1、Unit 10 The Idiocy of Urban LifeKey to the Exercises Text comprehensionI .Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose of writing.BII.Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.1. F (Refer to Paragraph 2. It is human beings who bring the ra

2、t race into human society.) 2. F (Refer to Paragraph 2. It tells us that the opposite is true. Urban life today is aggressively individualistic and atomized. Cities are not social places.)3. T (Refer to Paragraph 4. ". they have created a little Manhattan-by-the-Sea around the Hamptons, spreadi

3、ng over the Long Island potato fields whose earlier solitude was presumably the reason why they first went there.")4. T (Refer to Paragraph 4. "The main streets of America's small towns ?are now strips of boutiques. Old-fashioned barbers become unisex hairdressing salons.")5. F (R

4、efer to Paragraphs 5 and 6. According to the author, work in the rural areas is meaningful whereas the frenzy of the urban work hours is pointless. When the farmer walks to his farm in the morning, he is doing something significant. By contrast, the city worker is starting the first idiocy of his da

5、y when he is getting ready for his journey to work at this time of the day.)6. T (Refer to Paragraph 7. The windows in the modern office buildings are perhaps the most symbolic lunacy of all. Even on the fairest spring or fall day the workers cannot put their heads outside.) III. Answer the followin

6、g questions.1. Refer to Paragraph 1. The author mentions rats at the beginning of the article for the purpose of contrasting rats with human beings. In a sense, both rats and human beings are city dwellers, but there are differences between them in terms of life in the city. As natural inhabitants o

7、f the city, rats are social creatures and lead a stable urban life. By contrast, most human dwellers do not enjoy the urban life but try to live outside the city boundaries; and they live an individualistic and atomized rather than gregarious life. Therefore, relatively speaking, rats are true city

8、dwellers.2. Refer to Paragraph 3. The idiocy of the practice lies in the pretence of the city dwellers. For one thing, they disdain rural life on the one hand, and on the other hand they try to simulate it by creating large or small patches of greenery around their suburb, exurb or rururb residences

9、. For another, while they intend to live a rural life by going to the country, they have in fact spoiled the natural features of the rural areas and created urban surroundings where they have settled down. As a result their purpose fails in the end.3. Refer to Paragraph 6. The author's saying so

10、 reflects his attitude towards office work in the city. Unlike farming which is part of the rural home life, joyless work in the city is separated, both physically and emotionally, from home life and consequently causes unnecessary frenzy. The worker's going to and returning from work wastes a l

11、ot of time and thus is pointless, yet the worker "not only accepts but even seeks" it. Hence the idiocy of "the journey to work."4. Refer to Paragraph 8. The quoted statement describes in what environment the city dweller lives and works. With the windows that never open, the mod

12、ern office, artificially cooled in summer and heated in winter, alienates the worker from the true natural world. The home surroundings are no better. They provide the dweller with no true sense of the seasons either. In general, the city dweller is removed from nature and submerged in a man-made en

13、vironment every day.5. Refer to Paragraph 9. This phenomenon is caused by the demerits of office work. Compared with physical labor in rural life, office work in the city needs very little physical exertion, but it requires long-time sitting with the same posture every day. Even the after-work exerc

14、ises cannot compensate for the damage done to the physical constitution of the worker during work hours. This accounts for the round-shoulderedness of Americans.IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences.1. Rats make city life courteous and refined when they dominate the city deep at nigh

15、t. 2. City dwellers create all kinds of city vogues in the country, for they will not live without these fashionable things. 3. These windows are disgraceful because they put the lives of office workers in danger if a fire should occur.4. A lawn in the backyard and a few spindle-shaped trees struggl

16、ing for life are not enough to give the dweller any true sense of the season changes.Structural analysis of the textThe text can be divided into the following three parts: Part 1, Paragraphs 1?: the author presents the thesis of his argument, i.e. aggressively individualistic and atomized urban life

17、 goes against both the purpose of the city and human nature, and thus is foolish. Part 2, Paragraphs 3?: the author provides evidence for the idiocy of urban life. Part 3, Paragraph 10: the author reiterates his thesis, i.e. urban life is idiotic. Rhetorical features of the textThe following italici

18、zed words and expressions are used to express the author's attitude towards city life:The Idiocy of Urban Life / aggressively individualistic and atomized / not social places / lunacy of modern city life / create simulations of it / a pretense to bosky woodlands / take their filth with them / ma

19、intain the pointless frenzy of their work hours in their hours off / work at their play with the same joylessness / a scandal / has no knowledge of the seasons / fetid central heating / no true sense of the rhythms of the seasons / reels from unreality to unreality / don't know it once had roots

20、.Vocabulary exercisesI.Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words. 1. doing propaganda work/printing lies on paper2. fierce competition among people 3. foolishness/stupidity 4. senseless turmoil5. something disgraceful6. people with bent shouldersII. Fill in the blank in each sen

21、tence with a word or phrase from the box in its appropriate form.1.knowledge2.simulation 3.insolence 4.urban 5.scurry 6.congregation 7.compensate 8.rat race III. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.1. idiotic 2. urbanity3. solitary4. exerted5. insolent6. grieved7. lunati

22、c8. habitatIV.Choose the word that can replace the underlined part in each sentence without changing its original meaning.1. B 2. C 3. C 4. A5. B 6. A 7. A 8. BV. Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense it is used.1. Synonym: bearing (stance)2.Antonym: impol

