Unit 1 Fresh Start

1. Unit 1Fresh Start

2. Contents • Pre-reading questions • Background information • Structural analysis of the text • Comprehensive questions • Language points • Sentence highlights • Language appreciation • Grammar points • Comprehensive questions of Text II

3. Text I Fresh Start • Pre-reading questions • Do you remember your first days at college? Did anything special happen then? • 2. Are you afraid of making mistakes that cause embarrassment?

4. Background information • About the text and the author • The text, written by Evelyn Herald (contemporary), appeared in Nutshell magazine in 1989.

5. Is this text a narration, argumentation, description or explanation? Clarify “who”, “when”, “why”, and “what”, and “how “?

6. Structure analysis of the text (1) • In this autobiographical essay, Evelyn Herald recounts her embarrassing moments during her first days of college. With a chronologically balanced pattern of narration, the author focuses on three incidents– sitting in the wrong class, falling down in the cafeteria and witnessing the upper-class football player having the same experience. Coupling narration with description, she gives us a detailed account of the process, the after-effect and the significant insight into herself.

7. Structure analysis of the text (2) • Part Ⅰ : Para1 • This is an introductory paragraph. • Part Ⅱ : Para2-9 • In this part, the author recalls a few incidents during her first days of college. • Part Ⅲ : Para10-14 • This is the concluding part.

8. P.5. Answer the following questions. • 1.How did Evelyn feel on her first arrival at the college campus? • Refer to Paragraphs 1 and 2. She felt “first-gradish” on her arrival at the campus. The “first gradish” feeling is a mixture of helpless, disorientation, self-consciousness and a lack of confidence.

9. 2.Where did Evelyn choose to sit in her first class? Why? Refer to paragraph 3. She chose to sit in the front row, a side seat because the freshmen manual suggested sitting near the front to show that one was an intelligent and enthusiastic student. Since she was not confident enough to sit in the professor’s direct line of vision, she chose a side seat in the front row.

10. 3.What was the footballer’s response to the students’ cheers and claps when he fell on the cafeteria floor? And why? • Refer to paragraph 9. He did not take the accident seriously. On the contrary, he took it light-hearted and just laughed it off. It shows that accidents like that are quite common on campus and one should learn to take them easy.

11. 4. What according to Evelyn, is one of the major differences between college and high school lives? • Refer to Paragraph 11. One of the major differences between college and high school lives is that in high school one strives for popularity and has to avoid at any cost making himself/herself a laughing stock among his/her peers. When a person is in college, he /she should be his/her own person and do his/her own thing and avoid taking other’s opinion too much to heart.

12. 5.How should a person take his/her college life according to Evelyn? Do you agree? • A person, according to Evelyn, should take his/her college life for an experiment. He/ she should not be afraid of making mistakes because it is only through trial and error that one can find his/her real self and finding his/her real self is the ultimate purpose of college education. College allows one to make massive mistakes.

13. Language Points

14. Part Ⅰ : Paragraph 1 • distinct: clearly seen, heard, felt, understood, etc, noticeable • The children have distinct memories of their grandfather in his last days. • cf. distinctive

15. Part II paragraph 2-9 • clutch: to hold or grasp tightly; vi. to try to grasp or seize • He clutched at the rope we had thrown to him but could not reach it.

16. Part II paragraph 2-9 • reserve: self-restraint in expression; the habit of not showing one’s feelings or thoughts • Being a man of reserve, Mr. York was never popular with his colleague. • Judy has tried every means to break through the reserve of her stepson. • Reserved : adj. • The English have a reputation for being reserved.

17. Part II paragraph 2-9 • whereabouts: n. approximate locations; ad. about where; in, at or near what location • The orphan’s whereabouts is/are still unknown.

18. Part II paragraph 2-9 • tip off: to give an advance warning or hint to • Somebody must have tipped the burglars off that the house would be empty. • The police was tipped off about the robbery.

