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Text 1
Genius and the Craftsman
About Robert Frost:
Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in
San Francisco and died on January 29, 1963 in Boston. Frost
was an American poet and poet-in-residence at a number of
colleges and universities. He was best known for his use of
colloquial language, familiar rhythms, and symbols taken from
common life to express the quiet values of New England life.
His major works include the books of poems A Boy's Will (1913),
North of Boston (1914), Mountain Interval (1916),
New Hampshire
(1923), Steeple Bush (1947), In the Clearing (1962), just
mention a few. He also wrote verse plays, such as A Masque
of Reason (1945), and A Masque of Mercy (1947), etc.
Language notes:
1. So
it is with
the reader who comes upon an outstanding story: spellbound,
he takes it to his heart, no question asked.
(当读者读到一部杰出的小说时，他也会这样如痴如狂，欲将小说字字句句刻骨铭心，不提出任何问题。)
So it is with:
the same is true with.
e.g. San Francisco is a big city, so it is
with Shanghai.
2.
...there
is more to a story's life than the body of words which carries
it into the world.
The body of words: the words that a story
is composed of.
3.
...it
does not begin with writing, but with conception in the dark
of the mind.
The secret construction of a story in the
innermost part of one's mind, rather than the writing of it,
is the very beginning of the whole creating process of a story.
The pronoun it refers to a story's life.
In the dark: in secrecy.
e.g. The transaction is made in the dark.
4.
...genius
is not the exclusive property of the master craftsman...
Property: a characteristic trait or peculiarity.
e.g. Cheerfulness is a property of her personality.
5. Mastery
is genius afoot.
Afoot: in operation.
e.g. There is a project afoot to improve the
roads.
6. While
genius is a natural part of our mental equipment, like perception,
memory, and imagination, craftsmanship is not.
(天赋正如理解力、记忆力和想象力一样是我们的精神禀赋中的天然部分，而技艺却不是。)
Equipment: the qualities or traits that make
up the mental and emotional resources of an individual.
e.g. You have the necessary equipment for
leadership.
7. If
the stories that rise within us are to emerge and flourish,
each must be provided with a strong, handsome body of words,
and only sound craftsmanship
can provide this.
(如果要使在我们内心深处浮现的故事跃然纸上，光彩照人，那么，每个故事都须有感染力极强的优雅文笔。)
Sound craftsmanship： highly trained skills.
e.g. The work of art is a full representation
of its creator's genius and sound craftsmanship.
8.
...it
may depend on the individual, as so much does in writing.
The age one begins writing may depend on the
individual, and much in writing depends on the individual.
The pronoun it refers to the age at which people are
said to begin writing.
9.
...airy
tracery of beauty given form...
Airy: ethereal.
e.g. airy phantoms of the mind
Tracery: ornamental work of interlaced and
branching lines, especially the lacy openwork in a Gothic
window.
10. Thus
variously laden, we move through life.
Laden: oppressed, burdened.
e.g. laden with grief
11.
...now and then an experience, often slight, prizes
the memory and seizes upon one of those
live, expectant impressions of long age...
Prize: open.
e.g. Only with a long iron bar did we prize
the top off the box.
12.
...letting
it cool in between times...
Doing nothing about the story during the interval
between two rewriting times in order to cultivate some new
ideas about the story or wait for some ideas to rise.
13. No
matter how
far short of the mark you fall, it is never failure...
Fall short of: fail to reach an aim.
e.g. I scheduled to work hard for two years to earn an MA
degree, but my plan fell short of the mark.
14. Things
which slip past the eye in rereading leap at you and demand
attention.
（在反复阅读的过程中被忽略的事物向你跳跃，以引起注意。）
Slip: to pass gradually, easily, or imperceptibly.
e.g. It is necessary to write, if the days
are not to slip emptily by.
15. Such
expert
knowledge
of
this one story gives you control...
Expert: having or demonstrating great skill,
dexterity, or knowledge as the result of experience or training.
e.g. He had received expert academic advice.
Text 2
Reading: Basic Principles
Language notes:
1. As
a thinking process, reading goes beyond the decoding of symbols
to integrating and applying the meaning of these
symbols.
(作为一个思维的过程，阅读不仅是对符号的解码，而且要使符号的意义间产生联系并应用这些符号的意义。)
Beyond: more extensive and extreme than.
e.g. The authority of inspectors goes beyond
ordinary police powers.
2. As
they open their minds to the art and ideas of an especially
skilful writer, they probe, question, grasp, pull back, reconsider,
and probe again.
(他们对技艺高明的作家的艺术和观点敞开思想，探究问题，提出疑问，掌握精髓，然后重新审视问题，重新思考，并重新探究。)
Open one's mind to: be receptive to.
e.g. He opened his mind to the ways of the rest of the world.
Pull back: withdraw from an undertaking.
e.g. The party pulled back from its only positive
position.
3. Rapid reading, or "speed reading", as some people call it, has become
almost a fetish.
Fetish: a course of action to which one has
an excessive and irrational commitment.
e.g. a fetish for luxury goods.
4. Of
course any such label is tenuous; it is relative to many contexts
and open to many interpretations.
Tenuous: having little substance; flimsy.
e.g. a tenuous argument.
5. Noting
a show of interest, an alert teacher will capitalize on it
by offering， not just suggesting, works which will allow the
student to pursue that interest.
(一旦注意到有兴趣表露，敏感的教师就会充分利用。他不仅建议而且提供那些能让学生继续这种兴趣的材料。)
Capitalize on: to turn something
to one's advantage; benefit
e.g. capitalize on an opponent's error.
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