Lesson 4: The double life of Alfred Bloggs
These days, people who do manual work oftenreceive far more money than people who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as "white-collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higherpay for the privilege of becoming white-collar workers. This can give rise tocurious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.
When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart blacksuit. He then changed into overalls and spent the next eight hours as adustman. Before returning home at night. He took a shower and changed back intohis suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept hissecret Alf's wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she neverwill, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office.He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his risein status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit allday and others will call him 'Mr. Bloggs', not 'Alf'.
Part 1: Lead-in question:
Q: Why did Alf want a white-collar job?
A: It was higher in status than the dustman.
Part 2: Words and Expressions
1. double: 雙的 double room/bed 雙人房/床
441322 （double four one three and double two）
問題來了：雙下巴怎么說？
雙重的：double standard/double life: 雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn)/雙重生活
2. manual:體力的
體力勞動(dòng)者：manual work/labour
腦力勞動(dòng)者：mental work/labour
知識(shí)工作者：knowledge worker
3. white-collar: 白領(lǐng)（腦力勞動(dòng)者）
blue-collar: 藍(lán)領(lǐng) ?（體力勞動(dòng)者）
pink-collar: 粉領(lǐng) (指由婦女所從事的工作，如護(hù)士，秘書等)
gold-collar: 金領(lǐng)（具備獨(dú)特或?qū)ｉT才能, 在公司中起關(guān)鍵作用的雇員）
4. sacrifice: v.犧牲，獻(xiàn)出 (give up) ?sacrifice one's life for the country.
sacrifice sth. for sth.?
許多女性為了家庭犧牲了工作。
Many women sacrifice their careers for their family.
Sacrifice sth to sb/sth
She scrificed her family to marry him.
5.curious 奇怪的
She was wearing a curious smile on her face. 她臉上掛著奇怪的笑容
好奇的 Babies are curious about everything around them.
6. smart 聰明的；好看的，精致的。
a smart restaurant.
Part 3: Sentence Structure
Such is human nature, that a great many people are?often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming?white-collar workers.
這句話為倒裝句，正常語(yǔ)序?yàn)镠uman nature is such that ....
Such is life. （這就是生活）。such 放句首要倒裝。
Part 3:Culture
社會(huì)一般分為三個(gè)階層，upper class (上層社會(huì))，middle class（中層社會(huì)），和lower class（底層社會(huì)）
如何區(qū)分一個(gè)人處于社會(huì)哪個(gè)階層呢？可以從以下三點(diǎn)來區(qū)分。
1、clothes. 一個(gè)人的穿著打扮往往可以看出來他是屬于社會(huì)哪個(gè)階層的。比如白領(lǐng)一般整天西裝革履(Wear a collar and tie everyday), 而藍(lán)領(lǐng)穿工服（in overalls）
2、稱謂。文中最后一句也可以看到Alf社會(huì)階層的變化會(huì)帶來稱呼上的變化。如做清潔工的時(shí)候，別人會(huì)直呼其名Alf，變成白領(lǐng)以后，別人會(huì)叫他Mr. Bloggs.
3、accent. 口音。As soon as you open your mouth, people will know which class are you from 你一開口,就暴露了等級(jí)和階層.
劇作家蕭伯納的《賣花女》改編成電影后由赫本主演，講一個(gè)賣花的底層少女通過學(xué)習(xí)貴族的口音偽裝進(jìn)入上流社會(huì)。這本書的序言中寫道，“英國(guó)人一開口說話，就會(huì)激起另一個(gè)英國(guó)人的妒恨或鄙夷之情?！?br>
Received Pronunciation是公認(rèn)發(fā)音的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)英語(yǔ)，它最初的作用并不是促進(jìn)溝通，而是作為一種“貴族音”將一小部分上流社會(huì)的人和別人區(qū)隔開來。只有三種人講 RP：皇族、BBC的播音員和從小在私立寄宿學(xué)校受教育的人，而其中皇族講的RP又和后兩種有一點(diǎn)兒不同，被稱為“Queen's Accent”。
