equal-opportunity
Unit TwoThe New Singles
Section One Pre-reading Activity
I. Brainstorming
Work in group of four. Discuss and write down the words or expressions that occur to you when you hear one of your friends is going to be married.
e.g. engagement; legitimate age for marriage; double ring exchange ceremony …
II. Pair Work
Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.
1.What occurs to you when you hear of a person being a spinster or a bachelor?
2.Are any changes taking place concerning the attitudes of Chinese young people towards marriage?
3.Which would you prefer for the time being, a singled or married lifestyle?
4.What would your relatives and friends say if you were single at age 40, or at age 50?
5.Which kind of lifestyle is “normal”, married or solitary?
Section Two Reading Material
The New Singles
Carla Power
Increasing numbers of Northern Europeans are choosing to live alone
You know the type. Eleanor Rigby, who picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been. Austin Powers, proud owner of a Lava lamp, lush chest hair and an equal-opportunity libido. Bridget Jones, of the wobbly ego and much-watched answering machine. The Single, long a stock figure in stories, songs and personal ads, was traditionally someone at the margins of society: a figure of fun, pity or awe.
Those days are gone. In the place of withered spinsters and bachelors are people like Elizabeth de Kergorlay, a 29-year-old Parisian banker who views her independence and her own apartment as
the spoils of professional success. Scooting around Paris in her Golf GTI, one hand on the wheel and the other clutching her cell phone, de Kergorlay pauses between calls to rave about life alone. “I?m not antisocial,” she says. “I love people. But living alone gives me the time and space fo r self-reflection. I?ve got the choice and the privacy to grow as a human being.”
As the sages would say, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn?t the stuff of gloomy philo sophical meditations, but a fact of Europe?s new economic landscape, embraced by demographers, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyles, observes French sociologist Jean-Claude Kaufmann, is part of the “irresistible momentum of individualism” over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have wreaked havoc on Europeans? private lives. More and more of them are remaining on their own: they?re living longer, divorcing more and marrying later — if at all. British marriage rates are the lowest in 160 years of records. INSEE, France?s National Institute of Statistics, reports that the nu mber of French people living alone doubled between 1968 and 1990.
The home-alone phenomenon remains an urban and a Northern European trend: people who live in rural areas — as well as Spaniards, Greeks and Irish — tend to stick to families. By contrast, Scandinavians, Dutch and Germans like to live alone: 40 percent of all Swedes live alone, as do seven million Britons —three times as many as 40 years ago. According to the recent report “Britain in 2010” by Richard Scase, professor of organizational behav ior at the University of Kent, single-person households will outnumber families and couples within a decade. In London?s tonier neighborhoods like Kensington and Chelsea, about half of all households are people living alone. In Germany this year, 56-year-o ld divorcee Bernd Klosterfelde produced a CD called “Alone No More.” Featuring 15 tracks of household noises with titles like “Nothing on TV; At Least the Chips Are Good” and “The Fridge Is Finally Full Again,” it promises people who live alone “62 minutes of togetherness.”
Europe?s new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe?s shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today?s tech-savvy workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so. A recent poll by the Institute Francais d?Opinion Publique, the French affiliate of the Gallup poll, found that 58 percent of French respondents viewed living alone as a choice, not an obligation. Other European singles agree. “I?ve always wanted to be free to go on adventures,” says Iris Eppendorf, who lives by herself in Berlin. “I hate dreary, boring, bourgeois living —it?s not interesting.”
Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage —twenty-something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a hefty proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. “The Swedish
word for someone living alone used to be ensam, which had connotations of being lonely,” notes Eva Sandsteadt, author of “Living Alone in Sweden.” “It was conceived as a negative — dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then along came the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone.”
The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn?t leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn?t got time to get lonely because he has too much work. “I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult.” Only an Ideal Woman could make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called “The Single Woman and Prince Charming,” thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don?t last long — if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan and chronic wanderlust, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she?d never have wanted to do what her mother did — gi ve up a career to raise a family. Instead, “I?ve always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life.”
A self-determined life doesn?t come cheap. In capitals like Stockholm, Rome or Berlin, high rents mean that only big earners can afford their own housing. Proportionally, more professionals live alone: in France, one in five career women live alone, compared with one in ten working women. The French government recently allotted nearly 77 million francs to people in their early 20s who wanted to m ove away from home, but couldn?t afford to. Parisian banker de Kergorlay?s apartment allows her the luxury of being able to “read, cook, write and entertain without having to make compromises.”
Such freedom can be addictive, particularly for women, notes sociologist Kaufmann. “Women are still expected to be the housewife in couples,” he notes. “It?s very hard for women to fight against this idea, so the only way they can attain sexual equality is to live alone.” De Kergorlay hasn?t ruled out marriage, but wouldn?t give up her freedom for a man. “If I were to get married,” she explains, “I would still want my own room —an escape zone where I can be by myself.”
