|
编者按：2004年7月14日至8月13日，外研社“全国大学英语教学理论与实践研修班”在北京、杭州、西安三地举办。此次研修班，外研社邀请了我国著名的英语教育专家姚小平教授、张中载教授、郑树棠教授、吴冰教授等就外语教学中的教学与科研、文化等方面为英语老师们作了一系列精彩的学术报告，受到了老师的热烈欢迎。
应广大老师的要求，并征得专家的同意后，我们将部分专家的学术报告大纲在外研网上陆续发布，希望能对广大老师的英语教学与研究有所帮助。
I. English: foreign language
Environment in learning：Not in an English speaking country, not being able to pick up the language naturally
Conclusion: Deliberate effort is needed. Imitation and exposure
Exposure is necessary because unless you hear or read a word, phrase, sentence not just once, you will not be able to use it.
Intensive drills of basic skills are required because many things cannot be grasped without drills.
Drills should not be too mechanical; should be designed in a way that can challenge students’ judgment. Computers can be widely need in this respect.
II. Knowledge
Knowing a language includes knowing what sentences are appropriate in various situations.
A. Our knowledge is influenced by the principle of selection. What we know or observe depends on what we notice; that is, what we select, consciously or unconsciously, as worthy of notice or attention. The principle of selection determines what facts we take in. the selection is determined by one’s interests and purposes.
Slanting may be defined as the process of selecting.
Slanting by selection of facts
Slanting by use of charged words
1. Balanced Presentation
Our dog, Toddy, sold to us a cocker, produced various reactions in various people. Those who come to the back door she usually growls and barks at (a milkman has said that he is afraid of her); those who come to the front door, she whines at and paws; also she tries to lick people’s faces unless we have forestalled her by putting a newspaper in her mouth. (some of our friends encourage these actions; others discourage them. Mrs. Firmly, one friend, slaps the dog with a newspaper and says, “I know how hard dogs are to train.”) Toddy knows and responds to a number of words and phrases, and guests sometimes remark that she is a “very intelligent dog.” She has fleas in the summer, and she sheds, at times copiously, the year round. Her blonde hairs are conspicuous when they are on people’s clothing or on rugs or furniture. Her color and her large brown eyes frequently produce favorable comment. An expert on cockers would say that her ears are too short and set too high and that she is at least six pounds too heavy.
2. Facts Slanted Against
That dog put her paws on my white dress as soon as I came in the door, and she made so much noise that it was two minutes before she had quieted down enough for us to talk and hear each other. Then the gas man came and she did a great deal of barking. And her hairs are on the rug and on the furniture. If you wear a dark dress they stick to it like lint. When Mrs. Firmly came in, she actually hit the dog with a newspaper to make it stay down, and she made some remark about training dogs. I wish the Birks would take the hint or get ride of that noisy, short-eared, overweight “cocker” or theirs.
3. Facts Slanted For
What a lively and responsive dog! When I walked in the door, there she was with a newspaper in her mouth, whining and standing on her hind legs and wagging her tail all at the same time. And what an intelligent dog. If you suggest going for a walk, she will get her collar from the kitchen and hand it to you, and she brings Mrs. Birk’s slippers whenever Mrs. Birk says she is “tired: or mentions slippers. At a command she catches balls, rolls over, “speaks,” or stands on her hind feet and twirls around. She sits up and balances a piece of bread on her nose until she is told to take it; then she tosses it up and catches it. If you eating something, she sits up in front of you and “begs” with those big dark brown eyes set in that light, buff-colored face of hers. When I got up to go and told her I was leaving, she rolled her eyes at me and sat up like a squirrel. She certainly is a lively and intelligent dog. ?
Here is the favorably charged description. Read it carefully and form your opinion of the person before you go on to read the second description.
Corlyn
Corlyn paused at the entrance to the room and glanced about. A well-cut black dress draped subtly about her slender form. Her long blonde hair gave her chiseled features the simple frame they required. She smiled and engaging smile as she accepted a cigarette from her escort. As he lit it for her she looked over the flame and into his eyes. Corlyn had that rare talent of making every male fell that he was the one man in the world.
She took his arm and they descended the steps into the room. She walked with an effortless grace and spoke with equal ease. They each took a cup of coffee and joined a group of friends near the fire. The flickering light danced across her face and lent an ethereal quality to her beauty. The good conversation, the crackling logs, and the stimulating coffee gave her a feeling of internal warmth. Her eyes danced with each leap of the flames.
aken by itself this passage might seem just a description of an attractive girl. The favorable slanting by use of charged words has been done so skillfully that it is inconspicuous. Now we turn to the unfavorable slanted description of the “same” girl in the “same” actions:
Corlyn
Corlyn halted at the entrance to the room and looked around. A plain black dress hung on her thin frame. Her stringy bleached hair accentuated her harsh features. She smiled an inane smile as she took a cigarette from her escort. As he lit it for her she stared over the lighter and into his eyes. Corlyn had a habit of making very male feel that he was the last man on earth.
