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Unit 11
College Life
In-Class Reading
Essay I The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear
I. Word List
Directions: Memorize the following words and phrases before class. You will benefit from your effort when you get the passages from your teacher and read them in class.
Proper Names
Brown
即Brown University布朗大学（在美国罗得岛州）
Carter A. Daniel
（男子名）卡特.A.丹尼尔
Ida Timothee
（女子名）艾达.蒂莫西
Jacob Neusner
（男子名）雅各布.诺伊斯那
New Words
adequate *
adj. enough for a particular purpose 足够的
e.g. The reason I didn't do well in my exams is that I didn't have adequate time to prepare.
commencement
n. graduation ceremony (美)学位授予典礼(日);毕业典礼(日)
crucial *
adj. extremely important 至关重要的
e.g. It's absolutely crucial that you remember to switch it off.
deadline *
n. a date or time by which you have to do or complete something 截止日期
e.g. There is no way I can meet that deadline.
deserve *
v. have or earn something by good or bad action or behavior 应得
e.g. They deserve a better salary for the work they do.
erase *
v. remove marks or writing so that they can no longer be seen 擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹
e.g. I ) It's written in pencil so you can just erase anything that is incorrect.
II ) Love was a word he'd erased from his vocabulary since Susan's going.
formulate *
v. choose particular words to express your thoughts or feelings 确切地表达(某思想)
e.g. I was impressed by the way he could formulate his ideas.
forgiving *
adj. ready and willing to pardon 宽容的；宽恕的
e.g. Voters can be remarkably forgiving of presidents who fail to keep their campaign promises.
garrulous
adj. always talking a lot 喋喋不休的
mediocre
adj. not very good 平庸的
parlous
adj. in a very bad or dangerous condition 危险的；恶劣的
paragraph *
n. 段落
pop *
v. come suddenly out of something (突然)冒出
e.g. If any problems pop up, just give me a ring.
preparatory
adj. done in order to get ready for something 准备阶段的
presentation *
n. a talk (by a student in class) in which something is described and explained (学生在课堂上或论文答辩时的)陈述
e.g. I always ask how much time I have to make my presentation.
quote *
v. repeat exactly what someone has said or written 引用；引述
e.g. The President himself was quoted as saying he would veto (否决) the bill.
rude *
adj. impolite 粗鲁的；无理的
e.g. I don't mean to be rude, but I have to leave early.
semester *
n. 学期
e.g. What subjects are you taking this fall semester?
slipshod
adj. done too quickly and carelessly 不认真的；粗心的
supposedly
adv. according to what is believed 根据推测；大概
e.g. Supposedly his last words to her were: "You must not pity me."
tolerant *
adj. 宽容的；容忍的
e.g. He's become more tolerant of others recently.
toss *
v. throw lightly or carelessly 扔；掷
e.g. Frank tossed her the newspaper.
triple *
adj. & n. having three parts or involving three members 三人的；三人间
Essay I
The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear
Jacob Neusner
1 We the faculty take no pride in our educational achievement with you. We have prepared you for a world that does not exist, indeed, that cannot exist. You have spent four years supposing that failure leaves no record. You have learned at Brown that when your work goes poorly, the painless solution is to drop out. But starting now, in the world to which you go, failure marks you. Confronting difficulty by quitting leaves you changed. Outside Brown, quitters are no heroes.
2 With us you could argue about why your errors were not errors, why mediocre work really was excellent, why you could take pride in routine and slipshod presentation. Most of you, after all, can look back on honor grades for most of what you have done. So, here grades can have meant little in distinguishing the excellent from the ordinary. But tomorrow, in the world to which you go, you had better not defend errors but learn from them. You will be ill-advised to demand praise for what does not deserve it, and abuse those who do not give it.
3 For years we created an altogether forgiving world, in which whatever slight effort you gave was all that was demanded. When you did not keep appointments, we made new ones. When your work came in beyond the deadline, we pretended not to care.
4 Worse still, when you were boring, we acted as if you were saying something important. When you were garrulous and talked to hear yourselves talk, we listened as if it mattered. When you tossed on our desks writing upon which you had not labored, we read it and even responded, as though you earned a response. When you were dull, we pretended you were smart. When you were predictable, unimaginative and routine, we listened as if to new and wonderful things. When you demanded free lunch, we served it. And all this why?
5 Despite your fantasies, it was not even that we wanted to be liked by you. It was that we did not want to be bothered, and the easy way out was pretense: smiles and easy Bs.
6 It is conventional to quote in addresses such as these. Let me quote someone you've never heard of: Professor Carter A. Daniel, Rutgers University:
7 "College has spoiled you by reading papers that don't deserve to be read, listening to comments that don't deserve a hearing, paying attention even to the lazy, ill-informed and rude. We had to do it, for the sake of education. But nobody will ever do it again. College has deprived you of adequate preparation for the last 50 years. It has failed you by being easy, free, forgiving, attentive, comfortable, interesting, unchallenging fun. Good luck tomorrow."
