一 : Unit5 Where is my ruler 第三课时
【课题】Unit Five Where is my ruler?
【教学重点】学习字母Uu, Vv, Ww及以其为首字母的单词
【教学难点 】单词umbrella, violin, wind和字母Uu, Vv, Ww的发音.
【教具准备】
1 教师准备教材配套的录音带。
2 教师准备 umbrella, vest, violin, window, wind 的图片和词卡。
3 教师准备字母卡 Aa----Ww 。
【教学过程 】
1 热身、复习 (Warm-up/Revision)
（1）Oral practice学生口语会话展示。教师可根据学生情况提示他们增加对内容。
（2）游戏：“猜猜看”。
教师用简笔画的方法在黑板上画某种交通工具的某个部位，边画边问：What is it? 学生随意想象，猜图说：A panda? A jeep? A pear? … 教师再继续画一两笔，让学生接着猜，并以小组为单位讨论，最后由一名学生代表说出一个答案。教师将图画完，带领学生一起说： Look! It’s a … 猜对的小组赢得一分。(以交通工具、玩具和文具词为主) 还可让学生代替教师进行此项活动。
2 呈现新课 (Presentation)
（1）教师画一把雨伞，并有意识将雨伞画在某种交通工具底下。教师提问：What’s under the bus/jeep? 能力强的学生说： It’s an umbrella. Or : Umbrella. 教师出示准备好的雨伞或图片说：It’s an umbrella. 强调Umbrella. 将图片和词卡贴在黑板上找学生认读单词。Under 是第一课时已学过的内容，再次出示词卡让学生认读，之后教师指着词卡上单词的第一个字母文学说：What letter is this? 如果学生会，请学生答，如果学生不会，教师告诉学生是 Uu，并出示字母卡片，认读Uu 。让学生分别认读字母的大小写。
（2）教师利用实物、图片和动作继续学习其它单词： vest, window可用实物讲解；violin, wind 用动作讲解。（可根据学生或教师情况更改）让学生在理解词义的基础上进一步认读单词。注意violin, wind的发音要到位。 在较熟练的认读单词再后学习字母Vv, Ww 利于掌握发音，掌握字母形状。讲解时，将Ww的大小写同 Mm 的大小写比较，将Vv 的大小写同Uu 的大小写比较。教师要注意提示学生Vv 的发音，需用牙齿咬下嘴唇。
（3）让学生听录音，用手指着字母及单词，跟读 Let’s say 部分。
（4）Let’s do
a. 教师播放 Let’s do 部分的录音，边听边让学生观看教师的动作。按歌谣的顺序出示 A—W的字母卡。
b. 再次播放Let’s do 部分的录音，让学生边听边说边做动作。
3 趣味操练 (Practice)
（1）游戏1：Silent Speech
告诉学生教师将换一种方法说字母------唇说，既说字母的时候不发出声音。学生看教师的口形，猜教师“说”的内容。说的字母为Aa----Ww 。
（2）折一折，猜一猜。
教师将某个字母卡对折或用其它方法折叠，只露字母的某个部位，让学生猜一猜是哪个字母。还可以让学生亲自动手折字母，猜一猜。
（3）将学生分为2大组，一组读Let’s do 中的句子，另一组做句子中动词所示的动作。
（4）学玩字母后，教师让学生做活动手册中的描红字母。
4 课堂评价 (Assessment)
做活动手册本单元第31页的练习，方法和步骤同以前。
5 扩展性活动(Add-activities)
Making letters by queuing
可将学生带到室外，或将教室的桌椅尽量向后摆，让学生自己分小组或找伙伴按字母形状站立排成字母。
【板书设计 】
第三课时探究活动
探究内容：朗读比赛
探究目的：提高认读能力，增强朗读水平，鼓励学习自主性
探究形式：
1） 在固定的时间中认读短文，自我学习。
2） 鼓励学生相互提问，相互帮助
3） 开展朗读比赛。
探究过程：
1） 告诉学生活动放发：自学、互助、竞赛，并告诉学生要在规定的时间里比比各小组的朗读和互助情况。
2） 比赛内容：
A pencil box
An eraser, a ruler and pencils,
Red, yellow, blue, white and black.
I put them in my pencil-box,
As they are all my good friends.
An eraser, a ruler and pencils,
Red, yellow, blue, white and black.
