Unit 3  The Impact of Art
I.Unit overview
Text A in this unit is an expository writing introducing the three planes on which music exists. It does not necessarily mean we listen to music on one or the other mechanically, but with such division, the author hopes to provide a clearer view of the way in which we listen to music. The first plane is the sensuous plane on which we hear music without considering it in any way. On the expressive plane, the second plane, we read different meanings into various pieces of music. The last plane is the one on which we listen to “note themselves,” called the sheer ly musical plane.
Text B is an extract from a biographical novel about Vincent van Gogh, which offers a portrait of the artist’s struggle against critical discouragement and mental turmoil, allowing us catching a glimpse of his world. The author, Irving Stone, uses his pen as a brush to take down the great artist’s world and help us to better understand the man behind his paintings.
Be it an expository essay or an extract from a novel, both texts bring us to a world of arts.
II.Teaching plan
按照《指南》规定，综合英语总学时是64课时，每周4课时，每单元上8课时。有的学校每周6课时，每单元12课时。下表按8课时安排，12课时就按比例调整。
III.Expl oring the topic
◆Teaching Tips
1. The exercises are designed to help the students get ready for the study of the text by familiarizing them with the topic of this unit. Exercise 1 gives four quotes about art, in the hope of giving students some inspiration on the topic of this unit. Exercise 2 encourages the students to share their favorite artwork and exchange their opinions on its impact on their lives.
2. For Exercise 2, please divide the students in groups of 4 or 5 to discuss on the questions. The teacher randomly invites representatives to report to the whole class, and comments on the answers.
◆Key to Exercises
1
Frank Lloyd Wright restates a classical concept o f “art as imitation of nature.” It focuses on the fact that art is an aesthetic representation of a form of nature through artistic techniques. Leo Tolstoy tells us that art is much more than a piece of tangible work, but an expr ession of one’s emotions, a lso evoking feelings from others. Oscar Wilde proposes that individualism offers the most fertile ground f
or the creation of art and cultivates the highest potential. According to Zhang Zao, in the pursuit of artistic creation, one needs to draw inspiration from all things in nature and his innermost thoughts. “Inspiration from within” and “inspiration from without” are complementary to each other, having a relationship of unity rather than opposition.
2
Open-ended.
◆Optional Activities: Pair Discussion
1.Have you ever visited an art museum? What art form do you like best, and why?
2.What famous artists do you know? What are they famous for?
3.  A life without music would be boring and dull. Why do most of us find music
indispensably important in our lives?
IV.Text A
◆Background Information
Aaron Copland (1900—1990), American composer who achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as “the Dean of American Composers.” The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as “populist” and which the composer labeled his “vernacular”style. Works in this vein include the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid,and Rodeo, his Fanfare for the Common Man and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.
◆Teaching Tips
As to the structure of Text A, the teacher may ask the students to find out its expository structure, with the introduction, body part and conclusion and refer to Exercise 1 in “Analytical Reading” to help them find the theme of the whole text and the sub-topics of each body part.
In order to help the students to understand some important details in the text, the teacher may ask the students to do the True or False questions in Exercise 2 and to paraphrase the sentences in Exercise 3 in “Analytical Reading.”
The two translation exercises can provide the students an opportunity to summarize and to extend the main idea of Text A, with the theme expressions used. The teacher has two focuses for the exercises: theme expressions and sentence structures. The students are required to use the words, expressions and sentence structures correctly and properly in the context.
As for “Critical Thinking,” the teacher should help the students to really understand what “intellectual humility” is and find more examples to illustrate it.
When it comes to exercises in “Language Focus,” the students are required to d o them independently before class with reference to dictionaries, corpus and other online resources. Then they can share and discuss their answers with their group members or partners in class, asking the teacher for h elp whenever they can’t solve their disagreement. The teacher will emphasize the common difficulties and solutions at the end of the exercise session.
