Unit 8

Genius Sacrificed for Failure

P1: Brainstorming1. Expressions for work/jobs for men/women:

steelworkers, coal miners 2. Expressions for trades and professions: sports, academicfield 3. Expressions for equality/inequality: equal opportunity, racial discrimination 4. Conventional ways of describing sex differences women: emotional, gentle men: reasonable, strong 5. Expressions for social responsibilities: look after a family, mutual help

secretary, lawyer, doctor, nurse, teacher, dean, supervisor, farmer, technician, shop-assistant, accountant, cashier, director, manager, actor, model, waiter, servant, gardener, cleaner, musician, composer, construction worker, reporter, journalist, cook, salesman, saleswomen, policeman, policewoman, driver… education, science, politics, farming, business, trade, medicine, banking, advertising, industry, transportation.

gender equality, sex discrimination, social bias, equal rights, equal pay, special treatment tender, sympathetic, caring, timid, weak, gossipy, wordy( 唠叨的） , mouthy, talkative, submissive, vain( 爱虚荣的）… sensible, logical, ambitious, willed, rough, tacit( 沉默的 ), aggressive( 好斗的，有进取心的）， selfish, self-centered, arrogant.

bring up / rear children, support, in charge of , manage, run, assist…

1) sexist language: the use of words or phrases that reflects the inequalities between men and women.

eg. mankind, kingdom, his…

2) enlightened age: characterized by modern, and civilized attitudes towards life.

Listening

Notes

1. The word “men” in “All men are created equal” is used to include women.

Or: “He” is sometimes used to include “she”.

Or: The use of “Mrs.” Or “Miss” to indicate the marital status of women while “Mr.” can cover both married and single men, keeping the same name.

Or: The use of “Kingdom” but not “Queendom” when a Queen is ruling.

Keys to the listening questions

2. Mr. Wright believes that sex discrimination still exists and men still carry on a gender war against women. Some men look down on women as they continue to regard women as second-rate citizens.

Keys to the listening questions

3. There are many jobs women can’t do, or can’t do well.

Or: Women are unreliable and irrational.

Or: Women depend too little on cool reasoning and too much on intuition and instinct to arrive at decisions.

Or: Women are not capable of thinking clearly.

Keys to the listening questions

4. According to Mr. Wright, there would be more peace and fewer wars if women were in control of international negotiations because women are more peace loving than men.

Keys to the listening questions

DebateTopic: Are women still discriminated in China today?

Speaking activity

Women are still

discriminated in

China today.

Side A

Women are no

longer discriminated

in China today.

Side B

Pre-reading Task Why do some parents / teachers show

particular preference for boys /girls? Has anyone ever seen the movie of Jane Eyre? who wrote the story? Charlotte( 夏洛特）

Text Genius Sacrificed for Failure

Reading Comprehension

1) Who sacrificed genius for failure? 2) What’s general idea of the text?

The text presents a tragic story of the consequences of sex prejudice through describing the tragic fate of three gifted girls: Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte in the history of English literature. They sacrificed much of their literary talent, youth and energy for their brother who turned out to be a failure.

Charlotte Bronte( 夏洛特 . 布朗蒂）： born on 21 April 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire, England. She died on 31 March 1855 from complications during pregnancy. Her most famous work is Jane Eyre.

Emily Bronte( 爱米莉 . 布朗蒂）： born on 30 July 1818 and died on 19 December 1848 from tuberculosis( 肺结核） , Her best- known work is Wuthering Heights( 呼啸山庄） .

Anne Bronte: born on 17 Jan. 1820 and died on 28 May 1948 from influenza( 流感） , Her best-known work is Agnes Grey( 爱格尼斯 . 格雷）

Para. 1

1) American’s Appalachian mountains:

2) prefer…over / to…:

e.g. 春天和秋天我都喜欢 , 但是我更喜欢春天 .

I prefer spring to autumn though I love both seasons

3) Brain has supplanted brawn, yet cultural preferences, like bad habits are easier to make than break:

Language points

like… better than…

e.g. 他肌肉发达，头脑简单。 He’s got more brawn than brains.4) supplant:e.g. 我相信电子汽车总有一天会取代汽油汽车 . I believe that electric cars will one day supplant p

etrol-driven ones.5) But history warns repeatedly of the tragic cost of

dismissing too casually the gifts of the so-called weaker sex:

e.g. 他们提醒他攀登喜马拉雅山很危险 , 可他偏不听 .

They warmed him of the danger of climbing the Himalayas, but he wouldn't listen.

replace, take place of

6) Dismissing too casually the gifts of:

ignoring the talent of…

7) The weaker sex:

the females. it carries the undertones of sex discrimination

Q: Why did farmers traditionally prefers sons over daughters?

