英语时文泛读 Current News Articles for Extensive Reading

1. 英语时文泛读Current News Articles for Extensive Reading BOOK I

2. Great Britain Today

3. I. Overview • In this unit, you will read 3 passages regarding what is happening in Great Britain. Read them and try to compare what is mentioned in the passages and the image of Great Britain in your mind.

4. Structure • The integration of European economies has brought changes to Britain economically, socially and behaviorally.

5. Is Britain Still Home of Mannerly Charm? Don’t be Daft! Britain used to be well known for its courtesy, but things are not so genteel now. Text A

6. Britain is considering reforming its state-pension system. Saving the Day Text B

7. Immigrants from new members of EU rushed into a small town near London, providing more than enough handymen for the country. Come and Fall on Slough Text C

8. Focus of this session

9. II. Text A Is Britain Still Home of Mannerly Charm? • Main Idea of the Text • Antisocial behavior is hurting the traditional courteous image of British gentlemen.

10. Author Mark Rice-Oxley Correspondent of Christian Science Monitor, based in Boston, USA Background Information

11. Background Information Source • Christian Science Monitor • An international newspaper published daily, Monday through Friday. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist.

12. The University of Leeds is a major teaching and research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire; one of the largest in the United Kingdom with over 32,000 full-time students. It is a member of the Russell Group and is ranked in the top ten of UK universities for market share of research funding. Established in 1904, it is one of the six original civic “red brick” universities, and in 2006 was ranked second in the UK for the number of applications received. Cultural Notes

13. John Bull is a national personification of the Kingdom of Great Britain created by Dr. John Arbuthnot in 1712, and popularized first by British print makers and then overseas by illustrators and writers such as American cartoonist Thomas Nast and Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, author of John Bull’s Other Island. He is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom, but has not been widely accepted in Scotland or Wales as he is viewed there as English rather than British. Britannia, or a lion, is therefore used as an alternative in some editorial cartoons. Although embraced by Unionists, Bull is rejected by most nationalists in Northern Ireland as well. Cultural Notes

14. The Victorian era is generally agreed to stretch through the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It was a tremendously exciting period when many artistic styles, literary schools, as well as social, political and religious movements flourished. It was a time of prosperity, broad imperial expansion, and great political reform. It was also a time, which today we associate with “prudishness” and “repression”. Without a doubt, it was an extraordinarily complex age that has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance. It is, however, also the beginning of Modern Times. Cultural Notes

15. Language Points Key Words & Expressions • send off (para. 9): • (Br. E) to order a sports player to leave the field because they have broken the rules 把（运动员）罚下场 • e.g. • send the player off for fouling （因犯规罚球员出场）

16. Language Points • deference (para. 16): • fml. polite behavior that shows you respect someone and are therefore willing to accept their opinions or judgment 尊敬、遵从 • e.g. • They were married in church out of deference to their parents’ wishes. （出于遵从父母的意愿他们在教堂结了婚。）

17. Language Points • put-down (para. 25): • (usu. singular) something you say that is intended to make somebody feel stupid of unimportant 贬低、奚落；贬低或奚落的话 • e.g. • I didn’t mean it as a put-down but I could tell from her response that she took my criticism personally. （我并没有奚落她的意思，可是从她的反应来看，她认为我的批评是针对她个人的。 ）

18. Language Points Difficult Sentences • Evidence of what the media have started calling “rude Britain” is everywhere, from surly service to road rage, noisy neighbors to cellphone selfishness. (para. 7) • 本句难点为几个并列短语的中文翻译 • 参考译文：媒体已经开始使用“粗鲁的英国”这种称呼，很多事实也证明了这一点，比如恶劣的服务态度、司机们在路上火气十足、邻居们在家吵吵嚷嚷、打手机时旁若无人等等。