1、1Unit OneText A How to Read A BookIntroductory Remarks“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Francis Bacon warned readers several hundred years ago. However, what are the criteria for those books to be “chewed and digested?” How to tell good li
2、terature from bad literature? On these issues, people dont seem to have reached an agreement. In the article, Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky first states that peoples life is generally much shorter than books, and that it is important for people to select good books to read. Yet, the author further a
3、rgues that selecting good books from the ocean of literary works is no easy job; even book reviewers cant help much. In the end, the author suggests that reading poetry is the way to develop good taste in literature, because it is the supreme form of human locution, the most concise way of conveying
4、 the human experience, and offers the highest possible standards for any linguistic operation.Text-related Information1. The Last JudgmentThe last judgment (sometime referred to as universal judgment) is a firmly held belief of Roman Catholicism. Immediately upon death each soul undergoes a particul
5、ar judgment, and, depending upon the state of that persons soul, goes to heaven, purgatory, or hell. The last judgment will occur after the resurrection of the dead and the reuniting of a persons soul with his or her own physical body.At the time of the last judgment Christ will come in his glory, a
6、nd all the angels with him, and in his presence the truth of each mans relationship with God will be laid bare, and each person who has ever lived will be judged with perfect justice. Those already in heaven will remain in heaven; those already in hell will remain in hell; and those in purgatory wil
7、l be released into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church holds no doctrinal position on the fate of those in Limbo. Following the last judgment, the bliss of heaven and the pains of hell will be perfected in that those present will also be capable of physical bliss/pain. After the last judgment the univ
8、erse itself will be renewed with a new heaven and a new earth.2. The rhetoric “anticlimax”In rhetoric, climax is a figure of speech, in which words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in order of increasing importance. Climax comes from the Greek word for “ladder“.2Examples:There are three things that
9、 will endure: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.“I think weve reached a point of great decision, not just for our nation, not only for all humanity, but for life upon the earth.“ George Wald A Generation in Search of a Future, March 4, 1969. “.Lost, vaded, broken, dead within
10、an hour. William Shakespeare, The Passionate Pilgrim, XIII.“.the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.“ Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream.Similarly an anticlimax is an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignit
11、y of the idea which he appeared to be aiming at; as in the following well-known distich:-“The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war, Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar.“ An anticlimax can be intentionally employed only for a jocular or satiric purpose. It frequently partakes of the nature of antith
12、esis, as in,“Die and endow a college or a cat.“ 3. Belles lettres Belles letters (from the French for literature, literally “fine letters“) refers to literature that is appreciated for the beauty, artistry, and originality of its style and tone rather than for its ideas and informational content. Ea
13、rlier the term was synonymous with literature, referring particularly to fiction, poetry, drama, criticism, and essays. However, belletristic literature has come to mean light, artificial writing and essays extolling the beauties of literature.Language Points1. On the whole, books are less limited t
14、han ourselves. Often they sit on the shelves absorbing dust long after the writer has turned into a handful of dust - and it is precisely the appetite for this posthumous dimension that sets ones pen in motion.On the whole, books have longer lives than the writers who write them. Long after the writ
15、er has died, his or her books may remain on bookshelves absorbing dust. It is due to the desire to be remembered after death that motivates the author to write continuously. 32. So as we toss and turn these rectangular objects in our hands we wont be terribly amiss if we surmise that we fondle, as i
16、t were, the urns with our returning ashes.Therefore, when we take a book in our hands, it is not totally wrong for us to think that we are, actually, handling the urn containing our own ashes.amiss adj.: not functioning properly;e.g. A few words of introduction may not come amiss.Is there anything a
17、miss?surmise v: infer from incomplete evidence; e.g. We surmised that he must have had an accident.Theres so little to go on, we can only surmise what happened.n.: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidencee.g. His surmise proved correct.Your first surmise was right.3. Whoever said
