新编英语教程6 U2 the fine art of putting things off

March 15, 2010

About the title

 The best skill or method of delaying things.  Art (here) —skill or method

拖延(v) 拖延(n) 拖延者  delay  delay  delayer;

 postpone  postponement  postponer;

 procrastinate  procrastination  procrastinator;  put off

Proverbs about time:      

“Procrastination is the thief of time.” 拖延就是浪费时间。

“Never put off tomorrow what may be done today.” 今日事，今日毕。 Putting things off is the waste of time.

Just do what you should do as quickly as possible. Consolation is the thief of time

Constant enjoyment is the waste of time.

Song of tomorrow

by Qian Hetan

Tomorrow upon tomorrow, So many tomorrows have gone! If we only eye on tomorrow,

Nothing in the world can be done! People are cumbered by tomorrow, As seasons alternate, old they grow.

In mornings, we see rivers eastward flow. At nightfalls, we see sunsets westward glow. This life, how many tomorrows do you know? Please listen to my \"Song of Tomorrow\".

明日歌

 明日复明日，

明日何其多。 我生待明日， 万事成蹉跎。

世人若被明日累， 春去秋来老将至。 朝看水东流， 暮看日西坠。

百年明日能几何？ 请君听我《明日歌》！

——清¡¤钱鹤滩 (1461—1504)

Song of today

 Today again today, how much will be for today.

Doing nothing today, when will you do then?

How many todays in a life? What a pity doing nothing today! Don't wait for tomorrow, things must be done in each day. Let's sing the song of today and do matters from today!

《今日诗》

 今日复今日，

今日何其少！ 今日又不为， 此事何时了！

人生百年几今日， 今日不为真可惜！ 若言姑待明朝至， 明朝又有明朝事。 为君聊赋今日诗， 努力请从今日始。

《昨日谣》

 昨日兮昨日，

昨日何其好！ 昨日过去了， 今日徒烦恼。

世人但知悔昨日， 不觉今日又过了。 水去汩汩(gugu)流， 花落日日少。

万事立业在今日， 莫待明朝悔今朝！

Dictionary work

——明¡¤文嘉

 1. cool one’s heels: be forced to wait; be kept waiting  2. attest to: (v.) testify to; serve as an evidence to affirm/ to be proof of 证实, 证明

 3. apocalyptic: (adj.) foreboding imminent disaster or final doom 预示灾难或最后毁灭的  4. proconsul: (n.) an administrator in a colony usually with wide powers 地方总督  5. ruminate: (v.) go over in the mind repeatedly and often slowly 反刍, 沉思  6. nattering: (adj.) chattering; hence, noisy  rel. natter: chatter; to talk for a long time, especially about unimportant things 唠叨;闲聊  7. echelon: (n.) rank, level 等级，阶层

 e.g. a job in the lower echelon of the corporation 一份公司底层工作  8. fortify: (v.) encourage; support 鼓励；支持

 e.g. Faith fortified us during our crisis. 在关键时刻信念使我们变得坚强。  fortify could also mean to strengthen, to reinforce, etc.  9. reappraisal: (n.) re-evaluation

 10. academe: (n.) the academic community; academics 学术界；学术

 11. shrink: (slang) (n.) psychoanalyst or psychiatrist 心理分析学者或神经科医生  12. subliminal: (adj.)

existing or functioning outside the area of conscious awareness 潜意识的  13. truism: (n.) an undoubted or self-evident truth 不言而喻的道理；自明之理

 14. mellow and marinate: (v.) to mellow is to become ripe or fully developed, and the marinate is to steep (浸) (meat, fish) in a savory sauce to enrich its flavor; here, ripen and mature 成熟及完善

Lord Chesterfield

Lord Chesterfield (1694—1773): English Statesman, orator and author; But Chesterfield's fame as a letter-writer

must rest on his Letters to his Son and those to his Godson. His devotion to these two young men is a very

remarkable indication of his true character. From 1737 (when his age was forty-three years) to the year of his death, it became little less than an obsession. He began writing letters of advice to his illegitimate son Philip Stanhope when the child was only five years old. When he had reached twenty-five, another Philip Stanhope (of Mansfield

Woodhouse) was born. This was Chesterfield's godson and successor, whose education he undertook, and to whom he began to write educational letters when he was four years old. He, doubtless, was led to undertake these letters by the recollection of the neglect he had experienced from his own father, and his sense of its consequences.

 When sitting in judgment on Chesterfield's letters to his son, we should

not omit to remember that they were never intended for any eye but that of the receiver. He wrote (21 January, 1751):

You and I must now write to each other as friends and without the least reserve; there will for the future be a thousand things in my letters which I would not have any mortal living but yourself see or know.

