Thinking As a HobbyThinking As a Hobby

William Golding

What do you know aboutWhat do you know about William Golding? William Golding?

A British writer who

won The Nobel Prize

for Literature in 1983.

Known especially for

his novel

lord of the Flies.

Discussion Section

• What is your hobby? • Do you want to choose

thinking as your hobby? • What kind of questions do you

often think?

•What is the organization of the essay?

Part I (Para.1) Introduction.Part II (Para.2-32) Dealing with threegrades of thinking: grade-three thinking grade-two thinking grade-one thinkingPart III (Para.33-35) Conclusion.

Words and Expressions

acquaintance ①someone you know but not a close friend. { 搭配 } have a large circle of acquaintances, a speaking acquaintance ②knowledge or information about something or someone.

e.g. I have some acquaintance with English, but I do

n’t know it well. acquaint v. ①to make familiar. e,g, acquainted myself with the rules. ②to cause to come to know personally. e.g. Let me acquaint you with my family. { 搭配 } be acquainted with 知道；相识 e.g. I am already acquainted with him.

anguish n. mental or physical suffering caused by extreme pain or w

orry. { 搭配 } be in anguishv. (to cause) to feel or suffer anguish. e.g. The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. Her heart anguished within her. { 辨析 } anguish, suffering anguish 多指“精神上令人难以忍受的痛苦” , 如 : the angu

ish of despair 绝望引起的极度痛苦。 suffering 指“身体或精神上的痛苦” , 着重“对痛苦的感觉

和忍受” , 一般用于人 , 如 : His wound caused him great suffering. 他的伤使他深受痛苦。

compensation n. something you get that makes a sad or unpleasant situ

ation better or happier. { 搭配 } make compensation for sb.‘s losses 补偿某

人的损失 compensate v. e.g. Nothing can compensate for the loss of time. 光阴一去不复还 The company compensates her for extra work. 公司 因她的额外工作而给她报酬。

confer (conferred; conferring) v. ①to officially give; to award; to bestow { 搭配 } confer a medal on [upon] sb. 授与某人以勋章 ②to meet in order to deliberate together or compare vie

ws. { 搭配 } confer with sb. on [about] sth. 与某人协商某事 The engineers and technicians are still conferring on the

unexpected accident. { 派生 } conference n. 协商会，会议 conferment n. 给予 , 商量 , 授予 { 联想 } advise 劝告，建议 consult 商量，请教

confront v. ①to oppose defiantly { 搭配 } confront danger/reality e.g. A soldier has to confront danger and death ②to come up against; encounter e.g. I am confronted with many difficulties. { 辨析 } confront, face confront 指“遇到”、“面对”、“使 ... 对立”， 此词系正式

用语 , 如： She confronted the vital question of being bankrupt. 她面

临要破产的重大问题。 face 指“正视”、“面对”、“不想逃避”， 属口语体， 语气

比 confront 强， 如： Let's face the facts instead of evading them. 让我们面对现

实， 不要逃避

modesta. having or showing a moderate estimation of one‘s own

talents, abilities, and value 谨慎的 { 搭配 } be modest about e.g. She is very modest about the prizes she has won. 她

对自己得奖非常谦虚。 She‘s very modest about her success. 她对自己的成就很

谦虚。 { 反义 } immodest, arrogant

proficient a. able to do something well or skillfully. { 搭配 } be proficient at / in e.g. She is proficient at / in figure skating. 她精于花样滑冰。 { 派生 } proficiency n. 熟练 , 精通 , 熟练程度 e.g. He made little proficiency in literary accomplishments. { 辨析 } proficient, skilled Proficient implies an advanced degree of competence acq

uired through training: e.g. A proficient surgeon is the product of lengthy training

and experience. Skilled implies sound, thorough competence and often ma

stery, as in an art, a craft, or a trade e.g. Only the most skilled gymnasts are accepted for the Ol

ympic team.

unaccustomeda. not used to; unfamiliar. 不习惯的，不熟悉的 { 搭配 } to be unaccustomed to hot weather e.g. I am unaccustomed to public show. 我不习惯抛头露面。 He is still unaccustomed to a life of stress. 他仍然无法适

应充满压力的生活。 { 派生 } unaccustomedly adv. 不习惯地，不熟悉地 unaccustomedness n. 不习惯，不熟悉 { 反义 } accustomed

Sentence Appreciation1) She seemed frozen in an eternal panic lest th

e bath towel slip down any farther… (Para.2)lest: for fear that; to make sure that sth. would not

happen Note: the subjunctive mood is used in the clause les

t introduces. e.g.We ran as fast as we could lest we miss the train.He didn’t tell his father about the exam lest he ge

t mad at him.farther & furtherFarther refers to physical distance;Further refers to degree, time and all other figurati

ve uses.

2) … because they symbolized to him the whole of life. (Para.3)

Para.: … because they represented/stood for the whole of life to him.

