1、全新版大學進階英語：綜合教程NEW PROGRESSIVE COLLEGE ENGLISHConspicuousConsumption2Unit GoalsContentsPart One OpenerPair WorkPart Two Reading & InteractingGetting PreparedText StudyFocusing on Language in ContextPart Three Integrated Skills PracticingViewing & ListeningSpeakingWritingHere is a song that once made

2、Billboards Top 5 Hot Country Singles (美國Billboard鄉村音樂單曲榜TOP 5). Listen to it two or three times, go over the lyrics printed below and fill in the missing words. Then answer the questions that follow. Before you start, reading the culture notes about “keeping up with the Joneses” on page 41 and getti

3、ng to know the following new words and expressions might be helpful.Keeping up with the Joneses Faron Young & Margie SingletonWell the Joneses bought a new house, we did too Then , so we bought one tooCause1 we had to keep up with the JonesesIt wasThen the Joneses started going out on the town2And t

4、hats when the Joneses started But we had to keep up with the JonesesSo we started making the roundsThen suddenly, it happened, their love fell apartNow the Joneses arentAnd we couldnt let the JonesesSo now were not us anymorea new carthe usual thing to dogoing downthe same as beforeget ahead of usNo

5、w the Joneses are getting ready for the trial3Guess well follow them in single file4Cause weve got to keep up with the JonesesDont you wish thatYes we had to keep up with the JonesesOh dont you wish that the Joneses would crymake the rounds 四處走動fall apart 崩潰；破裂trial /5traIl/ n. 審判file /faIl/ n. 縱列He

6、lpful Words & Expressionsthe Joneses would cryQuestions:1. What is this song about?2. If your friends are using a smartphone of the most popular brand, will you feel the need to buy one, too?Notes:1. Cause conj. (colloq) = because2. going out on the town: Here it means they began to go to expensive

7、places they probably couldnt afford.3. trial: Here it refers to a divorce (離婚) trial in court.4. in single file: one by one, as opposed to hand in hand. “Guess well follow them in single file” implies that we, like the Joneses, will not be a couple anymore.After watching the video, decide whether ea

8、ch of the following statements is true (T) or false (F).The goal of advertisement is to get you believe your life will be better with the product. We see all kinds of advertisements 3,500 times a week. Women are much less beautiful than they think they are, so they buy the products to work for the i

9、deal. Advertisements hire celebrities to create an illusion that people using the product can be like them. keeping up with the Joneses: An American idiom which refers to the practice of buying items to impress neighbors or increase social standing, rather than from a desire for the items themselves

10、. “Keeping up with the Joneses” originated as the title of a popular comic strip, launched by cartoonist Arthur “Pop” Momand in the New York Globe in 1913. It quickly passed into popular usage as a way of describing American consumer culture, and still enjoys wide currency in everyday use and popula

11、r culture. The strip depicted the misadventures (一系列的不幸遭遇) of Aloysius P. McGinnis, whose wife was obsessed with maintaining a social standing equal to that of their well-to-do neighbors, the Jones family. Ironically, the Joneses of the title were never actually seen by readers ofthe comic. The popu

12、lar strip was syndicated nationally (獲準在全國多家報刊同時發表) , inspiring an animated film, a stage musical, and several books. The “Joneses” in the cartoon werent based on anyone in particular, Jones was a very common name and “the Joneses” was merely a generic name for “the neighbors”. 美國習語，出自一個連載漫畫，指為了與鄰居或

13、他人攀比而炫耀性地消費，Joneses這兒泛指鄰居，或任何其他人。該習語沿用至今，反映了當代美國社會的消費文化。1913年，專欄畫家亞瑟莫曼德在紐約世界上開辟了一個連載漫畫專欄，標題即為Keeping up with the Joneses。這個專欄在美國報刊上連載了26年，之后又改編成電影、音樂劇和書，廣受歡迎，影響深遠。first shown on October 14, 2007 and has become one of the longest-running reality television series in the country. It has received very

