新视野大学英语第三版电子教案Book2 Unit 2

Unit 2

College—The ladder to success?

Understanding and Learning

Overview

This unit addresses the topic of the value of higher education, which is mainly centered on young people who are facing bewilderment in educational choices. We hope that students will realize the significance of the humanities, with which students can gain more insights into life and society and be aware of cultural and religious differences.

Text A advocates that by taking courses in the humanities, students are likely to grow into good people.

Text B opposes getting a college education only for a future career, an extreme thinking driven by the economic downturn.

Section A

The humanities: Out of date? Background information

1. the humanities

The humanities are a group of academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative. Therefore, they are distinguished from the approaches of the natural sciences. The humanities, called social sciences, include history, anthropology, communication studies, cultural studies, law, language, literature, philosophy, religion, music and theater, etc. Through exploration of the humanities, students learn how to think creatively and critically, to reason, and to ask questions. Because these skills allow students to gain new insights into everything from poetry and paintings to business models and politics, humanistic subjects have been at the heart of a liberal arts education. Today, humanistic knowledge continues to provide the ideal foundation for exploring and understanding the human experience.

2. self-awareness

Self-awareness isn’t a quality that you demonstrate by telling a story, but rather it has to do with how you tell the story and your ability to communicate what you learned. Being able to explain to the admissions committee why you value one accomplishment above others, what you learned from a setback, or the deeper meaning of your career goals, is evidence of self-awareness. Furthermore, the self-aware individual has knowledge of both his strengths and weaknesses. 3. James Cameron

World-famous director of the movie, Titanic. The film received 14 Academy Award nominations and was awarded 11 Oscars. 4. Sally Ride

An American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. In 1983, at age 32, she became the first American woman and then youngest American to enter space. 5. Bruce Lee

A Chinese-American actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was considered the most influential martial artist and a cultural icon. Born in San Francisco, he was raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. He moved back to the United

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States at 18 and studied philosophy at Washington University. 6. Gwyneth Paltrow

An American actress and singer. She gained worldwide recognition through her performance in Shakespeare in Love (1998), for which she won Academy Award for Best Actress. 7. Renee Zellweger

An American actress and producer. She received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. 8. Matt Damon

An American actor and screenwriter. He and his friend Ben Affleck won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work— Good Will Hunting (1997). He also got multiple Best Actor nominations. 9. Harold Varmus

An American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th and current Director of the National Cancer Institute. He was a co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on the origins of cancer. 10. Michael Eisner

An American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.

Detailed study of the text

1. When the going gets tough, the tough take accounting. (Para. 1)

Meaning: When conditions or situations become difficult, determined people choose to study the subject of accounting, hoping they can more easily find a job in the future.

★When the going gets tough: when the situation becomes difficult 当形势变得严峻时 When the going gets tough, women can get as tough as men. 当形势变得严峻时，女人可以变得跟男人一样坚强。

★accounting: n. [C] the work of accountants or the methods they use会计; 会计学

Students’ major objective is to be financially well off. Accordingly, today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting. 学生的主要目的是经济上富裕。因此，当今最流行的课程不是文学或历史，而是会计。

★take accounting: choose to study the subject of accounting 选择学会计

2. When the job market worsens, many students calculate they can’t major in English or history. (Para. 1)

Meaning: When there are fewer job openings, many college students make a judgment from the situation and think they can’t study English or history as their major. ★calculate: vt.

1) make a judgment about what is likely to happen using the available information 估计；预测；推测

It’s difficult to calculate the long-term effects of these changes in the law. 这些法律上变化带来的长期影响是难以预测的。

2) find out how much sth. will cost, how long sth. will take, etc. by using numbers 计算；核算 Nowadays the accountants in the enterprise use computers to calculate the cost of production with accuracy. 如今，企业财务人员利用电脑来计算准确的生产成本。

★major in: study sth. as your main subject at college or university 主修（某一）科目

The high demand for persons with knowledge about computers is why I chose to major in

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computer science at the university. 对具有电脑知识人才的高需求是我选择在大学主修计算机科学的原因。

3. They have to study something that boosts their prospects of landing a job. (Para. 1)

Meaning: They have to study something that improves their chances of success in finding a job. ★boost: vt. increase or improve sth. to make it more successful 促进；推动；使兴旺

Some countries hope that warmer weather and more rain will boost their farm output. 一些国家希望更温暖的天气和更多的降雨能提高他们的农业产量。

★prospect: n. [C, U] sth. that is possible or likely to happen in the future, or the possibility itself 可能的事情；很能发生的事情；前景

Career prospects in science and technology are virtually unlimited. 科技类职业的前景几乎是无可限量的。

4. The data show that as students have increasingly shouldered the ever-rising cost of tuition, they have defected from the study of the humanities and toward applied science and “hard” skills that they bet will lead to unemployment.

