现代大学英语精读6lesson5--lesson8讲义..doc

Lesson Five: The One Against the Many 1. About the author: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917- ) Study note 1 on page 69. 2. About “The One Against the Many”: The United Stated of America was born in 1783. Within a span of less than 250 years, the U.S. has grown from a new-born country of 13 former colonies to the only superpower in the world with its interests projected to nearly every corner of the world. Why has the US developed so fast? What are the most important factors that have contributed to such a rapid development? The author thinks that the single most important explanation is “the national rejection of dogmatic preconceptions about the nature of the social and economic order” This text taking America as an example, analyzes the relationship between “the one” referring to one viewpoint and “the many” referring to many viewpoints. In other words, the author regards pragmatism as the key factor which contributed to the rapid development of the US. Compared with the experience of China, we can further understand the differences between dogmatism, ideology and pragmatism. II. Outline of the essay Part I (Para.1) American experience in achieving rapid national development Part II (Para.2-6) the factors that facilitated the rapid social and economic development of the United States Part III (Para.7-10) difference between pragmatism and ideology Part IV (Paras.11-12) an example of distinction between ideals and ideology Part V (Para.13-14) what is wrong with ideology? PartⅥ(Para.15-19) differences between the ideologist and the pragmatist in their views of history and in their approaches to issues of public policy. PartⅦ(Para.20-22) conclusion: the “many” should be the choice III. Detailed Analysis of the Text: Part 1 (para.1): American experience 1. period, epoch, era and age Period is the general term for any portion of historical time. Epoch and era are often used interchangeably, but in strict discrimination, epoch applies to the beginning of a new per