19. Part II paragraph 2-9 • flail : to (cause something to) wave or swing about wildly • I flailed her arms to get her attention. • The baby’s feet flailed under the quilt.

20. Rear end: buttocks

21. Part II paragraph 2-9 • Somebody’s heart goes out to somebody: used to say that someone feels a lot of sympathy towards another person. • His heart went out to Mrs. Bradshaw and her fatherless child.

22. Part II paragraph 2-9 • slink: to go or move in a quiet, stealthy way; to move as if one feels guilty or ashamed, or does not want to be seen. • The thief slunk down the dark alley. • The cat slunk (=sneaked) through grass toward its prey.

23. Part III Paragraph 10-14 • malicious: having the nature or wish to hurt others • malicious remark. • malicious gossip • malice: a desire to harm others or to see others suffer; extreme ill will or spite • He did it out of malice. • I am quite certain that his wife bears malice to /towards/ against (= feels continuing dislike for ) me.

24. Part III Paragraph 10-14 • shackle: a metal fastening, usually one of a pair, for enriching and confining the ankle or wrist of a prisoner or captive; (figurative) a restrain or check to action or progress, often used in the plural form. • The policeman placed shackles on the suspect’s hands. • it is hard to break through the shackles of habit.

25. Sentence Highlights • 1. Adding to my distress was the distinct impression that everyone on campus was watching me. (Para.1. Lines 4-6) • Paraphrase: what made me more upset was the fact that I knew everybody else on campus was watching me.

26. 2. Popularity was not so important: running with the crowd was no longer a law of survival. • Paraphrase: It was not really important to get oneself adapted to the taste of the majority . One does not need to behave to the liking of others to remain alive.

27. Language Appreciation • 1. With that thought in mind, I raised my head, squared my shoulders, and set out in the direction of my dorm, glancing (and then ever so discreetly) at the campus map clutched in my hand. (Para.2) • Note the verbs in italics. The use of parallelism

28. 2.What confidence, what reserve, what muscles! (Para. 2) • The use of exclamation and parallel structure

29. 3. As my rear end met the floor, I saw my entire life pass before my eyes: it ended with my first day of college classes. (Para. 6) • Note the use of exaggeration here.

30. Grammar Points • Subordinate Clauses • Subordinate clauses can be either finite or nonfinite. For example: • Keeping myself upright and getting out of the mess was not going to be easy… • What I had interpreted as a malicious attempt to embarrass a naive freshman had been merely a moment of college fun. • I settle into my chair and tried to assume the scientific pose of a biology major, bending slightly forward, tensing my arms in preparation for furious notetaking, and cursing under my breath.

31. Comprehension questions of Text II (1) • How do you understand the idea that a University is even more enduring than religions and dynasties? • A university is even more enduring than religions and dynasties in that it is a place where the undying cause of bringing thought into the world is carried out.

32. Comprehension questions of Text II (2) • The author maintains that “ the thinker and the seeker will be found together in the undying cause of bringing thought into the world” (Paragraph 3). Cite a modern instance or two of thought brought into the world. • Charles Darwin; theory of evolution; Albert Einstein; theory of relativity; Sigmund

33. Comprehension questions of Text II (4) • What is “this great distinction” the author mentions in the last but one line of the selection? • It may mean that it is an honor to be part of a University.

34. Comprehension questions of Text II (3) • What is Humanist? What do you think are the major marks of the Humanist? • The Humanist is the man who believes in human intelligence and reason rather than depending on a god or religion. Some of the major marks are stress on intellectual side, emphasizing the dignity of human beings and sufficient attention being given to the importance of the present life and the improving of one’s ability and pursuit of the beauty of life.

35. Comprehension questions of Text II (5) • Make an analysis of these few paragraphs and show four main points of the selection. • Four main points of the selection could be that it is splendid, it is beautiful, it is enduring, and it is an honor to be part of it .

36. Writing practice Write a composition of about 200 words on the following topic: Freshman Manual .