大学英语21世纪B1_U06_A.pptVIP

Unit 6: Part A Are there any negative terms in China that are used in connection with a fellow student? What values do they express? Are they used for hard working students? 1. The main purpose of this listening passage is to _____. 2. What is the meaning of the words “nerd” and “geek”? 3. The passage says that in nations other than the U.S., _____. 4. The passage suggests that the words “nerd” and “geek” should _____. Nerds and Geeks by Leonid Fridman 1 There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only unkind terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious. 2 We all know what a nerd is: someone who wears thick glasses and ugly clothes; someone who knows all the answers to the chemistry or math homework but can never get a date on a Saturday night. And a geek, according to “Webster’s New World Dictionary”, is a street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens. It is a revealing fact about our language and our culture that someone dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge is compared to such a freak. 3 Even at a prestigious educational institution like Harvard, anti-intellectualism is widespread: Many students are ashamed to admit, even to their friends, how much they study. Although most students try to keep up their grades, there is but a small group of undergraduates for whom pursuing knowledge is the most important thing during their years at Harvard. Nerds are looked down upon while athletes are made heroes of. 4 The same thing happens in U.S. elementary and high schools. Children who prefer to read books rather than play football, prefer to build model airplanes rather than idle away this time at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts. Because of their intelligence and refusal to conform to society’s anti-intellectual values, many are deprived of a chance to learn adequate social skills and acquire good communication tools. 7 There are very few countrie