Unit 11

Unit 11• The Future of the English

•

• By J. B. Priestley

• Lecturer: Meng Fanyan

Teaching Aims • 1)Improving students’ ability to read between

lines and understand the text properly;• 2) Cultivating students’ ability to make a

creative reading;• 3)Enhancing students’ ability to appreciate

the text from different perspectives;• 4)Helping students to understand some

difficult words and expressions;• 5)Helping students to understanding

rhetorical devices;• 6) Encouraging students to voice their own

viewpoint fluently and accurately .

Teaching Contents

• 1. Background Knowledge• 2. Exposition and Argument• 3. Detailed Study of The Essay• 4. Organization Pattern• 5. Style and Language Features

Time allocation

• 1. Background knowledge (15 min.)• 2. Detailed study of the text (180 min.)• 3. Structure analysis (15 min.)• 4. Language appreciation (15 min.)• 5. Free talk (30 min)

I. Background Knowledge

• J. B. Priestley: Background Knowledge About the Author and His Works 1) A brief introduction to the author, Priestley: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jpriestley.htm2) AdmassThe whole system of an increasing productivity, plus inflation, plus a rising standard of material living, plus high-pressure advertising and salesmanship, plus mass communications, plus cultural democracy and the creation of the mass mind, the mass man the part of society that can be influenced by advertising or publicity

J. B. Priestley• John Boynton Priestley

• --- born in Bradford, England, in 1894

• --- died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1984

J. B. Priestley• --- British journalist• --- novelist• --- playwright• --- essayist• Priestley's output was vast and varied -

he wrote over one hundred novels, plays, and essays.

J. B. Priestley• His best-known play:

• An Inspector Calls (1946)

• his novels:

• The Good Companions (1929)

• Angel Pavement (1930)

• established him as a successful popular novelist.

J. B. Priestley• Other novels:

• They Walk in the City (1936)

• The Doomday Men (1938)

• Let the People Sing (1939)

• Festival at Farbridge (1951)

J. B. Priestley• --- more successfully than any other

novelist in the first half of the 20th century

• --- thoughts and feelings of the ordinary Englishman

• --- a being whose character he outlines with vigor and good humor

II. Introduction to the Passage

• 1. Type of literature:

• part exposition and part persuasion or argument

II. Introduction to the Passage

• Exposition is an explanation of facts which something is done, to make other people understand.

• Argument is an attempt to lead other people to believe our opinion and induce them to adopt this opinion as their own.

• For further information, connect to http://homepages.iol.ie/~laoistec/LENGLISH/lpers.html>

• Difference between exposition and argument Difference between persuasion and argument Honest persuasion and dishonest persuasion Formal argument and informal argument

II. Introduction to the Passage

• 2.  The thesis:

• stated in the title of the essay

• The future of the English

II. Introduction to the Passage

• The writer is trying to explain the future of the English people but he doesn’t really state what that future is going to be.

II. Introduction to the Passage

• The future depends on the outcome of the struggle between their Englishness and Admass.

• --- the workers and union bosses• --- the men and women in the professional class• --- the young• --- political leaders• --- Englishness

II. Introduction to the Passage

• 3.  The structural organization of this essay:

• --- loose

• --- informal

• --- illogical

• --- emotional

II. Introduction to the Passage

• The central topic: The English are different• ---Instinctive feeling and not rational thought• --- not at home in the contemporary world• --- deeply suspicious of change for change’s

sake• --- feel bored and enjoy dramatic change• --- sense of community• --- imaginative people

II. Introduction to the Passage

• --- P.4, 5 or 6 points of the argument around the central topic

• --- insufficient evidence to support the writer’s position, and his reasoning on some points not logically sound

• --- a quite informal piece of argument which appeals more to the emotion of his English readers

Detailed Study of The Essay • 1. The dominant intention or the controversial

topic of his argument is stated early in paragraph one in one unambiguous sentence: “ The English are different”. 1) It is instinctive feeling and not rational thought that shapes and colours actual events in England.“ Englishness again”

• — an inserted elliptical phrase standing for perhaps: This shows their Englishness again.“Below the noisy arguments, the abuse and the quarrels, there is a reservoir of instinctive fellow – feeling”— The English people may hotly argue and abuse and quarrel with each other but there still exists a lot of natural sympathetic feeling for each other. “Some cancer in their character has eaten away their Englishness”figure of speech:___________. Compare ________ to _______.

