安徽工业大学工商学院
外语系
高级英语1课程教案
LessonTwo Hiroshima
Part One Warm-up
1.Elicit some information about Hiroshima fromstudents
2.Let students recall some significant events inWorld War II
Part Two BackgroundInformation
About Hiroshima
Hiroshimais a seaport, capital of Hiroshima prefecture in southwest Japan. Population(1970) 541,834. On Aug. 6, 1945, Hiroshima was the first city to be struck byan atomic bomb, dropped by the U.S. air force. Almost 130,000people werekilled, injured, or missing, and 90% of the city was leveled. Much of the cityhas been reconstructed, but a gutted section of the city has been set aside asa “Peace City” to illustrate the effect of an atomic bomb. Since 1955, anannual world conference against nuclear weapons has met in Hiroshima.
Part Three Text Analysis
1.Hiroshima---the “Liveliest” City: The word “liveliest” is quoted to show thatthis is what the city is said to be and the writer perhaps considers it ironicto use the word “liveliest” to describe a city that had been atomized.（人们竟然把一个遭受过原子弹轰炸的城市说成 “是最快活的”，真是莫大的讥讽（sarcasm），同时也在进行今昔对比，可谓一语双关（pun）。
1. Everybody off!: 省略祈使句，原句应是“Everybody get off!”这里的动词不能用单数第三人称形式gets，因为everybody是指听话人中间的 “每个人”，相当于everybody of you.又如：Everybody stand up, please! Everyone shut theireyes!
a) off: down from
b) These words were chanted by the stationmaster to inform the passengersthat the train had arrived at its terminal destination and all passengers wereto detrain.
2. …slipped to a stop in Hiroshima Station:
slipped to a stop: came to a stop smoothly andeffortlessly, in a gliding manner
Slide implies accelerated motion withoutloosing contact with the slippery surface.
Slip often suggests involuntary rather thanvoluntary, sometimes even definitely implying a loss of footing and a fall.
Glide, rather close to slide, means to movesmoothly, quietly and continuously as is characteristic of dances. E.g. Planeglided down to the airfield.
3. And secondly, because I had a lump in my throatand a lot of sad thoughts on my mind…might say:
a) I had a lump in my throat: I was choked with emotion; I was so overcomewith emotion that I could not speak or think clearly. “a lump in one’s throat”:a fleeing of pressure in one’s throat, caused by repressed emotion.
b) a lot of sad thoughts on my mind: I was troubled about some sad events;I was occupied with some sad thoughts. On one’s mind: occupying one’s thoughts,esp. as a source of worry
c) My sad thoughts had no connection with what the stationmaster mightsay.
4. The very act of stepping on this soil…anyreportorial assignment I’d previously taken:
a) stepping on this soil: putting my feet down on this soil; landing inHiroshima
b) far: adverbial modifier of adjective or adverb in the comparativedegree
c) adventure: an unusual journey or an exciting or remarkable experience
d) reportorial assignment: reporting work for anewspaper
e) The fact that I was now in Hiroshima was itself a much more excitingexperience for me than any trip I had taken or any reporting work I had done inthe past.
5. Was I not at the scene of the crime?
a) scene: place of an actual event
b) the crime: the dropping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima
c) Rhetorical questions are usually asked only for effect, as to emphasizea point, no answer being expected.
d) I was now at the place where the first A-bombwas dropped.
6. The Japanese crowd…that I had:
Seem suggests a personal opinion based onevidence that satisfies the judgement.
Look implies that the opinion is based on avisual impression,
Appear may convey the same implication as look,but it sometimes suggests a distorted impression produced by an opticalillusion, a restricted point of view etc.
e.g. The setting sun made the spires appearblaze.
7. Little girls and elderly … in western dress:
a) rub shoulders with: (informal) meet and mix with, talk together with,e.g. The foreign visitors sad that they would like to rub shoulders withordinary Chinese people.
b) This sentence gives the impression that In Japan traditional style andwestern style exist side by side.
8. Serious looking men … “Tomo aligato gozayimas”:
a) They were so absorbed in their conversation that they seemed not to payany attention to the crowds about them.
b) Formula of gratitude and respect: from of words used regularly such as“How do you do?” “Excuse me.”
9. Whose door popped open at the very sight of atraveler:
a) as soon as the taxi driver saw a traveler, he immediately opened thedoor.
b) Pop open: burst open with a short, sharp, slightly explosive sound
10. He grinned at me in the rear-view mirror:
a) grin; smile broadly a s to show teeth, originally expressing amusement,foolish satisfaction or contempt etc., but in current English, tending to implynaïve cheerfulness
b) rear-view mirror: driving-mirror inside a motor-vehicle for seeing outof the rear window
11. The tall building of the martyred city…inresponse to the driver’s sharp twists of the wheel:
a) martyred city: the city that has been made to suffer
b) in response to: in answer to
c) sharp twist: sudden or abrupt change of direction
d) The high buildings passed swiftly and when thedriver made abrupt changes of direction, we sometimes swung to one side,sometimes to the other side in response to the swaying motion of the car.
12. Just as I was beginning to find the ridelong…went over to a policeman to ask the way:
the taxi screeched to a halt: the taxi stoppedwith a harsh piercing sound as when the brakes were suddenly applied
screech: make a harsh, piercing sound (cf. slipto a stop, come to a stop, grind to a stop
13. but to avoid loss of face…how long it may takethem to find it:
a) loss of face: inability to keep up dignity, self-respect, prestige;loss of reputation; humiliation
b) will accept any destination without concern for…: will agree to go towhere they are asked to without caring
14. At last this intermezzo came to an end and Ifound myself in front of the gigantic City Hall:
a) intermezzo: a short, light dramatic, musical or ballet entertainmentbetween the acts of a play or opera; here the word is used figuratively torefer to anything that fills time between two events---the cab ride that tookplace between his arrival at Hiroshima and his planned meeting with the mayor.
b) I found myself…: This pattern gives the idea of “suddenness” “unexpectedness”; I suddenly discovered that Iwas in front of the gigantic City Hall.
15. The usher bowed deeply…in response to myrequest for an interview:
a) usher: official doorkeeper
b) heave …sigh: utter a sigh; the doorkeeper uttered a sigh perhaps becausemany people had gone there wrongly before the author and he had to explainagain. musical 在这里用作隐喻。此语的意思相当于heaved a long sigh, almost like playing music.
16. Thanks to this map…with a roof like one on aJapanese house was moored:
a) Barge: a large flat-bottomed boat for carrying goods or people onrivers or canals
b) a sort of: a sort of is used to suggest that what is referred to doesnot fully deserve the name, a kind of, something like a…
c) moor: secure a boat with cables
17. The rather arresting spectacle…between thekimono and the miniskirt:
a) arresting: striking, attracting and holding the attention
b) spectacle: sight, view or scene
c) the rather striking spectacle of little old Japan: the rather strikingpicture of traditional Japan
d) adrift: afloat without control, at the mercy ofwind and sea; floating freely without being steered
e) beige: brownish grey or grayish yellow9 the color of sand stone)
f) skyscraper: very tall building; scrape means “touch”
g) struggle between the kimono and the miniskirt: “Kimono” and “miniskirt”hee are used symbolically to represent the “old” and the “new” or the East andthe West.此处作者用了象征修辞手法，用kimono(和服)和miniskirt(超短裙)分别象征旧与新或东方与西方
h) the traditional floating houses among high modern buildings representthe constant struggle between old tradition(or traditional culture), and newdevelopment(western culture).
