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Unit Fourteen

Under the Sign of Mickey Mouse &Co.

海南大学外国语学院 基础英语教研室

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• Contents• A. Text one• I. Pre-reading: • (I). Warm-up questions • (II). Background information • II. While-reading: Text Analysis• (I) Structure analysis• (II) Comprehension questions • (III) Language points• (IV) Difficult sentences • III. Post-Reading:• (I) Grammatical items• (II) Translation Exercises• (III) Oral activities• (IV) Writing practice • B. Text two• （I）Questions for text comprehension• （II）Language points

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• I. Pre-reading: • Information• American popular culture is the attitudes

and perspectives shared by the majority of the U.S. citizens, which expresses itself through a number of media, including movies, music, sports and cultural icons.

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American Cultural information• Movies e.g. Hollywood, Broadway• Music e.g. hip-hop, Rap, jazz, blues,

country, R&B• Sports e.g. NBA• Cultural icons e.g. Mickey Mouse, Bug

s Bunny

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• American Brands: Coca-Cola, IBM, Johnson & Johnson,

• Microsoft, Wal-Mart Stores, etc.

• American movies’ ticket office in China: American• movies Avatar and Alice in Wonderland ranked th

e first • and the second in China’s ticket office list of 201

0.

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American culture has been infiltrating nations all over the world over the past two decades, marginalizing traditional cultures throughout the world and bringing about the kind of global “fun” culture that Disney is famous for. In this text, Todd Gitlin reveals the trend that American culture is becoming dominant and enjoys worldwide popularity, and accounts for this cultural phenomenon.

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• II. While-reading: Text Analysis

The text can be divided into the following three parts:

• Part One (Paragraph 1): This is the introduction where the author advances his idea that American culture is dominant over the “global village”.

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Part II (Paragraphs 2 — 5): This part presents evidence of the universal popularity that American culture enjoys, and explores what underlies the cultural phenomenon. This part can be further divided into two sub-sections. Paragraphs 2 — 4 as a sub-section give testimony to the idea that American pop culture is recognized worldwide, while Paragraph 5 explains why it is so.

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Part III (Paragraph 6): The author concludes his argument with a thought-provoking restatement of his point.

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• Contrast is a prominent feature of the text. It is realized by parallel structures, where there is semantic disparity. For instance, in Paragraph 1, “in mansions on the hill” is in contrast to “in huts”. In Paragraph 4, Grandfather is dressed in “traditional Tungusian clothing”. Grandson has on his head “a reversed baseball cap”. Contrast is also manifested through lexical opposition, as exemplified in “They are both local and cosmopolitan”, where “local” is opposite to “cosmopolitan”. There are other examples like dispatch － collect, well known －rarely acknowledged, love － hate, antagonism －dependency, monocultures － cultural bilingualism.

• Read the text and find other structural and lexical manifestations of contrast.

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Questions 1.What unifies the nations into a “global

village”? (Paragraph 1) It is the media flow that unifies the

nations into a “global village”, as it defies national boundaries. When national boundaries are no longer a barrier of communication and when communication is so easy and fast on the Internet, people all over the world feel as if they were living in the same one village.

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2. How do you understand “the symmetry of the exhibition”? (Paragraphs 2)

“The symmetry of the exhibition” means the balance, or the approximate balance between two sides: on the one hand is Marie Antoinette, the dedicator of the cellar and Queen of France to Louis XVI, and on the other are American pop stars. The former was royalty in history while the latter are royalty of the modern era, in the metaphorical sense.

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3. What underlies French hypocrisy as shown in Paragraph 3? (Paragraphs 3)

French hypocrisy as manifested by the two facts related in Paragraph 3 is only superficial. There is something deeper. What lies behind is the paradox: the antagonism and the dependency are inseparable. People everywhere consciously resist the invasion of American culture for the maintenance of their native cultures, but subconsciously enjoy and even rely on American culture.

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4. Why does American culture become a kind of lingua franca? (Paragraphs 2—5)

• Part of the reason that American culture becomes a kind of lingua franca, i.e. it is universally recognized, is that it meets a psychological need in the growth of the young. Another part of the reason is America’s attempt to popularize their culture in the world for economic, ideological and other purposes. In short, American culture as a kind of lingua franca is the result of America’s striking “from inside the spectator as well as from outside.”

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• Group discussions• How do you understand the questions

the author raised in Paragraph 4 ?

