Lesson 15 · Complete Study Guide
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主旨：科学具有世界同一性。
作用：开篇建立《Disappearing Through the Skylight (Excerpts)》的叙述或论证起点，交代核心对象，并为下文展开设定观察角度。
先写“科学具有世界同一性。”；中部推进到“在二十世纪的几十年的 时间里，遗传学曾分为两派：西方遗传学和苏联遗传学。”；最后落在“今天，李森科的理论已经被推翻，世界也就只有一种遗传学了。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：举例、并列／递进
A sign of this is that the more successful a science becomes, the broader the agreément about its basic concepts: there is not a separate Chinese or American or Soviet thermodynamics, for example; there is simply thermodynamics.
句型：复合句/复杂句。使用 there be 存现结构，真正信息焦点位于 be 之后；含关系或连接成分 that，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句；分号或破折号连接/补充多个信息层次，阅读时先拆分主干再处理插入说明。
Sentence 1.1Science is committed to the universal.
Sentence 1.2A sign of this is that the more successful a science becomes, the broader the agreément about its basic concepts: there is not a separate Chinese or American or Soviet thermodynamics, for example; there is simply thermodynamics.
Sentence 1.3For several decades of the twentieth century there was a Western and a Soviet genetics, the latter associated with Lysenko’s theory that environmental stress can produce genetic mutations.
Sentence 1.4Today Lysenko’s theory is discredited, and there is now only one genetics.
主旨：作为科学发展的必然产物，工艺技术也同样表现出世界同一性的趋势。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“作为科学发展的必然产物，工艺技术也同样表现出世界同一性的趋势。”；中部推进到“世界呈现出同一性 特征是因为它本身具有同一性。”；最后落在“这样带来的结果用一句人们已经耳熟能详的话来描述再恰当不过：历史的消失。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、并列／递进
Children who grow up in this world therefore experience it as a sameness rather than a diversity, and because their identities are shaped by this sameness, their sense of differences among cultures and individuals diminishes.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 who，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句；含从属连词 because，构成时间、原因、让步、条件或比较状语；出现 be + 过去分词形式，应结合语义判断被动语态或分词形容词。
Sentence 2.1As the corollary of science, technology also exhibits the universalizing tendency.
Sentence 2.2This is why the spread of technology makes the world look ever more homogeneous.
Sentence 2.3Architectural styles, dress styles, musical styles—even eating styles—tend increasingly to be world styles.
Sentence 2.4The world looks more homogeneous because it is more homogeneous.
Sentence 2.5Children who grow up in this world therefore experience it as a sameness rather than a diversity, and because their identities are shaped by this sameness, their sense of differences among cultures and individuals diminishes.
Sentence 2.6As buildings become more alike, the people who inhabit the buildings become more alike.
Sentence 2.7The result is described precisely in a phrase that is already familiar: the disappearance of history.
主旨：汽车工业的发展非常清楚地说明了这一点。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“汽车工业的发展非常清楚地说明了这一点。”；中部推进到“当今时代生产的汽车不再表现某一特定汽车公司或 是某一特定国家文化的独特特征。”；最后落在“一般的汽车虽各有不同，其基本特征整体上却是大同小异。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：转折／对照、条件／选择
A technological innovation like streamlining or all-welded body construction may be rejected initially, but if it is important to the efficiency or economics of automobiles, it will reappear in different ways until it is not only accepted but universally regarded as an asset.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含从属连词 if，构成时间、原因、让步、条件或比较状语；出现 be + 过去分词形式，应结合语义判断被动语态或分词形容词。
Sentence 3.1The automobile illustrates the point with great clarity.
Sentence 3.2A technological innovation like streamlining or all-welded body construction may be rejected initially, but if it is important to the efficiency or economics of automobiles, it will reappear in different ways until it is not only accepted but universally regarded as an asset.
Sentence 3.3Today’s automobile is no longer unique to a given company or even to a given national culture.
Sentence 3.4Its basic features are found, with variations, in automobiles in general, no matter who makes them.
主旨：几年前，福特汽车制造公司推出一款号称“世界汽车”的嘉年华新车型。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“几年前，福特汽车制造公司推出一款号称“世界汽车”的嘉年华新车型。”；中部推进到“在公司打出的广告中，车身四周花团锦簇插满了 世界各国的国旗。”；最后落在“福特公司宣称，该汽车的汽缸缸体生产于英国，化油器生产于爱尔兰，变速器生产于法国，轮胎生产于 比利时，等等。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、并列／递进
Ford explained that the cylinder block was made in England, the carburetor in Ireland, the transmission in France, the wheels in Belgium, and so forth.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句；多重逗号成分构成长句，注意并列项、插入语与主谓主干的边界。
Sentence 4.1A few years ago the Ford Motor Company came up with the Fiesta, which it called the “World Car.’
Sentence 4.2Advertisements showed it surrounded by the flags of all nations.
Sentence 4.3Ford explained that the cylinder block was made in England, the carburetor in Ireland, the transmission in France, the wheels in Belgium, and so forth.
主旨：现在这种汽车似乎已完全销声匿迹了，但这种制造世界汽车的设想却深入人心。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“现在这种汽车似乎已完全销声匿迹了，但这种制造世界汽车的设想却深入人心。”；中部推进到“美国的汽车制造商 在欧洲、亚洲和南美洲都开设了汽车制造厂。”；最后落在“当时机成熟的时候，这些跨国型的汽车制造公司还将在埃及、印度和 中华人民共和国开设汽车生产厂。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：转折／对照、时间／次序、并列／递进
Americans had plants in Europe, Asia, and South America, and Europeans and Japanese had plants in America and South America, and in the Soviet Union (Fiat workers refreshed themselves with Pepsi-Cola).
句型：简单句或并列句。多重逗号成分构成长句，注意并列项、插入语与主谓主干的边界。
Sentence 5.1The Fiesta appears to have sunk without a trace.
Sentence 5.2But the idea of a world car was inevitable.
Sentence 5.3It was the automotive equivalent of the International Style.
Sentence 5.4Ten years after the Fiesta, all of the large automakers were international.
Sentence 5.5Americans had plants in Europe, Asia, and South America, and Europeans and Japanese had plants in America and South America, and in the Soviet Union (Fiat workers refreshed themselves with Pepsi-Cola).
Sentence 5.6In the fullness of time international automakers will have plants in Egypt and India and the People’s Republic of China.
