Unit two Growing-up Pains
Child was the father of the adult:三岁看大
It is taken from William Wordsworth”s famous poem “the rainbow”. It means: all our positive and negative traits are established when we are young. Indeed, if you watch children at play, you’ll notice them demonstrate certain characteristics which remain with them forever. So it is necessary to groom children to adopt healthy and positive traits so that they grow up to be balanced individuals.
The Rainbow
William Wordsworth
My heart leaps up when I behold A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man; And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
吾心激荡 威廉·华兹华斯
每当我仰望天空的彩虹 我的心就会激烈的跳动 我来到这个世界时如此 如今我长大成人时如此 以后我垂垂老去时如此 或者让我死去亦是如此 年幼是长大成人的奠基 我希望生命来回往复着 伴着与生的虔诚流连着
这首诗无论怎么翻译都无法把原诗的含义表达出来，反而把原诗蕴涵的哲学及宗教意义丧失。“彩虹”不仅是自然中的彩虹，更是心中的彩虹，祂代表的是人类的救主耶稣基督，这是在圣经旧约创世纪中耶稣与诺亚的对话中表达的。耶稣说，当你看到天边的彩虹时，那就是我，我以彩虹为约，不再以洪水为惩罚手段。是为“彩虹之约”。正因如此，当诗人看到彩虹时才会如此欣喜若狂，激动不已。自然中的彩虹不一定天天
有，但心中的彩虹必时时拥有。
当我处于儿童时期时心中就有彩虹，现在有，以后也会有。如果心中失去彩虹，将与行尸走肉无异。即使肉体还在但灵魂已死。“儿童是人之父”有多重含义：其一是指耶稣基督降生之时他已经是人类的天父；这里的儿童当然是指圣母玛利亚在马厩生下耶稣之时，当他还是婴儿之时已然是人之父；其二是指人的成长发展历程，昔日的儿童现在已经长大成人，已经是人之父；其三是说浪漫主义的理念，崇尚简单、质朴、自然、天真、纯洁的东西，儿童是这一切的代表，而这正是人类所应该回归和发展的本源和方向。这一点与道家老子的观点有一致的地方——“复归于朴”、“复归于婴儿”。诗人最后希望他的每一天每一时心中都有这种天然的虔敬，都有“彩虹” 。
少年 teenager adolescent juvenile 青年 青春期 puberty adolescence 成年人 adult
Understanding the quotations
1. Little children, headache; big children, heartache.
In terms of problems that children give to their parents, big children are far more troublesome than little ones. 2. Mother Nature is providential. She gives us twelve years to develop a love for our children before
turning them into teenagers.
Mother Nature has designed everything for us. She gives us twelve years to establish a close and affectionate parent-child bone before they become troublesome teenagers who keep giving us headaches.
3. Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in
the world, who are probably not so sure themselves.
Adolescents are not frightening creatures. They are probably in confusion and are trying to earn their own position among adults in the world.
Reading one The Needs of Teenagers Background knowledge 1. Rebellious teenagers
The dictionary defines the verb “to revel” as “to resist or rise up against a government or other authority.” The rebel is therefore a person who dissents from some accepted moral code or convention of behavior, dress, etc. rebelliousness is typical of youth and unusual in childhood. It is not that children are never disobedient, but their conduct has a very different significance from that of the teenager. Before thirteen, the child disobeys through carelessness or in order to refuse something he dislikes. After that age, at fourteen, he disobeys, not because it upsets him to be ordered about, but to protest against the idea of being subordinate to another, as implied in the very notion of obedience. The substance of what he is told is less important to him than the tone of voice of the person giving the orders.
Within the home, this rebelliousness usually becomes acute between the age of fourteen and seventeen, that is, at the stage which is a time of negative attitudes and impertinence. Outside the family unit, rebelliousness against social customs, values and structures appears later and sometimes continues after the age of twenty, as in the so-called student unrest.
Part one: Check your comprehension A 1.T 2.F 3.T 4.T 5.F 6.F Part two: Check your comprehension B
1. to be independent/independence/freedom/their own lives 2. primitives/simple/tribal way 3. become adults
4. frustrated, rebellious, restless 5. became/were furious 6. the house key
Part three: Check your vocabulary
1. The basic necessities of life are food, shelter and clothing.
2. Some patients suffer greatly from diseases, so doctors and nurses sometimes have to sit up with them at night. 3. The only chance for us to achieve success is to keep a rein on our feelings and words.
4. This is the first time that the girl has left her parents. I am sure after a little while she will adapt to the life at
college.
