12-Unit-9--The-Damned-Human-Race
12-Unit-9--The-Damned-Human -Race
任教课程：《综合英语》（二） 年 月 日 2
Unit 9 一、授课时间：第15--16周
二．授课类型：课文分析8课时；习题讲解4课时
三．授课题目：The Damned Human Race
四．授课时数：12 五．教学目的和要求：
通过讲授课文使大学生了解有关马克吐温
幽默讽刺的写作风格，学会用英语解释句子以达到学以致用的目的。要求学生主动地预习课文，课前准备练习，学会分析文章体裁和进行段落划分。
六．教学重点和难点： 1）背景知识的传授：About the author ； 2）文章的体裁分析及段落划分； 3）语言点的理解：
Word study: allegiance; ascent;
atrocious; avaricious; brood; conjecture; degenerate; descent; disposition; exterminate; gory; mutilation; oblige; rabid; scruple; wantonly
Grammar Focus: Study and learn how
such contrast expressions as and, but, compared
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日to/with, while, unlike, and on the other hand, are used.
七．教学基本内容和纲要
Part One Warm – up
1.1 Warm-up Questions
1.2 Define the following words and phrases
Part Two Background Information
2.1 Have you read much of Mark Twain? Can you name some stories, novels or essays he wrote? How do you like him? What qualities in his writings brought him world renown? Is this essay written in his usual humorous vein?
Part Three Text Appreciation
3.1 Text Analysis
3.1.1 Theme of the text
3.1.2 Structure of the text
3.2 Writing Devices
3.2.1 Contrast
3.2.2 Humorous
3.2.3 Satire and Parallelism
3.3 Sentence Paraphrase
3
任教课程：《综合英语》（二） 年 月 日 4
Part Four Language Study
4.1 Phrases and Expressions
4.1.1 Word list:
4.1.2 Phrases and expressions list:
4.1.3 Word Building
4.2 Grammar
4.2.1 Object
Part Five Extension
5.1 Group discussion
八、教学方法和措施 本单元将运用黑板、粉笔、多媒体网络辅助教学设备等教学手段，主要采用以学生为主体、教师为主导的任务型、合作型等教学模式，具体运用教师讲授法、师生讨论、生生讨论等方法进行教学。 九．作业，讨论题，思考题
完成课后练习；
多看英语报刊杂志及英语经典小说，扩大阅读
量；
精听与泛听相结合，逐步提高自己的听力水
平；
积极参加英语角等有助于提高英语口语的活
动；
坚持用英语写日记；
做一些专四相关练习；
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日十．参考资料：
1)杨立民主编,《现代大学英语精读》（4）第
二版，学生用书。北京：外语教学与研究出
版社,2012。
2)杨立民主编,《现代大学英语精读》（4）第
二版，教师用书。北京：外语教学与研究出
版社,2012。
3)李观仪主编，《新编英语教程》（第三、四册）。
上海:上海外语教学研究出版, 1999。
4)黄源深，虞苏美等主编，《综合英语教程》
（1-4册）。北京：高等教育出版社，1998。
5)《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》，北京：
外语教学研究出版社，2000。
6)J udy Pearsall主编，《新牛津英语词典》。
上海：上海外语教育出版社，1998。
7)丁往道、吴冰等编著，《英语写作手册》。北
京：外语教学与研究出版社。
8)张道真，《现代英语用法词典》（重排本）。
北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1994。
9)张道真，温志达, 《英语语法大全》上、下
卷。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1998。
5
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日十一、课后小结
Unit 9 The Damned Human Race
Part One Warm – up
1.1 Warm-up Questions
1. Do you have any idea why Mark Twain became more and more bitter in his later years? Do you agree that it was largely due to his personal misfortunes? How would you describe this essay? Serious and matter-of-fact? Scientifically detached and objective?
6
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日Hilariously humorous? Bitterly satirical? Or what?
2. What is the main idea of this essay? Do you think the subject of human nature still deserves our close attention today? Is Twain’s condemnation of human beings in line with the Darwinian theory of evolution? How does the author come to doubt this? Is that the result of scientific experiment? Is Mark Twain serious when he says that he has done many months of painstaking and fatiguing work in the London Zoological Garden? What kind of effect do you think he hopes to achieve with this mock seriousness?
3. Do you take Mark Twain’s views seriously? Why do you think Twain wrote this essay? Does he have any serious purpose other than amusing his readers?
1.2 Define the following words and phrases
1. sport
2. loose
7
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日
3. grace
4. confined
5. occasion
6. prior
7. unhumanly
8. distinction
9. subject sth/sb to sth
10. have not scrupled to do sth
11. cheat sb out of sth
Part Two Background Information
2.1 About the author:
Mark Twain (1835---1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clements in Florida, Missouri, but lived as a child in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. He took the pen name Mark Twain from the call of the pilots on the river steamers, which indicated that the water was twelve feet deep, a safe depth for a steamer.During his early years, he worked as a riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector. But then he turned to writing,
8
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日and became one of the greatest of American writers.
2.2 His masterpiece:
Innocents Abroad 1869
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885 Life on the Mississippi 1883
The Prince and the Pauper 1882
2.3 His writing style:
hilariously humorous
bitterly satirical
2.4 About the story:
The author writes about ugly human traits and dispositions. In his opinion, human beings are not ascended from the lower animals but descended from the higher animals.
Part Three Text Appreciation
3.1 Text Analysis
1.Questions for thinking:
a.How does the author contrast human
9
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日beings with other animals? What specific human traits and dispositions does he condemn? How would you describe the
image of human beings in the author’s writing? And what arguments does the author give to support his views?
b.W hy does he say that man is the cruel
animal? What examples does he give to illustrate the point? Do you agree with Twain that human beings are cruel whereas tigers, wolves, and anacondas are not?
3.1.2 Structure of the text
I. Introduction : Topic and credibility of the author’s research (paras. 1-3)
A. Topic : The descent of man from the higher animals (para. 1)
B. Credibility : The use of scientific method and authentic institution where the experiments were conducted (para. 2)
C. A characteristic example of his experiments
10
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日(para. 3)
II. Findings about man as against higher animals (paras. 4-17)
A.M an’s greed (para. 4)
B.Man’s immorality (paras. 5-8)
C.M an’s cruelty (para. 9)
D.M an’s inclination for wars (paras. 10-11)
E.Man’s position of enslaving and being enslaved (para. 12)
F.M an’s hypocrisy (paras. 13-15)
G.M an’s inability to learn to live together peacefully (paras. 16-17)
III. Conclusion : Restatement of the thesis (para.
18)
Logic & Technique
The main body is arranged accordingly to the various traits and dispositions of human beings as contrasted to the “higher animals.”However, in the second half, the author begins to adopt a polemic tone. He seems to be arguing
11
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日with people who believe in man’s superiority. Notice how Mark Twain achieves humor. He talks tongue in cheek
throughout the essay, using highly exaggerated and formal words and expressions as appropriate for the academic writing he pretends the essay to be. He adopts a pompous style very different from the usual colloquial vernacular he is famous for, to ridicule those critics who say Mark Twain lacks proper education.
Relevant questions:
1. How is this essay organized? What devices does the author use to make the article interesting? What do you have to say about the diction of this essay? Mark Twain is generally known for his skilful use of the vernacular. Would you consider this essay a good example? Is this article written in a colloquial and informal way? How would you explain his adoption of this style?
12
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日2. Do you agree with Mark Twain? If you were to write in response to this essay to express some different opinions, what would you say?
3.1.3 Detailed Analysis of the text
Part I: Main Idea
This slightly abridged essay is organized like a paper to report results of a scientific experiment. It has a thesis statement at the beginning and a brief
summing-up at the end. The main body is arranged according to the various straits and disposition of human beings as contrasted to the “higher animals”. However in the second part of the body the author begins to use a polemic tone. He seems to be arguing with people who believe in man’s superiority because they can reason, have moral principles and religion, and love their neighbors and country.
Part II: Discussion
1. How does the author contrast human beings
13
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日with other animals? What specific human traits and dispositions does he condemn? How would you describe the image of human beings in the author’s writing? And what arguments does the author give to support his views?
2. Why does he say that man is the cruel animal?
Conclusion of the text:
It is wrong to think that Mark Twain is pessimistic or cynical. He is neither. Behind all the bitterness is a warm and human heart. Mark Twain does not really believe that human beings are incurably cruel, greedy and wicked. Otherwise he would not have bothered to write those essays. He writes about ugly human traits
and dispositions precisely because he thinks human beings are capable of mending their ways if they can open their eyes to their own weaknesses and understand the conditions that give rise to them and nurture them. In other
14
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日words, his policy is to frighten in order to enlighten.
3.3 Sentence Paraphrase
1. I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals”, and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.
I have been studying the characteristics of the so-called lower animals in comparison with those of man. The result of this study makes me, as a man, feel terribly ashamed.
traits and dispositions: characteristics; features; nature; qualities; personalities
humiliating: making me feel ashamed; embarrassing; mortifying
Notice the tongue-in-cheek way the author expresses his ideas. He makes it sound as if he were conducting and reporting on the result of a scientific investigation. In other words, he is
15
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日deliberately using a pompous style to achieve humor.
2. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals and to name it the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. Because the result of my study forces me to give up (to abandon) my loyalty to (firm belief in ) Darwin’s theory of evolution and to change the theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals to the theory of the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.
to oblige sb to do sth: to force sb to do sth; to make it necessary for sb to do sth
to renounce: to abandon or give up; to reject or disown
allegiance: loyalty, esp. to a nation or a cause
3. That is to say, I have subjected every
16
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日postulate that presented itself to the crucial test of actual experiment.
In other words, I have put every theory or hypothesis there is to the decisive test of actual experiment.
to subject sht/ sb to sth: to cause sb/sth to undergo or experience sth unpleasant or difficult and often for a long time,e.g.
They were subjected to very cruel tortures.
The desertification subjected people living in that area to great hardships.
postulate: (fml) assumption; theory; hypothesis that presented itself: that happens or exists, e.g.
when the opportunity presents itself you must seize it at once.
4. It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had lost a good deal in the transition.
It also seemed to show that the earl came from
17
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日
the anaconda and had lost a lot of the anaconda’s good qualities in the process.
to be descended from sb: to be related to sb who lived a long time ago
5. I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor saving in order to partially appease that appetite.
I knew that many men who have more money than they can ever use have shown a mad desire to get more, and they have not hesitated to cheat poor people and their few saving in order to satisfy that desire.
rabid: uncontrollable (Note: it is related to rabies, which is an acute, infectious and often fatal disease of dogs, also known as hydrophobia,
18
任教课程：《综合英语》（二）年月日transmitted by the bite of the infected animal)
to have not scrupled to do sth: to have not hesitated to do sth because of trouble conscience or embarrassment from moral considerations
to cheat sb out of sth: to trick or deceive sb in order to get an advantage, e.g.
to cheat sb out of his money or job or land,etc Compare: to talk sb out of sth; to trick sb out of sth
the ignorant and helpless: the uneducated and powerless people; the poor laboring people in general
to appease: to satisfy or relieve (hunger, thirst, desire, etc)
6. Cats are loose in their morals, but not consciously so. Man, in his descent from the cat, has brought the cat’s looseness with him but had left the unconsciousness behind—the saving grace which excuses the cat.
19
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容