lesson 11 The Future of the English

习题全解

Ⅰ

.

Priestley:

John

Boynton

Priestley,

English

novelist,

dramatist

and

critic,

was

born

on

13.

Sept.

1894,

in

Bradford,

Yourkshire.

He

was

the

son

of

a

schoolmaster

and

served

in

the

British

army during World War 1 .

After

the

end

of the war he attended Cambridge, where

he

studied

English

literature,

modern

history,

and

political

science.

Already

publishing, he was able to finance a good

deal

of

his

schooling

by

selling

articles

to

London

and

provincial

newspapers.

In

1922 he went to London,

established himself as a critic, essayist and

novelist. During World War

Ⅱ

, Priestley

won

a

huge

listening

audience

with

his

trenchant, down-to-earth radio broadcasts.

In

1929,

The

Good

Companions,

a

novel

about

the

joys

and

sorrows

of

the

members

of

a

repertory

company

in

the

north

of

England

appeared

and

was

enormously popular in both Great Britain

and

America.

In

1930

Priestley

published

the

almost

equally

successful

Angel

Pavement,

whose

characters

worked

in

a

small business firm in London. These were

followed by other novels: They Walk in the

City

(1936),

The

Doomsday

men

(1938),

Let the People Sing (1939), and Festival at

Farbridge

(1951).

These

novels

-long,

often

sentimental,

packed

with

living

characters testify to Priestley' s astounding

power of observation, to his narrative gifts,

and

to

his

craftsmanship.

He

has

maintained

the

great

tradition

of

the

English pi- caresque novel with distinction.

Priestley

also

won

recognition

with

his

works

that

combine

autobiographical

matter

with

astute

left- of-center

social

criticism,

such

as

English

Journey

(1934),

Rain

upon

Gad-

shill

(1939),

Thoughts

in

the

Wilderness

(1957),

and

The

English

(1973).

Priestley

began

his

career

as

a

playwright in 1932 with Dangerous Corner

which

has

subsequently

been

performed

all over the world. Its success encouraged

Priestley to organize a company for which

he

wrote

plays

of

a

consistently

high

dramatic standard. Among them were the

comedies

Laburnum

Grove

(1933)

and

When

We

Are

Married

(1938).

Priestley

also wrote serious

Time

and

the

Conways

(1937),

I

Have

Been

Here

Before

(1938),

Johnson

over

Jordan

(1939),

and

An

Inspector

Calls

(1945).

Priestley

has

perhaps

identified

himself

more

successfully

than

any

other

novelist

in

the

first

half

of

the

20th

century with the thoughts and feelings of

the

ordinary

Englishman,

a

being

whose

character he outlines with vigor and good

humor.

Ⅱ

.

1. Everything that happens in England

is

directed

and

influenced

by

instinctive

feeling and not rational thought.

2.

There

are

fewer

Communists

or

neo-

or

potential

fascists

in

England

than

there

are

in

most

other

countries.

Murderous

encounters

with

the

police

or

bloody

street

battles

do

not

occur

in

England.

From

these

facts

Priestley

concludes

there

are

fewer

fanatical

believers among the English.

3.

He

is

referring

to

some

shop

stewards

and

wealthy

employers

who

have lost their Englishness.

4.

Priestley

puts

forward

five

or

six

points

to

show

that

the

English

are

different:

1)It

is

instinctive

feeling

and

not

rational

thought

that

shapes

and

colours

actual

events in England.

2)The

English

do

not

feel

at

home

in

the

con-temporary

world,

representing

the

accelerated

development

of

our

whole

age.

They

are

suspicious

of

largeness,

severe efficiency and Admass.

3)

The

English

are

also

deeply

suspicious

of change for changes

’

sake.

4)The

English

can

soon

feel

bored

and.

that'

s

why

they

gamble

and

booze

so

much

and

enjoy

any

dramatic

change

in

public life.

5)The English have a sense of community,

decent fellow feeling, fairness.

6)The English are at heart and at root an

imaginative

people

immediately

responsive

to

any

suggestion

of

drama

in

their lives.

5.

Admass

stands

for

ruthless

competitiveness, treating men simply as a

producer and consumer and playing upon

dissatisfaction,

greed

and

envy,

while

Englishness

stands

for

the

invisible

inner

world,

offering

states

of

mind.

The

out-

come

of

this

battle

between

Admass

and

Englishness

will

decide

the

future

of

the

English.

6.

The

future

of

the

English

may

be

shaped

by

the

decision

of

the

now

vacillating

huge

trade

unions.

It

will

be

shaped

by

the

role

they

decide

to

play.

They must come down decisively either on

the side of Admass or that of Englishness.

7.

The

following

people

have

rejected

Admass:

1)workers

in

smallish,

well-managed

and

honest enterprises,

2)crusty

High

Tories

who

avoid

the

City

and directors' fees,

3)men

and

women

in

the

professional

classes.

The

last

group

of

people

are

the

most important for they are articulate and

people are ready to listen to them. If the

battle

with

A&

mass

can

be

won,

it

will

probably

be

these

men

and

women

who

will help Englishness to win it.

8.

Priestley

divides

the

English

young

into two groups. He is dubious about the

noisy

types,

they

lack

individuality

to

stand up to Admass. He has more faith in

the

quieter

young,

who

may

have

come

under

the

influence

of

some

mature

professional

men

and

women.

They-

too,

might help to swing the battle.

9.

