ppt of the throw away society

Unit Ten Text I Things: The Throw-Away Society

Before Reading: BackgroundAlvin Toffler(born October 3, 1928) is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communications revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. A former associate editor of Fortune magazine, his early work focused on technology and its impact (through effects like information overload). Then he moved to examining the reaction of and changes in society. His later focus has been on the increasing power of 21st century military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and capitalism. He is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist.

ppt of the throw away society

A few of his well-known works are: · Future Shock (1970) The Third Wave (1980) The Eco-Spasm Report (1981)

Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century(1990)

War and Anti-War (1995)

ppt of the throw away society

Before Reading: Background

Barbie

ppt of the throw away society

Quotes from Alvin Tofler Society needs people who take care of the elderly and who know how to be compassionate and honest. Society needs people who work in hospitals. Society needs all kinds of skill that are not just cognitive; they're emotional, they're affectional. You can't run the society on data and computers alone.

ppt of the throw away society

Quotes from Alvin ToflerThe Second Wave Society isindustrial and based on mass production,mass distribution,mass consumption,mass education,mass media,mass recreation,mass entertainment,and weapons of mass destruction. You combine those things with standardization, centralization, concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of organization, we call bureaucracy.

ppt of the throw away society

Global Reading: Theme

the discovery of a consumerist society a thorough analysis of new type products and its psychological influences on people’s mentalitydecreased durations in man-thing relationships

ppt of the throw away society

Detailed Reading: Language Points 1.trade-in—If you trade-in sth.such as an oldcar, you give it to a dealer when you buy a new one so that you get a reduction of the price eg. Now we can trade washing machines in for a new one.

Trade-in ; trade-ins (n.): a business deal like this eg. What’s the car’s trade-in value?

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 2. the new version—the new model, the new form Version has different meanings in different contexts. eg. 1)Several versions (styles) of clothes for outing

are on display. 2)What he said is a completely different version (account) from what we read in the newspaper. 3)A modern version (rendering)of the Shaoxing Opera attracted a large audience. 4)I was only able to read the English version (translation ) of Goethe’s works.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

3.staggering vision—stunning scene eg. The cost has climbed to a staggeringprice.

Stagger (verb): an event that staggers (astounded) the world

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

4.It is the technologically produced environment that matters for the individual

. —Man-made or produced products form a very important role in people’s daily life.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 5. Man-made things enter into and color ourconsciousness. — His minds is filled with and influenced by artificial things. Consciousness — (one’s) mind and thoughts. eg. Doubts about his trustworthiness never entered my

consciousness.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 6.clutch lingeringly and lovingly to the samedoll —hold on to the same old doll faithfully/devotedly/persistently/with devotion and with love. Lingering—The literal meaning of this word is ―slow to disappear‖. eg. A lingering illness; a lingering hope; a lingering

sense of guilt

In this context, lingeringly means ―clinging to with devotion or clasping with love.‖

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 7. the new breed of little girls —the new type of little girls. The word breed has different meanings in the following contexts: breed horses—rear In a breeding season, animals breed offspring.—reproduce Thieves breed thieves. –generate He was American born and bred.—brought up

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 8. she is inextricably embedded in a throw-away culture. —She becomes a part of the throw-away society from which she cannot break away. inextricably—inseparably eg. High birth rate and low life expectancy used to beinextricably linked In our country, but it is no longer so today.

embed—fix firmly and surrounding substance.

deeply in a mass of

eg. He exerted so much strength that his knife got embedded in the chopping block.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

9. run counter to the grain – be contrary to one’s inclination or disposition. eg.run counter to the traditional ideology

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

10. individuals steeped in a heritage of poverty —people who have long suffered from poverty steep—submerge; eg. The subway in New York is steepedin violence.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

11. lo and behold —expression to draw attention in a literary or humorous way to a surprising or an interesting event lo: an archaic way of expression. eg. The man from East stick needles inyou and, lo and behold, you feel no pain and are healed.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points 12. disposable products --things to be used once and then thrown away eg. disposable paper-cups, disposable bib dispose of: throw away eg.Nowadays people tend to use paper cups which

they can dispose of after one use.

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

13. breathtaking —stunning,overwhelming,unbelievable eg. breathtaking scenery 14. sumptuous —grand and expensive eg. Sumptuous furniture/ meal/evening dressing

ppt of the throw away society

Language Points

15. with respect to —concerning (used especially to introduce a new subject of one that has been mentioned earlier.eg. With respect to you’re application for the job, we’ll soon let you know our decision.

ppt of the throw away society

Global Reading: Organization and DevelopmentThe thesis of the essay is: t

he relationship between man and things are temporary. In order to explain his thesis, the writer employs the method of illustration and example. In the first three paragraphs, he mentions the production of Barbies.In para.7 he provides a list of throw-away objects for daily use to illustrate the throw-away culture in which the younger generation are embedded. In para.9 he gives examples of other industrialized countries in which the throw-away culture has been gradually fostered since the late 1950’s. In para.10-12 he gives the example of the introduction of paper clothes products to show people’s psychological need for throw-away things and the trend to maintain a transient relationship between man and man-made objects.