[教育精品]L4 PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN.ppt

Lesson FourProfessions for WomenVirginia WoolfAuthor    Virginia Woolf is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of modernism as well as one of the pioneers of women's liberation from patriarchy.  Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) : a British writer and critic who was the most famous member of the Bloomsbury Group and is admired by feminists. Her novels, such as To the Lighthouse（《到灯塔去》, 1927） and The Waves（《海浪》,1931）, use the style called stream of consciousness (意识流). Virginia Woolf’s WorksNovels： 　　The Voyage Out (《远航》,1915年) 　Night and Day（《时时刻刻》,1919年) 　Jacob‘s Room（《雅各的房间》,1920年) 　Mrs. Dalloway（《达洛维夫人》,1925年) 　To the Lighthouse（《到灯塔去》,1927年)Orlando：a Biography（《奥兰多》,1928年) 　　The Waves（《 海浪》,1931年) 　The Years（《岁月》） (1937年) 　Between the Acts（《幕间》,1941年) 　Essays:“A Room of One‘s Own”（《一间自己的房间》,1929年)  Stream of Consciousness 意识流    Stream of Consciousness : the expression of thoughts and feelings in writing exactly as they pass through your mind, without the usual structure they have in formal writing.Bloomsbury group (布卢姆斯伯里团体)  Bloomsbury Group ：a group of artists and writers who lived and met each other regularly in Bloomsbury in the early part of the 20th century.Modernism  现代主义现代主义, 现代派现代派 Modernism : Modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice especially : a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression, popular especially from the 1940s to the 1960s. patriarchyPatriarchy n. a social system in which the oldest man rules his family and passes power and possessions on to his sons家长制；族长制Virginia Woolf is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of modernism as well as one of the pioneers of women's liberation from patriarchy.Style    She  is  known  for  her  experimentation  and innovation in novel writing.     In her novels, emphasis is not on plot or action but on the psychological realm of her characters and the  moment-by-moment  experience  of  living, which are depicted by the techniques of interior monologue and  stream of consciousness.  Her books are also noted for their poetic and symbolic quality, their subtle style and their rich historical and literary reference.Virginia Woolf’s experimentation and innovation 1. the psychological realm of her characters 2. the moment-by-moment experience of living人物的内心人物的内心/心理世界心理世界瞬间的生活经历瞬间的生活经历Virginia Woolf’s Techniques  1. interior monologue   2. stream of consciousness    3. poetic and symbolic quality   4. subtle style    5. rich historical and literary reference内心独白内心独白意识流意识流诗性诗性/象征意象征意义义风格微妙风格微妙丰富的历史与文学参照丰富的历史与文学参照/引文引文   But the article chosen for this textbook is relatively easy, with her thoughts well organized, clearly presented and vividly illustrated. Woolf is Difficult to Read. First obstacle: the Angel in the HouseSolution: Kill it     She uses a vivid metaphor "killing the Angel in the House" to describe her resolution to avoid the traditional woman's role as a sympathizer to men.     To illustrate this point, she employs the second metaphor--“the image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake,” who tries to explore the deepest part of the lake, but is disturbed by something hard.Second obstacle: Gender-consciousnessSolution: Try to remain unconscious, unsolvedThird metaphor: Rooms of Your Own    In conclusion, she states: "You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men… But this freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared. "•A paper read to the Women’s Service League in 1931.Professions for womenDetailed Study of the TextParagraph 1: Opening Paragraph•What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?      Woolf finds that there are fewer experiences  peculiar  to  women  in  the profession  of  literature  than  in  other professions, because many women writers before her have made the road smooth.•Q: Why fewer?A: “For the road was cut many years ago”…The implied meaning is that other professions, such as science, medicine, law, are newer for women, and therefore the road is harder for them. The profession of drama is an exception. Like literature, drama also involves more women than other professions.