• 2) The English do not feel at home in the contemporary world, representing the accelerated development of our whole age. They are suspicious of largeness, severe efficiency and admass.“ Along with the demand for bigness goes a demand for severe efficiency, often quite rational but not reasonable, therefore alien to Englishness.”— Along with the demand for bigness, there is also a demand for strict and demanding efficiency. This is often the product of cold logical thinking but not sensible. Therefore it is opposed or repugnant to Englishness.

• 3) The English are also deeply suspicious of change for change’s sake.4) The English can soon feel bored and that’s why they gamble and booze so much and enjoy any dramatic change in public life.5) The English have a sense of community, decent fellow feeling, fairness.6) The English are at heart and at root an imaginative people immediately responsive to any suggestion of drama in their lives.

• 2. The Future of the English hangs on1) The final result of a battle between Admass and Englishness.The striking contrast between admass and Englishness to show how inevitable the battle is.

• Admass• 1.Already conquered most of the western wor

ld2.receive vast subsidies of dollars, francs, Deutschmarks and the rest for public relations and advertising campaigns3.offers more and more things for more and more money ,creates the so-called “Good Life”4.operates in the outer visible world5.a poster in full colour

• Englishness• 1.ailing and impoverished

2.in no position to receive vast subsidies of dollars, francs, Deutschmarks and the rest for public relations and advertising campaigns3.offers states of mind in place of that rich variety of thins4.belong to the invisible inner world5.a poor shadowy show, a faint pencil sketch

• “ Against this, at least superficially, Englishness seems a poor shadowy show — a faint pencil sketch beside a poster in full colour …”Shadowy show: ____________.The conflict between Admass and Englishness.

• Admass: What is central to Admass is the production and consumption of goods.Dissatisfaction is embedded in AdmassRuthless competitiveness Take man only as a producer and consumerDependence upon dissatisfaction, greed and envy

• Englishness: With its relation to the unconsciousDependence upon instinct and intuitionAdherence to the past and deep long rootsNot hostile to change and deeply suspicious of change for change’s sakeRejecting being committed to some inevitable mechanical progress

• While Englishness can still fight on, Admass could be winning.Reason: Not all the English hold fast to EnglishnessSome important and influential men carefully train themselves out of itA horde of others, shallow and foolish, wander away form itThe spirits of age is working for AdmassMost of what we read and what we hear is working for AdmassInflation proved that we need more and not less Admass

• 2) The Future of the English rests upon the decision made by English workers together with the people on the management side who will have to put an end to the conflict between Admass and Englishness.3) The Future of the English hangs upon men and women who are strong-minded enough to hold the Englishness and reject Admass

• 4) The Future of the English depends upon the quieter young, who under the influence of one or two of those professional men and women, far-sighted enough to think what life would be like in the future.

• 5) The Future of the English can not depends on the SLOOPY PEOPLE

3. Boredom is a MENACE. • Heavily industrially society • ↓• offer boring work shatter slow rhythms, crowd a

nd excite people by • traditional skills, closely knit promises that cann

ot be kept• communities of rural societies • ↓• boredom• ↓• idiot vandalism, frustration, ferocious robbery w

ith violence, vicious criminality

• 4. English is still with us. But it needs reinforcement, extra nourishment. 1) On a hidden level, there remains of a characteristically English sense of community, decent fellow feeling, fairness.2) Englishness cannot be fed with the east wind of a narrow rationality, the latest figures of profit and loss, a constant appeal to self-interest.

• 3) English are at heart and at root an imaginative people immediately responsive to any suggestion of drama in their lives.Question: “And this is true, whether they are wearing bowler hats or ungovernable mops of hair.”The rhetorical device used in this sentence is __________.“bowler hats” is standing for ___________.“ungovernable mops of hair” is standing for ___________.

• 5. The writer’s voiceTo face the future properly they need both a direction and a great lift of the heart. A rather poorer and harder way of life will not defeat them so long as it is not harder and poorer in spirit, so long as it still refuses to reject Englishness- for so many centuries the secret of the islanders oddity and irrationality, their many weaknesses, their creative strength.

