Unit 3 The Generation Gap
Text A Father Knows Better
Warm-up Questions
1.Is there a generation gap between you and your parents?
2.What will you do if you have different opinions with your parents?
3.What are the major components of a play?
Global Reading
I. Part Division of the Text
| Parts | Para(s). | Main Ideas |
| 1 | 1~35 | In a fast-food restaurant, Father embarrassed Sean by talking too proudly to the restaurant manager. |
| 2 | 36~108 | In the Thompson family dining room, Father embarrassed Diane by persuading a work-mate into pressing his son to ask her to the senior prom. |
| 3 | 109~130 | In an office at Heidi’s high school, Father embarrassed Heidi by boasting to an official about how bright she was. |
II. FurtherUnderstanding
■ For Part 1
1) Group Presentation
Students work in pairs. One student tries to describe Heidi’s attitudes toward her father according to her speech at the very beginning of the play. Then the other student makes a speech to class.
2) Role Play
Three students stay in a group, and play Manager, Father,and Sean respectively according to what had happened in this part.
■ For Part 2
1) True or False
1. Diane disliked Kyle and did not want to go to the senior prom with him. (= F Diane liked Kyle and wanted to go to the senior prom with him.)
2. Mother thought the children should respect their father. (= T)
3. Dan Lucas invited Father to have lunch at the French restaurant on Third Road. (= F Father invited Dan Lucas to have lunch atthe French restaurant on Third Road.)
4. Dan Lucas promised to ask his son to make a phone call to Diane because Father toldhim Diane was interested in his son. (= T)
5. Asan honor student, Diane was pleased with the result. (= F As an honor student, Diane was humiliatedwith the result.)
2) Group Discussion
Three to four students stay in a group, and discuss the characteristics of Father, Mother and the children.
■ For Part 3
1) Group Discussion
Students form groups, and find out what Father said in the office. Then find out the response of Heidi and Mrs.Higgins. Discuss why they seemed to have different topics and what they thought during the interview.
2) Role Play
Students form groups and act as Mrs. Higgins, Father, and Heidi according to what had happened in this part.
Detailed Reading
Ⅰ. Difficult Sentences
1. (Title) “Father Knows Better”
1) What does “Father knows better.”mean?
(=“Father knows better.” or “Father,you know better than that.” literally means Father was wise enough not to dosomething. Actually it does not have this meaning. It means Father was not wisewhen he meddled with his children’s affairs.)
2) How many times does this sentenceoccur in the text? What can you infer from the sentence?
(=This sentenceoccurs six times in the text. The children said it satirically to show theirdisapproval of Father’s meddling with their affairs. )
2. (LL.42~43) “And I assure you that if there are anysubjects that need to be addressed, Sean and I will have a man-to-man talk.”
1) What is a man-to-man talk?
(=A talk that takes place between twomen, especially two men who need to discuss a serious personal matter.)
2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(=你放心，要是有什么问题需要解决的话，我和肖恩会开诚布公地谈一谈的。)
Ⅱ. Wordsand Expressions
1. (Title) know better: behave in a more sensibleand acceptable way
* He is old enough to know better.
* 他很明事理，不至于以貌取人。(=He knows better than to judge by appearances.)
Pattern: know better than sb.
knowbetter than to do sth.
2. (L.20) consist of: be made up of
* The city of New York consists of fiveboroughs.
* The committee consists of scientists and engineers.
Collocation: consist in 等于；在于
CF: consist, compose, comprise & constitute 这几个词都是动词，都有“组成”的意思。
consist 是个不及物动词，与介词of一起连用，不可用于被动语态。consist的主语表示事物的整体，of 后的宾语表示事物的组成部分。例如：
*Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen. （水由氢和氧组成。）
*North America consists of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
（ 北美洲包括美国、加拿大和墨西哥。）
compose 的主语表事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。但在被动语态中正相反。
*The United States, Canada, and Mexico compose North America.
（美国、加拿大和墨西哥合起来构成北美洲。）
*Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. （水由氢和氧组成。）
comprise 用作及物动词，有两种用法：传统规则认为其主语应当为事物的整体，宾语应当为事物的组成部分，词义为“由……组成，由……构成”；另一种趋势是用comprise表达“组成，构成”的意思，此时其主语为事物的组成部分，宾语为事物的整体。
*North America comprises the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
（北美洲包括美国、加拿大和墨西哥。）
*Ten stories comprise the book. （十个故事组成了这本书。）
constitute 的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。例如：
*The United States, Canada, and Mexico constitute North America.
（美国、加拿大和墨西哥合起来构成北美洲。）
*Seven days constitute a week. （七天为一周。）
3. (L.73) keep in suspense: delay telling (sb.) whatthey are eager to know
* We’ve been kept in suspense waiting for theexamination results.