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defy: v. offer effective resistance to sth. or sb.

e.g. defy public opiniona political move that defies explanationThe baby boy defied all the odds and survived.

Translation:

他不顾一切困难坚持干下去。He was going ahead defying all difficulties.________________________________________________

这扇门怎么样都打不开。The door defied all attempts to open it._________________________________________________

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amazing: a. very surprising, esp. in a way that makes you feel pleasure or admiration e.g. an amazing

achievement/discovery/success/performanceIt’s amazing how quickly people adapt.

e.g. Amazingly, no one noticed.The meal was amazingly cheap.

Derivation: amazingly ad.

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torrent: n. a rushing, violent or abundant stream of anything

e.g.The rain was coming down in torrents.a torrent of abuse/criticism/words

e.g. torrential applausea torrential flow of words

Derivation: torrential a.

Translation:没等散会，暴雨就倾泻而下。Before the meeting could end, torrential rain began to pour.__________________________________________________

_________________

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accustomed: a. familiar with sth. and accepting is as normal or usual

e.g. My eyes slowly grew accustomed to the dark.She was a person accustomed to having eight hours’ sleep a night.

Synonyms:habituated, adapted

Collocations: be/become/get accustomed to sth. / doing sth.

Antonym:unaccustomed

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resort: v. turn to sth. for assistance or as the means to an end

e.g. They felt obliged to resort to violence.We may have to resort to using untrained staff.

Collocation: resort to sth.

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dispatch: v. send off or away with promptness or speed

e.g.The government was preparing to dispatch 6,000 soldiers to search the island.The victory inspired him to dispatch a gleeful telegram to the President.

e.g. He carries out his duties with dispatch.

Phrase:

with dispatch: quickly and efficiently (dispatch as a noun)

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indispensable: a. essential; too important to be without e.g.Cars have become an indispensable part of

our lives.

e.g.She made herself indispensable to the department.

Collocations:

indispensable to sb. / sth.

indispensable for sth. / doing sth.e.g. A good dictionary is indispensable for learning

a foreign language.

e.g. They looked on music and art lessons as dispensable.

Antonym: dispensable

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swoosh: v. make a brushing sound

e.g.Cars and trucks swooshed past.The basketball swooshed through the net.

Translation:

飞机的推进器卷起一阵呼啸的强风。

The propellers of the plane swooshed a gale._________________________________________________

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narrate: v. give a continuous account of sth. e.g.She entertained them by narrating her

adventures in Africa.

e.g.The richness of his novel comes from his narration of it.

Derivations: narration: n.

e.g.narrative fiction/ structure

narrative: a.

e.g.So he listens and waits for the narrator to explain more.

narrator: n.

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a global/local celebrityTV celebrities

e.g.

celebrity: n. A celebrity is someone who has become famous for sth., esp. for sth. connected with acting or show business.

Translation:

这场讲座由一位体育名人主讲。The lecture will be given by a sports celebrity.____________________________________________________

他是小镇上最出名的人物。He is the most well-known celebrity in the town.______________________________________________________

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distribute: v.pass out or deliver

e.g. The organization distributed food and blankets to the earthquake victims.The money was distributed among schools in the area.

Collocation: distribute sth. (to/among sb./sth.)

Translation:本报免费发送。The newspaper is distributed free.____________________________________________________

这些传单将由数百名中学生散发。The leaflets were to be distributed by hundreds of high school students._____________________________________________________

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e.g. the unfair distribution of wealthThey studied the geographical distribution of the disease.

Derivation:

distribution: n.

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exempt: a. not subject to an obligation, liability, etc.

e.g.The interest on the money is exempt from tax.Some students are exempt from certain exams.

Collocation:

exempt from sth.

e.g. tax-exempt donations to charity

Word formation: -exempt: in compounds, forming adjectives

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resentment: n. a feeling of displeasure or indignation at sb. or sth. regarded as the cause of injury or insult

She could not conceal the deep resentment she felt at the way she had been treated.They had to suppress all their natural resentments.

e.g.

Collocations: feel/harbour/bear resentment towards/against sb.

Synonyms: hatred, hostility, enmity, malice

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notoriety: n. fame for being bad in some way

She achieved notoriety for her affair with the senator.He gained a certain notoriety as a gambler.

e.g.

Collocations: notoriety for/as sth.

Derivation: notorious: a.

a notorious criminalThe country is notorious for its appalling prison conditions.

e.g.

