现代大学英语精读 课文讲解 lesson 1.docx

现代大学英语精读 课文讲解 lesson 1.docx

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现代大学英语精读课文讲解lesson1

TeachingPlanforContemporaryCollegeEnglish6

LectureOne

LessonOne

HowtoGetthePooroffOurConscience

JohnKennethGalbraith

BriefintroductiontoJohnKennethGalbraith

（bornOct.15,1908,IonaStation,Ont.,Can.—diedApril29,2006,Cambridge,Mass.,U.S.）Canadian-bornU.S.economistandpublicservant.AfterstudyingattheUniversitiesofTorontoandCalifornia（Ph.D.,1934）,heheldimportantgovernmentpostsduringtheNewDealandWorldWarII.AsaprofessoratHarvardUniversity（1949–75）,hewasactiveinpublicaffairs,servingasanadvisertoPres.JohnF.KennedyandasambassadortoIndia（1961–63）.Hisinfluentialliberalwritings,oftenpraisedfortheirliterarymeritandpopularappeal,examinedthestrengthsandweaknessesofU.S.capitalismandconsumerism.TheAffluentSociety（1958）,acritiqueofthewealthgap,calledforlessemphasisonproductionandmoreattentiontopublicservices,andTheNewIndustrialState（1967）tracedsimilaritiesbetween"managerial"capitalismandsocialism.

Galbraith'smajorintellectualcontributionslieinthetrilogyTheAffluentSociety（1958）,TheNewIndustrialState（1967）,andEconomicsandthePublicPurpose（1973）.

JohnKennethGalbraith（born1908）wasaleadingscholaroftheAmericanInstitutionalistschoolandarguablythemostfamouseconomistinthepostWorldWarIIworld.Hisviewswereastingingindictmentofthemodernmaterialisticsocietythatchampionedpersonalachievementandmaterialwell-beingoverpublicinterestandneeds.Inspiteoftheseviews,heservedasanadvisorinboththeAmericanandCanadiangovernmentsfromthe1930sonward.

JohnKennethGalbraithwasbornonOctober15,1908insouthernOntario,Canada,ontheshoresofLakeErietoafarmingfamilyofScotchancestry.HestudiedagriculturaleconomicsattheOntarioAgriculturalCollege（thenpartoftheUniversityofToronto;now,theUniversityofGuelph）andgraduatedwithdistinctionin1931.HewentontostudyagriculturaleconomicsattheUniversityofCalifornia,receivinghisPh.D.in1934aftersubmittingadissertationonpublicexpendituresinCaliforniacounties.Inthisyearhealsobeganhislong,thoughfrequentlyinterrupted,tenureatHarvardUniversity,wherehebecameanemeritusprofessor.Galbraith'sacademiccareerfrequentlygavewaytopublicservice.HeworkedintheDepartmentofAgricultureduringtheNewDealandintheOfficeofPriceAdministrationandCivilianSupplyduringWorldWarII,where,accordingtoJohnS.Gambs,hewas"virtuallytheeconomicczaroftheUnitedStatesuntilheleftin1943"Fromhiswartimeworkemergedamonograph（专著）,TheTheoryofPriceControl（1952）,which,thoughnotwidelyinfluential,containedsomeoftheseminalideasofhismajorworks.

NotestoGuidetoReading

1.…PaulM.WarburgProfessorofEconomics,Emeritus,atHarvardUniversity…Page2

1）PaulMWarburg:

TheGerman-AmericanbankerandbankingtheoristPaulMoritzWarburg（1868-1932）,asspokesmanforthelargebankersofAmerica,favoredahighlycentralizedbankingsystem.Inmuchmodifiedform,thisbecametheFederalReserveSystem.

Legacy

Thecartooncharacter,"Daddy"OliverWarbucksintheLittleOrphanAnnieseries,waspurportedlyinspiredbythelifeandtimesofPaulWarburg.ThePaulM.Warburgchair（chair:

professorship）inEconomicsatHarvardUniversitywasnamedinhishonour,atitlewhichiscurrentlyheldbyProfessorRobertJ.Barro.

2）emeritus:

definitionfromthreedictionaries荣誉退休的人

A）OxfordAdvancedLearners’EnglishDictionary:

emeri•tus/i

mer

t

s/adj.（oftenEmeritus）usedwithatitletoshowthataperson,usuallyauniversityteacher,keepsthetitleasanhonour,althoughheorshehasstoppedworking:

theEmeritusProfessorofBiology

InNAmEtheformEmerita/i"merIt@/isusedforwomen:

ProfessorEmeritaMaryJudd

B）LongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglish:

e‧mer‧i‧tus/ɪˈmerɪtəs/adjectiveemeritusprofessor/directoretcorprofessor/directoretcemeritusaprofessor,directoretcwhoisnolongerworkingbuthaskepthisorherpreviousjobtitleasanhonour

C）Merriam-Webster’sOnlineDictionary:

MainEntry:

2emeritus

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Latin,pastparticipleofemereritoserveoutone'sterm,frome-+mereri,merēretoearn,deserve,serve—moreatmerit

Date:

1794

1:

holdingafterretirementanhonorarytitlecorrespondingtothatheldlastduringactiveservice

2:

retiredfromanofficeorposition—convertedtoemeritiafteraplural

3.grossnationalproduct（GNP）（国民生产总值）

GNP（grossnationalproduct）thetotalvalueofallthegoodsandservicesproducedinacountry,usuallyinasingleyear→GDP

Grossdomesticproduct（GDP）国内生产总值:

GDP（grossdomesticproduct）thetotalvalueofallgoodsandservicesproducedinacountry,inoneyear,exceptforincomereceivedfromabroad→GNP

4.…theauthorisimplicitinhiscriticism:

含蓄的

im•pli•cit/

m

pl

s

t/adj.