主旨：汽车制造业与建筑业的情形相同。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“汽车制造业与建筑业的情形相同。”；中部推进到“今天，如果要你在同等价位的各类汽车中进行选择，从距离五百步的地方看是很 难区分各种不同品牌的汽车的。”；最后落在“甚至连德国大众汽车公司的大众甲壳虫汽车也丧失了自身原有的特色，而通过 自己的车身变化演示了从达西·汤普森到卡尔·布里尔到费迪……”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、条件／选择、并列／递进
Even the Volkswagen Beetle has disappeared and has taken with it the visible evidence of the history of streamlining that extends from D’Arcy Thompson to Carl Breer to Ferdinand Porsche.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句。
Sentence 6.1As in architecture, so in automaking.
Sentence 6.2In a given cost range, the same technology tends to produce the same solutions.
Sentence 6.3The visual evidence for this is as obvious for cars as for buildings.
Sentence 6.4Today, if you choose models in the same price range, you will be hard put at 500 paces to tell one make from another.
Sentence 6.5In other words, the specifically American traits that lingered in American automobiles in the 1960s—traits that linked American cars to American history—are disappearing.
Sentence 6.6Even the Volkswagen Beetle has disappeared and has taken with it the visible evidence of the history of streamlining that extends from D’Arcy Thompson to Carl Breer to Ferdinand Porsche.
主旨：人创造了机器，机器反过来也可以塑造其缔造者。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“人创造了机器，机器反过来也可以塑造其缔造者。”；中部推进到“他们不再是性格鲜明的个 体，不再带有某个特定地理或文化环境的特质。”；最后落在“他们从中得到的好处则是开始怀疑传统意义上的家 只能是牢笼的代名词，而现代意义上的家则无处不在，且四周之人尽皆邻友。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：转折／对照、条件／选择、并列／递进
No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture, he moves from one climate-controlled shopping mall to another, from one airport to the next, from one Holiday Inn to its successor three hundred miles down the road; but somehow his location never changes.
句型：复合句/复杂句。句首限制/程度成分造成倒装或强调语序；分号或破折号连接/补充多个信息层次，阅读时先拆分主干再处理插入说明；多重逗号成分构成长句，注意并列项、插入语与主谓主干的边界。
Sentence 7.1If man creates machines, machines in turn shape their creators.
Sentence 7.2As the automobile is universalized, it universalizes those who use it.
Sentence 7.3Like the World Car he drives, modern man is becoming universal.
Sentence 7.4No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture, he moves from one climate-controlled shopping mall to another, from one airport to the next, from one Holiday Inn to its successor three hundred miles down the road; but somehow his location never changes.
Sentence 7.5He is cosmopolitan.
Sentence 7.6The price he pays is that he no longer has a home in the traditional sense of the word.
Sentence 7.7The benefit is that he begins to suspect home in the traditional sense is another name for limitations, and that home in the modern sense is everywhere and always surrounded by neighbors.
主旨：工艺技术的国际化趋势是不可抗拒的。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“工艺技术的国际化趋势是不可抗拒的。”，再转入“除非经历核战争的毁灭性灾难，否则，工业技术还将继续塑造现代文明以及生活 在这种文明中的现代人的思想意识。”，形成前提—发展、描写—评价或问—答关系。
主要关系：并列／递进
Barring the catastrophe of nuclear war, it will continue to shape both modern culture and the consciousness of those who inhabit that culture.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that, who，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句。
Sentence 8.1The universalizing imperative of technology is irresistible.
Sentence 8.2Barring the catastrophe of nuclear war, it will continue to shape both modern culture and the consciousness of those who inhabit that culture.
主旨：这又把我们的注意力带回到艺术和历史方面来了。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“这又把我们的注意力带回到艺术和历史方面来了。”，再转入“在回忆弗朗西斯·皮卡比阿和马塞尔·杜尚的早期作品时，加百里埃尔· 布菲·皮卡比阿夫人曾对1949年机器美学的发现作过这样的描述：“我还记得那……”，形成前提—发展、描写—评价或问—答关系。
主要关系：时间／次序、并列／递进
Reminiscing on the early work of Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp, Madame Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia wrote of the discovery of the machine aesthetic in 1949: “I remember a time...when every artist thought he owed it to himself to turn his back on the Eiffel Tower, as a protest against the architectural blasphemy with which it filled the sky...The discovery and rehabilitation of...machines soon generated propositions which evaded all tradition, above all, a mobile, extra-human plasticity which was absolutely new...”
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 which，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句；含从属连词 when，构成时间、原因、让步、条件或比较状语；多重逗号成分构成长句，注意并列项、插入语与主谓主干的边界。
Sentence 9.1This brings us to art and history again.
Sentence 9.2Reminiscing on the early work of Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp, Madame Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia wrote of the discovery of the machine aesthetic in 1949: “I remember a time...when every artist thought he owed it to himself to turn his back on the Eiffel Tower, as a protest against the architectural blasphemy with which it filled the sky...The discovery and rehabilitation of...machines soon generated propositions which evaded all tradition, above all, a mobile, extra-human plasticity which was absolutely new...”
主旨：有一种定义说，艺术不过是一种给真实世界命名的尝试。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“有一种定义说，艺术不过是一种给真实世界命名的尝试。”；中部推进到“这就动摇了人们的一个信念：物质的客观实在性。”；最后落在“想象中的龙的形象会比分子的形象更接近现实还是更远离 现实呢？”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、并列／递进
At the same time, it has produced images of orders of reality underlying the thingliness of things.
句型：简单句或并列句。以直接陈述为主；先确认主语、限定谓语和宾语/表语，再处理介词短语。
Sentence 10.1Art is, in one definition, simply an effort to name the real world.
Sentence 10.2Are machines “the real world” or only its surface?
Sentence 10.3Is the real world that easy to find?
Sentence 10.4Science has shown the insubstantiality of the world.
Sentence 10.5It has thus undermined an article of faith: the thingliness of things.
Sentence 10.6At the same time, it has produced images of orders of reality underlying the thingliness of things.
Sentence 10.7Are images of cells or of molecules or of galaxies more or less real than images of machines?
Sentence 10.8Science has also produced images that are pure artifacts.
Sentence 10.9Are images of self-squared dragons more or less real than images of molecules?
主旨：现代科学怀疑世界万物的客观实在性，这就表明需要重新评估艺术的人文特性。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“现代科学怀疑世界万物的客观实在性，这就表明需要重新评估艺术的人文特性。”；中部推进到“他认为，美的艺术是“源于内在需要，而这种内在需要又源自人的灵魂深处”。”；最后落在“这是个完全丧 失了历史的世界，因为它只是一种感知的形势而没有内涵。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、转折／对照
The skepticism of modern science about the thingliness of things implies a new appreciation of the humanity of art entirely consistent with Kandinsky’s observation in On the Spiritual in Art that beautiful art “springs from inner need, which springs from the soul.”
