新视角研究生英语读说写1第六单元 Unit Six The Right to Fail

Unit 6 The Right to Fail

Background Information

1. About the author and the text

William Zinsser is a former newspaper reporter, prolific magazine writer, editor, teacher and renowned writing coach. His fifteen books include the classic On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (now in its 25th anniversary edition), as well as Writing to Learn, How to Write a Memoir, Speaking of Journalism, Writing About Your Life: A Journey to the Past and Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. During the 1970s Zinsser was master of Branford College at Yale University, where he taught nonfiction writing. Now he is teaching in the Journalism School of Columbia University. 2. Famous dropouts

As William Zinsser suggested in the article, \the young, dropping out is often a way of dropping in.\The following list introduces some famous dropouts to you:

1) Elementary school dropouts

Charles Dickens: best-selling British author, writer of Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Hard Times, Oliver Twist, etc.

Thomas Edison: self-made multimillionaire, American inventor; electrical power usage pioneer; filmmaker; knighted.

Benjamin Franklin: American political-diplomat-author-printer-publisher-scientist-inventor; co-author and co-signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; one of the founders of The United States of America; face is pictured on the U.S. one-hundred dollar bill (formal education of less than two years; home schooling/life experience).

Kaba Gandhi: father of Indian political leader Mohandas, \Gandhi (no formal education; home schooling/life experience).

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Claude Monet: French painter; master of Impressionism artist, whose famous painting is Water Lilies

2) High school dropouts

Julie Andrews: Oscar-winning actress-singer [The Sound of Music); best-selling British author; bestowed the rank of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.

John Jacob Astor: self-made multimillionaire; German-born early American businessman; America's first multimillionaire.

Joseph Brodsky: winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, Russian-born American poet.

Joschka Fischer: German politician; Foreign Minister. Soichiro Honda: self-made multimillionaire; Japanese businessman; motorcycle industry pioneer; founder of the Honda Motor Company.

Peter Jackson: Oscar-winner [The Lord of the Rings trilogy); New Zealand film director-writer-producer.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek: Dutch microscope maker; world's first microbiologist; discoverer of bacteria, blood cells, and sperm cells.

John Woo: Chinese-born film director [Mission Impossible 2, Broken Arrow, Windtalkers, etc.) 3) College dropouts

F. Scott Fitzgerald: American writer; drop out of Princeton, works including The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, etc.

Woody Allen: Hollywood Actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright (Manhattan, Annie Hall, Melinda and Melinda, etc.), expelled from New York University and City College of New York.

Bill Gates: self-made multimillionaire; drop out of Harvard; founder of Microsoft.

Michael Dell: self-made multimillionaire, dropped out of. the University of Texas, founder of Dell computer.

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3. Bill Gates' 11 rules to students

1) Life is not fair, get used to it. 2) The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. 3）You will not make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone, until you earn both.

4） If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't

have tenure.

5）Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a

different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

6） If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about our

mistakes, learn from them.

7） Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now.

They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents'generation, try \closet in your own room.

8） Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not.

In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

9）Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very

few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time. 10）

Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the

coffee shop and go to jobs. 11）

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Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Notes

1. What I don't like is that we use it almost entirely as a dirty word. (Para. I): But I dislike that the word \the idea of \

dirty word: an idea or sth else that people disapprove of; an unpleasant idea or word 人们不赞成的念头或话语，不得体的话语或念头等 e.g. \is a dirty word these days for those who are very

conservative.

Nowadays \tends to be a slightly dirty word as far as organizations are concerned.

2. Yet an adult who spends his days and nights watching mindless TV programs is more of a dropout than an eighteen-year-old who quits college, with its frequently mindless courses to become, say, a VISTA volunteer. (Para. 2): However, if we compare an adult who is addicted to stupid TV programs daily with a youngster who withdraws from the college that offers stupid courses and becomes a volunteer, for example, in the VISTA, the former is more of a dropout than the latter.

mindless adj.:

1) quite lacking in or not requiring intelligence 愚蠢的，不需要智慧的 e.g. Since we all agree that the work in the warehouse is mindless and

tiring, all of us three have decided to leave as soon as possible. His drinking bouts frequently ended in mindless violence. 2) paying no attention to; forgetful of 不注意，忘却 e.g. He is mindless of the danger of fire.

Mindless of the popular trends, the singer finds success again.

3. For the young, dropping out is often a way of dropping in. (Para. 2): For

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the young, to withdraw from the routine life is often a way to begin a life of their own.

drop out: not take part; move away from or refuse to join ordinary society because of not agreeing to accepted practices, standards, and ways of living 退出，退学

e.g. Every year some of the students taking this difficult

course have to drop out before Christmas.