She grasped his arm and they walked down the steps and into the room. Her pace was fast and ungainly, as was her speech. They walked down the steps and into the room. Her pace was fast the ungainly, as was her speech. They each reached for some coffee and broke into a group of acquaintances near the fire. The flickering light played across her face and revealed every flaw. The loud talk, the fire, and the coffee she had gulped down made her feel hot. Her eyes grew more red with each leap of the flames.
(Language Awareness by Paul Eschholz & others)
B. Doublespeak is a blanket term for language which pretends to communicate but doesn’t, language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant attractive, or at least tolerable.
e.g. There are no slums or ghettos, just the “inner city” or “substandarded housing” where the “disadvantaged,” “economically nonaffluent,” or “fiscal underachievers” live.
“We now see our enemy clearly. The terrorists plot in secret. …they hate everything this nation stands for. These committed killers will not be stopped by negotiations; they won’t respond to reason. The terrorists who threaten America cannot be appeased—they must be found, they must be fought, and they must be defeated.”
(President Bush, Oct.9, 2003)
“On the ground in Iraq, we have serious and continuing challenges. Illegal militias and remnants of the regime, joined by foreign terrorists, are trying to take by force the power they could never gain by the ballot. These groups have found little support among the Iraqi people.”
“As the transfer of sovereignty approaches on June 30th, we are likely to see more violence from groups opposed to freedom.”
(President Bush, May 1, 2004)
“The liberation of Iraq removed an enemy of this country and made America more secure.”
(President Bush, Feb.5, 2004)
C. Vocabulary
① native—borrowed
e.g. fundamental / basic
elaborate / spell out
terminate / end
② general – specific
e.g.
look: peep, glance, glimpse, gaze, glare, stare
walk: stroll, stride, totter, stagger, swagger
③ collocation
prep. + n. on the farm on one’s own
at daybreak at dusk
v.+prep. to remind…of
to insist on
to persist in
v.+obj. to achieve a goal / purpose
to reach a target
to fulfill an assignment
to make / work out a plan
to change one’s mind
to set a goal
subj.+v. war…breaks out
satellite… (is) launched
plan…(is)initiated
④change of part of speech
to lend (give) a hand to
to hand it over to
to have a foot in the grave
to foot the bill
⑤ number
to have a hand in
hands off
to have a word with
to have words with
⑥ connotation
“Oh, that’s just propaganda.”
Statesman – politician
atheist, heretic, fundamentalist – words arousing both informative and affective connotations
Bums – street people or homeless
⑦ levels of language
to die
to pass away
to depart
to demise
to go west
to breath his last
to kick the bucket
III. Culture
A. What is culture?
High culture & low culture; culture in a narrow sense or in a broad sense
Literature, folk tales, customs, taboos, music, painting, food and cuisine, religion, philosophy, value system
B. What is the relations between language and culture?
《新编大学英语》：语言是文化的一部分，是传播文化的有力途径。
Language and culture are inseparable. Language is the carrier of ideas, views, concepts, values, in one word, culture. At the same time, human thinking is intimately linked to language. Culture shapes language and then language shapes culture. “contrary to the assumption that language merely reflects social patterns such as sex-role stereotypes, research in linguistics and social psychology has shown that these are in fact facilitated and reinforced by language”. (“Language Awareness” by Paul Eschholz and others) Understanding of the culture of the English language will make you have a sharpen eye on the language, have better appreciation of the deeper meaning implied.
