全新主题大学英语2 U2 S.docx

1、全新主题大学英语2 U2 SUnit Two True LoveSection APre-reading Questions1. Whats the most moving love story youve ever heard? How did it end?2. Whats your opinion on true love? Will it last forever?3. In your opinion, what makes or breaks a couple?Love is an eternal theme of mankind. Perhaps we all know Steph

2、en Hawking as a genius physicist, who is famous for his book A Brief History of Time. But this text will let you see another side of Hawkings, and his love story with a woman called Jane wilde.Wildes Love for Hawking1 When Jane Wilde married a young research student named Stephen Hawking in 1965, sh

3、e already knew he was seriously ill. A school friend broke the news a couple of years before, saying that Stephen was suffering from “some terrible, paralyzing, incurable disease.” This is probably a fair illustration of what was known then about motor neurone disease, long before the worldwide succ

4、ess of A Brief History of Time and Stephens battle against the illness combined to raise its public profile.2 There is little doubt that Jane Wildes appearance on the scene was a major turning-point in Stephen Hawkings life. The two of them began to see a lot more of one another and a strong relatio

5、nship developed. It was finding Jane that facilitated him to break out of his depression and regenerate some belief in his life and work. For Hawking, his engagement to Jane was probably the most important thing that ever happened to him. It changed his life, gave him something to look forward to an

6、d made him determined to survive. Without the help that Jane gave him, he would almost certainly not have been capable of carrying on or had the will to do so.3 They married in July of 1965. Hawking himself has said that what really made a difference was that he got engaged to a woman named Jane Wil

7、de. This gave him something to live for.4 In the memoirs, Music to Move the Stars, written by Jane Hawking, what is striking about her account of their courtship is her readiness to marry someone with such a grim diagnosis, whose physical condition was deteriorating before her eyes. In a frank way,

8、Stephens father told her that his sons life would be short, as would his ability to fulfill a marital relationship, and advised her to have children quickly. His mother tried to warn her about the horrifying symptoms to expect, but Jane declined the offer of information.5 “I replied that I would pre

9、fer not to know the details of the prognosis,” she writes, “because I loved Stephen so much that nothing could deter me from wanting to marry him. I would cook and wash and shop and make a home for him, dismissing all my own previous ambitions which were now insignificant by comparison with the chal

10、lenge before me.” It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Jane, who had not yet graduated from college, did not know what she was taking on. Although Stephen defied the coming up death sentence passed upon him, and is still alive today, the details of his physical decline are relentless.6 Janes dete

11、rmination to care for him, and to create an environment in which he could continue his groundbreaking work on black holes, takes up many more pages than her account of their eventual separation. If Stephens struggle to keep his mind clear is heroic, so is her determination to balance his escalating

12、needs and those of their three children. Jane emerges as decent and honest, even if her prose sometimes resembles the summaries of family news that fall out of cards at Christmas.7 Hers is the story of a marriage based on a pairing of male ego and female submissiveness, the worldly expressions of wh

13、ich she finds disturbing. In Cambridge, and at conferences all over the world, physicists gather in excited groups, while their wives are relegated to the status of second-class citizens. This is an early cause of dissent in the Hawking household, making Jane feel she has become “little more than a

14、drudge, effectively reduced to that role which in Cambridge academic circles epitomized a womans place”.8 In spite of this, she manages to bring up their children and even complete her own Ph.D. Cruelly, her husbands fame and his disease seem to progress in tandem, his body ever more wasted as his c

15、elebrity increases. Jane is gradually transformed from his wife into his nurse, her functions becoming “maternal rather than marital.” That this development might be fatal to the marriage is obvious, although Jane hopes in vain for a new kind of relationship, based on intellectual companionship. Ast

16、onishingly for a woman with her conventional background and Christian beliefs, she responds by finding a friend and lover, a musician who is accepted into the household. This unusual arrangement is disrupted not by Janes decision to leave Stephen for her lover, which she insists was never her intent

17、ion, but her husbands eventual abandonment of her for one of his nurses.9 Her answer, that she still loved her husband, may be enough for some readers. What is suggestive, however, is her overwhelming need to believe in something either God, whose existence is denied by Stephen, or that form of auth

18、ority represented by her genius husband. Just before their marriage breaks down, she reveals to a journalist that her role no longer consists of promoting his success but of “telling him that he was not God.”10 Jane Hawking is a Christian. She made the statement in 1986, “Without my faith in God, I