Using both structures, there will still be many trainees who drop out or are deemed unsuited as advice workers.

drop in: originally it means \as the antonym of \out\it means \a real life, return to the main trend\

4. A boy or girl who leaves college is branded a failure — and the right to fail is one of the few freedoms that this country does not grant its citizens. (Para. 3): Any youngster who drops out from college is taken as a failure, and the country's values do not allow anyone to fail.

brand vt.: give ... a bad name 栽诬，指责……为坏人

e.g. Despite his hard work for the company, he was branded as a betrayer.

The most important revolution in education for decades was branded a flop by school inspectors.

5. our magazine articles a toast to people who made it to the top. (Para. 3): our magazine is publishing articles that praise those who have succeeded in earning material success and reaching the top of the social ladder.

6. Happiness goes to the man who has the sweet smell of achievement. (Para. 3): Only those who are successful in life will feel happy and enjoy their life. 7. We need mavericks and dissenters and dreamers far more than we need junior vice-presidents, but we paralyze them by insisting that every step be a

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step up to the next rung of the ladder. (Para. 4): We need those who have their own idea about life and who are working for their dreams more than those who are successful in terms of routine. However, since our society insists that everyone should climb the social ladder step by step. Those who do not follow this will not reach the top.

paralyze vt.: make ineffective; cause to stop working 使无能为力，使停止工作 e.g. The death of her parents paralyzed the poor girl and she could only

succumb to the president.

A blanket assault on our institutions and motives can paralyze the nation's capacity to govern itself.

8. Yet in the fluid years of youth, the only way for boys and girls to find their? proper road is often to take a hundred side trips, poking out in different directions, faltering, drawing back, and starting again. (Para. 4): But the youth period for anyone is full of changes. Only after youngsters divert from the designated road, search for directions, can they restart their journey and finally find the proper road to the future.

9. But what if we fail? They ask, whispering the dreadful word across the Generation Gap to their parents, who are back home at the Establishment nursing their middle-class values and cultivating their goal-oriented society. The parents whisper back: Don't! (Para. 5): But boys and girls wonder what would happen if they fail, and this concern is sent to their parents, who are adhering to established social order, believing in the social-admitted middle-class value and working hard to construct a society which impose the same goal to each member, parents are terrified by the idea that their children may fail, and urge youth to join the main stream instead of following their own path.

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the Establishment: an established social order, esp. the traditional ruling class elite and the structures of society which they control 体制，统治阶级精英及其控制的社会

e.g. Sociologically, one who does not belong to the Establishment is an outsider. Recently the conservative critics have asserted that the liberal has

become the newEstablishment.

10. Countless people have had a bout with it and come out stronger as a result. (Para. 6): Many people have experienced failures which have made them stronger.

come out:

1) appear 结果是，显现

e.g. In her speech, the Minister came out against any change to the

existing law, which was beyond everyone's expectation. He came out well in that picture. 2) become known 传出，（真相）大白 e.g. They don't want the secret to come out yet.

When the news came out, all of us became angry. 3) be published 被刊行，被出版 e.g. When will his new book come out?

The report about the development in that country can't come out for some reason.

11. Luckily, such rebels still turn up often enough to prove that individualism, though badly threatened, is not extinct. (Para. 7): Fortunately such dissenters or mavericks often appear in life and they prove that the individualism, which has been threatened by the power of routine, still exists.

12. Hoving was a dropout's dropout, entering and leaving schools as if they were motels, often at the request of the management. (Para. 7): Hoving's action was unique even among the group of the dropouts. He entered and left schools

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several times as if he went to and left motels, since he often violated the school codes or failed to meet the academic requirement and had to drop out.

at the request of: because of the request of, responding to one's request 应……的要求

e.g. The security was strengthened at the request o/her agent.

At the request of the Ministry of Public Health, the sale of the medicine will be suspended.

13. There is nothing accidental about the grip that this dropout continues to

hold on the affections of an entire American generation. (Para. 8): Holden Caulfield, the hero in The Catcher in the Rye, is still attracting the new American generation and this does not happen by chance, i.e. there must be some the underlying reason.

grip n.: a very tight forceful hold 紧握，紧抓

e.g. Hold the bar with an alternate grip -that is one palm facing outwards and one

facing inwards.

His speech has a good grip on an audience.