23、ite (rude, ill-mannered)3. Synonym: friendly (social, sociable)4. Antonym: modestly (timidly, gently)5. Synonym: smelly (stinking, foul, malodorous) 6. Synonym: thin (lanky)7. Antonym: accept (respect)8. Synonym: strangelyVI. Explain the meaning of the underlined part in each sentence.1. somewhere a

24、way from a studio, office, library or laboratory where practical work is done or data is collected 2. support3. seemingly4. unconscious5. very happy6. ask forGrammar exercisesI. Highlight the parts of the following sentences as required, using "it be ?that/who." 1.It was Harry who told the

25、 police. 2.It was I who told him the news.3.Subject: It was Susan who would like to read some detective stories. Object: It was some detective stories that Susan would like to read. 4.It is only when one is ill that one realizes the value of health.5.Subject: It was John who painted a lovely picture

26、.Object: It was a lovely picture that John painted.6.Subject: It was Galileo who invented the telescope.Object: It was the telescope that Galileo invented. 7.Subject: It was Tom's mother who threw an egg at the minister yesterday. Object: It was an egg that Tom's mother threw at the minister

27、 yesterday. Adverbial of place: It was at the minister that Tom's mother threw an egg yesterday. Adverbial of time: It was yesterday that Tom's mother threw an egg at the minister. 8.Subject: It was Bill who released the chairman's illness to the reporters at the party last night.Direct

28、object: It was the chairman's illness that Bill released to the reporters at the party last night.Adverbial of place: It was at the party that Bill released the chairman's illness to the reporters last night.Adverbial of time: It was last night that Bill released the chairman's illness t

29、o the reporters at the party.II. Emphasize the underlined parts of the following sentences, using whatever means possible.1.Do be civil this time.2.Even the victims themselves can't explain how the accident occurred.3.John I can comprehend; but the others speak gibberish. 4.Ambitious she must ha

30、ve been, or she wouldn't have come. 5.His face not many admired, while his character still fewer could praise. 6.They have promised to finish the work, and finish it they will.7.Hidden in the cellar were several barrels of wine. / It was several barrels of wine that were hidden in the cellar. 8.

31、What he was doing was making a plan. III. Give responses to the questions below, beginning with "No, what I ?" correcting what was said in the questions. 1.No, what I said was that I wanted you to fill the boxes with these books. 2.No, what I did was to invite her to my house instead. 3.No

32、, what I thought was that he was going on his own. 4.No, what I did was to repair the old one. 5.No, what I did was to phone the managing director directly. 6.No, what I'd like you to work on is Exercise Two. 7.No, what I meant was that I will text-message you when I get there. 8.No, what I did

33、was to send them some home-made cakes. IV. Turn the following sentences into the active voice. Where no agent is mentioned, one must be supplied. 1.People say that Byron lived on vinegar and potatoes. 2.They were towing the damaged ship into harbour when the towline broke. 3.They are lengthening the

34、 runways at all the main airports. 4.Experts have proved that this scientific theory is false. 5.Get a builder to put in a lift and then you won't have to climb up all these stairs. 6.Our opponents must have started this rumour. 7.The authorities put this ship into quarantine and forbade passeng

35、ers and crew to land. 8.People say that early Egyptian and Greek soldiers used carrier pigeons. V. Put the following sentences into English. 1. The door won't lock.2. The door hasn't been locked. 3. His new novel sells well. 4. The girl doesn't photograph well. 5. He has not been photogr

36、aphed well. 6. This material doesn't dye well. 7. The flat is to let. 8. The railway divides here into two lines. VI. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the underlined structures in your sentences.(Reference version)1. As the gate was closed, he walked away.The s

37、un was setting as we reached home. As he predicted, the wind changed.2. They have to face the fact that the nearest filling station is 30 miles away.Translation exercisesI. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.1. 偶爾從寂靜中開來一輛汽車，在閃爍的交通燈下輕巧地駛過。2. 他們不遺余力地讓城里人想象自己現在住的地方絕不是城市：在較為現代化的城郊鋪上幾塊草坪，在更為富

38、裕的遠郊，草坪的面積更大。 3. 即使城市居民在他們郊區的家外面能知道有時天氣熱了，有時天氣冷了，但僅憑他們后院的草坪或幾顆半死不活的小樹，他們是無法知道季節更迭的真正節奏的。4. 城里人日復一日地生活在非現實之中，自命不凡、舉止愚蠢，城里人即使在趕路時也是步履沉重，他們從不仰視他們的建筑，更不會仰望天空。恰恰是這種生活使他們帶著傲慢的神情蔑視和譏諷供養他們的鄉下人的有益且有回報的生活。II. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words or phrases given in brackets.1. The g

39、overnment promises that it will spare no effort to support our environmental protection projects. 2. She had no knowledge of Chinese history, geography and culture before she came to China. 3. The fire that broke out in the kindergarten endangered 23 children's lives. 4. We tried our best to hea

40、d him off the topic, because we knew he would reveal confidential information.5. The sonorous voice of the speaker is echoing round the hall. 6. Industry and loyalty sometimes compensate for the lack of ability. 7. As far as I know, he was one of the few people who got out of the rat race. 8. He left a few men behind to clean up the las