unit 1 Science vs. the HUmanities

2021年1月25日发(作者：qric)
Unit One
Science vs. the Humanities

Jacques Barzun

Text
1.

Are the
humanities
a useless
frill

—
a vestigial
appendage

of
our
antiquated
educational
system?
Has
the
importance
of
technology
been
stressed
over
that
of
the
humanities
at
a
time
when perhaps
the converse
should be true? Should we bother at
all to teach the humanities in our schools? These are questions
which have often
beset
educators and serious-minded thinkers.
Let us investigate these questions in their broad context, for our
heritage
depends to an extent on the answers.
2.

[T1]

The
humanities
are
not
a
mere
device;
they
are
not
agencies for general improvement.
The humanities in the broad
cultural sense, and in the narrow academic one, have uses that
are much more intimate and permanent.
In any generation, per-
sons are born who find books, music, works of art, and theaters
in the world and are instinctively drawn to them. These people
grow up with an
ingrained
desire for the objects of their interest
and
a
preference
for

people
of
a
like
taste.
A
larger
group,
though
less
intent
,
takes
similar
pleasure
in
artistic
activities
from time to time. The two groups together are strong enough to
impose
on
the
remainder
the
daily
presence
of
what
delights
them.
3.

[T2]

Thus the art of architecture and its
decoration
—
the
post-office mural or the restored Williamsburg
—
are forced on
millions who, left to themselves, might live in a cave or a tent.
Thus
newspapers
and
magazines
reproduce
pictures,
retell
history, comment on art old and new, criticize music and books,
write about the lives and opinions of artists
—
in short,
cater for

the minority who
sway
us all by their peculiar tastes.
4.

Thus
again,
public
libraries
and
museums
and
concerts
in
parks and dinner-hour
broadcasts “make available to all” (as we
say) the products of these special concerns. Consequently, when
we repeat the
commonplace
that the
modern world is ruled by
science, we
must at once add that that same world is given its
shape and color by art, its most pleasing sounds and meanings
by music and poetry, its categories, characters, and catchwords
by
philosophy,
fiction,
and
history.
[S1]

Imagine
all
the
devotees
of
the
humanities
suddenly
withdrawing
to
a
monastery,
taking
with
them
all
that
belongs
to
them;
the
workaday
world
we
know
would
turn
before
our
astonished
faces
into
something
bleak,
dark,
soundless,
bare
of
sensuous
charm,
and
empty
of
any
meaning
beyond
that
of
immediate
needs and their fulfillment by mechanical aids.

5.

A
few
persons
—

many
fewer
than
the
humanities
can
count as devotees
—
might still enjoy
intellectual contemplation

and mathematical thrills,
[S2]

but even they might miss from the
stripped stage of daily life the furniture we call civilization.
6.

This contrast is at once instructive and comforting.
[T3]
It
tells us that the arts produce objects for the senses and not only
for
the
mind,
which
is
one
reason
why
the
humanities
are
not
interested in proofs or in statistics;
in place of proof they give
possession, and in place of averages they give uniqueness.
And,
despite
fashions
in
taste,
these
objects
form
an
ever- enlarging
treasury. We speak of 3,000 years of literature, philosophy, and
architecture;
of
a
vast
collection
of
objects
of
art,
of
an
impressive
repertory
of
music
—

all
of
it
as
varied,
new
and
mysterious as it ever was. This reality
points to
the true role, the
indispensable function, of the academic humanities
—
they are
the
organizers
of
our
huge
inheritance
of
civilization.
[T4]
Without
the
continual
work
of
humanistic
scholars,
we
should
be
living
not
in
a
culture
full
of
distinct
and
vigorous
traditions
—
national, religious, artistic, philosophical, scientific,
and political;
rather
, we should be
rummaging
about in an attic
full of incomprehensible relics.

7.