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that, which，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句。
Sentence 11.1The skepticism of modern science about the thingliness of things implies a new appreciation of the humanity of art entirely consistent with Kandinsky’s observation in On the Spiritual in Art that beautiful art “springs from inner need, which springs from the soul.”
Sentence 11.2Modern art opens on a world whose reality is not “out there” in nature defined as things seen from a middle distance, but “in here” in the soul or the mind.
Sentence 11.3It is a world radically emptied of history because it is a form of perception rather than a content.
主旨：因此，历史的消失是一种解放——正如布菲皮卡比阿夫人所说的：“一种全新的、机动灵活的、超出人的理解力的可塑 性”的发现。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“因此，历史的消失是一种解放——正如布菲皮卡比阿夫人所说的：“一种全新的、机动灵活的、超出人的理解力的可塑 性”的发现。”，再转入“与科学相似，现代艺术也往往以消遣的方式来表达这种解放——在绘画艺术方面，以毕加索和琼·米罗的嬉戏 性作品为例；在诗歌艺术方面，以达达派的朦胧……”，形成前提—发展、描写—评价或问—答关系。
主要关系：因果、并列／递进
Like science, modern art often expresses this feeling of liberation through play—in painting in the playfulness of Picasso and Joan Miro and in poetry in the nonsense of Dada and the mock heroics of a poem like Wallace Stevens’s “The Comedian as the Letter C.”
句型：简单句或并列句。分号或破折号连接/补充多个信息层次，阅读时先拆分主干再处理插入说明。
Sentence 12.1The disappearance of history is thus a liberation—what Madame Buffet-Picabia refers to as the discovery of “a mobile extra-human plasticity which [is] absolutely new.”
Sentence 12.2Like science, modern art often expresses this feeling of liberation through play—in painting in the playfulness of Picasso and Joan Miro and in poetry in the nonsense of Dada and the mock heroics of a poem like Wallace Stevens’s “The Comedian as the Letter C.”
主旨：现代美学的嬉戏性归根到底是其最显著的，也是最严肃的，而且势必也是最令人不安的特征。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“现代美学的嬉戏性归根到底是其最显著的，也是最严肃的，而且势必也是最令人不安的特征。”；中部推进到“嬉戏性在现代美学中的重要性无须惊叹。”；最后落在“在这些城市里，总会有一 些后现代主义和新现代主义风格的奇形怪状的建筑物，同时各种风马牛不相及的建筑风格被奇妙地拼凑到一起，而……”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：时间／次序、并列／递进
The playfulness imitates the playfulness of science that produces game theory and virtual particles and black holes and that, by introducing human growth genes into cows, forces students of ethics to reexamine the definition of cannibalism.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句。
Sentence 13.1The playfulness of the modern aesthetic is, finally, its most striking—and also its most serious and, by corollary, its most disturbing—feature.
Sentence 13.2The playfulness imitates the playfulness of science that produces game theory and virtual particles and black holes and that, by introducing human growth genes into cows, forces students of ethics to reexamine the definition of cannibalism.
Sentence 13.3The importance of play in the modern aesthetic should not come as a surprise.
Sentence 13.4It is announced in every city in the developed world by the fantastic and playful buildings of postmodernism and neomodernism and by the fantastic juxtapositions of architectural styles that typify collage city and urban adhocism.
主旨：当今世界的现代文化包括国际化风格的几何学、幻想式的正面图案以及体现着改良艺术的主题公园和博物馆建筑群。 这种文化有时装作是静态不变的，但实际上却是动态变化的。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“当今世界的现代文化包括国际化风格的几何学、幻想式的正面图案以及体现着改良艺术的主题公园和博物馆建筑群。 这种文化有时装作是静……”；中部推进到“这种文化以线条的形式，通过各种管道、州际公路和高压输电线路展示出来。”；最后落在“它的 音、像形式复杂多变，完全不同于我们肉眼所看到的周围世界的自然景物。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：转折／对照、并列／递进
It surrounds its citizens with the linear sculpture of pipelines and interstate highways and high-tension lines and the delicate virtuosities of the surfaces of the Chrysler Airflow and the Boeing 747 and the lacy weavings of circuits etched on silicon, as well as with the brutal assertiveness of oil tankers and bulldozers and the Tinkertoy complications of trusses and geodesic domes and lunar landers.
句型：简单句或并列句。以直接陈述为主；先确认主语、限定谓语和宾语/表语，再处理介词短语。
Sentence 14.1Today modern culture includes the geometries of the International Style, the fantasies of facadism, and the gamesmanship of theme parks and museum villages.
Sentence 14.2It pretends at times to be static but it is really dynamic.
Sentence 14.3Its buildings move and sway and reflect dreamy visions of everything that is going on around them.
Sentence 14.4It surrounds its citizens with the linear sculpture of pipelines and interstate highways and high-tension lines and the delicate virtuosities of the surfaces of the Chrysler Airflow and the Boeing 747 and the lacy weavings of circuits etched on silicon, as well as with the brutal assertiveness of oil tankers and bulldozers and the Tinkertoy complications of trusses and geodesic domes and lunar landers.
Sentence 14.5It abounds in images and sounds and values utterly different from those of the world of natural things seen from a middle distance.
主旨：现代文化是一个人性化的世界，只不过这里的人性化并不是人们想象的那种模样。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“现代文化是一个人性化的世界，只不过这里的人性化并不是人们想象的那种模样。”；中部推进到“与此不同，现代文化是一种永远具有嬉戏性而又生机蓬勃的力量。”；最后落在“正是这种力量的形象鲜 明地展示了人性的特点。”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：转折／对照、条件／选择、时间／次序、并列／递进
It is, rather, the image of an eternally playful and eternally youthful power that makes order whether order is there or not, and that having made one order is quite capable of putting it aside and creating an entirely different one the way a child might build one structure from a set of blocks and then without malice and purely in the spirit of play demolish it and begin again.
句型：复合句/复杂句。含关系或连接成分 that，需结合先行词辨认定语从句/名词从句；含从属连词 whether，构成时间、原因、让步、条件或比较状语。
Sentence 15.1It is a human world, but one that is human in ways no one expected.
