Unit 4: the no-child familygoing against 100,000 years of biology

• With an example of Cathy and Wayne N, the author begins the article, showing the reader a changing aspect of human behavior--more and more young married couples are deciding not to have children. Then the author tries to tell the reader some reasons for this change, quoting the ideas of a childless couple and the opinions of experts. In the end, the author makes the point that people should make choices of which will be best for their individual lives if they know themselves, recognize and accept their deeply held feelings, and dare to question societal conventions.

• David Riesman: an American social scientist (1909-). He once taught as a professor in sociology at Chicago University (1946-1958) and Harvard University (1958-1981). Since 1967, he has been a member of the Carnegie Committee on Future Advanced Education.

• Structure/Plan of the text• Part 1 (para.1-2): Introduction of the topic• Part 2 (para.3-6): Ideas of a childless couple• Part 3 (para.7-14): Opinions of experts • Part 4(para.15-17): Rita Kramer's viewpoint•  

• Part I• Para 2• Lie behind: be the cause of• The parents are trying to find out what lies behind

the child's telling lies again and again.•  • Fly in the face of: go against; be opposite to what

most people would expect• e.g. 1. His version of what happened flies in the

face of all the evidence.• 2. You're flying in the face of the law.

• Face be like thunder• Face drops/ falls.

• Do sth to sb’s face• E.g. I don’t like her, but find it hard to tell her to her

face.• In the face of…• Be in sb’s face: speak in a critical way• Get out of my face.

• Para 7 Deliberate• Adj.1) done on purpose; intentional• e.g. a deliberate insult, lie, act• 2) unhurried; careful• e.g. She has a slow deliberate way of talking.

v (on/about sth.) think or talk carefully

• e.g. deliberate what action to take/whether to leave or not

• We had no time to deliberate (on the problem).

• Make a virtue out of necessity: • Virtue: advantage, benefit• The virtue of having such a small car is that you ca

n park it easily.

• make sth praiseworthy out of a situation you cannot change; use sth to your advantage, knowing that you can not change the situation; make the best of a given situation

• e.g. 1. He made a virtue out of necessity and worked indoors until the snow stopped.

• 2. After Mr. Wilson lost ail his money, he made a virtue out of necessity and found a new and interesting life as a teacher.

• 3. I had a couple of months to spare between jobs so I thought I’d make a virtue out of necessity by acquiring a few new skills.

• Rationalize v.

• 1) (try to ) justify (one's actions, emotions, etc.) by giving a rational explanation for them

• e.g. She rationalized her decision to abandon her baby by saying she could not afford to keep it.

• 2) to make ( a company, way of working, etc.) more effective, usually by combining or stopping particular activities, or to become more effective in this way

• E.g. we rationalized the production system so that one operator could control all three machines.

• The recession is forcing the company to rationalize and it is halving its workforce.

• Para. 10• Inner-directed adj.: directed in thought and action

by one's own values• other-directed adj.: directed in thought and action

primarily by external norms rather than by one's own values

• Be preoccupied with: be absorbed in• e.g. She is preoccupied with the coming holidays.• Preoccupation n.• Brad’s main preoccupations were eating and

sleeping.•  • maintain stable attachments to others: maintain

firm relationships (esp., marital relationships) with others

• Attachment

• Lifelong attachment to feminist ideas

• Spend a year on attachment to the department

• The food processor has a special attachment for grinding coffee.

• Para. 12

• Go by the board (of plan, hopes, etc.): be given up or abandoned

• e.g. I'm afraid the new car will have to go by the board----we can't afford it.

• It is definite that such a hope can't go by the board.

• Ring a bell: bring sth. vaguely back to mind; sound familiar, make … interested

• e.g. His name rings a bell; perhaps we've met somewhere.

• ??? bell-bottoms

• Loom: v

• 1) appear in an indistinct and often threatening way

• e.g. an enormous shape looming (up) in the distance, out of the darkness, through the mist, etc

• 2) appear important or threatening

• e.g. The prospect of war loomed large in everyone’s mind.

• The threat of unemployment has been looming on the horizon.