-
Unit 13 Marriage
Key to the
Exercises
Text comprehension
I.
1.
Decide which of the following best
states the author's purpose of writing.
B
T (Refer to
Paragraph 1. The conventional people didn't have
the falsely optimistic
II.
Judge, according to the text, whether
the following statements are true or false.
expectation
that
marriage
would
be
easy,
which
can
be
seen
from
their
enthusiastic
response to the
2.
F
(Refer
to
Paragraph
2.
It
is
said
that
in
the
nineteenth
century,
the
horrors
of
marriage
were
depicted
especially
cruelly,
but
still
there
were
songs,
though
rare,
occasionally sung
about happily married people, which could bring
respectful silence to
the drunken
husbands. )
3.
F
(Refer
to
Paragraph
4.
It
is
indicated
here
that
the
clergy
would
only
say
that
marriage was made in
Heaven, but it wouldn't necessarily end in Heaven,
too.)
4. T (Refer to Paragraph 7. Dr.
Johnson's quote shows that he believes that
marriage is
not something natural for
man and woman, so however they try, it is still
hardly enough
to keep them together.)
5. T (Refer to Paragraph 8,
which tells us that almost everybody seems to have
painted
the troubles of marriage in the
darkest colours. And it is also mentioned that in
modern
times nearly everybody, single
or married, is imagined to be unhappy.)
6. T (Refer to
Paragraph 9, which argues that, though it is
believed that the ostrich can
never
escape
his
pursuers
by
burying
his
head
in
the
sand,
actually
many
of
them
do
survive
by
this
practice.
It
suggests
that
ignoring
the
difficulties
will
be
the
advisable
practice for all the married people.)
III.
Answer the
following questions.
1.
Refer to Paragraph 1. By denying the
existence of the conventional people as depicted
in Bertrand Russell's quotation who
like to pretend that difficulties in regard to
marriage
are
a
new
thing,
the
author
intends
to
show
that
everyone
in
this
world
agrees
that
marriage is difficult, from as early as
the beginning of human society to the present day.
2.
Refer to
Paragraph 2. According to the songs sung in music-
halls, marriage was like a
hell
where
the
married
couple
were
constantly
troubled
by
the
wife's
twin
sister
and
mother.
3.
Refer
to Paragraphs 2?. The humour in comic papers,
songs in music-halls, and plays
and
novels
are
all
examples
to
illustrate
that
horrible
situation
of
marriage.
Then
quotations of reputed philosophers,
writers, scientists and essayists are used to
prove that
even the wise painted
marriage in the darkest colours.
4.
Refer
to
Paragraphs
5?.
By
people,
the
author
refers
to
philosophers, writers and scientists,
who have knowledge, talents and wisdom. What they
thought of marriage could be derived
from the essence of human experience.
5.
Refer
to
Paragraph
8.
Since
social
reformers
are
keen
to
maintain
the
positive
development
of
society,
of
which
marriage
and
family
are
the
most
important
building
stones,
they
try
to
convince
people
to
pursue
happiness
in
marriage
by
recommending
changes in
their lives; while thinkers and seekers of beauty
are more realistic about the
chances
of
achieving
what
one
desires,
and
they
explore
the
essence
of
life
through
meditating over its
miseries and difficulties.
6.
Refer
to
Paragraph
9.
The
ostrich,
when
pursued,
hides
its
head
in
the
sand
and
believes
itself
to
be
unseen.
The
logic
in
the
ostrich's
practice
is
that
one
can
avoid
danger or difficulty by refusing to
face it. The author hopes that someday a
naturalist will
find out the ostrich's
logic is valid, so that people can follow this
practice by ignoring the
difficulties
in
marriage,
or
pretending
that
they
never
exist.
The
metaphor
is
used
to
propose
that,
to
a
difficulty-conscious
generation who
are
too much burdened
with
the
thought of difficulty,
it will be advisable to pretend in its non-
existence. Otherwise, they
will never
enjoy the rosy side of marriage. If marriage is
really both Heaven and Hell, one
will
never be in Heaven because of his fear of Hell.
IV.
Explain in
your own words the following sentences.
1.
From the way they
enthusiastically received the
Punch, we
can tell that they adopted a sceptical attitude to
marriage.
2.
Although the
humor might sound offensively rude, it was readily
accepted by people
in the Victorian
era.
3.
The
marriage
state,
whether
there
is
love
involved
or
not,
is
a
combination
of
the
happiness and misery we
may encounter in life.
Structural analysis of the text
The text falls into three parts: in
Part 1 (Paragraph 1), the author, after quoting
Russell on
the subject, puts forward
his own argument that difficulties in regard to
marriage have
been an old issue for
centuries. In Part 2 (Paragraphs 2?), the author
analyzes the roots of
such difficulties
by listing quotations from famous literary works
and famous people. In
Part
3
(Paragraphs
8?),
the
author
assigns
the
causes
of
unhappy
marriages
to
the
excessive consciousness of difficulties
in human beings, and encourages people to face the
difficulties in marriage bravely.
Rhetorical features of the text
卼
he reputed saying of the
henpecked Socrates, ...
Burton is far from encouraging!
Pepys scribbled in his
diary ?
The pious Jeremy Taylor was as
keenly aware that marriage is not all bliss.
The sentimental and
optimistic Steele ?
Dr. Johnson,
?devoted husband though he was, ?
Vocabulary exercises
I.
1.
Explain the underlined
part in each sentence in your own words.
inexperienced; unsophisticated;
immature
2.
troubled
3.
welcome;
response
4.
rude; harsh
5.
calamity; disaster
6.
lengthen in duration
II.
Fill
in
the
blank
in
each
sentence
with
a
word
or
phrase
from
the
box
in
its
appropriate form.
1.
standing
2. make answer to
3. under no illusions
4. In regard to
5. beset
6. went home to his heart
7. prolong
8. hitherto
III.
Fill in the blanks with
the appropriate forms of the given words.
1. comedian
2. exaggeration
3. reputation
7.
civilizations
4. repentant
8. imaginary
5. poker
6. desirous
IV.
Choose
the
word
or
phrase
that
can
replace
the
underlined
part
in
each
sentence
without changing its original meaning.
1. D
2. C
5. B
6. A
it is used.
1.
Synonym: ordinary (commonplace,
conformist)
2.
Antonym:
impious (profane, undutiful)
3.
Synonym: withhold
(abstain, restrain)
4.
Synonym: write (scrawl, scrabble)
5.
Synonym:
sarcastic (biting, scornful)
6.
Antonym: dispassionate (unemotional,
hard-hearted, pragmatic)
7.
Synonym: restriction (control, limit)
8.
Antonym: real (genuine,
factual)
VI. Explain the meaning of the
underlined part in each sentence.
1.
discontinuation
2. form
3. A
4. B
7. C
8. D
V.
Give a
synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in
each sentence in the sense