•For the road was cut many years ago--by Fanny Burney, by Aphra Behn, by Harriet Martineau, by Jane Austen, by George Eliot--many famous women, and many more unknown and forgotten, have been before me, making the path smooth, and regulating my steps. • Fanny Burney   (1752 - 1840) Burney's four novels have earned her favorable comparisons to other giants of the genre-Austen, Richardson, Dickens-and Virginia Woolf's declaration that she is "the mother of English fiction."Fanny BurneyAphra Behn Aphra Behn (July 10, 1640–April 16, 1689) was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and the first professional woman writer in English literature. •English writer, whose writings, characterized by advanced views on social, economic, and religious questions, caused considerable controversy in her time. •a fervent abolitionist Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)Jane Austen (1775-1817)•English novelist, noted for her witty studies of early-19th-century English society. •Pride and prejudice, Sense and Sensibility EmmaGeorge Eliot (1819-1880),•pseudonym of Mary Ann or Marian Evans, English novelist, whose books, with their profound feeling and accurate portrayals of simple lives, give her a place in the first rank of 19th-century English writers. Her fame was international, and her work greatly influenced the development of French naturalism.•Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Silas Marner (1861).•Thus, when I came to write, there were very few material obstacles in my way. Q: What is implied in this statement? A: The implied meaning is that there are other obstacles in her way, probably obstacles opposed to material, that is, obstacles of a spiritual, mental or psychological nature. •“the family purse”--- metonymy• Here the word “purse” is used figuratively. It  stands for money, financial conditions, e.g. the family purse：家庭财力/经济. •This kind of figure of speech is called metonymy(换换喻喻，，转转喻喻））, in which the name of one thing is used in place  of  that  of  another  associated  with  or suggested by it.   e.g.  "the  White  House"  for  "the  President",  "the crown" for "the king" or "the queen”.Metonymy(换喻，转喻）换喻，转喻）     The pen is mightier than the sword. (Here the instrument pen or sword is used as the name of the people wielding it.)      He succeeded by the sweat of his brow. (Sweat of one's brow stands for one's own hard work.)      He is too fond of the bottle. (The container is used as a name of the thing contained---wine, liqueur, or drinking in general.)•Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer.What is implied here?    If you want to be a musician or a painter, you must own a piano or hire models, and you have to visit or even live in cultural centers like Paris, Vienna and Berlin. And also you have to be taught by masters and mistresses. However, if you want to be a writer, you don't need all these.•The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why women have succeeded as writers before they have succeeded in the other professions. Q: What can you infer about women at that time? A: a lower financial status than men Paragraph 2 Main Idea:    She tells of how she became a book reviewer when she was a girl. Paragraphs 1 and 2 can be read together as the beginning part of the whole speech, introducing the topic under discussion.•From left to right•From morning till night•From beginning to end•From top to toe•From China to Peru• red box at the corner •bread and butter : synecdoche   synecdoche by which a part is used for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing, or the reverse of any of these. Synecdoche We need 50 hands for the work. ( Hands rather  than feet are used to stand for people. )  It was a fleet of 20 sails. (Sails for ships)  Have you got any coppers?  (Coppers  for  pennies,   coins made of copper)  He is a foot soldier. (Foot for infantry) Paragraph 3 Main Idea: the first obstacle to becoming a professional woman writer•She uses a figure of speech "killing the Angel in the House" in describing her determination to get rid of the conventional role of women in her writing. • And while I was writing this review.., do battle with a certain phantom.       This word is well chosen for the discourse. It has a literary meaning and a figurative meaning. –The literary meaning: something apparent to sense but with no substantial existence, a specter–The figurative meaning: something elusive or visionary, an illusion•The Angel in the House: The title of a poem written by Coventry Patmore (1823--1896). In 1854 the first part of the long poem "The Angel in the House" appeared, and the complete poem was published in 1863. For Patmore, his wife Emily represented all that was perfect about a Victorian wife and head of the home. The poem became very famous and attracted a multitude of readers.• Angel1.The original meaning of the word "angel" is a messenger of God and a supernatural being.2.The conventionalized image of an angel is one of a white-robed figure in human form with wings and a halo. When used figuratively, the word means a person regarded as being as beautiful, good, innocent, etc. as an angel, especially said of women and children. • Victorian era1.Literally, it’s used to refer to things and events in the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)2.Connotations: "prudish," "repressed," and "old fashioned." 3.Victorian England saw great expansion of wealth, power, and culture. •She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish.1.The author lists three important qualities of a Victorian woman. "Intensely" means having or showing strong emotion, firm purpose, and great seriousness. If she is intensely sympathetic, her sympathy is firm and serious. "Immensely" means limitless, vast, and huge. "Utterly" means not only totally, completely but also unqualified and unconditionally. 2.她有着强烈的同情心。

