研究生英语Unit Two.doc

Unit Two Text A I. Introduction 1. Warm-up activities: a. What is ignorance? b. What is the relationship between ignorance and knowledge? c. Some say ignorance is bliss. Some say ignorance is the root of all evil. State your opinion on it. Reference: a. Ignorance is a condition or state where a person ignores, disregards, or overlooks knowledge about something. It is when the person is uninformed, is uneducated about something. b. If one is overwhelmed by ignorance, he or she would not be able to know more knowledge; if one is equipped with knowledge, he or she would be able to know he or she is vulnerable to ignorance. c. (open) Once upon a time, an old illiterate person asked somebody to write a letter for him. He said, “Please write whatever I am telling you.” He then began to explain his life while the writer was busy writing. He talked about himself and some of his problems. After he finished, he turned to the writer and said, “All right. Now read me all you have written.” The man began to read the letter. Little by little the old man, listening to the writer very carefully, started crying. The writer looked at him surprisingly and said, “These are what you have already explained. There is nothing more in this letter. Why are you crying then?” Still crying hard, the old man said, “I partially knew that I was a poor wretched man, but I didn’t know it so clearly as you told me today!” Quotes: a. Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn. —Benjamin Franklin b. There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance. —Confucius The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge. —Elbert Hubbard e. He must be very ignorant for he answers every question he is asked. —Voltaire 2. Main idea of the text: The author began the