Millions of singles yearning for escape zones or solitude are straining Europe?s city housing market. Over the next 15 years, the British population is set to decline, but the number of houses will rise by 25 percent —an increase largely accounted for by single people. Southeastern England is undergoing a major building boom: the British government has authorized the construction of 860,000 new homes, mostly for the middle classes. Real-estate brokers note a rise in the number of young singles who work mad hours and treat their homes like dorms. In London, luxury complexes with tiny flats, gyms and easy access to urban pleasures are springing up for young and driven professionals. Single-person households promote gentrification: when singles move into the neighborhood, say geographers, latte bars, gyms and restaurants are sure to follow, and local musi c, theater and art galleries thrive. “Singles are a real benefit to French cultural life,” says Olivier Donna, of the French Ministry of Culture and Communications. “Without them, you are left with couples and families who prefer to stay at home and watch TV.”
Women, it seems, enjoy singledom more than men do. According to Scase, single women —unlike men —tend to live near single friends, forming networks that serve as neo-families. Restaurants, gyms and latte bars function as living rooms, as do pubs —a trend that?s made young urban women a mainstay for the British drinks industry over the past five years. By contrast, the bachelor tends to stay in. “The man who lives alone is very much the sad case,” says Scase. “They really do watch videos and drink b eer.”
For some young urbanites, renting “The Matrix” and reaching for a lager is a much-needed escape —particularly for those in New Economy careers like media, advertising or information technology. “My whole job is communicating,” says Katherine Edward s, whose job as public-affairs manager for the British supermarket chain Tesco takes her out to parties and dinners a couple of times a week. “The last thing I want to do when I come home is communicate.” For Richard Moore, managing director of a sport-promotions company, his 1870s south London house is a refuge from work. The peace and quiet is such a luxury, says Moore, that “I?ll live alone until I meet the girl I?m going to marry.”
Living alone doesn?t mean living without romance. Jan Trost, a sociolog ist at the University of Uppsala, has studied Europe?s rising incidence of what he calls LAT, or living alone together, in which committed couples opt for separate residences. In an increasingly mobile work culture, professionals often work in separate cities or even countries, using e-mail, phones and meetings on weekends to sustain relationships. Married types who have bickered once too often about toothpaste caps or dust bunnies are opting to live apart in peace rather than together in stress. And divorced or widowed people who hook up later in life tend to have set ways and long personal histories with the requisite complications: “Should my piano or your piano be the piano?” says Trost, imagining a hypothetical discussion. “And photos: my grandchildren or yours? It?s simpler to keep your own house.”
The move from cozy families to urban singledom opens new vistas for marketers. In the past, the holy grail for advertisers was the couple with 2.3 children. No longer, argues Scase. Today?s companies should think of high-earning singles as a key market. Gone are the days of the clamorous family gathered around a table groaning with home-cooked food. A third of Britons eat dinner alone at least four times a week — and prefer eating alone to eating with others, according to a British National Opinion Poll. Small wonder that Britain?s market for ready-made convenience foods has doubled in the last five years.
A host of other singles services have sprung up, from dogwalkers to alarm systems to agencies that will water your plants or bring you aspirin and coffee when you?re hung over. Compact cars and mobile phones, the major props of modern European city life, have solid markets among European singles. Bouygues Telecom / France Telecom estimates that a hefty percentage of cell-phone users are young home-aloners; a quarter of Smart cars, tiny vehicles designed for city driving, are sold to twenty- and thirty-something singles who “churn” or change partners instead of settling down. It?s a marketing man?s dream: a de mographic with the anxieties of teenagers and the bank accounts of the middle-aged. Instead of saving for their kids? college education, the home-aloners are prepared to fork out on personal-fitness trainers, seaweed cellulite wraps and
stiletto heels. “Yo u have to be concerned about presenting yourself if you live in a more mobile society,” says Scase. “Appearance is no longer a young person?s concern. And [singles] have the money to spend on it.”
Living alone may bring freedom, but not necessarily buoyant health or better sex. A recent Dutch study of 19,000 people found chronic disease was 30 percent higher among singles. “Married people are healthier,” says the University of Rotterdam?s Inez Joung, who conducted the study. “They smoke and drink less. Sin gle and divorced people are more likely to commit suicide and have liver disease, diabetes or lung cancer.” The playboy magazine promise of singledom as a portal to sublime sex doesn?t hold, according to Hamburg University sexologist Gunter Schmidt. Having studied the sex lives of 3,000 young Germans, he estimates that 90 percent of all heterosexual sex occurs in long-term relationships. Half of the young singles surveyed weren?t having any sex at all. And good sex, according to Schmidt, pretty much remains the privilege of the attached: only 40 percent of singles said they enjoyed sex, compared with 80 percent of people in relationships. “The sexual world of singles is rather gray,” says Schmidt. “They make a huge effort to produce a little sex that?s not even satisfying.”
