Para. 1

When your secretary invited me to come here, she told me that your Society is concerned with the employment of women and she suggested that I might tell you something about my own professional experiences. It is true I am a woman; it is true I am employed; but what professional experiences have I had? It is difficult to say. My profession is literature: and in that profession there are fewer experiences for women than in any other, with the exception of the stage-fewer, I mean, that are peculiar to women, For the road was cut many years ago by Fanny Burney, by Aphra Behn, by Harriet Martineau, by Jane Austen, by George Eliot—many famous women, and many more unknown and forgotten, have been before me, making the path smooth, and regulating my steps.Thus, when I came to write, there were very few material obstacles in my way. Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen. No demand was made upon the family purse.For ten and sixpence one can buy paper enough to write all the plays of Shakespeare—if one has a mind that way, Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer. The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why women have succeeded as writers before they have succeeded in the other professions.

Q: 1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?

A: In the profession of literature, the author finds that there are fewer experiences peculiar to women than in other professions because many women writers before her have made the road smooth.

Notes on the Text

1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?

In the profession of literature, the author finds that there are fewer experiences peculiar to women than in other professions because many women writers before her have made the road smooth.

2. your Society: the Women’s Service League.

3. What professional experiences have I had：A rhetorical question, which the speaker does not expect the audience to answer.

4. My profession is literature. that are peculiar to women.

(1) Why does the author say that in the profession of literature there are fewer experiences for women than in any other professions, with the exception of the stage, that are peculiar to women? The answer is given in the next sentence: The road was cut many years ago by many famous women writers as well as many more unknown and forgotten women writers who have been before her, who have made the path smooth, regulating her steps. The implied meaning is that other professions, such as science, medicine, law, are newer for women, and therefore the road is harder for them, with more experiences peculiar to them. The profession of drama is an exception. Like literature drama also involves more women than other professions.

(2) the stage: With"the"the word means the theater, drama, or acting as a profession. Like literature, the stage involves more women than other professions.

5. the road was cut:路已开辟出来

6. For Fanny Burney, Aphra Behn. Harriet Martineau, Jane Austen and George Eliot, see Notes 3 to 7. All the women mentioned above are women writers who have made special contributions to English literature in their unique ways. Some lesser known women writers such as Burney, Behn and Martineau are listed here while more famous names such as the Bronte sisters are conspicuously missing. As Virginia Woolf was well acquainted with English literature of four centuries, it was easy for her to make the list longer. But perhaps the author doesn't want to make a long and comprehensive list, but intends to give the idea that early women writers like Burney and Hehn had already made their way into the profession of literature as early as in the 17th century.

7. making the path smooth: paving the way (for)

8. regulating my steps: guiding me as I move forward指导我向前走

9. Thus, when I came to write. few material obstacles in my way.

(1) Note the word "material". The implied meaning is that there are other obstacles in her way, probably obstacles opposed to material, that is, obstacles of a spiritual, mental or psychological nature. As readers, we natually expect a discussion of those obstacles in the following parts of the essay.

(2) in my way: (in the way) in a place or position that prevents someone or something else from moving freely.

10. Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation.

(1) Why does the author say so? The answer is given in the next few sentences.

(2) reputable: in a good repute; having a good reputation; well-thought-of; respectable

11. The family peace was not broken by the scratching of a pen.

(1) Here the "family peace" has two meanings—first: calm, quiet, tranquility; second: harmony, lack of worry and quarrels.

(2) scratching of a pent the sound made by an old-fashioned ink pen when it moves on paper

12. No demand was made upon the family purse.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence, There was no need for a writer to spend much of the family money in order to write.

(2) The word "purse" stands for money, financial conditions,e.g. the family purse:家庭财力/经济 Here the word "purse" is used figuratively. This kind of figure of speech is called metonymy, in which the name of one thing is used in place of that of another associated with or suggested by it,e.g. "the White House" for "the President", "the crown " for "the king" or "the queen".

More examples:

The pen is mightier than the sword. (Here the instrument pen or sword is used as the name of the people wielding it.)

He succeeded by the sweat of his brow, (Sweat of one’s brow stands for one’s own hard work.)

He is too fond of the bottle. (The container is used as a name of the thing contained-wine,liqueur, or drinking in general.)