18. …treading cautiously on the soft tatamimatting…in my socks:
a) I was not accustomed to walking in my socks so I walked carefully,fearing that something unpleasant or dangerous might happen.
b) A twinge of embarrassment: a sudden sharp feeling of shame
c) Experiencing a twinge of…: suffering from a strong feeling of shamewhen I thought of the prospect of meeting the mayor of Hiroshima in my socks
19. sad-eyed; looking sad, e.g. white-haired,wide-shouldered, long-legged, big-eyed
20. The few Americans …as inhibited as I was:inhibited means feeling restrained, having to suppress one’s emotion
21. After three days in Japan…extraordinarilyflexible: after three days in Japan one gets quite used to bowing to people asa ritual to show gratitude.
22. …the faces grew more and more serious each timethe name Hiroshima was repeated: The Mayor mentioned Hiroshima repeatedly andto the author who was suffering from a guilty conscience the repeated mentionof the name created a suspense which he found hard to bear. That was alsoperhaps, why the faces (of other foreigners) grew more and more serious.
23. …a town known throughout the world forits---oysters.
a) This is called anti-climax, a common literary device to achieve humor,surprise, satire etc.（这里用的是渐进的修辞手法，通常起滑稽、幽默或讥讽的作用。
b) The mayor said this because he did not want to embarrass theforeigners9especially Americans) by talking about the disaster and he wantedpeople to forget the tragic past and because Hiroshima was famous for its oysters.
24. I was just about to make my little bow ofassent…jolting me out of my sad reverie.
a) sink in: be fully absorbed or understood; penetrate esp. gradually
b) reverie: dreamy thinking, esp. of agreeable things; daydreaming
c) I was on the point of showing my agreement by nodding when I suddenlyrealized what he meant. His words shocked me out of my sad dreamy thinking.
25. I must confess hat I did not expect a speechabout oysters here: I must admit that it never occurred to me that I would hearthe mayor talking about oysters.
26. I tell you this because I am almost an old man:The implication is that I don’t care if people should know I was here when thebomb was dropped and also a survival. Other people might try to hide the fact.
27. There were two different schools of ……even themonument that was erected at the point of impact:
a) school: group of people sharing the same thought
b) trace: a visible mark or sign of the former presence of thing or event
c) to preserve…: t o maintain and protect the signs of destruction causedby the bomb.
28. Stretchers and wheelchairs lined the walls…sendshivers down the spine of any health visitors:
a) …are put against the walls in the many corridors
b) the very …: even healthy visitors would shiver when they see thosesurgical instruments.
29. …ever since then they had been testing andtreating me: Testing and treating are used here also to achievemusical effect; this is called alliteration（头韵）
30. It is humiliating to survive in this city:
a) humiliate: hurt the pride or dignity of
b) It is a disgrace for an atomic victim to remain alive …(or continue tolive in…)
31. your children will encounter prejudice on thepart of …:
a) on the part of: of or by somebody, e.g. It was a mistake on the part ofJones to sign the contract without reading it.
b) Your children will be looked down upon by those who are not victims.
32. People are afraid of genetic damage from theradiation:
People fear that the effect of theatomic radiation may be hereditary (may pass on from parents to children).People suffering from genetic damage may not be able to produce offsprings ormay give birth to deformed or otherwise unhealthy children.
33. lucky birds: According to Japanese tradition,if one makes one thousand little paper cranes, one’s wishes will be realized,hence the lucky birds.
34. each day of suffering that helps to free mefrom earthly cares:
a) earthly: worldly as opposed to spiritual; (earthly is applied to thatwhich belongs to the earth or to the present life and is chiefly contrastedwith heavenly).
b) Care: concern, worry, anxiety,这里指忧伤之事，苦海，也是一种隐喻手法。
c) One more day of suffering would mean a day nearer my death( would bringme closer to my death).
35. I couldread the answer in every eye:
read:understand the nature, significance, or thinking of as if by reading. Theexpression of the people told me what the answer was.
Part Four Assignment
Writea short composition on either of the topics:
a) “”Time marches on in Hiroshima”---a Chinese newsman’s report on hisrecent visit to Hiroshima
b) My Visit to…
Lesson Three Blackmail
Part One Warm-up
1.Elicit from students the four components of astory: introduction, development, climaxand ending
2.Students tell each other a story, andidentify the four parts of a story.
Part Two Background Information
About the author
Arthur Hailey is the author of a number ofbestselling novels. Born in Luton, England, in 1920, he was educated in Englishschools until age fourteen. After a brief career as an office boy, he joinedthe British Royal Air Force in 1939 and served through World War II, risingthrough the ranks to become a pilot and flight lieutnant. In 1949 he immigratedto Canada, where he was successively a real estate salesman, business papereditor and a sales and advertising executive. HE became , and still a Canadiancitizen. IN 1956 Arthor Hailey scored his first writing success with a TVdrama, Fight into Danger, which later became a motion picture and a novel,Runaway Zero-Eight(1958). The sensational Hailey bestsellers include The FinalDiagnosis(1959), In High Places(1962), Hotel(1966), Airport(1968),Wheels(1971),The Moneychangers(1975). Though a Canadian himself, he set the scene of most ofhis works in America. Each of his books deals with one particular field ofsociety. This is made clear by the titles of his books. It is the peculiarityof his that is of value to those who are eager to learn about contemporaryAmerican society.
About the novel hotel
The St. Gregory Hotel is the largest in NewOrleans, Louisiana. For 4 days from Monday evening to Friday, the hotel goesthrough a succession of dramatic events. With the hotel’s mortgage due by theweekend and with no chance of getting further renewal, the owner, Warren Trent,reluctantly makes up his mind to sell it to a chain hotel owner, CurtisO’Keefe.
PeterMcDermott, the assistant general manager, has to tackle several other knottyproblems: handling an attempter rape which has occurred in one of the hotel’srooms; catching a professional thief operating in the hotel; pacifying a wholeconvention of several dentists that threaten to leave in protest against thehotel’s objection to putting up a member of the convention---a black doctor.Then there is the Duke of Croydon, an internationally famous statesman and thenewly-appointed British ambassador to Washington.
Noblemen’s ranks(in Britain)
The Dukes and Duchesses, the Marquises andMarchionesses, the Earls and Countesses, the Viscounts and Viscountesses, theBarons and Baronesses
Part Three Text Analysis
1. The chief house officer…took twice thattime:
1) chiefhouse officer: Hotels in the U>S> employ detectives to take care of hotelsecurity, called “house dicks”, dignified appellation---house officer
2) HEwas slow in coming because he wanted to create the impression that he was abusy and important man and to keep the Croydons on tenderhooks.
2. theduke: ( in Britain) a nobleman, whose rank is just below that of a prince.Below the Duke are the marquis（侯）, earl（伯）, viscount（子爵） and baron（男爵）.
3. she haddispatched her maid on an invented errand: They sent her out to get her out ofthe way; the “errand” being just an excuse, which was not necessary. Obviouslythe talk between Ogilvie and the Croydons had to be kept a secret.
4. toexercise the Bedlington terriersL to walk the dogs, to take the dogs out andgive them some exercise. The Bedlington terrier is a breed of blue orliver-coloured, woolly-coated, active, typically small dogs. The terriers are astatus symbol showing that the Duchess is no ordinary dog owner. And the factthat they can keep dogs in a hotel proves they are very important people.
5. Awave os smoke accompanied Ogilvie: to smoke a cigar in the presence of a ladywithout asking for permission is impolite and being familiar. He comes into theroom smoking his cigar. He is a coarse, vulgar, and uneducated fellow andbecause he thinks he has them under his thumb he doesn’t give a damn to whatthey might think or feel. The Duchess “looked pointedly”, that is directly andsharply, trying to intimidate him with her superior social position.