Life can get even tougher as home-aloners age. Once retired, work?s not there to provide a steady income or social life. Bad health and fear of crime can turn freedom into frightening solitude. In Sweden, groups of individuals have started about 50 co-housing projects designed for singles or couples in the second half of their lives. At Fardknappen, a state-built group home in Stockholm for people “in the second half of life,” the feel is less that of an old person?s home than a college dorm, with its buzzing modems, cheeky political cartoons and blue-jeaned, sandal-shod residents. Nightly group dinners aren?t mandatory, though people do have to pitch in and cook for a week every two months. And they?re worth going to, to hear Fardknappen?s 55 residents buzz with tales of recent trips to jazz clubs, to Cuba and South India.
The fusion of independence and community for older people has proved popular: the seventy-year old group has waiting list of 75, and visitors from Japan and the United States tramp through to learn about the Swedish method of aging gracefully. “Living like this enables old people to have freedom,” explains Mette Kjorstad, a divorcee who moved to Fardknappen after her two kids left home. “And it?s a great relief for people?s children —they?re free of a lot of guilt.” Guilt-free families? Now that?s a sign of a seismic societal shift if ever there was one.
New Words
lush / ●?? / adj.(of plants, esp. grass) growing very well, thickly, and
healthily
libido / ●???????? / n.sexual urge; strong force of life in a person 性欲；冲
动；生命力
wobbly / ???●? / adj.shaky; unsteady
stock / ???? / https://www.wendangku.net/doc/855442899.html,mon; routine 普通的，平凡的
awe / : / n.feeling of respect mixed with fear and wonder spinster / ??????? / n.unmarried woman, usually one who is no longer
young and seems unlikely to marry 未婚女人；老
处女
spoils / ????●? / n.goods, advantages, or profits obtained by winning a
war or being in a particular position or situation scoot / ??◆?? / v.(cause to) move quickly and suddenly
Golf GTI abbr.Golf Gran Turismo Injection, a car which is
comfortable, expensive and very powerful
clutch / ●??? / v.hold tightly
rave / ???? / v.speak with great enthusiasm
antisocial / ?????????l / adj.unwilling or unable to associate with other people;
hostile or unfriendly toward others
sage / ???d? / n. profoundly wise man贤人，圣人
meditation / ?????????? / n.thought; reflection; contemplation
embrace / ???????? / v. take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly demographer / ?????????? / n. person whose job involves studying the
characteristics of human populations, such as size,
growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics
人口学家
momentum / ????????? / n. impetus; the force of motion 动力, 要素
wreak / ???? / v. cause something to happen in a violent and often
uncontrolled way; do or express violently 使遭受；
发泄
havoc / ????? / n. widespread damage or confusion 大破坏；混乱Scandinavian / ?????????????? / n. people of the countries Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, and Iceland in Northern Europe 斯堪的纳
维亚人；北欧人
outnumber / ????????? / v. to be larger in numbers than
toney/ …????? / adj.high-toned; stylish高贵的; 时髦的
track / ???? / n. one of the pieces of music on a long-playing record,
CD or tape (唱片或录音带中的)一首乐曲
foster / ????? / n. help (sth.) to grow or develop; encourage
savvy / ???? / adj.experienced and well-informed; intelligent temperamentally/ ???????????●?/ adv.according to one?s nature; out of one?s
temperament 性格上；在气质上
affiliate / ????●???? / n. subsidiary, a person or organization associated with
another in a subordinate relationship分支机构，会员hefty / ????? / https://www.wendangku.net/doc/855442899.html,rge and powerful
crop / ??p / n. group or quantity appearing at any one time 一群,
一组
connotation / ?????????? / n.associated or secondary meaning of a word or
expression; implication
wanderlust / ?????●??? / n.strong desire to wander 旅行癖；流浪癖
allot / ??●?? / v.divide and give as shares 分派；分配
addictive / ???????? / adj.(of drugs, etc.) causing addiction; habit-forming;
complex / ????●??? / n.system consisting of a large number of closely related
parts 合物；综合性建筑
gentrification / d??????????????n / n.process by which a street or area
formerly lived by poor people is changed by people
of a higher social class going to live there 地区贵族
化
latte / ●????? /n. a strong espresso coffee topped with steamed frothed
milk; also called cafe latte
mainstay / ???????? / n.someone or something which provides the chief
means of support
urbanite/ … ??????? / n.resident of a city 都市人
lager / ●???? / n.kind of beer一种啤酒；（德国）储藏数月的淡啤酒bicker / ???? / v.quarrel, esp. about small matters
hypothetical / ???????????● / adj.supposed to be so; imaginary assumption
of sth.