14. Nobody else, real or invented, has made such an engaging shambles of our \power and the good guys up the creek. (Para. 8): In real life or in our imaginations, we have never met anyone like Holden Caulfield, who has created such an attractive confusion about our society, which only believes in final goal, being satisfied with the belief that our society is controlled by the phonies while good guys are in trouble.

shambles n.: [colloquial, singular) muddle or confusion 紊乱，混乱（的地方或场所）

e.g. The meeting ended in a shambles and everyone shouted with anger.

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Your room is in a shambles. Tidy it up! gratify vt.: give what is desired to, indulge 使满足

e.g. If parents want to gratify their children's thirst for knowledge, they need

to become good readers and questioners themselves.

I am gratified to know that my favorite star will have a show in our city. Gratification n: 喜悦，满足；令人满足的事务 e.g. His son's success is a great gratification to him.

we can't hide our gratification. phony:

1) n. someone or sth pretended, false, unreal, or intended to deceive 虚假的人，冒充的人，骗子

e.g. Never trust any word from his mouth — he is a complete phony.

He is a total phony, claiming himself a PhD. 2) adj. sham, unreal, not genuine 假冒的，不真实的

e.g. That man boasted that he had crashed the United States with a phony passport.

This business of the car crash sounds phony to most of us.

be up the creek: be in difficulties 在困难中，在困境里

e.g. The whole family was up the creek after the death of the father.

The clerk will be really up the creek unless he finds some money to pay off his loan.

15. I'm not urging everyone to go out and fail just for the sheer therapy of it, or to quit college just to coddle some vague discontent. (Para. 9): I am not encouraging everyone to fail intentionally just because we can learn from failure. Neither do I mean anyone should withdraw from the school owing to some unclear dissatisfaction.

coddle v.\\ treat with great care and tenderness; pamper 纵容，宠爱

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e.g. The baby was coddled by everyone in the village since it was in poor

health.

Don't coddle or curb them, let them be themselves.

16. \— it sets the goals and condemns as a failure everybody who won't play. (Para. 12): Undoubtedly, the so-called \is still more powerful than individual. It decides the goals for everyone and those fail to function well to meet the goal is branded failure.

have the upper hand: have the advantage over 占优势，占上风

e.g. The Conservative Party still had the upper hand over the Labor and

controlled the Parliament.

The couple hit each other with chairs and surprisingly, the woman had the upper hand.

condemn as: express very strong disapproval of sb or sth 强烈反对，视为（不好的）

e.g. The workers strongly disliked the manager's behavior and condemned him

as a phony.

Most people are willing to condemn violence of any sort as evil. condemnation n.: 责难，谴责

e.g. He quickly recommended that the President issue a public condemnation.

She cares nothing about condemnation of her actions.

17. This is hardly the road to riches or to an executive suite. (Para. 13): To

serve in VISTA will not help youngsters to take the right way to riches and fame.

suite n.: a set of rooms esp expensive in a hotel （酒店）套房

e.g. He promises to buy his wife a new three-piece-suite for their home. The Queen's suite fills the second floor on the south side.

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18. Who is to say, then, if there is any right path to the top, or even to say what the top consists of? (Para. 14): Then who can be certain that there is a right way to reach the top of the society, or to make success, or even be certain what the success is made up of?

19. Obviously the colleges don't have more than a partial answer — otherwise the young would not be so disaffected with an education that they consider vapid. (Para. 14): Undoubtedly the colleges can only offer a partial answer to the question, if it is not so, the young would be satisfied with the education and would not feel tired of it.

vapid adj.: dull, uninteresting 乏味的，枯燥的

e.g. The vapid utterances of the clergy made even the most pious audience very

sleepy.

Tom dislikes the vapid food prepared by his mum. vapidness, vapidity n.: 乏味，枯燥

e.g. she was bored with the vapidness of their conversation.

The vapidness of the film was beyond our expectation. vapidly adv.: 乏味地，枯燥地 e.g. The salesman smiled vapidly.

He read the letter vapidly aloud to me.

20. The fact is, nobody has the answer, and the dawning awareness of this

fact seems to me one of the best things happening in America today. (Para. 15): The fact is that none of us knows the answer and, for me, that more and more people begin to realize this fact is one of the best things in our current American society. dawn v.:

1) begin to become light in the morning 破晓，天初亮 e.g. The morning dawned clear after the rain.

It was dawning as we left.

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2) begin to appear or develop, emerge 开始出现，渐露端倪 e.g. The day of the new system has not yet dawned.

The statistics reveals that better life has dawned.