14、poor reviews from critics and is often criticized for highly emphasizing the “famous for being famous” concept. However, despite the negative reviews, Keeping up with the Kardashians has attracted high viewership ratings. 與卡戴珊一家同行是E！娛樂電視臺播放的美國真人秀節目，關注的是卡戴珊一家個人生活和職業生涯。該檔節目2007年10月14日開播，是美國為期最長的真人秀節目之

15、一。雖然其因強調“為出名而出名”為人們所詬病，差評不斷，節目的收視率卻居高不下。 Keeping up with the Kardashians /k5dQSnz/: an American reality television series that airs on the E! cable network and focuses on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian family. The series was Operation Beautiful: a movement started by Caitlin B

16、oyle, who scribbled a note on a Post-it “YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!” and slapped it on the mirror of a public bathroom. The mission of this widespread operation is to post anonymous notesin public places for other people to find. The point is that we are all beautiful. 該活動由凱特琳博伊爾發起，起源于她將一張寫著“你很美”的便利貼粘在了公共洗手

17、間的鏡子上。該行動的主要內容是將寫有鼓勵話語的匿名貼紙貼在公共場所，以傳播“我們都很美”的理念，得到了廣泛支持。 Body Heart: a campaignthat empowers people to celebrate their real beauty and fight back against the media and social norms that lead to poor body image. The campaign encourages people to talk about what they love about their bodies instead of

18、 what they hate. It believes that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, ages and colors; our bodies are walking works of art meant to be celebrated and cherished. 該運動旨在使人們欣賞自己真實的美麗，同時也反擊了那些引導人們對自身形象給予過低評價的媒體和社會準則。這項運動鼓勵人們說出對自己身體的喜愛，而非抱怨對哪些方面不滿。它認為，美存在于各種體型、各個年齡層次和各種膚色；我們的身體即行走的藝術品，理應被贊美、被珍視。TEXTShould

19、we blame the mass media for trapping us in an endless race to spend, spend, spend in order to keep up with others? Or have we onlyourselves to blame?Who Are the Joneses and Why Are We Trying to Keep Up with Them? Mary Pritchard1 In America today, it seems like we are always striving for something. T

20、o be bigger, better than who we are. Were never content with what we have. But why? Where did this sense of not being enough come from?2 As it turns out, the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”derives from a cartoon strip of that name that launched in 1913 and ran for 26 years. In the strip, creato

21、r “Pop” Momand poked fun at our need to do things in order to impress other people. Id love to say that need vanished when the last episode of that comic strip ran, but alas, it seems to have only gotten worse. These days we dont care about the Joneses, were trying to keep up with the Kardashians. (

22、Thank God I dont have cable TV!) 3 Which really gets to the core of the matter? Who is telling us that we need to keep up with the Kardashians? The media. Until the late 1880s, magazines were not widely read. They were for the rich, who could afford both the time and money to read them. But toward t

23、he end of the 19th century, two events happened that forever changed our world: second class mail came into being and the rotary printing press was invented. This dropped the price of magazines so that they were affordable for the working class. Mass media was born. And this opened up a whole new wo

24、rld.4 Prior to the late 1880s, most of us were so busy trying tomake a living that we didnt care what the Joneses were doing, nor did we know, for that matter. But with the birth of mass media, suddenly we were being told in no uncertain terms that not only were the Joneses far better than we were,

25、but also that we should do something about it. You see, we didnt know that we werent good enough until someone told us. And much of that assessment was, and still is, based on a perceived lack of things were told we should want or have. “Fortunately,” those same magazines provided us with ready solu

26、tions in the form of advertisements for products that would “catch us up” to the Joneses. Of course, by the time we got there, the Joneses were ahead of us again (kind of like how your brand-new computer is out of date as soon as you walk out of the store) and the vicious cycle of keeping up with th

27、e Joneses perpetuated itself ad infinitum.5 So here we are, feeling like were not good enough. Itsreflected in the music we listen to, the shows we watch (think “reality” TV), the things we say to ourselves and our loved ones. And we feel guilt, and most of all, shame. 6 I think Bren Brown puts it b

28、est when she says, “I see the cultural messaging everywhere that says that an ordinary life is a meaningless life.” (Daring Greatly , p. 23). She calls this the “never enough” problem and attributes it, for most of us, to a singular early childhood event that perpetuated our need to be a people-plea

29、ser at least, until someone tells us we can stop.7 Fortunately, there are a number of anti-Joneses movements popping up. Websites like Operation Beautiful, Body Heart, and Superhero Life. Media influence is not going away and its nice to have some sites that advocate positive self-regard out there.