8 That is why, on this commencement day, we have nothing in which to take much pride.
9 Oh, yes, there is one more thing. Try not to act toward your co-workers and bosses as you have acted toward us. I mean, when they give you what you want but have not earned, don't abuse them, insult them, act out with them your parlous relationships with your parents. This too we have tolerated. It was, as I said, not to be liked. Few professors actually care whether or not they are liked by peer-paralyzed adolescents, fools so shallow as to imagine professors care not about education but about popularity. It was, again, to be rid of you. So go, unlearn the lies we taught you. To life! (585 words)
Essay II
College: An All-Forgiving World?
Ida Timothee
1 In "The Commencement Speech You'll Never Hear", Jacob Neusner argues that we have been made to believe, according to our college experience, that "failure leaves no record" (Para. 1) and that things can be easily achieved. It seems to Neusner that college is not a good preparatory school for life because it is making us ready "for a world that does not exist" (Para. 1).
2 There's no doubt that Neusner should have taken a closer look at what college life is really like before formulating such a strong opinion about it. He is completely ignoring all the pressures and hard times students go through to make it at college. It is not the way he describes it at all.
3 Is college not preparing us for real life, as Neusner puts it? Is what we are experiencing something not useful to learn for the real world? These are questions that pop into my mind when I think about what Neusner says. I think that he is very wrong. The college years, for many of us, are when we start to be independent, make crucial decisions on our own, and become responsible for them. At college, we must learn to budget our time (and money!) and to be tolerant (otherwise we wouldn't survive in a crowded triple room!). We meet people from different parts of the world that broaden our view of the world itself and help us understand each other better. If these things are not useful for the real world, then I don't know what could be.
4 Neusner believes that in college we are trained to think that "failure leaves no record" because we can supposedly get away with mistakes easily. I have news for him. If you fail a test, you can't take it again, or the teacher won't erase the grade even if he thinks you will hate him for the rest of your life. If you drop out of a class, next semester you will have to take more courses. If you get low grades, your chances of getting into a fine graduate school are almost none. If your grade point average is not reasonably high for a number of classes, you just don't get your degree. When midterm and finals come, no one can avoid taking them. When the going gets tough, the tough have to get down to work because, unlike what Neusner believes, college does not give " painless" solutions to mistakes (Para. 1). It is not "an altogether forgiving world", and by no means have teachers "pretended not to care" (Para. 3) when deadlines are not kept or when things aren't done at the time they are supposed to be.
5 To me, living in a crowded triple, having a one-day reading period before finals, tons of readings, papers, and midterms due the same week are not exactly my idea of "' easy, free, forgiving, attentive, comfortable, interesting, unchallenging fun'" (Para. 6). (487 words)
Time taken: _________ minutes
Phrases and Expressions
act out
copy the actions which took place
e.g. The group acts out the stories in such a way that the members experienced really being there.
after all
The phrase is used to introduce a statement which supports or helps explain something you have just said.
e.g. I ) I thought you might know somebody. After all, you're the man with connections.
II ) You can't expect to master English in a few days; after all (it should be considered), it's a difficult language.
be rid of
be/become free of 摆脱
e.g. The family had sought a way to be rid of her and the problems she had caused them.
by no means
not at all; definitely not
e.g. It is by no means certain that they'll give us a grant.
come in
arrive
e.g. I ) The mail has come in early this morning.
II ) Reports are now coming in of trouble at yet another jail.
deprive somebody of something
take something from someone, especially something that they need or want 剥夺某人......；阻止某人享用或使用......
e.g. Deprive someone of air and he can only live a few minutes.
drop out
leave (school or a course) without finishing 中途退学，辍学
e.g. A lot of medical students drop out after the first year.
for the sake of
in order to help, improve or please someone or something 为了某人(某事物)起见
e.g. For the sake of the child, the parents stopped fighting.
get away with
not be caught or punished for something you have done 不因某事受惩罚
e.g. I ) The child ought to be punished. You shouldn't let him get away with telling lies.
II ) I don't think any society can survive if people can kill and get away with it.
get down to
begin to do something 开始做某事
e.g. I've got some work to do but I can't seem to get down to it.
go through
experience 经历
e.g. You wouldn't believe what some of the prisoners went through.
look back on
think about the past 回顾
e.g. I ) I often look back on my youth and smile at some of the things I did.
II ) She looks back on her childhood with affection.
make it
(informal) be successful in a particular activity or profession
e.g. I never thought Clare would make it as an actress.
on one's own
alone, without help
e.g. I ) The child was being left on her own for hours at a time.
II ) The girl did the job on her own.
take a close look
look carefully
e.g. I ) If you take a close look you can just see the lighthouse.
II ) Take a close look at him to find out what sort of person he is.
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