Para. 3

What could be easier than to write articles and to buy Persian cats with the profits? But wait a moment. Articles have to be about something. Mine, I seem to remember, was about a novel by a famous man. And while I was writing this review, I discovered that if I were going to review books I should need to do battle with a certain phantom And the phantom was a woman, and when I came to know her better I called her after the heroine of a famous poem. The Angel in the House. It was she who used to come between me and my paper when I was writing reviews. It was she who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her. You who come of a younger and happier generation may not have heard of her—you may not know what I mean by the Angel in the House. I will describe her as shortly as I can. She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. If there was a chicken, she took the leg; if there was a draught she sat in it—in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or a wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others. Above all—I need not say it—she was pure. Her purity was supposed to be her chief beauty—her blushes, her great grace. In those days—the last of Queen Victoria—every house had its Angel. And when I came to write I encountered her with the very first words. The shadow of her wings fell on my page: I heard the rustling of her skirts in the room. Directly, that is to say, I took my pen in hand to review that novel by a famous man, she slipped behind me and whispered: "My dear, you are a young woman. You are writing about a book that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure. " And she made as if to guide my pen, I now record the one act for which I take some credit to myself, though the credit rightly belongs to some excellent ancestors of mine who left me a certain sum of money—shall we say five hundred pounds a year? — so that it was not necessary for me to depend solely on charm for my living. I turned upon her and caught her by the throat. I did my best to kill her. My excuse, if I were to be had up in a court of law, would be that I acted in self-defence. Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing. For, as I found, directly I put pen to paper, you cannot review even a novel without having a mind of your own, without expressing what you think to be the truth about human relations, morality, sex, And all these questions, according to the Angel in the House, cannot be dealt with freely and openly by women; they must charm, they must conciliate, they must—to put it bluntly—tell lies if they are to succeed. Thus, whenever I felt the shadow of her wing or the radiance of her halo upon my page, I took up the inkpot and flung it at her. She died hard. Her fictitious nature was of great assistance to her. It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality. She was always creeping back when I thought I had despatched her. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe; it took much time that had better have been spent upon learning Greek grammar; or in roaming the world in search of adventures. But it was a real experience; it was an experience that was bound to befall all women writers at that time. Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.

Q: What does author mean by the “angel” ？

A: The original meaning of the word “angel” is a messenger of God and a supernatural being to whom are attributed greater than human power, intelligence, etc. The conventionalized image of an angel is one of a white-robed figure in human form with wings and a halo. When used figuratively, the word means a person regarded as being as beautiful, good, innocent, etc. as an angel, especially said of women and children. Since an angel is supernatural and often female. it is appropriate for the author to call the phantom an angel.

Notes on the Text

22. What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

This paragraph is an important part of her speech. In this paragraph the speaker focuses on the first obstacle to becoming a professional woman writer. She uses a figure of speech "killing the Angel in the House" in describing her determination to get rid of the conventional role of women in her writing. Now here are a few words about figurative language. Figurative language is a form of writing using comparison to go beyond the literal meanings of words. The two most common types are simile and metaphor. The simile uses the word "as" or "like" to indicate the comparison; for example, "He is as strong as horse." The metaphor equates the objects being compared and does not use a connecting word,as in "He was a lion in battle." "Killing the Angel in the House" is a metaphor.

23. What could be easier than to write articles.. wait a moment.

(1) The speaker begins this part with a rhetorical question, which expects no answer. The question implies that writing articles and buying Persian cats with the profits were very easy.

(2) "Wait a moment" calls for a second thought or more attention from the audience signifying that things may not be as easy as they seem to be, and that something important is coming up. The two sentences serve as a transitional device linking her simple story with a discussion of a more serious nature.

24. Mine, I seem to remember, was about a novel by a famous man：Note the contrast between a girl, who is writing for the first time, and a famous man. The girl's task of writing a review about a novel by a famous man cannot be easy at all.

25. And while I was writing this review.. do battle with a certain phantom.

(1) do battle with: to argue with someone or fight against someone, e. g. We had to do battle with the authorities over planning permission for the project.

