Skip to Main Content
This is the fourth of four courses designed to develop English language knowledge for use in translation and/or simultaneous interpretation. In this final course, students will further develop their understanding of English language nuances and specific uses through the studying of extended texts across a variety of fields common to interpretation and translation. They will develop an adequate understanding of the history, geography, literature, culture, and politics of major English-speaking countries. Their writing skills will be further developed through more advanced writing tasks that aim at developing more advanced organization, accuracy, lexical diversity, sentence variety, and proper style. Speaking will focus on advanced applications of language deconstruction introduced in ENG1002T, focusing on fluency, accuracy, and appropriateness. Listening instruction will further develop their ability to undertake extended periods of focused listening and their skills in retaining information under stress. The cultural and social applications and understanding of English language in multiple settings will underpin all areas of instruction.
This novel was published by the English writer George Orwell in 1949. It depicts the world in 1984, in which only exists 3 battling countries. The main character is living in the Oceania, which implements political terror and suppresses human nature, under the totalitarian control of the political leader Big Brother. Being in opposed to, or regarded as opposed to the Big Brother, will lead to severe torture, and even disappear from the society. Citizens live in poverty in both material and spiritual life. The main character Winston Smith, though spiritually rebels against the totalitarian society, was tragically suppressed in the end.
This novel was written by the English writer Jane Austen. It depicts the love stories of the daughters of the Bennet family, centered on the one named Elizabeth. Elizabeth met Darcy, a wealthy and handsome young man in a dancing ball. Darcy was of great pride, and Elizabeth held prejudice against Darcy at the beginning. But eventually, Darcy abandoned his pride, and Elizabeth cleared her prejudice, and the two young lovers finally got married. This novel reflects Austen’s view on marriage- the lovers must base their love and marriage on the pursuit of independence, equality and mutual understanding.
This novel is revered as the first masterpiece in the genre stream-of-consciousness novel, and this edition is the original 1922 text by James Joyce. Altogether 18 chapters, depicting one topic parallel to Homer’s Odyssey and also one hour in the course of a single day, 16 June 1904, for each chapter, the novel traces the movements of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising canvasser, and Stephen Dedalus, a young teacher, through the streets of Dublin. The two men established a new father-son relationship in compensation for their loss in their original father-son relationship, and they, together with Molly, the wife of Bloom, decide to move on with their life as a family.
This novel was written by the English writer Iris Murdoch. The six-year-old Charles Arrowby, a leading figure of the English theater circle, retires from glittering London to an isolated house by the sea. In hope of escaping from those women, he unexpectedly encountered his first love. Besides, his cousin James, a pious Buddhist believer, also came to the sea. The peaceful life he longed for was disrupted by these unexpected visitors and a series of strange events. This novel unveils “the truth of untruth”- the human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises that we present to the world.
This novel was written by the English writer Zadie Smith. Archie and his friend, a Muslim Bengali named Samad, both veterans from World War II, immigrated to London but struggled in the conflict of cultures. Samad, in hopes of sticking to his Muslim tradition, even sent one of his twin children Magid back to Bengali. However, Magid was longing for the Western culture, and the other twin child Milliat, staying in London, brewed hatred against the Western culture to the opposite. Archie’s daughter Irie also suffered from the ambiguity of her cultural identity. They represent the group of immigrants who experienced a tragic loss of cultural identity.
This novel was written by the English writer Thomas Hardy. Tess, an innocent but poor girl, was raped by Alec, a man from a rich family. Later, Tess met her true love Clare, but Clare failed to accept the tragic past of Tess and abandoned her. Tess, desperate in both spirit and materials, became Alec’s mistress. When Clare regretted and went back to Tess, Tess could not control her hatred toward Alec anymore and killed him. Tess was eventually executed for being a murderer. The tragedy of this girl was caused by multifaceted reasons- poor economic conditions, unfair laws, and the power of the outdated religions and the newly-arising bourgeoisie.
