Bards of the Internet
Consolidation Activities
I. Text Comprehension
1. Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose. A. To offer a general view on the merits and demerits of online writing and related
matters.
B. To express his disapproval of the foolish and trivial writings on the Internet. C. To give a historical review on netwriting and its impact on younger generations. Key: [ A ]
2. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.
1) Compared with other writings that were also experimental and revolutionary in
history, online writings are not only large in quantity, but good in quality as well. [F] 2) The low barriers to entry of the online world makes it possible for many second-rate
writings to reach thousands of readers.[T]
3) When engaged in online writing, professional writers can always make themselves
welcome without catering to the fashion of the new medium. [F]
4) It could be inferred that people who produce netwriting are from different walks of
life. [T]
II. Writing Strategies
In this passage the author uses a number of quotations in support of his ideas and opinions. Read Paragraphs 3, 5, 6, and 8, and try to find what sources the author quotes and explain what ideas these quotations are used to support.
In Paragraph 3 the author quotes the following persons in support of the idea that E- mail and netwriting could be compared to the writings in history that were experimental and flexible in nature:
Jon Carroll, a columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle; Patrick Nielsen Hayden, an editor at Tor Books;
David Sewell, an associate editor at the University of Arizona
In Paragraphs 5 and 6, the author quotes the following persons to explore the reasons for the poor quality of writing on the Internet:
Gerard Van der Leun, literary agent based in Westport, Connecticut; Mary Anne Mohanraj, a Chicago-based poet.
In Paragraph 8, the author quotes the following persons in his discussion of the criteria to judge the quality of netwriting:
Jorn Barger, a software designer in Chicago;
Crawford Kilian, a writing teacher at Capilano College in Vancouver, British
Columbia.
III. Language Work
1. Explain the underlined part(s) in each sentence in your own words. 1) Which makes what’s happening on the computer networks all the more startling. surprising
2). Just when the media of McLuhan were supposed to render obsolete the medium of Shakespeare, the online world is experiencing the greatest boom in letter writing since the 18th century.
out of date; expansion
3). David Sewell, an associate editor at the University of Arizona, likens netwriting to the literary scene Mark Twain discovered in San Francisco in the 1860s.
compares ... to
4). For it can be very bad indeed: sloppy, meandering, puerile, ungrammatical, poorly spelled, badly structured and at times virtually content free.
careless; winding/pointless; childish/silly
5). Gerard Van der Leun ... has emerged as one of the preeminent stylists on the Net.
has become known as; the most important/superior
6). That is not to say that with more time every writer on the Internet would produce sparkling copy brilliant
7). Green’s Well Met in Minnesota ... is now revered on the Internet as a classic. respected and admired
8). It’s so competitive that you have to work on your style if you want to make any impact. make a strong, immediate impression
9). Not only has it enfranchised thousands of would-be writers who otherwise might never have taken up the craft, but it has also thrown together classes of people who hadn’t had much direct contact before.
given the right to; have been engaged in
10).But it would be a mistake to dismiss the computer-message boards or to underestimate the effect a lifetime of dashing off E-mail will have on a generation of young writers.
say that it is not important enough to think about or consider; not realize how large or great the effect would be
2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1). He dismissed the economists as teenage scribblers (scribble) who wanted to get their names in the newspaper.
2). Mobile phone technology is developing so quickly that many customers are concerned about obsolescence (obsolete). 3). Some unusual fish have rudimentary (rudiment) legs. 4). The trial was a mockery (mock) — the judge had decided the verdict before it even began.
5). She feels great reverence (revere) for her professors. 6). He takes plenty of vigorous (vigor) exercise. 7). The presentation was a collaborative (collaborate) effort by all the children in the class. 8). It’s about time we democratized (democracy) the organization of this company. 9). My brother is a keep-fit enthusiast (enthuse). 10). I don’t know why he gets so upset about something that is utterly trivial (trivia).
3. Fill in the blank(s) in each sentence with a phrase taken from the box in its appropriate form.
come across | make an impression | side effect | liken to
press release | confront with | lace up | dash off inherent in | hark back | blow away | weed out
1). The Department of Transport has issued a press release about the proposals for the new motorway.
2). He’s always harking back to his childhood and saying how things were better then. 3). She dashed off the letter in five minutes. 4). The first round of interviews only really serves to weed out the very weakest of applicants.
5). He comes across as a bit of a bore in interviews. 6). They blew away the other team in the second half of the game. 7). Does this drug have any side effects? 8). He made quite an impression on the girls at the tennis club. 9). She can lace up her shoes and she’s only five!
