我们只不过是人
劳拉．施莱辛格Pre-class Work
1. Explain the following.
1) free will (Para. 1): the ability to make your own decisions about what to do rather than being controlled by God or fate 自由意志
2) the product of causation (Para. 1): the.human behavior is a response to external stimulation, and therefore is genes-determined. 某种原因造成的结果
3) fateful night (Para. 9): the night that had an important bad effect on future events 那个决定性的夜晚
4) honor his commitment (Para. 10): to do what he has committed to do to others; to do his duty; to respect his obligations to others履行义务或实践许诺
5) clause (Para. 20): a separate division of a written legal document with its own separate and complete meaning 条款
6) absorbing (Para. 26): interesting; enjoyable; gripping 吸引人的
2. Paraphrase.
1) Human beings have no free will, they are all victims of these external causes as a group.
2) As if the fact we are human were a kind of detailed plan which determines how we react to situations. This reaction is instinctive and natural just like with all animals, insects, birds.
3) The 3 C's are Character, Courage, and Conscience, without these qualities, we cease to be human and will be just like big ants which live out their lives in a way that is determined by their natural instincts.
4) Only managing to live in a vegetable state.
5) If you want to live a good and energetic life, you need the ability to make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to do; you should be brave enough to take risks; you should take continued action against difficulties; you should be ready to lose life for ideals and you should have an instance of accepting or trusting in something that cannot be readily seen or trusted.
6) Courage is as important to life as broth is to soup.
7) In order to be excused, we often try hard to twist things and put the blame on others or try to justify our actions in various ways in our speaking as well as in our thinking.
8) Relating to what we have mentioned, pleasure is something that just happens; happiness is a series of things that involved. Pleasure is a finishingpoint; happiness is a long process. Pleasure is something related to the real world and physical objects; happiness
is something related to your spirit. Pleasure is something related to yourself; happiness is something related to others and the world.
3. Learn to use reference books.
Check in a Chinese-English dictionary for the translations of the following Chinese collocations of" 开".
开门to open the door; 开口to open one,s mouth (or start to talk); 开火to open fire; 开刀to have an operation; 开发to open up... (or to develop; to exploit); 开工(of a factory, etc.) to go into operation; 开花to blossom; 开会to have a meeting; 开胃to whet (or stimulate) the appetite; 开心to feel happy; 开玩笑to crack ajoke (to make fun of)
4. Learn rules of word-building. Enrich and enlarge your vocabulary.
1) Give the corresponding nouns of the following.
(1) devastation (2) exhilaration (3) conformity (4) procreation (5) invocation
(6) sustenance (7) projection (8) derivation (9) criticism (10) restoration
2) Give the corresponding verbs of the following.
(1) to contort (2) to rationalize (3) to transgress (4) to condemn
(5) to abort (6) to emphasize (7) to seduce (8) to gratify
(9) to destroy (10) to indulge (11) to oblige (12) to motivate
(13) to cause (14) to survive
More Work on the T ext
II Vocabulary
1. Translate
1) into English.
(1) to shape one's mind (2) to honor one's commitment
(3) to sustain life (4) to raise a family
(5) to make a judgment (6) to focus one's attention
(7) to devastate the country (8) to blame the weather
(9) to avoid sacrifice (10) to demand justice
(11) to criticize the theory (12) to condemn the war
(13) to emphasize education (14) to acknowledge defeat
(15) to sustain economic growth (16) to restore the building
(17) to cause trouble (18) to resist the temptation
2) into Chinese.
(1)动物界(2)某种原因造成的结果