6. Thehouse…piggy eyes…gross jowled face:
1) piggyeyes: small, narrow eyes lost in the mass of flesh. He has piggy eyes, a grossjowled face, an obese body, speaks in falsetto, is vulgar, unscrupulous,ill-mannered, to the point of throwing his cigar on the carpet. Examples with“pig”
Don’t be a pig.(Don’t be greedy.)
He is a pig. (He is a dirty, greedy orill-mannered person.)
I’ve made a pig of myself.(I’ve eaten toomuch.)
2) surveyedher sardonically: He looked her up and down scornfully because he had evidenceof their crime and he felt sure that in a moment he would be able to humble herand bring her to her knees.
Sardonic: being scornful, cynical
Sarcastic: intending to hurt the feelings, toinflict pain by taunting
Satirical: intending to make a person or thingappear foolish
Ironical: a humorous or sarcastic form ofexpression in which the intended meaning of what is said is directly oppositeto the usual sense.
7. Iimagine you did not come here to discuss décor: I suppose you did not come heremerely to discus the arrangements of the furniture and other decorations of thesuite. What she mean t was “Speak your mind. Don’t waist time.” She purposelyused the word “décor”, imagining Ogilvie would be awed. UnlikeOgilvie, the Duchess always speaks the Queen’s English（参考《综合英语》第一册第四课课文）, using strictly grammatical structures andchoosing her words carefully, sometimes to the extent of being pompous.
8. anappreciative chuckle: mainly self appreciative. When a hotel employee goes intoa quest’s room, usually on business, no familiarity is allowed. But here he wasenjoying the fact that he could afford to do whatever he liked. He loved beingin a position of temporary supremacy. Also he appreciated the fact that theDuchess was no fool. She knew why he had come.
9. “Aah!”: Now the Duke knew what the man was there for. The sound escaping his lipsshowed that the Duke was startled and perhaps a bit relieved that things nowhad come out into the open.
10. awarning glance: The Duke had made a blunder(a careless mistake) the nightbefore by mentioning the car in front of the hotel’s assistant general managerwhen his wife was trying to established something of an alibi. Now the wife waswarning him not to blunder again.
11. Twohigh points of color: The Duchess’ cheeks flushed, not evenly, but around thecheek bones. She was upset and a bit scared. But at the moment she waspretending indignation.
12. Thewords spat forth: According to grammar, it should be: “The words were spatforth”, or “Ogilvie spat out the words”. Perhaps the author here wants to makeit more dramatic by having “the words” following right after what he had justsaid, instead of saying “he spat out the words”. Also, “the words spat forth”is more forceful and vivid than “the words were spat forth.”
13. yourhigh-an’-mightiness: high and mighty: very proud, (the correct way to address aDuke or a Duchess is “Your Grace”) Ogilvie addressed her in this way inimitation of “Your Highness”, to mock her haughty attitude.
14. Theywill throw the book, and never mind who it hits: They will deal out the maximumin punishment, to apply the full force of the law and they will not care whowill be punished in this case. “to throw the book” is an idiom, in which theword “book” means the law book. “It” refers to “the book”. Here Ogilvie followsthe metaphor through.
15. TheDuchess of Croydon---three centuries and a half of inbred arrogance behindher---did not yield easily: The Duchess was supported by her arrogance comingfrom parents of noble families who belonged to the nobility for more than threehundred years. So she did not give in easily.
16. “It’sno go, old girl. It was a bold try.”: It’s no use. What you did just now was agood attempt at trying to save the situation. Here the phrase “no go” is acolloquialism, meaning “not possible; without use or value”. :old girl” is aninformal way of addressing one’s wife.
17. That’smore like it: said when a second thing said by the other person sounds moreacceptable, plausible, or less objective than the first one.
18. Thehouse detective took his time: It is the second time that he has done so, bothtimes to make the impact of what he is going to say on the Croydons evenstronger.
19. Leastways,I guess you’ll call her that if you are not too fussy: I guess if you are nottoo particular about what words to use, at least you’d call her your ladyfriend. Here Ogilvie is trying to get at him)make him angry). It’s more thanobvious that he was not really with a friend, but a high class whore.
20. Theway I hear it, you won a hundred at the tables then lost it at the bar: fromwhat I hear, you won a hundred dollars in gambling and then spend the moneydrinking.
“The way(conj.” means “as; according as(conj.)”,e.g. he does not bother about trifles the way(as) his brother does.
The way(according as) you work, you must be amaster carpenter.
21. Thereain’t much, out of the way, which people who stay in this hotel do, I don’t getto hear about: If anyone who stays in this hotel does anything wrong, improperor unusual, I always get to know about it. There isn’t much that can escape me.Here “out of the way” means “improper, wrong, unusual’
22. lickeredup: liquored up, drunk
compare:
liquor: an alcoholic drink, esp. one made bydistillation, as whisky or rum(neat whisky)
wine: mainly grape wine9sweet or dry wine)
soft drink: non-alcoholic, like soda pop
chaser: a mild drink, taken with or afterliquor
23. theword was out: The news about the accident was spreading around. Someexpressions with word:
a word of advice(warning); say a good word forsomebody; have a word with somebody(talk with); have words with(quarrel); givesomebody one’s word(promise)
24. Ain’tany doubt they’d match up, even without the brush trace an’ the blood: Ihaven’t any doubt, there isn’t any doubt that the trim ring that had come offthe car and the busted headlight will correspond. That will be enough for thepolice to identify the car even without the …
25. squarehis shoulder: to show he is ready to face the consequence, he is brave, notafraid of what is to come. Here the author employed implied comparison, for“square one’s shoulder” usually means “sit or stand straight”.
26. Oh, myGod: Ogilvie mentioned the blood stain casually as if it was not important, orit had just come to his mind. In fact he had been saving it to the last momentas a dead blow to the couple. He succeeded in achieving this effect.
27. tookon a musing note: his voice sounded as if he was deep in thought. He was goingto put all his card on the table that he had made it sufficiently clear to theCroydons that they were in his hands.
28. keepfirm, tight rein on her racing mind: She kept firm and tight control of hermind which is working quickly. Here the Duchess is thinking quickly but at thesame time keeping her thoughts under control, not letting them run wild.
29. secondaryroads: roads not of primary importance whose classification and maintenancevary according to township, county, and state regulations
30. theirspeech and manner would betray them: Their …would reveal their identity.
Betray: reveal unknowingly, or against one’swishes
e.g. He said he had stayed indoors all day, buthis shoes betrayed him.
His face betrayed his fear.
31. As theDuke shifted uneasily, the house detective’s bulbous countenance reddened: Both…thought the Duchess had refused the offer. The Duke felt uneasy; he’d ratherpay the money to keep Ogilvie quiet. Ogilvie was about to protest and threatenher again.
32. herown smallness of mind: her own meanness or weakness of mind. What she is aboutto do may be extremely significant to her and her husband. She has to take abig chance, to do something very daring, so she must be bold, resolute anddecisive. She has to rise to the occasion.
33. Whenyou were paying for the highest stakes, you made the highest bid: You had topay the highest price when your reputation and career were at stake.
as she watched intently: TO the Duchess, it wasa question of survival itself. Only if Ogilvie agreed to drive their car northwould they have a chance to get out of the mess unscathed.
Part Four Assignment
1. Commenton the three characters.
2. Writea summary of the story.
Lesson Four The Trial That Rocked the World
PartOne Warm-up
1.Elicit some information about “monkey trial” from students
2.Describe the climax of a story
Part Two Background Information
Aboutfundamentalism
Religious beliefs based on aliteral interpretation of everything in the Bible and regarded as fundamentalto Christian faith and morals
About the author
John,Scopes, a high school science teacher in Dayton, Tennessee who, by teachingevolution, was accused of breaking the law. He was the defendant in the case.As the last surviving principal in this trial, he decided to write a storydescribing the highlights of the trial. The name of John Scopes became synonymouswith this trial, which is popularly known as the "monkey trial". Afilm, called "Inherit the Wind", was made of the trial, with much ofthe dialogue coming directly from the transcripts of the court proceedings.This story also draws on the actual transcripts. John Scopes died in 1979.
