Unit 6 Thinking As a Hobby.doc

Thinking As a Hobby – William Golding 5VI. Thinking As a HobbyAbout the authorWilliam Golding (b.1911) – Novelist: Lord of the Flies (1954 – filmed 1963); The Inheritors (1955); Pincher Martin (1956); Free Fall (1959); The Spire (1964); The Pyramid (1967); The Scorpion God (1971). He has also written a play, The Brass Butterfly (1958), and published a collection of essays, The Hot Gates (19650).No novelist who started his career since 1045 has achieved more prestige, and this was acquired very quickly on the publication of his first book. Its fame has no doubt been in part due to its pessimistic vision of human nature as inherently violent, reflecting the mood of the post-war and post-Hitler years; it also epitomizes mid-20th-C disillusionment with 19th-C optimism about human nature. Golding’s father was a schoolmaster with radical convictions in politics, a belief that religion is outmoded superstition, and a strong faith in science. Golding’s own work is strongly, but not explicitly, religious, in the Puritan tradition which emphasizes Original Sin. In ‘Fable’ (The Hot Gates) he explains how his first novel arose from his insights in the last war: ‘Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.’ The book is also meant to counteract what may be called ‘the desert island myth’ in English Literature, deriving from Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and particularly evident in a famous book for boys, The Coral Island (1857) by R. M. Ballantyne. This myth nourished the belief that human beings in isolation from civilized restraints will sustain their humanity by innate virtues. Most of the boys in Lord of the Flies quickly degenerate into savages, and the process is made more horrifying by the convincing delineation of their character.Golding, like his father has been a schoolmaster. His later novels have shown variety of theme and treatment, but similar preoccupation with fundamental corruption and contradiction in human nature. The show likewise Golding’s most conspicuous literary qualities: great inventiveness in realistic fantasy, and a disposition to use the novel form as fable. For instance The Inheritors is science fiction about the remote human past: the elimination of innocent Neanderthal Man by the arrival of rapacious Homo Sapiens – a new version of the myth of the Fall. Pincher Martin is a dramatization of the rapacity in an individual, and a spectacular example of fantasy presented within the conventions of realism. The Spire shows comparable ingenuity used quite differently: it describes the building of the spire Salisbury Cathedral and dramatizes the conflict between faith and reason.(From Longman Companion to English Literture)________________________________About the textgrammar school ---- In Britain, esp. in the past, a grammar school is a school for children aged 11 – 18 who are good at studying. In America, esp. in the past, it is a school for children aged 5 – 12/14.filing cabinet ---- a piece of office furniture with deep drawer in which files are keptintegrated ---- (of people) mixing with and joining society or a group of people, often changing to suit their way of life, habits and customs, or (of systems and things) to be suitable for and combine with each other or with what already existsThe town’s modern architecture is very well integrated with the old.整体协调的 with various parts fitting well togetheran integrated transport scheme (水陆空联运系统)an integrated personality (完整人格: sb who is psychologically stable.)disinterested ---- having no personal involvement or receiving no personal advantage, and therefore free to act fairlya disinterested observer/judgmenta piece of disinterested advice(Note: Disinterested is sometimes used to mean not interested, but many people do not consider this use to be correct.)delight ---- give great pleasure, satisfaction or happiness (usu. with in) Peter’s success at college delighted (gave great pleasure to) his family. Some people delight in (get pleasure from) the misfortunes of others. My brother always delights in telling me when I make a mistake.gregarious ---- (of people) liking to be with other people, or (esp. of animals) living in groups Emma’s a gregarious, outgoing sort of person. Pigeons are gregarious birds, but blackbirds (乌鸦) tend to be solitary.stampede ---- (a group of large animals etc.) rush away wildly because something has frightened them No amount of pressure will stampede this committee into making hasty decisions. (fig.)compensation ---- being exchanged for or being instead of something of equal or better valueI have to spend three months of the year away from home – but there are compensations like extra free time and the chance to meet new people. He’s lost his hair – so he wears a bear in compensation.。