10). She seems completely unaware of the contradictions inherent in her professed point of view.
11). She’s been likened to a young Elizabeth Taylor. 12). I thought I would remain calm, but when I was confronted with the TV camera, I became very nervous.
4. Explain the meaning of the underlined part in each sentence. 1). The leisure industry is booming. is developing very fast
2). The feeling of intoxication that followed her victory was cut short by her father’s sudden death.
excitement
3). The sparkle went out of her after her husband died. She became unhappy
4). We haven’t got a hope in hell of meeting such a tight deadline. We have no hope
5). He came out with a gem about the absurdity of the situation. clever or pleasing remark 6). And did reason prevail over emotion? overcome/defeat/triumph over
7). The speaker’s aim was to spark the reformers into action. cause the reformers to act
8). This web site is currently under construction. being created
9). We need to decide this democratically. based on the wishes of most people 10). Ian took up the story where Sue had left off. continued
5. Correct the errors in the following passage. The passage contains ten
errors, one in each indicated line. In each case, only one word is involved.
Corrections should be done as follows:
Wrong word: underline the wrong word and write the correct word in the blank. Extra word: delete the extra word with an “×.”
Missing word: mark the position of the missing word with a “∧” and write the missing word in the blank.
When was the last time you began a message with \"Dear\"? Dear or Hey? Probably in a covered letter to a potential employer you'd never (1) cover met before, or perhaps even to your great-grandma harking her for that fruitcake decayed in the re-gift pile. There's no question that the use of \"Dear\" is dwindling and \"Hey\" is taking off. As the formal letter dies out, so too has he use (3) over of \"Dear.\" With E-mail, tweets, IMs and texts rapidly exchanged throughout our tech-savvy lives, it's only natural that our language (2) decaying and way of communicating has become more relaxed and formal. (4) informal We live in the age of brevity where 140 characters are just enough, (5) is so who's got time for \"Dear\" or even any salutation at all? But it's not only about the essence of time, it’s also semantic. (6) semantics \"Dear\" comes to as too formal — or simply plain creepy and overly (7) across intimate. And between men, the use of it can appear a bit too effeminate. If “Hey” is a pat on the back, then \"Dear\" is its masculine cousin with a kiss on the cheek. Most business etiquette (8) feminine experts overall say it’s alright to drop \"Dear\" in an E-mail, but it should be used in a formal business letter. We∧use \"Dear\" because (9) don’t someone is dear to us, but because we understand the standards of business writing and recognize the standards of intelligent business Chris Allison, a 36-year-old international trade analyst, says he uses “Dear” only when he doesn’t mean it: “I find that I am most people. dear to me, probably because I have never met the person.” So, it’s “Hey” for friends and colleagues and “Dear” for distant relatives, divorce lawyers and banks? Got it! likely to start a letter with ‘Dear’ exactly when the recipient is less (10) least
6. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE appropriate word.
Net Writing
In the July 4 issue of Time, there’s an article (1) entitled “Bards of the Internet” by Philip Elmer-Dewitt, subtitled “If E-mail represents the renaissance of prose, why is so much of it so awful?” After reading the article, I wrote to him in a longish E-mail response that what had struck me about (2) writing on the Net was how “good” it is. That (3) difference of perspective is what I want to talk about here. Now, I can recognize crappy writing, what PED is getting at when he (4) describes online writing as often “very bad indeed: sloppy, meandering, puerile, ungrammatical, poorly spelled, badly structured and at times virtually (5) content free.” That’s actually a better characterization of freshman composition (which I used to teach) than of the Net. Fact is, people write (6) better here than they do in (7) class. In class, you’re writing up, to an artificial (8) audience, an authority figure who enforces rules that you had no (9) part in drafting; on the (10) Net, you’re writing to a vast audience of peers who are collaborating with you in creating an entirely new set of (11) rules. You can still “fail” because there’s still a hierarchy, but as John Barger suggests, it’s an emergent one, generated by all the readers and (12) writers audience, conference, or whatever.
who make up a newsgroup
IV. Translation
1. Translating Sentences
Translate the following sentences into English, using the words or phrases given in brackets.
1). 她一直努力把自己重新塑造成一位演员。(reinvent as)
She kept trying to reinvent herself as an actress.
2). 导演的新片回归到早期的电影风格。(hark back to)
The director’s latest film harks back to the early years of cinema. hark back to something
3). 教授指出了那位博士提出的新理论中一些内在的缺陷。(inherent)
The professor pointed out some of the inherent defects of the new theory proposed by that doctor.
