综合英语 第14课.ppt

Lead-in Question 1. What are the major differences between city life and country life? 2. Where do you prefer to live, in the city or in the country? Main Content 1. Text I：The Idiocy of Urban Life (The text of argumentation claims that aggressively individualistic and atomized urban life today goes against both the purpose of the city and the human nature, and thus is foolish.) 2. Text II: The City (The article talks about the American people’s stereotype of city and they are paying for this strong anti-city attitude in the cities today.) 3. Exercises: comprehension of the texts, vocabulary, grammar, translation, etc Text Analysis This text falls in the generic category of argumentation. Part I: Introduction, where the author presents the thesis of his argument. Part II, i. e. Paragraphs 3-9, the author provides evidence for the idiocy of urban life. Part III, i. e. the last paragraph, the author reiterates his point. Paragraph 1-2 In this part, the author contrasts human beings with rats in terms of their urban lives. 1) It starts with a description of a civil urban life at night, when rats are active in the city. 2) Then it is contrasted with the urban life of human beings. 3) Finally the writer presents the thesis of his argument: aggressively individualistic and atomized urban life today goes against both the purpose of the city and the human nature, and thus is foolish. Questions: 1) What is urban life like at night? Urban life at night is quiet and orderly. Occasional footsteps echo along the sidewalks; a car comes out of silence now and then. In general, the din of the day has slid into the tranquility of the night. 2) What does the author think of the human urban life? Compared with the gregarious life of rats, human life in the city is individualistic and competitive, and thus idiotic. Language work: 1. civil : polite and formal His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly. Hed been careful to be civil to everyone. 2. cruises