Note: the Leopard stood for all animal needs or desires; Venus stood for love and the Thinker stood for thinking as a uniquely human feature.

Symbolize: v. ①to serve as a symbol ofe.g. Roses symbolize love. ②represent sth./sb. by means of a symbole.g. The poet has symbolized his lover with a flowe

r.{ 派生 } symbol n. 象征 symbolic a. 象征的；用符号的；

3) I was not integrated. I was, if anything, disintegrated. (Para,4)

Integrated: forming a part of a harmonious group

Disintegrated: Here, it is used by the author to mean the direct opposite of “integrated”, and therefore means some kind of a trouble-maker.

Note: This is not the way the word is normally used.

If anything: on the contrarye.g. He is not known for his generosity. He is,

if anything, quite miserly.The weather forecast says that it will not be

warmer this winter. It will, if anything, even colder than last year.

4) Nature had endowed the rest of the human race with a sixth sense and left me out.(Para.15)

Para: Everybody, except me, are born with the ability to think.

a sixth sense: a keen intuitive power. Here, the author means the ability to think.

to endow sb. with sth.: to provide sb. with a natural quality or talent.

e.g. She is one of those lucky women who are endowed with both a sharp brain and great beauty.

God has not endowed him with much humor.

5) If either happened to be prominent in current affairs, no argument could make Mr. Houghton think well of it.(Para. 21)

Para.: If either country because the center of attention, nobody could talk him into liking that country.

Note: It implies that Mr. Houghton’s attitude was based on nothing but prejudice.

to think well of sb.: to have a good opinion of sb; to think favorable of sb.; to like sb.(opposite: to think ill of sb.)

6) Through him I discovered that thought is often full of unconscious prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy. It will lecture on disinterested purity while its neck is being remorselessly twisted toward a skirt. (Para. 23)

Para.: Through him I discovered that what people call thought is often full of prejudice, ignorance and hypocrisy.

Note: “it” stands for “thought” in grammar, but actually refers to Mr. Houghton.

The word “skirt” stands for girls in general. It is a common figure of speech called metonymy, in which an idea is evoked or named by means of term designating some associated notion. More examples:

The world is watching closely what the White House will do next. (The White House stands for the American government.)

They have no intention of turning their swords into ploughs. (Sword stands for war and plough stands for peace.)

7) I delighted to confront a pious lady who hated the Germans with the proposition that we should love our enemies. (Para.24)

Para.: I was happy to point out the inconsistency of a pious lady who hated the Germans by quoting the Bible which says that Christians should love their enemies.

to confront sb. with sth.: to oppose sb. defiantlypious: having strong religious beliefs{ 辨析 } religious devout piousReligious implies adherence to religion in both belief and practice;Devout implies ardent faith and sincere devotion; Pious stresses dutiful, reverential discharge of religious duties. e.g. Hans was a very religious man. He behaved in a Christian way to all pe

ople including his enemies. 汉斯是个虔诚的宗教信徒 , 所以他用基督教的方式对待一切人 , 包括他的敌人。

devout wishes for their success. 衷心地希望他们成功 .Her mother, a pious woman, attends Mass every morning. 她的母亲是一

个虔诚的妇女，每天早晨都参加弥撒。

8) It set me watching the crowds cheering His Majesty the King and asking myself what all the fuss was about, without giving me anything positive to put in the place of that heady patriotism. But there were compensations.(Para. 25)

Para.: It made me watch people shouting in joy and support of the King and wonder what this senseless excitement was all about although I did not have anything good to replace this exciting patriotism, approval and support.

fuss: too much attention to or uncalled-for excitement over things that are unnecessary and unimportant

e.g. What a fuss about nothing! 真是无事生非！to put in the place of: to replaceheady: inclined to go to your head and make you excitede.g. a heady trend; heady days; heady successcompensation: pay, reward, sth. that compensate for you

r loss, service or effort

9) Now you are expecting me to describe how I saw the folly of my ways and came back to the warm nest…(Para. 34)

Para.: Now you think I will tell you how I gradually saw my stupidity in being a grade-two thinker and therefore decided to give it up and return to the majority…

folly: n. an act or instance of foolishnesse.g. regretted the follies of his youth. 为他年轻时的愚蠢行为而后悔

The follies of youth are food for repentence in old age. [谚 ]年轻时胡闹 , 年老时烦恼。

{同义 } silliness, stupidity

Second Round

Give a brief description of the three

grades of thinking with your own

illustrations.

Out of class activitiesOut of class activities ：：

Write an essay in about 200 words on the topic: What Kind of Thinker Am I?

Analyze the thoughts you have had on a recent issue, and explain why those thoughts result from “grade-one”, “grade-two” or “grade-three” thinking.

The end

What does this description remind you

night~sky~bird~person

Dead silence~cry of a startled bird ~footstep (slowly and carefully)~something moving by the same winding way~the sight of a man