Para. 2-5

8) His hopes hinged entirely on the sole male heir, Branwell:

depend on

e.g. 一切取决于会谈的结果。 Everything hinges on the outcomes of those

talks.

e.g. 老师告诉学生 , 他们的前途取决于教育 .

The teacher told his students that their future prospects hinged on their education.

9) Heir / heiress: person with legal right to receive property.10) Hoard their pennies: 11) To pack him off to:12) London’s Royal Academy of Arts:13) But if art was his calling, he dialled a wrong number:14) Within weeks he hightailed it home, a penniless failure:15) The family landed Branwell a job as a private tutor:

16) deserve + n. (attention, praise, punishment)

e.g. 她获得了最佳演员奖，大家都觉得她当之无愧。 Everybody thinks that she deserved the awa

rd of Best Actress of the Year. deserve to do

e.g. 这本书值得仔细一读。 This book deserves to be read carefully.

17) squelched their own goals:

18) Farming themselves out:

19) Branwell turned to alcohol: e.g. He turned to gambling since he made a

large sum of money. 这个孩子每次碰到困难都去找妈妈，而不

是自己想办法。 Every time the girl came across trouble, sh

e would turn to her mother for a solution, rather than trying to solve it herself.

20 ） What of the three anonymous sisters:

Q: 1) How did the boy disappoint his family?

2) What became of the boy when he suffered

failures one after another?

3) What did the three sisters do to support

their brother? Summarize Para. 2-5:

The father put all his hopes on the boy while the gifts of the three girls were left unattended to. The son was sent to the best art school and later given intellectual work as a tutor. In spite of the selfless sacrifices of his three sisters, he turned out to be a failure both in his career, and in life.

Para. 6-8

21) at one’s own expense:

e.g. 他自费出国留学 .

He went abroad for study at his own expense.

22) for fear of:

23) pseudonym:

24) Even Branwell might have snickered: they sold only 2 copies:

25) undaunted:

fearingpen name

fearless, bold, with great courage

26) pent-up:

27) less fiction than autobiography:

e.g. 与其说是我的父亲不如说是我的朋友。 My father was less a parent than a friend t

o me.

e.g. 现在人们学英语 , 似乎不是在学习一门有实用价

值的语言 , 而是在学一种语法 .

It seems that a lot of people learn English less as a practical language than for its grammar.

not expressed.

28) be transformed:

29) But years of sacrifice for Branwell had taken their toll:

30) Emily took ill at her bother’s funeral:

Emily was attacked by sudden illness.

31) If only they had been nurtured instead of sacrificed:

The phrase expresses a regretful wish that their genius were sacrificed instead of being nurtured.

e.g. 要是我当时把事情告诉他就好了。 If only I had told him about it.

be greatly influenced

e.g. 丈夫去世后 , 她一如既往地培养 3 个女儿 .

After her husband died, she continued to nurture her three daughters.

Q: 1) What did the three sisters keep doing in their

spare time? And what difficulties did they encounter?

2) What great contributions did the three sisters make to 19th century literature? And what are their literary merits?

3) What was the tragic fate of the three sisters? And why?

Summarize Para.6-8:

This section is about the three girls’ sustained efforts at literary creation, their remarkable achievements despite their initial setback and prevalent sex discrimination of society, and their early death as a result of their of sacrifice for their bother.

Para. 9-1031) No one remembers Branwell’s name, mu

ch less his art or literature: No one remembers Branwell’s name, no

t even his art or literature.32) Their sacrificed genius cries out to us tha

t in modern society we must value children not for their physical strength or gender, as we would any mere beast of burden, but for their integrity, strength, commitment, courage —— spiritual qualities abundant in both boys and girls.

e.g. 不以貌取人 . Don’t value a person for his appearance. as we would value animals such as horses,

and cattle that do physical work for us.

was an urgent warning to us that… judge…from.

rich in. 他们被葬送的才华向我们警示着当今社会中我们在衡量孩子的时候不应像衡量那些驮畜一样，仅仅以他们的体力，性别为标准，而是以他们正直的品质，坚韧的毅力，奉献的精神和无畏的勇气为标准 - 因为女孩子同男孩子一样拥有这样的意志品质。

33) Were he alive today he would surely urge us to put away our passé prejudices and avoid his own tragic and irrevocable error of putting all of his eggs in one male basket!

past. that can not be changed. putting all his hopes on his son Branwell. // The expression means to depend entirely

on the success of one scheme, plan, etc.Q: What lesson does the tragic sacrifice of the

three girls teach us?

Homework

1. Retell the text .

2. Preview P3.