19、wouldnt have been able to live in this situation;” namely, the deteriorating health of her husband. “I would not have been able to marry Stephen in the first place because I wouldnt have had the optimism to carry me through and I wouldnt have been able to carry on with it.”11 When Jane reflects on h

20、er life since the separation and divorce, she sounds a little directionless in spite of her own happy second marriage. She loved Stephen and still loves him. She is always willing to devote all her energies to him. She has strived to support his academic career by sacrificing academic interests of h

21、er own. Maybe this depressing ending turned out to be what she doesnt deserve. But when it comes to love, it is very complicated and it is very hard to distinguish right from wrong. (965 words)New Wordsparalyze vt. 1 make someone lose the ability to move their body or a part of it 使瘫痪 2 render power

22、less; cripple 使无力；使丧失活动能力illustration n. 1 C/U explanatory example 例证，实例 2 C picture in a book etc. 书中的图画 combine vi. join together 结合；联合n. C group of companies or organizations that work together, esp. in business （尤指业务上的）联合企业 profile n. C 1 public image of a person or organization, and attention t

23、hat they get from the public or journalists （人或组织的）形象，姿态 2 short article or programme in which someones life and character are described 简介，概况turning-point n. C point at which a decisive change occurs 转折点；转机 facilitate vt. ease ( a process etc.) 使(过程等)容易；使便利depression n. 1 U being depressed; low spi

24、rits消沉；忧郁；沮丧 2 C/U long period of slump长期萧条；不景气generate vt. produce; bring into existence 使发生；产生；引起 regenerate vt. generate again重新产生determined d a. showing determination; resolute已下定决心的；决意的capable a. 1 having the ability, fitness, etc. for 具有能力的，适合于的 2 competent, able, gifted 能胜任的，有能力的，有才能的memoir/

25、C (pl.) account of someones experiences written by that person 见闻录；回忆录striking / a. impressive; attracting attention 印象深刻的；突出的；引人注目的courtship / n. C time when two people have a romantic relationship before they get married 求爱期；追求期 readiness / n. U 1 willingness or eagerness 愿意；乐意 2 state of being re

26、ady or prepared 准备就绪grim / a. 1 unpleasant and depressing 令人不快的；令人沮丧的 2 of stern or forbidding appearance （面容）严厉的；冷峻的diagnosis/ / n. C identification of a disease from its symptoms诊断deteriorate / / vi. become worse 恶化；变坏 frank / / a. outspoken直率的；坦白的；直言不讳的fulfil / / vt. 1 carry out (a task, prophecy

27、, promise, etc.) 完成（任务）；使（预言）应验；履行（诺言）等2 satisfy (conditions, a desire, prayer, etc.) 满足(条件、愿望、祈求等)marital / / a. of marriage or marriage relations婚姻的；婚姻关系的horrifying / / a. shocking or disgusting 使恐惧的，使惊骇的symptom / / n. C 1 physical or mental sign of disease 症状；症候2 sign of the existence of somethin

28、g征候；征兆decline / / vt. politely refuse (an invitation, challenge, etc.) 谢绝，婉辞（邀请、挑战等） vi. 1 become worse恶化 2 decrease减少n. C/U continuous decrease in value, quantity, importance, or quality, etc. of something (数量、价值、质量等的)减少，下降，衰落，衰退prognosis / / n. C forecast, esp. of the course of a disease （尤指对疾病过程的

29、）预测deter/d vt. discourage or prevent, esp. through fear （尤其指通过吓唬）使不敢；制止previous / / a. coming before in time or order （在时间，次序上）前的，先的ambition / / n. 1 C determination to succeed 抱负，志向 2 U strong desire for something 雄心；野心insignificant / a. not large or important enough to be worth considering 不重要的；无意

30、义的；无足轻重的comparison / / n. C/U process of comparing two or more people or things 比较；对照 defy / / vt. resist openly 公然反抗relentless/ / a. (something bad) never stopping or improving , oppressively constant （不好的事情）不间断的，无休止的determination n. U refusal to let anything prevent you from doing what you have de

31、cided to do 坚定；决心 groundbreaking a. making new discoveries创新的eventual a. happening or existing at the end of a process or period of time 最终发生的；结果的separation n. 1 C decision by a husband and wife not to live together （夫妻）分居 2 U separating or being separated 分离；分开heroic a. like a hero; very brave 英雄的；神勇的，英勇的escalate / / vi. increase or develop (usu. rapidly) by stages （通常为迅速地）逐步增加；逐步