vista / ????? / n.view, esp. one seen through a long, narrow passage,
as between rows of trees or houses 狭长的景色, 街
景
clamorous / ?●?????? / adj.marked by confused noise and shouting or by loud
demands and complaints
groan / ????? / v. utter a deep, mournful sound that expresses pain,
grief, dislike, or disapproval; suffer
prop / ???? / n.something that supports
churn / ????? / v.(cause to) move about violently
cellulite / ??●?◆●??? / n.fat in the human body, esp in the upper legs, which
cannot be removed simply by eating less 脂肪团stiletto heel / ????●???? / n.high thin metal piece forming the heel of a shoe for
women （女士高根皮鞋的）细鞋跟
buoyant / ?????? / adj. cheerful; carefree
diabetes / ???????????? / n.a ny of several metabolic disorders marked by
excessive urination and persistent thirst 糖尿病portal / ????● / n. grand and imposing entrance 入口
sublime / ????●??? / adj.very noble or wonderful; of the highest quality heterosexual / ?????????????● / adj.of or showing behavior that indicates
attraction to the opposite sex 异性恋的
cheeky / t????? / adj.rude or disrespectful; insolent厚颜无耻的mandatory / ????????? / adj.ordered by an authority; compulsory
fusion / ??◆??? / n. uniting or mixing
seismic / ??????? / adj.of great proportions, as in caused by an earthquake or
vibration of the earth 地震的
societal / ????????● / adj.of or from the society
Phrases and Idiomatic Expressions
come of age reach an age (usu. 18 or 21) when one is considered by law to be
responsible for oneself and for obedience to the law
e.g. Emma will inherit a fortune when she comes of age.
rule out declare the nonexistence of; exclude
e.g. The new trade agreement seems likely to rule out import
restrictions by individual countries.
yearn for have a strong, loving, or sad desire for
e.g. By their mid-thirties some career women begin to yearn for
motherhood.
opt for choose (a particular thing) rather than any others
e.g. Tests have shown that girls tend to opt for languages whereas
boys are more likely to study science or maths.
hook up meet up with
e.g. I hooked up with some old friends from school and we went to a
restaurant.
small wonder no wonder;not surprising; naturally
e.g. Small wonder nurses are leaving the profession — their pay is
terrible!
hangover the after-effects of drinking too much alcohol
e.g. He drank wine all night, and then stayed home from work
because of a terrible hangover.
fork out pay; hand over
e.g. I?m not forking out $17,000 a year on taxes when I can work
abroad and pay half that.
pitch in set to work vigorously; help; cooperate
e.g. Pitch in and so we can finish the job as soon as possible.
Proper Names and Technical Terms
Chelsea / / 切尔西[英国伦敦市西南部一住宅区](位于泰晤士河北岸为
艺术家和作家的聚居地)
Gallup poll a representative sampling of public opinion concerning a certain
issue (after George Horace Gallup, born 1901, U.S. statistician)
the holy grail t he holy cup used by Christ before his death; the thing which is most
wanted and which people try to discover
Notes on the Text
Background Information Singleness is on the rise in the developed world. In the United States,
men and women are marrying later than ever before —at age 27.1
for men and 24.8 for women, or about four years later than in 1970,
according to the Census Bureau. Women account for 60% of the
single population in the United States, though the number of men
living alone is growing at a faster rate. In Japan, singles make up
about one-fifth of all households; nearly one-fourth of Australians in
their early 40s remain single; and 40% of British women live without
a partner. (Source: Futurist, Mar/Apr 2000)
Eleanor Rigby She, not a real person but a bronze sculpture still in Liverpool, can
be found sitting on a bench in Stanley Street, only a stone?s throw
from Mathew Street. The statue was sculpted and donated to the city
of Liverpool in 1982 by the pop singer, Tommy Steele, as a tribute to
the Beatles and their song, Eleanor Rigby. A plaque next to the
monument dedicates it “To All the Lonely People”. Inside the bronze
sculpture are: a four leaf clover representing Nature; a page of the
Bible representing Spiritual Matters; a football sock representing
Leisure; a …Dandy?and Beano?comic representing Comedy; four
sonnets representing Romance.
Here is the song:
Eleanor Rigby
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father MacKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no-one will hear
No-one comes near
Look at him working
Darning his socks in the night when there?s nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father MacKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No-one was saved
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Austin Powers A film character
Section Three Post-reading Activity
I. Comprehension Check
Multiple Choice: For each of the following unfinished statements, choose the most appropriate ending from the choices provided.
1.In the first paragraph, the author presents __________.
A.the common features of singles
B. a scenario of traditional singles-types
C.antisocial singles living at the margins of society
D.the pitiful aspects of singles in the modern world
2.The word “spoils” in paragraph 2 most probably means “_________”.
A.damages
B.overpraise
C.loot
D.rewards
3.The increasing trend of living alone in Northern European countries largely results from
_______.
A.the deep understanding that human beings are all ultimately alone
B.Europe?s booming economy and the shift to individualistic capitalism
C.people?s yearning for escape zones and solitude
D.the springing up of luxury complexes
4.In the passage it is stated that hardworking singles _________.
