Unit 3
Text I:
My Friend, Albert Einstein
Banesh Hoffmann
I) Pre-reading Brainstorming:
What do you know about Einstein? What was he like? How do you think Hoffmann describes Einstein as his friend?
* Hoffmann takes a different perspective.He tries to reveal some of the le well-known aspects of Einstein’s personality, traits that characterize him more as a man than as a scientific genius.Note: * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
1756-1791, Austrian composer, one of the world’s greatest musical geniuses.
Ludwig van Beethoven:
1770-1827, German composer, was one of music’s greatest geniuses. The Nobel Prize:
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1838-1896), a distinguished Swedish chemist and industrialist, provided for the award of Nobel
Prize in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, regardle of nationality. The Nazis:
Nazism is a political doctrine of racial supremacy, nationalism, and dictatorship.Nazi is an abbreviation of German word for National Socialism.
I) Comprehension:
1) Main Idea:
This profile (short, vivid biography, briefly outlining a person’s most outstanding characteristics: his ability, personality, or career) is mainly about Einstein’s personality and his incomparable contributions to science.2) Purpose of writing and Tone:
The purpose is to illustrate with anecdotes some characteristic features of Einstein both as a man and as a scientist.3) Organization and Development: Introduction (P1):
Using the word “simplicity” to begin the illustration of Einstein’s eence
Body (P2-19):
P2-4: About his modesty; P5-7: Einstein’s brief life history and his two great theories;
P8-11: About his concentration on work; P12-13: About his love of natural simplicity; P14-16: About his academic courage; P17-18: About his sense of justice; P19: About his youthful innocence; Conclusion: (P20)
Summing up what it means to have known Einstein and his work.
4) Comprehension Questions:
1.Which phrase in the first paragraph explains the abstract notion of “simplicity”? --- \"going instinctively to the heart of a matter\" 2.From the two anecdotes related in para.2-4, what impreion of Einstein have you got? --- He was a very modest person, never thinking himself any superior to or more authoritative than others because of his fame and achievements as a great scientist of the time. 3.What, according to the author, is Einstein’s most outstanding trait as a scientist? --- Concentration.Refer to the first sentence of para.9. 4.Why did Einstein insist on working hard when he was so badly shaken by his wife’s death? --- Working hard requires concentration, which would help him to dispel the feeling of sorrow.
5.How do you interpret the sentence in para.11: “To help him, I steered the discuion away from routine matters into more difficult theoretical problems”? --- Tackling more difficult theoretical problems requires greater concentration and absorption.This would help him temporarily forget the sadne caused by his wife\'s death. 6.What revelation is made through Einstein’ comment on Beethoven and Mozart’ works? --- As a simple man, Einstein takes it that beauty exists in the Universe.Such beauty is natural, pure, and simple.Beauty found is even greater and more admirable than beauty created. 7.How did Einstein feel about the destructive effect produced as a result of the application of his E=mc2 formula? --- This is something he had not expected.He was greatly dismayed by the devastating effect his formula produced once it was put into application. 8.Do you think the anecdote related in para.19 aims to illustrate Einstein’s “whimsicality”? If not, what personality trait other than being whimsicality is revealed here? --- He was not really a whimsical man.If he could be called a whimsical man, then his whimsicality came from the young heart and childlike innocence which he had managed to retain.
5) Difficult Sentences for Paraphrasing:
1.This knack for going instinctively to the heart of a matter was the secret of his major scientific discoveries --- this and his extraordinary feeling for beauty.(Para.1) --- This natural ability of intuitively getting to the eence of a subject was the key to the great discoveries made by him in science.This natural gift and his unusual awarene of beauty.
2.The intensity and depth of his concentration were fantastic.When battling a recalcitrant problem, he worried it as an animal worries its prey.(P-9) --- His engroment in ideas was incredibly intense and deep.When attacking a problem difficult to solve, he kept attempting to deal with it with great effort, just as an animal chases and bites a weaker animal it preys upon until the latter gives in. 3.A dreamy, faraway and yet inward look would come over his face.There was no appearance of concentration, no furrowing of the blow --- only a placid inner communion.(P-10) --- He would look lost in thought, thinking about something distant, and yet meditating within himself.He did not seem to be in deep thought, nor did he knit his browsnot harmed by; not adversely affected by.Example: He got lost in the street for quite a while, but was none the worse for it.3.knack --- a special skill or ability, usually the result of practice.Example: She has a knack of doing sums in her head, however complicated they may be.4.plead with --- ask (someone) very strongly in a begging way.Example: The girl pleaded with her parents to let her go to school by herself.5.awe n.cause a feeling of amazement or fear.Example:
The magician\'s performance awed us all.awed adj..with voice qualities that showed amazement as well as respect and fear 6.the staggering-and altogether endearing request --- the surprising and shocking, almost unbelievable, and yet very pleasant and affectionate request stagger v.--- cause shocked disbelief.Example: His exceive conceit and self-confidence staggered all his colleagues.endearing adj.do something by oneself.Example: Tim solved the mathematical problem all on his own.be on one\'s owndistant in time and space, and in relationship.Examples: She is interested in the life of the people in this area living in the remote past.They used to live in a remote village hardly known to outsiders.Xiao Ling is a remote cousin of his.turmoil - state of confusion, chaos, disorder.Example: She liked to live in a remote village cut off from the turmoil of the bustling city.
23.alert v .--- make someone fully aware of (a situation); warn someone of danger or trouble.Example: It is neceary to intensify the campaign to alert people to the dangers of smoking.24.endeavor (British spelling: endeavour) --- effort, attempt.Example: His honest endeavour brought him succe.25.ineffable sadne --- sadne that is too intense to be described Ineffable meaning \"indescribable\" is usually used to describe something positive that is too wonderful to be described, e.g., ineffable joy/happine/beauty/delight.
9) Translation Exercise for Practice of Language Points (C-E):
1.他按了按汽车喇叭以引起路上行人的警觉。(alert)
He honked his car to alert the pedestrians.
2.信息工程的迅速发展是人类尝试的一个突出实例。(endeavor)
The fast development of Information Technology is an outstanding example of human endeavor. 3.Mary 试图找到恰当的语言来表达他对老师的感激。(grope) Mary groped for the appropriate words to expre her indebtedne to her teacher. 4.学校校长以平易话语向年轻人传递了富有挑战性的信息(convey) The school principal\'s plain words conveyed a meage of challenge to the young people.
5.不要胡乱摆弄电线,要不然会引起电线短路。 (tamper with) Don\'t tamper with the wires, or you may cause a short circuit.
6.他自以为在竞争中可以战胜对手。但是他过分的自信使她失败了。(fail) He thought he could beat everyone at the competition, but his exceive confidence failed him.
7.他的话似乎简单明了,但是其中的含蓄意思我们不能理解。(fathom) What he said seemed simple and clear, but there was an implied meaning that we couldn\'t quite fathom. 8.他试图把小组的漫无目的的谈话引导到一些有建设性的话题上去。(steer) He tried to steer the group\'s random talk towards some constructive subjects.III) Post reading Activities:
Talk in a small group about a person you respect and esteem most, and later following the example of the text learned, write a short paage about him / her.