Brief introduction to the Bible and its influence
1. collectionof religious texts central to Christianity and Judaism. The word “bible” comesfrom Greek, “biblia”, meaning “books”.
2. translatedinto 2,018 languages; ever described as “the greatest book ever written”
3. containsa total of 66 books, divided into two parts, the Old Testament and the NewTestament. The entire Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years. Itsauthors include more than 25 men from a variety of backgrounds, includingprophets, priests, fishermen, kings, tax collectors, and doctors.
4. itsmain theme: God’s relationship with man
Many concepts and principles ofwestern culture have come down from it. Many common English phrases andexpressions have their origin in the Bible.
AboutWilliam Jennings Bryan(1860-1925)
born in Salem,Illinois. In hismiddle-class family, great emphasis was placed on religion and morality, notonly in one's personal life but in politics and in the conduct of nationalaffairs. After graduating from Illinois College of Law in Chicago, he opened alaw office in Jacksonville. In 1887 Bryan moved to Lincoln, Nebraska,practicing law and simultaneously turning toward politics. He won a seat inCongress in 1890 and was reelected in 1892. He was the Democratic party'spresidential nominee three times (1896, 1900, 1908). In 1912 he helped tosecure the nomination of Woodrow Wilson for the presidency, and Wilson namedhim secretary of state in 1913. In World War I he advocated a policy ofneutrality, hoping that the United States might play the role of arbitratorbetween the opposing sides. Wilson, however, did not follow his advice and heresigned in June 1915.
During his time he advanced progressivecauses such as women's suffrage and spoke on behalf of the common people,particularly the farmers, introducing measures, which would give them more of avoice in government. But all that he advocated had a fundamentalist basis,i.e., he was motivated by a strong religious belief and did things in the nameof religion. His old-fashioned fundamentalism made him popular among some ofthe common people.
During the last 10 years of his life, hebecame more and more fanatical. He refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan becausethey conducted their affairs in the name of Christianity.
In 1925 he appeared for the prosecutionin the Scopes trial in Tennessee opposing the teaching of theories of evolutionin public schools. The ' naivete' and narrowness of his thinking e mergedclearly in this trial, which was Bryan's last appearance in public before hisdeath in 1925.
AboutClearence Seward Darrow(1857-1938)
was born in Farmdale, Ohio. In1894 Darrow began what would be his primary career for the next 20 years--laborlaw. During these years, he had defended Eugene V. Debs, "Big Bill"Haywood and other labor leaders. But in1911 disaster struck as Darrow, defending the Mcnamara brothers against acharge of blowing up the Los Angeles Times Building, was suddenly faced withhis clients' reversing their previous plea of innocence to one of guilt. Inturn, Darrow was indicted for misconduct but was not convicted. With this hiscareer as a labor lawyer came to an end.
Then he embarked on a new major careeras a criminal lawyer. He viewed criminals as people led by circumstance intocommitting antisocial acts rather than as free-willing monsters. For thisreason he was a bitter opponent of capital punishment, viewing’ it as abarbaric practice.
Darrow's most famous criminal trial wasthe 1924 Leopold-Loeb case, in which two Chicago boys had wantonly murdered ayoungster. For the only time in his career Darrow insisted that his clientsplead guilty, then turned his attention to saving them from the death penalty.He was successful in this, partly because he was able to introduce a great dealof psychiatric testimony supporting his theories of the influences uponindividual acts.
In the Scopes trial, Darrow's defense,and particularly his cross-examination of William J. Bryan, who spoke for thebiblical, antiscientific, fundamentalist side, served to discredit religiousfundamentalism and won national attention.
Part Three Text Analysis
1. A buzz ran through the crowd…thatsweltering July day in 1952:
1) buzz: the vibrating sound of a bee; hereit refers to the sound of many people whispering or talking excitedly in lowtones
2) ran through the crowd: spread among thepeople who had come to watch the trial
3) as I took my place in the packed court:as I went to my seat in the court which was crowded with people
2. Leading counsel for the prosecution…thathad brought about my trial:
1) prosecution: the group of people who areconcerned in bringing a criminal charge against someone in court
2) the fundamentalist movement: amilitantly conservative and fanatically religious American Protestant movementthat began in the early 20th century in opposition to modernscientific tendency; it holds that the Bible is a verbally accurate recordingof the word of God, and was strong in parts of the U.S. especially the South,at the time.
3) Fundamentalist movement that had broughtabout the trial: The trial was brought to court by Scopes and his lawyers.However, it was the fundamentalist movement which made the trial necessary,because it was this movement that had created the religious atmosphere that wasresponsible for the law which prohibited the teaching of evolution in theschools, and it was the existence of that law which made it necessary to hold atrial to challenge the law.
3. seated in court…of Harvard University:
1) ready to testify on my behalf: preparedto submit evidence to support or benefit me ( or my case)
2) on (in )somebody’s behalf, on (in)behalf of sb.: to benefit, support, serve the interests of sb.
3) Harvard University: the oldestuniversity of the United States., at Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636and named after its first benefactor, John Harvard(1607-1638), a nonconformistminister born in England
4. a jury trial: a trial that had a jury (agroup of 12 responsible, impartial citizens chosen to hear the case and makethe decision (reach a verdict) of a guilty or not in accordance with theirfindings
5. “Don’t worry…” as we were waiting forthe court to open:
1) throwing a reassuring arm around myshoulder: putting his arm in an informal, friendly way around me so that hishand rested on my shoulder, the shoulder that was further away from Darrow.
2) Reassuring arm: Obviously the arm can’tbe reassuring; it means in a reassuring manner, a friendly gesture to put Johnat ease; the figure of speech used here is a transferred epithet.
6. The fundamentalists… Old Testament:
1) adhere to: believe in , follow devotedly
2) literal interpretation: word for wordacceptance of what is said in the Bible
3) Old Testament: that part of the Biblethat refers to events before the birth of Christ. Note: all the words likie theBible, God(Lord, He Him) and Christ (Saviour) are capitalized.
7. The modernists …had evolved from acommon ancestor: Charles Darwin: English naturalist, born on Feb. 12, 1809 atShrewsbury, died on April 19, 1882; published “On the Origin of Species byMeans of Natural Selection” in 1859. The theory of evolution asserts that allliving forms, plants and animals, including Man, have developed from earlierand simpler forms by processors of change and selection.
8. the state legislature…as taught in theBible:
1) state legislature: official body ofpeople who pass ( determine, decide) laws. Each of the 50 states in the U.S.has a legislature. The national legislature is called the congress
2) that denies the story of creation: thatrefuses to believe that all human beings are descended from Adam and Eve, whowere created by God
9. “Let’s take this thing…test the legalityof it.”:
1) this thing:refers to this matter, this problem; here it refers to Scopes’ teaching ofevolution nad hence his violation of the law, “this thing” is an impreciseexpression on the part of Rappelyea, but very common in spoken English
10. ourtown had taken on a circus atmosphere:
1) circus: public entertainment consistingof a variety of performances by acrobats, clowns and trained animals, oftenperformed in large tents by a group that travels from one town to another
2) circus atmosphere: a kind of rowdy orriotous, holiday spirit
3) All sorts of activities were going on inthe town and there was a kind of noisy holiday spirit. ( Suddenly the town wastransformed into a kind of circus with many people coming to hear the trial.The town people took advantage of the sudden influx of visitors to expand theirbusiness activities.
