Unit 3 Out of Step
Teaching Points
By the end of this unit, students are suppod to
1)grasp the author’s
purpo of writing and make clear the structure of the whole passage through an intensive reading of Text I Out of Steps.
2)comprehend tho uful or important expressions/ntences in Text I
thoroughly and be able to paraphra them.
3)be aware of new words and structures and u them freely in conversation and
writing.
4)have a good idea of the meaning and importance of walking to health.自动翻译网页
Topics for pre-reading discussion
1)How will you interpret the title Out of Steps before reading the text?
2)It is said that the United States is a nation on the wheel. What is your view on
niethis? Do you think people will become over-reliant on cars in the future?
3)When do you prefer to walk, and when to drive or take a bus/taxi?
Cultural Background
1. Car culture has been a major niche lifestyle in America.
2. In the 1950s, the post-war boom produced a generation of teenagers with enough income to buy their own cars. The cars became so much more than just modes of transportation. They were reflections of a lifestyle. The ability to tune and soup-up muscle cars gave average Joes the opportunity to show off their power, their speed and
their style in a way that personified the car as character.
3. Like Granny in Jan and Dean's 1964 song ―The Little Old Lady from Pasadena,‖we can't keep our foot off the accelerator.
4. We are crazy about our cars —and always have been. ―The American,‖William Faulkner lamented in 1948, ―really loves nothing but his automobile.‖
2016考研政治答案5. We dream of cars as we dream of lovers.
6. Americans have always cherished personal freedom and mobility, rugged individualism and masculine force.
Text I
Out of Step
Bill Bryson
Global Reading
I. Text Analysis
Main Idea
―Out of Step‖is an exposition that prents the absurdity of the Americans’dependence on cars. Th
e Americans, being so accustomed to using cars, have almost forgotten the existence of their legs. Wherever they go, they go in their cars. As a result,
pedestrian facilities are neglected in city planning or rejected by the inhabitants.
II. Structural Analysis
Paragraphs 1-6 The writer introduces his idea with an anecdote.
Paragraphs 7-13 In this part, the author prents the fact that the Americans are habituated to using cars for everything.
Paragraphs 14-20 In this part, the author explains that pedestrian facilities are neglected
or discarded.
Detailed Reading
Questions
1)What kind of town is it? (Paragraph 1)
It is a small, pleasant and agreeable town. The inhabitants are friendly and willing to
help. But although the town is compact, few people go about on foot.
eccentric behavior‖? (Paragraph 3)
2)What is considered the author’s ―
Instead of riding a car, the author walks around the city, doing his shopping, going to
or bar. To people who are ud to going everywhere in the movies or visiting the café
江畔独步寻花的诗意是什么a car, he is an eccentric.
3)Why would drivers ―depart reluctantly, even guiltily‖ when their offer was declined?
(Paragraphs 3-6)
With cars becoming the basic esntials of their life, people are so habituated to using
the car for everything. The scene of somebody walking around emed so unusual to
them that they would naturally show their concern to him. When their offer to give
him a ride was declined, they were sorry for not being able to help him out.
? (Paragraph 14)
4) Why did the author say ―Actually, I’m surprid it was that much‖
When the author found that the newly planned suburbs totally overlooked pedestrian needs, he assumed there was no budget for pedestrian facilities at all. So
he says he was surprid to learn that there actually was less than one percent of budget on it. Here the author writes with a touch of irony.
5) Why did Laconia change its downtown pedestrian mall to one with parking lots?
(Paragraphs 18-19)
Although the pedestrian mall was well decorated, shoppers were unwilling to walk to
starburythe stores from a parking garage. As a result, it was a commercial failure. The government had to c
ompromi with the public preference.nsn
Text II
Skylines and Skyscrapers
John A. Kouwenhoven
Lead-in Questions
Do you prefer to live in a skyscraper? Why?
Viewpoints:
A human being los highly important ties with the ground at the height of the 8th
floor. It is psychologically hard for a person not to be able to e the ground, the yard
and the people.
To crown it all, people may spend up to 40 minutes waiting for elevators every morning and evening as they leave and return home.
It is almost impossible to evacuate people from a skyscraper in ca of emergency.
The 9/11 tragedy in New York can only prove it.
Main idea
In this text, the writer is trying to argue that the skyline as a whole evokes the universal feeling of exaltation and aspiration out of the emingly irrational, unplanned,
and often infuriating chaos. There actually exists an unforeen unity which is fluid and
ever-changing. Such a unity is achieved mainly by means of two elements, namely the gridiron ground plan and the vertical grid of steel cage construction. So far as the first element is concerned, the artificial geometric grid impod upon the land without regard
to contours has one important quality of rational simplicity. The cond element is, in effect, only a three-dimensional variant of the gridiron street plan.
Notes
1.About the Author and the Text: John A. Kouwenhoven (1909–1990) was an
associate editor of Harper’s Magazine, and a professor at Barnard College. The text is an excerpt from a collection of essays The Beer Can by the Highway: Essays
on What's American about America. First published in 1961, The Beer Can by the Highway takes a provocative, wide-ranging look at America's ever-changing physical and intellectual landscapes, from advertising and jazz to Manhattan's skyline
and the prairies of the Midwest.
2.Manhattan (Paragraph 1): Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York
City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River. It is
also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, the third-largest in population but smallest in area of the five boroughs. Manhattan is a major commercial, financial, and cultural center of both the United States and the world.
3.all the other ills that metropolitan flesh is heir to (Paragraph 1): all other
problems which are inherent in metropolitan cities
4. a carnival of rugged architectural individualism (Paragraph 3): Carnival is
记叙文的顺序a festive ason that typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some
elements of a circus, masque and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations, which mark an overturning of daily life. A carnival of rugged architectural individualism suggests that buildings there take dramatically different forms and styles.
5.RCA Building (Paragraph 7): RCA Building, a Magnificent structure of 70 stories,
is the tallest building in the Rockefeller Center. There are 27 radio studios in the building, among them the largest in the world.
6.Chartres cathedral (Paragraph 7):Partly built starting in 1145, and then
reconstructed over a 26-year period after the fire of 1194, Chartres Cathedral marks
the high point of French Gothic art. The vast nave, in pure ogival style, the porches
adorned with fine sculptures from the middle of the 12th century, and the magnificent 12th- and 13th-century stained-glass windows, all in remarkable condition, combine to make it a masterpiece.
7.Giotto (Paragraph 7): Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337), better known simply as
Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence. He is generally considered
the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.
trustworthy
8.Aztec pyramid (Paragraph 8): one of a number of monumental structures built
从零开始学英语by the Aztec civilization in the shape of a pyramid with a rectangular ba
Questions for Discussion
1.What are tho engaged in discovering America likely to notice at once about the
Manhattan skyline? What do they possibly conclude from their discovery?
2.How do you understand the author’s idea when he says that it would be helpful to
consider the skyline in the way we might consider a lyric poem or a novel when we
analyze its aesthetic quality?
3.How could the fluid and ever-changing unity be achieved?
Key to Questions for Discussion
1. They are likely to notice at once the emingly incongruous opposites about the
Manhattan skyline. They may conclude that it is not nsible from either human or aesthetic angle and that it is the result of insane politics, greed, deliberate intention to
impress others and megalomania. The ill effects of the result are, in turn, traffic jams,
bad ventilation, noi and all the other problems any metropolitan city can hardly avoid.
2. The total effect which is termed as ―the Manhattan skyline‖ is made up of numerous
蒂娜菲buildings, each competing with all of the others in height, or glamor, or efficiency, or
respectability. Though each goes its own way, the skyline as a whole evokes the universal feeling of exaltation and aspiration out of all this irrational, unplanned, and
often infuriating chaos. There actually exists an unforen unity.
3. It is achieved mainly by means of two elements, namely the gridion ground plan and
the vertical grid of steel cage construciton, both of which are compod of simple and
infinitely repeatable units. So far as the first element is concerned, the artificial geometric grid impod upon the land without regard to contours has one important
quality of rational simplicity. The cond element, the vertical thrust or the motion upward, is, in effect, only a three-dimensional variant of the gridion street plan.
Memorable Quotes
All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is
grim.
—Christopher Morley
Cities forth growth, and make men talkative and entertaining, but they make them artificial.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Christopher Morley(May 5, 1890 –March 28, 1957) was an American journalist,