The

sloppy

people

are

easy

to

get

along with, rarely unkind, but they are not

dependable;

they

are

inept,

shiftless,

slovenly,

and

messy.

They

lack

self-discipline, accepting no responsibility,

skimping

the

work

they

are

supposed

to

be doing, cheating not only

the capitalists, but even their neighbors.

10. There is widespread boredom in all

heavily

industrialized

societies

not

simply

because so much of the work they offer is

boring.

It

is

also

because,

after

having

shattered

the

slow

rhythms,

the

traditional

skills,

the

closely

knit

communities of rum societies, they crowd

people

together;

excite

them

by

large

promises

that

cannot

be

kept,

so

drive

them into boredom. When the English are

bored they gamble and booze a lot. They

enjoy

any

dramatic

change

in

public

life,

any

news

that

encourages

excited

talk.

Bored teenagers, who have not been able

to

use

up

enough

energy

during

the

day

turn

at

night

to

idiot

vandalism.

Later,

if

boredom

hardens

into

frustration,

some

of them take to crime.

11.

Other

elements

apart

from

boredom

have

brought

about

dishonesty

and vicious criminality in England, There is

trying

to

get

rich

by

any

means;

there

is

the

false

notion

that

the

world

owes

you

something while you owe it nothing; there

is

no

fear

of

punishment

in

life

or

after

death

as

long

as

you

are

not

found

out;

and

there

is

the

feeling

that

life

is

meaningless and purposeless.

12.

Priestley

considers

politics

very

important.

If honest people ignore politics,

then

some

unscrupulous

dictator

may

seize power and exercise his tyranny over

the people.

Ⅲ

.

1. Yes, there are. Such as: stuff, shop ,

cozy,

nudge,

the

City,

safe

to

say,

take

a

whip to, shrug off, along the way ,'etc.

2.

1

)

The

dominant

intention

or

the

controversial topic (thesis) of his argument

is

stated

early

in

paragraph

1

in

one

succinct

sentence:

English

are

different

”

.

2)

No.

Priestley

does

not

provide

sufficient evidence to support his position,

nor

is

his

reasoning

on

some

points

logically sound. Hence not all his issues or

conflicts

are

resolved.

This

is

a

rather

informal piece of argument, 'so the writer

doesn

’

t marshal enough evidence to prove

his points. In fact he appeals more to the

emotions

of

his

English

readers

than

to

their

reason

to

drive

home

his

point

of

view.

4. See the answer to 3.

5.1)See the answer to 3.

2)Yes,

there'

re

some

fallacies.

For

example, in his first issue he states that it

is

instinctive

feeling

and

not

rational

thought

that

shapes

and

colors

actual

events in England. To support this point of

view,

Priestley

states

there

are

fewer

fascists

in

England

than

in

many

other

countries. From this the reader concludes

more fascists are to be found in countries

where rational thought and not instinctive

feeling

shapes

and

colors

actual

events.

But one fails to find the logical connection

between

rational

thought

and

fascism.

Furthermore, one has to accept Priestiey

’

s

statement

that

there

are

fewer

fascists

and fanatical believers in England without

any supporting evidence or proof.

6. See the answer to 3.

The

reader

is

moved

by

the

sincerity

and

intensity of the feelings of the writer and

feels

that

the

writer,

perhaps,

has

the

right instinctive feeling of what the English

are

like.

Priestley

’

s

smooth

and

polished

style makes the essay a pleasure to read.

7. Students

’

choice.

Ⅳ

.

1.

The English people may hotly argue

and

abuse

and

quarrel

with

each

other

but

there

still

exists

a

lot

of

natural

sympathetic feeling for each other.

2. What the wealthy employers would

really like to do is to whip all the workers

whom

they

consider

to

be

lazy

and

troublesome people.

3.

There

are

not

many

snarling

shop

stewards

in

the

work-shop,

nor

are

there

many

cruel

wealthy

employers

on

the

board of managers (or governing board of

a factory).

4

.

The

contemporary

world

demands

that everything be done on a big scale and

the English do not like or trust bigness.

5.

At

least

on

the

surface,

when

Englishness

is

put

against

the

power

and

success

of

Admass,

Englishness

seems

to

put up a rather poor weak performance.

6.

Englishness

is

not

against

change,

but

it

believes

that

changing

just

for

changing and for no other useful purpose

to be very wrong and harmful.

7.

T

o

regard

cars

and

motorways

as

more

important

than

houses

seems

to

Englishness a

public stupidity~

8.

I

must

further

say

that

while

Englishness

can

go

on

fighting,

there

is

a

great possibility of Admass winning.

9.

Englishness draws its strength from

a

reservoir

of

strong

moral

and

ethical

principles,

and

soon

it

may

be

asking

for

strength which this reservoir of principles

cannot supply.

10. These people probably believe, as I

do,

that

the

'Good

Life'

promised

by

Admass

is

false

and

dishonest

in

all

respects.

11.

They

can

be

found

too

though

there are not many of them now because

these

kind

of

people

are

dying

out--- among

the

curt,

bad-tempered,

extremely

conservative

politicians

who

refuse

to

accept

high

posts

in

big

commercial enterprises.

12.

They

are

incompetent,

lazy

and

inefficient, careless and untidy.

13.

He

will

not

even

find

much

satisfaction

in

his

untidy

and

disordered

life where he manages to

live as a parasite

by

sponging

on

people.

This

kind

of

life

does

not

help

a

person

to

build

up

any

self- respect.

14.

These people think of the House of

Commons

as

a

place

rather

far

away