Sentence 15.2The image it reveals is not the worn and battered face that stares from Leonardo’s self-portrait, much less the one that stares, bleary and uninspired, every morning from the bathroom mirror.
Sentence 15.3These are the faces of history.
Sentence 15.4It is, rather, the image of an eternally playful and eternally youthful power that makes order whether order is there or not, and that having made one order is quite capable of putting it aside and creating an entirely different one the way a child might build one structure from a set of blocks and then without malice and purely in the spirit of play demolish it and begin again.
Sentence 15.5It is an image of the power that made humanity possible in the first place. ic
主旨：十九世纪的银行多是以大理石或花岗石砌成的新古典式建筑，正面装饰着一排排粗重的廊柱。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“十九世纪的银行多是以大理石或花岗石砌成的新古典式建筑，正面装饰着一排排粗重的廊柱。”；中部推进到“它们是在向世人宣 告：“我们坚如磐石；我们永不衰朽；我们像历史一样令人信赖。”；最后落在“您的钱存放在我们的保险库里绝对完全。””，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：语义承接与信息递进
The banks of the nineteenth century tended to be neoclassic structures of marble or granite faced with ponderous rows of columns.
句型：简单句或并列句。以直接陈述为主；先确认主语、限定谓语和宾语/表语，再处理介词短语。
Sentence 16.1The banks of the nineteenth century tended to be neoclassic structures of marble or granite faced with ponderous rows of columns.
Sentence 16.2They made a statement: “We are solid.
Sentence 16.3We are permanent.
Sentence 16.4We are as reliable as history.
Sentence 16.5Your money is safe in our vaults.”
主旨：现在的银行不是一些钢架玻璃建成的直耸入云端的高楼大厦，就是一些门前装有像插卡机一样的终端设备的商店门 面，或是一些停放在市郊购物中心停车场上的挂车式活动房屋。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
段落围绕一个完整表达展开，核心判断、补充成分和语气重点集中在同一语义单元中。
主要关系：并列／递进
Today’s banks are airy structures of steel and glass, or they are store-fronts with slot-machinelike terminals, or trailers parked on the lots of suburban shopping malls.
句型：简单句或并列句。以直接陈述为主；先确认主语、限定谓语和宾语/表语，再处理介词短语。
Sentence 17.1Today’s banks are airy structures of steel and glass, or they are store-fronts with slot-machinelike terminals, or trailers parked on the lots of suburban shopping malls.
主旨：原先的保险库如今已被磁带所取代。
作用：承接前文继续发展中心话题，通过事实、描写、解释或评价补充新的论证层次。
先写“原先的保险库如今已被磁带所取代。”；中部推进到“现代银行向世人宣告的是：“我们抽象如艺术，无形如水晶宫。”；最后落在“如果说我们存在 的话，我们就是那无形的媒介，通过这种媒介您的交易得以进行，您的财富得以增值。””，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：条件／选择、并列／递进
In a computer, money is sequences of digital signals endlessly recorded, erased, processed, and reprocessed, and endlessly modified by other computers.
句型：复合句/复杂句。有过去分词短语，通常表示被动或完成并作后置修饰/状语；多重逗号成分构成长句，注意并列项、插入语与主谓主干的边界。
Sentence 18.1The vaults have been replaced by magnetic tapes.
Sentence 18.2In a computer, money is sequences of digital signals endlessly recorded, erased, processed, and reprocessed, and endlessly modified by other computers.
Sentence 18.3The statement of modern banks is “We are abstract like art and almost invisible like the Crystal Palace.
Sentence 18.4If we exist at all, we exist as an airy medium in which your transactions are completed and your wealth increased.”
主旨：也许这就可以成为现代美学发展的逻辑上的极限。
作用：收束全文：回应前文的中心问题，把局部叙述或论证提升为结论、余韵或主题判断。
先写“也许这就可以成为现代美学发展的逻辑上的极限。”；中部推进到“如果这样的话，这个极限点离我们还很遥远，但其大致形象透过路 上的氤氲薄雾已依稀可辨。”；最后落在“正如自然的本质在人脑中逐渐消失一样，也许我们可以说，现代银行也正逐渐消失于自己的天 窗。 （摘自《消失于天窗》）”，构成起点—展开—落点的层次。
主要关系：因果、转折／对照、条件／选择
As surely as nature is being swallowed up by the mind, the banks, you might say, are disappearing through their own skylights.
句型：简单句或并列句。出现 be + 过去分词形式，应结合语义判断被动语态或分词形容词。
Sentence 19.1That, perhaps, establishes the logical limit of the modern aesthetic.
Sentence 19.2If so, the limit is a long way ahead, but it can be made out, just barely, through the haze over the road.
Sentence 19.3As surely as nature is being swallowed up by the mind, the banks, you might say, are disappearing through their own skylights.