1~（insth）suggestedwithoutbeingdirectlyexpressed:

Implicitinhisspeechwastheassumptionthattheywereguilty.

implicitcriticism

2~（insth）formingpartofsth（althoughperhapsnotdirectlyexpressed）:

Theabilitytolistenisimplicitintheteacher’srole.

3completeandnotdoubted

absolute:

Shehadtheimplicittrustofherstaff.—compareexplicit

 im•pli•cit•lyadv.:

Itreinforces,implicitlyorexplicitly,theideathatmoneyisall-important.

ItrustJohnimplicitly.

5.However,hecomesoutintotheopenwhenhedealswiththecurrentdesigns.:

state/expressfrankly/drirectly

6.GalbraithdoesnotmincewordsincriticizingReegan’seconomicpolicy,…

mince/mɪns/verbnotmince（your）words;直言不讳tosayexactlywhatyouthink,evenifthismightoffendpeople；voceone’sdisapprovalcandidlyanddirectly:

mincematters;mincethematter（usu.Withnegative）datedusepoliteormoderateexpressionstoindicatedisapproval说话婉转；拐弯抹角

Tomdidn’tmincewordsandtoldmestraightawaythatIhadfailed.

7.…willexacerbatethepolarizationinAmericansociety:

make（aproblem,badsituation,ornegativefeeling）worse

PartI（Paras.1-2）

Theyaretheopeningparas.Theauthor,withoutbeatingaboutthebush,comesstraighttothetheme.Instating“ourconscience”,theauthorseemstoindicatethatheisincludedinthesearchofwaysof“gettingthepooroffourconscience”,thusmakingitsoundthatheisreflectingonamoralsinweareallguiltyof,ratherthanadoptingacondescending（傲慢的，居高临下的）wayofpreaching.Theauthorpointsoutthatthesearchhasbeen“anintellectualpreoccupationforcenturies”andcontinuestobeso“inourowntime”.Theword“our”implicitlyincludesallpeoplewhoarenotpoor.

NotestotheTextproper

Para1

1.Iwouldliketoreflectononeoftheoldestofhumanexercises…

1）reflecton/upon:

tothinkcarefullyanddeeplyaboutsth:

严肃考虑一种人类最古老的活动

2）Iwanttothinkseriouslyaboutoneoftheoldestpracticesofhumanbeings…

2.…wehaveundertakentogetthepooroffourconscience.

1）conscience:

aperson’smoralsenseofrightandwrong,viewedasactingasaguidetoone’sbehaviour良心；良知：

haveaclear/goodconscience问心无愧haveabad/guiltyconscience问心有愧；感到内疚

2）undertake:

attempttodo

3）getthepooroffourconscience:

nottofeelguiltyabouttheexistenceofthepoorpeople不为穷人的存在感到内疚

3.Whatdoestheauthorwanttoreflecton?

Theauthorwantstodiscusshowpeoplehavebeentryingnottofeelguiltyabouttheexistenceofthepoorpeople,tojustifythecontinuingexistenceofpoverty.

Para.2

4.Richandpoorhavelivedtogether,alwaysuncomfortablyandsometimesperilously,sincethebeginningoftime.

1）perilous:

fullofrisks;involvingperil

2）Whatdoestheauthormeanwhenheuses“perilously”?

Theauthormusthaveinmindtheslaveuprisings,peasantuprisingsandworkers’strikes.Ifthedisparitybecomestoogreat,thepoorwillriseupagainsttherichandcausemuchdamage.

HereI’dliketomentionaterminstatistics:

Ginicoefficient

Ginicoefficient基尼系数InaLorenzcurve,ameasureofthedifferencebetweenagivendistributionofsomevariable,likepopulationorincome,andaperfectlyevendistribution.Moresimply,ittellsushowevenlythevariableisspread;thismightbeameasureofhowwealthisdistributedovertheregionsofacountry,orovertheclassesinsociety.Adiagonallineshowsanevendistribution,andthecalculationoftheGinicoefficientusesthe‘gap’betweenthediagonalandtheactualcurve.Thecoefficient,alsoknownasGini'sconcentrationratio,maybecalculatedastheratioofareabetweenthediagonalandtheLorenzcurvetothetotalareabeneaththediagonal.ThelowertheGinicoefficient,themoreevenlyspreadthevariable.

Worldwide,Ginicoefficientsforincomerangefromapproximately0.247（24.7）inDenmarkto0.707（70.7）inNamibiaalthoughnoteverycountryhasbeenassessed.WhilemostdevelopedEuropeannationsandCanadatendtohaveGiniindicesbetween24and36,theUnitedStates'andMexico'sGiniindicesarebothabove40,indicatingthattheUnitedStatesandMexicohavegreaterinequality.China’sGiniindexisapproaching0.5whichisabovethedangerouslevel.

5.Plutarchwasledtosay:

“Animbalancebetweentherichandpooristheoldestandmostfatalailmentofrepublics.”

1）payattentiontohowtheauthorexpressestheidea.

“Plutarchwasledtosay”impliesthatitwastheactualexistenceoftherichandpoororthelogicofhisanalysesthatmadehimcometosuchaconclusion.

2）Animbalancebetweentherichandpooristheoldestandmostfatalailmentofrepublics.贫富不均乃共和政体最致命的宿疾。

6.Andtheproblemsthatarisefromthecontinuingcoexistenceofaffluenceandpoverty