她有着无限的魅力她有着彻底的无私精神•She excelled in the difficult arts of family life.., sacrificed herself daily.  Another two qualities of a Victorian ideal woman. They reveal women's subordinate role in the family and society.•If there was chicken, she took the leg. Q: Why? A: Differences in eating habits.•if there was a draught she sat in it.  Q: Why?   A: "Draught" means a current of air in a room. As the English weather is typically chilly, it is not pleasant to sit in the draught. The most comfortable place in an English house is by the fireplace.She was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own.       She was made up, formed or designed in such a way that she never had an opinion or wish of her own. By the word "constituted" the author does not mean physically she was built that way, but the traditional values  that  were  so  deeply  planted  in  her  mind deprived her of a mind of her own.The word "mind" has  multiple  meanings.  In  this  sentence  it  means what one thinks；opinion, as in "Speak your mind. "but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others: 34. but  preferred  to  think  and  act  in  harmony with other people's minds and wishes 35.sympathize. (rare) to be in harmony or accordshe was pure • Of all the qualities, purity was the most     important one. The word "pure" means virgin, chaste, and virtuous. Queen Victoria (1819--1901)         Queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Empress  of  India. Victoria's long reign began in 1837 and ended when she died in 1901. Victoria's reign saw the rapid industrialization of Britain,  and a vast growth of national wealth,  reflected  in  the  imperialism  of  the  late  19th century. The whole reign may be divided into two phases, each  roughly  thirty  years  long.  The  first  period  is characterized  mainly  by  moderate  and  gradual  political reforms,  the  rapid  growth  of  industry,  an  enormous increase  in  population  and  the  rise  to  power  of  the industrial middle class. Queen Victoria (1819--1901)     The second period is characterized by a declining birth rate, an increasingly jingoistic nationalism(沙文主义）, the looming specter  of  mass  unemployment  and  economic  crisis,  the tendency  of  the  new  science  to  undermine  deeply  held religious  convictions  and  the  reflection  in  literature  of  a growing  disillusionment  with  traditional  moral  values.  The term  "Victorian"  is  used  to  refer  to  the  63-year  reign  of Queen Victoria, to the English people of the period, to the literature  written  in  this  period,  to  their  characteristics, sentiments, beliefs, tastes, and accomplishments. This term is often used to suggest the qualities and attitudes prevailing in the time, such as moral severity or hypocrisy, middle-class stuffiness(古板), and pompous conservatism that are usually associated with the time of Queen Victoria.In those days -- the last days of Queen Victoria -- every house had its Angel. •This sentence can be interpreted on two levels. On the  first  level,  in  the  last  days  of  Queen  Victoria, every  house  had  a  woman  like  that,  who  was sympathetic, charming, unselfish and above all pure. On a deeper level, in the last period of the reign of Queen Victoria, the belief that every woman should be  sympathetic,  charming,  unselfish,  and  above all pure，was prevalent in English society.Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex.  (1) These words said by the Angel in the House reflect the traditional Victorian values about gender roles. As soon as the author began to write her review, she seemed to hear a voice telling her what to do.   (2) To be sympathetic means to understand the mind of men and not to disagree with them.   (3)To be tender means she must not be too harsh in her criticism.   (4)To flatter, she must praise the book in an insincere way in order to please the reading public.   (5)To deceive indicates that she could not write what she really thought； she would have to tell lies instead of telling the truth. And she made as if to guide my pen Paraphrase:  She  moved  in  a  way  that  made  it  seem that she was going to guide my writing.    