dilemma, often revealing guilt, treachery, failure and a theme of pursuit. Greene was also a film critic and all of these novels have been made into films: Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), The Heart of the Matter (1948), The Third Man (1950), The Quiet American (1955), and Our Man in Havana (1958).
E. M. Forster (1879–1970): a British novelist and writer of short stories and essays. He lived at different periods in Italy, Egypt and India and taught at Cambridge University. His best known novels include A Room with a View (1908), Howard’s End (1910), A Passage to India (1924) which have all been made into films. His writing about reading and writing includes a book of lectures, Aspects of the Novel (1927).
Thomas Merton (1915–1968): an American Catholic writer, who was a Trappist monk in Kentucky. He wrote over 70 books, including many essays about Buddhism and a translation into English of the Chinese classic, Chuang Tse. He had a great deal to say about the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures and wrote many letters to writers, poets, scholars and thinkers. He read a lot in English, Latin, French and Spanish and said he always had at least three books which he was reading at any one time.
William Blake (1757–1827): a British poet, artist and mystic, who read widely in English, French, Italian, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He made many engravings to illustrate the work of such writers as Virgil, Dante and Chaucer, as well as his own poems. He stressed that
imagination was more important than rationalism and the materialism of the 18th century and criticized the effects of the industrial revolution in England, but his work was largely disregarded by his peers. He is best known for his poetry in Songs of Innocence (1787) and Songs of
Experience (1794). His belief in the oneness of all created things is shown in his much-quoted verse, “To see the world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a flower, / Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an hour.”
Clifton Fadiman (1904–1999): an American writer, radio and TV broadcaster and editor of anthologies. For over 50 years he was an editor and judge for the Book-of-the-Month Club. In 1960 he wrote a popular guide to great books for American readers, The Lifetime Reading Plan, which discusses 133 authors and their major work: the 1997 edition includes 9 authors from China.
J. K. Rowling (1965–): British writer of the seven Harry Potter fantasy books. She studied French and Classics at Exeter University, before teaching English in Portugal and training to teach French in Scotland. The main idea about a school for wizards and the orphan Harry Potter came on a delayed train journey from Manchester to London in 1990. She began to write as soon as she reached London. Twelve
publishersrejected the first book before Bloomsbury, a small London publisher, agreed to publish it. Later books have repeatedly broken all the sales records (as have some of the films). She is one of the richest women in the UK and a notable supporter of many charities.
Language points
1 Variety’s the very spice of life, / That gives it all its flavour … (Para 2)
Spices are made from plants and added to food to give it its particular flavour or taste. The English proverb
“Variety is the spice of life” (the proverb comes from Cowper’s poem) therefore means that variety gives
life extra value and allows you to appreciate life in particular ways.
2 We learn to look beyond our immediate surroundings to the horizon and a landscape far away from
home. (Para 3)
This means that through reading we learn to look beyond our immediate experience or familiar
environment to things beyond our immediate experience, ie to completely different things that we can
imagine and experience through books.
3 When a baseball player hits a home run he hits the ball so hard and so far he’s able to run round the
four bases of the diamond, and score points not only for himself but for the other runners already
on a base. (Para 9)
In the American game of baseball, the field of grass is diamond-shaped and has four bases (specific points
marked around the diamond), round which players must run to score points. One team bats (ie team
members take turns to hit the ball and run round the bases) and the members of the other team throw (pitch)
the ball and, when it is has been hit, try to catch it or get it quickly to one of the four bases. If a batting
player can hit the ball hard enough, he can run round all four bases before the other team can get the ball
and thus score maximum points – with a home run. In the passage, a really good book is a home run.
3 Choose the best answer to the questions.
1 Why are we like Alice in wonderland when we read a book?
(a) Because, like Alice, we often have accidents.
(b) Because reading makes us feel young again.
(c) Because reading opens the door to new experiences.
(d) Because books lead us into a dream world.
2 According to the writer, what is the advantage of reading over real life?
(a) There is more variety in books than in real life.
(b) We can experience variety and difference without going out of the house.
(c) The people we meet in a book are more interesting than real people.
(d) It’s harder to make sense of real life than a book.
3 What do the seven novels listed in Paragraph 4 have in common?
(a) Their titles stimulate imagination.
(b) They represent the best writing by British and American novelists.
(c) They have become classics.
(d) You can find all of them in any local library.
4 At what moment in our lives do books become important?
(a) As soon as we start reading.
(b) When we start buying books to fill our shelves at home.
(c) When we start listening to bedtime stories.
(d) Only when we are ready for books.
5 What claim did Merton make about the poems of William Blake?
(a) They were similar to the works of the Greek writers and thinkers.
新标准大学英语综合教程4(unit1-8)课后答案及课文翻译