This novel was written by the English writer Edward Morgan Foster. The Schlegels sisters, Margaret and Helen met two other families, the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the colonies, and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background. Wilcox matriarch, Ruth, wrote a note leaving Howards End to Margaret, but the note was burned by her husband Henry and their children. Later, Margaret and Henry developed a relationship and got married. Meanwhile, Helen fell in love with Leonard Bast. After twists and turns, Leonard died, and Henry decided to leave Howards End to Margaret, and the son of Helen and Leonard upon Margaret’s death.
This novel was written by the English writer Charles Dickens. Pip, growing up in the marshlands of Kent, lived with his sister and her husband Joe Gargery. Pip fell in love with Estella, a beautiful girl from the Havisham family, which caused his shame about his humble background. Later, an anonymous benefactor supported him for education in London, where he gradually got lost in his kind nature. Once he found out that his sponsor was an escaped convict he once helped in his hometown, he was soon threatened in his social standing. With the help of Joe, Pip returned to his kind nature, and eventually cultivated the love of Estella.
This novel was written by the English writer Kazuo Ishiguro. It is told in the first-person narrative of an English butler named Stevens, and much of the narrative is comprised of Stevens's memories of his work as a butler during and just after World War II. The story begins with Stevens’ road trip to visit Miss Kenton, his former colleague butler who left twenty years earlier to get married, and whom Stevens had a romantic feeling for. In the end, Stevens and Miss Kenton part, and Stevens returned to his butler job with a bitter feeling. This novel reflects on the gentlemen’s tradition in British society with a nostalgic feeling.
This novel was written by the American writer Mark Twain. Huckleberry Finn, the main character and narrator of this novel, ran away from his abusive father, and developed a friendship with the runaway slave Jim in their voyage down the Mississippi River on a raft to escape from the slave state. Huck encountered a variety of characters in almost every class living on or along the river, and learned to respect and love Jim- he eventually overcame conventional racial prejudices. After thrilling adventures, Jim was granted freedom, and Huck decided to live a free life in the Native Indian localities.
These novels were written by the American writer Jack London, among which the Call of the Wild follows Buck, a mix of St. Bernard and Scotch collie throughout his journey as a sled dog. Originally a beloved domesticated pet, Buck was stolen as the demand for sled dogs increased. Experiencing the death of its dog friend first and its human friend later, Huck eventually ventured into the forest and became the leader of a wolf pack. Despite being fully wild in the end, Buck still returned to the place of his human friend’s death each year to mourn for the loss.
This novel was written by the American writer John Steinbeck. The peasants in the middle states of the U.S. such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas were bankrupted. Large corporates expropriated their land, and they became homeless. They were forced to migrate to the West, to California to find a way out. Tom Joad with his family and a former preacher Jim Casy, were among the peasants on their way to California. They encountered many obstacles on the journey, and when they reached California, they found that jobs were scarce and that available pay was poor. But their trials were far from over.
This novel was written by the American writer J. D. Salinger. It details two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has been expelled from prep school. Holden searched for truth and wished to become a catcher in the rye, serving to catch the running child in the rye to keep them from falling off a cliff. This is understood as a metaphor to prevent children from entering adulthood, which was infiltrated with degeneration and phoniness. He ended up exhausted and emotionally unstable. He realized and accepted that he could not save everyone.
This novel was written by the American writer Ernest Hemingway. The American teacher Robert Jordan joined the antifascist Loyalist army, and was sent to make contact with a guerrilla band and blow up a bridge. He isolated the cowardly guerrilla leader Pablo and gained the support of Pablo’s courageous wife Pilar and other guerrilla soldiers. He fell in love with María, who has been raped by fascist soldiers. In the end, Jordan managed to destroy the bridge but was injured. Proclaiming his love to María once more, he awaits the fascist troops and certain death.
This novel was written by the American writer Tom Wolfe. This novel represents the ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City. Sherman McCoy, a successful bond trader in New York City, accidentally entered the Bronx at night while he was driving back to Manhattan with his mistress, and accidentally stroke a black youth. Peter Fallow, a British expatriate journalist, wrote a series of articles on this accident from the perspective of racial prejudice, which eventually caused great trouble to McCoy. In this drama, prosecutors, politicians, the press, the police, the clergy, and assorted hustlers were all twisted and presented the complexity of human nature.