The Letters are written in English, Latin and French, and contain a large amount of

valuable information on history, geography, and so forth, put in an easy and convenient form for the pupil. Philip Stanhope was censured for bad writing and bad spelling and for inattention. His father told him that nothing was too small for attentive consideration and that concentrated attention on one subject at a time was of paramount importance: “There is time enough for

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everything in the course of the day if you do one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at once（假如你一时只做一件事，那么一天当中就有足够时间做每件事情；但假如你一次做两件事情，一年当中也没有足够时间）.\"

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Honour and morality, the need of which is strongly urged in the Letters, do not include sexual morality: the writer

recommends his son to seek intimate association with married women of fashion, in order to improve his manners, which, by nature, were somewhat boorish. The general principles of good breeding continually urged in the Letters have been strangely misunderstood. The object of life is to be pleased, and, in order to attain this, we must please others; but it is quite evident that more than surface pleasing is here intended. Both respect for the feelings of others and sympathy with them are enjoined. The young man is told \"never to be ashamed of doing what is right,\" but to use his own judgment instead of blindly following

others in what the fashionable world considers to be pleasure. Such is a sample of Chesterfield's wise saws, many of which have become familiar quotations, and which show his recollection of his own bitterly repented mistakes in early life. When Philip Stanhope went out into the world and his early education was completed, his father continued to send him letters of advice; but, in 1768, the young man died, and the father learned that he had been married and had two sons. Chesterfield received this unexpected news with composure, and wrote kindly to the widow, Eugenia Stanhope, saying that he would undertake all the expenses connected with the bringing up of her boys. He did not remove them from her care, but took much interest in them, and became attached to them, observing their different characters and advising as to them.

English, and more often in French. They contain the same form of instruction and anecdote, are written with the same mixture of wit and wisdom, and breathe the same affectionate interest of the writer in the doings of his correspondent. One of the letters may be specially mentioned, since it inculcates the spirit of two commandments, on which, according to the highest authority, “hang all the law and the prophets (是律法和先知一切道理的总纲）.\" Chesterfield writes:

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 These Letters follow very much the plan of their predecessors. They are sometimes in

“My object is to have you fit to life; which, if you are not, I do not desire that you should live at all.’ So wrote Lord Chesterfield in one of the most celebrated and controversial correspondences between a father and his son. Chesterfield wrote almost daily to his natural son, Philip, from 1737 onwards, providing him with instruction in etiquette and the worldly arts（处世艺术）. Praised in their day as a complete manual of education, and despised by Samuel Johnson for teaching ‘the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing master’, these letters reflect the political craft of a leading statesman, and the urbane wit of a man who associated with Pope, Addison, and Swift. The letters reveal Chesterfield’s political cynicism and his belief that his country had ‘always been governed by the only two or three people, out of two or three millions, totally incapable of governing’, as well as his views on good breeding. Not originally intended for publication, this entertaining correspondence illuminates fascinating aspects of eighteenth-century life and manners‖

 I must from time to time remind you of two much more important duties, which I hope you

will never forget nor neglect. I mean your duty to God and your duty to Man…. Your duty to Man is very short and clear, it is only to do to him whatever you would be willing that he should do to you. And remember in all business of your life to ask your conscience this question Should I be willing that this should be done to me? If your conscience which will always tell you truth answer No, do not do that thing.

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Chesterfield took immense pains to show his two pupils how to live; and it evidently gave him great pleasure to watch over them, and to express to each of them his satisfaction in their progress. He must, however, have suffered disappointment when he found that, in point of manners, neither of them did justice to his intentions. His son, we learn from others, was

\"loutish,\" and Fanny Burney says of his godson that \"with much share of humour, and of good humour also, [he] has as little good breeding as any man I ever met with.\"

Guidelines for Reading

 Find out how Demarest develop his ideas and how he produces the cohesive effect in

dealing with so many disparate things.

 Decide the tone of Demarest’s writing and try to understand his humor.

 Try to find fault with Demarest, see whether any examples given by him can be used to subvert his own ideas.

Thesis:

 It can also be expressed as follows:

 You can well put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

 Procrastination is not altogether a bad practice. Sometimes it is

recommendable..

 Compared with conventional ideas:

 Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.  Procrastination is the thief of time

Organization of the text

          

I. Introduction: It is evidenced that people do delay(paras.1-2). A. Historical figures famous for their delay(para. 1). 1. __________

a. putting off marrying his son’s mother

b. keeping important people like Dr. Johnson waiting for hours. 2. Quintus Fabius Maximus a. ____________ b. putting off a battle 3. ________

putting off delivering Jehovah’s edict to Pharaoh 4. Hamlet: putting off taking revenge

 B. Two contrastive views on the world  1. __________

 a. preparing income taxes early  b. ____________

 2. delayers

 a. having dinner late

 b. misplacing bills and paying income tax late  c. ______________

 d. _______________

II. Main body: people in every field delay and benefit from the delay. (Para.

3-7)

 A. In literary —creativity inspired and revived (para. 3)  1. Jean Kerr,_________________

 2. Many a writer, focusing on trifles but writing

 B. In military, diplomacy and the law – conflict delayed or

resolved(para. 4)

 1. A British proconsul, drinking rather than shooting when faced with an uprising

 2. A US general in world war II,

__________________________________  3. Lawyers, postponing to write a will

C. In business, embarrassment and costly pay saved

A bank vice president’s experience—abundant data to be explored (para. 5) D. In _______________, hasty decisions prevented

1. The design itself—legalism, compromise and reappraisal 2. the model– concentration

E. In _______________, the need reflected 1. Spanish– manana

2. Arabic – bukraful mishmish

F. In_________, upon facing a blank page, agonies avoided 1. A sociologist, writing 3 to 5 pages a day

2. Many of his friends, resorting to a variety of excuses to avoid facing a blank page G. Among many people , especially women

1. All frightened people will then avoid the moment of truth entirely, or evade or postpone it until the last possible moment.

