新视角研究生英语1-2讲稿.ppt

Unit Two  The Roots of My Ambition About the author and the text Russell Baker, born on August 14, 1925, in Loudoun County, Virginia, U.S. When Baker was five years old, his father died. He and his mother and one of his sisters moved frequently from that time on, living in Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey. Baker is a journalist, essayist, author, and a former columnist and correspondent for The New York Times. His books include The Good Times, Growing Up, and Looking Back. He is most famous for turning the daily gossip of most newspapers into the stuff of laugh-out-loud literature. Baker received his first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 1979, in recognition of his Observer column and received his second Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his autobiography Growing Up (1983). This text is condensed from his memoir The Good Times (1989). Russell Baker is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. American Depression The Great Depression began in 1929 when the entire world suffered an enormous drop in output and an unprecedented rise in unemployment. The world economic output continued to decline until 1932 when it clinked bottom at 50% of its 1929 level. Unemployment soared, in the United States it peaked at 24.9% in 1933. It remained above 20% for two more years, reluctantly declining to 14.3% by 1937. It then leapt back to 19% before its long-term decline. Since most households had only one income earner the equivalent modern unemployment rates would likely be much higher. Real economic output (real GDP) fell by 29% from Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize established and endowed by Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911, born in Hungary), In writing his 1904 will, which made provision for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes as an incentive to excellence, Pulitzer specified solely four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one for education, and four traveling scholarships. The prize honors excellence in American literature, journalism, d