The commencement speech you’ll never hear

Part I Warming up
1. Becoming an outstanding student can make you much more successful in every
area of school, from relationships with teachers to academics. How can you become
an outstanding student if there is room for improvement in your life?
2 Read the quotation and answer questions.
Enlightening the ignorant through education so that they follow the right path — this
is the achievement of sages.
—The Book of Changes

1) How much do you know about “The book of changes”?

The I Ching, or Book of Changes, a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist
philosophy, is one of the first efforts of the human mind to place itself within the
universe. The Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese divination (占卜算卦) text. The
“I ching” is used in a type of divination called cleromancy (占卜), which uses
apparently random numbers.
2) How do you understand the sentence quoted from the book?
A sage is a person who is regarded as being very wise.
...ancient Chinese sages.
3) Please translate the quotation into Chinese.

3 Compound dictation
词汇表
nugget of knowledge 有价值的知识
at our fingertips 唾手可得的，近在咫尺的
absorb 理解，掌握（知识、想法等）
effective 有效的 effectiveness 有效性
peer-to-peer 同学间交流的，互相分享（知识）的
project-based 专题式的（学习模式）
collaboratively 合作地
conducive 有益的，有帮助的
stretch the mind 拓展思维
simulation 模型
concept 概念，想法
face-to-face 面对面的
academic 大学老师，学者
Do we need to attend lectures?
At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture.
These learning sessions give us some 1)._____________of knowledge or can be
something we yawn through, trying to2) . Whatever our experience, lectures
have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. But will they
exist in the future?
With the growth of the Internet and so much information3)______________, you
may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location 4)_______a handful
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of textbooks. BBC journalist Matt Pickles, says “research has shown that students
remember as little as 10 percent of their lectures just days afterwards.”
Professor Carl Wieman, who 5)________________the traditional lecture, felt talking
at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he
introduced “active learning” that encourages problem solving in small groups. He
listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has been improved exam
results. Other new alternatives to the lecture have included 6).___________________
_that enable students to link up and work collaboratively on projects such as building
a computer game.
Sometimes the lecture room is not 7)__________ to learning; a boring, colourless
room is not necessarily an inspiring place for
8)_________ the mind. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two lecture
rooms have been refitted to allow students to sit around small tables with screens
showing 9) _________________________.
But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively
cheap way of being taught face-to-face by an academic. The real issue according to
Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at
Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that “academics put thousands of hours of
work into their books and much less time into thinking about the
10)____________.” But he says “the lecture has survived because research, not
teaching, determines the success of a university and its
11)_________.”
So if research quality is a measure of a university’s success and money is tight, then
the lecture could be here for a little longer. How does that make you feel? How would
you improve your lectures?
4. How do you define a great teacher? What makes a great teacher?

Part II Text Exploration

commencement means:
skeleton dimension epoch beginning
commence means to:
bring out let on start up let out

Sentences: When will the opening ceremony commence?

The day commenced with a welcome from the principal.
We commence building next week.

“Commencement” is a ceremony at which university, college, or high-school

graduates are given their degrees or diplomas（文凭）. At a commencement all the
students wear academic regalia (学位服), and usually there are several speeches.
A commencement speech is typically given by a notable figure in the community
(politicians, important citizens or other noted speakers). The person giving speech is
known as a commencement speaker.
Notable speeches include:
Winston Churchill at Harrow School in 1941
John F. Kennedy’s American University speech in 1963
Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005
Steve Jobs told students: ‘Stay hungry. Stay foolish.’
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by

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dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the
noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have
the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you
truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Tim Cook to Stanford grads: 'It's our humanity that got us into this mess and it's
our humanity that's going to have to get us out'

"When your time comes, and it will, you'll never be ready. But you're not supposed to
be," he told the class of 2019. "Find the hope in the unexpected. Find the courage in
the challenge. Find your vision on the solitary road. Don't get distracted.

"There are too many people who want credit without responsibility. Too many who
show up for the ribbon cutting without building anything worth a damn. Be different.
Leave something worthy."

Structure
The passage, which was written by Professor Jacob Neusner of Brown University,
was never delivered as a speech at the commencement. Rather, it was published as an
essay in Brown University’s campus newspaper, The Brown Daily Herald.

Brown University：布朗大学创立于 1764 年，是全美第七古老的大学，坐落在

美国罗得岛州首府普罗维登斯市。是一所享誉世界的顶级私立研究型大学，闻
名世界的八所常春藤盟校之一，罗得岛设计学院的姊妹校。

Read the passages and complete the summary of the authors' arguments with
information from the passages.

Prof. Neusner’ argument

College is a(n) 1) _________ world and it has prepared students for
2) .

Sub-argument 1 (Para. 1)
In college, failure 3) _________.

Sub-argument 2 (Para. 2)
In college, students can defend 4) _________, and take pride in mediocre work.
Sub-argument 3 (Paras. 3-5)
College is an altogether forgiving world. No matter what slight effort students made,
they could meet the demand.
College teachers are forgiving and pretend not to care about students’ misbehavior as
they do not want to be 5) _________.

Prof. Neusner’s conclusion (Paras. 6-8)

Professor Daniel’s viewpoint
Teachers can take no pride in their work because college failed students by being an
"easy, free, forgiving, attentive, comfortable, interesting, unchallenging world.

Prof. Neusner‘s advice (Para. 9)

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• Do not mistreat your co-workers and boss; 6) _________college taught you.

Ida Timothee‘s argument

Part One (Para.1)
The points that Ida Timothee is going to
argue against
Part Two (Para.2)
Ida’s comments on Neusner’s points

Part Three (Para.3)

Ida’s argument against Neusner’s point

Part Four (Para.4)

Ida argues against the so-called students’
belief that failure leaves no record

Part Five (Para.5)

Ida’s conclusion

Detailed understanding
Read the passages again and decide whether the statements are true (T), false (F), or
not given (NG).
1. Prof. Neusner believes that it is difficult to get high grades in college.
2. Prof. Neusner thinks that teachers should respond to students5 writing, however
little effort they have made on it.
3. According to Prof. Neusner, some students are under the illusion that teachers
really care if they are popular with students.
4. College life taught Ida Timothee how to be more tolerant toward others.
5. According to Ida Timothee, if one drops out of a class, they have to earn extra
credits in the next semester.
6. Ida Timothee has no complaints about her dorm life, although she has to share the
dorm with two other students.
7. Ida Timothee wishes her teachers could be more attentive to students’ needs.