◆Structure
I.We listen to music on three separate planes. (Para. 1)
II.The sensuous plane is the plane on which we hear music without considering it in any way. (Paras. 2-5)
III.On the expressive plane, we read different meanings into various pieces of music. (Paras. 6-13)
IV.The sheerly musical plane is the one on which we listen to the “notes themselves.” (Paras. 14-16)
V.While listening to music, we correlate the three planes. (Para. 17)
Detailed Study of the Text
1.But, for the sake of analysis, the whole listening process may become clearer if we break it up into its component parts, so to speak. (Para. 1)
For the purpose of analysis, dividing the whole listening process into several separate parts, in a manner of speaking, can help the audience understand it better.
This sentence unveils the author’s intellectual humility.
so to speak: used to highlight the fact that one is describing something in an unusual or metaphorical way
< This arrangement will allow us to eliminate our debt and get back to solid ground, so to speak.
2.  A kind of brainless but attractive state of mind is engendered by the mere sound appeal of the music. (Para. 2)
As a concluding sentence of Para. 2, it highlights the feature of the sensuous plane again, which is the sound appeal, and “mere” is used to say that something is small but has a big effect.
unity 教程engender: to be the cause of a situation or feeling
< Their financial success has engendered attention among their neighbors. appeal: a quality that makes people like something or someone
< What is the particular appeal of this island?
The film has great appeal for young audiences.
3.Immediately that one note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room—proving that the sound element in music is a powerful and mysterious agent, which it would be foolish to deride or belittle. (Para. 3)
The sound element in music is an important but unexplainable factor, any change of which can make the atmosphe re of the room different, so it’s a serious consideration. belittle: to make someone or something seem small or unimportant
< It makes no sense to belittle the enormity of the disaster.
4.Music allows them to leave it, and they go off to a place to dream, dreaming because of and apropos of the music yet never quite listening to it. (Para. 4)
apropos of sth.: concerning or related to something
< He had nothing to say apropos of the latest developments.
5.But that should not lead one to the other extreme of denying to music the right to be “expressive.” (Para. 6)
“That” here refers to the difficulty mentioned in the previous sentence in giving a piece of music a precise explanation satisfying everyone. Despite such difficulty, Copland still believes all music has an expressive power.
6.This popular idea of music’s meaning—stimulated and abetted by the usual run of musical commentators—should be discouraged wherever and whenever it is met. (Para. 8)
In this sentence, both “stimulated” and “abetted” function a s postpositive attributive, modifying “this popular idea of music’s meaning.”
the usual/normal/general run of: the usual type of something
Translation of Text A
我们如何听音乐
阿隆·科普兰
1.我们都是根据各自不同的能力来听音乐。但是为了便于分析，我们不妨把
整个听的过程分成几个部分，可以说，这样分析起来就可以更清晰明白。
某种意义上讲，我们都会从三个不同的层面欣赏音乐，因缺乏更好的术语表述，我们姑且称之为：（1）感官层面，（2）表现力层面，（3）纯粹音乐层面。机械地把听音乐的过程分为这三种假定的层面，其唯一的好处在于更清楚地了解我们听音乐的方式。
2.听音乐最简单的方式是为了获得音乐本身带来的纯粹愉悦感而听。这就是
感官层面。在这个层面，我们只是本能地听，不对音乐做任何的思量。只是打开收音机，一边做着其他的事，一边心不在焉地沉浸在音乐中。音乐中声音的感染力就能把人带入无须动脑却引人入胜的心境。
3.也许，你正坐在房间里读这本书。想象钢琴键上响起一个音符，这个音符
足以立刻改变整个房间里的氛围，这表明音乐的声音元素是一种强大而神秘的原动力，贬低它和轻视它都是愚蠢的。
4.令人惊讶的是，许多自诩为资深音乐爱好者的人却在听音乐时滥用这一层
面。他们去听音乐会只是为了忘我。他们把音乐作为一种慰藉或遁世的方式。随着音乐，他们进入一
个理想世界，不必再考虑每天的现实生活。当然他们也不会想到音乐。音乐允许他们抛下音乐去想别的事情，于是他们

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