3）给学生5分钟自己练读。
4）告诉学生可以相互帮助。
5）比赛：
第一轮，每人读一句。
第二轮，找每组代表读儿歌。
6）总结比赛结果，为优胜组和优秀个人发奖。
二 : Where's My Water 测评，谁会知道鳄鱼喜欢洗澡呢？
Where‘s My Wat（www.61k.com］er，是一款Disney最近发布的新游戏。这是一款控制水流的物理游戏：Swampy是一个生活在下水道的鳄鱼，它想享受一次放松的沐浴，但是总是受到其他鳄鱼的阻挠，因此需要玩家的帮助保持鳄鱼的供水。
玩家需要做的就是清除泥土制造出能让水能顺利通过的管道，把水正确引导到Swampy的浴室里。在这个过程中，水流会搜集三个用于解锁下一关卡和难度的橡胶鸭子。你的分数则受到你花了多少时间，搜集了多少鸭子以及让水溢出的奖励分数三部分统计出来。
Where’s My Water？和Feed me Oil很相似，你需要确保足够多的水到达终点。不同的是，Where‘s my Water不是通过在屏幕上摆放装置来送水，而是通过用手指挖出水管。Where's? My Water的液体物理效果做的并没有Sprinkle和Fedd Me Oil好。水流有时候看起来很生硬，特别是在水面和分流的时候。但总体来说还是看起来让人感觉不错，而且水流总会像你想的那样进行流动。
游戏总共分为四个章节世界，80个等级，另外还有定期推出新的游戏模式。前40等级是非常简单直接的，所有的问题的解决方式都非常显而易见。玩家不需要进行太多思考就可以在头两章里要拿齐三只鸭子。幸运的是，第三和第四章里开始出现一些比较困难的关卡。如果你犯错了，或者错过了一到三只鸭子，游戏里有一个手动重新开始按钮可以对游戏进行快速重置。
通过搜集一些散落在各处的隐藏道具：例如一块幸运海面或者牙刷，你就能解锁8个奖励关卡中。这些关卡具有不同的可玩性，给玩家不同的趣味。
当然，游戏中有各种各样的困难要克服，例如接触到水就会开始生长的有害的绿色藻类，会吸收水的酸池，控制阀门的水阀开关。还有会冲过泥土而且破坏Swampy最喜欢的橡胶鸭子的黄色软泥，迫使你加快你的游戏节奏。
还有会将水或者硫酸喷到外面的管道、会被水和硫酸所激活的地雷。所以游戏里还是有各种道具保持其娱乐性。有时候你需要同时刷出两条管道，这就表示你需要同时使用两根手指划过水流来进行分流，这时候就要特别小心，不然宝贵的水资源就可能会流到屏幕外。水并不是唯一在游戏里四处走的液体。你还可以通过刷水管来对强酸进行转移，强酸可以帮助你清除掉挡路的藻类。
虽然游戏真的很有趣，但是游戏的界面设计并不完美。有些关卡的地图比屏幕要大一些，所以游戏里就有一个滚动条来进行页面控制。这是一个有点老土的方式，不过更奇怪的是，这个滚动条设计在屏幕的左边，而对于正常人来说，这种强迫大家使用大拇指来进行滚动操作的设计并不太符合常理。幸运的是这样的关卡并不多，也并不需要进行太多滚动。
无论如何，Where's My Water带给我无数的欢乐，我也非常希望Disney 能让游戏继续更新下去。
Viatoucharcade
三 : Water is very important to us
Water is very important to us. We cannot live without it. But some people don’t really care about this. They waste a lot of water, pour dirty water and throw rubbish into rivers and lakes. As a result, many rivers and lakes are polluted and there is less and less water resource. We should stop the pollution and find ways to reuse water. If every one can do so, we are sure to save a lot of water.
As is known to all, students should learn how to get on well with others. But do you know how? First of all, we should respect others. Everyone has his own ways to do things, so we should understand each other. Besides, it is also important for us to communicate with each other and share happiness and sadness. What’s more, we should be kind to others and offer necessary help to those who are in trouble.
In my opinion, we should treat others in an honest way, only in this way can we get along well with others.
In recent years, e-books, as a product of information technology, have gained more and more popularity. It is no doubt that e-books bring many benefits. For one thing, they are so convenient that we can read them anywhere and anytime. For another, their appearance will make paper waste less.
However, every coin has two sides, e-books also have some disadvantage. For example, long time of reading e-books does harm to our eyes.
Weighing up the pros and cons, I think that e-books are beneficial if we read correctly and properly instead of reading over.
My best friend is Li Lei. He is a 15-year-old student, who is outgoing. He is always willing to help others. He has lots of interests, such as swimming, drawing, and reading. Being good at all subjects, he often helps me with my lessons so that I can keep up with my classmates.