30、Because ultimately, you decide if youre going to buy into this idea that youre not good enough.8 So its time to take some pressure off yourself and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses or anyone else for that matter. Who cares what they think, anyway? Stuff will never make you happy. “We used to

31、haveeverything you could want the big house, the nice cars but we were miserable,” a Mr. Travis said. “I was working up to 90 hours a week to cover our payments.” But after going through careful budgeting and getting out of debt, he and his wife, Lisa, are happier than theyve ever been in their live

32、s renting a two-bedroom apartment. More is never enough. If you are trying to earn money for the sake of having more money, you will never be satisfied. Do some soul searching and ask yourself what9 Its not worth it! It only leads to disappointment in the end even if you get what youre after. Youll

33、have a better life if you just forget about what other people think and hold onto what you know is true: “enough” really looks like. If you cant put a cap on it, youre chasing the wind. Learn to be happy with what you have. Just remember that if you cant buy it outright, you cant afford it. And it w

34、ont really be yours if you buy it on credit. Contentment comes from within. Its easy to blame feelings of discontentment on outside sources like money or stuff, but true contentment and lasting joy dont come from anything money can buy. Think of the times youve felt most satisfied in life. Think of

35、the moments you look back on as your fondest memories. Would you trade those for a pile of cash? 10 So act now! Stop buying into the message that youre not good enough. Stop buying things to “improve” who you are. Actions speak louder than words, so every time your kids see you berating yourself, th

36、ey, too, are getting the message that they arent good enough. So stop the madness. Do it for your kids. Do it for yourself. Just do it. 945 wordsPair work: The text is an expository essay (說明文). The aim of an expository essay is to explain objectively and clearly a topic such as why a certain phenom

37、enon happens, how an operation works, or why a certain opinion is held. Studying the organization of the text can help us have a better understanding of this type of writing. This text can be roughly divided into three parts. As you see in the table below, each part has a certain function (作用) to pe

38、rform as far as the structure of an expository essay is concerned. Now write down the main idea of each part and then compare notes with your partner.1 Text OrganizationPartsParagraphsFunctionsMain IdeasPart OneParas. 12Bringing up thesocial phenomenonof conspicuousconsumptionThe meaning and origin

39、of the expression “keep up with the Joneses”Part TwoParas. 36Explaining how itoccurs and whyHow the phenomenon of keeping up with theJoneses came into being and why people buy into it.Part ThreeParas. 710Exploring ways ofdealing with itWhat we should do to free ourselves from thepressure of keeping

40、up with the Joneses.Pair work: With the teacher as guide, you and your partner work on the following comprehension check exercises.2.1 Digging into detailAnswer the following questions to better understand the text. You may want to write down some key words in the space provided before you do so.2 C

41、omprehension Check(Para. 2) 1 Where does the phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses” come from?(Para. 3&4) 2 Why were we not aware of what the Joneses were doing prior to the late 1880s?Prior to the late 1880s, mass media was not born. We were only concerned about making our own living.It comes from a

42、cartoon strip of the same title launched by Pop Momand in 1913.(Para. 10) 5 What are we supposed to do to stop keeping up with the Joneses?Instead of buying into the message that were not good enough, we should have positive self-regard. We should realize we dont have to buy things to impress others

43、.(Para. 4) 3 What was the ready solution provided by magazines in order for us to catch up with the Joneses?The ready solution was to buy products that were advertised.(Para. 9) 4 Where do true happiness and joy come from, if they are not anything money can buy?True happiness and joy come from withi

44、n. This article aims to persuade. Coming from the Healthy Living section of an online newspaper, it intends to get us to live a healthier, happier life by giving something up. In this case what we are told to give up is trying to impress others by what we own. In trying to convince us to do so the w

