Turning off TV: a Quiet Hour

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Unit 4

• Turning off TV a Quiet Hour
• ??????????

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• I. Word Study
• 1. worthwhile (a.) worthy of the time, efforts,
  etc. ?????(???)?????
• e.g. The pleasure from success made worthwhile
  all our hard work over the past years.
• Can you recommend some worthwhile books for me to
  read?
• It is worthwhile to come all the way (???) to see
  the scenic spot (???).

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• 2. program (n.)
• (1) list of items for TV or radio broadcast,
  concerts, operas and other events ??(?)
• e.g. Whats the next item on the theater
  program?
• Most newspapers carry TV programs for
  the day.

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• (2)  plan or strategy ??,??
• e.g. According to the government report, the
  reemployment program is going on well.
• (3) set of instructions that a computer follows
  in order to perform a particular task ??
• e.g. Bill Gates built his company by designing
  software programs.

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• (v.) give (a computer) a set of instructions to
  make it able to perform a particular task ??
• e.g. The robot is programmed to do dangerous jobs
  in place of men.
• 3.   current (a.)
• (1)  of the present time ???
• e.g. The woman in blue over there is the
  current chairperson of our department.
• What is the current exchange rate for US
  dollars?

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• (2) generally accepted or in fashion
  ???,???,???,???
• e.g. The current belief (?????) is that human
  beings evolved from monkeys.
• In writing, do not use words that are no
  longer current (??????).

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• current (n.)
• (1) stream of flowing water, air, gas, etc.
  ?,??,??
• e.g. The cold currents of air from Siberia
  influence the climate of China.
• The body of the little boy swept away by
  the current was found days later.

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• (2) flow of electricity through a wire or cable
  ??
• e.g. alternate current ???
• direct current ???
• (3) general course tendency ??,??,??
• e.g. Newspapers influence the current of public
  opinions.
• A small incident can sometimes change the
  whole current of ones life.

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• 4. social (n.) (1) of or in society ???
• e.g. Single-parent families bring about many
  social problems.
• Myra was praised for the social work she had
  done.
• (2) for companionship ???
• e.g. Young ladies over-interested in social
  gatherings (????) are called social butterflies.
• He dropped in at Mrs. Harts simply for social
  purposes.

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• 5. prohibit ( sb from doing sth ) (vt.) forbid
  (especially by rules or law) ??
• e.g. Smoking is prohibited in public places.
• In some countries women are prohibited from
  walking out without a veil (??,??).
• Fishermen are prohibited from fishing in
  spring.

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• 6. actually (ad.) really, in actual fact ???
• e.g. Actually I am here to borrow some money.
• I dont like the dinner, actually.
• 7. gap (n.)
• (1)   unfilled space opening ??,??
• e.g. When Jill laughs, the gap between her teeth
  shows.
• The sheep went out through a gap in the
  fence.

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• (2) a wide difference of opinion, character,
  etc. ??,??
• e.g. It takes years to narrow the gap between the
  city / rich and the countryside / the poor.
• You simply cannot bring John and Thomas
  together. There is a wide gap between their
  opinions.

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• 8. rate (n.) (1) ?,??
• e.g. inflation / birth / death / interest /
  marriage / exchange / crime rate
• Speed is the rate between the change of
  distance and time.
• (2) speed ??,??
• e.g. camels travel at a rate of 10 miles an hour.

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• (3) price ??,??
• e.g.What is the postage rate for a parcel to the
  US?
• In China, long-distance telephone rates
  depend on the distance.

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• 9. communicate (vt.)
• (1) share or exchange opinions, ideas, etc. ??
  / ????????
• e.g. Public relations officers are experts in
  communicating with customers.
• Marriage fails when man and wife do not
  communicate with each other.

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• (2) pass on information, news, etc. ??,??
• e.g. Ancient Indian tribes communicated by sign
  language.
• Its the duty of the mass media to
  communicate news.

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• 10. disturb (v.)
• (1) make worried ???
• e.g. She was disturbed by her husbands not
  coming home in time.
• I was disturbed to hear there had been
  another murder the night before.