 2. Procrastination may be a kind of 23subliminal way of sorting the important from the trivial

            

III. Conclusion: As either purposeful or subconscious procrastination is justifiable, we

should sometimes put off till tomorrow what we can do today.

(Para. 9)

 A. Passive reasons  1. Avoiding problems  2._____________

 B. Positive reason: more time for deliberation and improvement  1. the parliamentary process  2. a variety of creations –

 the construction of Blenheim Palace

 C. Conclusion

 1. Quotation from T.H. White

 2. Statement refuting Lord Chesterfield

The style and the tone

1.Formal style : formal words; long or complex sentences

exhort attest to dub ungodly ruminate about echelon studded with … 2. Humorous tone: achieved through unusual combination: marry his son’s mother churn out 3-5 pages a day

creating of a great paint and creation of an entree 3. Serious topic --- joking supporting details (para. 4,5)

Paragraph 1

 How does Demarest begin his essay? Is it an effective beginning?

Dr. Samuel Johnson

 A poet, critic, lexicographer, and the author of the famous Dictionary, which he began in

1747. He worked for eight years with the project. Johnson originally approached Lord Chesterfield as a potential patron, but Chesterfield gave Johnson only a token sum (10 pounds).

 Later Johnson wrote: \"This man I thought had been a Lord among wits; but I find, he is only a wit among Lords.\" A patron was in his Dictionary as \"one who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.\"

Dr. Johnson in Lord Chesterfield's Waiting Room

He was equally celebrated for his brilliant and witty conversation. His rather gross appearance and manners were viewed tolerantly, if not with a certain admiration.

 The son of a bookseller, Johnson excelled at school in spite of illness and poverty. He entered Oxford in 1728 but was forced to leave after a year for lack of funds. He sustained himself as a bookseller and schoolmaster for the next six years, during which he continued his wide reading and published some translations. Johnson settled in London in 1737 and began his literary career in earnest. His poem ―London,‖ published anonymously in 1738, was praised by Pope and won Johnson recognition in literary circles. Johnson’s first work of lasting importance, and the one that permanently established his reputation in his own time, was his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), the first comprehensive lexicographical work on English ever undertaken. Dr. Johnson, as he is universally known, was England’s first full-dress man of letters （学者）, and his mind and personality helped to create the traditions that have guided English taste and criticism.

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Quintus Fabius Maximus

A Roman politician and soldier

(c. 275 BC-203 BC). His nickname Cunctator means \"delayer\" in Latin, and refers to his tactics

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in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War.

Fabius was well-aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians, and when Hannibal invaded Italy he refused to meet him in a pitched battle. Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal, hoping to exhaust him in a long war of attrition. Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginians, limiting Hannibal's ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force.

The Romans were unimpressed with this defensive strategy and at first gave Fabius his nickname as an insult.

伟大领袖的作战方针

 敌进我退 敌驻我扰 敌疲我打 敌退我追 Moses

Hebrew prophet and lawgiver and founder of Israel, or the Jewish people. The story of his life is set forth

principally in the Old Testament books of Exodus 出埃及记 and Deuteronomy申命记. According to this

account,Moses had the experience of seeing God, who commanded him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt to the land Cannan. Moses was to give this message to Pharaoh, ruler of ancient Egypt.

Moses said unto Jehovah,

Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

 exhort (Line 1) = entreat;

≈advise：(fml.) to urge or advise strongly

 If you exhort someone to do something, you try hard to persuade them to do it.

 e.g. The general exhorted his men to fight well.

 We are exhorted not to waste our time on the chatroom online.  I exhort my friend not to drink too much.

 elegant: having the qualities of grace, beauty, and fashion 文雅的，雅致的；讲究的  E.g.: elegant manners 优雅的风度  an elegant dress 漂亮雅致的女服

 a set of books with elegant bindings 一套装帧精美的书籍

The title of nobility: (Line 2)

 duke公爵, duchess公爵夫人  marquis侯爵, marchioness侯爵夫人  earl伯爵, countess伯爵夫人  viscount 子爵 viscountess 子爵夫人  baron男爵, baroness男爵夫人

 get around to sth./doing sth. (Line 2)

 If you get around to something, you eventually do something that you would have liked to avoid

doing or that you were unable to do before because you were too busy. 抽出时间(做某事)

 e.g. I only got around to doing this a few days ago.  He finally got around to sorting out those books and magazines yesterday.

worthy

 worthy: (sometimes humorous) a person of importance 知名人士；杰出人物  E.g.: local worthies 地方名流

 He had been a college worthy. 他曾是学院里大名鼎鼎的人。

cool/kick one’s heels: ≈ wait (Line 3)