11. Thestreets…and watermelons
1) sprout: grow or develop quickly;shaky(poorly made) stalls or booths suddenly appeared
2) hot dog: long, thin, sausage in a bun.Hot dogs and hamburgers (ground beef patty in a bun) are sometimes seen assymbols of American culture. As fast foods they represent, esp. to Europeans,the quick pace and low quality of life in the U.S.
3) These rickety stands, which appearedsuddenly everywhere, sold hot dogs, religious books, watermelons, etc… Thisadds to the town’s circus atmosphere. Religious books were sold because manyreligious people attended this trial in which religion played a key role.
12. Peoplefrom the surrounding hills…the “infidel outsiders”:
1) surrounding hills: referring to thehills near the town which were a part of the Appalachian Mts., a mountain chainin eastern North America extending parallel to the coast fro 1,600 miles fromsouthern Quebec to central Alabama, passing through Tennessee
2) infidel: unbelievers in religious sense,meaning godless and implying being the hands of the devil
3) outsiders: referring to the northern,big city lawyers, professors and scientists who would be held in suspicion astrouble-makers by narrow-minded, small town southerners. It is in quote tosignify that this is a false view held by such people.
13. I’mjust a reg’lar mountaineer jedge.”: I’m just an ordinary judge from themountains. Uneducated-sounding southern accent and his statement about himselfconveys false modesty about being with the people and indicates regionalnarrow-mindedness and bigotry.
14. Besidesthe shrewd 68-year-old Darrow…steeped in the law:
1) shrewd: astute, sharp, clever, not to beoutwitted; used admiringly here; sometimes implying negativequalities---cunning, tricky, dishonest
2) magnetic: strongly attractive; said of aperson, personality
3) steeped in the law: thoroughly familiarwith the law
15. It isa trial…Hays a Jew:
1) in a trial in which religion played akey role: Scopes was accused of violating the law which prohibited the teachingof any theory that denied the story of creation as taught in the Bible. And itwas the fundamentalists who made the state legislature pass the law. That’s whythe writer said religion played a key role in the trial.
2) Agnostic: a person who questions, doubtsthe existence of God and claims that His existence can’t be proved; mayagnostics simply leave it at that and do not bother with the question ofreligion any further
3) The whole sentence points out thereligious and non-religious diversity of the defence counsel in contrast to theprosecution, hinting that the defence counsels would be more broad-minded andobjective.
16. Thejudge called for a minister to …”That’s one hell of a jury!”:
1) minister: a person authorized to conductworship, administer sacraments etc. in a Christian church, esp. any Protestantclergyman
2) one hell of a jury(or a hell of a jury):no jury at all; a completely inappropriate jury ( because they are toopartial); this is a common phrase meaning something unusual e.g. That was a hell of an exam.(unusuallydifficult)
It’sbeen one hell of a trip.
It’sa hell of a change.
3) The whole paragraph shows the religiousbias of the trial right from the start, indicates the pro-fundamentalistatmosphere that will pervade the trial and gives readers a taste of things tocome.
17. Todayit is the teachers…the newspapers:
1) it refers to the target of ignorant andbigoted persecution
2) today the teachers art put on trialsbecause they teach scientific theory; soon the newspapers and magazines willnot be allowed to express new ideas, to spread knowledge of science.
18. Aftera while, it is…to the human mind:
1) setting of man against man: making manfight each other, causing universal enmity
2) creed against creed: making one religionfight another religion causing universal intolerance and widespread religiouspersecution
3) marching backwards: marching usuallyimplies going forward for a great cause; here it is used ironically, meaningretrogress to the dark age of the 16th century
4) 16th century: The 16thcentury was the time of the Renaissance when new ideas of arts, science beganflourish. The Church led a reactionary movement against the Renaissance whichthreatened old religious beliefs. They intimidated free-thinkers and evenburned them to death at the stake---i.t. tied them to a pole and ignited stickspiled up at their feet.
5) Bigot: someone obstinately andintolerantly devoted to his own beliefs, creed or party
19. damned:curse , condemn to eternal punishment(hell). Used interchangeably with damn.Often lightened into weaker word---darn, darned. Both are common. Othermeanings of damn(ed): Not worth a damn(darn)---of no value. Don’t give adamn(darn)---don’t care. Superlative---damnedest, darnedest. To try yourdamnedest---hardest
20. “Thereis some doubt about that”, Darrow snorted:
1) snort: say in a scornful, contemptuousway as if with a snort (exhale forcibly and noisily through the nostrils, as ahorse)
2) It is doubtful whether man has reasoningpower. Darrow is sarcastically referring to the fundamentalists, implying thatthey don’t have reasoning power.
21. TheChristian believes…must have come from below:
1) Christians believe that God in heavenmade human beings but evolutionists think human beings come from the earth (orfrom lowly animals)
2) Bryan is being sarcastic. The statementimplies that there’s nothing lofty, noble or great about human beings in theevolutionists’ view. The two statements are expressed in such a way that theyform a contrast, a definite statement about Christian belief and a ‘must have come’statement about evolutionist belief, meaning the evolutionists are merelyguessing. They think that if people don’t come from God, they must come fromsomewhere else, and coming from below is as good a guess as any.
22. Inone hand…for the defence:
1) brandish: wave menacingly, as a weapon;the use of the word brings to mind the waving of swords by inspired soldiers inreligious wars
2) words brandish and denounce give a senseof Bryan behaving as if he had a sacred calling (duty) from God. This sentenceand the next paragraph suggest that he is implying that the theory of evolutioncomes from the devil (Satan), and that the supporters of the defence are doingthe devil’s work.
23. “TheBible is not going to…a divine plan.”:
1) thunder, sonorous, organ: All thesewords convey the sound of his voice---deep, full, loud, rumbling, impressive.Ministers, evangelists, other religious leaders cultivate such a voice (it’sactually taught in seminaries) to evole emotion on the part of their listeners.
2) Expert: the word is used sarcasticallybecause Bryan means the opposite
3) Who come hundreds of miles: subtleimplication of them as outside trouble-makers
4) Reconcile: find agreement between; make(arguments, ideas etc.) consistent, compatible etc.
5) They can reconcile evolution…with man madeby God in His image…: They can prove that the theory of man descending frommonkey is compatible with the theory of man created by God.
6) This is an interesting construction: ifhe were being open-minded and fair he would have said---that evolution and theBible can be reconciled. By putting it this way, he implies that they (the“experts”) claim (falsely) that they can do the impossible. This construction,together with the use of the word “experts” implies that they are fakes.
7) With its ancestors in the jungle: withmonkeys (or apes) as their ancestors; a phrase designed to represent evolutionas the degradation og human beings
8) In His image: in His likeness,reflecting God
9) His purpose and the divine plan arenever specified more clearly than this because God is supposed to bemysterious, beyond human knowledge; so it’s believed that God has a master planfor the world but humans can’t possibly figure it out, even though Bryan andpeople like him seem sure that evolution isn’t part of God’s plan.
10) Withman m,ade by God…a divine plan: full of words (God, His image, His purpose,divine plan) that are designed to uplift, to show loftiness in contrast to thelowly jungle evolution idea.
11) Thewhole sentence is full of trickery as Bryan uses sarcasm and degradation andplays on the jury’s religious emotions to undermine the defence.
24. Gonewas the fierce fervour… a prairie fire.
1) inverted sentence for emphasis
2) fierce fervour: field of politics; arenais a place usually where contests are held
3) swept…like a prairie fire: moved quicklywith the speed of a fire in a large flat grassland; a prairie fire is a simile;it perhaps refers to the speech tours Bryan took in the election campaigns,making fiery speeches, overwhelming his opponents and rallying people under hisbanner
4) Despite his eloquence, he was not asforceful and persuasive as he used to be.
25. Heappealed for… between science and religion.
1) appeal (fro): make a strong request (forhelp, support, mercy etc.)