1. Lysenko：李森科，苏联农学家、生物学家。曾提出与基因学说相对立的遗传学说，并进一步将他的观点普及化而提倡 米丘林生物学，从而也与全世界生物学界在思想上处于对立的地位。 2. A few years ago the Ford Motor Company came up with the Fiesta：come up with“找到或提出（答案、办法等）”。例：She came up with a new idea for increasing sales.她想出了增加销售量的新主意。 3. Today’s automobile is no longer unique to a given company：句中given指“确定的，规定的”，例：all the people in a given area 某地区内所有的人。 4. …when every artist thought he owed it to himself to turn his back on the Eiffel Tower：短语turn one’s back on意为“避开或拒 绝接受”。例：He turned his back on his family when he became famous.他成名以后对自己的家人理都不理。 5. …the humanity of art entirely consistent with Kandinsky’s observation：consistent with“与……一致，相符”。 6. Picasso：毕加索（1881-1973），现代艺术（立体派）的创始人，西方现代派绘画的主要代表。 7. Joan Miro：若安·米罗（1893-1983），二十世纪绘画大师，超现实主义绘画的伟大天才之一。米罗艺术的卓越之处，并 不在于他的肖像画或绘画结构，而是他的作品有幻想的幽默——这是其中一个要素。另一个卓越之处就是，米罗的空想世 界非常生动。 8. Dada：达达主义，1916年至1923年间出现于法国、德国和瑞士的一种绘画风格。达达主义是一种无政府主义的艺术运 动，它试图通过废除传统的文化和美学形式发现真正的现实。 9. …and that having made one order is quite capable of putting it aside：put sth aside此处作“不顾，忽视”之意。该短语还可 表“储存以备他日之需，为顾客保留（物品）”，例：She’s put aside a tidy sum for her retirement.她存了一笔相当客观的钱以 备退休之用。 10. Leonardo：即Leonardo da Vinci（1452—1519），莱昂纳多·达·芬奇，意大利文艺复兴时期第一位画家，也是整个欧洲 文艺复兴时期最杰出的代表人物之一。他是一位思想深邃、学识渊博、多才多艺的艺术大师、科学巨匠、文艺理论家、大 哲学家、诗人、音乐家、工程师和发明家，几乎在每个领域都做出了巨大的贡献。 11. Crystal Palace：水晶宫，位于伦敦海德公园内，是英国工业革命时期的代表性建筑，该建筑是一座展览馆，专为1851年 伦敦第一届世界工业产品大博览会而设计建造。建筑面积约7.4万平方米，宽408英尺（约124.4米），长1851英尺（约564 米），1936年，整个建筑毁于火灾。 12. …the limit is a long way ahead, but it can be made out：短语make out此处意为“辨认出”。该短语还可表“了解某人的性 格”“设法应付，活下来”。例：What a strange person she is! I can’t make her out at all.她这个人真奇怪！我根本无法了解她。 How did he make out while his wife was away？他妻子不在家时他是怎么生活的？
1. 文体 本文是一篇主题为“消失”的科学说明文（a piece of scientific expository writing）。 围绕“消失”这一主题，作者介绍了自然的消失（nature disappears），历史的消失（history disappears），实体的东西如银行 的消失（bank disappears）。作者还提出了科学技术普遍化（the universalizing of science and technology）；科学技术使得各 种事物普遍化；现代人也不再是独立的个体，而是世界公民；世界是非实体性的（insubstantiality）。他还指出，现代艺术 不再描写物质，而是描写人的内心世界；历史的消失是指人们摆脱传统概念的束缚。 2. 修辞 本文涉及的修辞手法主要有analogy，metaphor，rhetorical question，repetition等。 （1）analogy 类比是将两个本质上不同的事物就其共同点进行比较，是通过比喻手法的综合运用帮助说明道理或描述某种复杂情况。 例：Appropriate praise to a child is what the sun is to a flower。 恰当的赞扬对孩子的作用，就像阳光对于花朵的作用一样。 （这里把“赞扬的作用”和“阳光的作用”进行类比） metaphor，rhetorical question，repetition等修辞手法在前面的单元已经介绍过，这里不再赘述。
| 手法 | 核心差异 | 判定方法 |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor 隐喻 / Simile 明喻 | 隐喻直接等同，明喻用 like、as 等标记相似。 | 先找比较标记；有标记通常是明喻，无标记再判断是否跨概念映射。 |
| Metaphor 隐喻 / Personification 拟人 | 拟人是把人的动作、感官或意志赋给非人对象。 | 只有出现人的能力时才判拟人；一般形象替换判隐喻。 |
| Metonymy 借代 / Synecdoche 提喻 | 借代依赖一般关联；提喻必须是部分与整体关系。 | 地点代机构是借代，mind/hand 等身体部分代人常是提喻。 |
| Transferred Epithet 移就 / Personification 拟人 | 移就是形容词的逻辑修饰对象发生转移；拟人是主语获得人的属性。 | 追问形容词本来应该形容谁；若只是修饰错位而无人的动作，就是移就。 |
| Parallelism 排比 / Antithesis 对照 | 排比要求结构相近；对照还要求意义方向相反。 | 相同结构可以只是累积；出现 but、while、more/less 等反向意义时可能兼有对照。 |
| Irony 反讽 / Paradox 隽语式矛盾 | 反讽存在字面与真实态度反差；悖论表面矛盾但逻辑可成立。 | 判断作者是否在嘲讽字面说法；若重点是揭示复杂真理，则更接近悖论。 |
| Hyperbole 夸张 / Litotes 曲言 | 夸张扩大程度；曲言用否定或弱化表达强意。 | all/never/endless 常提示夸张；far from/not uncommon 等常提示曲言。 |
| Enumeration 列举 / Climax 层进 | 列举只堆叠项目；层进要求强度、范围或情绪逐步增强。 | 检查能否任意调换顺序；若换序破坏递进，才是层进。 |
| Antonomasia 换称 / Metonymy 借代 | 换称多用固定别名、头衔或典型专名替代对象；借代只需一般关联。 | Big Apple 代纽约是换称；Wall Street 代金融界通常判借代。 |
| Euphemism 委婉语 / Understatement 低调陈述 | 委婉语回避禁忌、粗鲁或尴尬说法；低调陈述则有意减弱任何程度。 | 先问是否存在被社会习惯回避的直白词；若没有，只是缩小程度，则偏向低调陈述。 |
| Ellipsis 省略 / Fragment 句子残缺 | 修辞性省略依靠上下文仍能恢复成分；错误残句则缺乏可恢复依据。 | 补回省去的主语、谓语或重复结构后语义完整，才可判为 ellipsis。 |
| Symbolism 象征 / Metaphor 隐喻 | 隐喻通常作用于局部表达；象征意象会跨段或贯穿全文反复承载主题。 | 一次性的形象替换多为隐喻；反复出现并与人物命运、主题对应的 loons 属于象征。 |
| Analogy 类比 / Simile 明喻 | 明喻通常比较一个形象特征；类比会让两套关系或系统在较长论证中对应。 | 一句 like 比较常是明喻；用钟表系统解释生态系统则是类比。 |
| Rhetorical Question 反问／设问 / Genuine Question 真问 | 修辞问句用于强调或引出论点；真问以取得未知信息为目的。 | 看上下文是否立即自答、答案是否显然，以及说话人是否真的等待信息。 |
| Repetition 反复 / Anaphora 首语反复 | 反复可出现在任何位置；首语反复要求连续分句或句子用同一开头。 | 只有重复位于多个结构的起首位置时，才进一步判为 anaphora。 |
| Alliteration 头韵 / Assonance 元音韵 | 头韵重复词首辅音；元音韵重复重读元音。 | 按声音而非拼写判断；前者看开头辅音，后者看词内部重读元音。 |
| Allusion 用典 / Quotation 引语 | 用典只需唤起熟知人物或故事，不一定逐字引用；引语明确保存他人原话。 | 出现 Faust、Paradise Lost 等文化专名多为用典；带出处的原句则还可同时构成引语。 |
天窗
热 力学
遗传学
本质、形式上的）变化
不相信，怀疑
推理，推论
同种的，同类的
清晰，明晰
使成流线型；b) to simplify简化，精简
资产，财富；有用的东西
汽缸
汽化器
传动装置，变速器
购物商场
全世界的，国际的
规则，义务
灾祸，（骤然而来的）灾难
追忆，缅怀；叙旧
亵渎
恢复（名誉、地位等），复原
可塑性，适应性
非物质的，非真实的
削弱，逐渐损坏；暗中破 坏
分子
星系，星群
人工制品
怀疑态度
审美，审美学
粒子，质点
食人肉，同类相残。其形容词为 cannibalistic（/9kAnibE`listik/ adj. 食人肉的，同类相食的）
并列，并置
拼贴艺术
几何学
静止的，不活动的
鉴赏力，精湛技巧
花边的
蚀刻，蚀镂
断定的，斩钉截铁的；武断的
推 土机
构架，托座；束，捆
最短连线，短线
视线模糊的
恶意，怨恨
花岗岩
沉重的，笨重的
保险库
自动贩卖
终端
拖车，挂车
交易
阴霾，薄雾
全焊接的
恒温恒湿控制的
超出个体人类尺度的
高压的；高度紧张的
百事可乐
自画像
自身平方的
像老虎机一样的
临街店面（复数）
Exercises Make a five-minute presentation in class based on your research or close reading of the text. Suggested topics: 1. Provide more information about Picasso, Dada and Picabia. 2. Comment on the remark “Architectural styles, dress styles, music styles—even eating styles—tend increasingly to be world style.” (Para. 2) Illustrate your views with examples. A. Questions on the Content 1. How does the writer substantiate his statement that science is committed to the universal? How does technology exhibit this universalizing tendency? How does the automobile illustrate this universalizing tendency? How has man become cosmopolitan? What does Madame Buffet-Picabia say about “machine aesthetic”? What is the “real world” according to the writer? How is the playfulness of the modern aesthetic displayed? Oe Why do the banks appear to be disappearing through their own skylights? om . Questions on Structure and Style 1. Sum up the main views of the writer and comment on how they are organized and presented. 2. Is this text typical scientific writing? What methods does the writer use to make his writing easy to understand for ordinary readers? 3. Comment on the use of topic sentences. 4. Comment on the use of some figurative language. What is the dominant metaphor in this piece? 5. Why does the writer talk about the automobile in Paragraphs 3, 4, 5 and 6? 6. What is the function of Paragraphs 16, 17, 18 and 19? . III. Paraphrase Explain the following sentences in your own words, bringing out any implied meanings. 