A.are so busy that they will stay single the rest of their lives
B.view married life as dreary and boring
C.will get married after they have made their family plans
D.have high expectations in terms of would-be spouses
5.According to the passage which of the following is not a symptom of female singles?
A.Female singles are more sociable and maintain relationships with their single friends.
B.Female singles take advantage of restaurants, gyms and latte bars as part of their social
lives.
C.Female singles tend to stay at home watching videos and drinking beer.
D.Female singles want sexual equality.
6.According to the passage, those singles in New Economy careers view their home as a refuge
from work, because __________.
A.they need peace and quiet
B.they hate social life
C.they prefer self-determined lives
D.they have no time for relationships
7.Why do some remarried couples opt for separate residences?
A.They want to have their own romantic lives.
B.They work in different cities and countries.
C.They want to live apart in peace.
D.They prefer weekend meetings.
8.From the passage we learn that __________.
A.high earning singles are widowed senior citizens
B.families prefer ready-made convenience foods to home-cooked food
C.couples with 2.3 children used to be the focus of ad. executives
D.satisfactory sex can be produced by living alone
9.What is the Swedish method for overcoming problems faced by singles and couples in the
second half of their lives?
A.Co-housing projects have been designed and group home built.
B.Homes like college dorms have been built.
C.The government has built luxury complexes with tiny flats, gyms, latte bars, etc.
D.They are provided with ready-made convenience foods.
10.In what manner does the author describe the new singles?
A.Critically
B.Sympathetically
C.Sarcastically
D.Factually
Information Gap: Fill in the table below with the information covered in the text.
II. Vocabulary Study
Word Learning: Work out the meanings of the following words and fill the blanks as required.
neo-colonialism neo-Nazi neo-realist neo-fascist
neonate neoclassical Neo-Darwinism neologism
1.Italian __________ cinema focused on working-class subjects, using amateur actors and
filming on location, rather than in the studio.
2.Despite his wartime atrocities, Hitler is still revered by __________ in many countries.
3.__________ groups are an increasing threat to ethnic minorities across Europe.
4.By __________ we mean the practice of granting a sort of independence with the concealed
intention of making a liberated country a client-state.
5.The tutor tried hard to dissuade students from using __________ in formal writing.
6.He is a stubborn ____________ because he always preaches that the evolutionary
development of plants and animals is principally determined by natural selection, and that acquired characteristics cannot be inherited.
7.The architect traveled around the whole of Europe seeking Palladio?s wonderful 16th-century
__________ buildings.
8.In view of the still unknown physical risks that cloning might impose on __________,
caution is appropriate.
Filling in the blank in each sentence with the appropriate form of the words or expressions below.
Rave heterosexual twenty-something mainstay
fusion meditation embrace mandatory
foster holy grail
1.The challenge for the future lies in __________ conditions in cities that will be favorable to
economic growth.
2.The old lady _________ to the police detective about her grandchildren for about an hour.
3.Gene therapy —the actual correction or replacement of defective gene sequences in the
embryo or the adult — is the __________ of genetic medicine.
4.Through genetic engineering, will scientists be tampering with the genetic diversity that has
been the __________ of human survival in the past?
5. A news release by the Chinese Ministry of Personnel printed in a few leading newspapers and
on news websites caught the attention of thousands of __________ in October.
6.For many reasons, the vast majority of __________ still prefer the “old-fashioned,” sexual
way of producing children. No other method better expresses the loving union of a man and a woman seeking to make a baby.
7.It is absolutely __________ that every driver of a vehicle must pass a driver?s license test.
8.In today?s lightning-speed world many singles are __________ the newest trend in
relationships — speed dating — to size up a potential love interest.
9.As a young man, he spent a lot of time __________ upon the purpose of life.
10.She really enjoyed the film because it was a _________ of history and contemporary events.
III. Translation
Translate the following passage from Chinese into English.
当今都市较高贵的居住区中有群被人们称作单身族的人，他们通常是些有技术的专业人员既年轻、富有，又独立选择自己的生活方式。近年来这类单身族的人数增长惹人注目。他们中有些人或许是为了追求事业而未把婚姻列入自己的议事日程中，有些人或许是沉溺在工作、旅游、娱乐、健身或交友等活动中，总之他们保持单身的原因不尽相同。他们中80%以上的人并没有摈弃传统的结婚价值观，并表示希望结婚或将来要结婚。但在找到合适的人之前，他们有耐心等待，并对现在的单身生活满意。
IV. Writing
Writing Skill: Resumes
A résumé is a persuasive summary of your qualifications for employment. If you?re on the job market, having a résumé makes you look well organized and prepared. Writing a résumé is also an ego-building experience: the person who looks so good on paper is you!