18、 that to philosophize is an exercise in dying was right in more ways than one, for by writing a book nobody gets younger.Some people say that to think philosophically is to experience the process of death. That is right in many aspects, as in the process of writing a book, the author only gets older
19、 and older.philosophize v.: conduct philosophical thinking; reason philosophicallye.g., They spend their time philosophizing about the mysteries of life.a tendency to philosophize about racial harmony4. The paradox, however, lies in the fact that in literature “good” is defined by its distinction fr
20、om “bad”.But, what seems contradictory is that in literature good works are identified by its distinction from bad works, i.e., a piece of work is good because it is not bad.5. Thats what may constitute bad literatures best defense at the Last Judgment.That may be the reason why there exist so many
21、pieces of bad literature.6. Of course, there is no denying the pleasure of holding up with a fat, slow-moving, mediocre novel; but in the end, we read not for readings sake but to learn.Of course, there is pleasure of some kind in reading a thick, lengthy and ordinary novel; but in the end, we do no
22、t read just for the sake of reading but read for learning something.there is no denying: it cannot be denied; one cannot deny the fact that4e.g. There is no denying the enjoyment of a vacation after long period of hard work.There is no denying the fact that he is a faithful husband.7. Hence the need
23、 for the works that bring the human predicament into its sharpest possible focus. Hence, too, the need for some compass in the ocean of available printed matter.Therefore, we need to read works that reflect the puzzle of human beings. We also need some guidance in search of good works among all the
24、books ever printed.bring into focus: make something sharply visible; make something clear and understandablee.g. I adjusted the binoculars until I brought the bird sharply into focus. Please try to bring your major point into focus earlier in the essay.8. he can have strong predilections for a certa
25、in kind of writing or simply be on the take with the publishing industryhe may have his own preference for a certain kind of writing or he may gain some profit from the publishing houses (by recommending books published by those publishing houses).on the take: taking or seeking to take bribes or ill
26、egal income;e.g. There were policemen on the take.The mayor is reported to have been on the take with the real estate enterprise.9. The alternative, therefore, would be to develop your own taste, to build your own compass, to familiarize yourself, as it were, with particular stars and constellations
27、 - dim or bright but always remote.Therefore, what you can do is develop your own judgment, establish your own criteria for guidance, familiarize yourself with particular authors or writers who may serve as guiders. These artists may be well or little known, but regardless they are always set apart.
28、10. This, however, takes a hell of a lot of time and you may easily find yourself old and grey, heading for the exit with a lousy volume under your arm.However, this will take you a lot of time, so much so that when you are old and coming to the end of your life, you still cannot find the guidance f
29、or selecting good books and end up reading the ordinary ones.heading for the exit: coming to the end of ones lifelousy adj.: very bad; mean; contemptible;e.g. The food was lousy and there was not enough of it.He wrote only lousy poems.511. The source of the suggestion to come belongs to the category
30、 of people for whom literature has always been a matter of some hundred names; to the people who feel awkward at large gatherings, do not dance at parties, tend to find metaphysical excuses for adultery, and are finicky about discussing politics; the people who dislike themselves far more than their
31、 detractors do; who still prefer alcohol and tobacco to heroin or marijuana.The source of the following suggestion belongs to those people for whom literature has always been just a list of some hundred authors; to those people who feel ill at ease at large gatherings, do not dance at parties, tend
32、to find philosophical excuses for adultery, and are fussy about discussing politics; to those people who dislike themselves even more than those who belittle them do; to those people who still prefer alcohol and tobacco to drugs.12. “one will not find on the barricades and who never shoot themselves
33、 or their lover”.“those who wont be found to participate in street demonstrations and who never kill themselves or their lovers”.13. If such people occasionally find themselves swimming in their blood on the floor of prison cells or speaking from a platform, it is because they object not to some par
