Unit 12
1. And truth is slippery, hard to establish.
Truth is not easy to grasp and very difficult to prove.
2. One of the more extraordinary truths about the soap opera that is the British royal… The scandals, sexual and other, involving members of the royal family, have in recent years outshone the television serials dealing with family problems. The most remarkable fact is that the characters of these individuals who are part of the scandals are largely invented by the British press.
3. The creation of character is, in fact, rapidly becoming an essential…
Actually, the portrayal of fictional characters has quickly become a most important device employed by the press.
4. Willing drinking the poisoned chalice of fame…
…these people are pleased and contented when they are in the limelight or in the newspaper headlines although such fame may be an ill omen.
5. For a novelist to be thus rewritten is, I recognize, a case of the biter bit.
I am aware of the fact that since I am a novelist and have used many different types of people as raw material for character creation, I myself being rewritten into someone unrecognizable to myself is a typical example of a person good at tricking others being tricked. 6. In Britain, intrusion into the private lives of public figures have prompted……
In Britain, as a result of exposure of private lives of famous people, certain groups of influential people have demanded the adoption of laws protecting privacy.
7. But where the powerful can hide behind the law, might not a good deal…
…but if the illegal activities of those influential people could be kept unknown to the public as a result of privacy protection laws, it is possible that a lot of other illegal activities could also be covered up by such laws.
8. Many special-interest groups, claiming the moral high ground, now demand…
Many organized groups pursuing special policy goals which assert that they are morally superior to the rest of the population are now demanding that officials should be authorized to control the content of printed matters, TV programs and films.
9. Religious extremists, these days demand respect for their attitudes with growing stridency. Those who hold fundamentalist religious beliefs have recently been making louder and louder demands that their conservative beliefs should be accepted without question.
10. But now we are asked to agree that to dissent from those beliefs, to hold……
…but now we are expected to accept the view that if we express disagreement with those beliefs, if we think that those beliefs might be unsound or out of date or wrong, that they therefore could be debated, we are showing disrespect for their beliefs, we are going beyond the bounds of decent behavior. Unit 11
1. My father would bring the team down Fifth Avenue at a smart trot, flicking……
My father caused the horses to move quickly down the road, hitting their hind part with a light,
quick blow. The bells rang lightly and quickly, but not necessarily harmoniously, over the snow, which in turn threw back a brightness that was like the sound of bells.
2. It always troubled me as a boy of eight that the horses had so indifferent a view…
I was puzzled as a little boy over the horses’ indifference towards their dead friend, whose hide had now turned into my father’s overcoat. It was hard for me to understand why the horses did not know or care that the overcoat came from the hide of their friend. And the same man had also put a metal bar in their mouths to control them.
3. There would be an occasional brass-mounted automobile laboring on its narrow tires… On our way, from time to time, we would come across a car moving slowly and carefully over the packed snow. It had difficulty climbing up hills, which were slippery with the snow, so it was often pulled up by a horse. The clumsy automobile was out of place and the high ranking officials sitting inside it just wanted to show off.
4. The body heat of many animals weighing a thousand pounds and more; pigs in…
The smell of quite a number of big and strong animals was very strong. At the same time, since the barn was filled with animals, it was also warm. Pigs were uttering deep, gloomy, and sonorous sounds…
5. It gave him a better appetite, he argued, than plain fresh air…
With so much content and life in it, the rich odor of the barn appealed to my father much better than mild fresh air, which, according to him, was weak and lacked substance. 6. And as my aunt hurried I could smell in her apron that freshest of all…
My aunt had been baking some bread for the purpose of making the oven ready for the cooking of the meat. As she passed by, I could smell the most delightful of all smells –that of the freshly baked bread.
7. For days after such an ordeal they could not endure biting into a carrot.
During the confinement, since there was nothing for them to do or eat, they helped themselves freely to carrots, and now they were fed up with carrots.
8. My aunt kept a turmoil of food circulating, and to refuse any of it…
It was a state of confusion because various dishes were kept going. It would be against the holy purpose and elated mood of Christmas to refuse any food passed to you. 9. The man sat there grimly enduring the glory of their appetite.
The men overate themselves to such a degree that they could not move about and had to sit there, suffering from eating to the full capacity of their stomachs.
10. Where already the crimson cardinals would be dropping out of the sky like blood.
… the cardinals were deeply and vividly red, so when they swooped down on the feeder, they were like drops of blood out of the sky. Unit 10
1. We still remember that assassinated world as idyllic, secure…we will speak of it…… In our memory , the pre-September 11 world was peaceful, happy and safe (overlooking the fact that this was not the case) and will talk about those days with a feeling of deep respect and love which can only be found in talking about dead people.
2. The spoils of war include some of our most cherished values and liberties.
In order to win the war, we might have to give up some of the basic values and liberties we
treasure most. This might be the cost we have to pay.
3. Who are attempting to colonize the future with their own repressive agenda.
They are planning to carry out the plan of expanding the power of law enforcement agencies at home and of striking at the “axis of evil” abroad so as to extend American domination into areas originally beyond American reach, such as Central Asia. Hence, the colonization to the future. 4. Which assumes the public is thinking in red, white and blue……
… Which takes for granted that people think in a simple and uniform way while actually the feelings, thoughts and views of the American people are as varied as America itself. 5. We too are mired near the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid, struggling to regain……
The terrorist attacks put us at the bottom of the hierarchy of human needs, trying hard to reestablish our confidence in physical safety, the lowest type of safety.
6. It is something we associate with repressive regimes, not with participatory democracies. We are used to thinking that western democracies practice rule of law and individual rights and freedom are protected by law. Violation of individual rights and suppression of dissenting voices can only be found in repressive regimes.
7. There was a relaxing of the rampant materialism, along with its ugly…..,
People began to put less emphasis on the pursuit of wealth and possession of worldly goods. And the other two dangerous symptoms that went with materialism, that is physical separation from others and irrational behavior as a result of impulse also became less serious. Materialism, together with the accompanying symptoms of separation and compulsion, had been the cause of the ruin of community in this country.
8. Discourages national introspection at a time when it would be most valuable.
… At a time when it is highly important for Americans to look into ourselves and ask ourselves why “they hate us ”, this concept directs our attention and thinking away from such analysis. 9. History is a gallery of unspeakable crimes.
… History records many crimes committed by human beings which are so horrible that they defy description.
10. We tend these images like poisonous flowers in a nightmare garden.
In spite of the fact that these images are horrible images, images of large scale atrocity, we still take care to keep alive these images.
Unit 9
1. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where creation was begun.
The landscape makes your imagination vivid and lifelike, and you believe that the creation of the whole universe was begun right here.
2. But warfare for the Kiowas was preeminently a matter of disposition rather than…… The Kiowas often fought just because they were good warriors, because they fought out of habit, character, nature, not because they needed extra lands or material gains for the sake of surviving and thriving. And they could not understand why the U.S. Cavalry never gave up pushing forward even when they had won a battle.
3. My grandmother was spared the humiliation of those high gray walls by eight or ten… Luckily, my grandmother did not suffer the humiliation of being put into a closure for holding animals, for she was born eight or ten years after the event.
4. It was a long journey toward dawn, and it led to an gold age.
They moved toward the east, where the sun rises, and also toward the beginning of a new culture, which led to the greatest moment of their history.
5. They acquired horses and their ancient nomadic spirit was suddenly free of the ground. Now they got horses. Riding on horseback, instead of walking on foot, gave them this new freedom of movement, thus completely liberating their ancient nomadic spirit.
6. From one point of view, their migration was the fruit of an old prophecy, for indeed…… In a sense, their migration confirmed the ancient myth that they entered the world from a hollow log, for they did emerge from the sunless world of the mountains.
7. The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and bent and blind… Their stature was measured by the distance they could see. Yet, because of the dense forests, they could not see very far, and they could hardly stand straight.