When,
therefore,
the
representative
of
a
foundation
expresses official skepticism about the humanities in the modern
world (not ever
speaking for himself
, since he is a humanist
at
heart
,
but
for
his
Board
of
Trustees,
whose
hardheadedness
is
reported
as
granitic),
the
argument
against
his
skepticism
is
quite simple: The humanities are of no use in the social worker's
sense
of
“useful.”
They
are
of
use,
unobtrusively,
all
day
and
every
day,
to
those
who
respect
and
enjoy
and
require
the
evidences of civilization.
8.

[T5]
The use of the humanities, then, is proved and fixed by
the ancient, unshakable, ever-spreading desire for them.

On the
surface,
these
uses
appear
more
individual
than
social,
more
self-indulgent than altruistic.
Some men are so selfish that they
read
a
book
or
go
to
a
concert
for
their
own
sinister
pleasure,
instead
of
doing
it
to
improve
social
conditions,
as
the
good
citizen does when drinking cocktails or playing bridge.
9.

[T6]
But
one
must
take
things
as
they
are;
the
advocate
of
practicality
is
very
unpractical
if
he
does
not.

We
may
acknowledge
the
desirability
of
devoting
human
energies
to
killing
viruses
and
improving
our
neighbors;
but
it
does
not
follow that
all rewards and research funds should go to projects
for the immediate relief of pain and sorrow
—

the “studies” that
promise
to
reduce
nail-biting
among
wallflowers

and
prevent
dorsal decubitus in backsliders.
10.

For,
if
we
drop
the
jargon
of
projects
for
a
moment
and
look
about
us,
we
find
that
people
have
a
perverse

liking
for
simple
satisfactions
of
their
own
choosing.
They
like
singing
and
dancing
and
storytelling;
they
like
to
argue
about
the
existence of God and the reality of their senses; they want to sit
in a corner with a book or outdoors with an easel and a box of
paints;
they
collect
coins
and
arrowheads;
they
trace
their
ge-
nealogy and develop an interest in the history of the iron pipe
industry.
They
read
about
foreign
affairs
and
learn
foreign
languages for the sake of aimless travel abroad;
[S4][T7]
there is
no end to the silly, scholarly interest that actual, living, modern,
scientific, respectable American citizens will
take up

rather than

do
an
honest
day's
work
clearing
slums
and
keeping
down
divorce.

11.

The
real
state
of
affairs
should
now
be
plain.
The
humanities,
which
pander
to
these
follies
and
which
are
perfectly useless as an antibiotic, are all about us, tempting our
eye,
ear,
and
mind,
and
always
adding,
adding
to
the
load

of
mischief
they
stand
for.
Their
practitioners
seem
to

have
no
thought
but
to

increase
the
sum

of
the
things
they
deal
in
.
[T8]
True,
these
things
do
not
cost
any
more
than
the
undertakings of social science
—
rather less
—
and far less than
the
mighty
enterprises
of
physical
science.

To
that
extent
the
humanities are unwise and, perhaps,
undeserving of
the attention
of
those
entrusted
with
millions

for
educational
purposes.
Yet
those same guardians, it is well known,
give of
their own money
to the
liberal arts
college of their youth and send their children
there
to
study
chiefly
the
humanities.
The
practical
man,
it
seems,
has
been
too
busy
spinning
dreams
of
medical
and
behavioral
betterment
to
bring
his
opinions
in
line
with

his
practice.
12.

[T9]
The
academic
humanities
undoubtedly
deal
with
the
arts;
why,
then,
doesn't
it
follow
that
scholars
and
teachers
in
those fields are artists, or at least cultivated men?
The fact is that
they are not, or need not be.
[T10]
This must be bluntly said, if
only to prevent the serious claims of the humanities from being
understood as the claims of humanists
to
wisdom, elegance, and
glamour.
Not
long
ago,
a
well-known
psychiatrist
denounced
the humanities as
a wasteful expense. Put the time
and
money
into
mass
psychoanalysis,
he
said,
and
the
sum
of
individual
happiness
in
this
country
would
be
immeasurably
increased.
This sort of argument is unanswerable. It is also irrelevant. But
it shows the danger of
perpetuating
conventional nonsense about
the
academic
humanists
and
their
work.
[S5]
They
can
be
adequately
rewarded
and
respected
only
when
they
appear
in
their
colors
.