34、ticular injustice but the order of the whole world as a whole.If those people are found to be killed in a prison or are making a public speech on a platform, thats not because they object to any specific injustice but because they are against the general order of the whole world.14. They have no ill
35、usions about the objectivity of their views; on the contrary, they insist on their unpardonable subjectivity.They are very clear that their views are not objective, and they stick to their subjective views even though it is inexcusable to do so.15. they consider vulnerability the primary trait of li
36、ving matter. they think that susceptibility to injury or attack is the attribute of all living things.16. This has less to do with masochistic tendencies than with their instinctive knowledge that extreme subjectivity, prejudice, and indeed idiosyncrasy are what help art to avoid clich.This is not b
37、ecause they have the tendency to derive pleasure from being abused, but because they instinctively believe that extreme subjectivity, prejudice and idiosyncrasy are the best ways for art to avoid being ordinary.17. I am no union man.I do not belong to any literary association.618. The point is that
38、being the supreme form of human locution, poetry is not only the most concise way of conveying the human experience; it also offers the highest possible standards for any linguistic operation - especially one on paper.The point is that, as the most advanced form of human language, poetry is not only
39、 the most concise way of expressing the human experience, but it also sets up the highest standards for all other language forms, especially for the written language.19. A child of epitaph and epigram, poetry is a great disciplinarian to prose. Derived from epitaph and epigram, poetry sets the stand
40、ards for prose.20. It teaches the latter not only the value of each word but also the mercurial mental patterns of the species, alternatives to linear composition, the knack of omitting the self-evident, emphasis on detail, the technique of anticlimax.It teaches prose not only the value of each word
41、 but also thinking patterns outside the linear composition, techniques of omitting self-evident parts, of emphasizing the details, and of the use of anticlimax.mercurial adj.: changeable; varyinge.g. a mercurial natureShe has a mercurial turn of conversation.In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messeng
42、er, and a god of trade, profit and commerce. Mercury has influenced the name of a number of things in a variety of scientific fields, such as the planet Mercury, and the element mercury. The word mercurial is commonly used to refer to something or someone erratic, volatile or unstable, derived from
43、Mercurys swift flights from place to place. knack n.: a special skill, talent, or ability;e.g. a knack for making clothesHes got the knack of getting people to listen.anticlimax n: a disappointing decline after a previous risee.g. It was sad that his international career should end so anticlimactica
44、lly.21. Above all, poetry develops in prose that appetite for metaphysics which distinguishes a work of art from mere belles letters. Most important of all, poetry directs prose toward the metaphysical forms, and it is in this pursuit that good literature becomes distinguished from bad literature.22
45、. All I am trying to do is to be practical and spare your eyesight and brain cells 7a lot of useless printed matter.All I am trying to do is to be of some practical use to you and help you avoid those useless books.spare v.: refrain from harming; save or relieve from an experience or actione.g. I ca
46、nt spare him today we need everybody here.The hotel staff spared no pains to ensure that our stay was as enjoyable as possible. It was a horrible accident-Ill spare you the details.23. All you have to do is to arm yourselves with the works of poets in your mother tongue, preferably from the first ha
47、lf of this century, and you will be in great shape.All you have to do is to read the works of poets in your mother tongue, especially the poets from the first half of this century, and you will gain the most from reading.be in shape: be in good health; strong and healthy; fit. e.g. Bob exercises fre
48、quently, so hes in good condition. If I were in shape, I could run faster and farther. Im really overweight. I have to try to get into shape.24. If, after going through the works of any of these, you drop a book of prose picked from the shelf, it wont be your fault.After you have read the works of a
49、ny of these poets, if you cannot keep on reading a book of prose taken randomly from the bookshelf, it wont be your fault. (Here, the author implies that the prose does not measure up to the standards of the works of those poets.)25. If you continue to read it, that will be to the authors credit: that will mean that this author has something to add to the truth about our existence.If you can go on with the reading, the author, then, is worth reading, and it also means that this author has provided us with some truth about our lives.to sb.s