1. Science is committed to the universal. (Para. 1) ae eS The Fiesta appears to have sunk without a trace. (Para. 5) It was the automotive equivalent of the International Style. (Para. 5) As in architecture, so in automaking. (Para. 6) No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture... (Para. 7) The price he pays is that he no longer has a home in the traditional sense of the word, (Para. 7) The benefit is that he begins to suspect home in the traditional sense is another name for limitations... (Para. 7) The universalizing imperative of technology is irresistible. (Para. 8) 9. ...when every artist thought he owed it to himself to turn his back on the Eiffel 10. it. 12. Tower, as a protest against the architectural blasphemy... (Para. 9) It has thus undermined an article of faith: the thingliness of things. (Para. 10) The disappearance of history is thus a liberation—what Madame Buffet-Picabia refers to as the discovery of “a mobile extra-human plasticity which [is] absolutely new. (Para. 12) That, perhaps, establishes the logical limit of the modern aesthetic. (Para. 19) IV. Practice with Words and Expressions ; A. Look up the dictionary and explain the meaning of the italicized words and phrases. B. Study the meaning of the prefixes or combining forms of the following words and 2. Today Lysenko’s theory is discredited... (Para. 1) 3. ...makes the world look ever more homogeneous. (Para. 2) 4. ...but if it is important to the efficiency or economics of automobiles... (Para. 3) 5; 6 7. 8 9 ...but universally regarded as an asset. (Para. 3) . Today’s automobile is no longer unique to a given company... (Para. 3) . In the fullness of time international automakers will have plants... (Para. 5) . ...you will be hard put at 500 paces to tell one make from another. (Para. 6) . Ifman creates machines, machines in turn shape their creators. (Para. 7) 10. ik 12; Barring the catastrophe of nuclear war... (Para. 8) ...a8 a protest against the architectural blasphemy... (Para. 9) ..-machines soon generated propositions which evaded all tradition... (Para. 9) give two examples of each. (te universal 2. thermodynamics 3. disappear homogeneous automobile transmission postmodernism a) etal ae cas i neomodernism C. Express the following more concisely by using noun modifiers. Model: structure of marble or granite—marble or granite structure a turbine operated by steam an outlet for air noise caused by aircraft research done in a laboratory a laboratory used for research a thermometer using mercury ES BU Se a plant for the production of power by nuclear means D. Give the Chinese equivalents of the following terms. thermodynamics (Para. 1) genetics (Para. 1) genetic mutations (Para. 1) streamlining (Para. 3) all-welded body (Para. 3) cylinder block (Para. 4) carburetor (Para. 4) transmission (Para. 4) cells (Para. 10) molecules (Para. 10) black holes (Para. 13) high-tension lines (Para. 14) Ss Sin eae ee ee SREB Ea See circuits (Para. 14) silicon (Para. 14) V. Translation A. Translate the following sentences into Chinese. 1. A sign of this is that the more successful a science becomes, the broader the agreement about its basic concepts: there is not a separate Chinese or American or Soviet thermodynamics, for example; there is simply thermodynamics. (Para. 1) 2. As the corollary of science, technology also exhibits the universalizing tendency. (Para. 2) o . Children who grow up in this world therefore experience it as a sameness rather than a diversity, and because their identities are shaped by this sameness, their sense of differences among cultures and individuals diminishes. (Para. 2) . Today’s automobile is no longer unique to a given company or even to a given national culture. (Para. 3) . Ina given cost range, the same technology tends to produce the same solutions. The visual evidence for this is as obvious for cars as for buildings. (Para. 6) . No longer quite an individual, no longer quite the product of a unique geography and culture, he moves from one climate-controlled shopping mall to another, from one airport to the next, from one Holiday Inn to its successor three hundred miles down the road; but somehow his location never changes. (Para. 7) . Modern art opens on a world whose reality is not “out there” in nature defined as things seen from a middle distance, but “in here” in the soul or the mind. (Para. 11) . If we exist at all, we exist as an airy medium in which your transactions are completed and your wealth increased. (Para. 18) . As surely as nature is being swallowed up by the mind, the banks, you might say, are . Translate Paragraphs 13 and 14 into Chinese. Read, Think and Comment Below are excerpts from Hardison’s book Disappearing Through the Skylight. Read it and prepare to respond to the following questions: What is the piece about? Why did the leaders of the French establishment feel outraged about the construction of the Eiffel Tower? Why does the writer call the Eiffel Tower “the first great icon of the technological aesthetic”? The Eiffel Town was built in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution. Gustave Eiffel, its architect, was a bridge builder with a remarkable sense of the aesthetic inherent in technology. There is nothing in the sweeping curves and intricately woven trusses of the Eiffel Tower to suggest the French Revolution it presumably commemorates. It is a work of pure engineering, a magnificent representation that represents only itself. As Roland Barthes remarks in a famous essay, “La Tour Eiffel,” its sole function is to join its base to its pinnacle. By rejecting historical symbolism and the unique historical and cultural traditions of the city it dominates, it achieves the universality, the independence of space and time, of the technology that made it possible. It is a bridge rotated from horizontal to vertical and, at the same time, a fully realized abstract sculpture. In this sense it is a new word, an explosion of sound in an oppressive silence. Ever since it was built it has been shouting at the top of its great lungs: “Here I am! Look at me!” “Here!” for the Eiffel Tower was the center of the civilized world, Paris, the City of Light, the arbiter, at the end of the nineteenth century, of everything considered tasteful, brilliant, culturally vital—above all, aesthetic. When the Eiffel Tower raised its spire above Paris it shouted to the entire world, or all of the world that mattered, that the aesthetic of the abstract had arrived. When the leaders of the French establishment heard the cry of the Eiffel Tower in 1889 they were outraged. A protest signed by Alexandre Dumas and Guy de Maupassant, among others, expresses the shame they felt at the thought that they would have to listen to its message for the rest of their lives: We come to protest with all our strength, with all our indignation, in the name of disregarded French taste, in the name of art and French history presently in danger, against the erection, and in the very heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower... The Eiffel Tower is all engineering. Being abstract—devoid of historical allusions to the French Revolution—it can be read as a symbol of almost anything: a prophecy of flight, an expression of man’s aspiration for the infinite, a phallic symbol, an enlarged toy. It is none of these. It forces the viewer to look beyond historical myths to the revolution that surrounds him. It does not argue with history, it ignores history. It is as though the president of the French Republic appeared at a state dinner wearing Levi's. Dumas and Maupassant raged, but the French souvenir business prospered. After the Eiffel Tower, who could be satisfied to leave Paris with a metal paperweight shaped like the Arc de Triomphe'? What tourists knew by instinct avant-garde artists would soon discover: the Eiffel Tower is the first great icon of the technological aesthetic. 