时间:2018-12-29 作者:英语课 分类:新编大学英语阅读部分


英语课

Unit 8
Creativity

After-Class Reading

PASSAGE I A Long March to Creativity(I)

Proper Names

Benjamin
(男子名)本杰明

Ellen
(女子名)埃伦

Jinling Hotel
金陵饭店(南京)

Nanjing
南京

Taiwan
台湾

New Words

agenda *
n. purpose or plan 意图,计划
e.g. She came to my house with a hidden agenda.

appoint *
v. 指定,确定
e.g. We shall appoint 8 o'clock as the hour to begin.

attendant *
n. 服务员

awkwardly *
adv. lacking grace or skill when moving 笨拙地
e.g. Her uncomfortable shoes made her walk awkwardly.

container *
n. 容器

dexterity 1
n. 灵巧

encounter *
1) v. meet; be faced with 遇到
e.g. When did you first encounter these problems?
2) n. 相见;相遇
e.g. This meeting will be the first encounter between the party leaders since the election.

firmly *
adv. 强有力地;牢牢地
e.g. Fix the post firmly in the ground.

hesitation 2 *
n. 犹豫
e.g. After some hesitation he went back to the house.

intervene *
v. 干预
e.g. I didn't feel I could intervene in a family dispute.

intervention 3 *
n. 干预
e.g. The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.

intrusive 4
adj. 打搅的;侵扰的
e.g. an intrusive neighbor 一个打扰人的邻居

kindergarten
n. 幼儿园

manual *
adj. of the hands 手的
e.g. manual skill

mere 5 *
adj. nothing more than 仅仅
e.g. She's a mere child.

passer-by
n. 过路人

rear *
v. care for until fully 6 grown 养育
e.g. The mother was very careful in rearing her children.

rectangular *
adj. 长方形的

reorient *
v. guide in another direction 重定......的方向(或方位)

shirttail
n. bottom part of a shirt 衬衣下摆

socialization *
n. 适应社会生活

stroller *
n. (折叠式) 婴儿车

tease *
v. laugh at, joke about or intentionally 7 annoy 逗弄

vicinity *
n. the immediately surrounding area 附近

westerner *
n. 西方人

withdraw * (withdrew, withdrawn)
v. take away or take back 收回,取回
e.g. The child quickly withdrew his hand from the hot stove.


A Long March to Creativity(I)

