U4
When it comes to Unit 4, I am first attracted by the title “cheating: alive and flourishing”. Here, “cheat” refers to gain unfair advantage by breaking rules in the exam. I suppose this title can be understood that the behavior of cheating in the exam is still exist and developing successfully.
In the first paragraph, the author connects the scholastic cheating with American eating patterns. It seems that there is no relation between them. However, when I read the phrase “as…as”, I get it. The author uses this phrase skilful to express that both of these two things are frustrating. Then, he takes an instance to support his view that how American eating patterns are frustrating. Turning to scholastic cheating, “students may give us some kinds of contrasts”. In this sentence, the word “contrast” appeals me. It is evidence that scholastic cheating is frustrating as American eating patterns. The author uses the words “yes…, but no…, and no…” to answer the questions. However, teachers give us a very different picture. It must be noted the sentence “one that shatters the myths about who cheats and why”. The word “shatter” in this sentence means damage or destroys. While, based on analysis the structure of the sentence, I know here “one” refers to “a different picture” and “that shatters the myths about who cheats and why” is its attributive clause. In the following sentences of the third paragraph, the author uses a long subordinate clause within four “of” to describe what the picture is. This different picture answers the questions that who cheat, how does it come into being? Why is it so? What is the prospect? At the beginning of paragraph four, the author mentions that schools are trying to solve the problem of scholastic cheating. However, “psychologists says that the roots of the problem must be dealt with in home”
In paragraph five, the sentence “abdicating that responsibility” puzzles me. By the words of what Patrick L. Daly saying, I get the idea. Patrick L. Daly here is an authoritative person. The author mentions him here maybe more persuasive. When students are young, they are taught stealing from shop is dishonest, but they do not have the conscious that cheating in the exam is dishonest. Maybe, parents should take the responsibility. Turning to paragraph six, I learn a new word to express angry that is “outrage”. Parents will angry when they know their children cheating in the exam. However, they do not restrain their behaviors. It is worth reading the sentence “Yet he keeps hearing his folks talk about cheating on expense accounts or income taxes”. In this sentence, ‘he’ refers to ‘a child’ who is mentioned before. In addition, “his folks” maybe refer to ‘his parents’. The next sentence “The inconsistency drives children crazy” probable means the behavior what the parents do is contradictory and that makes children puzzled.
In the eighth paragraph, the main idea is about cheating on campus. When I begin to read it, the phrase “poll after poll” attracted me first. I am not familiar with it. After look it up in the dictionary, I get that, here, in this sentence, it refers that a series of or one by one. Not only the high school students, but college students as well see cheating as a habit. In the following part of this passage, the author takes some example to explain this phenomenon.
This is my understanding from paragraph one to paragraph eight.