1 oer List of Suggested Reference Books Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English A New English-Chinese Dictionary Walker’s Rhyming Dictionary Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms Reader's Digest, Use the Right Word 9. The Dictionary of American Slang 5 iS A crag Sic LSS fae 10. Roget's International Thesaurus 11. Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus 12. The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World 13. English Lexicology—N. Rayevskaya 14. The English Word—\. V. Arnold 15. Linguistic Change in Present-Day English—Charles Barber 16. Perrin Smith Handbook of Current English 17. Rhetoric and Literature—P. Joseph Canavan 18. Rhetoric in a Modern Mode—James K. Bell and Adrian A. Cohn 19. The Oxford Companion to English Literature 20. The Oxford Companion to American Literature 21. Who's Who 22. The International Who’s Who 23. The Author's and Writer's Who‘s Who 24. The New Book of Knowledge 25. Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia 26. The New Columbia Encyclopedia 27. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century 28. Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia 29. Encyclopedia Britannica 30. Encyclopedia Americana 294 | List of Suggested Reference Books
A. 1. There are broad agreements about the basic concepts of science, for example, there is only a single science of thermodynamics whose basic concepts are accepted by all countries, including such diverse countries as China, America or the Soviet Union. For a short time there were two genetics, a Soviet genetics as proposed by Lysenko and a Western genetics. However, Soviet Lysenko’s theories were refuted and in 1956 the Soviet Union accepted the Western genetic concepts. 2. It makes the world look more and more uniform. Different styles in architecture, dress, music and eating that exist in various countries and among different people are tending to disappear. They are being replaced by more uniform styles or world styles. The houses the people live in, the cars they drive, etc., are becoming more alike. 3. A technological innovation in the manufacture of automobiles like streamlining or all-welded body construction may be initiated by one company in one country, but when it proves to make cars more efficient and cheaper, it is soon adopted universally by all automobile manufacturers. Today, the basic features of an automobile are to be found in automobiles in general, no matter who makes them. Besides this feature, all large automakers are now international companies. Americans have auto plants in Europe, Asia and South America, and Europeans and Japanese have plants in America and South America and so on. 4. He drives cars that have the same basic features. When he goes shopping, he finds the climate in all the shops is the same because they are all similarly air-conditioned. When he travels he finds all the airports to be familiar because they are all constructed along similar lines and the hotels to have the same amenities. In a word, he finds himself at home in all countries and places. 5. She says in the past artists regarded machines and machinelike structures like the Eiffel Tower in Paris as ugly and irreverent. After 1949 the artists discovered a new beauty in machines which could now be shaped and moulded very easily into various artistic designs. 6. The writer doesn’t directly answer the question. He says science has now thrown doubt on “the thingliness of things”. It does not produce the material objects we see with our eyes but images, geometric and mathematical, of the reality underlying these things. It has made the world rather “insubstantial”. The writer in his prologue states: “Today, nature has slipped, perhaps finally, beyond our field of vision. We can imitate it in mathematics—we can even produce convincing images of it—but we can never know it. We can only know our own creations.” 7. It is displayed in the architectural styles found in cities of the developed world—styles that typify collage city and urban adhocism. It is also displayed in the mosaic architecture of facadism and the playful theme parks and museum villages. It abounds in images and sounds and values utterly different from those of the world of natural things seen from a middle distance. 8. The banks are no longer the solid, ponderous buildings of the past but airy structures of steel and glass. People need not go to the banks directly for many financial transactions which can now be carried out in stores or trailers with slot-machinelike terminals linked to the banks. Money is now recorded, erased, processed and reprocessed as digital signals by a computer. B. 1. In the passage, the writer puts forward his central theme of “disappearance”—nature disappears, history disappears and even the solid banks disappear. Besides expressing the central theme of the book, the metaphorical phrase, “Disappearing Through the Skylight”, is used also specifically in this chapter to describe the changed appearance of modern banks which seem to be disappearing. The second important idea he puts forward is the universalizing tendency of science and technology. The basic concepts of science are understood, accepted and adopted by scientists all over the world. There is only one science of thermodynamics, genetics, etc. This universalizing effect is reflected in architectural styles, dress styles, musical styles, etc. They all tend to become world styles. The third concept is, “If man creates machines, machines in turn shape their creators.” The modern man is no longer a unique individual, the product of a special environment and culture. The homogeneous world he now lives in universalizes him. He becomes a cosmopolitan, a citizen of the world. Finally, the disappearance of history is a form of liberation and this feeling of liberation is often expressed through play. The playfulness of science has produced game theory and virtual particles, in art it has produced the paintings of Picasso and Joan Miro and so on. 2. Just as the writer claims, this text is not a typical piece of scientific writing since it is intended for all readers, nonscientists and scientists alike. But still it exhibits some features of scientific English for it deals with rich scientific and technological information. There are lots of terminologies in the text. However, many short and simple sentences are also constructed so that the writer can present his ideas clearly and concisely and readers can understand them easily. Besides, the writer uses figurative language to make his writing more vivid and forceful to assist readers’ comprehension. 