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• (2) break the peace or order of ??,??,??
• e.g. Dont disturb him. Hes writing an essay.
• Would you please turn down your radio? It
  is disturbing all your neighbours sleep.

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• 11. neighbourhood (n.) an area (and the people
  living in the area) ??????
• e.g. There are a lot of lawns in the wealthy
  neighbourhood.
• Aunt Ma is a neighbourhood activist
  (????).
• Heavy traffic disturbs the life of the
  whole neighbourhood.

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• 12. typical (a.) representative or
  characteristic ???
• e.g. Zhuozheng Garden (???) is a typical Suzhou
  garden.
• Such a roof is typical of buildings in
  Southern China.

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• 13. barely (ad.) hardly ??,??????
• e.g. Mrs. Teapot had barely been seated when the
  door bell rang.
• In the orphanage (???), Oliver Twist had
  barely enough to eat.
• Barely did he remember what had happened a
  week before.

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• 14. glance
• (n.) quick look ????
• e.g. Father used to take a glance at / over
  the newspaper headlines at breakfast.
• The letter was so short that I finished it
  at a glance.

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• (vi.) look quickly ????
• e.g. Skimming is to glance over a piece of
  writing to find main ideas.
• Father glanced over the newspaper
  headlines at breakfast.
• She glanced shyly at him from behind the
  harp (??).

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• 15. involve (vt.)
• (1)  have as a part or result (??)??
• e.g. To apply for university study involves
  taking the College Entrance Examination.
• Their visit to our company will involve a
  meeting with our general manager.

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• (2) cause to be mixed up (in sth.) ???,???
• e.g. It is said that many politicians were
  involved in the drug traffic (????).

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• 16. invent (vt.)
• (1) produce sth. for the first time ??,??
• e.g. Thomas Edison invented the first light bulb.
• It is often difficult to decide who
  really deserves the credit (??,??) for inventing
  a new device.

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• (2) make up ??,??
• e.g. He invented a story to explain why his watch
  was missing.
• Rumor (??,??) is invented by
  ill-intentioned people.

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• II. Introductory Remarks
• Television, since its first prevalence over
  radio in the 1950s, has played a more and more
  important role in peoples lives. As a matter of
  fact, it has become so much a part of human life
  that a modern world without television is
  unimaginable. Some people even say that life
  without television is not worth living.

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• But some, on the other hand, argue against TV.
  They think TV is taking up too much of a persons
  time and making him lazy, not to mention its
  harmful influence upon him. The author of this
  article, for example, is raising his voice
  against TV, urging viewers to turn off their sets
  and enjoy a precious quiet hour, an hour without
  the distraction of TV.

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• III. Language Points (Reference????)
• 1. US television yesterday and today
• A demonstration of television was
• held at the New York Worlds Fair in
• 1939, and during the 1940s networks
• were established and television sets
• began to be sold.

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• But, for a whole, radio still had complete
  control of the entertainment industry. It was in
  the 1950s that television started to take the
  place of radio in the United States, and in the
  early 1960s over 750 stations were telecasting to
  about 52 million sets with the result that the
  American TV audience included almost every family.

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• Today there are a thousand stations all
  over the country, and in many places there is a
  choice of five or six channels, not counting in
  the cable programs one can buy. The Big Three of
  the networks the National Broadcasting Company
  (NBC),

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• the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and
  the American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
  introduce a large number of new shows, which are
  relayed through the United States and are often
  sold abroad.

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• What is generally known as cable TV
  (????) is actually a system of community
  antenna television (CATV) (????????).
  Cablevision, transmitted via direct cables (????)
  connected to each television set, offers viewers
  a large choice programs, as well as excellent
  reception.

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• There is also pay TV (????), known as toll
  TV or subscription TV, which differs from cable
  TV in two important respects. Pay TV entirely
  originates (v. ??) its own programs and charges a
  fee for viewing each program.

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• Nearly all TV in the US is commercial (???).
  So programs are interrupted every fifteen minutes
  or so for advertisement. There is, however, one
  channel where there are no commercial breaks.
  Programs on this channel are run by the Public
  Broadcasting Service (PBS).

