新概念英语四册课堂笔记Lesson37：OnTellingtheTruth
新概念英语四册课堂笔记Lesson37：On Telling
the Truth
Lesson 37 On Telling the Truth 论讲真话
The Victorians, realizing that the greatest Happiness accorded to man is that provided by a happy marriage, endeavoured to pretend that all their marriages were happy. We, for our part, admitting the fact that no feat of intelligence and character is so exacting as that required of two people who desire to live permanently together on a basis of amity, are obsd by the problem of how to render the basic facts of cohabitation simpler and more reasonable, in order that unhappy marriages may less frequently result. The Victorians would have considered it 'painful' or 'unpleasant' were one to point out that only four marriages out of every ten are anything but forced rvitudes. We ourlves start from this very assumption and try to build from it a theory of more nsible relations between the xes. Of all forms of arrant untruthfulness Victorian optimism
appears to me to have been the most cowardly and the most damaging.
Truth, therefore, is an attitude of the mind. lt is important, if one does not wish to inconvenience and to bore one's friends, not to tell lies. But it is more important not to think lies, or to slide into tho mechanical and untruthful habits of thought which are so pleasant and so easy as descents to mental ineptitude. The victorian habit of mind (which I consider to have been a bad habit of mind) was
unduly preoccupied by what was socially and morally convenient. Convenience is, however, in all affairs of life, an execrable test of value. One should have the courage to think uncomfortably, since it is only by rejecting the convenient that one can come to think the truth. Not, after all, that there is any such thing as truth. At best we can approach to some relative approximation. On the other hand, there is surely such a thing as untruth. One is generally aware when one has said something, or acted in some way which has left on other people an impression
not strictly in accordance with the facts. One is generally aware, also. when one has thrus
t aside an inconvenient thought and slid into its place another thought which is convenient. One's awareness in the former ca is in general more acute than in the latter, since we are more on the look-out for the lies we utter than for tho we merely think. In fact, however, it is the untruthful thought which is the more vicious of the two. Spoken lies are invariably tiresome and may actually be dishonest. But continuous lying in the mind, a dia to which the Anglo-Saxon is peculiarly expod, spells the destruction of human thought and character.
New words and expressions 生词短语
（改正）Victoria (1837-1901)
前期是 unrest, alarm.
后期 growing prosperity
industrialism 工业革命 free trade 自由贸易
Britain was named workshop of the world. cession of Hongkong to U.K.
cession 割让
opium war 鸦片战争
critical realism 批判现实主义
made big fortune = made good money Charles Dickens
hard times 艰难时事
middle class 中产阶级
The Tale of Two Cities 双城记
Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿
Vanity Fair 名利场
status 地位
rank 头衔
乔治。艾里奥特
Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre 简爱
Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄
Michelle
Gone with the wind 飘
submit to 屈服于
destined fate 注定的命运
turn against her fate 与她的命运对抗
lf-portrait 自画像
tuberculosis 肺结核
sorrow 悲痛
simplified version 简写版
original 原著
accordvt.给予
grant同意，给予
grant sb. sth.
He was accorded the permission to enter the library.
to accord the guest a warm welcome. endowvt.（二十课）
for one’s part就某人来说
in terms of ourlves
on the part of us
For our part, we have no objection.
my objection 我的反对意见（24 课）
amityn.友善
harmony,
concordnational concord 民族团结
our family members are/ live in amity/ harmony/ concord.
obssvt.使烦恼
I’m obsd with too much assignment. vexv.使烦恼
annoy vt.使苦恼
irrtatevt.激怒
I’m bored. 我烦了。
obssvt.迷住
I’m obsd with sth./ sb.
I’m obsd with the idea of becoming a millionaire.
rendervt.致使，给予
A rious illness rendered him rather weak. (render：致使)
render thanks to sb. 答谢（render：给予）render sb. a favor 给某人帮个忙
render sth. Inter Enghlish 翻译
render a role 扮演一个角色
he renders a role in the movie.
to interpret a role
to play a role
rvituden.奴役
He is/ was in rvitude. 他没自由
x n.性别
male/ female
weaker, fair, gentle / strong, rougher, sterner half the sky 半边天
x appeal 性感
bad egg坏蛋
dirty dog
arranta.纯粹的(否定意义)
sheer
arrant nonn 一派胡言，
out and out
he is out and out hooligan.
cowardlya.怯懦的
coward 胆小鬼，懦夫
chicken
craven
you two are fighting and finally you cry
craven.
Spare me 饶了我
spineless adj.
spine
shrinking
shrink 缩水
knee 膝盖
weak kneed