4). 即便在今天，有些传统风俗在农村地区仍然流行着。(prevail)
Even today some of the traditional customs still prevail in rural areas. prevail vi. to exist at a particular time or in a particular situation
5). 禁烟运动对年轻人产生了不小的影响。(make an impact on)
The anti-smoking campaign made quite an impact on young people.
6). 她的报道文章言简意赅。(terse)
Her newspaper articles are terse and to the point.
7). 这一事件引发了一场两国之间的外交争端。(spark)
The incident sparked a diplomatic controversy between the two countries.
8). 他的英语作文错误很多，因为他是在截止日前匆匆写出来的。(dash off)
There were many mistakes in his English composition, because he had dashed it off just before the deadline.
9). 所有的售货员似乎都带着同样假惺惺的微笑。(phony)
All salespeople seem to have the same phony smile.
10). 你有没有想过从事工程师这一行？(take up)
Have you ever thought of taking up engineering?
2. Translate the following passage into Chinese.
Fifteen years ago, computer experts expanded the Internet system. This expansion was called the World Wide Web. It permits computer users to find and exchange written material and pictures much quicker than the older Internet system.
The Internet and the World Wide Web have become vehicles for speedy information exchange for most people who can use a computer. Much of the information on the Internet is very valuable. As a research tool, the Internet has no equal.
Almost any kind of information can be found through the Internet. There are electronic magazines that deal with ghost stories, poetry, or children’s stories. There are areas within this electronic world where you can play games, discuss politics, science, history, farming, or just about anything that interests you. You can look at and collect the beautiful color pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. You can listen to music or watch videos. You can watch musicians perform their latest songs. You can even join a group that meets electronically to discuss the music of their favorite rock and roll music group
参考译文：
15 年前，计算机专家们扩展了因特网系统。这个扩展后的系统被叫做万维网。万维网使计算机用户以比以往的因特网系统快得多的速度来寻找并交换书面材料和图片。
对大多数能够使用计算机的人来说，因特网和万维网已经成为快速交换信息的工具。因
特网上大多信息都很有价值。作为一种研究工具，没有什么能比得上因特网。
通过因特网几乎可以找到任何种类的信息。网上有专门刊登鬼怪故事、诗歌或儿童故事的电子杂志。在这个电子世界里有供你玩游戏的地方，也有讨论政治、科学、历史、农耕或者任何你感兴趣的话题的地方。你可以浏览或者搜集哈勃太空望远镜拍摄到的精美彩色图片。你可以听音乐或看录像。你可以看到音乐家演奏他们的最新歌曲。你甚至可以加入一个小组，通过电子手段和他们聚会并讨论他们最喜爱的摇滚乐队。
V. Oral Activities
1. Giving A Talk
The Internet now has a great impact on our daily life, which almost establishes a virtual world apart from our real life. In this virtual world, everything seems to be easier and simpler, including the way words are used. This produces a shock to the traditional media and influences the way we use language in our daily life.
But it is very hard to say whether online writing’s influence on traditional writing is positive or negative. What’s your opinion on this question?
You could probably begin the talk with “The Internet has influenced our daily life in this way and that way. To some extent, we’ve benefited from the way we use it during online surfing. I would like to give some examples …”
(For reference)
The Internet has influenced our daily life in this way or that. To some extent, we’ve benefited from the way we use it during online surfing. However, it is really hard to say whether it is positive or negative. For example, E-mail is widely used nowadays, which does help us a lot to keep up with our quickened pace of life. In many workplaces and universities, E-mail is used as a time-saving communication tool, a practical liaison between colleagues, professors and students, rather than just an electronic means of sending letters. Thus, we try every way to speed up this process, such as using acronyms and abbreviations.
They are both convenient and fashionable. What’s more, people are coining new terminologies almost every day. Everything seems to be so fresh and novel. However, the Internet permeates into our life so deeply that we consciously or unconsciously use these informal ways of writing on formal occasions, leading to many misunderstandings and causing unnecessary hurts. As a result, online writing acts as a double-edged sword. One should be clear when it is appropriate to use the online style of writing.
2. Having A Discussion
The convenience and rapidness of the Internet makes our writing much simpler and easier. Actually we have found that our traditional writing has been greatly influenced. What we read now is totally different from the works produced in the past. On the basis of this passage, please hold a discussion on online writing as to how it has influenced our traditional writing.