We are going to leave school. I’ll send him a pen in order to thank him for helping me so much. And I hope that he will become a famous person in the future and we can keep in touch with each other.
Personally speaking, I have too many rules at home. My parents never allow me to go out with my friends at night. I feel I don’t have any freedom. And they pay too much attention to my exam results. I think my parents don’t quite understand me.
However, I try my best to understand them. Although, they don’t allow me to make my own decisions and give me much pressure, I know that it is because they really love me and want me to have a bright future.
To keep a good relationship with my parents, I will study hard, listen to them, talk to them as friends, tell them my troubles and help them do more housework.
As a popular saying goes, “reading is to mind what exercise is to body.” I love reading. I spend over four hours a week reading. On weekdays, I read before I go to bed. I read most at the weekend. I’m interested in history books, and I like fiction too. I like the four great classical Chinese novel best. I get most of my books from the school library. My friends give me advices about books too. We often meet together and discuss what to read.
Reading is a time of joy and peace. A good book is a good friend. It helps me relax after a busy
day. It also opens up a whole new world to me.
With the development of the internet, many people are used to shopping online. It has become a fashion in our daily life. Some of us students also join the group.
Shopping online has many advantages. Just by a quick click of the mouse, you can buy what you are interested in without going outdoors. You can avoid getting tired and being trapped in the crowed people and cars and save time. When shopping online, you can choose a varieties of goods whose prices are generally lower.
Every coin has two sides. Its disadvantages are obvious, too. On one hand, it’s very easy for you to buy goods different from the pictures you see on the internet. On the other hand, shopping online may cause people buy goods that are not badly needed. That’s a waste of money.
Weigh up the pros and cons, I think shopping online is convenient.
My favorite teacher is Li Kai. He has short hair. He is tall and thin. He likes reading all kinds of books, writing essays and doing exercise. He dislikes smoking, drinking wine and play computer games.
He’s outgoing and full of energy. He can play with us after class and bring us a lot of fun.
He’s very patient and is never annoyed with his students. He has a positive way of looking at his students who have difficulties learning. I’m not good at learning English in the beginning. By and by, I make great progress because he keeps encouraging me and never say anything bad to me. He is an excellent teacher and we love him very much.
Recently, I did a survey on the health problem of students in our school. The survey was based on the information of 2012 and 2013. according to the graph, we can see that the health of our students went from bad to worse from 2012 to 2013.
It showed that the number of students with mental illness increased from 32% in 2012 to 40% in 2013. compared with 2012, 8% more students suffered from the problem of lack of sleep in 2013. 39% of students were overweight in 2013 compared with 36% in 2012. besides these problems, the number of students who were near-sighted increased by 6%.
All the facts suggest that it’s time for schools and parents to do something to help them keep fit.
Breakfast is very important. But not all the students have realized its importance. Here’s a result of our survey. About 55 percent of the students eat breakfast regularly every day. They keep fit, and they all look active. 25 percent of them love eating junk food. They don’t have a balance diet, so they are not healthy either. 20 percent of them go to school without breakfast. As a result, these students can’t listen to teachers carefully in class because of hunger. Their bodies look weak and they get ill easily
四 : This is Water.
David Foster Wallace, who died last week, was the most brilliant American writer of his generation. In a speech, published here for the first time, he reflects on the difficulties of daily life and 'making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head'
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, "Morning, boys, how's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"
If you're worried that I plan to present myself here as the wise old fish explaining what water is, please don't be. I am not the wise old fish. The immediate point of the fish story is that the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude - but the fact is that, in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death importance. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. So let's get concrete ...
A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here's one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute centre of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic self-centredness, because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much the same for all of us, deep down. It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: there is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute centre of. The world as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real - you get the idea. But please don't worry that I'm getting ready to preach to you about compassion or other-directedness or the so-called "virtues". This is not a matter of virtue - it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centred, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.
By way of example, let's say it's an average day, and you get up in the morning, go to your challenging job, and you work hard for nine or ten hours, and at the end of the day you're tired, and you're stressed out, and all you want is to go home and have a good supper and maybe unwind for a couple of hours and then hit the rack early because you have to get up the next day and do it all again. But then you remember there's no food at home - you haven't had time to shop this week, because of your challenging job - and so now, after work, you have to get in your car and drive to the supermarket. It's the end of the workday, and the traffic's very bad, so getting to the store takes way longer than it should, and when you finally get there the supermarket is very crowded, because of course it's the time of day when all the other people with jobs also try to squeeze in some grocery shopping, and the store's hideously, fluorescently lit, and infused with soul-killing Muzak or corporate pop, and it's pretty much the last place you want to be, but you can't just get in and quickly out: you have to wander all over the huge, overlit store's crowded aisles to find the stuff you want, and you have to manoeuvre your junky cart through all these other tired, hurried people with carts, and of course there are also the glacially slow old people and the spacey people and the kids who all block the aisle and you have to grit your teeth and try to be polite as you ask them to let you by, and eventually, finally, you get all your supper supplies, except now it turns out there aren't enough checkout lanes open even though it's the end-of-the-day rush, so the checkout line is incredibly long, which is stupid and infuriating, but you can't take your fury out on the frantic lady working the register.
