Passage A   The Unsung Heroes: What About Working Dads?

 

Pre-reading Tasks

Think About It: -

1. Do you think fathers are as important to children as mothers are? Why or why not?

2. What's the image of a "good family man"?

3. A "working father" as a family bread winner is often too busy to take care of his family. Now people have a negative image of the "working father. What do you think of the "working father"?

 

While-reading Tasks

Related Information

1.    Working fathers face a unique challenge. We are trying to do it all by carefully balancing our work life with our home life. Many working fathers struggle in vain to find time to relate intimately with their own children. We face many distractions that keep us, as fathers, from really getting to know and understand our children. Is it any wonder that our kids sometimes feel like they are competing for our attention? What can we do to make the best use of the time we do have? We are doing our best to be the best fathers we can be.

2.    Women aren't alone in their struggle to balance work and family. More and more, men in executive positions aren't content to get home just in time to kiss the kids goodnight. They want to be home to pick them up from daycare, feed them, bathe them, read to them... and then kiss them goodnight.

3.    Seventy percent of men between the ages of 21 and 39 say they are willing to give up some pay for time with their families, according to a poll conducted last year by the Radcliffe Public Policy Center in Cambridge, Mass.

4.    More men are taking responsibility for child care and household duties, according to a new study by the non-profit Families and Work Institute.

5.    While working women spend three hours each work day caring for their children—about the same as they did in 1977—working fathers now spend 2.3 hours on child-rearing, a half-hour more each work day than they did 20 years ago.

Words and Phrases

1.       refer to ... as...: call .. as..., regard ... as

Examples:       Don't refer to your sister as a silly cow! (= Don't call your sister silly cow.)

 The speaker referred to him as an up-and-coming young Democrat.

2.       bombard: v. worry with questions, requests, complaints, etc.

Examples: The audience bombarded him with many questions.

      I'm not very keen on watching TV, because whenever you turn it on, you are

bombarded with a lot of advertisements.

3.   proportion: 1) relation of one thing to another in quantity, size, etc.

Examples: The proportion of men to women in the population has changed in recent years.

 His reputation bore no proportion to his merit.

      2) to make in or put into correct or suitable proportion

Examples: One must proportion one's expenditure to one's income

 The different parts of the house are well proportioned.

4.    dubious: feeling doubt, uncertain

Examples: I am dubious about his chances of passing the examination.

    The manager is dubious about the wisdom of this promotion stunt.

5.   point out: call or direct attention to
Examples: Mr. Merritt pointed this problem out to you the other day.

May I point out that if we don't decide now we shall have to leave it until next month?

6.    fulfil: perform, carry out, accomplish

Examples: He had fulfilled many of his youthful ambitions before he was fifty.

           The administration failed to fulfil its promises to revive the economy of the country.

7.    flexibility: state of willing to easily change to adapt to new conditions

Example: He has enough flexibility to cope with the job.

 A man devoid of imaginative flexibility could not be a successful actor.

8.    supposedly: as believed, as it appears

Example: Supposedly she is a rich woman., but no one knows for sure.

He went home to his father supposedly to help him.

9.    by the same token: in the same way; for the same reason

Examples: We are grateful to you for giving us shelter for the night. By the same token, we

should like to thank your wife for all her kindness.

             Since she was born in a very rich family she had never seen such poverty before, and by the

same token she could not quite believe that the children could not go to school.

10. ... when it comes to ...: when it concerns…

Examples: When it comes to politics, I'm an absolute outsider.

 When it comes to mathematics, I'm completely at sea.

11. entail: involve; make necessary

Examples: This job would entail exceptional competence in computers.

The flood relief effort will entail great expense by the local government.

12.     take on: undertake, charge oneself with; assume responsibility for; employ

Examples: My doctor says I'm too tired and has advised me not to take on any more work.

      In order to support the family, he has to take on some extra work.

13. at large: in general

Examples: Did the people at large approve of the government's decision?

The country at large is hoping for great changes, which probably would not materialize.

14.   hold up ...as: show or offer…as (an example, a model, etc.)

Examples: He was held up as an example to every student.

Grandfather always held up his youngest son as a model of diligence.

15. throw up one's hands: admit that one cannot succeed; surrender

Examples: The enemy soldiers threw up their hands in horror when the tanks first appeared in front of their trenches.

It is very courageous of him not to throw up his hands and admit failure when the shop went bankrupt.

16. at (the ) best: in the most favorable case

Examples: We will arrive on Thursday evening at best.

At best we can do only three quarters as much as last year.

at (the) worst: if one thinks of it in the worst way

Examples: He's a fool at best, and at (the) worst he's a criminal.

At the worst, they can say they didn't see what happened.

17.     devalue: cause or be responsible for a lessening of value or quality

Examples: Lots of people tried to devalue the great writer's work, all in vain.

We shall have to devalue our currency soon if we don't want to see a sharp drop in our exports.

18. strive: struggle hard

Examples: He strove for recognition as an abstract artist.

He is persistently and energetically striving to carry out his plans.

 

Sentence Explanation

1. It seems that the only time fathers merit attention is when they are criticized for not helping enough with the housework (a claim that I find dubious anyway, because the definition of "housework" rarely includes cleaning the gutters, changing the oil in the car or other jobs typically done by men) or when they die.

看起来似乎父亲惟一值得人们提及的时候是因为他们做家务太少而受到指责的时候（我怀疑这一说法的可靠性，因为“家务”的定义中很少包括打扫屋顶的雨水沟、给汽车换机油或其它一些典型地由男人们做的事），或者是在他们去世的时候。

 

2. I only mean to point out the double standard at work when at-home dads are applauded while at-home mothers and breadwinner fathers are given little, if any, cultural recognition.
我只是想指出在实际生效的双重标准：家庭全职父亲受到人们的赞扬，而家庭全职母亲和养家活口的父亲，所得到文化上的认同却很少，甚至完全得不到。

 

3. We almost never hear the term "working father," and it is rare that calls for more workplace flexibility are considered to be for men as much as for women.
我们几乎从来没听到“职业父亲”这一说法，在人们呼吁应该考虑给予工作者在工作地点上更大的灵活性时，很少有人认为这种呼吁不但适用于女子，同样也适应于男子。

 

4. Even more insulting is the recent media trend of regarding at-home wives as "status symbols" — like an expensive car — flaunted by the supposedly few men who can afford such a luxury.
更让人感到侮辱的是最近媒体的这种倾向，即把家庭主妇看成是一种“地位的象征” —— 就像一辆名贵的汽车，只有据说少数男人才享受得起这种奢侈与豪华。

 

5. Yet, rather than holding up "ordinary" fathers as positive role models for the dads of tomorrow, too often society has thrown up its hands and decided that traditional fatherhood is at best obsolete and at worst dangerously reactionary.

然而，我们这个社会并没有把“普通”父亲作为正面角色为未来的父亲树立榜样，相反地，却常常持放弃态度，认为传统的父道从最好的方面说是已经过时，从最坏的方面讲就是危险的反动。

 

6. It is not enough for us merely to recognize that fatherlessness is a problem — to stand beside the grave and mourn the loss of the "good family man" and then try to find someone to replace him (ask anyone who has lost a father though death if that is possible).
我们仅仅意识到没有父亲是一个问题是不够的，也不能只是站在坟墓旁边哀悼“顾家好男人”的去世，随后又找一个人来替代他（请问一问已失去父亲的人，这是否可能)

 

After-reading Tasks

Do exercises 2-9. Write a short passage of 120 words on the topic “ Men are different from women in many ways”.