make as if to do something: to move in a way that makes it seem that you are going to do something. E.g. Fred, still grinning, made as if to hit me.I now record the one act for which I take some credit to myself.., for my living.  (1) credit: [uncountable] approval that you give to someone for something  they  have  done:  credit  for  Credit for this win goes to everybody in the team.// They never give Gene any credit for all the extra work he does. take/claim/deserve etc (the) credit She deserves credit for trying her best. to somebody's credit (=used to say that someone has done something good) To Jamie's credit, he remained calm.//Credit must go to Fiona for making sure everything ran smoothly.  (2) five hundred pounds a year: Back in the early years of the 20th century, this was a good sum of money.(3) Translate : 我我现现在在要要讲讲件件多多少少是是我我自自己己决决定定做做的的一一件件事事情情，，当当然然做做此此事事的的功功劳劳主主要要还还应应归归功功于于我我的的了了不不起起的的祖祖先先，，是是他他们们给给我我留留下下了了一一笔笔财财产产------比比如如说说每每年年五五百百英英镑镑吧吧------这这样样我我就就不不必完全靠女人的魅力去谋生了。

必完全靠女人的魅力去谋生了if I were to be had up in a court of law. Paraphrase: if I were to be taken to court  have somebody up: (British English ) an informal set phrase, meaning to take someone to court, especially to prove they are guilty of a crime：Last year he was had up for drunken driving.Had I not killed her she would have killed me       The inversion is used in the subjunctive mood.        Paraphrase: If I had not killed her she would have killed me.        Remember  that  the  phantom  and  the  angel  are  used metaphorically, applied to a stereotyped Victorian woman, or rather,  the  traditional  role  of  a  Victorian  woman  and  the traditional values about such a stereotype. So by killing the angel,  the  author  means  getting  rid  of  these  Victorian attitudes  completely.  If  she  had  not  done  so,  these conventional ideas would have destroyed her. It is a life-and-death struggle.For, as I found, directly I put pen to paper.., about human relations, morality, sex. Paraphrase: I found that as soon as I began writing, one must have an ability of independent thinking and have the courage to express what one thinks to be the truth about human relations, morality and sex. All these questions, according to the Angel in the House, cannot be dealt with.., to succeed Paraphrase: According to the Victorian attitudes, women are not supposed to discuss and explore these questions freely and openly. They must use their feminine charm to gain recognition from men; they must make concessions in their arguments; they must tell lies in order to succeed in the profession of writing.Thus, whenever I felt the shadow of her wing or the radiance of her halo.., flung it at her. Paraphrase: Thus, whenever I felt the influence of the Victorian attitudes on my writing, I fought back with all my power.     Note that this sentence is part of her extended metaphor of killing the Angel in the House. She died hard Paraphrase: She didn't die easily. She had to be killed. Implication: The implied meaning is that one had to fight against the Victorian traditions bravely and resolutely in order to get rid of them. 1.Her fictitious nature was of great assistance to her. It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. (1) The phantom or the Angel in the House is not a real person. The author is only personifying it. It does not have a physical form. In fact it is a mental image and has an imaginary nature. It is far more difficult to deal with a phantom than a reality. The reason is explained in the next sentence. (2) fictitious: referring to that which is invented by the imagination and is therefore not real, true, or actually existent1.She was always creeping back when I thought I had dispatched her •Implication: The implied meaning is that it is hard to overcome those prejudices once and for all. When you think that you have done away with them, you will find they are back again. So the struggle takes a long time, as explained in the next sentence. 1.Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe; it took much time that had better have been spent upon learning Greek grammar; or in roaming the world in search of adventures. •Paraphrase: Although I made myself believe that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe and it took so much more time than had been expected that one would rather spend all that time on learning Greek grammar or traveling in the world in search of adventures.Words and expressions•phantom•reputable•sympathize•credit•directly•pluck•conciliate•dispatch/despatch•befall •do battle with•call… after•arts and wiles•make as if to do •turn upon•catch someone by the throat•have someone up•be bound to do•flatter oneself that1.The main idea of Paragraph 4ØAfter the Angel was dead, the question which remains to be answered is "What is a woman?” It is a transitional link between the author's first and second experiences.1.I do not believe that anybody can know until she has expressed herself in all the arts and professions open to human skill. ØParaphrase: Not until a woman is able to demonstrate her abilities in all the professions available to human kind, can she know what is a woman.