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• It has a loose organization. Its production
  facilities are not jointly organized and its
  revenue is uncertain. It receives a certain
  amount of money from the Congress, and the rest
  from foundation (???), public contributions, and
  individual stations.

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• 2. Typical TV programming ??????
• The local stations show a few programs
  they produce themselves, but the majority of what
  they telecast is network programs. The following
  is a broad, general guide to local commercial TV
  programming

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• 6 - 9 a.m. informational programs
• (news, interviews,
  panel
• discussions (????
• ??????????
• ??????????
• ??) of issues, etc.)
• 9- noon game shows
• noon 1 p.m. news

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• 1-4p.m. soap operas (continuing
• drama serials
• emphasizing
  romantic
• problems),
  sports, etc.
• 6-7 p.m. news
• 73010p.m. situation comedies,
• dramatical and
  musical
• programs, TV
  serials,
• movies, sports.
  Etc.

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• 1130 p.m. movies, interviews
• (In large cities, TV stations will broadcast
  programs 24 hours a day. In the medium-sized and
  small cities, programs will be broadcast
  approximately 6 a.m. until 2 a.m.)

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• 3. nevertheless (ad.) but however ??,??
• e.g. Mum was tired nevertheless, she did not
  rest until all the sewing was done.
• He is quite handsome nevertheless no
  girls like him he is too arrogant (??,??).

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• 4. propose (vt.) (followed by an object clause in
  the subjunctive form) suggest put forward for
  consideration ??
• e.g. He proposed that we (should) go there on
  foot.
• We proposed to them that the meeting
  (should) be put off.

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• 5. proposal (n.)
• (1) plan or scheme ??,????
• e.g. The two warring countries (????) agreed to
  the peace proposal.
• The President rejected the proposal to put
  off the meeting.
• (2) offer of marriage ??
• e.g. The princess has had quite a number of
  proposals this year.

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• 6. This prepositional phrase (????) functions as
  a conditional clause if they had not the
  distraction of TV.
• Further example
• With free time and no TV, children and adults
  might rediscover reading. If they had free time
  and no TV, children and adults might rediscover
  reading.

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• 7. The generation gap ??
• The term is used to mean differences in
  ideas, life styles and attitudes between older
  and younger people, differences which result in a
  lack of understanding between them and frequently
  lead to confrontations (n. ??).

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• The generation gap is one of the most widely
  discussed and controversial problems of recent
  years. Some doubt whether such a gap exists.
  They dont believe the younger generation is set
  apart from the older generation by a wide gap.
  

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• Many others, on the other hand, insist a
  gap between parents and children is unavoidable
  and the generation gap today, if anything, is
  worse than it has ever been before. The reason
  they give is that the tremendous explosion of
  knowledge in the twentieth century has made life
  for young people today so very different from
  life as it was when their parents were young.
  

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• 8. High divorce rate in the US ???????
• Divorce is a major problem in the US. At
  present, it is estimated, about one quarter to
  one third of all American marriages end in
  divorce. There is a great difference of opinion
  as to the causes of this high rate of divorce.

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• But studies indicate that there are more cases
  of divorce among persons with low incomes and
  inadequate education and among those who marry at
  a very young age. Apart from legally divorced
  cases there are many separated couples.

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• The immediate result that arises from the high
  divorce rate is an increasing number of single
  parent homes, i.e., homes where children are
  being raised by only one parent. The breakup of a
  family affects the children most. They fear being
  deserted or left alone. Many children suffer from
  a feeling of guilt when their parents divorce.
  

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• They think that perhaps some of their actions
  have caused the patents separation. Sometimes
  the children become angry with both parents for
  changing their lives. Sometimes they may direct
  their anger at the parent who has left or at the
  one who stays, who they think has forced the
  other away.

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• 9. in part partly to some degree ?????????
• e.g. The driver was in part responsible for the
  accident.
• I admit that you are right in part.

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• 10.  get to begin by chance begin to ?????
• e.g. We got to know the professor at the party.
• I was getting to like John when he left.