Anyway, you finally get to the checkout line's front, and pay for your food, and wait to get your cheque or card authenticated by a machine, and then get told to "Have a nice day" in a voice that is the absolute voice of death, and then you have to take your creepy flimsy plastic bags of groceries in your cart through the crowded, bumpy, littery parking lot, and try to load the bags in your car in such a way that everything doesn't fall out of the bags and roll around in the trunk on the way home, and then you have to drive all the way home through slow, heavy, SUV-intensive rush-hour traffic, etc, etc.
扩展：this is water 演讲 / this is water 下载 / this is water 译文
The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing comes in. Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home, and it's going to seem, for all the world, like everybody else is just in my way, and who are all these people in my way? And look at how repulsive most of them are and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem here in the checkout line, or at how annoying and rude it is that people are talking loudly on cell phones in the middle of the line, and look at how deeply unfair this is: I've worked really hard all day and I'm starved and tired and I can't even get home to eat and unwind because of all these stupid goddamn people.
Or if I'm in a more socially conscious form of my default setting, I can spend time in the end-of-the-day traffic jam being angry and disgusted at all the huge, stupid, lane-blocking SUVs and Hummers and V12 pickup trucks burning their wasteful, selfish, 40-gallon tanks of gas, and I can dwell on the fact that the patriotic or religious bumper stickers always seem to be on the biggest, most disgustingly selfish vehicles driven by the ugliest, most inconsiderate and aggressive drivers, who are usually talking on cell phones as they cut people off in order to get just 20 stupid feet ahead in a traffic jam, and I can think about how our children's children will despise us for wasting all the future's fuel and probably screwing up the climate, and how spoiled and stupid and disgusting we all are, and how it all just sucks ...
If I choose to think this way, fine, lots of us do - except that thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic it doesn't have to be a choice. Thinking this way is my natural default setting. It's the automatic, unconscious way that I experience the boring, frustrating, crowded parts of adult life when I'm operating on the automatic, unconscious belief that I am the centre of the world and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the world's priorities. The thing is that there are obviously different ways to think about these kinds of situations. In this traffic, all these vehicles stuck and idling in my way: it's not impossible that some of these people in SUVs have been in horrible car accidents in the past and now find driving so traumatic that their therapist has all but ordered them to get a huge, heavy SUV so they can feel safe enough to drive; or that the Hummer that just cut me off is maybe being driven by a father whose little child is hurt or sick in the seat next to him, and he's trying to rush to the hospital, and he's in a much bigger, more legitimate hurry than I am - it is actually I who am in his way.
Again, please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're "supposed to" think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it's hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you're like me, some days you won't be able to do it, or you just flat-out won't want to. But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her little child in the checkout line - maybe she's not usually like this; maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of her husband who's dying of bone cancer, or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the Motor Vehicles Dept who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a nightmarish red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it's also not impossible - it just depends on what you want to consider. If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important - if you want to operate on your default setting - then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying. But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars - compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: the only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.
Because here's something else that's true. In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship - be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infrangible set of ethical principles - is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things - if they are where you tap real meaning in life - then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. On one level, we all know this stuff already - it's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, bromides, epigrams, parables: the skeleton of every great story. The trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. Worship power - you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart - you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.
扩展：this is water 演讲 / this is water 下载 / this is water 译文
The insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. They are default settings. They're the kind of worship you just gradually slip into, day after day, getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that's what you're doing. And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom to be lords of our own tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the centre of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the "rat race" - the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.
I know that this stuff probably doesn't sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational. What it is, so far as I can see, is the truth with a whole lot of rhetorical bullshit pared away. Obviously, you can think of it whatever you wish. But please don't dismiss it as some finger-wagging Dr Laura sermon. None of this is about morality, or religion, or dogma, or big fancy questions of life after death. The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness - awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water."
