【期末考试必备】安徽大学研究生公共英语教材上下册Summary
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上册 Summary of Unit 2(Recession-proofing your career) In the text, the author firstly tries to tell us that guaranteed jobs have already become history and it’s high time to engage in a lifelong, self-monitored process which can help to promote and prepare oneself for a change, esp. during periods of recession. She then suggests some skills. She recommends discovering both your overt and covert talents, making sure that a wide range of positions are available to you, and never committing to any “hot job” which exceeds either your interest or talent. Moreover, being skilled or qualified is not the only criteria. You must be able to “market” yourself, to convince the employer that you are the most suitable candidate for the job, for which purpose you have to establish a social network that can help you make your career decisions “both inside and outside of your professions.” Psychological elements are also important, so never let you down and find a balance between the ambitious Type A and more relaxed Type B. Finally, always follow work trends. In a word, don't be under the misconception that your job is always secure and if you work hard you’ll surely get a good job. You must be fully responsible for the future prospects of your chosen career. I am bound to face the work dilemma in the future sooner or later. I quite agree with the author’s opinion. There is no reason for us to stop learning when we are working. The author’s suggestions will help me much in the foreseeable future. Summary of Unit 3(Lies) People usually have very negative views regarding lies. Liars are frequently criticized, even cursed. Yet this passage exemplifies a different perspective, one which cruelly reveals the fact that everyone tells lies and that lies are indispensable for happiness, perhaps even our very survival. According to the author, lies are consoling elements that can soothe dying patients and help consolidate the requirements of a society. Lies make us feel superior to other species and disguise our mortal doom. Religions abound with myths and tales, which are basically lies that provide human beings with a sense of safety. People need big lies, though they are occasionally taken advantage of, because lying disguises our mortality, our inadequacies, our fears and anxieties, our loneliness in the midst of the crowd. I was impressed by the sentence—“Art is a lie that tells the truth. If someone is not willing to admit he/she have told lies, the facts itself is a lie. People must have told lies for different reasons and in different environments in our past ages. We know the choice between lies and truth decided mainly bases on our purposes. And we prefer to believe lies, because truth may be frightening. But I just agree the author’s views in a certain degree. Because lies can make the betterment of the world, but can never make the world. 下册 Summary of Unit 1(When Goodness Isn’t Good Enough) Summary of Unit 2(The Pleasures of Ignorance) In a general sense, ignorance is a derogatory word. In dictionary, the mean of “ignorance” is “lack of knowledge or information”. Ignorance is a condition or state where a person ignores, disregards, or overlooks knowledge about something. It is when the person is uninformed, is uneducated about something. At the beginning of the article, the author felt sad of his current store of knowledge after many years’ expensive education. He thought a person would feel comfortable when a he was ignorant. At the end of the article, it suddenly occurred to the author when he has gone his way calm and happy, he may be the only one who is ignorant, for anyone will not admit that he is a ignorant person. No matter how hard we learn, we can’t learn to the end of knowledge. So there is no limit to knowledge, we are all ignorant in this sense. Ignorance is a two-sided coin. From the good side, if we admit our ignorance, we can learn more and improve ourselves in our jobs, ability, and other fields. If we are ignorant and we don’t admit it, we will fall behind the person who admits his ignorance. So in my point of view, whether our ignorance is good or bad, our attitude is a crucial factor. Summary of Unit 4(Rags to Rags, Riches to Riches) In this article, the author said“Opportunity is the crux of the American ideal.” People in the American society used to think that they are sure to succeed and make their dreams come true with diligence. But in recent years, “American dream” is seriously challenged. With regard to the economic development, the author holds that America is already a middle-aged country now, and pessimistic spirit has come to dominate the national consciousness. And the economic mobility in America is getting lower and lower compared to other western country. The idea of the “American Dream” is starting to fade since rich children keep rich when poor children stay poor. And at the end of the article, the author think we need to get out of poverty for the sake of restoring the spirit, and one effective way is to improve education, which will have a great effect on economic mobility across generations. Because of my limited knowledge of American economics, I can’t make some powerful viewpoints to the economic mobility in USA. But I think opportunity is an important part in American ideal. In America, opportunities are more, and relatively fairer than other areas. On the basis of this, dreams in USA come true more easily than other areas. And education is a significant factor to change the state of “rags to rags”, if children in poor family get opportunity to be educated, they will master advanced skills to get a good job and have a better life. And will it have a great effect on economic mobility, as said in the article? I’m not sure. Summary of Unit 5(Teaching Our Children about Evil) In every language, there is a pair of words expressing good and evil, but what really is good and evil? Moral relativists think that the standards of good and evil are only products of local culture, custom, or prejudice. Someone think evil cannot exist without good, nor good without evil. We are always taught to do good, not evil, and there are relatively few ways to do good, but there are countless ways to do evil, which is named “Destructive Potentials” and can destroy our and others’ life. The author said there are usually three ways to treat destructive potentials: denial, projection，displacement. To prevent evil, the author of this article argues, we must first know what is truly “evil”, and then find social forces that may activate destructive potentials. On the basis of knowing what’s “evil”, the author offer some hows to teach our children at the end. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/c43b018755270722192ef7ca.html