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Discussion: First days at college
Unit 1 Fresh Start
• Do you remember your first days at college? Did anything special happen then? • What are the major differences between college and high school lives? • What do you expect to obtain in college?
JOANNE
Study focus
• Topics and background: • What is college for? Or What is the essence of a college? • What are the differences of Chinese universities and universities overseas? • Language: • Vivid descriptions of mentalities and actions. • Humor of the language.
Text: A general look
• What is the genre of the text? Narration - An narrative writing describes a sequence of real and unr
eal events. - The author recounts her embarrassing moments during her first days of college. She gives us detailed accounts of the process of 3 incidents, the after-effect and the significant insight into herself.
Global reading - organization
• Chronologically described: – Arriving at campus – Three embarrassing events – I have realized… 1. going into a wrong classroom; 2. falling down in the cafeteria; 3. witnessing the same embarrassing fall of football player;
Details - 1. arriving at college
• How did she feel? • A bit first-gradish, distressful, uncomfortable, nervous, cautious, excited… • Why did she have the impression that “everyone on campus was watching me”? • She was over-sensitive, uneasy with her identity as a newcomer. She thought new students would attract others’ attention.
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Paraphrase
• Adding to my distress was the distinct impression that everyone on campus was watching me. I could clearly feel that everyone on campus was watching me, and this made me even more upset.
Language work: distinct
• distinct • clearly seen, heard, felt, understood, etc.; noticeable, different – E.g., The children have distinct memories of their grandfather in his last days. – E.g., Now that the boss was no longer present, there was a distinct change in her attitude. • be distinct from/in
distinct & distinctive
• distinctive • a thing or quality that is so special because it is clearly different from others of its kind. – E.g., Beer has a very distinctive smell; it’s quite distinct from the smell of wine. • distinctly: adv. • distinction: n. -- 本书特点之一就是具有清楚明了的图解。 • One of the distinctive features of this book is its distinct illustrations.
Language work
distinct • His voice was quiet but quite _______. • She always likes to wear clothes with a ___________ distinctive style. • Love and marriage are two intentions that go by separate and _______ distinct roads. • The various dialects are quite _______ distinct from each other. • A movie star, as distinct _______ from an actor, earns much more. distinctive • Two-storied house with lawn is ____________ of this small town.
Paraphrase
• It took everything I had not to stare when I caught my first glimpse of a real live college football player. • catch a glimpse of: catch sign of, see sth briefly, get a quick look. • I tried my best to hold back my strong desire to stare at the college rugby player when he appeared before my eyes so real and in person. (because staring at other people is not polite)
Cultural Notes
• College football for men • Cheer-leading for ladies • College orientation • College cafeteria • Salad & salad dressing
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Language work: reserve
• 我保留持不同意见的权利 • I reserve the right to disagree. • retain, to keep for oneself • 自然森林保护区 • a forest reserve/ wildlife reserve • a reservation of public land 保留地 • 终于Mary放下矜持，承认她爱John. • Later Mary drops her reserve and confesses that she loves John. • n. self-restraint in expression; the habit of not showing one’s feelings or thoughts.
Language work: air
• (plural noun U.S.) affected manners or conduct meant to impress others [pl.]架子; 装腔作势 • He's always putting on airs. • a concerned air 关切的神情 • His official airs offended her. • He put on high airs with his learning. • 他以饱学而自傲。 • 他似乎很神秘。 • He has an air of mystery.
Details - 2. three incidents
• Incident 1 – sitting in a wrong classroom • How did I enter the room? -- march in • Where to sit? -- after deliberation • How did I feel when finding myself sitting in the wrong class? -- grope for, so now what, forget it • What did I do? -- settle into, try to assume, etc.
Comprehend & appreciate
• I cracked my anthology of American literature…of a crisp ruled page. • A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I groped for my schedule and checked the room number. • I settled into my chair … should have tipped me off.
Language work: crisp
• crisp adj: paper or clothes that are crisp are stiff and fresh with no creases in them. • I lay down on the freshly made bed with its crisp white sheets. • ruled: ruled paper has thin, straight lines printed across it.