· Adapted from the commencement speech the author gave to a graduating class at Kenyon College, Ohio
这是水
散文 译作
文/David Foster Wallace
译/btr
《This is water》是已故美国作家David Foster Wallace于2005年5月21日在Kenyon College毕业典礼上的演讲，后以书籍形式出版。（www.61k.com）
欢迎并祝贺凯尼恩大学2005年毕业班的同学们。有两条幼小的鱼游来游去，它们碰巧遇见一条年长的鱼从另一边游过来，它向它们点头示意并说道“孩子们，早上好。水怎么样？”而这两条幼鱼继续游了一会儿，随后其中一条终于看着另一条说“究竟什么是水啊？”
这是美国毕业典礼演讲的标准要求，要调用那些有教益的、寓言般的小故事。这则故事其实还算不错，是这类老套故事里不那么离谱的，但假如你担心我打算在这儿把自己当成那条聪明的年长的鱼，来向你们这些幼鱼解释什么是水，那大可不必。我不是那条聪明的年长的鱼。这个鱼故事的要点仅仅在于：最显而易见、最重要的现实，常常是那些最难以看见和谈论的。当然，这作为一句英文句子来表达，只是平庸的陈词滥调，但事实是，在成人世界的日常战壕里，平庸的陈词滥调可能会有一种生死攸关的重要性，或者说我希望在这个干燥可爱的早晨让你们想起这点。
当然，类似演讲的主要要求是我应该谈一谈你们的文科教育的意义，试图解释你们即将被授予的学位为何有实际的人的价值，而不仅仅是一种物质回报。那么让我们来说说一个毕业典礼演讲中最司空见惯的老套话题，那就是文科教育与其说是用知识把你填满，不如说是教你如何去思考。如果你们是和我一样的学生，那么你们永远不会喜欢听这个，你们会觉得需要有人来教你如何思考这个论断有点侮辱人，因为你们被这样好的学校录取这一事实本身就好像证明了你已经懂得了如何思考。但我要向你们指出，这文科教育的老套论点其实根本没有侮辱人，因为我们应该在这样一个地方得到的、关于思考的真正重要的教育，其实无关思考的能力，而是关于选择去思考什么。对于要思考什么，如果你所有的选择自由看起来太显而易见，以至于讨论是浪费时间的话，我请你想一想鱼和水，把对全然显而易见的东西之价值怀疑态度暂时搁置几分钟。
这儿是另一个有教益的小故事。在遥远的阿拉斯加荒野里的一间酒吧里，坐着两个人。其中一个有信仰，另一个是无神论者，两个人正激烈地就上帝是否存在进行争论，一边喝着第四瓶啤酒。 无神论者说：“你看，并不是我没有真正的理由不相信上帝。并不是我没有经历过整个上帝和祈祷的事。只是上个月的时候，我露营时遭遇了一场可怕的暴风雪，我完全迷失了什么也看不见，那时零下五十度，于是我试了一下：我在雪地里双膝跪地，呼喊道“哦，上帝啊，假如有一个上帝的话，我在暴风雪里迷了路，假如你不帮我，我就要死了。”而此刻，在酒吧里，那个有信仰的人全然迷惑地看着这个无神论者。“那么你现在一定相信了，”他说，“毕竟，你在这儿，活着。”无神论者转了转眼珠。“不，兄弟，只是有几个爱斯基摩人碰巧路过，向我指出了营地的方向。”
很容易在类似标准的文科分析课上讲这个故事：考虑到两个人的两种不同的信仰模式，以及两种不同的从经验里建构意义的方式，同样的经历对于两个不同的人而言可能意义迥然不同。
很容易在类似标准的文科分析课上讲这个故事：考虑到两个人的两种不同的信仰模式，以及两种不同的、从经验里建构意义的方式，同样的经历对于两个不同的人而言可能意义迥然不同。因为我们看重信仰的宽容度和多样性，在我们的文科分析中，就不愿宣称某人的诠释为真，而另一个人的为假或错。这没问题，只是同时我们无法停止谈论这些个人的模式和信仰从何而来。我的意思是说，它们来自这两个人内部的哪儿。就好像一个人对于世界最基本的定位，及其经验的意义，不知为何就是难以改变的，像身高或鞋的尺码；抑或自动地被文化所吸取，像语言。就好像我们如何建构意义实际上不是一种私人的、有意的选择。还有，所有那些关于傲慢的事。那个没信仰的人全然肯定不存在这种可能性：即路过的爱斯基摩人与他求助的祈祷有关。对，也有许多有信仰的人，他们好像同样傲慢，对他们自己的诠释深信不疑。他们很可能比无神论者更可憎，至少对我们大部分人而言。但有信仰的教条主义者的问题与故事里的无神论者如出一辙：盲目的确信，一种渐渐变成牢狱的成见，这牢狱如此绝对，以至于囚徒甚至不知道自己被关了起来。2