•Why did Woolf want to become a novelist?•What is a novelist’s chief desire?•Why does a novelist want life to proceed with the utmost quiet and regularity? Why does he want to do the same thing day after day and month after month?•According to Woolf, what rouses a woman writer from her trance?•Do men allow women writers to talk about their body and passions?Paragraph 5The main idea of Paragraph 5 •The author talks about her second experience. As a novelist, she wished to remain “as unconscious as possible” , so that nothing might disturb or disquiet the imagination. Yet sex-consciousness served as a great hindrance to women's writing. •To illustrate this point, she employs a second figure of speech, "the image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake.” ?•Why does the author say that a novelist's chief desire is to be as unconscious as possible? ØIn her psychological novels, the emphasis is not on plot but on the psychological realm occupied by her characters. ØThe "unconscious" state would allow her to bring her imagination into the fullest play.•He has to induce in himself a state of perpetual lethargy. 要让自己处于一种永久平静的内心世界。

要让自己处于一种永久平静的内心世界•induce: (formal) to cause a particular physical condition e.g. This drug may induce drowsiness.•lethargy: inactivity, sluggishness. Similar to the word "trance" used later in the same paragraph.•so that nothing may disturb or disquiet the mysterious nosings about, feelings round, darts, dashes and sudden discoveries of that very shy and illusive spirit, the imagination.ØDisquiet: to make anxious. eg. The bad news disquieted him.恶讯使他焦急不安ØNose: to search. eg. a reporter nosing around for news 四处探听消息的记者 Ødarts: A dart is a sudden, quick movement in a particular direction.Ødashes: A dash is a sudden, swift movement, similar to a dart. Alliteration and synonyms are used for emphasis.       He wants to see the same faces…the imagination.Translate the sentence into Chinese. 他希望在写作时，每天见的人，读的书，做的事都是相同的，这样他的幻想就不会被打破，他可以安居其中----那个羞涩而虚幻的精灵，即想象力，就不会被打搅，它可以四处探寻，左冲右突，并有突然的发现。

•The image that comes to my mind when I think of this girl is the image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake with a rod held out over the water. ØTranslate the sentence into Chinese:当我想到这女孩时，脑海里浮现出一个形象：深湖边有一位垂钓者，手握鱼竿，沉浸在梦境中ØBoth "trance" and "dreams" echo the idea expressed earlier in the paragraph that a novelist's chief desire is to be as unconscious as possible.ØThe image of a fisherman is the second metaphor the author uses in describing her professional experiences.1.She was letting her imagination sweep unchecked round every rock and cranny of the world that lies submerged in the depths of our unconscious being. ØParaphrase: She was letting her imagination explore freely every corner of her inner world that lies hidden in the deepest parts of our unconscious existence.Ø the depths of our unconscious being:无意识的最深层 being: existence, self •Now came the experience, the experience that I believe to be far commoner with women writers than with men.ØWhat was the experience? •The answer is found in her following remarks in this paragraph. •In brief, it is because of the gender-consciousness that she can’t write any longer.1.The line raced through the girl's fingers. Her imagination had rushed away. ØIn these sentences the author goes on with her metaphor of the fisherman. ØThe process of fishing is compared to the process of creative writing. 1.The consciousness of what men will say of a woman who speaks the truth about her passions had roused her from her artist's state of unconsciousness. ØParaphrase: She realized that men didn't approve of a woman daring to tell the truth about the body and her passions. They would surely say bad things about such a woman. This realization interrupted her imagination and roused her from the state of unconsciousness, in which an artist desired to be.ØTranslation: 她意识到男人们会如何评价一个敢于说出真情实感的女人，这使她从艺术家的无意识状态中惊醒了。