45、riter employs a number of techniques common to persuasive writing. There are rhetorical questions with the answer provided by the questioner (hypophora, to give it its technical name): “Who is telling us we need to keep up with the Kardashians? The media.” Elsewhere there are rhetorical questions wh

46、ere no answer is needed as the answer is so obvious to everyone. There is the use of quotation marks to signal irony, as whenthe author writes that the magazines “fortunately” provide advertisements to solve the problem they created. There are emotional exclamations: “Its not worth it!” to drive hom

47、e the heartfelt strength of an opinion. And when we arrive at the final paragraph, the author has made her case, and the mood switches to the imperative. In short, sharp instructions we are told not to delay. The message is driven home by the repeated use of “stop” early in the paragraph and later b

48、y the repeated use of “do it,” building to a final, exasperated, “Just do it.”The text starts with challenging the idea that “we are always striving for something”, but we do see some positive quotes like “strive for a better you” quite often in daily life, and many people find the quotes very encou

49、raging and inspiring. Do you think there is a conflict between the authors argument and the quote? Why?1.As credit cards have become part of modern life, shopping with credit cards has been quite common. To what extent do you agree with the authors argument in paragraph 9 that “Just remember that if

50、 you cant buy it outright, you cant afford it. And it wont really be yours if you buy it on credit”? 2.vanishepisodecoreuncertainperceiveviciouscycleguiltculturalmeaninglesswebsiteadvocateultimatelydisappointment miserable debt contentmentlastingstrive forbe content withkeep up withderive frompoke f

51、un atcome into beingopen upmake a livingfor that matterout of datemost of allhold ontoattributetobuy intolead toput it best/well/ cleverly.for the sake ofbuy on creditlook back on1.1 Fill in the blanks with words or phrases from the box below. Change the form where necessary.1 2 Technology may be tr

52、aditionally perceived as a male-dominated industry, but it wont always be that way.Ive experimented with different ways to make a living as an artist over the last few years, including selling online, as well as selling at local craft fairs (集市) and art e into beingout of dateperceivefor that matter

53、guilthold ontovanishmake a livinguncertainattributetoopen upepisodemost of allpoke fun atwebsitemeaninglesscorecycledebtput it best/well/cleverly.Today the first step in learning about a schools culture, mission and priority (優先考慮的事) isnt through a school visit, but through the schools website .Havi

54、ng been in the real estate business for a long time, I started wondering the other day who really owns the moon and outer space (太空), for that matter .More than a third of British clerks say their job is meaningless and spend their days performing tasks they believe do not really need to be performe

55、d.3 4 5 come into beingout of dateperceivefor that matterguilthold ontovanishmake a livinguncertainattributetoopen upepisodemost of allpoke fun atwebsitemeaninglesscorecycledebtput it best/well/cleverly, etc.Shocking figures have shown that half of the animals in the world have vanished since 1970 b

56、ecause of uncontrollable human activities.Samsung (三星), who has a history of producing anti-Apple advertisements, poked fun at the Apple smart watch in one of its recent ads.There is no agreement on the exact date when the modern Internet came into being , but sometime in the early to mid-1980s is c

57、onsidered reasonable.6 7 8 come into beingout of dateperceivefor that matterguilthold ontovanishmake a livinguncertainattributetoopen upepisodemost of allpoke fun atwebsitemeaninglesscorecycledebtput it best/well/cleverly, etc.Its a nice hotel, casual, comfortable and chic. The room is larger than e

58、xpected, the breakfast is perfect, and most of all , its within walking distance to the city center.In traditional cultures, the cycle of the seasons was and often still is recognized and celebrated with ceremonies.Although expanding (擴張) into new markets can seem like a daunting process because it

59、involves risk taking, it can open up new opportunities for your e into beingout of dateperceivefor that matterguilthold ontovanishmake a livinguncertainattributetoopen upepisodemost of allpoke fun atwebsitemeaninglesscorecycledebtput it best/well/cleverly, etc.9 10 11 Our business model is out of da

60、te . It is not going to work as well as it used to.Albert Einstein put it best when he said, “Everybody is a genius (天才). But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”CEO Smith often attributed/attributes the success of his company