扩展：this is water 演讲 / this is water 下载 / this is water 译文
这儿的要点在于，我认为这一部分教会了我，如何思考究竟意味着什么。稍微不那么傲慢一些。有那么一点点对于自我及确信的批判意识。因为绝大部分的、我倾向于自动确定的东西，其实，是完全错的，被蒙蔽的。我吃了一番苦头明白了这点，我想你们这些毕业生们也会。
这儿我举个我自以为然的东西其实错得离谱的例子：我自身直接经验里的一切都让我深信我是宇宙的绝对中心；最真实、最生动、最重要的存在。我们很少想到这种自然的、基本的自我中心主义，因为在社会中它如此令人反感。但对我们所有人而言，几乎一样。这是我们的默认设置，在出生之时起便植入我们身体。想想这个：没有任何你拥有的经验，你不是它的绝对中心。你所经验的世界，在你前面或在你后面，在你的左边或右边，在你的电视或你的显示器上。诸如此类。他人的想法和情感必须以某种方式传达给你，但你自己的却那样直接、迫切、真实。
别担心我会就怜悯或“他人为导向”或所有所谓的德行来一番长篇大论。这不是一个有关德行的问题。而是关于自我选择去做一些工作，以某种方式改变或摆脱自然的、难以改变的默认设置，这些默认设置深而真实地以自我为中心，通过自我的眼光来看待并诠释一切。能够像这样调整他们自然的默认设置的人通常被描述为“适应性强的”，我要告诉你们这不是一个偶然的词。
考虑到这儿主导的学院背景，一个显而易见的问题是，调整默认设置的工作里有多少部分需要真正的知识或智力。这个问题相当吊诡。很可能学术教育最危险的部分——对自己而言最不危险——就是它使我倾向于把事情过分理智化，迷失于脑中的抽象论证，而非关注正发生在我眼前的东西，关注正在我内部发生的东西。1
我相信你们现在都明白了，不被你自己脑子里持续的独白所催眠（或许现在正发生）、而保持警觉和专心是极其困难的。我自己毕业二十年后，才渐渐理解，文科教育是教你如何思考这陈词滥调实际上简略地表达了一个深刻并严肃得多的思想：学习如何思考，实际上意味着学习如何对你怎样思考及你思考什么施加控制。它意味着足够清醒和自觉地选择你关注什么，选择你如何从经验中建构意义。因为假如你不能在成人生活中施加这类选择，你就会被完全打败。想想那个老掉牙的格言，思想是个好仆人，却是个坏主人。
这，就像许多陈词滥调一样，表面上没有说服力，不令人激动，其实却道出了一个伟大的、重要的事实。这一点也不偶然——用武器自杀的成人几乎都用枪射向自己的：脑袋。他们射向这个坏主人。事实是，远在他们扣下扳机之前，对大部分自杀者而言，他们早就死了。
而我认为文科教育真正的、靠谱的价值应该在于：使你舒适、富足、可敬的成人生活不致变得死气沉沉，变得不受意识控制，在日复一日间变成你大脑和默认设置的独一无二完全孤独的奴隶。那听起来像夸张，或抽象的废话。让我们具体点。明显的事实是你们这些毕业班学生对于“日复一日”究竟意味着什么还一无所知。碰巧那就是毕业演讲中无人提及的美国成人生活的大部分。这样的部分包括厌倦、惯例和小挫折。在这儿的家长们和长辈们会再清楚不过地明白我在说什么。
举例来说，假设这是成人生活里一个普通日子，你晨起，去做你那有挑战性的大学毕业生的白领工作，你努力工作了八或十个小时，一日终了时你累了，并相当紧张，你只想回家吃顿好的晚餐，也许放松个把小时，随后早早上床睡觉，当然因为你次日还要早起并重复这一切。但随后你想起家里没有吃的了。这周因为那挑战性的工作你无暇购物，于是现在下班后你不得不钻进车里，驶往超市。正是该工作日结束结束之时，交通往往会：非常糟糕。于是去商店花了比平常更多时间，当你最终到那儿时，超市里非常拥挤，当然是因为在一天里的这个时候，所有其他有工作的人也想抽空来买点杂物。