There are different kinds of résumé. (1) A chronological résumé summarizes what you did in a time line (starting with the most recent events, and going backward in reverse chronology). It emphasizes degrees, job titles, and dates. Use a chronological résumé when your education and experience are a logical preparation for the position for which you?re applying, and you have impressive job titles, offices, or honors. (2) A skills resume emphasizes the skills you?ve used, rather than the job in which or the date when you used them. Use a skills résuméwhen your education and experience are not the usual route to the position for which you?re applying, you?re changing field, you want to combine experience from paid jobs, activities or volunteer work, and courses to show the extent of your experience in administration, finance, speaking, or your recent work history may create the wrong impression (e.g., it has gaps, shows a demotion, shows job-hopping, etc.).
Guidelines for Résumés
●Length: The average résumé is now two pages. Less than a full page suggests that you
do not have very much to say for yourself. Put your strongest categories near the top and
at the bottom of the first page. The second page should have at least 10 to 12 lines.
Leave less important information for the second page. Put your name and “Page 2” or
“Cont.” on the page. If the pages are separated, you want the reader to know who the
qualifications belong to and that the second page is not your whole résumé.
●Emphasize the things you?ve done that (1) are most relevant to the position for which
you?re applying, (2) show your superiority to other applicants, and (3) are recent.
Marketing recruiters responded more positively to résumés giving details about course
projects, especially when candidates had little relevant work experience. To prove that
you?re the best for the job, emphasize items that set you apart form other applicants:
promotions, honors and achievements, experience with computers or other relevant
equipment, foreign languages, and so on. Focus on achievements in the last three to five
years to suggest that you are now the best you?ve ever been.
●Details provide evidence to support you claims, convince the reader, and separate you
from other applicants. Tell how many people you trained or supervised, how much
money you budged or raised. Describe the aspects of the job you did. But omit details
that add nothing to the title or that are less impressive than the title alone.
●Writing style: Be as concise as possible. Résumés normally use phrases and sentence
fragments. Complete sentences are acceptable if they are the briefest way to present
information. Do not use I in a résumé. Me and My are acceptable if unavoidable. Verbs
or gerunds create a more dynamic image of you than do nouns.
●Layout and printing: Experiment with layout, fonts, and spacing to get an attractive
résumé. Use enough white space to make your résumé easy to read, but not so much that
you look as if you?re padding. Print your rés umé on a laser printer. Use different sizes of
type to make your résumé look professional.
●Contents: In a résumé, you cannot lie, but you can omit anything that does not work in
your favor. Commonly contained categories (with the asterisk marks as essential) are:
*Name, Address, and Phone Number / Career Objective / *Education / *Experience /
Honors / Activities / References. You may use other titles for these, and add others
relevant for your qualifications: computer skills, foreign languages, and subtitles like
student government, other campus activities and community service.
Writing Practice
Write a résuméon paper that you could mail to an employer or hand to an interviewer at an interview, based on one of the followings.
●Write a résumé for the field in which you hope to find a job;
●Write two different résumés for two different job paths you are interested in pursuing;
●Adapt your résumé to a specific company you hope to work for.
Section Four Supplementary Reading
Text A
One’s Company: Is There Something Unnatural About Living Alone?
( 1 )
Barbara Holland
Here we are, all by ourselves, all 22 million of us, by recent count, alone in our rooms, some of us liking it that way and some of us not. Some divorced, some widowed, some never yet committed.
If we?re young and attractive and urban, the magazines call us “singles.” Singles are said to live in a joyful flurry of other singles, racing each other through the surf, rising on the corporate ladder,
and waking up in the penthouses of singles of the other sex. The darlings of a consumer society, they spend their incomes not on mortgages and disposable diapers but on electronic entertainment, clothes, and exciting cars. Singles rejoice in their freedom up until quite an advanced age, or so they keep telling us, the women until their childbearing years start narrowing down and the men often forever — only 5 percent of bachelors over 40 will ever marry.
Still, even the busiest of these merrymakers have moments, small but ominous cracks and leaks in the good life: evenings in June when the late sun slants into the apartment and the silence ticks like a bomb, Saturdays in October when the wind creaks down the street and the light chills and sharpens and the skin prickles restlessly.
Others are alone but not single, just solitary. They?re too old or too shy or too poor to be “single”, or they were recently members of families and are still unadjusted and confused, or they live in the wrong sort of place. They buy a half loaf of bread and a can of tuna and let themselves into their apartments at the end of the day calling wistfully for the cat, check the unblinking light on the answering machine, and sit down to read through the junk mail, absorbing messages about carpet sales and grocery coupons sent in from the great busy world.
There are crazies among us, too —women with 17 parrots, and thin old men mumbling to themselves on the bus. People we have met by accident camp out in lofts or deserted offices and come to our house to shower and wash their hair, bringing a whiff of life?s precariousness. Without the ballast of families, lone acquaintances call us at four in the morning to tell us they?ve just seen God or Elvis Presley, or they?ve invented a petroleum substitute or written an epic poem or had a strange dream. No one was home to tell them to shut up and go back to sleep, so the strange dream took root and grew.