13. if one has a mind that way: A witty remark, The implication is that though everybody can afford the money to buy paper to write all the plays of Shakespeare, who has the kind of intelligence and talent that produced those great plays?

14. Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer.

(1) Explain the implied meaning of the sentence: If you want to be a musician or a painter, you must own a piano or hire models, and you have to visit or even live in cultural centers like Paris, Vienna and Berlin. And also you have to be taught by masters and mistresses. However, if you want to be a writer, you don't need all these.

(2) masters and mistresses, teachers or tutors; professional practitioners of music or painting: great artists.

15. The cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason why... in the other professions.

This sentence has a sarcastic tone. The implied meaning is that in the patriarchal society women have been forced into a lower financial status than men.

Para. 2

But to tell you my story-it is a simple one. You have only got to figure to yourselves a girl in a bedroom with a pen in her hand. She had only to move that pen from left to right from ten o'clock to one. Then it occurred to her to do what is simple and cheap enough after all- to slip a few of those pages into an envelope, fix a penny stamp in the corner, and drop the envelope into the red box at the corner. It was thus that I became a journalist; and my effort was rewarded on the first day of the following month—a very glorious day it was for me—by a letter from an editor containing a cheque for one pound ten shillings and sixpence. But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman, how little I know of the struggles and difficulties of such lives. I have to admit that instead of spending that sum upon bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings, or butcher's bills, I went out and bought a cat—a beautiful cat, a Persian cat, which very soon involved me in bitter disputes with my neighbours.

Q: What is the function of Paragraph 2?

A: In this paragraph the author responds to the host's suggestion that she should tell the audience something about her own professional experiences. So she now tells her own story-how she became a book reviewer when she was a girl. Paragraphs 1 and 2 can be read together as the beginning part of the whole speech, introducing the topic under discussion.

Notes on the Text

16. What is the function of Paragraph 2?

In this paragraph the author responds to the host's suggestion that she should tell the audience something about her own professional experiences. So she now tells her own story-how she became a book reviewer when she was a girl. Paragraphs 1 and 2 can be read together as the beginning part of the whole speech, introducing the topic under discussion.

17. figure: to represent mentally, to imagine

18. from left to right: A set phrase. Note the absence of articles before the words "left" and "right".

Other examples:

from morning till night

from beginning to end

from top to tail

19. Then it occurred to her to do what is simple... into the red box at the corner: Instead of saying straightforwardly that she wrote s book review and mailed it to a journal, the author tells her story by using concrete details of posting a letter. The red box is the mailbox in England.

20. ... and my effort was rewarded... one pound ten shillings and sixpence.

(1) To put this in a straightforward way, she would have said that her article had been accepted by the journal and that she was paid one pound ten shillings and sixpence for the article.

(2) shilling:(先令)a former monetary unit of the United Kingdom, equal to 1/20 of a pound or12 pence(便士)

21. But to show you how little I deserve to be called a professional woman...with my neighbours.

(1) The implied meaning is that in the lives of professional women there are usually struggles and difficulties. When they make some money, they would spend it on bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings or butcher's bills, all of which are basic daily necessities.

(2) bread and butter, This set phrase means food and the most important and basic things. This phrase, when hyphenated, can be used as an adjective before nouns. Examples: bread-and-butter issues such as jobs and housing; a bread-and-butter account; a bread-and-butter item. Here the words "bread" and "butter" are used figuratively. This figure of speech is called synecdoche by which a part is used for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing, or the reverse of any of these. A good synecdoche is based on an important part of the whole and not a minor part and, usually, the part selected to stand for the whole is the part most directly associated with the subject under discussion.

Examples:

(a) We need 50 hands for the work.(Hands rather than feet are used to stand for people.)

(b) It was a fleet of 20 sails. ( Sails for ships)

(e) Have you got any coppers?( Coppers for pennies, coins made of copper)

(d) He is a foot soldier. (Foot for infantry)

(3) butcher's bills: butcher’s bills stand for meat bought from a butcher. This is

metonymy. For metonymy, see Note 12(2)to the test.

(4) a Persian cat:a stocky domestic cat having long silky 波斯猫

(5) Which very soon involved me in bitter disputes with my neighbors: A touch of humor.