研究生英语精读教程课文.ppt

［1］To a great extent, of course, it is just a matter of taste. I am a highbrow for the same reason that I am an eater of strawberries. I enjoy the eating of strawberries and I enjoy the processes and experiences which are commonly qualified by the name of highbrow. ［2］Conversely, I am not a lowbrow*, because I do not enjoy lowbrow processes and experiences. Thus I derive a great deal less pleasure from jazz and thrillers* than from the music, let us say, of Beethoven or the novels, for example, of Dostoevsky①; lowbrow n. person having or showing little taste for or interest in intellectual things平民, 俗民, 庸俗的人 thriller※ n. one that thrills, especially a sensational or suspenseful book, story, play or movie惊险读物 and the sex appeal of the girls on the covers of magazines seems to me less thrilling than the more complicated appeal to a great variety of feelings made by a Rubens①, an EI Greco②, a Constable③, a Seurat④. ［3］Again, I find the watching of horse racing or football matches less agreeable as an occupation than the acquisition* and co-ordination* of knowledge. Reading seems to me more entertaining than bridge or cross-word puzzles*. acquisition※ n. the act of acquiring or getting获得 co-ordination n. state of being brought or put into proper relation协调, 调和 cross-word puzzles puzzles in which words have to be written纵横字谜(一种填字游戏) And the slaughtering* of animals for fun is a pastime that leaves me either cold with disgust or hot with indignation. slaughter△ vt. to kill cruelly or wrongly残杀, 屠杀 ［4］There is no disputing, says the proverb*, about taste - though, in fact, human beings spend at least half their leisure doing nothing else - and if highbrowism and lowbrowism were exclusively (as it is certain that they are in great part) matters of individual taste, there would be no more to say about them than what I have said in the preceding lines. proverb△ n. a short well-known saying in popular language格言, 谚语 ［5］But more than mere taste is at stake; and, r