新东方新概念英语四册课堂笔记 Lesson37:On Telling the Truth

The Victorians, realizing that the greatest Happiness accorded to man is that provided by a happy marriage, endeavoured to pretend that all their marriages were happy. We, for our part, admitting the fact that no feat of intelligence and character is so exacting as that required of two people who desire to live permanently together on a basis of amity, are obsessed by the problem of how to render the basic facts of cohabitation simpler and more reasonable, in order that unhappy marriages may less frequently result. The Victorians would have considered it 'painful' or 'unpleasant' were one to point out that only four marriages out of every ten are anything but forced servitudes. We ourselves start from this very assumption and try to build from it a theory of more sensible relations between the sexes. Of all forms of arrant untruthfulness Victorian optimism

appears to me to have been the most cowardly and the most damaging.

Truth, therefore, is an attitude of the mind. lt is important, if one does not wish to inconvenience and to bore one's friends, not to tell lies. But it is more important not to think lies, or to slide into those mechanical and untruthful habits of thought which are so pleasant and so easy as descents to mental ineptitude. The victorian habit of mind (which I consider to have been a bad habit of mind) was unduly preoccupied by what was socially and morally convenient. Convenience is, however, in all affairs of life, an execrable test of value. One should have the courage to think uncomfortably, since it is only by rejecting the convenient that one can come to think the truth. Not, after all, that there is any such thing as truth. At best we can approach to some relative approximation. On the other hand, there is surely such a thing as untruth. One is generally aware when one has said something, or acted in some way which has left on other people an impression

not strictly in accordance with the facts. One is generally aware, also. when one has thrust aside an inconvenient thought and slid into its place another thought which is convenient. One's awareness in the former case is in general more acute than in the latter, since we are more on the look-out for the lies we utter than for those we merely think. In fact, however, it is the untruthful thought which is the more vicious of the two. Spoken lies are invariably tiresome and may actually be dishonest. But continuous lying in the mind, a disease to which the Anglo-Saxon is peculiarly exposed, spells the destruction of human thought and character.

New words and expressions 生词短语

（改正）Victoria (1837-1901)

前期是 unrest, alarm.

后期 growing prosperity

industrialism 工业革命 free trade 自由贸易

Britain was named workshop of the world.

cession of Hongkong to U.K.

cession 割让

opium war 鸦片战争

critical realism 批判现实主义

made big fortune = made good money

Charles Dickens

hard times 艰难时事

middle class 中产阶级

The Tale of Two Cities 双城记

Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿

Vanity Fair 名利场

status 地位

rank 头衔

乔治。艾里奥特

Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre 简爱

Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄

Michelle

Gone with the wind 飘

submit to 屈服于

destined fate 注定的命运

turn against her fate 与她的命运对抗

self-portrait 自画像

tuberculosis 肺结核

sorrow 悲痛

simplified version 简写版

original 原著

accordvt.给予

grant同意，给予

grant sb. sth.

He was accorded the permission to enter the

library.

to accord the guest a warm welcome.

endowvt.（二十课）

for one’s part就某人而言

in terms of ourselves

on the part of us

For our part, we have no objection.

my objection 我的反对意见（24 课）

amityn.友善

harmony,

concordnational concord 民族团结

our family members are/ live in amity/

harmony/ concord.

obsessvt.使烦恼

I’m obsessed with too much assignment.

vexv.使烦恼

annoy vt.使苦恼

irrtatevt.激怒

I’m bored. 我烦了。

obsessvt.迷住

I’m obsessed with sth./ sb.

I’m obsessed with the idea of becoming a

millionaire.

rendervt.致使，给予

A serious illness rendered him rather weak.

(render: 致使)

render thanks to sb. 答谢（render: 给予）

render sb. a favor 给某人帮个忙

render sth. Inter Enghlish 翻译

render a role 扮演一个角色

he renders a role in the movie.

to interpret a role

to play a role

servituden.奴役

He is/ was in servitude. 他没自由

sex n.性别

male/ female

weaker, fair, gentle / strong, rougher, sterner

half the sky 半边天

sex appeal 性感

bad egg坏蛋

dirty dog

arranta.纯粹的(否定意义)

sheer

arrant nonsense 一派胡言，

out and out

he is out and out hooligan.

cowardlya.怯懦的

coward 胆小鬼，懦夫

chicken

craven

you two are fighting and finally you cry

craven.

Spare me 饶了我

spineless adj.

spine

shrinking

shrink 缩水

knee 膝盖

weak kneed

fainthearted 胆小的

slide into不知不觉得陷入

I slide into the bad habit of smoking.

I slide into the bad habit of rising late.

I’m a late riser.

early riser 早起的人

slip into

inconveniencevt.打扰

trouble 打搅

bore

bother

Probably I trouble you for a minute.

ineptituden. 笨拙的

servitude n. 奴隶状态

-tude 是名词后缀

ept 聪明灵活的

clumsy 笨拙的

competence n. 能力

competentadj.

incompetent无能的

bungling 笨拙的

unduly ad.过分地

excess

extreme 极度

moderate 不过量的

immoderate 过量的

modest

inmodest

overmuch

due 准时

The train is due at severn o’clock.

My book is out. 我的书到期了。

passport 护照

renew it 续借，续签

execrablea.恶劣的，令人讨厌的

contemptible 令人讨厌的

coarse 粗俗的

debased 下贱的，卑鄙的

ignoble 不光彩的