Unit 11 Cultivating a HobbyBy Winston Churchill
Teaching objectives
To use metaphorical language in exposition. To use synonymous expressions that add to the vividness and effectiveness of exposition. To appreciate Churchill’s style of writing, focusing on parallelisms in particular.
I.Warm-up questions
Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How did you cultivate those hobbies? Do your hobbies do you any good? In what ways? Can you recall to your mind other pieces of classical works by famous politicians or statesmen?
II.Background
Winston Churchill
"This is your victory. It is the victory of the cause of freedom in every land. In all our long history we have never seen a greater day than this. Everyone, man or woman, has done their best. Everyone has tried. Neither the long years, nor the dangers, nor the fierce attacks of the enemy, have in any way weakened the independent resolve of the British nation. God bless you all.”---Winston Churchill 1946
Churchill’s LifeWinston Churchill enjoyed one of the longest and most interesting lives of any person who has ever lived. From his birth at Blenheim Palace on November 30th, 1874, to his death at Hyde Park Gate in London on January 24, 1965, his life was one of action, controversy, setback and achievement. It was never dull.
Churchill’s Life Family
Politics Honors
Literature
Art
FAMILYFather: Randolph Churchill, a Conservative politician Mother: Jennie Jerome, the daughter of Leonard Jerome, a New York businessman.
POLITICS1900…Conservative MP for Oldham 1906…Under-Secretary of State 1908…President of the Board of Trade. 1910...Home Secretary 1911…First Lord of the Admiralty 1912…Royal Naval Air Service & Air Department 1915…Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1919...Minister of War and Air 1921…Colonial Secretary
POLITICSDefeated by E.D. Morel at Dundee in 1922 General Election Successfully elected to represent Epping in the 1924 General Election Stanley Baldwin, the leader of the new Conservative administration, appointed Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer In 1929, Churchill lost office
POLITICSChurchill in World War ⅡOn the outbreak of the Second World War Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty and on 4th April 1940 became chairman of the Military Coordinating Committee. In May, 1940, he became Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and remained in office until 1945. After Pearl Harbor Churchill worked closely with Franklin D. Roosevelt to ensure victory over Germany and Japan. He was also a loyal ally of the Soviet Union after Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in June, 1941. Churchill held important meetings with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at Teheran (November, 1943) and Yalta (February, 1945).
POLITICSThe End of Churchill’s Political LifeHe took over the premiership again in the Conservative v
ictory of 1951 and resigned in 1955 . He remained a Member of Parliament until the general election of 1964, when he did not seek re-election.
LITERATURE
Churchill's literary career began with campaign reports: The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) and The River War(1899)
1900, he published his only novel, Savrola 1906, his first major work, the biography of his father,
Lord Randolph Churchill
1933-1938, his other famous biography, the life of his great ancestor, The Duke of Marlborough 1923-1929, Churchill's history of the First World War The
World Crisis Life
1930, an autobiographical account of his youth, My Early
1948-1953/54, his memoirs of the Second World War 1956-1958, History of the English-speaking Peoples His magnificent oratory: The Unrelenting Struggle (1942), The Dawn of Liberation (1945), and Victory (1946).
ART
Churchill, a gifted amateur painter, wrote Painting as a Pastime (1948).
HONORS1953, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1953, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the dignity of Knighthood and invested him with the insignia of the Order of the Garter. 1963, President Kennedy conferred on him the honorary citizenship of the United States.
About Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) A public man having a most colorful political career: early career as a solider, war time correspondent at 27, (in 1901) as Conservative MP office held including: a. President of the Board of Trade (商务部长) b. Home Secretary (内政部长) c. First Lord of the Admiralty (英国海军大臣) d.Chancellor of the Exchequer (1922-24) (财政部长)
a political outcast (for a decade between late 1920’s to 1940’s), not holding any office (The Conservative government failed to cope with the economic crisis and lost power in 1929.) returning to public life, (on the outbreak of World War II), serving as the First Lord of the Admiralty
becoming the Prime Minister(1940-1945), becoming a symbol of British resistance in the darkest days of the conflict, as a War Leader, fighting against Nazismdefeated in the General Election of 1945 returning to office in 1951 resigned at the age of 80 in 1955
A man of versatile talents a powerful orator man of letter (awarded Nobel Prize for literature in 1953) an amateur painter (paintings were displayed in the galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1958)
III. Organization of the textSection 1 (Para. 1-2): Raising the topic: what worry is and the importance of a hobby in attenuating worry.
Para.1: Explaining the notion of “worry” by resorting to alternative expressions: “insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp” and “illumination of another field of interest” Para 2: Making the thesis statement: “The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of first importance to a public man”.
Sec
tion 2 (Para. 3-5): Classification of human beings and the importance of hobbies to them
Para. 3-4:Classification of human beings into three classes: -- those who are toiled to death; -- those who are worried to death; -- those who are bored to death. (Para. 4: For the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, the most hopeful path is discipline in one form or another.) Para. 5:Classification of rational, industrious, useful human beings into two classes and the need of hobbies to them: -- those whose word is work and whose pleasure is pleasure, and -- those whose work and pleasure are one.
IV.Classroom discussion 1.How is “hobby” related to “worry”? 2.In what way is the cultivation of a hobby similar to the growing of a plant? 3.Why is cultivation of hobbies most important to “a public man”? ment on the function of the first sentence of Para. 2. 5.In Para. 3, Churchill divides human beings into three classes. Explain the classification. How it this classification related to the theme?