2) calling for a duel to the death:demanding that a life or death struggle be fourght
3) duel: preplanned combat with deadlyweapons between two people. In Middle Ages, an insult would be sufficient causefor a duel. People dueled to defend their honor. It is used metaphoricallyhere.
4) Malone, while a Catholic, was also aliberal. His view was that people should be allowed to think all sorts ofthings. Science and religioncould coexist and there needn’t be a deadly combat(as Bryan was waging) to prove one right and the other wrong.
26. WhenMalone finished… that surpassed that for Bryan.
1) storm of applause: loud, noisy applause,like a thunder storm; storm is used metaphorically
2) When Malone finished it was silent fofronly a very brief time and then there was an outburst of applause, greater thanBryan had received,
3) Note the contrast between hush andstorm. This is like a summer stotrm when the sky blackens and there is quietbefore the storm breaks.
27. Whenthe court adjourned…with strangers;
1) swarm: (n.) alarge number of insects esp. bees, usually in motion (v.) move or emerge in a swarm
2) When thecourt session finished ( not the end of the trial) the people left thecourtroom and found the area around the court full of people from otherplaces(out0of-towners).
28. Oneshop announced… Everything-to-wear store:
1) Everything-to-wear store: clothingstore, outdated phrase
2) DARWIN IS RIGHT---INSIDE: This is a pun.The author plays on the different meanings of the words. Darwin and rightDarwin can refer to the English naturalist or to the shop owner, while rightcan mean correct or directly. So when one pauses before the dash, the signmeans Darwin (the naturalist) is correct; when you read out the whole sign in abreath, it means the shop owner is directly inside.
29. Thepoor brute… afraid it might be true.
The reporterwrote in an assumingly sympathetic way for the ape but the intention was toridicule the foolishness of the fundamentalists. Even the ape shrank in fearwhen it realized that it might share the same ancestor with those irrationalhuman beings.
30. NowDarrow…for the defence:
1) spring: present suddenly, unexpectedly;produce as a surprise
2) trump card: in some card games, acertain suit is declared trump, i.e., as outranking all other suits; thewinning card; an important advantage
3) spring his trump card: use suddenly thatwhich is most advantageous to his cause in order to improve his position
31. Hisreputation as an authority ..the world:
1) People all over the world admitted thathe was an expert on the Bible.
2) This is an exaggeration meant toridicule Bryan and to put him in a disadvantageous position.
32. Resolutely…torepel his enemies:
1) stride: walk with long steps in avigorous manner
2) repel: drive back by or as if by force (Note: One can repel or repulse an enemy but one can only repulse an offer offriendship)
3) The author depicts Bryan as a soldiergoing to battle with the palm fan as his weapon. The depiction creates a vividand ridiculous image in the reader’s mind: the three-time Democraticpresidential nominee, the authority on Scripture walked bravely to the witnessstand to meet the challenge with a palm fan in his hand. A Don Quixote type ofhero,
33. UnderDarrow’s quiet questioning…with fervent “Amen”:
1) punctuate: interrupt periodically
2) defiant reply: answers that show strongresistance, standing up for his beliefs
3) fervent: showing great warmth offeeling; intensely devoted or earnest( It suggests a fiery of enthusiasm ordevotion)
4) The fickle spectators, who were mainlyfundamentalists, switched back to Bryan’s side, and took his words as if theywere prayers, interrupting frequently with “Amen”.
5) Compare ask, inquire, question, andinterrogate:
Ask isthe usual verb for questions, which can be followed by a noun, pronoun, and asentence; inquire(or enquire) has the same meaning, but it’s moreformal, and is not followed by a noun or pronoun object, e.g. “Where do youlive?” he inquire. To question a person is to ask them many questions,and to interrogate suggests that the person is being held by force andasked questions that they are unwilling to answer.
34. Genesis:创世纪first Book of the Old Testament whichrecounts the creation of the world and claims that God made the world andeverything in it in 6 days and rested on the 7th (which is why oneday is set aside as a day of rest---Sat. for Jews, Sun. for Christians) Itoutlines God’s work during each of the 6 days, and says tha ton the first daythere was morning and everything and that God made the sun on the fourth day.
35. “Howcould there have…” Darrow enquired: Darrow first tricked Bryan into makingpositive assertions before showing that what he believed was not logicallypossible. Darrow’s intention was to show how indefensible Bryan’s position was.
36. “Yourhonor …to cast slurs on Him…”: Bryan is trying to save face, turn the tables onDarrow and win back sympathy from the audience for himself by charging Darrowwith being an infidel who is making use of the court to belittle God. Actuallywhether or not Darrow believed in God was irrelevant.
37. nointelligent Christian believes: Thoughtful Christians accept the basicprinciples of Christianity---e.g. one God, brotherhood, charity---but not theliteral truth of the Bible as do Bryan and the fundamentalists.
38. Victorious defeat: literally adefeat (found guilty, fined), but really something of a victory fro therevolutionists because the very light sentence signifies the jury wasn’toutraged at his “crime”. Also the trial brought the issues out into the open,and the publicity largely showed the scientific viewpoint in a favorable lightand as reasonable. These really were the main objectives of having the trial inthe first place.
Part Four Assignment
1. Studentsexpress their understanding of “a victorious defeat”.
2. Describe the climax of the trial
Lesson Six Mark Twain——Mirror of America (Excerpts)
PartOne Warm-up
1. Let students comeup with a list of Mark Twain’s works
2. Divide studentsinto groups to discuss his writing style
3. Some studentspresent what they have learned about Mark Twain in the library
PartTwo Background Information
About Mark Twain
He is the pseudonymof the American humorist and writer, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910).thephrase, meaning “two fathoms deep”, was employed in making soundings on theMississippi river boats. Among his well-known works are Innocents Abroad(1869),Tom sawyer(1876), and Huckleberry Finn(1884-5?)
The American CivilWar
It is also called theWar of Secession. The war was fought between the northern states (FederalStates or the Union) and the southern states (the Confederacy or confederateStates of America), which seceded from the U.S. in opposition to the proposedabolition of slavery. The southern states were defeated.
Confederate guerrilla
A guerrilla fighterwho supported the southern Confederacy
PartThree Text Analysis
1. Mirror ofAmerica; Mirror here means a person who gives a true representation ordescription of the country. All literary giants in human history are also greathistorians, thinkers, and philosophers in a sense. Their works often revealmore truth than many political essays put together, and their names usuallylive in people’s memory long after those of the kings and queens that ruled thecountry are forgotten. Mark Twain was one of these giants, and his life andworks are a mirror of the America of his time.
2. MostAmericans remember Mark Twain as the …eternal boyhood and …endless summer offreedom and adventure.
1) HuckFinn’s idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood: Huck Finn’s simple and pleasantjourney through his boyhood which seems eternal. Eternal is a hyperbole; HuckFinn is the ‘eternal boy” immortalized.
2) TomSawyer’s endless summer of freedom and adventure: Endless is also a hyperbole;it parallels the word eternal. Summer , because all the adventurous describedin the book are supposed to have taken place in one particular summer.
3. as adventurous,patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined:
1) adventurous:Mark Twain was adventurous in every sense of the word. Hw was always going totry new things, and always going to new places. Even in his literary career, hewas never satisfied with what he had achieved.
2) Patriotic:Refers to his profound love for his country with its robust people andbeautiful scenery and its lofty ideals. It may also refer to his pride in theAmerican traditions and the American language.
3) Romantic:(in art, literature and music) marked by feelings rather than intellect;preferring grandeur, passion, informal beauty, to order and proportion
4) Humorous:His works are so full of humor that he is considered America’s greatesthumorist.