13.

The humanities, then, are not a
Cinderella
who
goes forth

into the world only with the aid of magic and has to
scurry
home
when
real
life
resumes
its
sway
.
Quite
the
contrary,
the
humanities
are
permanently
abroad
,
and
if
in
their
academic
setting they are poor, it is because their actual services are taken
too
much
for
granted;
it
is
that,
by
dint
of

living
on
their
intellectual
capital,
they
look
rich
—

rich
in
students,
rich
in
enthusiasm, rich in intangible rewards. They are poor in means,
because
they
have
not
known
how
to
make
out
their
case

on
their own grounds
.
[T11]
They have claimed powers that belong
either to no man or to other men, and at the same time they have
been culpably modest and retiring.

14.

They
have
heard
sanctimonious
voices
repeating
ad
nauseam

that “
man does not live by bread alone
,” and they have
never interrupted to say, “Bakers and butch
ers, be quiet
—
and
discharge
your debt to us for the alchemy which makes your life
behind the counter
bearable. “

15.

The rejoinder, to be sure, is neither gracious nor ennobling,
but it is at least honest and, when competition is
the order of the
day
,
it
is
appropriate.
In
more
contemplative
moments,
the
humanities can find other words to represent them, and it is with
approximation of such words that this article comes to an end.
16.

The
humanities
are
a
form
of
knowledge.
Like
other
knowledge, this deals with man's life in nature and society, but it
is
acquired
through
the
study
of
man's
spiritual
creations
—

language,
art,
history,
philosophy,
and
religion.
[T12][S6]
This
filtering
of
the
subject,
man,
through
the
medium
of
mind
has
the
effect
of
keeping
always
in
the
foreground
the
element
of
novelty,
of
uniqueness,
of
astonishing
unpredictability.

[T13]
Whereas
the
study
of
nature
assumes
and
finds
its
uniformities,
and
whereas
the
scientific
study
of
society
tries
also to grasp what is regular and inevitable, the study of nature
and
man
through
the
humanities
dwells
on
what
is
individual
and unlike and anarchic.
It finds what does not conform to rule,
what has no counterpart, what does not “behave,” but simply is
or
acts
—

this
is
the
splendid
and
refreshing
spectacle
of
the
humanities. It is the
Antigone
of Sophocles
, which describes the
unique woman and is like no other drama; the Athenian plague
in
Thucydides
, which is at once unknown, vividly present, and
forever the
past; the old woman painted by
Rembrandt
, whose
like we shall never see again, but in that record; the Adagio of
Beethoven
's
Fourth Symphony,
which rose from no formula and
yields
none;
the
Zarathustra

of
Nietzsche

,
which
is
an
impossibility
and
a
revelation;
the
lyrics
of
Thomas
Hardy
,
which
defy
all
the
canons
of
diction
and
sentiment
and
prove
them
wrong;
the
languages
of
a
thousand
peoples,
which
are
each
more illogical and
more subtle than the next.
[T14]These
are the substance which the humanities present to us in the order
of
logic
and
veracity,
combining
thereby
fixed
reason
with
wayward
spirit,
and
thus
alone
deserving
the
name
of
Misbehavioral Science.
(from
Reading Laboratory
IVa 5)

Language Points
1. appendage, appendix, adjunct, attachment, accessory and
frill:
These nouns denote subordinate elements added to another
entity, either integral or incidental.
appendage:

