1、Lesson 6,Disappearing Through the SkylightBy Osborne Bennet Hardison Jr.,O.B. Hardison, Jr.(1928 -1990),O.B. Hardison, Jr.,O.B. Hardison, Jr. (1928 -1990) Born in San Diego, California in 1928. , he received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1949 and 1950,
2、 respectively, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1956. He taught at schools that included Princeton and the University of North Carolina, and he became University Professor of English at Georgetown in 1984.,Hardison, English professor (Georgetown), Shakespearean scholar, and amateur ph
3、ysicist, is always entertaining and often thought-provoking A Scholarly Writer Mr. Hardison wrote numerous books and articles, as well as poetry and book reviews. His scholarly concerns ranged from Renaissance literature to technology and change in modern society.,He is the author of Lyrics and Eleg
4、ies (1958), The Enduring Monument (1962), English Literary Criticism: The Renaissance (1964), Toward Freedom and Dignity: The Humanities and the Idea of Humanity (1973), Entering the Maze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture (1981) and Disappearing Through the Skylight (1989/1990).,Entering the Ma
5、ze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture,In this book, Hardison begins to review the ways in which the central concepts in nature, history, language, art, and human evolutions have changed under the impact of modern science and technology.,C.B. Hardison, Jr.,Well-known for his profound insights int
6、o the change in modern culture brought about by modern science and technology. His provocative views are stimulating and informative.,Questions,How do you think of science and technology? What advantages do they have? What disadvantages do they have? What is culture?,Culture,Culture is most commonly
7、 used in three basic senses: Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture; An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning; The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practi
8、ces that characterizes an institution, organization or group. http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture,Culture,The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from on
9、e generation to the next. Cultural Dictionary, http:/ culture,High Culture is usually associated with those that are refined, educated, and/or wealthy. The elite. Low Culture is associated with the common people, those less educated and poor. The masses.,Low culture,Low culture is a term for some fo
10、rms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures. Reality television, popular music, escapist fiction, Kitsch, slapstick, camp, toilet humor, yellow journalism, pornography, and exploitation films are o
11、ften cited examples of low culture. It has often been stated that in postmodern times, the boundary between high culture and low culture has blurred. http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_culture,Disappearing Through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century,Disappearing Through the Sk
12、ylight is not only the title of this chapter but also the title of the book. The book has a sub-title, “Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century”,The Book,As for the central theme of this book, the writer says , “This book is about the ways culture has changed in the past century, changing th
13、e identities of all those born into it. Its metaphor for the effect of change on culture is “disappearance”.,The Book,As for the “disappearance”, Hardison says, “In the nineteenth century, science presented nature as a group of objects set comfortably and solidly in the middle distance before the ey
14、es of the beholder. In the work of DArcy Thompson, published around the turn of the century, nature has disappeared. It has become a set of geometric and mathematical relations that lie under the surface of the visible. .Today, nature has slipped, perhaps finally, beyond our field of vision.”,A logi
15、cal conclusion can be found in the final paragraph of this key chapter that “As surely as nature is being swallowed up by the mind, the banks, you might say, are disappearing through their own skylights”.,Disappearing Through the Skylight,The metaphorical phrase “Disappearing Through the Skylight” i
16、s used to describe the changed appearance of modern banks which seem to be disappearing.,Main views in this key chapter,The writer puts forward the central theme of “disappearance” nature disappears, history disappears and even the solid banks disappears. (Central Theme) He puts forward the idea of
17、the universalizing tendency of science and technology.(The universalizing effect and reflection is world styles.),Main views in this key chapter,3. The modern man is no longer a unique individual, the product of a special environment and culture. The homogeneous world he now lives in universalizes h
18、im. He becomes a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world.,Main views in this key chapter,4. The disappearance of history is a form of liberation and this feeling of liberation is often expressed through play. The playfulness of science has produced game theory and virtual particles, in art it has produ
19、ced the paintings of Picasso and Joan Miro and so on.,Scientific writing (English for science and technology),1. technical terms cylinder block; carburettor; thermodynamics; etc. 2. objective: relying on facts, not involve emotion, seldom use figures of speech, exclamation the use of present tense t
20、he use of passive voice,Scientific writing,3. sentences: a) complete no contractions (dept - department) b) long 1) compound sentences 2) appositions 3) parenthesis 4) logical connectorssuch as : however; but; also; yet; finally; while; as ; not only; just as .so; etc.,Scientific writing,Generally t
21、his technical writing tends to be very formal. Yet the characteristics of any kind of language style is not absolute. In order to meet the needs of the work for popular science, many scientific workers try to adopt a more popular style. Then there comes a popular scientific and technical writing sty
22、le.,Characteristics,limit the use of technical terms examples- to make the writing more vivid and appealing to the readers,Characteristics,3. figures of speech- to make the sentences figurative so that the readers can easily understand and associate them with what they are familiar with4. noun pre-m
23、odifiers game theory; human growth genes; theme park; museum villages; world car; etc,Rhetorical devices,Metaphor Analogy Rhetorical question Repetition Balanced structure Task: Try to find examples of each rhetorical device used in the text.,Organizational pattern,The chapter is clearly and logical
24、ly organized. The authors views are presented at the beginning of a paragraph: science is committed to the universal and developed or illustrated in the paragraph itself or by succeeding paragraphs. Major examples 1) automobile industry (para 28) 2) modern art (para 913) 3) modern culture (para.14-1
25、5) 4) architect of banks (1619),Detailed study of the text,Find and comment on the use of topic sentences.,The writer s views are generally clearly and succinctly presented as a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph and then developed or illustrated in the paragraph itself or by succeedi