The Jinling Hotel is a comfortable, modern hotel in the heart of Nanjing, a big city in eastern China. My wife Ellen, our year-and-a-half-old son, Benjamin, and I lived there for a month in the spring of 1987 while we were studying arts education in Chinese kindergartens and elementary schools. The key to our room was attached to a large plastic block with the room number printed on it. When leaving the hotel, a guest was encouraged to turn in the key, either by handing it to an attendant or by dropping it through a slot into a container. [1] Because the key slot was narrow and rectangular, the key and the block had to be inserted carefully so as to fit into the slot.
Benjamin loved to carry the key around, shaking it vigorously. He also liked to try to place it into the slot. He would move the key to the vicinity of the slot and then try to push it in. Because of his young age, lack of manual dexterity, and incomplete understanding of the need to orient the key "just so"[2], he would usually fail. Benjamin was not bothered in the least. He loved to bang the key on the slot and probably got as much pleasure out of the sounds it made, and the physical feelings it gave him, as he did those few times when the key actually found its way into the slot.[3]
Now both Ellen and I were perfectly 8 happy to allow Benjamin to bang the key near the key slot. We were usually not in a hurry, he was having a good time, and this "exploratory behavior" [4] seemed harmless enough. But I soon observed an interesting phenomenon. Any Chinese attendant nearby—and sometimes even a mere Chinese passer-by—would come over to watch Benjamin. As soon as the observer saw what our child was doing, and noticed his lack of initial success at the appointed task, she (or, less often, he) attempted to intervene. In general, she would hold onto his hand and, gently but firmly, guide it directly toward the slot, reorient it as necessary, and help Benjamin to insert the key. She would then smile somewhat expectantly at Ellen or me, as if awaiting a thank you—and on occasion, would frown slightly, as if to criticize us as parents.
Unfortunately, even for the sake of Chinese-American friendship, we were not particularly grateful for this intervention.[5] After all, it was not as if Benjamin were running around wildly or without supervision 10; clearly we were aware of what he was doing and had not ourselves intervened. But it also became clear to us that we were dealing 11 with totally different attitudes about the preferred behavior for children and the proper role of adults in their socialization.[6]
Spending a good deal of time with a baby in China, we had plenty of opportunity to compare Benjamin with Chinese babies and to observe the relationship that generally occurs between adults and young children. Time and again, adults would approach Benjamin, sometimes just to say "Hello" or to play with him (actions encountered the world over), but often with a particular agenda in mind[7]. Sometimes adults would tease Benjamin, pretending to give or to show him something, but then withdrawing the promised reward. More often, these adults would aid Benjamin with some task—retrieving a ball with which he was playing, helping 12 him to sit straight in his seat, fixing his shirttail or his shoes, directing him away from a dangerous spot, or guiding the stroller he was awkwardly pushing around.
It became obvious to us that for some Chinese, babies are "fair game"[8]. Some adults (and even adolescents) feel little hesitation about intervening in the child-rearing process. Now it might be thought that Benjamin's appearance—he is Chinese, and we adopted him in Taiwan—encouraged this intervention; but similar intrusive interventions 13 are reported by Westerners whose children do not look the least bit Chinese. It was equally clear that these Chinese agree on what is right or wrong in child rearing; in casual encounters with Benjamin and other Western children, they were exhibiting their shared beliefs.


Phrases and Expressions

find one's way
arrive or get (there) after some time
e.g. Only one of her inventions has found its way into the shops.

for the sake of
in order to help or bring advantage to
e.g. John and Mary only stayed together for the sake of the children.

not in the least
not in any way; absolutely not 绝对不;一点也不
e.g. It doesn't matter in the least.

on occasion
now and then 有时
e.g. He has, on occasion, made small mistakes.

time and again
over and over, many times 一次又一次
e.g. I've told her time and again not to bring that dog in here.



PASSAGE II A Long March to Creativity(II)

Proper Names

Philip Jackson
(男子名)菲利普.杰克逊


New Words

anecdote 14
n. short, interesting or amusing story about a real person or event 逸闻

audience *
n. 听众
e.g. There was a large audience at the pop concert.

broadly *
adv. 广泛地
e.g. The question must be considered broadly.

cultivation 15 *
n. 培养?
e.g. the cultivation of good manners

desirable *
adj. 称心的;想望的
e.g. It is most desirable that they should both come.

discern *
v. see clearly, especially with an effort 识别;辨认
e.g. It was difficult to discern which of them was to blame.

dominant 16 *
adj. most noticeable or important 占统治地位的
e.g. The dominant influence in her life was her father.

enhance *
v. improve 增加;加强
e.g. Self-confidence should enhance your chances of getting a job.

expressive 17 *
adj. 表达的
e.g. the expressive function of language

flail 18
v. 乱摇或乱摆

fledgling
adj. 无经验的

illuminate 19 *
v. (formal) make something clear; help to explain 阐明,解释
e.g. The results of the recent research will illuminate the mystery of the creation of the universe.

incident *
n. event 事件
e.g. That was one of the strangest incidents in my life.

mimetic
adj. 模仿的

misdeed *
n. 不端行为

opposed *
adj. 相对的;相反的
e.g. "Art", when it is opposed to "Science", is often romantic.

primary *
adj. most important 最重要的,首要的
e.g. Your safety is my primary concern.

principal *
adj. chief; main 主要的
e.g. The principal food of the Chinese is rice.

relevant *
adj. connected with what is happening or being discussed 有关的
e.g. That point is highly relevant to the discussion.

reliance *
n. dependence 20 依靠
e.g. The region's reliance on tourism is not wise.

