现代大学英语精读 课文讲解Lesson 5

Teaching Notes to Lesson 5 The One Against the Many Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Notes to Guide to Reading

1. Brief introduction to the author

Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007), influential U.S. historian noted for his liberal politics and histories of the presidencies of Andrew Jackson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In addition to his scholarly work, Schlesinger took an active political role in Democratic Party politics. He was the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards. Schlesinger was the son of the U.S. historian Arthur Meier Schlesinger. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and given the name Arthur Bancroft at birth, but he later adopted his father’s middle name. The family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, when his father became a history professor at Harvard University. Schlesinger was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire where he graduated at the age of 15. After a year of traveling, he enrolled at Harvard, graduating in 1938. During World War II (1939-1945), Schlesinger worked in the Office of War Information and then in the Office of Strategic Planning.

Schlesinger’s postgraduate studies led him to write The Age of Jackson (1945), a reassessment of Jackson’s presidency. It became a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1946. That same year he accepted a position as an associate professor of history at Harvard. He remained on the faculty there, becoming a full professor in 1954, until taking a leave of absence in 1961. In 1947 he helped found the liberal Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). While at Harvard, Schlesinger wrote the three-volume The Age of Roosevelt (1957-1960), which many historians regard as his finest work.

In 1952, 1956, and 1960 Schlesinger was a campaign staff member and speechwriter for Democratic presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. After Kennedy took office in 1961, he appointed

Schlesinger special assistant. Schlesinger later wrote an account of the Kennedy administration, A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Published in 1965, the book won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1966 and a National Book Award.

Schlesinger resigned in 1964, shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, and in 1967 became professor of humanities at the City University of New York.

After writing The Politics of Hope (1963), Schlesinger emerged as a liberal critic of Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson, particularly for Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam War (1959-1975). His book The Bitter Heritage: Vietnam and American Democracy, 1941-1966 (1967) was an attack on Johnson’s policies. In 1973 Schlesinger published The Imperial Presidency, in which he argued that Republican president Richard Nixon had overreached the powers of the presidency. Schlesinger called for Nixon’s impeachment. Schlesinger again won the National Book Award for Robert Kennedy and His Times (1978). In The Cycles of American History (1986), Schlesinger elaborated on his thesis that America goes through cycles of liberal and conservative periods. His last work, War and the American Presidency (2004), critiqued the U.S.-Iraq War and the foreign policy doctrines of President George W. Bush.

Microsoft ? Encarta ? 2009. ? 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

2. go into effect: come into effect/use; begin to be applicable

3. dogmatic preconceptions 教条的成见: preconceptions: preconceived idea/notion; prejudice 4. reemphasize the principle of “seeking truth from reality” 5. cast away dogmatism

6. coexistence of a variety of models of development

7. voice one opposition to those “who would reduce the world to one” 8. have a monopoly on sth

明治维新 Meiji Reform; Meiji Restoration (the reign title of Mutsuhito, 1868-1912) 戊戌变法 the Reform Movement of 1898

Notes to the text proper Part I (Para. 1)

This is the opening paragraph, raising the issue of American experience in achieving rapid national development. Para. 1

1. In an epoch dominated by the aspirations of new states for national development, it is

instructive to recall that the United States itself began as an underdeveloped country. 1) compare period, epoch, era and age

age 1 S1 W1 / e?d? / noun

1 HOW OLD [ uncountable and countable ] the number of years someone has lived or something has existed → old : Francis is the same age as me.

Experts disagree over the age of the drawings. Dad retired at the age of 56. at age 5/18 etc

In Britain, schooling starts at age 5.

4/15 etc years of age (= 4, 15 etc years old ) She was just over 16 years of age.

at my/your etc age (= when you are as old as me etc ) At my age, it’s quite difficult getting up the stairs. over/under the age of 5/18 etc people over the age of 65

for his/her etc age (= compared with other people of the same age ) She’s tall for her age, isn’t she?

REGISTER

In everyday English, people usually use the expression how old …? rather than using the noun age :

What age is your brother? ? How old is your brother? | They asked me my age. ? They asked me how old I was.

2 LEGAL AGE [ uncountable ] the age when you are legally old enough to do something :

What’s the minimum age for getting a driver’s license?

You’re not allowed to buy alcohol. You’re under age (= too young by law ) . The normal retirement age is 65.

3 PERIOD OF LIFE [ uncountable and countable ] one of the particular periods of someone’s life :

When you get to old age, everything seems to take longer. The early teens are often a difficult age.

4 BEING OLD [ uncountable ] the state of being old → youth with age

High blood pressure increases with age.

Some of the furniture was showing signs of age .

5 PERIOD OF HISTORY [ countable usually singular ] a particular period of history SYN era :

We are living in the age of technology.

Molecular biology is pushing medicine into a new age.

