Seeing People Off學習任務答案與篇章講解賞析

十期答案

1. Explain the following words and expressions （highlighted in blue） in English.

（1） feat， lamentably （Para. 2）

a） feat： If you refer to an action， or the result of an action， as a feat， you admire it because it is an impressive and difficult achievement.

b） lamentably： very unfortunately or disappointingly

（2） farce （Para. 3）

a） farce： If you describe a situation or on event as a farce， you mean that it is so disorganised or ridiculous that you cannot take it seriously.

（3） assumed （Para. 5）

a） assumed： If you assume a particular expression or way of behaving， you start to look or behave in this way.

（4） integral （Para. 8）

a） integral： essential

（5） at length （Para. 9）

a） at length： finally

（6） unhinge （Para. 10）

a） unhinge： If you say that an experience has unhinged someone， you mean that it has affected them so deeply that they have become mentally ill.

（7） footing， pump up （Para. 14）

a） footing： Here footing refers to social position.

b） pump up： Here it means to shed.

2. Look up the underlined words in your dictionary， examining their multiple meanings. （Note down the meaning of each word in the context， and another meaning that the word often expresses.）

a） … with a fit of coughing… （Para. 5） A fit of coughing is a sudden short period of coughing that one cannot control. When we describe something as a good fit， however， we mean it fits well.

b） His fine profile was vaguely familiar to me… （Para. 6）

十期答案

Your profile is the outline of your face as it is seen when someone is looking at you from the side. Profile also means a short article or programme in which ones life and character are described. c） “I suppose，” he said presently… （Para. 11）

You use presently to indicate that something happened in quite a short time after the time or event that you have just mentioned. Also， if you say that something is presently happening， you mean that it is happening now.

3. Why is bidding farewell at the railway station more “difficult” than doing that at a farewell party？

Because the act of bidding farewell at a farewell party is more easily reciprocated in terms of emotional expression and empathy： The person who is departing and people who say goodbye to him or her can well exchange their affection. However， this is not that easy in the context of a railway station — the physical distance between the departing person who is on board and people who stand on the platform makes such emotional reciprocation less easy.

篇章講解賞析

本文是很好的敘事文本，故事的部分非常值得品讀。讀者不妨仔細斟酌作者描述事件過程中所用的各種動詞，體會它們的精準和生動。除此以外，從一個事件到另一個事件、從一個場景到另一個場景、從一種視角過渡到另一種視角的轉換，作者的處理都非常精妙，也值得讀者精細地學習、欣賞。

但這只是本文的特色之一。本文的另一個特色是很有深度。這種深度并非玄學式的抽象、不可理解，而在于我們常常忽視的日常的某種情感體驗，無法一下就體會到文章的主旨。我們會覺得這個故事很離奇，甚至會覺得第一人稱的“我”被那個站臺表演的人騙了，因為這送人離開的“服務”實在不合情理。但轉念一想，這種服務的存在又不無合理性。其實，當我們需要“表演”的時候，我們已經不再處于與他人的情感互動中了，而是讓個體的私人感受占了上風。當我們無法與他人在互動中獲得情感的交流以及某種相互的“報償”時，在特定的社會環境下，我們或許就只能“表演”了。

（北京外國語大學 徐浩）