Samuel Johnson, the eighteenth-century curmudgeon and author, said, “The solitary mortal is certainly luxurious, probably superstitious, and possibly mad.”
The anarchy of life alone, sometimes called freedom, threatens us with chaos. Fear of chaos can lead to rigidity and tidiness and the multiplication of lists, schedules, and routines, since we have no-one but ourselves to bind our lives together. We keep checking ourselves for signs of disintegration; it?s important to stay, at the very least, sane.
In more primitive societies all over the world, nobody lives alone, and families accrete in generational layers to the toppling point. There are villages where people may know solitude for only a few hours or days in a lifetime, maybe in a hut on the outskirts, as part of a coming-of-age ritual; the rest of their lives they sleep ears-to-heels with all their relations and apparently like it that way.
Loneliness is peculiarly prevalent in America, built into our foundations somehow, maybe an outgrowth of our newness here and our mixed origins. In older places, the citizens say, “I?m French” or “I?m Korean” with an obvious sense of belonging to an extended family, but we seem to have left this consolation behind when we immigrated. A community is a firmer anchor than
even the most loyal group of friends, but we have lost the sense of being fastened to a broader group instead of free-falling through a void.
Loneliness may be a sort of national disease here, and certainly it?s a shameful one, more embarrassing for us to admit than any of the deadly sins. Happily-ever-after has rejected us. The fairy story spits us out as unworthy, and sometimes we think we are.
On the other hand, to be alone but not lonely, alone on purpose, having rejected company rather than been cast out by it, is the hallmark of an American hero. The lone hunter, explorer, cowboy, needing no-one. Thoreau, snug and smug in his cabin on the pond, his back deliberately turned to the town. Now, that?s character for you.
This leaves us in a double bind. Here we are, alone because nobody wants us, and lonely because we?re so spineless and empty-headed we can?t find inspiration in our solitude.
Inspiration in solitude is a major commodity for poets and philosophers. They?re all for it. They all speak highly of themselves for seeking it out, at least for an hour or even two before they hurry home for tea.
Consider Dorothy Wordsworth, f or instance, wrapping the muffler around her brother William?s neck, finding his notebook and pencil for him, and waving as he sets forth to look at daffodils all by himself. “How gracious, how benign, is solitude,” he wrote, rudely.
No doubt about it, solitude is improved by being voluntary.
Look at Milton?s daughters arranging his cushions and shawls before they tiptoe off, so he can mutter, “And Wisdom?s self / Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude / Where, with her best nurse Contemplation, / She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings.” Then he calls the girls to come back and write it down while he dictates.
You may have noticed that most of these rapturous types went outdoors to be alone. The indoors were full of loved ones keeping the kettle warm till they came home.
The American high priest of solitude was Thoreau. We admire him, not for his self-reliance and his conceited musings, but because he was all by himself out there at Walden pond, and he wanted to be. All alone in the woods.
Actuall y, he lived a mile, or 20 minutes? walk, from his nearest neighbor, half a mile from the railroad, three hundred yards from a busy road. He had streams of company in and out of the hut all day, asking him how he could possibly be so noble. Apparently the main point of his nobility was that he had neither wife nor servants, and washed his own dishes. I don?t know who did his laundry; he doesn?t say, but he certainly doesn?t mention doing his own, either.
Listen to him: “I find it wholesome to be alone the g reater part of the time. To be in company,
even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
Thoreau had his own self-importance for company. Thoreau alone with Thoreau was a crowd. Perhaps there?s a message here. The larger the ego, the less the need for other egos around. The more modest, humble, and self-effacing we feel, the more we suffer from solitude, feeling ourselves inadequate company.
The only woman of rec ord who spoke well of solitude was Greta Garbo. I don?t count Emily Dickinson; all she had to do was unlock her bedroom door and go downstairs. She?s one of the voluntaries, like Wordsworth out for a walk. She had a family; she just preferred to lurk upstairs. But for many of us, there?s nobody in our living room to escape from.