 If you are kicking your heels or cooling your heels, someone is deliberately

keeping you waiting, so that you get bored or impatient (an informal expression).  e.g. The two younger men were cooling their heels in the outer office.  ―Let him cool his heels in the meeting room for a while,‖ said the dean.

 anteroom: (also antechamber) a room in which people wait, as before seeing a doctor (连接正厅的) 前厅，候见室

attest to: testify to; serve as an evidence to affirm / to be proof of 证明，表明  E.g.: His success attests to his ability. 他的成功表明他有能力。

 ever: (old use or in combination) always 总是，不断地；永远，始终

 E.g.: War and suffering have ever gone hand in hand. 战争和苦难总是结伴而行的。  He is ever making the same mistake. 他老是犯同样的错误。  ever-rising costs and prices 不断上涨的费用和物价

 That the elegant earl never got round to marrying his son’s mother and had a bad

habit of keeping worthies like Dr. Johnson cooling their heels for hours in an anteroom attests to the fact that even the most well-intentioned men have been postponers ever:

 这是一个多重复合句，包含了主语从句和同位语从句。 that the elegant earl never…in an anteroom是主语从句，其中用and连接了两个谓语；get around to意为―花时间和精力去做‖，后接动名词；worthy作名词时意为―知名人士，杰

出人物‖；词组cool one’s heels意为―久等，空等‖。整个句子的谓语是attest to,宾语是the fact,其后的that 从句是解释the fact内容的同位语从句。

 dub: give (someone) an unofficial name or nickname 给…起绰号；把…称为；授予…称号  E.g.: He was dubbed Shorty because of his size. 他因身材短小被人取了个矮子的绰号。  The region is dubbed the paradise on earth. 这地方被称为人间天堂。  be dubbed: be given the name of

 Moses pleaded a speech defect to rationalize his reluctance to

deliver Jehovah’s edict to Pharaoh. (Line 6-7)

 plead: to appeal earnestly; to offer as defense or excuse恳求; 为...辩护, 借口

(See Note 6, P19 for more)

 e.g. plead for more time 恳求更多的时间 plead illness 以生病作为理由

defect

 defect: n. deficiency

 e.g. birth defect 出生缺陷  a visual defect 视觉缺陷  speech defect 语言缺陷

 v. a Chinese citizen who defected to Japan 一个叛逃到日本的中国公民

 defected from the party over the issue of free trade 在自由贸易的问题上背叛了自己的政党

rationalize

 rationalize: to make rational; attempt to explain or justify one’s action with plausible

reasons, even if they are not true or appropriate 理性化; 阐释：从理性角度出发进行解释; 自圆其说

 e.g. Don’t rationalize your incompetence by finding fault with the method.

 Paraphrase:

 Moses justified his unwillingness to pass Jehovah’s order to Pharaoh,

saying that he was ―slow of speech‖.

 Or: Moses explained his unwillingness to pass Jehovah’s order to Pharaoh as because of his speech deficiency.

Summary:

 The author begins with the famous saying of Chesterfield’s and

examples of the procrastination of some historically well-known figures.

This effectively reminds people that sometimes people do have a good reason to delay.

Para.2

mortgage (Line 10) 抵押

 Cf. installment: one of a number of successive payments in settlement of a debt分期付款

ungodly (Line 10): impious; here, unpleasant, unreasonable

leftovers (Line 11)

 Leftovers are the food that remains uneaten after a meal.  e.g. The leftovers were thrown to the village dogs.  Don’t worry. I’ll warm up the leftovers and they are enough for me.

file for: to formally apply for 申请

 e.g. file for divorce/bankruptcy 申请离婚/破产

apocalyptic (Line 13)

 apocalyptic means (A) (≈catastrophic) relating to the total destruction of something,

especially of the world.; (B) (≈prophetic) relating to or involving prophecy about future disasters and the destruction of the world.

 e.g. People of the world are firmly against the apocalyptic nuclear war.  There is something apocalyptic about the tone in his writings.

Faustian encounters

 ―Faustian encounters‖ refer to Faust’s encounters with the devil

Mephistopheles. Naturally they are undesirable. Similarly, most people are unwilling to visit barbers, doctors, and dentists, so the author says like ―Faustian encounters‖.

Jean Collins Kerr

1923–2003, American comic author and playwright. Kerr had a knack for finding wry humor in the worlds of marriage, suburbia, and show business.

 Her novel Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1957) was made into a movie and a television series. Her other books include The Snake Had All the Lines (1960) and How I Got to Be Perfect (1978). Among her plays are Mary, Mary (1961), Poor Richard (19), Finishing Touches (1973), and Lunch Hour (1980).

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The Coast and Geodetic Survey

 • •

It began serving the USA in the early 1800's. Since that time, Coast Surveyors and their descendants have

charted American coastline;

conducted geodetic surveys throughout the United States, its territories, and many parts of the

• • •

World;

surveyed the pioneer coasts of the Pacific beginning in 1849 and continuing through the Alaska surveys of today;

surveyed the Philippine Islands following the Spanish-American War;

and conducted oceanographic observations throughout the oceans of the Earth.