4. the newAmerican experience: Twain live in the stirring years in Americanhistory----the American-Mexican War; the Civil War; the Gold Rush; the westwardexpansion; the American-Spanish War; the rapid development of capitalism andlater the emergence of imperialism along with the first economicdepressions,etc.
5. mainartery of transportation in the young nation’s heart: main channel oftransportation in the young nation’s central part. Both artery and heart areused metaphorically.
6. a. theclimax of westward expansion: When America became independent, there were only13 states along the Atlantic Ocean. By 1850, the United States had expanded tothe Pacific coast. Events in this westward expansion include the massacre ofthe native Indians, the Louisiana Purchase(1803),Texas Annexation(1845), thepush into Oregon(1846), Mexican Cession(1848), and the Gadsden Purchase. In1848, gold was found in California. The news spread far and wide and peoplerushed there to seek their fortune. It was known in American history as the“gold rush”, and this rush reached its climax in the 1860’s.
b. drained three-quarters of the settled United States: Drain means toreceive the waters of this area and carry them to the ocean. Here the meaningis that the river drained a vast basin, and the basin made up 3/4 of thepopulated area of the U.S. of that time.
7. THE castof characters set…rich and varied---a cosmos.
1) the castof characters: (alliteration) the set of actors in a play or movie. Used herefiguratively, it means people of all sorts.
2) Cosmos:universe, used figuratively here, meaning a place where one can find all typesof characters.
8. listeningto pilothouse talk of feuds, piracies…: listening to the gossip in thepilothouse about feuds, etc.
1) pilothouse:an enclosed place on the upper deck of a river boat in which the pilot standwhile steering.
2) Feud:bitter quarrels between persons, families or countries over a long period oftime
3) Piracy:robbery of ships on the high seas(or on inland waterways)
4) Lynching:the murder of an accused person without trial, carried out by a mob, usually byhanging
5) Medicineshow: show give by entertainers who travel from town to town, accompanied byquacks and fake Indians, selling cureals, snake-bite medicine, etc.
6) Savageslums: slums that are crude, lack polish or are violently lawless
9. thecolorful language that he… phonographic: the colorful language that he took inmentally with a good memory that seemed to be able to record things like aphonograph(gramophone in British usage)
10. Steamboat decks teemed not only …but itsflotsam of…: Steamboat decks were filled with people of pioneering spirit (people who explored and prepared the way for others) and also lawless people orsocial outcasts such as hustlers, gamblers and thugs. Current : a streamof water or air flotsam: the wreckage of a ship or itscargo found floating on the sea. Both words are used figuratively here. To seemwith means to be filled with, to have in great numbers, e.g. teem with fish.
Examples with the word teem:
1) Beforebeing polluted that river teemed with fish and shrimps.
2) His headteems with clever ideas.
11. railroads began drying up the demand forsteamboat pilots: Because of the railroads there was no more demand forsteamboat pilots.
12. with a motley band of Confederate guerrillas:with a group of Confederate guerrillas of various sorts. Motley: adj. having or composed of manydifferent or clashing elements; varied. N. a combination of diverse or clashing elements band: a group of people joined together fora common purpose(derogative)
13. succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silverfever: gave way to (yielded to, submitted to) the prevailing gold and silverfever. Note the metaphor used here (epidemic, fever). The author describes thegold and silver rush as a fever and an epidemic that is a disease spreadingrapidly among many people in the same area at the same time. 1)To succumb tocan also mean to die of. E.g. In the end he succumbed to the temptation. 2) Thepresident succumbed to the pressure of his opponents.
14. he flirted with the colossal wealth…and wasrebuffed: he tried but not very hard or persistently enough to get the enormouswealth available to those lucky and persistent ones, and he failed. It is ametaphor. Words like flirt, lucky, persistent, rebuff are oftenassociated with love. Flirt originally means to make love withoutserious intention, to play at love. Rebuff means to refuse bluntly.
15. The instant riches of a mining strike would notbe his in the reporting trade: He did not succeed in his reporting trade andbecome rich overnight as a goldminer might have done at that time bydiscovering a vein of gold. Strike: n. the sudden discovery of some mineralores. It comes from the phrase to strike gold, oil,etc
16. Mark Twain honed and experimented with his newwriting muscles: He exercised and experimented with his new writing ability.Hone and muscles are used figuratively. To hone is to sharpen with or as with ahone( a finegrained hard stone used to sharpen cutting tools), e.g. to honeone’s wit
17. for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths…:because all the slow, dull and lazy people stayed at home, hence implying thatall those who came pioneering out west were energetic, courageous and recklesspeople
18. a recklessness of cost or consequences:regardless of money, time and effort and disregard for risks or adverseconsequences
19. 1) casually he debunked revered artists and arttreasures: He exposed the pretensions of respected artists and the falseglamour of art treasures. He did this as if unintentionally and in a nonchalantmanner.
1) tookunholy verbal shots at the holy Land orally: ridiculed the Holy Land; attackedthe Holy …
20. America laughed with him(personification,hyperbole) the American people laughed with him.
21. The adventures of Tom Sawyer(its sequel TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn) is a narrative of innocent boyhood thatinadvertently discovers evil as Tom and Huck witness a murder by Ingin Joe in agraveyard at midnight. The boys run away, are thought dead by drowning, butturn up at their own funeral. They decide to seek out the murderer and win thereward offered for his capture. It is Tom and his little girlfriend who, whilelost in a cave, discovers the hiding place of Ingin Joe.
22. as is the Declaration of Independence: as theDeclaration of Independence is sure to be studied in … Note the clever way oflinking two paragraphs, namely through the repetition of certain words orphrases in the preceding one, with the meaning adroitly changed.
23. the introduction to Huckleberry Finn(Teacher’sBook P197)
24. On the river, and especially with…, Twainfound…: By describing the river(the Mississippi), and especially Huck Finn,Twain best expressed the desire of escape…
25. lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally andrenew our edges: relax, rest, or stay away from all this crazy struggle forsuccess occasionally and keep our edges sharp. Mark Twain thinks that theAmerican should keep their daring and enterprising spirit.
26. Personal tragedy haunted his entire life:Personal tragedies occurred repeatedly throughout his life. Examples withhaunt: 1) She was haunted by sad memories. 2) The old man said the castle washaunted by ghosts.
27. Bitterness fed on the man who had made theworld laugh: The man who had made the world laugh was himself consumed bybitterness. Feed on :take as food; bitterness is personified.
28. Now the gloves came off with biting satire: Nowhe became mercilessly bitter and satirical. The expression “the gloves cameoff” derives from the idiom “an iron hand in a velvet glove” (ruthlessnessconcealed by good manners, soft speech, etc.)
PartFour Assignment
Writea summary of the text.
Lesson Seven Everyday Use for Your Grandmamma
PartOne Warm-up
1. Elicit someanimals from students and discuss whether they have their own images in English
2. Ask students workin pairs or group, and talk about their families and their relationship
PartTwo Background Information
About the author
Poet, novelist andessayist, was born into a poor family in Eatontoon, Georgia. Her parents made aliving by growing cotton. When she went to Sarah Lawrence College in the early60’s, the civil rights movement was in full swing. She was actively involved inthe movement and upon graduation worked in Mississippi, center of the civil rightsactivities. After experiencing the political movement and as a caseworker forthe New York Citywelfare department, she became a teacher of creative writing and blackliterature, lecturing at a number of colleges. Her writing career began withthe publication of a volume of poetry in 1968, which was followed by a numberof novels, short stories, critical essays and more poetry. NOW she is regardedas one of the most prominent writers in American literature and a most forcefulrepresentative of women’s literature and black literature.