(2) phantom: The word "phantom"is well chosen for the discourse. It has a literary meaning and a figurative meaning. The literary meaning of "phantom" is something that seems to appear to the sight but has no physical existence, a specter(鬼怪,幽灵).The word is used metaphorically, meaning an apparition, a vision, something feared or dreaded, something that exists only in the mind, an illusion, any mental image or representation. Both meanings suit the context here. In the text, the phantom appears to the sight in the form of an angel, and also it is a mental representation of the stereotyped Victorian woman.

26. I called her after the heroine of a famous poem, The Angel in the House.

(1) after:(especially in British English) given the same name as someone else, especially an older member of your family, e. g. Her name is Elizabeth, after her grandmother.

(2)heroine: the central female character in a novel, play, etc, with whom

The reader or audience is supposed to sympathize

(3) The Angel in the House, See Note 8 in the textbook. Coventry Patmore, the author of the poem, The Angel in the House, sees his wife Emily as a perfect Victorian wife and head of the home, thus comparing her to an angel.

(4) angel: The original meaning of the word "angel" is a messenger of God and a supernatural being to whom are attributed greater than human power, intelligence, etc. The conventionalized image of an angel is one of a white-robed figure in human form with wings and a halo. When used figuratively, the word means a person regarded as being as beautiful, good, innocent, etc. as an angel, especially said of women and children. Since an angel is supernatural and often female. it is appropriate for the author to call the phantom an angel.

27. It was she who used to come between me and my paper when I was writing reviews.

(1) She used to cause arguments or problems between me and what I was writing. Here the word "paper" stands for what she was writing. If something comes between two people (or things), it causes an argument or problems between them.

(2) Translate the sentence into Chinese:就是她,在我写评论时,总是在我和我的写作之间制造麻烦。

28.as shortly as I can：as briefly as I can

Shortly： in a few words, briefly

29. She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish.

In the three short simple sentences, the author lists three important qualities of a Victorian woman. Short as they are, all the three sentences are effective and powerful. The three adverbs before the three adjectives are all for emphasis. Each of the adverbs suits the adjective it modifies perfectly. "Intensely" means having or showing strong emotion, firm purpose , and great seriousness. If she is intensely sympathetic, her sympathy is firm and serious"Immensely"means limitless, vast, and huge. "Utterly" means not only totally, completely but also unqualified and unconditionally.

30. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life.. sacrificed herself daily.

(1) These two sentences list two more qualities of a Victorian ideal woman. All these qualities, at the same time, reveal women’s subordinate role and position in the family and society.

(2) excel: to do something very well

31. If there was chicken, she took the leg: Example One to prove the utter unselfishness and the spirit of sacrifice of the Angel in the House. An interesting thing to note is that while many Chinese may think the chicken leg is juicier and tastier than the other parts of the chicken, most Westerners prefer the chicken breast to other parts of the chicken. Certainly they don't eat the chickens head or feet. Differences in eating habits are to be noted here.

32. ... if there was a draught she sat in it: Example Two to prove the utter unselfishness and the spirit of sacrifice of the Angel in the House. "Draught" (chiefly British spelling for draft) here means a current of air in a room. As the English weather is typically chilly, it is not pleasant to sit in the draught. The most comfortable place in an English house is by the fireplace.

33. She was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own: She was made up, formed or designed in such a way that she never had an opinion or wish of her own. By the word"constituted" the author does not mean physically she was built that way, but the traditional values that were so deeply planted in her mind deprived her of n mind of her own. The word"mind"has multiple meanings. In this sentence it means what one thinks; opinion,as in"Speak your mind."

34. but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others; but preferred to think and act in harmony with other people’s minds and wishes

sympathize: (rare) to be in harmony or accord

35. Above all—I need not say it- she was pure: Of all the qualities, purity was the most important one. The word"pure"means virgin, chaste, and virtuous.

36. In those days- the last days of Queen Victoria- every house had its Angel.

(1) For Queen Victoria, see Note 9 in the textbook.

(2) Explain the implied meaning of the sentence: This sentence can be interpreted on two levels. On the first level. in the last days of Queen Victoria, every house had a woman like that, who was sympathetic, charming, unselfish and above all pure. On a deeper level, in the last period of the reign of Queen Victoria, the belief that every woman should be sympathetic, charming, unselfish, and above all, pure was prevalent in English society.

