1. Unit Ten The Idiocy of Urban Life

2. Contents A. Text one I. Pre-reading:I. Pre-reading (I). Warm-up questions (II). Background information II. While-reading: Text Analysis (I) Structure analysis (II) Comprehension questions (III) Language points (IV) Difficult sentences III. Post-Reading: (I) Grammatical items (II) Translation Exercises (III) Oral activities (IV) Writing practice B. Text two （ I ） Questions for text comprehension （ I ） Questions for text comprehension （ II ） Language points （ II ） Language points

3. I. Pre-Reading Warm-up Discussion Which life do you prefer, rural life or urban life? –likes-dislikes Can you list three symbols of rural life and those of urban life respectively?

4. II. While-reading: Text Analysis (I) Structure analysis Can you divide the text into 3 parts & summarize A) the thesis of the author’s argument in part I; B) main ideas for part II & III

5. Part I (Para.1,2) –What do you think the life between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. is like? (Could you list at least three things) –What about the life at night in the author’s description?

6. –Language Points –Idiocy: extreme foolishness –It’s sheer idiocy to go climbing in such bad weather. –Cruise:drive a vehicle at a moderate speed –Taxis cruised about, hoping to pick up late fares. –Sleek: (of hair, fur or skin) Smooth and shiny A sleek, shiny sports-car

7. Well-groomed: (of a person) looking clean,tidy and carefully dressed You can’t look well-groomed with dirty nails and unpolished shoes. Reign vi.: rule He reigned over the country for ten years.

8. Congregate: collect or gather into a mass The crowds congregated in the square to hear the president speak. Gregarious: sociable, fond of company My gregarious neighbor, Mrs. Brown, throws a party every weekend. Atomize: reduce sth to atoms or particles

9. Part II (Para.3-9) –How many subsections can this part be divided into? –What’s the idiocy of the city dwellers’ trying to live outside the city boundaries? (summarize para.3-4 for 3 points)

10. Para 3-4 Lunacy: mad or foolish act It’s sheer lunacy driving in this weather. Exurb:a district outside a city ( 城市之远郊 ) Rururb: (rural+urban) an area sharing rural and urban ways of life Disdain: despise A real man disdains flatterers. n.[U] I have nothing but disdain for such a person.

11. Quaintly: oddly Solitude: the state of being alone 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。 They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. Pampering: indulgence City dwellers take the city with them to the country, for they will not live without its pamperings--- what does it mean?

12. Para 5-6 YMCA: To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body http://www.ymca.net/ http://www.ymcaworldservice.org/today/ china/ (service in China)http://www.ymcaworldservice.org/today/ china/ Paraphrase …to the rush-hour traffic into the city there is now added a rush-hour traffic out to the suburbs in the morning…

13. Para 7 What is the most symbolic lunacy of all urban life? Why? Why cannot city dwellers have any true sense of season changes?

14. Grievous: causing grief or suffering a grievous railroad accident Fetid: smelling foul or unpleasant Spindly: long and tall and thin

15. Reel: move from side to side unsteadily The drunk man reeled down the street. Para 8-9 What causes Americans to be most round-shouldered in the world?

16. Posture: way in which a person holds himself as he stands, walks or sits Poor posture will give you backache. Fonda-ize: do fashionable exercises in the way Jane Fonda does.

17. Part III(P.10): –What example is used in this part? What is it used to illustrate? –Language Points slump: shoulders or head bend forward because you are unhappy, tired or unconscious

18. III. Post-Reading Rhetorical Feature –Attitudinal words and expressions Pick out these words and expressions that are used to describe city people and city life.