• • • •
Translation
停电了，我们要摸黑上楼。 Light is out, and we need to grope our way upstairs. 他们碰见的时候很尴尬，似乎需要努力词打破沉默。 They were so embarrassed when they bumped into each other, trying to grope for words to break the silence. 事先听到有关此事风声的新闻记者争先恐后赶赴现场。 Journalists who were tipped off about the incident raced to the scene. 没有任何迹象向我显示什么地
方出了差错。 There is nothing to tip me off that something was wrong.
• • • •
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Details - 2. three incidents
• Incident 2 – falling down in the cafeteria • How did I fall down? -- hurried, piled, stepped, tipped, etc. • How did others in the cafeteria react? -- come to their feet, cheer and clap • What did I do then? -- kick off, jump clear of, sneak out of • How did I feel after this incident? -- humiliation, shame, dine alone
Comprehension
• What did she mean when she said “I saw my entire life pass before my eyes”? • She was so desperate at that moment and gave her the feeling of dying. • Why did she dine on junk food for the next three days? • She thought she had become the laughingstock on campus. She couldn’t stand by being laughed at by all the students when she turned up in the cafeteria.
Language work: flail
• To wave ,swing or move vigorously; thrash: 用 力地挥动或摆动；鞭打 -- flailed my arms to get their attention -- flailed our horses with the reins • 大家看着他在水中无助乱摆的手臂，却无人伸出 援助之手。 • People were standing there, watching his arms flailing helplessly in the water, not willing to lend a helping hand. • • • • • • •
Translation
他把脏衣服浸泡在冷水里。 He soaked the dirty clothes in the cold water. 他偷偷地溜出了课室。 He sneaked out of the classroom. 风渐渐平息了。 The wind died down. 各种不同年龄和各种不同家境的男女互相接触并 交换意见。 • Men and woman of assorted ages and degrees of prosperity rub shoulders and exchange opinions.
Details - 2. three incidents
• Incident 3 – witnessing the same embarrassing fall of the football player • How did I re-enter the cafeteria? -- go off to, make my way through, tiptoe, collapse in relief • What happened? -- a crash, poor soul • How did I feel for him? -- my heart goes out to him, slink out of • What did the football player react? -- victory clasp, grin • What did I find out after that? -- take myself far too seriously
Language work: one’s heart..
• one’s heart / sympathy goes out to sb: v. to
express the strong sympathy you have for someone in a difficult or unpleasant situation.
• 我真为史密斯太太和她那些没有父亲的孩子感到 可怜. • My heart / sympathy goes to Mrs. Smith and her fatherless children.
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Details - 3. lessons learnt
• What was the key lesson Evelyn Herald learned during the first few weeks in college? • People grow by trial and error, one should relax and be oneself.
Understand & Paraphrase
• What I had interpreted as a malicious attempt to embarrass a naïve freshman had been merely a m
oment of college fun. • …, if I could get past my preoccupation with doing everything perfectly. • I gave up trying to act my way through college and began not acting at all.
Language work
• preoccupation: n. things that you think about all
distinct和distinctiveTranslation
• 恶毒的女巫把王子变成了石头。 • The malicious witch turned the little prince into a stone. • 我力求达到学校的高标准要求。 • I try to live up to the high standard of the school. • 他还太年轻，不能用家庭责任来束缚自己。 • He’s too young to shackle himself with the responsibilities of a family.
the time.
• (have) preoccupation with sth/sb • In his preoccupation with his sick wife, he neglected his young children. • 他那时想的是如何填饱肚子。 • His main preoccupation then was to get enough to eat. • preoccupied (with): adj. • She is too preoccupied with family problems to focus on her work.
Exercise – Text comprehension
• I. C • II. F T F T F • IV. 1. I planned to keep silent while be cautious so that nobody would notice that I was a newcomer in college. 2. For three days, I had not been to the cafeteria because I felt humiliated, ashamed. I stayed in my dorm and ate various junk food from a vending machine which was in just the right place outside my dorm. 3. It is not so important whether you are popular or not. There is no need to follow the majority to survive in college.
Exercise – Vocabulary
1. I had the feeling of a newcomer to college, so green and inexperienced. 2. my apparent confidence / my pretense of confidence 3. some food to appease my hunger 4. going with the tide of majority was no longer crucial to your success in college 5. foolish and glaring mistakes
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