Oral Practice: Talking about the following questions

• 1) Are there any special characteristics in Priestly’s diction? Pick out some words and idioms that you think are peculiar to British English.2)What is the dominant intention of this piece of argument? The proposition clearly stated?3)What conflicts or issues are put forward in this argument? Are all the conflicts resolved?

• 4)Does Priestly provide sufficient evidence to support his position?5)Is this reasoning sound? Are there any logical fallacies in his argument?6)How does the writer make use of emotional appeals? Cite some examples.7)Which paragraph do you like best? Give your reasons.

Organization Pattern• 1) The thesis stated in the title of the essay

2) The structural organization of this essay: loose 3) A quite informal piece of argument which appeals more to the emotion of his English readers 4) Weakness: insufficient evidence to support the writer’s position, and his reasoning on some points not logically sound

Style and Language Features• 1) Smooth and polished

2) Readable and informal 3) It is the instinctive and intuitive feelings not rational reasoning that shape and colors the style of the essay.4) Use of various rhetorical devices

• Connect to http://www.megabrands.com/carroll/faq3.htmlto get specific information on rhetorical devices

Words and expressions• Cosmopolitan – representative of all or many part

s of the world• n. 四海为家的人 , 世界主义者• adj. 世界性的 , 全球 ( 各地 ) 的• cosmopolitanism• n. 世界大同主义 , 四海一家• cosmopolitanize• v. 使大同化 , 使国际化

Words and expressions• English• adj. 英文的 , 英国人的 , 英格兰的• n. 英国人 , 英语• Englisher• n. 英国人 , 将另一种文字译成英文者 , 英语译者• Englishism n. 英国风格 , 英语语法 , 英国精神• Englishize vt. 英国化• Englishness n. 英国风格 , 英国人作风

Words and expressions• neo-[ni:EJ]• 表示“新 , 新近”之义• Neo-Darwinism• n. 新达尔文主义• Neo-Nazism• 新纳粹主义• Fascist• 法西斯主义的 , 法西斯主义者的 , 法西斯主义者

Words and expressions• scuffle[5skQfl]

• v. 混战 • n. 混战 fist fights

Words and expressions• fanatical[fE5nAtikEl]• adj. 狂热的 , 盲信的• fanatically• adv. 狂热地 , 盲信地• fanaticism• n. 狂热 , 盲信• fanaticize• v. 使狂热 , 使产生盲从

Words and expressions• A reservoir of instinctive fellow-feeling

Words and expressions• snarl

• vt. 使缠结 , 搞乱 , 咆哮着说• n. 咆哮 , 吼叫 , 怒骂 , 缠结 , 混乱• snarlingly

• adv. 咆哮着 , 怒吼着

Words and expressions• A reservoir of instinctive fellow-

feeling---

• There still exists a lot of natural sympathetic feeling for each other

Words and expressions• On the board or the shop floor---• Governing board of a factory and

workshop

• There are not many snarling shop stewards in the workshop, nor are there many cruel wealthy employers on the board of managers

Words and expressions• From lago:

• “Put money in thy purse.”---

• To get rich, to have a lot of money

• Iago: the villain in Shakeespeare’s Otthello

Words and expressions• Admass

• n. 易受大众传媒影响的群众• A system of commercial marketing that

attempts to influence great masses of consumers by mass-media advertising

Words and expressions• The future of the English hangs upon

the final result of a battle between Admass and Englishness.

Words and expressions• Admass• --- more and more material things• --- money• --- good life• --- in the outer visible world• --- conquered most of the Western world

Words and expressions• Englishness

• --- states of mind

• --- instinct and intuition

• --- the invisible inner world

• --- links with the past

• --- deep long roots

Words and expressions• To keep clear of---

• Avoid, refrain from

Words and expressions• Time-and-motion studies---

• An investigation of the motion performed and time taken in industrial work with a view to increase production

Words and expressions• To its credit---

• To be proud of itself

Words and expressions• shrug

• n. 耸肩• v. 耸肩• shrug off

• v. 耸肩表示蔑视 , 抖去 , 摆脱 , 扭身脱掉衣服

Words and expressions• Sweat one’s guts out---

• To work extremely hard

• Prodictivity-per-man-hour---

• Productivity of a man in an hour

• Caper---

• A wild, foolish action

Words and expressions• It is all a racket anyhow---

• In any case all this is but a dishonest scheme.