C. More obvious differences of culture as seen in the English and Chinese languages:
(1) castle in the air 空中楼阁
set the Thames on fire 不到黄河心不死
It’s Greek to me. 一叶障目，不见泰山
When you are at Rome, do as the Roman does. 入乡随俗
There is no use crying over spilt milk. 覆水难收，后悔无益
Half a loaf is better than none. 聊胜于无
East or west, home is best. 金窝银窝不如自己家的稻草窝
Birds of a feather flock together. 物以类聚，人以群分
(2) majestic as a lion 龙腾虎跃
beard the lion in his den 龙飞凤舞
to dance like an elephant 不入虎穴，焉得虎子
to shed crocodile tears
as wise as an owl 夜猫子进宅
(3) Archilles' heel 心悦诚服（孟子）
Wooden horse of Troy 举一反三（论语）
David and Goliath 以柔克刚（老子）
Writing on the Wall 借花献佛
Damocles sword 盲人摸象
Thirty pieces of silver
(4) a shylock 乐不思蜀
a yahoo 三顾茅庐
a Robin Hood 逼上梁山
anther Waterloo 大闹天宫
another Pearl Harbor 陈桥兵变
another Munich 揭竿而起
September 11 望梅止渴
(5) to play one’s trump card
to put the cards on the table
to be down and out
to throw in the sponge
D. Cultural Background
(1) Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology seems to keep people from human contact. (New Horizon 1 P.66)
(2) Most people love Hichael Jordan. …There are other truths about Michael that are not so easily seen: his understanding of teamwork, his competitive spirit and his love for the game. (New Horizon 1. p.82)
(3) In the U.S.A. the biggest and nosiest (New Year) party takes place in Times Square in New York City. … an electric sign in the shape of a red apple lights up on top of a tall building. (New Horizon 1, p 91)
(4) Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend. (New College English Book1, p.6)
(5) But the next day people kidded him by saying it was the first time any fighter was urged to take a dive even before the bout began. (New College English Book 2, p. 70)
(6) Perhaps I’ve overlooked the benefits of failure because I early came under the influence of my father, a true Horatio Alger-type, a true entrepreneur. (New College English, Book3, p.231)
The following examples are taken from 《现代大学英语》三、四、五、六册
(7) When the Constitution was written, a strange of formula to determine taxes and representation declared that the Negro was sixty percent of a person. (Para. 1 P3 Book 5)
(8) No Lincolnian emancipation proclamation or Johnsonian civil rights bill can totally bring this kind of freedom. (Para.5 P4 Book 5)
(9) Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. ( Para. 25 P9 Book5)
(10) The ideals of American independence found expression in the classical document which accompanied the birth of the nation: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (Para.10 P65 Book 6)
(11) The case of one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, emphasized the distinction. (Para. 11 P65 Book6)
(12) Their religious and their intellectual heritage join in leading them to suspect fellow men who lay claim to infallibility. (Para. 22 P67 Book 6)
(13)…the defence counselor wasn’t conducting a through enough cross-examination. (Para.58 P129 Book 3)
(14) We have a first-degree murder charge here. (Para. 5 P126 Book 3)
(15) Innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. (Para. 27 P127 Book 3)
(16) You still don’t think there’s room for reasonable doubt? (Para. 59 P163 Book 3)
(17) German submarine warfare
Zimmerman Note
The Mexican War
Fort Sumter
(Para. 8 P69 Book4)
IV. Rhetorical Devices
1. The bushes or the fence between you is not a cold shoulder, but a clear boundary. (New College English Book1 p.15)
2. …the light shining on …their time-wrinkled faces, smiling at the memories of the years, caught and held forever in the scrapbooks (NEC, p.80)
3. Recognition and sadness flooded her face. (NEC, p.81)
4. If the 1995 stroke that paralyzed Jean—Dominique Bauby was cruelly premature, at least death had the courtesy to wait until the 45-year-old French journalist finished his last assignment. (NEC 3, p.223)
5. But “The Bubble and the Butterfly” underlines Bauby’s determination to deny locked – in syndrome total victory. His condition may have defined the rules, but he was still able to play the game. And play he did. (NEC3, p. 224)
6. let us be dissatisfied until the tragic wall that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. (Para. 25 P9 Contemporary College English Book5)
7. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. (Para.8 P5 Book5)
8. But one day we must come to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. (Para. 21 P8 Book5)
9. … a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows (Para . 27 P10 Book 5)
10. The armies of received ideas are marshaled against it. The legions of all those who stand to profit by useful untruths will march against it. (Para.5 P182 Book5)
11. A novelist’s characters hope for immortality; a profile journalist’s, perhaps, for celebrity. (Para.16. P183 Book 5)
V. Concept
1. Bad news has wings
2. Take things as they come
3. Playing outstanding defence didn’t come straight to him either. (New Horizon 1, p.82)
4. We can be ourselves with our friends, and that is a wonderful thing; too precious a gift ot deny other friends. (NEC P.22)
5. Pessimistic prophecies are self-fulfilling. (NEC. P. 160)
6. Life offers few pleasures more stimulating than the successful exercise of our faculties. (NCE 3. P. 216)
7. Success was now as exhilarating as failure had been depressing. (NEC 3. P. 216)
8. In the thinking of that day, the absence of worldly goods indicated a want of industrious habits and moral fibre. (Para.10 P5 Contemporary College English Book 5)
9. For through violence you may murder a murderer but you can’t murder murder. (Para. 19 P8 Book5)
10. For ten and sixpence one can buy paper enough to write all the plays of Shakespeare—if one has a mind that way. (Para.1 P55 Book5)
11. she died hard. It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. (Para.3 P56 Book5)
12. I am nothing if not persistent. (Para79 P71 Book5)
13. he had outlived them all, but was still under their shadow. (Para.3 P56 Book5)
14. And truth is slippery, hard to establish. (Para.5. P181 Book5)
15. If truth can set you free, it can also land you in hot water. (Para.5 P181 Book 5)
16. …and an economically not unrewarding enterprise (Para.5 P181 Book6)
17. …the single most important explanation …has been the national rejection of dogmatic preconceptions about the nature of the social and economic order (Para. 6 P64 Book61)
|