Synonyms: infamy, discredit

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confer: v. give sb. an award, a university degree or a particular honour or right

An honorary degree was conferred on him by Oxford University in 1995.The Queen conferred knighthood on the brave soldier.

e.g.

Collocation: confer sth. on/upon sb.

Synonyms: bestow, grant, award, honour

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nemesis: n. (pl. nemeses) an unconquerable opponent or rival

Injury, consistently his nemesis, struck him down during the match.The basketball team met its nemesis.Every civilization seems to have its nemesis.

e.g.

Etymology: The word originates from Greek Mythology. Nemesis is a goddess who is usually portrayed as the agent of divine punishment for wrongdoing or presumption.

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indigenous: a. characteristic of a particular region or country

countries with rich indigenous cultural traditions The elephant is indigenous to India.

e.g.

Translation:大熊猫产于中国。Giant pandas are indigenous to China.____________________________________________________

袋鼠原产于澳大利亚。The kangaroo is indigenous to Australia.____________________________________________________

Synonyms: native, aboriginal, local

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reverse: v. bring back to or into; turn in the opposite direction

e.g. The government has failed to reverse the economic decline.He took the chair, reversed it, and drew it towards the fire.

Phrases: in reverse: in the opposite order or way; backwards

The password is my phone number in reverse.

e.g.

In the 1980s, the economic growth went into reverse.

e.g.

go/put sth. into reverse: start to happen or to make sth. happen in the opposite way

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monocular: a. having only one eye

Derivations: monocularity: n.monocularly: ad.

He had only monocular vision.a monocular microscope

e.g.

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cosmopolitan: a. belonging to all the world

e.g. I was very much struck by London － the fact that it’s so cosmopolitan.a cosmopolitan city/resort

Translation:

音乐是最具有世界性的艺术之一。Music is one of the most cosmopolitan of the arts._______________________________________________________

这个俱乐部具有国际氛围。The club has a cosmopolitan atmosphere._______________________________________________

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portal: a. (formal or literary) a door, gate or entrance, esp. one of imposing size and appearance

e.g. the main portal of the cathedralvillas with huge marble portalsthe portal of knowledge

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icon: n. symbol

Synonym: idol, symbol, model

e.g. Click on the printer icon with the mouse.a feminist iconMadonna and other pop icons of the 1980s

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omnipresent: a. present everywhere at the same time

Word formation:

omni-: all

e.g. These days the media are omnipresent.the omnipresent threat of natural disasters

e.g. omnipotent, omniscient, omnivorous

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e.g.我不习惯被人打扰。

I am not accustomed to being interrupted.

be accustomed to: If you are accustomed to sth., you are

familiar with it and accept it as normal

or usual.

e.g.学生们很快就习惯了大学的生活。

Students are quickly accustomed to the college life.

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e.g. 但是今天这样的应用只不过占因特网流量的很小一部分。 But today such applications account for only a small fraction of internet traffic.

account for: to be a particular amount or part of sth.

e.g. 但美国国债仍然只占美国家庭总资产额的 1% 。

But the U.S. Treasuries still account for only 1% of total household assets.

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e.g. 他们问我是否会主持委员会会议。

They asked me if I would preside over the committee meeting.

preside over: lead or be in charge of a meeting, ceremony, etc.

e.g. 该党执政时期，国家经历了历史上最严重的经济衰退。

The party presided over one of the worst economic declines in the country’s history.

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e.g.她的答复等于完全拒绝。

Her answer amounted to a complete refusal.

amount to: be equal to or the same as sth.

e.g.他们的行为已构成违约。

Their actions amount to a breach of contract.

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1) detect v. → detection n. → detectable a. e.g. 这些检查旨在早期查出疾病。

然而许多问题却未被察觉。

这种噪音人的耳朵几乎是察觉不到的。

The tests are designed to detect the disease early.

Many problems, however, escape detection.

The noise is barely detectable by the human ear.

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2) resent v. → resentment n. → resentful a.

e.g. 他十分厌恶被别人当孩子对待。

他因为自己悲惨的童年而对父母怀恨在心。

她被运动队淘汰了，对此她愤愤不平。

He bitterly resents being treated like a child.

He harbours a deep resentment against his parents for his miserable childhood.

She was resentful at having been left out of the team.

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3) defy v. →defiance n. → defiant a.

e.g. 如果你不服从法律，你就可能坐牢。

尽管国际上明令禁止，核试验又在进行了。

恐怖主义者向政府发出了挑战书。

If you defy the law, you may find yourself in prison.

