Lesson 4 Seeing hands

In the Soviet Union several cases have been reported recently of people who can read and detect colours with their fingers, and even see through solid doors and walls. One case concerns an ‘eleven-year-old schoolgirl, Vera Petrova, who has normal vision but who can also perceive things with different parts of her skin, and through solid walls. This ability was first noticed by her father. One day she came into his office and happened to put her hands on the door of a locked safe. Suddenly she asked her father why he kept so many old newspapers locked away there, and even described the way they were done up in bundles. Vera’s curious talent was brought to the notice of a scientific research institute in the town of UIyanovsk, near where she lives, and in April she was given a series of tests by a special commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federal Republic. During these tests she was able to read a newspaper through an opaque screen and, stranger still, by moving her elbow over a child’s game of Lotto she was able to describe the figures and colours printed on it; and, in another instance, wearing stockings and slippers, to make out with her foot the outlines and colours of a picture hidden under a carpet. Other experiments showed that her knees and shoulders had a similar sensitivity. During all these tests Vera was blindfold; and, indeed, except when blindfold she lacked the ability to perceive things with her skin. lt was also found that although she could perceive things with her fingers this ability ceased the moment her hands were wet.

词汇

concern: /kənˈsɚn/ to relate to (something or someone)
perceive /pɚˈsiːv/ to notice or become aware of (something)
happen: /ˈhæpən/ to do or be something by chance
do up: to wrap (something).
bundle: /ˈbʌndəl/ a group of things that are fastened, tied, or wrapped together
commission: /kəˈmɪʃən/ a group of people who have been given the official job of finding information about something or controlling something
make out: to see and identify (something)
carpet: /ˈkɑɚpət/ a thick covering : a thick layer of something
blindfold: /ˈblaɪndˌfoʊld/ cover the eyes

Lesson 5 Youth

People are always talking about ‘the problem of youth’. If there is one–which I take leave to doubt–then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings–people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is. When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain–that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking. I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It’s as if they were in some sense cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary clichés about respect for elders–as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.

词汇

get down to: to start doing something that is difficult or needs a lot of time or energy
rub: /ˈrʌb/ something that causes a difficulty or problem
dreary: /ˈdriri/ dull and making you feel sad or bored
violent: /ˈvajələnt/ very forceful or intense
suburban: /səˈbɚbən/ boring and typical of people
conceited: /kənˈsiːtəd/ having or showing too much pride in your own worth or goodness
presumptuous: /prɪˈzʌmptʃuəs/ doing something that you have no right to do and that seems rude
fatuous: /ˈfætʃuəs/ very silly or stupid
clichés: an idea or phrase that has been used so much that it is not effective or does not have any meaning any longer

Lesson 6 The sporting spirit

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn’t know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles. Nearly all the sports practised nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the game has little meaning unless you do your utmost to win. On the village green, where you pick up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some larger unit will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are aroused. Anyone who has played even in a school football match knows this. At the international level sport is frankly mimic warfare. But the significant thing is not the behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators: and, behind the spectators, of the nations who work themselves into furies over these absurd contests, and seriously believe–at any rate for short periods–that running, jumping and kicking a ball are tests of national virtue.

词汇

goodwill: /ˌgʊdˈwɪl/ a kind, helpful, or friendly feeling or attitude
inclination: /ˌɪnkləˈneɪʃən/ a feeling of wanting to do something : a tendency to do something
orgy: /ˈoɚʤi/ something that is done too much and in a wild way
deduce: /dɪˈduːs/ to use logic or reason to form (a conclusion or opinion about something)
side: a sports team
prestige: /prɛˈstiːʒ/ the respect and admiration that someone or something gets for being successful or important
disgrace: /dɪˈskreɪs/ to cause (someone) to feel ashamed
savage: /ˈsævɪʤ/ very cruel or violent
arouse: /əˈraʊz/ to cause (an emotional or mental state)
warfare: /ˈwoɚˌfeɚ/ military fighting in a war
spectator: someone who is watching an event or game
fury: /ˈfjuri/ violent anger
absurd: /əbˈsɚd/ extremely silly, foolish, or unreasonable : completely ridiculous
at any rate: anyway
virtue: /ˈvɚtʃu/ morally good behavior or character