This English course is defined as a reading course which will work on materials coming from various genres, including poetry, fiction, critical essay, and film. The issues to be explored comprise love, modernization, capitalism, colonialism, identity, and religion. The main objective of the course consists in cultivating students’ sophisticated and critical thinking. To achieve this goal, students are required to commit themselves to (1) close reading in order to acquire a deeper understanding of the text, and (2) continuous collaboration through teamwork and group discussion in order to test and substantiate their grasp of the issue concerned. Chinese and English will be used alternately in the class, depending on the subject being worked on.

參考書目（教科書）Textbook and References
Handouts


評量方式 Grading:

1. Class attendance and participation: 10%
(1) Absence without leave permission over 8 hours deserves 0 in this item.
2. Exercises and activities: 30%
3. Midterm (30%) and Final (30%): 60%
(1) No make-up is offered in the case of absence without the instructor’s prior permission.
(2) Any fraud or violation of the test regulations deserves 0 in this course.


進度 Syllabus

第1週
02/18: Introduction
02/20: William Golding, “Thinking as a Hobby.”
第2週
02/25: William Golding, “Thinking as a Hobby.”
02/27: Wislawa Szymborska, “Love at First Sight.”
第3週
03/04, 03/06: Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
第4週
03/11, 03/13: Alice Munro, “How I Met My Husband.”
第5週
03/18: Group Colloquium 1: On Love and “How I Met My Husband”
03/20: Anthony Burgess, “Is America Falling Apart?”
第6週
03/25: Anthony Burgess, “Is America Falling Apart?”
03/27: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
第7週
04/01: Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
04/03: No Class
第8週
04/08: Group Colloquium 2: On Urbanization and Taxi Driver
04/10: Wislawa Szymborska, “The Terrorist, He Watches.”
第9週
04/15: Midterm
04/17: Bernard Malamud, “Angel Levine.”
第10週
04/22: Bernard Malamud, “Angel Levine.”
04/24: Group Colloquium 3: On Religion and “Angel Levine”
第11週
04/29, 05/01: George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant.”
第12週
05/06: Group Colloquium 4: On Colonization and “Shooting an Elephant”
05/08: Maxine Hong Kingston, “Tongue-Tied.”
第13週
05/13: Maxine Hong Kingston, “Tongue-Tied.”
05/15: Li-Young Lee, “Persimmons.”
第14週
05/20: Group Colloquium 5: On Identity and “Tongue-Tied” and “Persimmons”
05/22: Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”
第15週
05/27: Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.”
05/29: Holiday
第16週
06/03: Group Colloquium 6: On Identity and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
06/05: James L. Brooks, Spanglish
第17週
06/10: James L. Brooks, Spanglish
06/12: Final
第18週
06/17: Recap and Conclusion