Hello, everyone!
Last time we had a general analysis
of the text.
From the general analysis
we know that the text can be
divided into three parts.
The first paragraph is the first part
which serves as the introduction
of an argumentative article.
In this part,
the author brings about the subject
which is that many key changes
happen to college students during their college years.
In the second part,
from paragraph 2 to paragraph 9,
the author deals with the key changes one by one.
The last paragraph is the third part
in which the author restates the thesis.
Before we go to the first part of the text,
I want to ask you a question.
If you were given such a topic
Your College Years
and you were asked to write an article,
how would you begin it?
That is to say, how will you organize your article?
You will begin your writing with examples,
with questions or whatever.
But have you found how the author begins his writing?
The author begins his writing with three questions.
The first question
The second question
The third question
Through the three questions,
the author naturally brings about the subject
of this article,
which is about the key changes happening during college years.
The three questions make readers think about
what will happen during the college years.
The way to begin an article with questions
makes the subject very convincing and persuasive.
Now, let's go over the first part in detail.
We'll analyze the important points in this part.
The first point is "Has it ever occurred to you that …" 52
In this question,
pay more attention to the difference between Chinese
and English in expressing this idea:
In Chinese, the subject is usually a personal pronoun,
whereas in English, the anticipatory "it" is used. 57
Let's look at some examples:
In Chinese:
we use a person pronoun as the subject
and say that
"我从来都没有想到财富能毁灭一个人的一生。" 62 62
But in English:
we use the anticipatory "it" as the subject 64
and say that "It never occurred to me
that wealth could ruin a person's life." 66
More examples
Another example
Two other words often used in this pattern are
"strike" and "dawn on". 74
For example
Another example
The example with "strike"is 82
Ok. This is the first point in the first part.
The second point is"personnel" in the second question. 86
We have to pay more attention to the use of "personnel". 87
"Personnel" can be used as a countable noun 88
and uncountable noun. When "personnel" is used as a countable noun, 89
it refers to a group of people working for an organization.
It is used in plural form. So we never say "a personnel". 91
For example:
When "personnel" is used as an uncountable noun, 95
it refers to the department in a large company or organization
that deals with employees, keeps their records,
and helps with any problems they might have.
For example:
Her first job was in personnel.
personnel department
personnel office
The third point in the first part is:
Here "it" is the anticipatory,
"that certain developmental changes will occur
in your life as you move from adolescence to young adulthood."
Here "developmental changes" is a psychological term
which refers to the physiological
and behavioral changes throughout the lifespan.
The term "adolescence" began as a Western concept,
which means the period between childhood and adulthood.
This passage to adulthood is often marked by a number
of small changes in status during or near the end of adolescence.
For example,
Ok, this is all about the first part of the article.
Next time we'll go on analyzing the body part of the article.
Thank you for your attention.
And you can refer to the attached materials for reference.
See you next time