(For reference)
Nowadays, online writing has greatly influenced our daily writing. The convenience and rapidness of the Internet makes our writing simpler and easier. It also makes it possible for almost everyone to become a writer, an editor, or even a publisher. As everyone knows, the Internet boasts large audiences. So no matter how the writing is, it would be flattered by a group of people, which makes the Internet flooded with both good and bad writings. However, too many people are competing for the maximum amount of readers’ attention at the same time.
Online writing is much too different from traditional writing. Sometimes what works on paper doesn’t necessarily work on the computer networks. If your writing cannot maintain a high click-through rate, it will soon be buried, and your name will consequently be wiped out. This is when the Darwinian Survival Principle prevails.
VI. Research Paper Writing
Narrowing Down the Topic
The topic chosen for the project may be broad, so there is a need to narrow it down and identify the elements to be discussed. In narrowing down your topic, you should: Identify and define the main elements of the topic that you have chosen and look at the different ways in which they can be applied to the primary material of your essay. Pay attention to the size of the project. The project size can dictate the amount of information that you will be able to fit into your paper. The length will also dictate the number of parts that you will be able to include in your essay to support your thesis. As a general rule, the shorter the essay, the more limited and precise the topic should be. The longer the essay, the more space you will have to explore your topic, its significance and implications.
In narrowing down your topic, pay attention to the specific aspects of the topic that are to be addressed within the body of your essay. Choose the specific aspect that you feel runs through most of it. This will offer you a topic that can be fully developed so as to present your readers a clearer view of the ideas that dominate the essay.
To gain an understanding of the possible scope of the topic, it is useful to ask
questions about the key points of the topic. The goal of the process is to focus on one specific area of the topic. Possible questions to ask about the key points of the topic include:
What? When? Where? Who? Why? How?
Possible steps to narrow down the topic “The Influence of WWI on Literature” are:
The Influence of WWI on American Literature
The Influence of WWI on American Literature in the 1920s
The Influence of WWI on the Lost Generation in American Literature in the 1920s The Influence of WWI on the Lost Generation in American Literature in the 1920s as Represented by Earnest Hemingway
The Influence of WWI on the Lost Generation in American Literature in the 1920s as Represented by Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms
Further Enchantment
Text II
ALWAYS ON Seth Stevenson
Text Comprehension
1. Answer the following multiple-choice questions:
1). When the author hiked in the Himalayas 11,000 feet above sea level, what did he find? A. A pavilion. B. A hotel.
C. A sign for Internet access. D. A computer. Key: [ C ]
2). Life in the 21st century, where the Web can be accessed almost anytime and anywhere, could be described by the following terms EXCEPT A. peaceless B. convenient C. distracted D. quiet Key: [ D ]
?
3). The BlackBerry allows the author’s girlfriend to do all the following EXCEPT A. sending and receiving emails B. doing research on the Web
C. making her office everywhere, in a train, at an airport, even on the beach D. enjoying the vacation Key: [ D ]
.
4). Which of the following Instant Messaging examples is NOT mentioned in the text? A. Laughing out loud. B. Don’t quote me on this. C. As soon as possible. D. As far as I know. Text II Comprehension Key: [ C ]
5). According to Rick Rutkowski, the Microvision CEO, in the future, a pair of Microvision glasses could project high-definition images directly onto A. one’s retinas
B. the glasses themselves C. a screen D. a wall Key: [ A ]
.
2. Questions for Discussion
1). Why did the author feel a pang in the Himalayas?
As a tourist the author was supposed to enjoy the exotic scenes in the Himalayas, but unfortunately, he found himself checking his emails in an Internet bar. The author had a sudden strong feeling of sadness when he realized that he could not escape the intrusion of technology even in the Himalayas. (Paragraph 2)
2). How does the author view the lifestyle practiced by a 21st-century man?
The author thinks that the typical lifestyle practiced by a 21st-century man is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it offers us a convenience which was unimaginable a decade ago; on the other hand, it also encourages some of us to indulge our weaker impulses. (Paragraph 3)
3). Why is BlackBerry an addictive device?
According to the author, BlackBerry is so convenient a device that you may find it
impossible to resist the temptation to bring it with you wherever you go. For example, you may have it with you when you are on vacation, or attending a friend’s wedding, or even enjoying a ball game. You are addicted to it because you cannot leave it behind any more. (Paragraph 5)
4). What is the most important message that the author wants to convey in this essay?
The author is trying to convey his worries about what changes modern technology has brought about and is going to bring about in our lives. The cellphone and the Internet, as well as many other inventions, have fundamentally changed our lives. We are addicted to them, and we are “always on,” and we are lost in the artificial world, totally oblivious of the real world. In short, the author seems to suggest that modern technology is more of a curse than a blessing to humanity.
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