37. Directly, that is to say, I took my pen in hand... and whispered: As soon as I began to review that novel by a famous man, she slipped behind me and whispered. Here "directly" is a conjunction (in British English), meaning "as soon as". Example: She hurried to the hospital directly when she got the message.

38. Be sympathetic be tender: flatter; deceive;...

(1) These words said by the Angel in the House reflect the traditional Victorian values about gender roles. As soon as the author began to write her review, she seemed to hear a voice telling her what to do.

(2) To be sympathetic means to understand the mind of men and not to disagree with them.

(3) To be tender means she must not be too harsh in her criticism.

(4) To flatter, she must praise the book in an insincere way in order to please the public.

(5) To deceive indicates that she could not write what she really thought; she would tell lies instead of telling the truth.

39. all the arts and wiles of our sex: Look up an English-English dictionary and note the different meanings of the word "art" . Here the word "arts" (in the plural form) is a synonym of the word"wiles",both meaning sly, cunning tricks. The meaning of the word "arts" in this sentence is different from that of "art" in Paragraph 3, which is ability, skill or application of a skill. The author is urged to use tricks of the female sex because a woman has to do so in order to be successful in a men-dominated profession. Although the author does not mention what tricks of the female sex should be used, we can infer from her later remarks that charm is one of them when she says, "... it was not necessary for me to depend solely on charm for my living."

40. And she made as if to guide my pen: She moved in a way that made it seem that she was going to guide my writing.

make as if to do something, to move in a way that makes it seem that you are going to do something. Example: Fred, still grinning, made as if to hit me.

41. I now record the one act for which I take some credit to myself... for my living.

(1) Translate the sentence into Chinese:下面我要说说多少是我自己决定做的一件事情,当然做此事的功劳主要还应归功于我的了不起的祖先,是他们给我留下了一笔财产—比如说每年五百英镑吧—这样我就不必完全靠女人的魅力去谋生了。

(2) credit: praise; approval for an act, ability or a quality Example: You should at least give him some credit for all the efforts he's put in.

(3)five hundred pounds a year: Back in the early years of the 20th century, this was a good sum of money.

42. I turned upon her and caught her by the throat.

(1) I turned upon her:Suddenly I attacked her violently.

turn upon: to suddenly attack someone or treat them badly, using physical violence or unpleasant words

(2) caught her by the throat:扼住她的喉咙Note "catch somebody by the throat" , not catch somebody’s throat. Other examples: to slap somebody on the face; to lead somebody by the nose; to hit somebody on the head

43. if I were to be had up in a court of law:

if I were to be taken to court

have somebody up: (British English) an informal set phrase, meaning to take someone to court, especially to prove they are guilty of a crime. Example: Last year he was had up for drunken driving.

44. Had I not killed her she would have killed me: The inversion is used in the subjunctive mood. If I had not killed her she would have killed me. Remember that the phantom and the angel are used metaphorically, applied to a stereotyped Victorian woman, or rather, the traditional role of a Victorian woman and the traditional values about such a stereotype. So by killing the angel, the author means getting rid of these Victorian attitudes completely. If she had not done so, these conventional ideas would have destroyed her. It is a life-and-death struggle.

45. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing.

(1)The author is using the metaphor of killing the Angel in the House in an extended way.

The implied meaning of the sentence is that those conventional attitudes would have taken away the most important part of her writing, that is, the essence of her writing, which is, as explained in the next sentence, having a mind of your own, expressing what you think to be the truth about human relations, morality, and sex.

(2) pluck, to remove by picking or pulling out or away

46. For, as I found, directly I put pen to paper... about human relations, morality, sex.

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence: For, I found that as soon as I began writing, one must have an ability of independent thinking and have the courage to express what one thinks to be the truth about human relations, morality and sex.

(2) put pen to paper: a set phrase, to write something

47. All these questions, according to the Angel in the House, cannot be dealt with... to succeed: According to the Victorian attitudes, women are not supposed to discuss and explore these questions freely and openly. They must use their feminine charm to gain recognition from men; they must make concessions in their arguments; they must tell lies in order to succeed in the profession of writing.