Words and expressions• bicker[5bikE]

• vi. 斗嘴 , 流动 , 闪动• n. 口角 , 流水声• bickering

• 争吵 [ 论 ]

Words and expressions• anomalous[E5nCmElEs]• adj. 不规则的 , 反常的• anomalistic• adj. 不规则的 , 反常的 , [ 天 ] 近点的• anomalism• n. 变态 , 反常 , 畸形物• anomaly• n.s 不规则 , 异常的人或物

Words and expressions• syndicalism[5sIndIkElIz(E)m]• n. 工会组织主义 , 工团主义 ( 运动 ), 职能政府论• syndicalist• n. 工会组织主义者 , 工团主义者• Syndicat [sindi5kB:] [ 法 ] 工会• syndicate• n. 企业联合 , [ 经 ] 辛迪加 , 财团• v. 联合成辛迪加

Words and expressions• In the van---

• The foremost position in a line.

Words and expressions• hippopotamus[7hipE5pCtEmEs]• n. 河马• Like a hippopotamus blundering in and o

ut of a pets’ tea party---• Simile. At present they only create disord

er and confusion like a hippopotamus going in and out of a tea party held by small tamed animals.

Words and expressions• American counterculture---

• The culture of many young people of the 1960’s in America manifested by a life style that is opposed to the prevailing culture.

Words and expressions• conform to

• v. 符合 , 遵照

Words and expressions• Madison Avenue---

• A street in New York City, regarded as the center of the U.S. advertising industry

Words and expressions• Hippy Califormia---

• California was the centre of the Hippie movement

Words and expressions• Road to Katmandu---

• East wind---

• See the notes

Words and expressions• swagger

• n. 狂妄自大者 , 大摇大摆 , 吹牛• vi. 昂首阔步 , 虚张声势吓人 , 大摇大摆 ,

吹牛• vt. 吓唬 , 恫吓• adj. 漂亮的 , 时髦的

Words and expressions• skimp[skimp]• v. 节约使用• skimpily• adv. 吝啬地• skimpingly• 吝啬地 , 小气地• skimpy• adj. 不足的 , 吝啬的

Words and expressions• scrounge[skraundV]

• vt. 占有 , 行乞 , 搜寻 , 搜集• vi. 东张西望 , 搜寻 , 搜集 , 乞讨 , 偷

东西

Words and expressions• farce[fB:s]

• n. 笑剧 , 闹剧 , 滑稽剧 , 胡闹

Words and expressions• demagogue[5demE^C^]

• n. 煽动政治家 ( 尤指利用情绪或偏见煽动民众 , 以期获得领导地位及达到私人目的的人 )

Words and expressions• myopic[maI5RpIk]

• adj. 近视的• myopic eye

• 近视眼• myopy

• n. 近视

III. Text Anaylsis• 1.        smooth and polished

• 2.        informal

IV. Rhetorical Devices

• 1.        metaphor

• 2.        simile

• 3.        ellipsis

• 4.        transferred epithet

• 5.        metonymy

• 6.        euphemism

Special Difficulties • 1. Identifying and understanding British English in

this essay • --to take a whip to • --whole troublesome mob of them • --cosy • --safe to say • --along the way • --shrug off • --nudge

Special Difficulties• 2.  Understanding some colloquialism

• --swing

• --junk

• --Victorian

Special Difficulties• 3. Paraphrasing some sentences

Special Difficulties• 4. Identifying figures of speech

Special Difficulties• 5.  Understanding some important terms • --American counterculture • --Madison Avenue • --Hippy California • --Hippie • --road to Katmandu

Special Difficulties• --Englishness

• --state of mind

• --industrial action

• --do-it-yourself

• --repertory company

• --Common Market

V. Questions • 1.What role, according to Priestley,

does instinctive feeling play in the behavior of an Englishman?

• 2. How, according to the writer, are the real English people different?

V. Questions• 3. What is the dominant intention of this

piece of argument? Is the proposition clearly stated?

• 4. How does the writer make use of emotional appeals? Cite some examples.

• 5.  What conflicts or issues are put forward in this argument? Are all the conflicts resolved?