$LetterToABstudentByLYY&LSMLetterToABStudentReadingReflectionPutyourgradeinperspectiveAcctuallyEnjoyyourcampuslifeTheauthorPre-readingquestionsThestructuralanalysisAbouttheauthor

Yes,I'mRobertOliphant!I'm--An

American

professorAwriter,AcolumnistAndevenanexecutivedirector

(常務董事)

In1938,IgraduatedfromWashingtonand

JeffersonCollege.

Abouttheauthor

Later,IbecameanEnglishprofessoratCaliforniaStateUniversityatNorthridge,whichisoneofthenation’slargestpublicuniversities.AbouttheauthorAbouttheauthor

Moreover,Iwasalsoavisitingprofessor(客座教授)ofEnglishandLinguistics(語言學)atStanfordUniversitywhereIhadstudiedmedievallexicography(中世紀詞典學)andgotaPh.D.(博士學位).

Pre-readingquestions

1.whatgradesdoyoumostlygetfortheEnglishcoursesyouhavetaken?Areyouhappyordisappointedwiththegradesyouget?2.howdoyouandyourclassmatesregardthegradesyouget?Doyouthinkthegradesonegetstrulyreflecthisabilityandpotential?TextcomprehensionGradeDescription4-pointEquivalent100-pointASuperior4.096-100A-Superior3.790-95B+Good3.387-89BGood3.083-86B-Good2.780-82

Paragraph1AmericangradingsystemGradeDescription4-pointEquivalent100-pointC+Satisfactory2.377-79CSatisfactory2.073-76C-Satisfactory1.770-72DPoor1.065-69FFailure0.00-64

Paragraph1What’sthethemeofthispieceofwriting?Itisexplicitlystatedinthefirstsentenceofthethirdparagraph:toputaBstudent’sdisappointmentinperspectivebyconsideringexactlywhatthegradeBmeansanddoesn’tmean.Structuralanalysis——purposeofwriting:toputyourdisappointmentinperspectivebyconsideringexactlywhatyourgrademeansanddoesn’tmeanintroduction—distinctionbetweenthestudentasaperformerintheclassroomandthestudentasahumanbeing—perspective:thewayweshouldregardgrades

Paragraphs6–8Paragraphs2–5Paragraphs9–10Paragraph1Structuralanalysis

Thetextisneatlystructured.Apartfromthefirstparagraph,whichintroducesthetopicofthelettertherestofthetextfallsclearlyintothreeparts.keyword:

disappointmentMainidea:Gradesdonotmeaneverything.Para2–5Structuralanalysis

Para6–8Para9–10keyword:perspectiveMainidea:Inacomplexsocietylikeourslabelsarenecessarybuttheyshouldbekeptinperspective.keyｗｏｒｄｓ:thestudentasperformer;thestudentashumanbeingMainidea:GettingaBinclassdoesnotmeanonewillalwaysbeaBperformerinlife.Textcomprehension

Adecent(得體的，正派的)grade(inthepast).Itisconsideredthat“Gentleman’sC”asanaveragegrade(平均等級)isseriouslybehindthetimes(過時，落伍),today’s“average”gradeisa“B”.Afewyearsago,the“Gentleman’sC”prevailed(流行，盛行)inuniversities.Gentleman’sagreementn.君子協(xié)定Gentlemanshipn.紳士的身份、品格

Gentleman'sC

Paragraph1Textcomprehension

Zero-sumgame（零和游戲/博弈）：Asituationinwhichifonepersongainsanadvantageformit,someoneelseinvolvedinitmustsufferanequivalentdisadvantage.

博弈論的英文名為gametheory，直譯就是“游戲理論”。游戲者有輸有贏，一方所贏正是另一方所輸，游戲的總成績永遠是零?！傲愫陀螒颉敝詮V受關注，主要是因為人們發(fā)現，在社會的方方面面都有與“零和游戲”類似的局面，勝利者的光榮后面往往隱藏著失敗者的辛酸和苦澀。

Positivesumgame正和游戲(“雙贏”或“多贏”)Negativesumgame負和游戲(沒有贏家)

Zero-sumgame

Paragraph2Textcomprehension

Thephrasespecificallyrefersto“thesevendeadlysins”:

pride,covetousness['k?vit?snis]