5. In the modern city, his house looks very primitive with its earthen floor and mud walls.
6. We can’t leave home before we become adults, for we have a lot to learn and can’t look after ourselves at
puberty.
7. The headmaster is never lenient to children who tell lies. 8. Things have worked out well with Marian so far.
9. Judging from what you have said, it seems that you have grown apart from Tom.
10. I realize she can be annoying, but all the same I think you should apologize for losing your temper.
Reading two The Right Attitude Part one: Check your comprehension A
1. They often feel upset and regard it as an unfair criticism on their own cooking, cleaning or other
housekeeping matters and sometimes they are foolish enough to reveal this feeling in front of their children and even more foolish to comment negatively in the friends’ parents.
2. They are shocked by their parents’ childish behavior and decide that in the future they will not talk to their
parents about the places or people they visit
3. They will complain that the child is to secretive and never tells them anything.
4. They like parents to be people who will admit their mistakes when they have done something wrong, or when
they have been ignorant, unfair or unjust. Children don’t like parents who refuse to admit that they do make mistakes.
Part two: Check your comprehension B 1.F 2.F 3.T 4.T 5.T 6.T Part three: Check your vocabulary 1.a 2.c 3.a 4.a 5.c
Reading three The Baffling question Part one: Check your comprehension A 1.T 2.F 3.T 4. F 5.T Part two: Check your comprehension B
1. One child sits in a chair and sticks out his/her leg so that another one running by is launched like a space
shuttle.
2. Several children run to the same door, grab the same handle, and beat each other up, ignoring the fact that
there are other doors available.
3. In restaurants, small children cast their bread on the water in the glasses the waiter has just brought. 4. A child uses a chair to slip to the floor.
5. They yell at each other with one sticking his/her foot inside the door and waving it around, and the other
being disgusted but refusing to close the door. Part three: Check your vocabulary A
1. You have decided to give up the joys of musing over some great art pieces at your own ease in order to have
babies, dealing with whom may even drive you nuts.
2. “Well,” I said, searching for a wise suggestion as Father, “The best way is to close your door.” 3. And we decided to have children not for the reason of making my wife look older.
4. What we could design for our future were just sweet Saturdays when we could go shopping for little valuable
things after comfortable brunches together .
Part four: Check your vocabulary B
1. intimate 2. confess 3. make up 4. ceaseless 5. yell 6. paternal 7. rewarding
Reading four Unconditional Mom Background knowledge 1. Soap opera
The term “soap opera” was coined by the American press in the 1930s to denote the extraordinarily popular genre of serialized domestic radio dramas, which, by 1940, represented some 90% of all commercially-sponsored daytime broadcast hours. The “soap” in soap opera alluded to their sponsorship by manufacturers of household cleaning products; while “opera” suggested an ironic incongruity between the domestic narrative concerns of the daytime serial and the most elevated of dramatic forms.
In the United States, the term continues to be applied primarily to the approximately fifty hours each week of daytime serial television drama broadcast by ABC, NBC, and CBS, but the meaning of the term, both in the U.S. and else where, exceed this generic designation. 2. Suicidal teenagers
According to a recent statistical report, suicide has become the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24 and the fourth leading cause of death for those between the ages of 10 and 14. boys commit suicide more often than girls, but no one in immune. In one of the recent surveys of high school students, 60 percent said they had thought about killing themselves. About 9 percent said they had tried at least once. It is time for us to take the subject of suicide seriously. It doesn’t seem right that a teenager who has lived for such a short time would choose to die.
Why has the youth suicide rate gone so high in recent years? Some of the reasons are summarized as follows: 1. The pressures of modern life are getting greater.
2. Competition for good grades and college admission is stiffer 3. There’s more violence in the newspapers and on television 4. Broken parental relationship makes things difficult
As a parent, you can help prevent teenager suicide by doing the following:
1. Ask your teenager about it. Don’t be afraid to say the word “suicide” Getting the word out in the open may
help your teenager think someone has heard his/her cries for help
2. Reassure him/her that you love him/her. Remind him/her that no matter how awful his/her problems seem,
they can be worked out, and you are willing to help.
3. Ask him/her to talk about his/her feelings. Listen carefully. Do not dismiss his/her problems or get angry at
him/her.
4. Remove all lethal weapons from your home, including buns, pills, kitchen utensils and ropes.
5. Seek professional help. Ask your teenager’s pediatrician to guide you. A variety of outpatient and
hospital-based treatment programs are available. 6.
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