Meaning: The facts and information show that as students have spent increasingly more money on tuition, they have turned away from the humanities to some practical courses that they believe will enable them to get a job more easily.

★defect: vi. Leave a country, political party, or organization to go to another one 被判；叛逃 He defected from the party in the late 1970s. 他在20世纪70年代后期背叛了该党。 n. [C] a fault in sb. or sth. 缺点；欠缺；不足之处

Stammering is probably an inherited defect. 口吃可能是一种遗传缺陷。 Usage NOTE defect, deficiency 1. 在表示 “人的缺点，设计制造方面的缺点或缺陷”时，名词defect和deficiency的词义相近。 physiological defect/ deficiency生理缺陷 The new car has to be withdrawn from the market because of a mechanical defect.这款新汽车因有机械缺陷，必须被撤出市场。 The deficiency of this plan is very clear, so it can’t possibly succeed. 这项计划的缺陷是很明显的，所以它不可能成功。 2. 但表示“缺少，不足”(shortage)时，只可用deficiency。 There are serious deficiencies in the number of suitable aircraft. 符合要求的飞机数量严重不足。 During the war children suffered from a deficiency of food. 战争期间孩子们遭受了缺乏食物之苦。 ★applied: a. (usu. before noun) used for describing educational subjects when they are studied for their practical uses （学科）应用的，实用的

Industry leaders want scientists to engage in basic research, not applied research. 产业领导者们希望科学家们从事基础研究，而不是应用研究。

★bet : (bet, bet) vt. be fairly sure that sth. is true, that sth. will happen, etc., although you can’t prove this 肯定

I bet the train will be late. 我敢打赌，列车会晚点。

v. risk money on the result of a race, game, competition or other future event 下赌注；与?打赌 I bet my life that he will take my money and leave. 我敢用我的命打赌，他将拿着我的钱离开。 5. In other words, a college education is more and more seen as a means for economic betterment

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rather than a means for human betterment. (Para. 2)

Meaning: In other words, a college education is more considered as a method to improve students’ economic status rather than improve human nature or behavior.

6. This is a trend that is likely to persist and even accelerate. (Para. 2)

Meaning: Very likely, the trend will continue to exist and even go faster than ever. ★persist: vi. (fml.) continue to exist 继续存在；持续

1) If the bad weather persists, the farmers will suffer great losses this year. 如果恶劣天气持续，农民今年将遭受巨大的损失。

2) continue to do sth., although this is difficult, or other people oppose it 坚持；执意

Students must persist in their efforts if they wish to do well. 学生如果想取得好成绩就必须坚持努力。 Usage NOTE persist, insist 1. persist可用于表示“继续存在；持续”，尤其用于不好的事情，而insist没有此意。 Contact your doctor if the cough persists. 如果咳嗽持续，请联系您的医生。 2. persist和 insist 容易混淆主要是当两者均表示“坚持”时。 ，后接介词in，多用于 persist 用于表示“坚持”时，表示“坚持反复做同一件事”，有时用于贬义，指“不听劝告；顽固坚持”。 褒义，指“坚持持续做某事” Her mother tried to persuade her to go to bed early, but she persisted in working until the small hours. 她母亲劝她早点睡，但她仍坚持工作到凌晨。 ”， insist用于表示“坚持”时，表示“坚持做某件事（尤其指麻烦或令人讨厌的事） 后接介词on。 She insisted on washing her hair just when I wanted to have a bath. 当我想泡个澡时， 她还在那洗头。 3. insist还可用于表示“对意见、主张等的坚持”。insist 用于此意时，后接介词on，也可以接that引导的从句（是否用虚拟语气，视情况而定，即看从句的内容是否是 事实），而persist 无此意。 They insist on having a job done well no matter how much time is required.他们坚持无 论需要多少时间都要将工作做好。 The doctor insisted that she (should) take the medicine, but she insisted that she was not ill. 医生坚持让她服此药，但她坚持自己没病。 ★accelerate: v. happen or make sth. happen at a faster rate （使）加快；促进

Human activities can cause or accelerate permanent changes in natural systems. 人类的活动可能导致或加速自然系统的永久变化。

7. Over the next few years, as labor market struggle, the humanities will probably continue their long slide in succession. (Para. 3)

Meaning: For the next few years, as the going gets tough with labor markets, the subjects of the humanities will continue to shrink and worsen for a long time each year. Note

It might be worthwhile to have a review of the word slide used as a noun or a verb:

n. [usu. sing.] a situation in which sth. gradually gets worse or sb. develops a problem (情况) 变糟，恶化；（人）出现问题

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