Nuclear testing was resumed in defiance of an international ban.

The terrorists sent a defiant message to the government.

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4) notoriety n. → notorious a. → notoriously ad. e.g. 他最近卑鄙的所作所为使他臭名昭著。

尽管此人之傲慢远近闻名，我觉得我还是可以和他打交道的。

山地气候难以预料是人所共知的。

He achieved a certain notoriety after his recent mean acts.

Despite his notorious arrogance, I felt I could do business with him.

Mountain weather is notoriously difficult to predict.

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5) antagonism n. → antagonist n. → antagonistic a.e.g. 他对宿敌的仇恨仍然十分强烈。

克林顿是个强劲的对手。

他对媒体，特别是报纸，公开表示敌意。

The antagonism he felt towards his old enemy was still very strong.

Clinton was a formidable antagonist.

He is openly antagonistic to the media, particularly newspaper.

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6) bilingual a. → bilingualism n.

e.g. 他们需要谙熟两种语言的秘书。

双语制是很有远见的教育政策。 They need bilingual secretaries.

Bilingualism is a farsighted educational policy.

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7) amaze v. → amazement n. → amazing a. e.g.有些人为了钱什么都会干得出来，这一直令我惊愕不已。

使我大为惊奇的是，他能把这首诗从头至尾背诵出来。

有这么多人来参加这些会议真是匪夷所思。

It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do for money.

To my amazement, he was able to recite the whole poem from memory.

It’s amazing that so many people come to these meetings.

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8) reverse v. → reversal n. → reversible a.

e.g.各个项目的次序颠倒过来了。

总统将对他政策的急剧逆转作出解释。

私有化趋势可逆转吗？

The order of the items had been reversed.

The President would explain his sharp reversal of policy.

Is the trend towards privatization reversible?

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III.Post-Reading 1. Having a dialogue

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was a very successful singer with millions of fans. Have a dialogue with a classmate about him. The following questions can be asked: 1) When and where was he born? 2) What was his family background? 3) What was he famous for? 4) Why did he remain popular after his sudden death in 2009? 5) Do you think he can be regarded as a symbol of American culture? “King of

Pop”, popular music, lifelong achievement, dispute, scandal, global influence, death, etc.

Words and phrases for reference:

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Having a discussion Have you ever seen a Hollywood movie or simply an American movie? If yes, discuss in a group what it is about, what impresses you most and why you like it or dislike it.

a. theme b. genre c. social background when the film is producedd. actor/actresse. cost …

Aspects you may consider:

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Writing : Music can be roughly divided into two types: classical and popular. It is obvious that young people in China today like popular music much more. Write an essay with the title “Why Popular Music?” In the first part, say something general about the fact that popular music is much more preferred than classical music among Chinese youth. In the second part, explain what attracts young people so much to popular music. And in the third part, draw a conclusion.

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Why Popular Music? more related to people’s everyday lifebrief and less complicated to understandMore personal feelings are poured out in pop music than in classical music.Pop music which evolved out of rock and roll was introduced in the mid 1950’s. It is usually understood to be commercially recorded music that is often oriented towards a youth market. Since 1950, pop music has been identified as the music that is accessible to the wildest audience and is often mostly played on the radio.

Viewpoints and information for reference:

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Lead-in questions

1) If someone who is completely ignorant of China asked you to introduce it, which aspects will you choose? You may discuss with your classmates.

2) How would you comment on the current Sino-American

relations? a. cooperative and beneficial b. stressful and conflicting c. complicated and tangled

Aspects for reference:location, history, traditions, economic development, current events, folk life, etc.

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About the text ― This text is taken from Time, Vol. 174, No. 5, 2009.

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Martin Jacques ― Martin Jacques, born in October 1945, was editor of the CPGB’s journal, Marxism Today from 1977 until its closure in 1991, a publication which was politically quite mainstream in its final years. Jacques was a co-founder of the think-tank Demos. He was a columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times and deputy editor of The Independent. Currently, he is a columnist for The Guardian and New Statesman. In 2009, his book about Asian modernity and the rise of China entitled When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World was published.

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Albert Einstein (Paragraph 4) ― Albert Einstein (1879 ― 1955) was a theoretical physicist best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.” Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics.