8. Clusters of trees and animals grazing far in the distance cause the vision to reach……
The earth unfolds and the limit of the land is far in the distance, where there are clusters of trees and animals eating grass. This landscape makes one see far and broadens one’s horizon. 9. Not yet would they veer southward to the caldron of the land……
They would not yet change the direction southward to the land lying below which was like a large kettle. First, they must give their bodies some time to get used to the plains. Secondly, they did not want to lose sight of the mountains so soon.
10. I was never sure that I had the right to hear, so exclusive were they of all mere…… I was not sure that I had any right to overhear her praying, which did not follow any customary way of praying, and which I guess she did not want anyone else to hear.
11. Transported so in the dancing light among the shadows of room she seemed beyond… In this way she was entranced in the dancing light among the shadows of her room, and she seeded to be timeless (what she represented would last for ever).
12. The women might indulge themselves; gossip was at once the mark and compensation… On these special occasions, women might make loud and elaborate jokes and talk among themselves. Their gossip revealed their position as servants of men and also a reward for their servitude. Unit 8
1. And I was conscious of his superiority in a way that was embarrassing and led to trouble. I knew that Oppenheimer was a man of great talent but his way of showing his talent at my seminars caused uneasiness and resentment among people, especially among his fellow students.
2. This did not seem to be the sort of anecdote that would go over……
Since those attending the conference were people devoted to poetry , such an anecdote, though interesting, might not be appreciated by the audience.
3. Pitted against these excellent reasons for my not going to the conference…carried the day. There were two reasons for my going to the conference set against the reasons for my not going and they became decisive in my final decision.
4. He is, for me, one of those people whose writing about their writing is more interesting… According to my view, Spender belongs to the group whose writings about their lives,
experiences, that is whose autobiographies, are more interesting than their literary works. 5. Auden’s Dirac-like lucidity, the sheer wonder of the language, and the sense of……
Like Dirac, Auden was outstanding in clarity. He was also outstanding in the powerful use of the language and the sense of fun about serious issues. All these greatly fascinated me.
6. Spender’s journal entry on his visit is fascinating both for what it says and what it does… Spender’s record of his visit is interesting not only because of the things he mentions but also because of the things he does not say.
7. Oppenheimer appears in Spender’s journal as a disembodied figure…no relevance…
In his book, Spender fails to give a connected, complete picture of Oppenheimer and does not mention that Oppenheimer’s background and situation has quite a lot to do with spender. 8. The real thing was much better.
The real person looked much better than the pictures.
9. One probably should not read too much into appearance… Maybe one should not attach too much importance to appearance.
10. He had outlived them all, but still under their shadow……
He gad lived longer than any of his more famous friends but traces or influences of these friends, especially those of Auden, could still be found on him.
Unit 7
1. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations….
It took me a long time to get rid of illusions and realize the simple and apparent truth that I am nobody but myself. It was a painful process. I started with high expectations only to be deeply disappointed and thoroughly disillusioned.
2. And yet I am no freak of nature, nor of history. I was in the cards, other things…… I am perfectly normal physically, and I am a natural product of history, my growth reflects history. When things seemed likely to happen to me, other things had been equal (or unequal) 85 years ago.
3. About eight-five years ago they were told that they were free, united with others…
About 85 years ago, they were told that they were freed from slavery and became united with the white people in all the essential things having to do with the common interests of our country, but in social life the blacks and whites still remain separated.
4. In those pre-invisible days I visualized myself as a potential Book T. Washington.
In those days before I realized I was an invisible man, I imagined that I would become a successful man like Booker T. Washington.
5. I wanted at one and the same time to run from the room, to sink through the floor… On the one hand, I felt so embarrassed that I wanted to run away from the ballroom, on the other hand, I took pity on the girl and so wanted to protect the naked girl from the eyes of the other men. I wanted to love her tenderly because she was an attractive girl, but at the same time I wanted to destroy her because after all she was the immediate cause of our embarrassment. 6. Should I try to win against the voice out there? Would not this go against my speech… If I should try my best and win the fight, then I would be winning against the bet of that white man, who shouted “I got my money on the big boy. ” in that case I would not behave with humility, and yet my speech talked about humility as the essence of success. So maybe I should