UNIT 12 A CASE OF “SEVERE BIAS”
Cultural background
1. The black middle class
The black middle class, within the United States, refers to African Americans who occupy a middle class status within the American class structure, tho who own their own home or small business, and by the strictest definition, tho with a degree from college.
2. Challenges facing the black middle class小时代电影歌曲
● Downward mobility: 45% of children from a black middle class family end up “near poor”, while
16% of children from a white middle class family end up “near poor”.
● Financial crisis: 33% of the black middle class was in danger of falling out of the middle class at
the start of the recession.
3. Comments
● The best guarantee of durable, amicable race relations in America is the continued growth of a strong, lf-confident black middle class.
南极英语
— The Times
● There is little doubt that middle-class black America is 30－40 years ahead of us back in Blighty (a slang referring to Britain).
— The Guardian
Text I
A CASE OF “SEVERE BIAS”
Patricia Raybon
Global Reading
. Introduction
This lection originally appeared in Newsweek, 1989. In the text the author contrasts media images of black Americans with the reality of their lives, emphasizing what black Americans are not.
. Structural analysis of the text
The text can be divided into the following three parts:
Part I (Paragraphs 1 – 3): This part brings up the topic that the media have distorted the image of black Americans out of a vere bias, and most blacks, including the author herlf, are not at all like what is depicted in the media.
鼓膜炎的症状表现Part II (Paragraphs 4 – 13): This part gives a detailed description of the fact that the media have prented a biad image of black America and transmitted it to the whole country as the norm.
Part III (Paragraphs 14 – 16): The author calls for action to correct the distorted media image of blacks and make blacks and their contributions to American society recognized.
Detailed Reading
一百字周记Questions
1. What is the image of black people in the American news media? (Paragraph 3)
Answer: They are depicted as poor, criminal, addicted and dysfunctional.
2. Why do the American media insist on playing this myopic, inaccurate picture game? (Paragraph 7)
Answer: Becau they have a vere bias against black people and create a bad image of them.
3. What are the problems of the urban black underclass? (Paragraph 8)
Answer: Poverty, crime, addiction and dysfunctional relationships.
4. What does the author mean by the phra “twilight zone”? (Paragraphs 9)
Answer: “Twilight zone” refers to a gray area, a border in-between two or more things that is unclearly defined, a border that is hard to define or even impossible to define. Here the author means that the image of blacks remains unclear, becau of the discrepancy between the image depicted by the media and the image in reality.
5. Why does the author think it is necessary to have a real portrait of black America? (Paragraphs 16)
Answer: It is becau black people derve an objective and truthful evaluation of their contribution to American society and history. They can no longer bear a distorted image bad on a vere racial bias.
Text II蛤蜊干
THAT WORD BLACK
ashanti
Langston Hughes
卢涛
Lead-in Questions
1) What does the word “black” mean to you?
女服务员英文单词a. unlucky, unfortunate, such as “the black Friday”
b. evil, malicious, such as “black-hearted”
c. good, fortunate, such as “the black figure”
d. nothing special
2) Can you recall some important figures fighting for the equality of African Americans?
e.g. Martin Luther King, Barack Husin Obama II
Main idea
Notes
1. About the text － It is taken from Simple Speaks His Mind (1950), Hughes’s most popular and beloved fictional creation.
2. About the author － James Mercer Langston Hughes (1902－1967) was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. He is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.
3. But what you really ought to have is a soap-box out on the corner of 126th and Lenox where the rest of the orators hang out. (Paragraph 2) － But what you really need is to go to the corner of 126th street and Lenox to express your opinions on a temporary platform, along with the other speakers there.
4. the N.A.A.C.P. (Paragraph 3) － the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization for ethnic minorities in the U.S.
5. Don’t let one cross your path! (Paragraph 3) － Don’t allow bad luck befall you! Black cats have been historically referred to as symbols of bad luck and portents of doom and destruction.
