questions for Discussion

1. What does the canon debate reflect?

The canon debate reflects today’s readers’ utilitarian attitude towards reading. They tend to

read only those books that are immediately useful to them.

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2. Does the author agree that the purpose of reading is medicinal? Why or why not?

No, the author is vehemently against this idea. According to her, “... while we have been

arguing so fiercely about which books make the best medicine, the patient has been slipping

deeper and deeper into a coma.” (Paragraph 2) She also asserts that “... books are not pills that

produce health when ingested in measured doses.” (Paragraph 8) Books themselves are not

medicinal, society itself has slipped “deeper and deeper into a coma.”

3. What kind of activity, according to the author, should reading be?

According to the author, reading should be a voluntary activity: “There, parents read books

for their own edification and pleasure, and also read to their children ... In school ... the children

study certain books together but also have an active reading life of their own.” (Paragraph 3) In

short, reading should not be forced on the students by the syllabus or through canonization.

4. What, according to the author, is the nature of the canon debate?

According to the author, “... the canon debate is really an argument about what books to cram

down the resistant throats of a resentful captive populace of students ...” (Paragraph 8) In other

words, this debate is actually about what books should be included in the syllabus to be forced

upon students, who re-sent it but have no choice.

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