* 观众的悬念一直持续到剧终。
(=The audience is kept in suspense to the veryend of the play.)
Collocation:
break the suspense 消除悬念
hold sb. in suspense 使某人处于悬念之中
be in suspense over 对…悬疑不安
4. (L.81) distract: vt. take (sb.’s attention) awayfrom sth. esp. for a short time
* Don’t distract me from working.
* She was distracted by the noise outside.
* 玩电脑游戏有时让他写作业分心。
(=Playing computer games sometimes distracts himfrom his homework.)
Pattern: distract sb./sth.
distract sb./sth. from
5. (L.117) hand down: give or leave to people whoare younger or come later
* The gold watch has been handed down from mygrandfather.
* 她有一些珠宝，是从她祖母那儿传下来的。
(=She had some jewelry, which had been handeddown from her grandmother.)
Collocation:
hand in 上交；交给
hand on 传递；依次传下去
hand out 分给；分发
hand over 交出；移交
6. (L.125) narrow down: make (a list of things)smaller
* The answer to the question was narrowed downto two choices.
* 一百多位申请者将会被减少成仅仅五位候选人。
(=Over a hundred applicants will be narroweddown to a short list of five candidates.)
Pattern: narrow down to
7. (L.129) exhaust: vt.
1) make (sb.) very tired, either physically or mentally
* What an exhausting day!
* Four hours’ work almost exhausted her.
2) use up completely
* They have exhausted the supply of oxygen.
* What will we do if we exhaust our reserves ofoil?
8. (L.172) in charge of: having control (over) orresponsibility (for)
* I am in charge of the department.
* He was left in charge of the shop while themanager was away.
Collocation:
take charge of 负责
in one’s charge 由某人照管
on a charge of 以…罪名
bring a charge against sb. 指控某人
face a charge 面临控告
9. (L.197) junior: adj.
1) younger
* You are my junior.
* Jane is several yearsjunior to her husband.
* Do you want John Brown Senior or John BrownJunior, the father or the son?
Pattern: be junior to
NB: Abbrs.: Jr. or jr., used after thename of a person who has the same name as his father, e.g. Tom Brown, Jr.
2) lower in rank than others
* He is a junior officer.
* 他被提升为高级职员之前，做了三年低级职员。
(=He had been a junior clerk for three yearsbefore he was promoted to senior clerk.)
After Reading
Ⅰ. Useful Expressions
1. 舞台前方 the edge of the stage
2. 对观众说话 address the audience
3. 到头来让人尴尬 end up embarrassing sb.
4. 当餐厅服务员 wait tables
5. 为某人感到骄傲 be proud of sb.
6. 一致地 in unison
7. 偶尔一次 once in a while
8. 围坐在餐桌旁 be seated around the dining room table
9. 使产生悬念 keep in suspense
10. 传下来 hand down
11. 无论如何 atany rate
12. 世界和平 global peace
13. 减少；缩小 narrow down
14. 转向某人 turn to sb.
15. 影响；刺激 come over
16. 结束某（一不愉快的）事 get sth. over with
17. 优等生 an honor student
18. 整天提心吊胆 live in constant dread
19. 负责 in charge of
20. 填写 fill out
21. 思路 line of thought
22. 初中 junior high school
Ⅱ. Sentence Translation
1. And it's not just one of us who've felt the heavy hand of interference. Oh, no, all three of us live in constant dread knowing that at any time disaster can strike.
(=不止我一个人深受他横加干预之苦。哦，绝非我一个人，我们兄妹三个整天提心吊胆，知道倒霉的事情随时可能来临。)
2. Don't know where she got her brains. Her mother, I suppose.
(=不知道她怎么会这么聪明。我想可能是她母亲的遗传。)
3. That has given them the opportunity to essentially hide in plain sight.
(=这使他们可以在父母眼皮底下与别人交流而大体上不致泄密。)
4. Text messaging has perhaps become this generation’s version of pig Latin.
(=发短信也许已经成为这一代人的文字游戏。)
5. 出于搞笑的目的，故事情节极度夸张，但几乎人人都能从中看到自己及父母的影子。
(=For the sake of fun it carries things to extremes, but nearly everyone can recognize something of themselves and their parents in it.)
6. 黛安娜，你怎么了？我真不明白你们年轻人。唉，在我那个时候……
(=Diane, what has come over you? I just don't understand the younger generation. Why, back in my day…)
7. 就在去年，她初中最后一年，我们还没搬家的时候，海蒂在县里每年一度的拼单词比赛中得了第一名!
(=Why just last year, in her last year of junior high school, before we moved, Heidi placed first in the county in the annual spelling bee.)
8. 如今，父母在需要的时候总能联系到孩子，这对于家庭来说利大于弊。
(=So far, parents’ ability to reach their children whenever they want affords families more pluses than minuses.)
