英语修辞学Ss handouts2

English Rhetoric Chapter 2

Reading 3

I am more than angry. I did not give birth to my one and only son to have him snatched away from me 18 years later. My child has been loved and cared for and taught right from wrong and will not be fed into any egomaniac’s war machine.

Our 18-to 25-year-olds have not brought this world to its present sorry state. Men over the age of 35, down through the centuries, have brought us here, and we women have been in silent accord.

Well, this is one woman, one mother, who says No. I did not go through the magnificent agony of childbirth to have that glorious young life snuffed out.

Until the presidents, premiers, supreme rulers, politburos, senators and congressmen of the world are ready to physically, as opposed to verbally, lead the world into combat, they can bloody well forget my child.

Unite mothers！Don’t throw your sons and daughters away. Sometime, somewhere, women must say No.

No. No. No. No. No. Never my child.

(Louise M. Saylor, Washington Post, Jan.28, 1980)

Reading 4

In informal situations, we often overgeneralize from the facts: “She’s never on time”; “Advertising is only a pack of lies.” A little consideration shows us that in reality all-or-none, black-or-white situations are rare; reality is more accurately described in terms of finer shadings and degrees. Most readers are aware of this, and although they will accept and make statements like the above uncritically enough in conversations, they are suspicious of them in writing.

Be especially cautious in using terms like “all”, “always”, “everybody”, “nobody”, “never”, “none”, “only” and “most”. Before making such all-inclusive statements, make sure that they are justified. If there are any exceptions to some assertion you make, modify your language to make it more accurate. Don’t say that all young people have such and such a disadvantage: “some” or “many” might be more accurate. Before you say that almost all the schools in that area have very poor educational facilities,

1

ascertain from some reliable source whether more than 80 percent actually do; otherwise you are not really justified in saying it. Keep in mind that the English vocabulary provides you with a wealth of qualifying terms (some, few, often, to name only a few) and choose those that most accurately describe the number, extent, and frequency of the facts you are asserting.

Exercise two

Ⅰ. Identify the reasoning pattern used in each of the following passages.

1. There seems to be a general assumption that brilliant people cannot

stand routine, and that they need a varied, exciting life in order to do their best. It is also assumed that dull people are particularly suited for dull work. We are told that the reason present-day young people protest so loudly against the dullness of factory jobs is that they are better educated and brighter than the youth of the past. (Eric Hoffer, “Dull Work”)

2. The cases of Adolf Beck, of Oscar, of the unhappy Brooklyn bank teller

who vaguely resembled a forger and spent eight years in Sing Sing [State Prison in New York] only to “emerge” a broken, friendless, useless, “compenstated” man—all these, if the dignity of the individual has any meaning, had better have been dead before the prison door ever opened for them. This is what counsel always says to the jury in the course of a murder trial and counsel is right: far better to hang this man than “give him life.”

(Jacques Barzun, “In Favor of Capital Punishment”)

Ⅱ. Fill in each blank with an appropriate preposition.

Emotional fallacies appeal directly (1)_______ the human frailties (2)_______ the audience: some (3)________their prejudices, some (4) ________ their vanity, some (5)________their national pride, others (6)_______their desire to emulate people they admire. Because (7)______this, they exert great persuasive force. These fallacies should be avoided (8)______writing (9)______essentially the same reason that you shun slanting: they deceive your readers. Remember how often you have felt cheated because an advertiser convinced you to buy an expensive, ineffective product (10)______ playing (11)______your desire to be attractive (12)______the opposite sex. Using such tactics (13)_______argument can only have short-range effectiveness; your

2

commitment should be to make a lasting impression (14)______your readers.

(Michael E. Adelstein and Jean G..Pival: The Writing Commitment, 2nd ed. 1980, pp. 328-329)

III. An elementary acquaintance with the general patterns of inference can help writers in two ways.,

1. It can make them aware of the premises that underlie an argument.

Analyze the following example and provide its major premise: “There is a school ahead. Here we come across a traffic sign on

which there are school children.”

2. It can also help a writer check the validity of his line of reasoning.

Examine the following example, point out its fallacy and provide possible remedies:

Some elected officials are bribe-takers. Smith is an elected official. Therefore, Smith is a bribe-taker.

IV. Identify the fallacies of pathos in each of the following paragraphs as “Ad

Hominen”, “Name calling”, or “Bandwagon Appeal” with the help of a dictionary.

1. Many advertising slogans urge readers to buy something so that they become

associated with the majority of people or with a particular prestigious group:

“Beer belongs,” “Camels aren’t for everybody (but then, they don’t try to be),” “John the Pepsi generation,” “The car for the people who think,” “长龙，只为少数派的宣言”.

2. When challenged by an opponent to discuss military spending, a politician

accuses the opponent of alcoholism. 3. He (the male) is a half dead, unresponsive lump, incapable of giving or

receiving pleasure or happiness; consequently he is at best an utter bore, an

inoffensive blob, since only those capable of absorption in others can be charming.

3