→ in this day and age at DAY ( 6 )

6 ages [ plural ] ( also an age ) especially British English informal a long time : Simon! I haven’t seen you for ages . That recipe takes ages .

it’s ages since/before/until etc something It’s ages since we’ve played that game.

7 come of age

a) to reach the age when you are legally considered to be a responsible adult

b) if something comes of age, it reaches a stage of development at which people accept it as being important, valuable etc :

During this period the movies really came of age as an art form.

→ NEW AGE 1 , NEW AGE 2

COLLOCATIONS

ADJECTIVES/NOUN + AGE

old age (= the time when you are old ) the problems of old age middle age (= between about 40 and 60 ) He was in late middle age.

a great/advanced age (= a very old age ) My aunt died at a great age. | Kirby is not alone in wanting to run his own business at an advanced age.

a difficult/awkward age (= used mainly about the time when people are teenagers ) 13 – 16 is often a difficult age.

retirement age The risk of experiencing poverty is much greater for those over retirement age.

school age Children should start doing homework as they approach high school age. school-leaving age British English The government is proposing to raise the minimum school-leaving age.

the legal age In the US, the legal age for drinking alcohol is 21. the minimum age 16 years is the minimum age to drive a car. the voting age plans to bring down the voting age from 18 to 16 the marrying age She was 28 – long past the usual marrying age.

PHRASES

from an early/young age She’d been playing the piano from a very early age. at an early/young age Kids can start learning a second language at a young age. somebody (of) your own age He needs to find people his own age.

of childbearing age (= at the age when a woman can have children ) It is against the law to refuse to employ a woman of childbearing age because she may become pregnant.

of working age 55 percent of the people are of working age.

the age of consent (= when you are legally allowed to marry or have sex ) At 15, the girl was under the age of consent.

AGE + NOUN

an age group/bracket/range Men in the 50–65 age group are most at risk from heart disease. | The school takes in children from the seven to eleven age range. an age limit There’s no upper age limit for drivers.

age discrimination laws against age discrimination in the workplace

VERBS

get to/reach/live to a particular age One in three children die before they reach the age of 5. | The number of people living to to the age of 80 has doubled in the last fifty years.

lower/raise the age (= at which something can be done ) The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

look/feel your age (= look or feel as old as you really are ) The singer is 46, but she doesn’t look her age at all. | I keep getting aches in my legs and I’m starting to feel my age.

act your age (= behave in the way that a person of your age should behave ) It’s time he started acting his age.

ask/say your age (= ask or say how old you are ) It’s rude to ask a woman her age.

COLLOCATIONS

the Ice Age (= one of the long periods of time, thousands of years ago, when ice covered many northern countries )

the Stone Age (= the very early time in human history, when only stone was used for making tools, weapons etc )

the Bronze Age (= the period of time, between about 6,000 and 4,000 years ago, when bronze was used for making tools, weapons etc )

the Iron Age (= the period of time, about 3,000 years ago, when iron was first used for making tools, weapons etc )

the Middle Ages (= the period in European history between about 1100 and 1500 AD ) the Dark Ages (= the period in European history from 476 AD to about 1000 AD ) the Elizabethan age (= the period 1558–1603 when Elizabeth I was queen of England )

the Victorian age (= the period 1837–1901 when Victoria was Queen of England ) the industrial age (= the time during the late 18th and early 19th centuries when goods or substances such as coal and steel were first produced in large quantities using machines )

the modern age (= from the 20th century until the present ) the technical and scientific achievements that ushered in the modern age

the space age (= since vehicles were able to travel in space )

the nuclear age (= since nuclear energy was used for weapons or energy )

the computer age (= since computers became widely used ) the modern computer age the information age (= since the Internet has become widely used ) Business has had to evolve in the information age.

a golden age (= a time of great happiness or success ) a television show from the golden age of British comedy

a new age (= a time when things are better than they were in the past ) Supporters see the coming season as the dawning of a new age for the club.

THESAURUS

A PERIOD IN HISTORY

period a particular time in history, especially one studied as a subject : the late Victorian period | the interwar period | During that period many people moved from the countryside to the towns.

time a period of years, months, days etc : The 1960s were a time of great social change. | the biggest earthquake in modern times | Verdun was an important city in Roman times.

age a long period, especially one that represents a particular stage in the development of civilization or technology : the industrial age | We are now in the age of the Internet. | the Stone Age (= when people used tools made of stone )

era a long period that has a particular character or that is marked by particular events : We live in an era of breathtaking change. | the post-war era | De Gaulle’s death marked the end of an era .

epoch / ?i?p?k $ ?ep?k / formal means the same as era , but sounds more formal and important : We are now entering a new epoch in human history. | the colonial epoch | It was the end of an epoch .

Period is the general term for any portion of historical time.

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