(貪婪),lust（色欲）,anger,gluttony（暴食）,envyandsloth（懶惰）.Eachofthesevendeadlysinshasanoppositeamongcorrespondingsevenholyvirtues.Inparallelordertothesins,thesevenholyvirtues：humanity,仁慈charity,寬容chastity,貞潔patience,temperance,節(jié)欲kindnessanddiligence.Deadlysins

Paragraph2Textcomprehension

Paragraph2You'vegrownupinasocietywherewinningisnotthemostimportantthing—it’stheonlythingParaphrase:

Winningisofprimaryimportance;nothingcouldbemore

importantthanwinning.

勝利不是最重要的，而是唯一重要的。Textcomprehension

Paragraph2You'vegrownupinasocietywherewinningisnotthemostimportantthing—it’stheonlythingExplanation:Thisisaspecialtypeofnegation.Theauthorisnotnegatingtheimportanceofwinning;rather,withthesentencethatfollowsthenegativeone,theauthorgivestheutmostemphasistotheimportanceofwinning.

Textcomprehension

Paragraph2Tolose,tofail,togounder,togobroke…inthefuture.Paraphrase:Beingunsuccessfulinone’slifeandcareerandfinanciallydisadvantagedisregardedasshamefulorevensinfulbecauseinthisworldpeopletendtothinkthatonlythosewhoaresuccessfulnowcanbesavedfromevilinthefuture.

失利失敗，傾家蕩產是很可怕的過錯，因為在當今世界，人們認為眼下的興隆發(fā)達預示著將來必能從困境中脫身。Textcomprehension

Paragraph3putsthinperspectivetakesthatfacevalueExplanation:

putsthinperspective:tojudgetherealimportanceofsthbyconsideringitinrelationtootherthings正確對待takesthatfacevalue:toacceptsthforwhatitappearstobe從表面上看Textcomprehension

Paragraph4Lackingmoreprecisemeassurementtools,wemustinterpretyourB……masteryofthesubject.沒有更為精準的測量工具，我們至多只能把你的成績當做一個相對模糊的標記，它僅代表著你對這門學科的掌握程度，只是一個值得質疑的評價。Itmeansthatwecan’tfindmoreexactwaystoassessyourgrade.SoyourBjustshowshowwellyoubehaveinthissubject,notsoclearly.Paraphrase:Textcomprehension

Paragraph5Ifyouvaluethesecharacteristicsinyourself,youwillbevalued.Explanation:Certainly,itissoeasytotranslate,butalsosohardtodo.Weputithere,justbecauseitseemslikeamotto,right?Wisheveryoneherecantryhimselfassaidinthesentenseandthenbevalued.Textcomprehension

Paragraph5YourBisapricetagonagarmentthatisquiteseparatefromtheliving,breathinghumanbeingunderneath.Explanation:Yes,thisisametaphor(隱喻).Asyoucansee,theauthormake“apricetag”ametaphorfor“yourB”.Youknow,priceisnotalwayscorrespondtovalue.Andthereisacontrast,too.你的B成績就如外套上的價格標簽，它的價值與你于其下作為一個活生生的人的價值是完全沒有關聯(lián)的，沒可比性的。Textcomprehension

Paragraph6getoutoftheserviceLookatthenotesinpage126;refertoitandthereisnothingmoretotell.Textcomprehension

Paragraph6Thestudentasperformer;thestudentashumanbeing.Explanation:Youknowwhat,IlikethiskindofsentencesActually,it'snotlikeasentence,rather,it'slikeaphrase,orsomekeywords.Putitinthebeginningofyourparagraph,Iguessyourcompositionwillbecool！?。fcourse,I'mnotsureiftheteatherwillgiveyoupoints…Textcomprehension

重視，強調，特別注意makeapointofdoingsth堅持做某件事

Example：Gouptothemafterclass,ormakeapointofdroppinginduringofficehours.

課下或者在辦公時間內，只要花一點心思，你就能做的到。makeapointof

Paragraph7Textcomprehension

GI(pl.GIsorGI‘s)isanAmericansoldier,especiallyanenlistedone(現役軍人).GI-BillortheGI-BillofRightsisthepopularnamefortheServicemen'sReadjustmentActof1944,whichprovidedUSWorldWarIIveteranswithspecialassistance.