About her works
Her works include THEThird Life of Grange Copeland(1970), Meridian(1976), a biography of LangstonHughers(1973), a volume of Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems(1973),acollection of short stories in Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women(1973)and a recent novel The Temple of My Familiar(1989). Her most significant novelis the Color of Purple, published in 1982, which won all the three major bookawards in
About the story
IT is one of thebest-written short stories by Alice Walker, describing three women. The motheris a workingwoman without much education, but not without intelligence orperception. The two daughters form a sharp contrast in every conceivable way:appearance, character, personal experience, etc.
PartThree Text Analysis
1. wavy: characteristic of waves, resemblingwaves. Here the word describes the marks on the clay ground left by the broom.
2. an extended living room: an enlarged livingroom by a new addition to the original space. Extended means prolonged,continued; enlarged in influence, meaning, scope, etc. e.g. extended care:nursing care provided for a limited time after a hospital stay
3. a TV program of this sort: “This sort”carries a derogatory tone, suggesting that the TV program is of poor orinferior kind.也表明这位没文化的妇女是有一定头脑的，因此才会对这类电视片所反映的生活的真实性产生怀疑。
4. “in real life” is transitional, linking thisparagraph and the one above, implying that those TV programs are nothing butmake-believe and the narrator is very skeptical of them. In reality she has thetypical features of a black working woman.
5. I am the way …an uncooked barely pancake: MYdaughter wishes me to have a slender figure and a fair complexion; like anuncooked barley pancake: a simile comparing the skin to barley dough which hasa creamy, smooth texture. This sentence suggests that Dee is rather ashamed ofhaving a black working class woman as her mother.
6. Johnny Carson has much to do…witty tongue:Johnny Carson, popular TV talk show star, is famous for his witty and glibtongue. But in this respect, I am far better than he, and he has to try hard ifhe wants to catch up with me.
7. chin on chest, eyes on ground, fet infshuffle: Maggie is so shy that she never raises her head or eyes when lokingat and talking to people, and she is always so nervous and restless that she isunable to stand still. shuffle: to change or shift repeatedly from one positionto another.
8. forcing words, lies, other folk’s habits…onus two: The narrator implies that the books Dee read to them were written bythe white people and full of their language and ideas, falsehood and their wayof life. By reading those books, Dee forced them to accept the white people’sviews and values.
9. sitting trapped, ignorant underneath hervoice: Her reading was like a trap, and we were like animals caught in the trapunable to escape. Underneath her voice suggests a repressing and imposingquality in her voice.
10. She was determined to …in her efforts: She wasdeermined to face up and defeat any disaster with her efforts. Stare down: tostare back at another until the gaze of the one stared at is tured away. Heredisaster is personified.
11. At sixteen she had a style of her own and knewwhat style was:
1) At sixteen she had a unique way of doingthings.
2) And she knew what was the current,fashionable way of dressing, speaking, acting,etc.
3) Note the different meanings of the twostyles in this sentence. The first means “a unique way of doing things（风格）”; the second means “the current, fashionable way ofdressing, speaking, acting, etc.（时尚）”
12. She stumbles along good-naturedly: She oftenmakes mistakes while reading, but never losing her good temper. Stumble: tostop or make mistakes in speaking or reading aloud, e.g. He stumbled throughthe long speech.
13. When did Dee ever have any friends?: Arhetorical question, meaning Dee was not an easy person to get along with, andshe never really had any true friends.
14. Furtive boys in pink shirts hangingabout…school:
1) furtive: done or acting in a stealthymanner, as if to hinder observation; surreptitious, stealthy, sneaky
2) hang about: (or around)a. to cluster around;b. (colloquial) to linger around
3) washday: a day, often the same day everyweek, when the clothes, linens, etc. of a household are washed.
15. I stay her with my hand: I stop her fromrushing off with my hand. Stay: to stop, halt. Note that the simple presenttense is used in this paragraph and the following five paragraphs in describingactions that took place in the past. The purpose is to make the story tellingmore vivid.
16. Like when you see…on the road: an ellipticalsentence. It’s the kind of disgusted response you have when you see thewriggling end of a snake just in front of your foot on the road. Wriggle: tomove to and from with a twisting and writhing motion.
17. The dress is loose and flows: The dress isloose and moves gently and smoothly.
18. It is her sister’s hair: This is her sister’shair that makes Maggie utter an exclamation of dislike and disapproval.
19. she never takes a shot without making sure thehouse is include: Every time she takes a picture she makes sure that the houseis in it. It shows how important she thinks the house is. We are reminded howshe used to hate the house.
20. Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going throughmotions with Maggie’s hand: … Dee’s boyfriend is trying to shake hands withMaggie in a fancy and elaborate way.
21. Maggie’s hand is as limp as a fish…sweat:Maggie’s hand lacks firmness and is cold though she is sweating.
22. Though, in fact, I probably…through the familybranches: As I see Dee is getting tired of this, I don’t want to go on either.In fact, I could have traced it back before the Civil War through the familybranches.
23. there you are: a colloquial expression,meaning1) Here is what you wanted, e.g. There you are! A nice cup of tea. 2) Itold you so, e.g. There you are. I knew I was right. The second meaning suitsthe context. Dee’s boyfriend means “ That’s what I expected. I knew youcouldn’t trace it further back.’
24. There I was not: Not such expression. Here themother is playing on “there you are” meaning “you are not right. Actually, Icould have trace it further back if I wanted.”
25. a model A car: in 1909 Henry Fordmass-produced 15 million Model T cars and thus made automobiles popular in thestates. In 1928 the Model T was discontinued and replaced by a new design---themodel A---to meet the needs for growing competition in car manufacturing.
26. tripped over it: mispronounced it, failed tosay it correctly. Trip: to stumble, catch one’s foot and lose one’s balance.Here it is used figuratively, treating the name as something like a stone thatcauses one to stumble. E.g. The fisherman tripped over a root and fell into theriver.
27. She talked a blue streak over the sweetpotatoes:
1) blue streak: (colloquial) anything regardedas like a streak of lightning in speed, vividness, etc. talk a blue streak: totalk much and rapidly
2) over: while occupied or engaged in, e.g. todiscuss the matter over lunch
28. Maggie’s brain’s like an elephant’s: Elephantsare said to have good memories. Here Dee is being ironic.反语一般指用同本义相反的词语表示本意，例如明明天气不好，却故意: It’s a nice,pleasant sort of weather indeed! It must be delightful to find oneself in aforeign country without a penny in one’s pocket.
29. as a centerpiece for…: centerpiece: anornament, like a bowl of flowers placed in the center of a table. Anythingartistic can be used as a centerpiece.
30. a kind o sink…: sink (geology) is an area ofslightly sunken land, esp. one in which water collects or disappears byevaporation or percolation into the ground. Here the word is used figuratively,meaning depression in the wood of the handle left by the thumb and fingers.
31. Out came Wangero with two quilts: invertedsentence order to achieve vividness of description.
32. She held the quilts secretly in her arms,stroking them:
1) This shows how shecherished the quilts and how determined she was to have them. Later will learnthat the mother offered Dee a quilt when she went to college. At that time shethought the quilts were old-fashioned. Note the change in Dee’s attitudestoward the quilts.
33. stroke: to pass one’s hand gently over thesurface of something as in caressing
34. She’d probably be backward enough to put themto everyday use: Here this snobbish Dee says that Maggie is not as welleducated or sophisticated as she and that Maggie will not be able to appreciatethe value of the quilts and will use them just as quilts, not as works of art.
35. Something hit me… of my feet: A metaphor. Itshows that one is suddenly filled with a new spirit or a thoroughly thrillingand exciting emotion caused by an entirely new experience.
36. try to make something of yourself: try to besuccessful like me. Make: to turn out to be; to prove to have the essentialqualities of, e.g. He would make a capable leader.
PartFour Assignment
Compare the three women.