retrospect 21 *
n. 回顾

rooster
n. 公鸡

stimulation 22 *
n. 鼓励,刺激
e.g. Lazy people need stimulation to make them work.

subsequent *
adj. happening after something else 随后的
e.g. We made plans for a visit, but subsequent difficulties with the car prevented it.

toddler
n. 初学走路的孩子

ultimate *
adj. last or final 最终的

underlie 23
v. 构成......的基础

unquestioned *
adj. 无可争议的


A Long March to Creativity(II)

I soon realized that this incident was directly relevant to our assigned tasks in China: to investigate the ways of early childhood education (especially in the arts) and, more broadly, to illuminate Chinese attitudes toward creativity. And so before long I began to include this "key-slot" anecdote into my talks to Chinese educators. I would tell audiences about what had happened and seek their reactions. Some of my Chinese colleagues displayed the same attitude as the attendants at the Jinling Hotel. Since adults know how to place the key in the key slot (they would say), since that is the ultimate purpose of approaching the slot, and since the toddler is neither old nor clever enough to realize the desired action on his own, what possible gain [1] is achieved by having the child flail about? He may well get frustrated 25 and angry—certainly not a desirable outcome. [2] Why not show him what to do? He will be happy (those around will be happier), he will learn how to accomplish the task sooner, and then he can proceed to more complex activities, like opening the door or asking for the key. [3]
We listened to such explanations sympathetically. [4] We agreed that sometimes it is important to show a child what to do, and that we certainly did not want to frustrate 24 Benjamin. But, as I have said, he was rarely frustrated by his fledgling attempts: "delighted" would be a more appropriate word to describe him. We went on to suggest that many Americans held quite different views about such matters.
First of all, we did not much care whether Benjamin succeeded in inserting the key into the slot. He was having a good time and exploring, two activities that did matter to us. [5] But the critical point was that in the process, we were trying to teach Benjamin something: that one can solve a problem effectively by oneself. Such self-reliance is a principal value of child rearing in middle-class America. So long as the child is shown exactly how to do something—whether it be placing a key in a key slot, drawing a rooster, or apologizing for a misdeed—he is less likely to figure out himself how to accomplish such a task. [6] And, more generally, he is less likely to view life—as many Americans do—as a series of situations in which one has to learn to think by oneself, to solve problems on one's own, and even to discover new problems for which creative solutions are wanted. [7]
In retrospect, it became clear to me that this incident was indeed key[8]-and key in more than one sense. It indicated important differences in the educational and artistic 26 practices in our two countries. Even more to the point, this apparently 27 little episode revealed important issues about education, creativity, and art that have interested thinkers around the world.
Dating back to the time of the Greeks, as Philip Jackson has pointed 9 out, one can discern two contrasting approaches to educational issues. One dominant approach is the "mimetic" one, in which the teacher (and "the text") are seen as the unquestioned sources of knowledge. Students are expected to memorize information and then, on subsequent occasions, feed back the information that has been presented to or modeled for them. Opposed to this tradition is a "transformative" approach, in which the teacher is more of a coach, attempting to elicit 28 certain qualities in her students. The teacher engages the student actively 29 in the learning process, asking questions and directing attention to new phenomena 30, in the hope that the student's understanding will be enhanced. One might say that in the "mimetic" tradition, the cultivation of basic skills is primary; whereas in the "transformative" approach, the stimulation of the child's expressive, creative, and knowing powers is most prized.


Phrases and Expressions

date back to
可追溯到
e.g. This church dates back to the 13th century.

feed back
反馈;反应
e.g. The information is fed back to the government department.

in retrospect
事后看来
e.g. In retrospect, it was the wrong time to set up a new company.

in the hope that
希望能
e.g. We will be analyzing 31 all the evidence in the hope that we can find the person responsible.

proceed to
go to a further or the next stage 往下进行(另一件事)
e.g. Let's proceed to the next item on the agenda.

to the point
切题
e.g. His argument was short and to the point.