This novel was written by the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman he loved in his youth. When Gatsby joined the army and went to the battlefield, Daisy married a brutish but absurdly wealthy man Tom Buchanan. Gatsby still longed for a reunion with Daisy after he came back and became a self-made millionaire. However, Daisy was indeed a woman of vanity. She hit and killed her husband’s mistress, and she and her husband ascribed the mistress’ death to Gatsby. The story ends with Gatsby being shot by the mistress’ husband George Wilson.
This book, written by Michael Herr, is of the New Journalism. It describes the author’s experiences in Vietnam as a war correspondent for Esquire magazine. Herr set out for Vietnam, arriving in Saigon in November 1967. It was only two months later that the bloody Tet Offensive, the all-out push by the Vietnamese Communists to break the American presence in the country, erupted all over South Vietnam. Returning to the United States in 1969, Herr suffered a nervous breakdown due to the events he witnessed, and the book was not published until 1977.
This book is a collection of linked short stories by American novelist Tim O’Brian. It is based upon his experiences as a soldier in the 23rd Infantry Division. This book tells about the experiences of the men of Alpha Company during and after the Vietnam War. It is a classic, life-changing meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. Tim O’Brian, the author, is often a character in the stories. Many of the other characters are semi-autobiographical, sharing similarities with figures from his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home.
This book, written by Thomas Hauser, is a biography of the boxer Muhammad Ali. In the words of more than 200 of Ali’s family members, opponents, friends, world leaders, and others who have known hime best, Hauser sought to incorporate as many divergent views as possible. Whenever a quotation appears in the manuscript, the source is indicated in the Notes at the end of the book unless it comes from an interview conducted specifically for the book. The real Muhammad Ali emerges: deeply religious, mercurial, generous, a showman in and out of the ring.
This book is aimed at training listening and notetaking sills for advanced level students of English as a second or foreign language. It offers models of two types of lectures, the noninteractive academic lecture and the slightly more interactive academic lecture. This book underscores the importance the external storage function of lecture notes, and focuses on developing notetaking skills. Topics covered in this book include anthropology and the concept of culture, history such as the Egyptian civilization and the Chinese civilization, sociology regarding gender roles and gender movements, communication in the classroom and between different genders, as well as biology such as genetics and genetic engineering.
This book is written for undergraduates at an introductory level, regarding writing analytic essays on literature. It explains the literary analysis essay’s purpose, and it guides readers through its structure, using exercises, examples of essay components, and sample essays. The book is divided into five chapters, covering the importance of audience as well as the key concerns that audience have on literature; how to write analytical paragraphs; how to define theme, debate theme, and identify theme, as well as effective statements of theme; argument structure; how to work with different types of literary analysis essays.
This is a textbook that teaches essay writing by guiding readers through each step of the essay plan, or blueprint. The book is divided into seven parts. Part 1 reviews the writing process. Part 2 explores different modes of writing. Part 3 presents the process of writing prompts based on critical reading. Part 4 presents a thorough explanation of the parts of speech. Part 5 provides explanation and practice to help readers avoid grammatical pitfalls. Part 6 deals with punctuation, mechanics, and spelling issues. Part 7 focuses on different types of sentences.
This is a textbook that uses the theme of art to highlight an approach to enhance readers’ reading, thinking, and study skills. Each chapter is introduced with a major work of art, and selections on art-related topics are provided throughout the text, including public art, Egyptian artifacts, prehistoric cave art, art theft, the Mona Lisa, the Vietnam War Memorial, body art and performance art. The book is divided into five parts, covering major college skills; critical reading skills; inference, figurative language, and author’s tone; how to develop critical reading and thinking skills; and the application of study skills such as SQ3R, outlining, mapping, and annotating.
This book surveys basic concepts behind the grammar of academic English and the conventions of academic writing. It discusses techniques that are vital for improving the quality of the sentences and paragraphs, and arguments that use evidence and logic to reach a conclusion and develop critical thinking. The objective is to develop effective essay writing, and make the readers aware of the common mistakes or issues that can often lead to lost marks. There are nine chapters altogether, covering basic conventions of academic writing; basic grammatical concepts; putting sentence together; putting paragraphs together; critical thinking; referencing; conciseness and clarity; common mistakes and how to deal with them; and proofreading.