Paragraph 3

all the trouble procrastination may incur:

--- Delay leads to problems. However, in many cases, it can often stimulate creativity.

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    

incur: become subject to (something unpleasant) as a result of one’s own action 招致, 引起, 带来; 遭受, 受到

E.g.: The company incurred a heavy loss due to mismanagement. incur somebody’s displeasure (envy) 招致某人的不悦 (妒忌) incur a protest 惹起

incur great expense 招致巨额花费

 Singapore Sling was created at Raffles Hotel, Singapore, at the turn-of-the-century

by Hainanese-Chinese bartender Mr Ngiam Tong Boon. Originally, the Singapore Sling was meant as a woman's drink, hence the attractive pink colour.

 DrinkBoy says: I highly recommend this cocktail for anybody looking for a nice cool drink

on a hot tropical day. Is Demarest serious here?

 Is what he says about the procrastination in the army seriously meant?

Para 4

 proconsul: (in ancient Rome) a governor of a part of the Roman Empire; (formal or

pompous) an administrator in a colony usually with wide powers 总督

 ruminate: (formal) go over in the mind repeatedly and often slowly

反刍；沉思；反复思考

 E.g.: He ruminated over / on the situation before he made the final decision.  She ruminated for a long time before she expressed her opinion.

 nattering (natter v.): (BrE informal) chattering; hence, noisy  E.g.: They nattered away for an hour about nothing. 他们空谈了一个小时。

 order in sth./order sth. in = order sth. (American English) (Line 25)

 e.g. We stayed in last night, watched a video and ordered in a pizza.  Here “blessedly” means “fortunately/luckily”: the nattering Telex would have facilitated

the supply of weapons and dispatch of troops, depriving the proconsul of the excuse to delay action.

 the world’s most addicted(不可救药地）postponers:

 the world’s worst postponers who just could not free themselves from postponing

 The number of attorneys who die without a will is amazing:

 It is a usual practice for people to make a will, an official statement of the way they wish

their property to be shared out after their death before they die. And it is generally the attorneys (AmE) or lawyers who administer the wills. But attorneys themselves postpone making their own wills.

lawyer, attorney, barrister, counsel, solicitor (L 28)

These words all designate persons who had legal training, and are qualified to practice law.

 Lawyer is the general term for anyone versed in the law and duly admitted to practice. Lawyer 是最普通和广泛的术语，用来指授权给委托人提供法律咨询并在法庭上为其辩护的人

 Attorney is often used as synonym for lawyer in a general sense. In its strict sense it denotes an agent (who is not necessarily a lawyer) empowered to act in a legal capacity for another person. Attorney 通常可与lawyer 互换， 但从更狭的意义上说，它指在商业事务中代表委托人的法律代理

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A qualified lawyer who is ―called to the Bar‖ is known as a barrister He is competent to conduct court cases and, as a specialist in one of the branches of the law, is called upon for technical legal opinions and advice.出庭律师

 A solicitor similarly qualified but is ―admitted as a Solicitor‖. Solicitors can conduct court cases but the majority do not often do so. In general, a solicitor advises and assists clients in the ordering of their affairs, and, when required, he prepares the materials to be used by a barrister in the court.事务律师，讼状律师



 Counsel is a general term applied to barristers. But counsel may consist of one lawyer only or of a legal staff working as a unit to advise a client or to conduct a case in court.提供法律咨询并担任出庭律师的人

 e.g.

 Lawyers conduct lawsuits, advise clients of their legal rights and obligations, and may act on behalf of or plead for them in court.

 While she was living in Europe, her brother had power of attorney over her property.

 Mr. Johnson, a well-known barrister, is to conduct the case in the higher court of law on behalf of the prosecution.

 I was advised to put the matter into the hands of a solicitor.  After consulting with counsel, the defendant changed his idea.

 chronic (= habitual) (L 32)

 You describe someone’s bad habits or behavior as chronic when they behave like that for a long time and do not seem to be able to stop themselves.  e.g. Everyone knew that he was a chronic over-sleeper.  大家都知道他总是睡过头。

 other examples: chronic money problems (长期的) chronic disease (慢性的)

Paragraph 5

 echelon: (often plural with singular meaning) (in a group of people or organization) rank,

level 阶层

 E.g.: the top echelon of the Civil Service 文职中的最高层  the leading echelons of a government 的领导阶层  the higher (lower) echelons 较高（低）职位的全体人员

breed

 the caution that breeds delay: the great care that causes delay (L33)  e.g. Rats breed rapidly. （to produce）

 My friend Jane breeds water lilies (荷花；睡莲). (to cultivate)

 Some people believe that violence breeds violence. （cause to develop）  Fads breed in empty heads and full purses.

 流行时尚从空虚的头脑和鼓胀的钱包中产生

Paragraph 6

Watergate (1972)

 • Political scandal

 • President Richard Nixon

 • The burglarising of the Democratic Party national headquarters in the

Watergate apartment complex in Washington,D.C.  • The first resignation of a U.S. president





    

designation of a major United States political scandal that began with the burglary and

wiretapping 窃听 of the Democratic Party’s campaign headquarters, later engulfed President Richard M. Nixon and many of his supporters in a variety of illegal acts, and culminated in the first resignation of a U.S. president.