(1)
something
which
exists
as
a
smaller
and
less
important part of something larger. An appendage supplements
without
being
essential.
It
refers
to
a
more
integral
part
of
a
whole than do any of the other terms.
－
The porch wasn’t part of the original house but added later
as an
appendage
.
－
The committee is a mere appendage of the council and has
no power of its own.
－
The organism has small leaf- like appendages.
(2)
It
is
especially
used
in
the
life
sciences
to
indicate
the
limbs or extremities of a plant or animal such as
an arm, leg or
other body part
.
－
He had a tattoo
（纹身）

on every visible appendage
（附
肢）
.
－
On account of its jointed structure, the whole or part of an
appendage is movable by means of its muscles.
(3) a person in a subordinate or dependent position (Such uses
may be rather stiff except when a note of mockery is conveyed.)
－
I feel a person in my own right, instead of an appendage to
the family.
－
She
co
uld
be
merely
an
appendage
or
she
could
“do
her
own thing”.

appurtenance:

An
appurtenance
belongs
naturally
as
a
subsidiary attribute, part, or member


－
Books
and
CDs
are
among
the
appurtenances
of
student
life.
－
”an internationally known first
-class hotel ... equipped with
such appurtenances as computers, word processors, copiers and
telex” ___ Oscar Millard.

appendix:
(1)
(BOOK PART)
(
pl.

appendixes or appendices
)
a
separate
part
at
the
end
of
a
book
or
magazine
which
gives
additional information
－
There's
an
appendix
at
the
end
of
the
book
with
a
list
of
dates.
(2)
(BODY PART)
(
pl.

appendixes
) a small tube-shaped part
which is joined to the intestines on the right side of the body and
has no use in humans
阑尾

－
She
had
her
appendix
out
(=
medically
removed)
last
summer
adjunct:

something
added
or
connected
to
a
larger
or
more
important thing .An
adjunct
is added as an auxiliary but is often
self-sustaining.
－
I hoped I would find the computer course a useful adjunct
to my other studies.
－
In grammar, an adjunct is an adverb or adverbial phrase that
gives extra information in a sentence.
－
”Intelligence analysts ... believe that of all the countries of
the
Middle
East,
none
use
terrorism
more
effectively
as
an
adjunct to diplomacy ...” ___Elaine Sciolino.

accessory:
something added to a machine or to clothing, which
has
a
useful
or
decorative
purpose.
An
accessory

is
usually
nonessential but desirable.

－
Our new car has such accessories as air conditioning and a
sunroof.
－
She
wore
a
green
wool
suit
with
matching
accessories
(=
shoes, hat, bag, etc.).
attachment:
(1)An
attachment
adds a function to the thing to
which it is connected.
－
The food processor has an attachment for kneading dough.
－
An attachment to class may also limit the ambitions of both
parents and children.
(2) a file joined to an email, such as a document, picture or
computer program.
－
I’ll email my report to you as an attachment.

－
I wasn’t able to open that attachment.

(3)
a
feeling
of
love
or
strong
connection
to
someone
or
something.
－
At
university
I
formed
a
strong
attachment
to
one
of
my
tutors.
frills:
(infml) extra things that are added to something to make it
more pleasant or more attractive, but that are not necessary
无用
的虚饰

－
Most of the fine new apparatus in this aircraft is just frills; it
doesn’t help the aircraft to fly better.

－
No frills, thank you, just give me the basic model.

2. the converse:
[S]formal

the opposite, the reverse


－
In the US, you drive on the right hand side of the road, but
in Britain the converse applies.
－
However, the converse of this theory may also be true.
3. beset:

vt.
trouble or harass persistently


－
At some stage, disappointments will certainly beset him.


－
Unequal opportunities between rural and urban schools that
have beset some countries can be a thing of the past.


adj.

[after verb] troubled (by); full (of)


－
With
the
amount
of
traffic
nowadays,
even
a
trip
across
town is beset
by/with
dangers.