n.(手的)灵巧,灵活
  • You need manual dexterity to be good at video games.玩好电子游戏手要灵巧。
  • I'm your inferior in manual dexterity.论手巧,我不如你。
n.犹豫,踌躇
  • After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天,他终于直说了。
  • There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。
n.介入,干涉,干预
  • The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
  • Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。
adj.打搅的;侵扰的
  • The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
  • Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
ad.故意地,有意地
  • I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
  • The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所,因此没有资格再获得提供住房。
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
adj.尖的,直截了当的
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
n.监督,管理
  • The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
  • The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。
n.经商方法,待人态度
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
n.介入,干涉,干预( intervention的名词复数 )
  • Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
  • The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网
n.轶事,趣闻,短故事
  • He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
  • It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成
  • The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
  • The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃,不值得耕种。
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的
  • Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
  • He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的,富于表情的,生动活泼的脸。
v.用连枷打;击打;n.连枷(脱粒用的工具)
  • No fence against flail.飞来横祸不胜防。
  • His arms were flailing in all directions.他的手臂胡乱挥舞着。
vt.照亮,照明;用灯光装饰;说明,阐释
  • Dreams kindle a flame to illuminate our dark roads.梦想点燃火炬照亮我们黑暗的道路。
  • They use games and drawings to illuminate their subject.他们用游戏和图画来阐明他们的主题。
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属
  • Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
  • He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。
n.回顾,追溯;v.回顾,回想,追溯
  • One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
  • In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。
n.刺激,激励,鼓舞
  • The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
  • You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。
v.位于...之下,成为...的基础
  • Technology improvements underlie these trends.科技进步将成为此发展趋势的基础。
  • Many facts underlie my decision.我的决定是以许多事实为依据的。
v.使失望;使沮丧;使厌烦
  • But this didn't frustrate Einstein.He was content to go as far as he could.但这并没有使爱因斯坦灰心,他对能够更深入地研究而感到满意。
  • They made their preparations to frustrate the conspiracy.他们作好准备挫败这个阴谋。
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
v.引出,抽出,引起
  • It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
  • Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。
adv.积极地,勤奋地
  • During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
  • We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。
n.现象
  • Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
  • The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系,如果存在着任何联系的话。
v.分析;分析( analyze的现在分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析n.分析
  • Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据,暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
  • He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然,他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
.pm
2'-CMP
arc-arrester
Arpitan
aural overload test
auto update
Balaikarangan
Barra Bonita, Represa
befits
bendjedid
bible-baseds
braceman
Brazilian Portuguese
brimborion
broker's daily statement
bubble umbrella
businesslike
bydgoszcz (bromberg)
calanthe furcata bateman
cct.
channel pin
chlorambucil
chreaster
chroopsia
chuckleheaded
classic shock pulse
commercial business and industrial enterprises
compensating weight
counterrotating torque
creosoform
crude tubercies
Dalhousie University
defaults for double-clicking
device control register address
donats
edit out
estimated salvage value
facial cutaneous ligament
fantasmo
four-wheel coupled
gated communities
goannas
Gone for a burton
habitudinal
heavy body oil
high - heeled shoes
i steel
in the mid career
induction winding
infinite model
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
ion-exchange isotherm
Ionian Sea
Jangkang
keep at it
kocak
let the matter go
list of articles
margolick
mendosicute
molten salts
Morris, Mark
mtfa
New Fish Creek
nilpotent product
normal record level
one-shillings
pain killers
parallel switching relaying system
pellet fusion
petrol dripping
ph-balanced
phlegon
prasinophytes
punching disc
quadrangle frame
quake proof
quantitative system analysis
radioisotopes
reconditioning of crank shaft
relevant experience
rifle salute
rosy terns
sandouville
sarcomaofkidney
satellite products
Selwyn granularity coefficient
squeeze the shorts
step up voltage
straitwaistcoats
surf boats
sweep balance
Sycopsis tutcheri
tactical air operation
throttles back
thymidylic aicd(dTMP,TMP)
tibia varas
trichloromethyldihydroberberine
tumor promoting mutation
vandyck
wujiang
zettel