而商店的照明很可怕，充满了教人想死的背景音乐或流行乐，这差不多是你最不想呆的地方了，但你没法一到就走，你不得不在巨大眩目的令人迷惑的走廊间游走，寻找你要的东西，你不得不操纵你那蹩脚的推车，穿梭在所有那些推着车疲倦的匆匆的人们之中（等等，等等，略去一些，因为那是个漫长的仪式），而最终你弄到了所有晚餐的材料，只是现在没有足够多开着的收银通道了，尽管这是关门前的高峰时段。所以买单的队伍长得难以置信，这既愚蠢又令人生气。但你没法把你的挫折感发泄在收银处那发狂般的女士身上，她已经工作过度，她每天的单调乏味无意义超过这所有威望的大学里任何人的想象。1
但无论如何，你最终到达了收银处的最前面，你为你的食物付钱，而你被告知“祝你愉快”的嗓音，是那种绝对的死神的声音。随后你要推着一车恐怖的轻薄的杂货塑料袋，一个车轮发疯一样地歪向左侧，一路穿过拥挤的、崎岖的、肮脏的停车位，随后你不得不一路开回家，穿过缓慢的、巨大的、充满越野车的尖峰车流，如此这般。
当然，每个人都经历过这个。但这尚未成为你们毕业们的真实生活的惯例，一日，一周，一月，一年。
但会的。还有许多其它令人生厌的、恼人的、看起来毫无意义的例行公事。但那不是重点。重点在于像这样微小的、令人丧气的狗屁事情正是选择的工作要介入的地方。因为交通堵塞、拥挤的走道和排队的结账队伍给了我时间思考，而假如对于如何思考及关注什么我不做出有意识的决定，每一次我去购物的时候就会生气痛苦。因为我自然的默认设置是确信像这样的情境都是关于我的。关于我的饥饿，我的疲劳，我的要回家的欲望，而这样就会觉得所有其他人的世界挡了我的道。而那些挡了我道的人是谁呢？看看他们中的大部分有多可憎，或排队买单的队伍里的那些人看起来多么愚蠢、像母牛、眼神无光、不似人类，或看看在队伍里高声打手机的人们有多令人讨厌有多粗鲁。再看看这么想对个人而言有多不公平。
或者，当然，假如我的默认设置是更有社会意识的文科形式，我可能会在一日之终的车流里把时间花在讨厌那些巨大、愚蠢、挡道的越野车、悍马和V-12小卡车上，这些车燃烧着浪费的、自私的四十加仑油箱，我可以老是想着，那些爱国或宗教贴纸似乎总出现在那些最大、最恶心自私的车辆上，由最丑陋、最不顾别人、最挑衅的司机们驾驶着。我可以想着我们的孩子们的孩子们会怎样鄙视我们浪费了未来的燃料，并很可能破坏了气候，想到我们所有人有多糟糕、愚蠢、自私、讨厌，以及当代消费社会如何令人生厌，诸如此类。
扩展：this is water 演讲 / this is water 下载 / this is water 译文
你明白这意思。
如果我选择在商店或高速公路上以这样的方式思考，没问题。我们很多人都这样。只是这种思考方式有如此简单、自动的倾向，以至于它不必成为一种选择。它是我自然的默认设置。是我体验成人生活无聊、丧气、拥挤的那部分时的自动方式，这时我运作着这自动无意识的信念，即我是世界的中心，我当前的需要和情感要决定世界的轻重缓急。
当然，事实是对于这类情境，存在着完全不同的思考方式。在这车流里，所有车辆停或慢下来挡了我的道，并非没有这样一种可能，这些在越野车里的人过去曾经遭遇了可怕的车祸，如今觉得开车可怕，以至于他们的心理治疗师不得不要求他们去弄一辆巨大的重型越野车，他们才好觉得足够安全来驾驶。或者这辆刚刚超过我的悍马，驾驶它的那位父亲旁边或许坐着他受伤或患病的孩子，他正试图送他去医院，他远比我紧急得多，也更合乎逻辑：实际上，是我挡了他的道。
或者我可以选择强迫自己考虑这样一种可能，在超市收银处排队的其他所有人和我一样厌烦和沮丧，其中一些人的生活很可能比我更艰难、更单调、更痛苦。
再一次，请别以为我要给你们什么道德建议，或者我在说你们应该这么思考，或者有人期待你们自动地这样做。因为这很难，需要意志力和努力，如果你们像我一样，那么在有些日子里你可能做不到这点，或者你会直率地说你不愿意这样做。