The burglary was committed on June 17, 1972, by five men who were caught in the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate apartment and office complex in Washington, D.C. Their arrest eventually uncovered a White House-sponsored plan of

espionage 间谍 against political opponents and a trail of complicity 同谋 that led to many of the highest officials, including Nixon himself, who authorized the event.

Bureaucratization, which flourished amid …prevent the hasty decisions from being made. (L 39-42)

flourish: develop rapidly

e.g. Postmodernism made its first appearance in the late twentieth century and continues to flourish now.

Flourish, when speaking of a person, an animal, etc. means “grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way”.

 

e.g. The trees planted on the school campus are flourishing.

We’re happy to see these disabled children flourish in their foster-homes.

smother (= suffocate)

To smother someone means to cover their face with something so that they cannot breathe, sometimes with the result that they will die.

e.g. Don’t put that cloth over the baby, you’ll smother him!

Paraphrase: Excessive red-tape developed because public administration was expanding in scope and because society was growing more and more complicated. In this sense, red-tape helped those in charge of policy to be fully engaged in an enormous amount of paperwork and judgment, thus making it impossible for an immature decision to result.

   

 reappraisal: re-assessment; re-evaluation 重新评估；重新评价

 many languages are studded with phrases: many languages are provided with phrases  stud: a small piece of metal which is attached to a surface as a decoration 饰钉  be studded with: be covered with something like studs  E.g.: the sky studded with stars 星光灿烂  a sea studded with islands

Paragraph 7

  

academe: the world of learning; universities collectively 学术界 c.f. academy: a place of study in a special field学院 e.g. the Academy of Sciences of China中科院

take high honors: do very well, earn great distinction

Here, the author is saying playfully that academic people are no worse postponers than others.

churn out (= produce) (L 48)

If you churn something out, you produce them in large numbers very quickly, especially things of low quality.

e.g. The factory churns out thousands of pairs of shoes every week. She churns out a new bestselling novel every year.

The factory churns out thousands of pairs of these shoes every week.

―Churn out‖ is used by the author ironically and jokingly here. Three to five pages of writing cannot be considered as a large quantity.

 

Churn out

     

Paraphrase

 many of my friends go through agonies when they face a blank page. (L 49):

 … many of my friends have a hard time the moment they attempt to put pen to paper.

Translation

 There are all sorts of rationalizations: the pressure of teaching,

responsibilities at home, checking out the latest book, looking up

another footnote. 我们有各种各样的理由：教学压力、家庭责任、查看新书、查实脚

注。

Paragraph 8

 assiduous (assiduity n.): showing great care and perseverance; hard-working

勤奋的，刻苦的；坚持不懈地，一丝不苟地进行的

 E.g.: be assiduous in one’s duties 勤奋从事本职工作  assiduous editing 一丝不苟的编辑工作

Marilyn Monroe Translation

 To many people, doing something, confronting, is the moment of truth. All

frightened people will then avoid the moment of truth entirely, or evade or

postpone it until the last ppssible moment. 对很多人来说，做某事、面对某事就是面对的时刻。于是所有害怕的人都尽量地逃避、回避或推迟这一时刻。

 drag one’s feet / heels: (L 59) to act slowly or reluctantly裹足不前；行动迟缓

(informal)

 e.g. The children wanted to watch TV, and dragged their feet when their mother

told them to go to bed.

 The mayor had promised to raise employers’ pay, but was now dragging his heels.

The Last Paragraph

 Why does the author juxtapose an entrée with a book and Blenheim

Palace? What effect is produced?

Blenheim Palace



Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown. It was built to honour the man considered Britain's greatest soldier, John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops.

Two centuries later, it became the birthplace of the country's greatest wartime leader, Winston Churchill.

Built between 1705 and 1722 and characterized by an eclectic style and a return to national roots, it is a perfect example of an 18th-century princely dwelling.





Terence Hanbury White (1906-19)



A novelist, a satirist, and a social historian who probably was best known for his brilliant adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's 15th-century romance, Morte d’Arthur, into the quartet of novels called The Once and Future King.

The Sword in the Stone is the first book of the tetrology. It was adapted into a Disney cartoon in 1963, directed by Wolfgang Reithermann.



Translation

 In fact, there is a long and honorable history of procastination to suggest that many ideas

and decisions may well improve if postponed.

事实上，拖延的历史悠久而光荣，这意味着如果推迟一下，许多想法和决定就可能有所改进。

It is something of a truism that to put off making a decision is itself a decision:

这句是it作形式主语，that从句中不定式短语作主语，故谓语动词用的是单数。something of意为―在某种意义（或程度）上‖，如：He is something of an athlete. (他有几分运动员的才能)。

Paragraph 9

 deliberation:

 1) long and careful consideration or discussion  2) slow and unhurried movement

 According to the context, the second meaning of the word is most probably what the

author meant.