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Werner Heisenberg (Paragraph 4)― Werner Heisenberg (1901 ― 1976) was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory. In addition, he also made important contributions to nuclear physics, quantum field theory, and particle physics. Along with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, he set forth the matrix formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925. He was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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Schrödinger (Paragraph 4)― Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (1887 ― 1961) was an Austrian theoretical physicist who achieved fame for his contributions to quantum mechanics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1933. In 1935, after extensive correspondence with personal friend Albert Einstein, he proposed the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment.

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Fascism (Paragraph 4)― Fascism comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in conflict against the weak. Fascists advocate the creation of a single-party state. Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the government and the fascist movement.

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The Opium Wars (Paragraph 5) ― The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, were the climax of trade disputes and diplomatic difficulties between China in the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire after China sought to restrict British opium traffickers. It consisted of the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860.

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Rana Mitter (Paragraph 6)― Professor Rana Mitter is a university lecturer in modern Chinese history and politics. He has published on the political and cultural history of twentieth-century China, and is currently working on the connections between war and nationalism in China from the 1930s to the present. His interests include the Republican period (1912 ― 1949), the Cold War and Sino-Japanese relations.

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Barack Obama (Paragraph 8) ― Barack Hussein Obama II (born on August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States (as in 2011). He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first born in Hawaii. Obama previously served as the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008. In 2009, he won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

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1. What distinctive combination of attributes does China have according to Martin Jacques?

Refer to Paragraph 3. A huge population, a sense of its identity as a civilization as well as a nation state, a long-standing influence on the nations and cultures that border it, and a diaspora that impacts not just its region but the world.

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2. What is changing as China assumes a bigger role in the global economy and politics?

Refer to Paragraph 3. Until around 1970, modernity was, with the exception of Japan, “an exclusively Western phenomenon.” But as China assumes a bigger role in global economics and politics, the 21st century will be one of “contested modernities.”

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3. What is your understanding of “History rarely runs in straight and predictable lines” in Paragraph 4?Refer to Paragraph 4. A society’s characteristics today will not necessarily shape what it will look like tomorrow. There are many factors that are unpredictable in history. Germanic central Europe at the end of the 19th century was a technological and scientific power-house, its universities nurturing geniuses like Einstein, Heisenberg and Schrodinger, whose discoveries changed the way we thought of everything. Then came the carnage of World War I, the rise of fascism, the mass murder of European Jews and the flight of those who could escape it, often to the U.S. All of this contributed to a shift of the center of scientific progress away from Europe. Some aspects of the great European disaster might have been foreseeable in 1909, but none with any certainty. There are too many futures for them all to be known.

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4. What is a crude but commonly held thumbnail sketch of modern Chinese history?

Refer to Paragraph 5. Two centuries ago, European powers tried to open a hermetic society to trade; they failed until the Opium Wars forced the issue; China then entered an era of foreign domination and internal chaos, which ended with the imposition of political stability by the Communist Party in 1949; in 1978, after another round of internal unrest, China chose to modernize its economy and adopted market mechanisms to do so, with astonishing success.

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5. What is the significance of Sino-American relations?Refer to Paragraph 8. How China develops internally, and how it changes the wider world, will depend on an infinite number of contingencies. A crucially important one will be how China and the U.S., the dominant global power, get along. As Barack Obama said on July 27, “The relationship between the United States and China will shape the 21st century.”

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1. Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny. — Albert

Camus

2. Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.

— Cesar Chavez

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Questions for discussion

1) No matter how the term “culture” is defined by scholars or in books, everyone has his or her own understanding of it. Share with your classmates your understanding and discuss it.

2) In this age of globalization, almost all kinds of cultures can be found around us. Have you ever seen someone disrespect or even despise other cultures? If yes, try to describe it to your classmates and discuss the possible causes for this behavior; if no, discuss with your classmates how you can behave properly when meeting someone from a different cultural background.

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1) Culture is such a broad term that people usually focus

on some specific areas of it. Try to name several aspects of culture according to your understanding of it. Here are some references: history, architecture, literature, popular culture, music, media, celebrities, etc.

2) Cross-culture communication is a very difficult task because cultures are different. Sometimes people may misbehave unconsciously when meeting a foreign friend. Thus we should be good observers in life and try to put ourselves in others’ shoes. e.g. Feminism has spread to most western countries. If you encounter a woman who has been influenced by it, you may not hurry to be a gentleman in front of her, for she may think that you are not polite or considerate.

Guidance:

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Albert Camus (7 November 1913 ― 4 January 1960) was a French Algerian author, philosopher and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature “for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times”.

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César Estrada Chávez (March 31, 1927 ― April 23, 1993) was a Mexican American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW).