Week 68

NCE4 Lesson 5 Youth

People are always talking about 'the problem of youth'. If there is one -- which I take leave to doubt -- then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings -- people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain -- that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It's as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect of elders -- as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.

FIELDEN HUGHES from Out of the Air, The Listener

文章背景

选自The listener的文章还真是多啊，请参见Lesson2的日志

表达积累

leave /li:v/

n. permission 允许，许可 （文雅用法）

He did it without my leave.

The senator asked leave to take the floor.

I take leave to do sth.

I take leave to say / doubt / think …请允许我冒昧……（不敢苟同）

=forgive me for doing

eg. Forgive me for saying so, but what you said is nonsense.

I take the liberty of doing

eg. I take the liberty of asking you a question.

I venture to do冒昧做sth，可能你不开心，但是我还是要说

eg. I venture to say that you are making a dangerous mistake.

fundamentals /fʌndə'mentlz/

n. basic rules, ideas or principles 基本原理，基本原则

the fundamentals of philosophy / economics

the basics the rudiments

the first principles 常用pl.

adj. basic, essential 根本的

the fundamental difference

the fundamental cause of the problem

glorious /'ɡlɔ:riəs/

adj. 光辉灿烂的，荣耀的，辉煌的

a glorious achievement

All the Chinese compatriots同胞 should take concerted efforts to create a glorious future of the Chinese nation.

a rosy / brilliant / splendid / magnificent future 光辉灿烂的未来

→n. glory 光荣

glory days 光辉岁月

rub /rʌb/

n. 难题，困难，困境

rub n. a problem or difficult situation 难题，困难，困境

eg. Here is the rub.

eg. That’s where the rub is.

rub sb. the wrong way 让sb看不惯，看着别扭，让sb生气

sth rub sb. the wrong way

=sth get on one’s nerves

commitment /kə'mɪtmənt/

n. 信奉，信仰；承诺

commitment to sth. 信仰sth

have a sincere commitment toreligion / communism 笃信……

make a commitment to do … 承诺……

eg. She promised to stand by him, and once you make that commitment you have to see it through.

stand by sb 有宾语，表示“支持”；无宾语时，stand by表示“袖手旁观”。

honor / fulfill one’s commitment 履行承诺

We must honor our commitments to small nations. 信守承诺

The President of the United States has reiterated the U.S. commitment to the Three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiqués. 中美联合公告标志

reiterate one's commitment 重申承诺

devotion /dɪ'vəʊʃn/

n. 热爱 （有奉献精神的爱）

devotion to sb. / sth.

devotion to the cause of education

love for sth

affection喜爱；柔情

eg. parental affection 父母之爱

maternal / paternal affection 母爱/父爱

affectionate （文艺）柔情蜜意的

infatuation 过分迷恋（失去理性）

Their infatuation with each other won’t last.

cosmic /'kɒzmɪk/

adj. 宇宙的

universal 世界的，普遍的

Certain funny situations have a universal appeal.

suburban /sə'bɜ:bən/

adj. 郊区的；见识不广的，偏狭的

SYNsuburban

SYNprovincial

metropolitan大都会的adj.

metropolis 大城市n.

cosmopolitan国际大都会的adj.

cosmopolis 国际大都会n.

be always doing 无聊，烦人的情绪

He’s always having arguments with people.

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired.

=be forever doing

=be constantly / continually doing sth.

=keep (on) doing sth.不停……令人烦地做……

=do sth. all the time / time and time again / with monotonous regularity / ad nauseam/ˌæd ˈnɔːziæm /adv.不厌其烦地（正式）

at all 表示怀疑

Do you know him at all?

He will come before dinner if he comes at all. 表示怀疑

重难点

If there is one at all, then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves.

it is / was … that / who …

Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings—people just like their elders.

get down to sth. / doing

to start doing sth. seriously

Let’s get down to business.

Let’s get down to discussing the details.

There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

just / merely / no more than one difference

a single / solitary difference

antithesis 对比修辞

When poverty comes in at the door, love leaps out at the window.

That’s where you and I differ. 这就是你和我的不同之处。

That’s where I draw the line. 我坚决不做。

When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain—that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem.

teenager / teen n.

in one’s teens 13-19岁

When I was in my teens, …

adolescent n. & adj. 青春期

When I was an adolescent, …

my adolescent daughter

adolescence n.

juvenile /ˈdʒuːvənail/ [法律]

[U] juvenile delinquency 青少年犯罪行为

[C] juvenile delinquent 少年犯

regard / see / count A as B

think of / look on / conceive of A as B

consider A (to be) B

If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus a great delicacy.

deem / reckon A to be B 正式

be recognized / acknowledged as … （公认）认为

For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

for one thing … for another …原因之一是，另一原因是……（注意another后面没有thing）

on the one hand ... on the other (hand) … 后面一定是转折

on the other hand还可以单用

not that …, but that …

Not that I love you less, but that I love liberty more.

It is not that … but (that) … 而是因为……注意翻译字眼

be engaged in sth. / doing

How many spiders are engaged in this work on our behalf ?

It's as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures.

as if … / as though … (虚拟语气)

in some sense 某种意义上

I think he may be right in some sense.

to some degree / extent 某种程度上

I agree with you to some degree / extent.

in some measure

human being

intelligent being

alien being

in / by contrast to / with …

in / by comparison to / with …

compared to / with …

be in one’s mind 记住，不忘记，记在心中

be on one’s mind 记在心中，挂念，牵挂

He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect of elders—as if mere age were a reason for respect.

ill-mannered

ill-tempered

ill-educated

Nor is it only the ignorant and ill-educated person who was such faith in the bottle of medicine.

turn to … for … 向……寻求

The child turned to his mother for comfort.

文章写作手法：

Claim-Response Pattern

claim

response

reasons for response

relevant example(s)

reaffirmation