Book II.4The Nightingale and the Rose 现代大学英语课件.ppt

* Lesson 4 by Oscar Wilde Photographs of Oscar Wilde Date: probably 1892 Place: Oxford Date: summer 1893 Place: Oxford Date: summer 1893 Photographs of Oscar Wilde Lord Alfred Douglas Constance and Cyril Wilde William Wilde Constance Wilde Photographs of Oscar Wilde’s family Works of Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray(1891) Lady Windermeres Fan (1892) A Woman of No Importance (1893) An Ideal Husband (1894) The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing. I think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.  All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life. Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable. Quotes from Oscar Wilde Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.  Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesnt. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. There is no sin except stupidity. I. Background about the Text and the Author How to understand the purpose of writing this fairy tale? e.g. The young student’s comment on the Nightingale’s music: It has form, but no feelings advocator of art for art’s sake: One should not paint or write for financial, political or religious reasons Somerset Maugham: makes no more sense than gin for gin’s sake; guided, sense of moral responsibility; conceive to be true, good and beautiful The Ugly Duckling (Hans Andersen) A sarcastic response to the author’s critics: like the Nightingale, singing song after song, producing love and beauty with blood from his heart, and