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Unit 11 TEXT 1

CULTIVATING A HOBBY Winston Churchill

Objectives: to take notes as completely as possible in class. to present their interpretations of each paragraph.

Section one

Pre-reading questions: (15 mins.)

1. What does ‘hobby’ mean? (refer to Lib. work) 2. Do you have any hobbies? What are they?

3. Do your hobbies do you any good? In what ways?

4. Who is W. Churchill? What’s his hobby you know from what you have learned or from this text? (refer to Lib. work)

In-reading interpretation:

The teacher explains every sentence to the students while the latter try to take notes as quickly and completely as possible. After the text interpretation, the students are required to explain some sentences by their own. Para.1 (15 mins.)

1. Worry is a spasm of emotion; the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.

spasm: an involuntary muscular contraction; here, a sudden violent spell (of); a sudden convulsive movement

Worry is a kind of feeling which catches you suddenly so that you can’t have any peace of mind. This feeling arises when you think about something without being able to discontinue thinking about it. Thus worry results. 2. It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition.

in this condition = when the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go

It is of no use trying to stop the troubled mind / the worry when it catches

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hold of something and will not let it go. i.e., when worry comes. 3. The stronger the will, the more futile the task. (LW6-1)

The stronger your will (to argue with the mind, or to stop the worry) is, the more ineffective/unsuccessful/useless it will be for you to achieve this task of stopping the worry.

The more you attempt to shake off your worry, the harder it will be for you to get rid of it / have it off your mind. Then what can we do to stop the worry?

4. One can gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. insinuate = introduce indirectly and subtly convulsive grasp = the worry

The only way is to have something else in mind so that it will not be grasped by worry / so as to replace the worry. What does ‘something else’ imply? Something else implies the hobby.

5. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins. attend = accompanied (comp.3-2)

illumination = enlightenment, edification another field of interest = hobby the old undue grip = worry

recuperation and repair = not becoming worried any longer

If you choose the right thing to conquer your mind, if you have another field of interest to enlighten you, your worry, gradually or swiftly, will be relieved. / you will be released from the worry.

6. This para. is about worry, which is repeatedly talked about. Instead of mentioning ‘worry’ again and again whenever it is talked about, Churchill uses some other phrases to refer to this annoying state of mind so as to avoid the monotony of expressions. Identify these phrases in the 1st paragraph. (comp.3-1)

a spasm of emotion, its convulsive grasp, the old undue grip

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Para.2 (10 mins.)

1. The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of first importance to a public man.

It is the most important for a public man to cultivate a hobby, because he is likely to have more worries in his work concerned with interrelationships with various kinds of people.

2. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process.

improvise = make or do without preparation, practice, sufficient material, etc.

But a hobby cannot be cultivated and developed so quickly as you expect in your business. No matter how strong your will is, hobby cultivation has to undergo a long process.

3. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed. (comp.3-3) This is a metaphor to describe the cultivation of a hobby. Explain it.

The author compares ‘hobby’ to ‘seed’, ‘fitness (of a hobby) to an individual’ to ‘good ground’, and ‘the effect (in lessening one’s worry)’ to ‘fruit’ so that the reader can have something concrete to look at. This is certainly a more effective way to explain an idea, esp. an abstract or complex idea. (Analysis)

sedulously = diligently, carefully, assiduously

vivifying fruits = results that give one relaxation / refreshment

The cultivation of a hobby is compared to that of a plant. First of all, the right hobby (the seed of a plant) must be carefully chosen for a person (good ground); then the process of cultivating a hobby, like that of growing a plant, requires care and effort. Only in this way can one reap in due time the fruit of one’s labor - the relaxing effect of one’s hobby.

4. There are some other expressions used in this para. to refer to ‘hobby’.

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