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• 11. prep. n. Constructions
• e.g. See you on Monday morning.
• On a cold afternoon in January the old man
  was found dead in his house.
• I dont like to receive visitors on a
  night when I have to work late.

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• 12. more active pastime ?????????
• When we watch TV, we take in passively
  whatever is being shown on the screen. Compared
  with watching TV, many other pastimes call for a
  more vigorous exercise of the mind and are
  therefore more active. Reading, for instance, can
  be active. Dancing is physically active, too.

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• 13. take a ride make a trip on an animal or
  vehicle ??????(????????)
• e.g. to take a ride on a horse
• to take a ride in a car
• to take a ride in the bus
• to take a ride in (on) a train
• to take a ride in (on)a plane
• to take a ride in (on)a boat

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• 14.(remember feet?) (do we ever remember that we
  can travel on foot?) ???????????
• It is a rhetorical question in a parenthesis
  which implies that the Americans are so used to
  traveling by car or other vehicles that they seem
  to have forgotten they can travel on foot.

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• 15. rediscover reading ??????
• Reading as a habit has been thrown into
  oblivion or disuse (?????), and modern man needs
  to start cultivating (??,??) it as if for the
  first time.

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• 16. grow up become adult ??,??
• e.g. What are you going to be when you grow up,
  my child?
• The little girl has grown up into a pretty
  young woman.

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• 17. A more literate new generation could be a
  product of the quiet hour. ???????,???????????????
  ??
• If our children formed the habit of
  reading worthwhile books instead of watching TV
  for at least one hour each day, they would
  certainly be better cultured than they are now.

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• 18.  as it was in the past ?????
• e.g. We ate turkey for Christmas dinner, as we
  had before the war.
• Mary is a fine singer, as her mother used
  to be.
• Olive oil (???) is used in cooking in
  Greece as (it is) in Italy.

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• 19. Gathering around and listening to mother or
  father read a good story brings a family closer
  together than other pastimes.
• 20 What could bring a family closer together
  than gathering around and listening to mother or
  father read a good story?

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• 20. come up with produce think of (a plan, an
  answer, a reply, etc.) ????
• e.g. They came up with a good excuse for being
  late.
• Intelligent students can always come up
  with good solutions to problems.

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• 21. the electronic babysitter the TV set ????
  ???
• This is a clever metaphor (??) in that a TV
  set is an electronic toy that can attract and
  hold the attention of children whom parents can
  leave unattended while the machine is on.

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• 22. It has been (is) years / months / weeks
  since is a useful sentence pattern.
• e.g. It has been two months since he left for
  Beijing.
• It is several weeks since the scientist
  disappeared.

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• 23. come to grow to arrive at mentally
• e.g. John has come to realize his own mistake.
• Living here for years, she has come to
  know the city well.

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• 24. partly in some degree ?????????
• e.g. This is partly my fault.
• What he told you is partly true, partly
  made-up.

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• 25. It wasnt that difficult. Honest. The truth
  is we had a ball. ?????????????????????????
• 1. honest honestly or truly
• e.g. I saw a UFO last night. Honest.
• 2. have a ball is an American slang
  expression, which means have a lot of fun or
  have a good time.

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• Chinese-English Translation
• 1. To take this job would involve working on
  weekends frequently, but John didnt mind.
• 2. It is well known that lung cancer is caused at
  least in part by smoking too much.

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• 3. My grandparents said that the man who invented
  television had once lived in their neighborhood.
• 4. I propose that we go to find Prof. Smith in
  his office right after the meeting and invite him
  to our English evening.

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• 5. Having been operated on twice for the disease,
  she was so weakened that she could barely stand
  up.
• 6. Educators think that the generation growing up
  with television spend so much of their time in
  front of the TV that they do not have enough time
  to study.

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• 7. I do hope that you can come up with a better
  solution than this one.
• 8. At first glance the picture didnt look very
  good, but after examining it carefully, we found
  that it was indeed a masterpiece.

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• English-Chinese Translation
• 1. ??????????,????????????????
• 2. ???????????????????,??????????????????????

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• 3. ????????????????????,????????????
• 4. ???????????????