3} dawn on/upon sb: begin evident to the mind 开始现出，变的明白 e.g. The truth began to dawn on him.

It has just dawned on me that he was the murderer.

21. Success and failure are again becoming individual visions, as they were when the country was younger, not rigid categories. (Para. 15): It's up to the individual to decide what is success and what is failure in their own understanding, and success and failure should not rigidly be denned by society. This is what happened in our country when it was younger.

Key to Exercises

I. Reading Comprehension

1. For the young, to withdraw from the routine life is often a way to live their own lives.

2. A fink means a contemptible person. The people in society strongly dislike finks and give them a hard time. However, the author believes that finks, especially the young ones, have the potential to turn into men with their own thoughts and he suggests that society give them time and release them from the pressure of achieving certain goals.

3. Here it means that people should have their own minds and their own standards for success and failure. They should have their own sense of direction and should not follow the social routine without consideration. 4. He was NY's former Parks Commissioner and now director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was chosen since he is a good example to demonstrate how a so-called dropout could learn from his/her life to be a dropin, and finally reach the top of one's profession.

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5. This is an open question. Obviously, the author does not deny the function of education completely, which is shown in paragraph 9, but it seems that he dislikes the current education system to some degree, which is proved in paragraph 14 by saying \vapid\

6. He means that failure is perhaps unavoidable and it can teach everyone a lot and thus help him/her to make some improvement and then achieve final success.

7. Because the author may want to emphasize the power the out-dated routine has. Perhaps \controls most people\

8. The author encourages youngsters to take their own way regardless of the social power and influence and supports the idea that success and failure should be individual visions instead of unified standards.

II. Structure of the Text 1. Introduction (Paras. 1-3) Young dropouts in the American society are strongly condemned, since our culture does not grant anyone the right to fail. 2. Body Why should we allow the youth to become dropouts? (Paras. 4-13) 1) Dropouts have the potential to become dissenters and mavericks, which are in great need in our society. To find a proper way, the youth need to search for their direction and be allowed to fail. (Paras. 4-5) 2) Failure isn't fatal and in many cases, it is an experience which can make us stronger. (Paras. 6-7) 3) The popularity of Holden Caulfield in a whole generation shows that dropouts are challenging our goal-oriented society and showing the reality that phonies are in power while good guys are up the creek. (Para. 8) 4) We should not naturally take failure as sth bad while success as sth

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automatically good, for we can learn a lot from our failure. (Paras. 9-11) A. The advantage of education and success. B. The example of F. Zinnemann and R. Brooks shows that failure can teach us more than success while success can be dangerous. C. Failure is the only way to grow. 5) Many youngsters are willing to take the risks in life and start to write new standards of success. For example, many young volunteers choose to join VISTA, which is hardly the right way to riches and fame. (Paras. 12-13) 3．Conclusion (Paras. 14-15) Since none of us know the right way to the top or what the top consists of, we need to encourage every person to succeed on his/her own terms and cherish the right to fail during this process. VIII. Tranlstion

A.

1. The twin sisters always appeared together, speaking in the same tone, thus none of us could tell them from each other.

2. The professor put in a word for his favorite student in the recommendation letter, although this student had quit college for two years.

3. The Russians, both on land and in the air, had then the upper hand of the Germans.

4. After being expelled from university for cheating in the exam, he was up the creek now.

5. At the request of the students' parents, the school allowed the students to study at home in the evening.

6. They didn't accept the report, because it came out totally against the social standard.

7. With many twists and turns, the naive little girl finally became sophisticated, learning how to deal with difficulties.

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8. Although mavericks are condemned as eccentrics by the society, they are deeply welcomed by the youth.

9. Thanks to the help from that charity organization, poor students who once dropped out from school can continue their education.?

10. To celebrate the loyal family's visit to the small town, the local residents

strewed all the paths with flowers. B.

然而在美国，持有这种观点差不多就是背叛。中途离开学校的孩子们被丑化成失败者—失败的权利是美国政府没有赋予国民的少数几个自由之一。美国之梦是“成功”之梦，凡是我们放眼之处都是一片金光灿烂。宣传广告和电视广告歌颂物质方面的成功，杂志文章赞誉获得此类成功的人。广告暗示你：吸适合你身份的烟、开适合你身份的车，女孩们就会陶醉在你那没有异味的怀抱之中，抚摸你那昂贵的衣领。幸福只青睐那些散发出成功的甜蜜气味的人。他是全体国民的偶像，其他所有人则是国家的蛀虫。

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