1.They were impeded by the extreme conventionality of the other sex.ØThe progress of women writers was hindered by men‘s extremely conventional attitude to women.Main Idea of Paragraph 6•This paragraph sums up the author's two experiences, pointing out that the second obstacle is more difficult to overcome than the first. Women have many prejudices to overcome in the profession of literature and even more so in new professions that women are entering.These then were two very genuine experiences of my own. genuine   1 a genuine feeling, desire etc is one that you really feel, not one you pretend to feel =synonym sincere: genuine interest/concern/desire  The reforms are motivated by a genuine concern for the disabled. a genuine fear of invasion // 'Did he really?' Her surprise seemed genuine.  2 something genuine really is what it seems to be = synonym real: We need laws that will protect genuine refugees. // The strap is genuine leather.  3 someone who is genuine is honest and friendly and you feel you can trust them, opposite false She is the most genuine person I've ever met.4 the genuine article a) [informal] a person or thing that is a true example of their typeIf you want to meet a real Southerner, Jake is the genuine article.b) something that is real and is not a copy intended to deceive people Some fake designer clothes are so good that people have no idea they're not buying the genuine article.genuinely adverb The boy seemed genuinely interested.genuineness noun [uncountable]1.telling the truth about my own experiences as a body.    Paraphrase: telling the truth about my body and passions as a woman•Outwardly, what is simpler than to write books? Outwardly, what obstacles are there for a woman rather than for a man? Explanation: The author is making a contrast between the outward and the inward. Here "outward" means clearly apparent, observable, and visible while "inward" is situated within, on the inside, of or belonging to the inner nature of a person, mental and spiritual. 76. Inwardly, I think, the case is very different; she has still many ghosts to fight, many prejudices to overcome. (1) The word "ghosts" is similar to the word "phantom" used in Paragraph 3.    (2) Translate the sentence into Chinese：从内心精神方面看，情况颇为不同。

妇女还要与许多鬼怪展开斗争，还有许多偏见需要去克服 1.Indeed it will be a long time still.., a rock to be dashed against. Paraphrase: It will take a long time for women to rid themselves of false values and attitudes and to overcome the obstacle to telling the truth about their body and passions. Main Idea of Paragraph 7       In this last paragraph, Woolf concludes her speech by raising some important questions concerning the new role of women and the new relationship between men and women. 1.Those are the questions that I should like.., yours also. Comment: These two sentences link up the author as an individual woman with the other women as a group, making her personal experiences common to all women. 1.Even when the path is nominally open. .. looming in her way.ØParaphrase: Even when the path is open to women in name only, when outwardly there is nothing to prevent a woman from being a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant, inwardly there are still false ideas and obstacles impeding a woman's progress. 1.84. You have won rooms of your own in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men. ØExplanation: "A room of one's own" is the third metaphor Woolf uses in this piece. A room is a space, not only space for living, but also space for creative activity. Here a room is compared to freedom, while the house is compared to the whole society. ØImplication: The implied meaning of the sentence is that through fighting against the Angel in the House, through great labor and effort, some women have gained a position or certain freedom in a society which up to now has been dominated by men.1.You are able, though not without great labor and effort, to pay the rent. ØParaphrase: You are able to pay the rent, though you have to do this through great labor and effort.1.But this freedom is only a beginning; the room is your own, but it is still bare. It has to be furnished; it has to be decorated; it has to be shared. ØComment: Here Woolf is continuing with her metaphor of a room of one's own. She is saying that when women are able to pay the rent or earn five hundred pounds a year, they have won financial independence to a certain extent.  She thinks that this freedom is only a beginning, and that women still have a long way to go. For when the old ideas, attitudes and values have been done away with, a void is left. And that void has to be filled with new ideas, attitudes and values.1.How are you going to furnish it, how are you going to decorate it? With whom are you going to share it, and upon what terms? These, I think are questions of the utmost importance and interest. 1.Comment: By these questions, which are phrased figuratively, Woolf alerts her audience that women are now faced with a set of new questions such as "What is the new role of a woman?" "What should be the relationship between men and women?" She only raises these questions in her concluding remarks of this piece, without attempting to answer them. These issues are fully explored in her famous feminist critical work A Room of One's Own.。