(To be continued)
Vocabulary
flurry / ?●??? / n. sudden burst of confusion, excitement, or bustling
activity 激动；恐慌
penthouse / ????????/ n.apartment or dwelling situated on the roof of a
building小棚屋, 雨篷
mortgage / ??????? / n. temporary and conditional pledge of property to a
creditor as security against a debt 抵押
diaper / ?????? / n.nappy尿布
ominous / ?????? / adj.being an omen, esp. of something bad; threatening slant / ?●???? / v. give an oblique direction to 倾斜
prickle / ????● / v.give or feel a pricking sensation 刺痛
tuna / ??◆??? / https://www.wendangku.net/doc/855442899.html,rge, ocean-going fish金枪鱼
wistful / ?????● / adj.wishful; melancholy
coupon / ?◆???? / n.printed form on which goods can be ordered; voucher
（附在商品上的）赠券，附单，订货单
whiff / ??? / n. short-lasting smell or movement of air 一阵precariousness / ?????????????? / adj.state of being unsafe; being not firm or
steady
ballast / ??●??? / n. any heavy material placed in the hold of a ship to
enhance stability; that which gives stability, esp. to
character压舱物；沙囊；稳定力量；稳定因素curmudgeon / ????????? / n.bad tempered man, esp. old
mortal / ????● / n. human being (as compared with a god, a spirit, etc.) accrete / ??????? / v.grow together; fuse
toppling / ???●?? / v. unsteady and likely to fall down
ritual / ??????l / n.one or more ceremonies or customary acts which are
often repeated in the same form 仪式；礼节consolation / ??????●???? / n.(a person or thing that gives) comfort during a
time of sadness and disappointment
void / ??? / n. empty space 空间；真空
hallmark / ???●???? / n.conspicuous feature or characteristic 显而易见的特
点或特征
snug / ???? / adj.cosy; giving or enjoying warmth, comfort, peace,
protection, etc.
smug / ???? / adj.too pleased with oneself; showing too much
satisfaction with one?s own qualities, position, etc
洋洋得意的
spineless / ?????●?? / adj.without moral strength or courage
muffler / ???●? / n.long strip of cloth, often of wool, worn around the
neck for warmth 围巾；面纱
daffodil / ??????●/ n.水仙花
benign / ??????? / adj.having or showing a kind or gentle nature
oft / ?? / adv.often
contemplation / ????????●???? / n.act of thinking deeply and quietly 沉思；冥
思
plume / ?●◆?? / v. cl ean or make smooth (oneself or esp. one?s feathers) rapturous / ????????? / adj.filled with joy or rapture; ecstatic
musing / ??◆???? / n. contemplation; meditation
wholesome / ???●??? / adj.good for the body; good in effect, esp. morally dissipating / ?????????? / adj. wasteful, or use up foolishly
self-effacing / ??●????????? / adj.avoiding the attention of others; keeping
oneself from seeming important 谦让的；不愿抛头
露面的
lurk / ●??? / v. wait in hiding, esp. for an evil purpose; exist unseen
Phrases and Idiomatic Expressions
take root become firmly established, settled, or entrenched
e.g. The newly married couple tried to find a piece of earth in the
west and take toot.
cast out drive out by force; expel
e.g. After scandal, he was cast out of the best society.
in a bind in an annoying state of affairs from which there is no apparent
escape
e.g. She was caught in a bind by her own promise.
Proper Names and Technical Terms
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English poet, critic, essayist, moralist and
lexicographer. His poetry continued the central 18th c. tradition of
moral satire, made more weighty. His essays continued the tradition
o f Addison?s Spectator, forming the opinions and moulding the
manners of a serious urban audience. His Dictionary was the first
systematic study of the English tongue, and tended to stabilize
educated usage.
Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862), American naturalist and writer. He is best known for
Walden(1854), an account of his experiment in living alone at
Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, to observe the life of
the woods. Thoreau was a friend of Emerson and a transcendentalist.
A powerful social critic, he was disturbed by the trend of Western
civilization towards a fully industrial urban society dominated by
the profit motive. His essay …On the Duty of Civil Disobedience’
(1849) has inspired such men as Gandhi.
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855) Sister of William. She was a firm supporter and help
critic of her brother. Her own place in literature is ensured by her
“Journals”, published posthumously (1897).
William Wordsworth (1770-1850), English poet. The Lyrical Ballads(1798 and 1800),
written jointly with Coleridge, are usually taken as the inauguration
of English Romantic poetry. Wordsworth wrote most of the lyrics of
…Lines Written above Tintern Abbey’ and other famous poems in this
collection as well as the preface (1800 edition), in which he
expounded his theories of poetry. In 1807 he published Poems in
Two Volumes, containing …The Happy Warrior?, …Ode to Duty? and
the …Immortality? ode. His later work could be said to be
undistinguished (his long autobiographical poem …The Prelude?,
published in 1850, was in fact a revision of a version written many
years earlier), but his genius often shone in a sonnet or an
unexpected couplet.
Greta Garbo (1905-1990) Original surname Gustaffson. Swedish-born American
motion-picture actress.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) American poet. She was a recluse and was virtually
unknown in her lifetime. She wrote mainly of death and immortality
in short, intense, mostly unrhymed lyrics, in which the skilful use of
assonance often gives the illusion of rhyme.
Comprehension Check
Direction: Discuss the following questions in light of the text.
1.Who are regarded as …singles?, and as …solitary? according to the author?
2.Give some examples of contemporary single lifestyles.
3.What does the word …moments? mean in paragraph thre e?
4.Are there any abnormal features of (some) singles? lives?
5.What is meant by …it?s important to stay, at least, sane??
6.Respond to the nation of primitive people clinging tightly to their relations. Do you think