但在大部分日子里，如果你足够自觉地给予自己一个选择，你可以选择以不同的方式来看待这位肥胖的、眼神无光的、妆化得太浓的、刚在收银队伍里朝她的孩子大声嚷嚷的女士。或许她通常并不像这样。或许她已经连续三晚不眠，握着她即将因骨癌而死去的丈夫的手。又或者这位女士是汽车监理所的低薪职员，昨天刚刚打通一些小门路，帮你配偶解决了一个可怕而令人生气的繁琐问题。当然，这些都不是很有可能，但同样也并非不可能。只是取决于你愿意去考虑什么。假如你自以为你知道什么是现实，按默认设置来运作的话，那么你，像我一样，很可能不会去考虑那些并不恼人、并不痛苦的可能性。但假如你真的学会了如何去关注，那么你会明白存在着其它选择。实际上你有力量把一个拥挤、炎热、缓慢的消费地狱般的情境体验得既有意义又神圣，与创造星星的那些力量齐名：爱，友谊，一切事物深处神秘的一致性。2
并不是说神秘的东西就一定是真的。唯一大写的真实，是你要去决定你试图看待它的方式。3
这，我要说，就是真正教育的自由，学习如何自我调整的自由。你要有意识地决定什么有意义，什么没有。你要去决定看重什么。1
因为还有些别的，奇怪但却真实的事：在成人生活日复一日的壕沟里，真的没有那种叫无神论的东西。没有那种不崇拜的事。人人皆崇拜。我们要做的唯一选择是去崇拜什么。或许选择某种神或精神领袖来崇拜的最有说服力的理由是——不管是耶稣还是安拉，不管是耶和华还是巫术母亲神，或四圣谛，或什么不可侵犯的伦理准则——其它大部分你崇拜的东西会把你生吞了。如果你崇拜财物，如果你将生活的意义寄于其上，那么你永不会满足，永不会觉得你满足。这是真理。崇拜你的身体、美貌、性感，那么你会总感觉丑陋。而当年岁开始显现，你会早在他们令你神伤之前死过一百万次了。在某种层面上，我们都已经懂得这些。它被符号化为神话、谚语、陈词、隽语、寓言；成为每个好故事的架构。关键在于，在日常意识中一直记得这道理。
崇拜权力，最终你会感觉虚弱和恐惧，然后你会需要比别人更多的权力来令你对自身的恐惧麻木。崇拜你的智慧，被看作聪明人，你最终会感觉愚蠢，像个骗子，总是在被识破的边缘。但这些形式的崇拜的诱人之处并不在于它们是恶的或罪恶的，而在于它们是无意识的。它们是默认设置。
它们是那种你就那样渐渐陷入的崇拜，日复一日，对于你看见什么及如何衡量价值越来越具有选择性，而不去关注那些你正在做的事。
而所谓的真实世界并不会阻止你运作你的默认设置，因为所谓的由人类、金钱、权力组成的真实世界会一路欢快地和唱，在自我的恐惧、愤怒、沮丧、渴望及崇拜之中。如今我们自身的文化已经以某些方式控制了这些力量，以生产巨大的财富、安慰及个人自由。这种自由有不少值得推崇之处。但当然，存在着各种不同种类的自由，而最珍贵的那种，在关于欲望和成就的外部大世界里很少被人提及。真正重要的那类自由，包括了关注、意识和纪律，能够真正地关心他人，每天一而再、再而三地以微小而并不性感的方式为其牺牲。
那是真正的自由。那就是受过教育，理解了如何去思考。其反面是无意识，是默认设置，是争斗，是无止境的、恼人的、关于获得并失去某种重要事物的意识。
我知道这听起来很可能并不有趣轻松，不令人鼓舞，不像毕业典礼演讲所理应的样子。这是什么，据我所知，是大写的真理，假如剥去那些微妙的修辞的话。当然，你们可以自由地思考随便什么你们愿意思考的东西。但只是请别将它看成某个指手画脚的劳拉博士的布道。这些东西皆无关道德、无关宗教、无关教条，也无关那些来世的大问题。
大写的真理，乃是关注此世。
它与真正教育的真正价值有关，这几乎无关知识，而与简单的意识有着千丝万缕的联系，那是关于什么是真实和重要的意识，它寓于我们周围的简单视野之中，每时每刻，我们需要一遍遍地不断提醒自己。
“这是水。”
“这是水。”
要做到这点，要在日复一日的成人世界里保持意识和活力，困难得令人难以想象。这意味着又有一句陈词滥调其实是对的：你们的教育真的是一生的事情。而它始于：现在。
我祝愿你们一路不止好运。
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where is my water-Unit5 Where is my ruler 第三课时 本文地址：
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