3. The writer’s views are generally clearly and succinctly presented as a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph and then developed or illustrated in the paragraph itself or by succeeding paragraphs. For example, the first sentence in the opening paragraph is a topic sentence that presents a very important view of the writer, “Science is committed to the universal.” This idea of universality is developed and illustrated in the five paragraphs that follow and each paragraph that follows also has its own topic sentence. The organizational pattern is very clear and logical. 4. The writer uses figurative language freely to make his ideas more vivid and forceful. Readers can find many metaphors, analogies, rhetorical questions, repetition and balanced structure, etc. in this piece. The very title of this piece, “Disappearing Through the Skylight”, is a metaphorical phrase that immediately stirs the imagination of readers. Here the dominant metaphor is the changes of banks, which is used to illustrate the theme of disappearing—modern banks seem to be disappearing through their skylights. 5. Paras. 3, 4, 5, and 6 present the universalizing effect of science and technology on automobile manufacturing-modern cars have similar features all over the world and all of the large automakers are international. The writer uses the example of automobiles to illustrate his point clearly that there is an irresistible tendency of universalizing technology. 6. The writer describes the changes of banks from Paras. 16 to 19-how the solid, ponderous buildings of banks are replaced by airy, modern structures of steel and glass, and how modern banks exist as an airy medium in which transactions are completed and wealth increased. Based on these changes presented above, the writer concludes that modern banks are disappearing through their own skylights. 1. Science is engaged in the task of making its basic concepts understood and accepted by scientists all over the world. 2. The car model, called Fiesta, seems to have disappeared completely. 3. The idea of a world car is similar to the idea of having a world style for architecture. As architecture was moving toward a common International Style, it was natural for the automobile to do the same. 4. Things that are happening in auto-making are similar to those happening in architecture. 5. The modern man no longer has very distinct individual traits shaped by a special environment and culture. 6. The disadvantage of being a cosmopolitan is that he loses a home in the old sense of the world. 7. The benefit of being a cosmopolitan is that he begins to think the old kind of home probably restricts his development and activities. 8. The compelling force of technology to universalize cannot be resisted. 9. When every artist thought it was his duty to show his contempt for and objection to the Eiffel Tower which they considered an irreverent architectural structure. 10. People used to firmly believe that the things they saw around them were real solid substances but this has now been thrown into doubt by science. 11. This disappearance of history frees people’s minds from traditional concepts. As Madame Buffet-Picabia says: this flexible and pliable quality was beyond human powers and absolutely new. 12. That, perhaps, shows how far logically modern aesthetic can go. The solid banks can become almost abstract and invisible. This is perhaps the furthest limit of how solid objective things may be disappearing. A. 1. skylight: a window in the roof or ceiling 2. discredited: rejected as untrue 3. homogeneous: the same in structure, quality, etc.; similar or identical 4. economics: things related to the economy (of automobile manufacturing, such as production costs, consumer appeal, sale price, etc.) 5. asset: a valuable or desirable thing 6. given: particular, specified 7. in the fullness of time: when the right time comes 8. make: (noun) type, sort or brand, with reference to the maker or the place, time, etc. of making 9. shape: to influence something such as a belief, opinion, etc. and make it develop in a particular way 10. barring: unless there should be; excepting 11. blasphemy: any remark or action or thing held to be irreverent or disrespectful 12. proposition: a person, problem, undertaking, etc., being or to be dealt with B. 1. uni-, having or consisting of one only: universe, uniaxial, unicellular, unilateral, unipolar, univalve 2. thermo-, heat: thermodynamics, thermochemistry, thermoelectric, thermometer, thermomagnetic, thermoplastic 3. dis-, fail, cease, refuse to: disappear, dissatisfy, disallow, disappoint, disapprove, disbelieve 4. hom- or homo-, one and the same; similar, alike: homogeneous, homograph, homochromatic, homology, homonym, homophone 5. auto-, self-propelling: automobile, autotruck, autobus, autocade, autogyro, automotive 6. trans-, over, across, through: transmission, transfer, transmigrate, transfuse,, transform, transition 7. post-, after in time, later (than), following: postmodernism, postglacial, postnatal, posthumous, postimpressionism, postmortem 8. neo-, new, recent, latest: neomodernism, neolithic, neo-Darwinism, neoimpressionism, neologism, neophyte C. 1. a steam turbine 2. an air outlet 3. aircraft noise 4. laboratory research 5. a research laboratory 6. a mercury thermometer 7. a nuclear power plant D. 1. thermodynamics热力学 2. genetic遗传学 3. genetic mutation遗传突变 4. streamlining（设计成）流线型 5 all-welded body全焊车身 6. cylinder block气缸套 7. carburetor汽化器 8. transmission传动；变速器 9. cell细胞 10. molecules分子 11. black hole（天文）黑洞 12. high-tension lines高压线 13. circuit（集成）电路 14. silicon 硅 V. See the translation of the text. 1. This piece mainly talks about people’s attitudes towards the construction of Eiffel Tower in 1889 and its symbolic meaning. 2. The leaders of the French establishment were outraged when they heard the cry of the Eiffel Tower because they thought it violated fine artistic taste. 3. The writer calls the Eiffel Tower “the first great icon of the technological aesthetic” because it is a work of abstract art and can be understood as a symbol of many things, but actually it is none of these things. It forces the viewer to look beyond historical myths to the revolution that surrounds him. It does not argue with history; it ignores history.