 E.g.: After much deliberation, I decided not to go. 我在再三考虑后决定不去了。  speak with deliberation 字斟句酌地讲话

 for that matter: this phrase is used to emphasize or indicate that a statement made

by a person in one case is also true in another case.

 The meaning of the two consecutive sentences with this phrase as the connective is: ―The creation of a great painting, etc., like the parliamentary process, is also a system of delay and deliberation.‖

 An example sentence showing the use of for that matter follows:

 The construction workers suffered greatly from intense heat, so do the dockers, for that matter.

 time \"is not meant to be devoured in an hour or a day, but to be

consumed delicately and gradually and without haste.\"

 Paraphrase: Time is not to be spent in a great hurry, but rather be whiled away in a slow and careful way.

 Translation:时间―并不是要一小时，或一天就挥霍掉，而是应该细

腻地、缓慢地、从容地享受。‖

 pace pre. (L 74) 对不起； 请……原谅（陈述反对意见时的客套）

 

You say pace a particular person when stating an opinion to indicate politely that you realize you are disagreeing him; a formal use.

e.g. Pace the feminists, I believe my own sex is largely responsible for this impertinent curiosity. 请女权主义者原谅，我相信我们女性对这冒昧的好奇应负大部分责任。

Section I (paragraph 1)

The theme: Procrastination is not always a non-recommendable practice.  Section II (paragraph 2-8) Grounds of argument: Delayers and do-it-nowers (paragraph 2)

Delay can inspire and revive a creative soul in many fields (paragraph 3-8) 3) in the process of making fictions

4) in the field of military, diplomacy and law 5) in the higher rank of business 6) in decision making 7) in universities

8) among many people , especially women  Section III (paragraph 9)

Conclusion: What you don’t necessarily have to do today, by all means put off till tomorrow.



Passage summary

 The passage \"The Fine Art of Putting Things Off\" expresses, in a half

serious and half-joking manner, the author Demarest's view on procrastination that while in some cases it is justified and fruitful to delay, in others it is irrational and encumbering.



The notion of procrastination, as the central issue of Demarest's essay, runs through the whole piece of writing and contributes to its coherence. While coherence is basically a matter of meaning, grammatical and lexical devices, known as cohesion, are also used to enable the reader to feel more clearly the coherence of writing. An important cohesive device used in English is reference, which means the use of such words as demonstrative pronouns,

personal pronouns, and the definite article to refer, in most cases, to what has been mentioned earlier or sometimes to what is going to be mentioned later. Apart from reference, conjunction, i.e. the use of the so-called transitional words and phrases, and lexical cohesion, i.e. the repetition of a word in exactly its original form or in its synonym, or the use of related words such as its antonyms are also common types of cohesion in English. Cohesion is often found between sentences to make them \"hang together\". But it can also be used between paragraphs to weave them more closely into one piece. Let us see the way the author strengthens the ties between paragraphs as follows:



The use of the word \"Yet\" at the beginning of Para. 3 indicates that in this paragraph the reader will find something contrary to what he has read about in the preceding one. (Para. 2 illustrates the trouble procrastination may incur while Para. 3 tells the reader that delay can often inspire and revive a creative soul.)

   

At the beginning of Para. 4, the word \"cunctator\" is repeated, its first ocurrence being in Para. 1. Para. 5 begins with the parody of the proverb \"Where there is a will, there is a way\". The word \"will\" in the parody repeats the word \"will\" in the last sentence of Para. 4.

\"His point\" at the beginning of Para. 6 refers to what Manderbach says in the preceding paragraphs.

The use of the word \"also\" in the first sentence of Para. 7 refers to a similar situation mentioned previously.

IV. Language Work, Workbook 6

 avoid, escape, evade

 avoid: keep away from or keep at a distance, either by design or as the

automatic or accidental consequence of an action.

 He drove home over the bridge to avoid the traffic congestion at the sports ground.

 By driving home over the bridge he unknowingly avoided the sports-ground congestion.

escape: In its basic sense refers similarly to a deliberate or accidental keeping

clear of something. A criminal may adopt a ruse (诡计) to escape detection, or he may escape apprehension by the death of the only witness. Escape is also used with the sense of to manage to avoid, or to remain untouched or uninfluenced by something evil or harmful:

to escape being injured by the falling debris.

evade: often carries the connotation of avoidance of duty or

obligation by underhanded (不光彩的，可耻的) methods:

a taxpayer who evaded taxes by falsifying his accounts --- a punishable offence --- although he might legally have avoided a portion of the tax by taking advantage of allowable deductions

a soldier who evades hazardous duty by malingering (装病)

border, edge, fringe, margin, rim, verge

这些名词均有―边，边缘‖之意。 edge : 普通用词，指较窄的边沿。

border : 侧重刚好在界线内的一部分表面上，指较宽的边缘，也可指边缘本身。 margin : 指物体的空白边，一般较宽。 rim : 指圆形或有曲线的物体的边缘。

verge : 指明显地标志一个表在或一广阔空间的边界，或终端线，也指极狭窄的空间。常用作比喻。

brim : 指深容器的内边或河、湖等水域的最高线。

fringe : 指地毯的须边、围巾的花边、烫发的卷边或人群的边缘。

border: like margin, most often refers to plane figures (平面图形). It can indicate the area of such a figure that

is nearest to its outside edges:

 They walked about the border of the park.

