综合英语6 unit7.pptVIP

Unit 7 A Few Kind Words for Superstition Warm-up Questions:  1．Give an example of superstition either handed down from one’s family tradition, or arising from your own mind or from other sources, and explain the irrationality in it. 2. Why do some people still cling to superstition handed down through the centuries? In grave discussions of “the renaissance of the irrational” in our time, superstition does not figure largely as a serious challenge to reason or science. In serious discussions of “the renaissance of the irrational” in our time, people dont think that superstition is a great threat to reason or science. Language Work Their names did not figure as potential helpers. I never figured that this would happen. It figures. I see superstition in its four manifestations, alive and flourishing among people who are indisputably rational and learned. I see four ways in which superstition shows itself, very actively, among those people who are undoubtedly reasonable and well-educated. Four years ago, the countrys tourist industry was flourishing. Watercolor painting began to flourish in Britain around 1750. Nothing seems to flourish in my garden --- perhaps the soils too poor. Question for paragraph 1-2 What is the common assumption about people who believe in superstition? How does the author discredit this assumption? It is commonly assumed that people who believe in superstition are usually ignorant and na?ve. But the author notices the flourishing superstition among many learned people in his university. ...when I asked him why, he replied, with a wink, that it was “to hit the Devil in the eye.” ...when I asked him why he threw salt over his shoulder, he answered, jokingly, that it was “to hit the Devil in the eye.” He gave me a conspiratorial wink as they left the room. I didnt get a wink of sleep last night with that party going on next door. Question for paragraph 3 What does the author imply when he says “he did not smile until I ask