1944年，《退伍軍人權利法案》(Servicemen’s

ReadjustmentAct，或GIBill“大兵法案”)出臺。根據這一法案，政府資助二次大戰(zhàn)的退伍軍人接受大學教育，旨在幫助退伍軍人更好地適應平民生活。此外，政府還為退伍軍人提供醫(yī)療,衛(wèi)生,住房等方面的優(yōu)惠政策。這些軍人學生就稱為GI-Billstudents。

GI-Billstudents

Paragraph7

Paragraph7那些學生只是在不久以前脫下軍裝，變成普通人。他們曾經是下士、中士、轟炸機駕駛員、中尉、上尉、指揮官、少校或者中?！?..menwhohadbutrecentlyputawaytheiruniformsandidentities…evenalieutenantcolonel...Textcomprehension

Paragraph7...menwhohadbutrecentlyputawaytheiruniformsandidentities…evenalieutenantcolonel...Explanation:

Here“menwhohad...andidentities”referstoformerGIs,who,liketheauthorhimself,hadtakenofftheirarmyuniformsandchangedtheiridentitiesfromservicementocivilians.Manyofthesemenhadbeenofficersofvariousranks.

Textcomprehension將軍general中將lieutenant少將majorgeneral準將brigadier[br?g?'d??]上校colonel中校lieutenantcolonel少校major

Militaryrank（軍銜）上尉captain中尉1stlieutenant少尉2ndlieutenant上士1stsergeant中士sergeant下士corporal列兵privateTextcomprehension

Paragraph7Ahardtest.Atestonwhichheusuallyflunkedabouthalfofthem.Explanation:終于知道“掛科”怎么寫了吧~掛別人，是flunkhimflunkvt.1)tofailanexaminationorcourseofstudy考試不及格e.g.Iflunkedmysecondyearexamsandwasluckynottobethrownoutofcollege.e.g.Ifheisnogood,flunkhim.2)giveafailingmarktosb.給某人打不及格Collocation:flunkout

因成績不及格而被學校除名e.g.Danwon’tbeincollegenextyear—he’sbeenflunkedout.resent

vt.

tofeelangrybecauseyouhavebeenforcedtoacceptsomeoneorsomethingthatyoudonotlike恨,生氣e.g.Herfatherseemstoresenthernewboyfriendforhehasnojob.Herroommateseemstoresentmybeingintheirdorm.Derivation:resentmentn.resentfula.resentfulnessn.resentdoingsthResentsbforsth因為…而憎恨

Paragraph8...shiftingsuddenlyfromafriendlygeartoacoerciveone.……他突然從友善的樣子變成嚴酷的模樣兒。

Paragraph8Explanation:Theword“gear”originallymeansadeviceinavehiclewhichcontrolstherateatwhichtheenergybeingusedisconvertedintomotion(排擋).Inoursentence,theshiftingofgearreferstothechangeintheinstructor'smannerofdealingwithhisstudents.Whendrinkingwiththestudentsinthepub,hewaseasy-goingandfriendly;butintheclassroom,hebecamesternandsevere.

gear

n.1)themachineryinavehiclethatturnspowerfromtheengineintomovement排檔

e.g.Don’tturnofftheenginewhileyou’restillingear.e.g.Thelandinggearofaplanehasjammed.飛機的著陸架發(fā)生故障.。e.g.Allhiscampinggearwaspackedintherucksack.

他的野營物品全都放在背囊里了。3)asetofequipmentortoolsyouneedforaparticularactivity物品,工具

Collocation:change/shiftgear

換檔2)apieceofmachinerythatperformsaparticularjob裝置

Paragraph9Itisimportanttorecognizethathumanbeings,…Warfare,sickness,disasterspublicandprivate—thesearethelargercoordinatesoflife.盡管社會階級和教育背景不同，但是人們都由相同的物質構成，被恐懼、快樂、痛苦、和成就這些人類共同的紐帶聯(lián)系在一起。承認這一點非常重要。戰(zhàn)爭、疾病、公共災難、私人困難——這些都是生活中的更大坐標集合。

Paragraph9Paraphrase:

Itisimportanttoseethefactthatalthoughtheydifferintheirclassstatusandeducationalbackground,humanbeingsareessentiallythesame.Firstofall,theyare,biologicallyspeaking,constructedinthesameway,andthentheyallsharethefeelingsoffearandjoy,andalsothecommonexperienceofsufferingandachieving.Thiscommonality[k?m?'n?l?t?]

hasboundthemtogether.Allofthemwillregardwars,diseases,anddisasters,bothprivateandpublic,asunfortunatebigeventsintheirlifetime.

e.g.1.Theyhewedtheirwaythroughthedensejungle.他們在濃密的叢林里開辟出一條路來。2.Iwanttohewoutacareerformyself.開辟出，開創(chuàng)我想要艱苦地創(chuàng)一番事業(yè)。3.WeshouldhewtotheParty‘sline.堅持，遵守我們應該堅持黨的路線。hewv.toshapeorcarvefromsomematerial

砍,劈，固守，堅持hewsth.away/off砍掉，砍下hewsth.Out開辟出，開創(chuàng)Collocation:e.g.Thefirstinvariantofstrain[?n've?r??nt]

isindependentofthecoordinatesystembeingused.第一應變不變量與所用的坐標系無關。coordinaten.

e.g.Citizensarecoordinatesinacourtoflaw.公民在法庭上是平等的。2)onethatisequalinimportance,rank,ordegree

(在重要性、等級或程度上)同等的人或物1)(usu.pl.)

oneofapairofnumbersand/orlettersthatshowtheexactpositionofapointonamaporgraph坐標

Paragraph9Itisturethattheselabels……,withtheresult……andresponsibility.在這個如此復雜的社會的運行過程中，這些社會標簽的確是必須的，因為它們能讓我們知道怎樣的人能被他人信任去做怎樣的事，結果，我們就是靠這些東西來作區(qū)分的——成績、學位、等級與責任等等。相較于你畢業(yè)后將要面對的無數未知的道路，現在的學術工作僅僅是一條狹窄的被嚴格規(guī)劃的公路。...academicworkisanarrow…youwillencounterafteryouleaveschool.

Paragraph１０...academicworkisanarrow…youwillencounterafteryouleaveschool.

Explanation:Ametaphor(隱喻)again.Andacontrast,too.Comparingacademiclifetoaneatlydefinedhighway,andone’slifeafterschooltotheunmappedrollingcountry.Thesentenceclearlyshowsuswestillhavealotofthingstolearnafterschool.Sowhatdeterminesyourfutureisnotjustyourtoday'sBgrade,butyourattitudesandperformancestomorrowwhenmeetinguncertainties.

Paragraph１０l(fā)ateronyouwillhavetoshifttoyourself“shift”referstothechangefromdependingonwhatyouhavelearnedatschooltodependingonyourself.Locatinggoalsandopportunitiesinthesamefogthathampersusallaswemove

“thesamefogthathampersusall”means“whatpreventsusallfromfindingourgoalsandopportunities”Putyourgradeinperspective

Theauthortriedtoconvincethestudentsthatgradedoesnotmeaneverythingandmaynotreflectthelevelofthestudents’intelligence,yetheaffirmedtheimportanceofgrade.Howtoevaluategradeisabsolutelyahardcoreforeducation.InChina,thoughwehavebeenhighlightingtheimportanceofeducationforall-rounddevelopment(全面發(fā)展),itisstillcommonthattheteachers,aswellasPutyourgradeinperspective

thestudents,tendtocaremoreaboutgrade.

Besides,parentsareforcingtheirchildrentogainhigherscores,regardlessofthefactthattheirkidsaregettingmoreandmoretiredofthisfiercebattle.Inordertoachievea“good”performance,thestudentsgettotallyabsorbedinstudy,whichusuallymeanstheirwholejobistorecite,recite,andrecite,crazily!Justlikearecitingmachine.Doesthisreallymakeanysense?

PutyourgradeinperspectiveSomeparentshiretutorsfortheirchildren.Thisisnatural,andIcanunderstandthattheyareforthebenefitsoftheirkids.Butwhatdrivesmecrazyisthattheychasedtostudysohardthattheirentirescheduleisfullallthetime;theyarenotavailableevenforaminute.Gradeissuchamagicspell（符咒）.Putyourgradeinperspective