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Unit 1 Fresh Start
Understanding and Learning
Overview
The first unit of the first book of our series meets students who have just entered college or university and are beginning a new phase in their lives. We hope that students will be able to talk about their expectations of their college experience, and they will be aware of the expectations their parents and their educators have of them.
Text A is a university president’s welcome speech, in which the president gives valuable guidance to and expresses expectations of freshman students.
Text B is a letter written by a father to his child who is about to start college, in which the father expresses his expectations of the child. We hope that the two texts will stimulate students to share their own expectations regarding their college experience; and we also hope the two texts will help students look from a new perspective at the expectations their educators and their parents have of them
Text A shows characteristics of a speech. Pronouns I, we and you are more frequently used than in other kinds of writing because the speaker is addressing the audience directly, hoping to motivate the audience and to gain their support and understanding. In a speech, the speaker can employ a variety of figures of speech to make his speech vivid and powerful, such as simile, metaphor, contrast, parallelism(排比), and repetition. A very common figure of speech is parallelism. In parallelism, coordinate ideas are arranged in words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to emphasize and point out relations. In Text A, for example, the president uses many sentences of parallel structure. This makes his speech powerful, persuasive, and thought-provoking. It can even produce humorous effect as in the example: “You may have cried tears of joy to be finally finished with high school, and your parents may have cried tears of joy to be finally with doing your laundry!”
The most obvious feature of Text B is that it contains many imperative sentences, and these sentences tend to be brief. An imperative sentence advises, instructs, requests, or commands. It begins with a verb; the implied subject is you. In Text B, a father makes use of imperative sentences to give advice and instructions to his child who has just left home for college. For example: “Don’t be bound by what other people think.” “Pick friends who are genuine and sincere.” “Become the great thinker you were born to be.” In class the teacher can make the students compare the writing styles of Text A and Text B. Class activities may include pair work, group discussions, and mini-surveys about students’ high school experience, their families and friends, and their expectations of college life.
Section A
Toward a brighter future for all Background information
1. American higher education
In the United States, students can choose to go to college after high school. (They can also choose to go straight to the workforce after high school.) They have the option of attending a two-year community college before applying to a four-year university. Admission to community
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college is easier, tuition is lower, and class sizes are often smaller than at a university. Community college students can earn an associate agree and transfer up to two years of course credits to a university.
College and university students need to pay tuition, but many earn scholarships or receive loans. Although admissions policies vary from one university to another, most determine admission based on several criteria, including a student’s high school course of study, high school Grade Point Average (GPA), participation in extracurricular activities, SAT(Scholastic Assessment Test) or ACT (American College Testing) exam scores, a written essay, and possibly a personal interview with a representative from the admissions office.
Most students in the United States take the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT during their final year of high school. Each university sets a minimum SAT or ACT score that a student must achieve in order to gain admission. These are standardized quantitative examinations. The SAT tests critical reading, mathematics, and writing skills, The ACT tests English, mathematics, reading, science reasoning, and includes an optional writing test.
Extracurricular activities may include scholastic clubs, athletic teams, student government, and philanthropic clubs. Voluntary participation in these kinds of activities is an indication that a student has learned valuable life lessons, such as teamwork, leadership, or civic responsibility.
University students pursuing a bachelor’s degree are called “undergraduates”; students pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree are called “graduate students”. Most universities give under graduate students a liberal education, which means students are required to take courses across several disciplines before they specialize in a major field of study. Graduate and professional programs, such as medicine or law, are specialized. All degree programs require students to complete a minimum number of credit hours before graduating.
Selection for admission to a graduate program is based on several criteria. These include completion of a bachelor’s degree, the student’s undergraduate coursework and GPA. Students are also expected to write an essay as part of their application or to submit a writing sample. Most master’s programs require students to have a minimum score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), which tests verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills.
Students continue to take course at the graduate level. A final thesis is required for most master’s programs. Doctoral students take course until they have earned enough credit hours to attempt their qualifying examinations. These are usually taken over several days and often include a written and oral component. After doctoral students pass their qualifying exams, they are advanced to candidacy and can begin writing their dissertation. Before the degree is given, the completed dissertation must be orally defended before the candidate’s faculty committee. 2. Vera Wang
Vera Wang is a Chinese-American fashion designer. She was born and raised in New York City. While trained as a figure skater in high school, she eventually earned a degree in art history from Sarah Lawrence College in 1971. But a career in fashion was her dream. She worked as a senior fashion editor for Vogue magazine for 15 years. In 1985, she left vogue and joined Ralph Lauren as a design director for two years. In 1990, she opened her own design salon in New York, and featured her trademark bridal gowns. Wang has made wedding gowns for many celebrities and public figures, such as Jennifer Lopez (詹尼佛·洛佩兹), Sharon Stone (莎朗·斯通) and Chelsea Clinton (切尔西·克林顿).
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新视野大学英语读写教程第三版电子教案Book-1--Unit-1 优质文档 新