－
Beset
by
drug
problems,
prostitution,
violence
and
vandalism, this is one of the most unpleasant areas in the city.
4. heritage:
Something that one is born to: the status, conditions,
character, and riches that belong to a person because that person
is a member of a family, a social class, a particular society
—

i.e., a religious, ethnic, regional or national group. Whatever is
inherited, passing from one generation to the next. The history,
languages,
way
of
life,
the
arts,
and
traditional
culture
that
is
passed from preceding generations.

Synonyms
include
inheritance
,
birthright,
legacy
,
and
tradition.
These
nouns
denote
something
immaterial,
such
as
a
custom, that is passed from one generation to another.
inheritance:
All or part of a person's estate/assets that is given
to an heir once the person is deceased.
legacy:
A disposition of personal property by will.
In a narrow technical sense, a legacy is distinguishable from a
devise, a gift by will of real property. This distinction, however,
will not be permitted to defeat the intent of a testator
—
one who
makes
a
will
—
and
these
terms
can
be
applied
interchangeably
to either personal property or real property if the context of the
will demonstrates that this was the intention of the testator.
A general legacy, a demonstrative legacy, and a specific legacy
represent the three primary types of legacies.
－
a heritage of moral uprightness

－
a rich inheritance of storytelling
－
a legacy of philosophical thought
－
the tradition of noblesse oblige
5. device:

a decorative design, figure, or pattern, as one used in
embroidery


－
It is mainly an ornamental device used by the women of the
Miao Nationality for making clothes.



－
Something resembling the head of a nail that is used as an
ornamental device.
6.
ingrained:

(used
especially
of
ideas
or
principles)
deeply
rooted; firmly fixed or held


－
So
deeply
ingrained
is
our
instinct
to
search
for
a
pattern
that we refuse to accept any input as genuinely random.


－
For most of us, the habit of acting without prior thought is
very deeply ingrained.
7. preference
(for):
a strong liking.


－
Her preference is for comfortable rather than stylist clothes.


－
I have a preference for sweet food over spicy.
cf.
in preference to
－
He studied chemistry in preference to physics at university.

8. intent:
(1) wholly absorbed as in thought
－
The students, intent upon their books, did not hear me enter
the room.
(2) having the mind and will focused on a specific purpose

be intent on sth/doing sth
:
to be determined to do or achieve
something:
－
I've tried persuading her not to go but she's intent on it.
－
He seems intent on upsetting everyone in the room!
9. force on:
impose on/upon; to make somebody or a group of
people accept something unwillingly


－
This method was forced on us by headquarters.
10. leave sb. to himself/to their own devices:
allow someone
to make their own decisions about what to do; not to control the
activities of (people)


－
He seemed to be a responsible person, so I left him to his
own devices.


－
We left the children to their own devices.
11.
cater
for
sb./sth.:

to
provide
or
supply
what
amuses,
is
desired, or gives pleasure, comfort, etc.


－
The club caters for children between the ages of 4 and 12.


－
We try to cater to all tastes in our bookstore.
cater to sb./sth.:
to try to satisfy a need, especially an unpopular
or generally unacceptable need:
－
This legislation simply caters to racism.

12.
sway:

v.

(1)
influence;
persuade
someone
to
believe
or
do
one thing rather than another


－
Her
speech
failed
to
sway
her
colleagues
into
supporting
the plan.


－
Don’t let yourself be swayed



(2) (cause to) move or change slowly from side to side


－
The trees were swaying in the wind.


－
Recent developments have swayed the balance of power in
the region.


n.
[U]
formal
control or influence


－
In
the
1980s,
the
organization
came
under

the
sway
of
(=became strongly influenced by) Christian fundamentalism.


－
Her parents no longer seem to have much
sway
over her.
13. commonplace:

n.
a boring remark which is used very often
and does not have much meaning


－
We exchanged commonplaces about the weather over cups
of tea.


－
It
is
a
commonplace
now
to
acknowledge
the
difficulties
involved in drawing a boundary around the inner city.


adj.
uninteresting as a result of being unoriginal
－
Home computers are increasingly commonplace.