Unit 1
阅读1
Summarising
In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. The relaxed atmospherehad disappeared, and the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Meanwhile, at the back of everyone's mind was what we would do next after graduation. As for me, I wanted to travel, and I wanted to be a writer. I bracedmyself for someresistanceto the idea from my father, who wanted me to go to law school, and follow his paththrough life.
However, he supported what I wanted but he made me think about it by watching the crabs。The cage was full of crabs. One of them was trying to escape, but each time it reached the topthe other crabs pulled it backIn the end it gave uplengthy struggle to escape and started to prevent other crabs from escaping. By watching crabs, my father told me me not to be pulled backby others, and tohimself betterget to know
难句分析
1．… and we all started to get our heads down … (Para 1) 我们开始埋头学习。
2．No one wanted the humiliation of finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Libraries which were once empty after five o’clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their sleepy faces with pride, like medals proving their diligence. (Para 1)
我们谁都不想考全班倒数第一，那也太丢人了，因此同学们之间的竞争压力特别大。以前每天下午五点以后，图书馆就空无一人了，现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座，小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋，他们脸色苍白，睡眼惺忪，却很自豪，好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章。
3．It wasn’t always the high flyers with … Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life mapped out. (Para 2, Line 3-7)
并不总是那些心怀抱负、成绩拔尖的高材生才清楚自己将来要做什么，常常是那些平日里默默无闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划。
4．One had landed a job in his brother’s advertising firm in Madison Avenue, another had got a script under provisional acceptance in Hollywood. (Para 2) 有位同学在位于麦迪逊大道他哥哥的广告公司得到了一份工作，另一位同学写的电影脚本已经与好莱坞草签了合约。
5．The most ambitious student among us was going to work as a party activist at a local level. We all saw him ending up in the Senate or in Congress one day.(Para
2)
我们当中野心最大的一位同学准备到地方上当一个政党活动家，我们都预料他最终会当上参议员或国会议员。
单词
impressive adj. 1. I was very impressed by the efficiency of the staff.
2. There was somethingimpressive about Julia’s quiet dignity. 3. She looked suitablyimpressedwhen I told her about my new jobs. 4. It’s an impressiveceremony. ambitiousadj. 1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. 2. Every French soldier carries a marshal’s (元帅) baton (指挥棒) in his knapsack (背包). (Napoléon Bonaparte)
mortgagen. 1. 申请贷款apply for a mortgage 2. 获得贷款get/obtain a mortgage 3. 发放抵押贷款issue a mortgage 4. 归还抵押借款pay back a mortgage 5. 土地抵押a mortgage on land
criticizev. 1. Plans for the new road have drawn fierce ___criticism__ from local people. 2. His father was a very ____critical___ man. 3. She is a very discerning art ____critic__.
4. The book presents a ___critique__ of the Government’s policies.
5. Social services were strongly ____critique____ for not taking more action
to protect children at risk.
brimv. 1. If you fill the cup to the brim with wine, what will happen? The cup will brim over.
2. If you hear a sad story, how will you feel? I will be brimming over with sympathy.
3. Which one helps to prevent severe sunburn, a hat with a narrow brim, or a hat with a wide brim?
a hat with a wide brim.
4. What does the proverb Better spare at brim than at bottom tell us? To avoid want later, we’d better save early.
productiveadj. 1. Our soil is fertile, our agriculture productive. 我们的土地肥沃，农产也很富饶。
2. Relations of production must conform to the level of productive forces. 生产关系必须适合生产力。
3. 在她创作生涯中最多产的时期,她写了五本小说。
During the most productive time in her career, she wrote five novels. 4. 双方都认为，他们共事的经历是令人满意，富有成效的。
Both acknowledged that their working together had been a satisfying and productive experience.
at/in the back of one’s mind 1. You must be out of your mind to want to see him again.
to be crazy
2. I’m in two minds about accepting the job.
to have difficulty in making a decision
3. Er, let me think. Sorry, my mind's gone blank. to be unable to remember or think anything
4. The old lady can still see in her mind’s eye every piece of furniture in the house where she lived as a child. to imagine or remember what it looks like bracesth. For 1. I braced myself for some resistance to my idea. 我做好了遭到反对的心理准备。
2. 我认为对未来我们应该有一个明确的目标和详细的计划，为日后可能遇到的挑战做好充分的准备。 I think we should have a definite goal and detailed plan, so as to brace ourselves for any challenges.
map out 1. Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life mapped out.
常常是那些平日里默默无闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生 做好了规划。
2. 对于是否应该在大学期间详细规划自己的未来，学生们意见不一。
Students differ about whether they should have their future mapped out when they are still at university.
语法
It is/was not just that… but…
1. 感恩节那天，不仅仅是商店关了门，而且街上一个人也没有。
It wasn’t just that the shops were all closed for Thanksgiving, but there was no one in the streets.
2.对他所说的话，他们不仅不听，而且根本就不感兴趣。
It wasn’t just that they weren’t listening to what he said, but it seemed as if they weren’t at all interested. 3. 我不仅难过，而且觉得自己就要哭了。 It wasn’t just that I was upset, but I felt as if I was going to burst out crying.
有用的表达
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
课堂出勤率attendance at classes
同学们之间的竞争压力peer group pressure
谁都不想···那也太丢人了No one wanted the humiliation of 熬夜熬出了眼袋wear the bags under one’s eyes 脸色苍白，睡眼惺忪pale, sleepy faces 在某人的心里at the back of one’s mind
心怀抱负、成绩拔尖的高材生the high flyers with the top grades
为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划have the next stages of one’s life mapped out
9. 追随···的人生足迹follow sb’s path through life
10. 做好了遭到反对的心理准备brace oneself for some resistance to
11. 加入一个暂时报酬高的行业go into a career which pays well just at the moment 12. 沿海水域没什么风浪no surf on the coastal waters 13. 挤满了brim with
14. 被···拽下来be pulled back
15. 放弃了漫长的逃亡之战give up one’s lengthy struggle to escape
阅读二
1. We already know how the story ends… We get to choose the meat of the story. 2. So, all those plans that you have on the back burner… 3. … there isn’t a tomorrow. There’s only a promissory note that we are often
not in a position to cash.
4. … you’ll have nothing to show for it but regret and a rear-view mirror
full of “could haves” … 5. Fill your bowl. 6. The right time is the cheque that’s permanently in the post, it never arrives.
It’s the girl who keeps us standing at the corner of the Co-op looking like a spanner.
成熟的时机是一张支票，它永远都在邮寄的路上，永远都不会到来。它就是那位让我们在合作社旁边像桥墩那样站着傻等的女孩，我们再怎么看表也无济于事，她失约了。
重点难句
I have watched death from the sidelines…nothing underlines the uncertainty and absolute frailty of humanity like the untimely exit of a friend. (Para. 1) 其实我最近就曾经从局外人的角度观察过死亡，没有什么比朋友的早逝更能表明人生的无常
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