The word can also refer to a circumscribing boundary that contrasts distinctly with what it encloses and thus

sets off or frames the contained area:

 a black border round the portrait of the dead sovereign (君主)  a modest border of lawn round the house

In this sense, the word may imply an added, decorative edge:  the lace border of her handkerchief

Border can, however, refer like edge to a dividing line, as in its common use for the boundary between two countries.

edge: refers to the thin line along one side of a thing:  the edge of the table the south edge of the terrace Or it may refer to the line between two sides or planes:  the edge of an axe

In either case the word refers to a line that does not circumscribe a figure but may form part

of its perimeter. As such, it can refer to any sort of boundary:  the ragged edge of the forest

Unqualified, however, the word often suggest a straight or sharp line:  He tested the edge of the knife with one finger.

Metaphorically, the word may indicate the sharp line between two contrasting qualities or states or, particularly, the line delimiting an undesirable state:  nations drifting closer to the edge of disaster

fringe: the part farthest from the centre; edge:

 It was easier to move about on the fringe of the crowd.

 The woodcutter had a little house on the fringes of the forest.  on the fringes of a city 城市的边缘 the fringe of a political party 政党的外围

 the fringes of philosophy 哲学的初步知识  fringe benefit 附加福利；附带的好处

margin: emphasizes exclusively one aspect of border, pointing to the outer area circumscribing

something, an area that is often distinct in appearance from what it encloses. Unlike border, however, margin more frequently refers to the emptiness, blankness or lack of decoration that sets off and surrounds

something. Typescript looks best when at least an inch of margin is left on all four sides of the page. To this implication of space left unused can be added the notion of its being saved for an emergency:  margin for error.

rim: the outside edge or border of especially a round or circular object. Rim refers most specifically to the open lip of a cylindrical or rounded shape:  the rim of a cup / wheel 杯口 / 轮圈  on the rim of the volcano

 the rim of the world 世界的边缘

verge: once could refer literally either to a dividing or circumscribing line in as general a way as

edge, but now it is almost completely limited to metaphorical uses. Here, it suggests the imminence or nearness of an abrupt shift to some other condition, good or bad: on the verge of succeeding at last on the verge of a nervous breakdown brim the top edge of a vessel or other container 同义词：rim, lip (杯, 碗等)边, 边缘, (河)边

–full to the brim 漫到边; 溢, 满 –to the brim 充满, 满到边缘上

assassinate, butcher, execute, kill, massacre, murder, slaughter

kill:

普通用词，含义广泛，泛指以任何方式使人、动物或植物死亡 murder: 指谋杀或凶杀。

slaughter: 本义指大批宰杀动物，也指像屠宰牲畜一样一次杀死许多人。 massacre: 语气比slaughter强。指大，尤指失去了自卫能力的人。 assassinate: 通常指因政治原因用非法手段杀害政治领袖人物或知名人士。 execute: 指依法处死罪犯。

butcher: kill (animals) usually for food consumption

assassinate, butcher, execute, kill, massacre, murder, slaughter

assassinate: murder (a ruler, politician, etc) for political reasons or reward 行刺；暗杀:  a dictator who had survived three attempts to assassinate him

butcher: butcher and slaughter can both refer to the killing of animals for food. Slaughter is the

preferred term in the meat industry, possibly because butcher has implications of brutality or because butcher can also apply to the cutting or carving of meat at any point after the actual killing. Also, butcher usually

indicates a small-scale operation, whereas slaughter can better suggest mass killing as well:  a shed in which the farmer butchered livestock to feed his own family  legislation to control the slaughtering of cattle in abattoirs (屠场)

Both words take on extremely disapproving overtones when applied to the killing of people. Butcher here suggests bungling (笨手笨脚的) inexpertness or sadistic (施虐狂的) brutality:  a rapist who had butchered his victim with a razor

Slaughter specifically suggests the killing of great numbers of people:

 Many people are needlessly slaughtered each year in road accidents. 每年都有许多人在交通事故中无辜丧生。

execute: can refer to capital punishment that a state exacts in reprisal for certain crimes:  executed for treason

 The man who murdered his wife was executed on the gallows, according to law.

Sometimes the word can refer to an on-the-spot killing of enemies or prisoners by an opponent, as in a war, occupation or insurrection (); here, the notion of legal sanction (批准) may be absent:  the six million executed by the Nazis

massacre: usually applies solely to the brutal killing of large numbers of people. In this, it is close to one aspect of slaughter, but it is more specific in suggesting the wholesale and often total

destruction of a group of relatively defenseless people by another, as in war, persecution or revenge: They massacred all the prisoners after the battle. murder: kill unlawfully, especially on purpose:

 He admitted that he had accidentally killed his wife, but denied that he had murdered her in cold blood.

 Hyperbolically (夸张地), the word can point to the mishandling of anything:  expressionless actors who murder their lines