48. Thus, whenever I felt the shadow of her wing or the radiance of her halo... flung it at her.

(1) Explain the implied meaning of the sentence in your own words: Thus, whenever I felt the influence of the Victorian attitudes on my writing, I fought back with all my power. Note that this sentence is part of her extended metaphor of killing the Angel in the House.

(2) halo: a circle of light, radiance surrounding the head of an angel (or a sacred person)

(3) flung: To fling something is to throw something quickly with a lot of force.

49. She died hard: She didn't die easily. She had to be killed. The implied meaning is that one had to fight against the Victorian traditions bravely and resolutely in order to get rid of them.

50. Her fictitious nature was of great assistance to her... than a reality:

(1)The phantom or the Angel in the House is not a real person. The author is only personifying it. It does not have a physical form. In fact it is a mental image and has an imaginary nature. It is far more difficult to deal with a phantom than a reality. The reason is explained in the next sentence.

(2) fictitious: referring to that which is invented by the imagination and is therefore not real ,true, or actually existent

51. She was always creeping back... I had dispatched her:

The implied meaning is that it is hard to overcome those prejudices once and for all.When you think that you have done away with them, you will find they are back again. So the struggle takes a long time, as explained in the next sentence.

52. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end... in search of adventures:

(1) Although I made myself believe that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe and it took so much more time than had been expected that one would rather spend all that time on learning Greek grammar or traveling in the world in search of adventures.

(2)flattered myself: If you flatter yourself that something is true about your abilities or achievements, you made yourself believe it is true, although it is not. So when the author says that she flattered herself that she had killed the phantom in the end, she implies that actually she had not really put an end to the existence of the phantom: it may come back again.

53. But it was a real experience... the occupation of a woman writer.

The last two sentences of this paragraph sum up the main idea of her first experience as a woman writer: killing the Angel in the House. To put it in a non-figurative way, all women writers had to make continuous efforts to fight against the strong influence of the Victorian attitudes about the traditional role of women.

Para. 4

But to continue my story. The Angel was dead; what then remained? You may say that what remained was a simple and common object—a young woman in a bedroom with an inkpot. In other words, now that she had rid herself of falsehood, that young woman had only to be herself. Ah, but what is "herself"? I mean, what is a woman? I assure you, I ' do not know. I do not believe that you know. I do not believe that anybody can know until she has expressed herself in all the arts and professions open to human skill. That indeed is one of the reasons why I have come here—out of respect for you, who are in process of showing us by your experiments what a woman is, who are in process of providing us, by your failures and successes, with that extremely important piece of information.

Q: Had I not killed her she would have killed me，does this means she can really end Virginia Woolf’s life？

A: The inversion is used in the subjunctive mood. If I had not killed her she would have killed me. Remember that the phantom and the angel are used metaphorically, applied to a stereotyped Victorian woman, or rather, the traditional role of a Victorian woman and the traditional values about such a stereotype. So by killing the angel, the author means getting rid of these Victorian attitudes completely. If she had not done so, these conventional ideas would have destroyed her. She cannot write a Proper review and may not continue to be a writer again.It is a life-and-death struggle.

Notes on the Text

54. What is the main idea of Paragraph 4?

After the Angel was dead, the question which remains to be answered is "What is a woman?" It is a transitional link between the author’s first and second experiences.

55. She had rid of herself of falsehood...

(1) Explain the meaning of the sentence: She had got rid of those wrong ideas and stopped telling lies.

(2) falsehood, the practice of telling lies

56. I mean, what is a woman: I mean, what is the identity of a woman? The seemingly simple question of what is a woman addresses the very basic questions about the identity and the role of a woman in society. When traditional values are criticized, it takes time for new values to be shaped and accepted. This is a long process.

57. I do not believe that anybody can know... human skill.

(1) Explain the meaning of this sentence: I believe that to know what is a woman, we women have to participate in all the arts and professions open to human knowledge and understanding and to give expressions to our feelings in creative forms.

(2) Translate the sentence into Chinese:我相信,只有妇女在人类知识所涉及的全部文学艺术和专业领域中用创造形式表达自己的情感后,她们才能知道什么是妇女。

(3)expressed herself: to express oneself means to state one’s thoughts; to give expression to one’s feelings, imagination, etc. in creative or artistic activity

(4)human skill: Here the word"skill" means knowledge, understanding, judgment. This definition is no longer in use.