2015.11.26 - Week11

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) fraternity: a group of people who have the same job or interest
2) ridiculous:  stupid or unreasonable and deserving to be laughed at
2-1) ridiculed: to laugh at someone in an unkind way
3) mock: to laugh at someone, often by copying them in a funny but unkind way
3-1) imitate: to behave in a similar way to someone or something else, or to copy the speech or behavior, etc. of someone or something
4) flip: If you flip something, you turn it over quickly one or more times, and if something flips, it turns over quickly
5) verbose: using or containing more words than are necessary
6) adapt: to change something to suit different conditions or uses
6-1) adept: having a natural ability to do something that needs skill
7) animated: full of interest and energy
7-1) animation: enthusiasm and energy
8) architecture: the art and science of designing and making buildings
8-1) anarchy: a situation in which there is no organization and control, especially in society because there is no effective government
8-2) anarchist: a person who believes in anarchism
8-3) anarchism the political belief that there should be little or no formal or official organization to society but that people should work freely together
9) mortal: (of living things, especially people) unable to continue living forever; having to die
9-1) immortal: living or lasting forever
10) patriarchy: a society in which the oldest male is the leader of the family, or a society controlled by men in which they use their power to their own advantage
10-1) matriarchy: a type of society in which women have most of the authority and power, or a society in which property belongs to women and is given to children by women rather than men
11) polygamous: the fact or custom of being married to more than one person at the same time
12) Mormon: a member of a religious group called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which began in the US in 1830
13) mal- (stand for bad); bene- (stand for good)
14) malign: causing or intending to cause harm or evil
14-1) malicious: intended to harm or upset other people
15) candidate: a person who is competing to get a job or elected position
16) transcript: an exact written copy of something
16-1) translate: to change words into a different language
16-2) transmit: to broadcast something, or to send out or carry signals using radio, television, etc.
17) mort (stand for death)
18) tisane: (a) drink made by pouring boiling water onto particular types of dried or fresh flowers or leaves
19) exhibit: to show something publicly
20) keep off: If you keep off a particular subject, you avoid talking about it.
21) drug: any natural or artificially made chemical which is used as a medicine
21-1) medicine: treatment for illness or injury, or the study of this
21-2) pill: a small solid piece of medicine which a person swallows without chewing (= crushing with the teeth)
22) magnanimous: very kind and generous towards an enemy or someone you have defeated
22-1) magnificent: very good, beautiful or deserving to be admired
22-2) magnify: to make something look larger than it is, especially by looking at it through a specially cut piece of glass
23) masochist: the activity of getting sexual pleasure from being hurt or controlled by another person
B. The tyger          William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
C. The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is an 1850 work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and is considered to be his best work. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

2015.11.19 - Week 10

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) morph- form
2) ATM auto teller machine
3) mock make fun of ; laugh at
4) bull's eye 正中靶心
5) venerate to honor or very much respect a person or thing
5-1) worship to have or show a strong feeling of respect and admiration for God or a god
6) provocative  causing thought about interesting subjects
7) grotesque strange and unpleasant, especially in a silly or slightly frightening way
8) rebellion violent action organized by a group of people who are trying to change the political system in their country
9) conceit when you are too proud of yourself and your actions
10) uri- 尿
11) authority the moral or legal right or ability to control
12) plot the story of a book, film, play, etc
13) premier best or most important
14) twin compass 圓規

B. Kafka

Franz Kafka was a German-language writer of novels and short stories, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century literature. His work, which fused elements of realism and the fantastic, typically featured isolated protagonists faced by bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible social-bureaucratic powers, and has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include "Die Verwandlung" , Der Process, and Das Schloss. The term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe situations like those in his writing.
Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He trained as a lawyer, and after completing his legal education he obtained employment with an insurance company while writing in his spare time; for the rest of his life would complain about the little time he had to devote to his passion due to the demands of his Brotberuf ("day job", literally "bread job"). Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formative relationship. He died in 1924 at the age of 40 from tuberculosis.
Few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime: the story collections Betrachtung (Contemplation) and Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), and individual stories (such as "Die Verwandlung") were published in literary magazines but received little public attention. Kafka's unfinished works, including his novels Der Process, Das Schloss and Amerika (also known as Der Verschollene, The Man Who Disappeared), were ordered by Kafka to be destroyed by his friend Max Brod, who nonetheless ignored his friend's direction and published them after Kafka's death.
C. John Donne

John Donne was an English poet and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations. These features, along with his frequent dramatic or everyday speech rhythms, his tense syntax and his tough eloquence, were both a reaction against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques. His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of English society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Another important theme in Donne's poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and about which he often theorized. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits.

Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, with whom he had twelve children. In 1615, he became an Anglican priest, although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He did so because King James I persistently ordered it. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of parliament in 1601 and in 1614.

* metaphysical poetry的代表人物

Island

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; 

It tolls for thee. 

2015.11.5 - Week 8

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) advocate: to publicly support or suggest an idea, development or way of doing something
2) antipathy: (an example of) strong dislike, opposition or anger
3) emancipate: to give people social or political freedom and rights
4) idiosyncrasy: a strange or unusual habit, way of behaving or feature that someone or something has
5) imminent: coming or likely to happen very soon
6) impede: to slow down or cause problems for the achievement or finishing of something
7) inclusive: An inclusive price or amount includes everything
8) jurisdiction: the authority of an official organization to make and deal with especially legal decisions
9) precarious: in a dangerous state because not safe or firmly fixed
10) preposterous: very silly or stupid
11) austere: very simple and without comfort or unnecessary things, especially because of severe limits on money or goods
12) esoteric: very unusual; understood or liked by only a small number of people, especially those with special knowledge
13) facsimile: an exact copy, especially of a document
14) grotesque: strange and unpleasant, especially in a silly or slightly frightening way
15) mesmerize:  to have someone's attention completely so that they cannot think of anything else
16) metamorphosis:  a complete change; the process by which the young form of insects and some animals, such as frogs, develops into the adult form
17) notorious: famous for something bad
18) perfunctory: done quickly, without taking care or interest
19) provocative: causing thought about interesting subjects
20) travesty: something which fails to represent the values and qualities that it is intended to represent, in a way that is shocking or offensive