26、ng paragraphs.,Commit,1) to promise or give your loyalty, time or money to a particular principle, person or plan of action; give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause. The government must commit itself to improving health care. She is known chiefly for her commitment to nuclear disarmam
27、ent. 2) to do something wrong or illegal commit crimes/ murder/rape/arson/ suicide / adultery/error/offence, etc 3) commit something to paper. commit something to memory,Science is committed to,Science is engaged in the task of making its basic concepts understood and accepted by scientists all over
28、 the world.This concept of universality and uniformity is one of the basic views of the author.,mutation change, alternation,a change in the genetic structure of an animal or plant that makes it different from others of the same kind(转变; 突变; 变异)A series of mutations has resulted in large grains of w
29、heat.a mutation that causes mice to be born blindtechnical a change in a speech sound, especially a vowel, because of the sound of the one next to it,discredit,discredit: to make sth stop believing that sth is true -discreditable: bad and unacceptable, causing people to lose respect Cf. Credit belie
30、f; trust; confidence to believe or admit that someone has a quality, or has done something good creditable : deserving praise or approval,Para 2.,science: (universalized) universality technology: universalizing tendency: world homogeneous (uniform; same; alike * diversity) world /international style
31、 diminishment of Identities and differences disappearance of history.,Corollary,corollary: corollaries countable formal something that is the direct result of something else corollary of/to Is social inequality the inevitable corollary of economic freedom?,homogeneous,homogeneous: consisting of peop
32、le or things that are all of the same type; having similarity in structure because of common descent. = uniform; similar or identical The working class is not quite so homogeneous in its political preference. Cf.heterogeneous,varietyvariation,streamline,1. to form something into a smooth shape, so t
33、hat it moves easily through the air or water.All these new cars have been streamlined.efforts to streamline the production process 2. to make something such as a business, organization etc work more simply and effectively.Streamlined,It was the automotive equivalent of the International Style.,The i
34、dea of a world car is similar to the idea of having a world style for architecture. Or: As architecture was moving toward a common International Style, it was natural for the automobile to do the same.,As in automaking,This is an elliptical balanced sentence. The full sentence may read: “Things that
35、 are happening in automaking are similar to those happening in architecture.”,1962 Lincoln Continental Convertible,1969 Lincoln Continental Mark III,Cadillac,1932 Volkswagen Beetle Type 12,Volkswagen Beetle,No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture.
36、,The modern man no longer has very distinct individual traits shaped by a special environment and culture,How has man become cosmopolitan?,He drives cars that have the same basic features. When he goes shopping, he finds the climate in all the shops is the same because they are all similarly air-con
37、ditioned. When he travels he finds all the airports to be familiar because they are all constructed along similar lines and the hotels to have the same amenities. In a word, he finds himself at home in all countries and places.,The price of the word, the benefit limitations,The disadvantage of being
38、 a cosmopolitan is that he loses a home in the old sense of the word. The benefit of being a cosmopolitan is that he begins to think the old kind of home probably restricts his development and activities.,The universalizing irresistible.,The compelling force of technology to universalize cannot be r
39、esisted.,Barring culture,Excepting a great disaster brought about by a nuclear war, the universalizing power of technology will continue to influence modern culture and the consciousness of people who inhabit that culture. barring: unless there should be; excepting His back is broken and, barring a
40、miracle, he wont walk again.,Para.9,From this paragraph onwards the writer puts forward and develops the main theme of this chapter and the central theme of his book -the insubstantiality of the world, the disappearance of traditional concepts, of the material objects we used to see with our ordinar
41、y eyes. This is specially and clearly reflected in modern art and architecture.,Francis Picabia (1879-1953) 皮卡比亚,Francis Picabia (1879-1953),a French painter, poet, and typographist, associated with both the Dada and Surrealist art movements.French Dadaist /Surrealist Painter,Machine Turn Quickly, 1
42、916-1918, tempera on paper, United States National Gallery of Art,The Joy in Blindness / Bonheur de laveuglement. 1947. Oil on wood. Private collection.,Dada or Dadaism (1916-1924),a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement pr
43、imarily involved visual arts, literaturepoetry, art manifestoes, art theorytheatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be th
44、e meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being anti-war, dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature.,Dada or Dadaism,Many Dadaists believed that the reason and logic of bourgeois capitalist society had led people into war. They expressed their rejection of that ideology in art
45、istic expression that appeared to reject logic and embrace chaos and irrationality.,Dada or Dadaism,Summery: Dadaism or Dada is a post-World War I cultural movement in visual art as well as literature (mainly poetry), theatre and graphic design. The movement was, among other things, a protest agains
46、t the barbarism of the War and what Dadaists believed was an oppressive intellectual rigidity in both art and everyday society; its works were characterized by a deliberate irrationality and the rejection of the prevailing standards of art. It influenced later movements including Surrealism.,Dada or
47、 Dadaism,According to its proponents, Dada was not art; it was anti-art. For everything that art stood for, Dada was to represent the opposite. Where art was concerned with aesthetics, Dada ignored them. If art is to have at least an implicit or latent message, Dada strives to have no meaning-interp
48、retation of Dada is dependent entirely on the viewer. If art is to appeal to sensibilities, Dada offends. Perhaps it is then ironic that Dada is an influential movement in Modern art. Dada became a commentary on art and the world, thus becoming art itself.,Dada or Dadaism,The founders included the F
49、rench artist Jean Arp and the writers Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara. Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp were also key contributors. The Dada movement evolved into Surrealism in the 1920s.,Anti-art,Anti-art is a loosely-used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art. The term is associated with the Dada movement and is generally accepted as attributable to Marcel Duchamp pre-World War I, when he began to use found objects as art.,
