Text II A Debt to Dickens.doc

A New English Course (5): Lecture NotesUnit 11(Text I & II)Text II: A Debt to DickensPearl S. BuckI. Teaching objectives1. Shift in tense in narration and its stylistic effect.2. Vividness in description and narration.II. Questions for discussion:1. Have you read any books by Pearl S. Buck about her Chinese experience?2. Have you ever read any novels by Charles Dickens? Say something about Dickens. Dickens (1812-1870)?n 19th Century novelist, tradition of Realismn well-known for his sympathy for the poor and lower-middle classes of Englandn usual criticism on Dickens characterization (In paragraph 6, toward the end): “People today say he is obvious and sentimental and childish in his analysis of characters” (人物简单化) n similarity and difference between Dickens and Makepeace Thackeray 1811-63 as novelist3. Is there any writer to whom you have owed a heavy debt in your reading experience?4. Say something about the exotic childhood of the author Pearl S. Buck.Questions for discussion 1 In what way is Bucks life experience unusual?n from a missionarys family, brought up in China2) How would you describe Bucks childhood? （paragraph 2-3）n intensely solitary (alien from her own culture, not accepted by the Chinese culture either)n “solitary”, isolated, lonely, alien, foreign n “wondering” about her own folk, how they live, play etc.Draw students attention to vivid descriptions about the childhood (example of literary stylel)3) How did Buck come across Dickens works?n one August afternoon, (paragraph 4, detailed, vivid descriptions)4) Why did Dickens novels appeal so much to Buck?n In reading Dickens, Buck found her way into her heritage. (She was able to identify herself with her culture, to regain her identity. 找到自我n Characters depicted in the novels 5) Why is Buck so grateful to Dickens, regarding herself owing to Dickens a great debt?n She has been reading Dickens for about 10 years (para 6)n “He opened my eyes to people, taught me to love all sorts of peoplen “gave me the zest for life, that immense joy in life and in people. (Reading Dickens has not only satisfied Bucks desire for identifying with her own culture, but also taught her Christian faith and shaped her morals.)More about Pearl S BuckOne of the most popular literary figures in American literature is a woman who spent almost half of her long life in China, a country on a continent thousands of miles from the Unite States. In her lifetime she earned this countrys most highly acclaimed literary award: the Pulitzer Prize, and also the most prestigious form of literary recognition in the world, the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pearl S. Buck was almost a household word throughout much of her lifetime because of her prolific literary output, which consisted of some eighty-five published works, including several dozen novels, six collections of short stories, fourteen books for children, and more than a dozen works of nonfiction. When she was eighty years old, some twenty-five volumes were awaiting publication. Many of those books were set in China, the land in which she spent so much of her life. Her books and her life served as a bridge between the cultures of the East and the West. As the product of those two cultures she became, as she described herself, mentally bifocal. Her unique background made her into an unusually interesting and versatile human being. As we examine the life of Pearl Buck, we cannot help but be aware that we are in fact meeting three separate people: a wife and mother, an internationally famous writer and a humanitarian and philanthropist. One cannot really get to know Pearl Buck without learning about each of the three. Though honored in her lifetime with the William Dean Howell Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in addition to the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, Pearl Buck as a total human being, not only a famous author, is a captivating subject of study.III. Organization and development of the textSection 1: Stating the writing purpose: to express a feeling of warm gratitude to Charles Dickens (para. 1)Section 2:Telling about her special childhood, her feeling of loneliness and alienation (para. 2-3): (a circumstance that made her reading Dickens the more significant)Para. 2: living circumstance of the seven-year-old foreign childPara.3: her feeling of being foreign, and her longing to know more about her own folkSection 3: Telling how she came to read Dickens and what she has benefited from reading (para. 4-7):Para 4: the accidental discovery of Dickens works and thus the discovery of her playmatesPara 5:the extraordinary meaning of the discovery: she entered into her own heritagePara. 6-7: the ten-year reading program.IV. Language points1. ache/pain/pang: a bodily sensation that causes acute discomfort or sufferingpain Pain may range in its application from a sensation that makes one uneasily aware of some bodily disturbance or injury to a sensation resulting from severe injuries or disease and of agonizing intensity: from a sensation that is purely local to one that affects the entire body. e.g.n a pain in the fingern chest painsn His body was wracked with pain.ache An ache is a steady, dull, and often generalized pain that is frequently associated with some underlying disorder. e.g.n the ache of an abscessed toothn backache that accompanies kidney diseaseache (v.): feel a continuous, but not very sharp pain there, e.g. n The noise of the traffic made my head ache.n an aching backache to do sth/for sth: want to do or have something very much e.g. n I was aching to tell him the good news.pang A pang is a sharp, sudden, and usually transitory pain of great intensity, especially one that recurs in spasms. e.g. n Pangs have taken hold upon me.n Attacking themfleas was a waste of time, and unless a particularly savage pang forced you into action, you just sat and let yourself be devoured.2. obligation: a moral or legal duty to do something. e.g. n You can look at the books without any obligation to buy.n I have certain obligations to my family.n to meet/fulfil an obligation: to do something that is your dutyn be under an obligation: (a) to have to do something because it is a legal or moral duty; (b) to owe someone loyalty, thanks, or money because they have done something for you (+ to)n to place sb under an obligation: e.g. Signing a contract places you under a long-term obligation.3. perch: be perched on/upon/over etc: to be in a position on top of, or on the edge of something, e.g. n A house perched on a cliff above the town.4. treacherous: (ground or situations) particularly dangerous because you cannot see the dangers, e.g. n There are treacherous currents in the bay.5. voracious: (a) eating or wanting large quantities of food; (b) extremely eager to read books, gain knowledge, etc.6. make off: go in a hurry7. heritage: singular, U important qualities, customs, and traditions that have been in a society for a long timec.f. heritage/inheritance/patrimony: All denote something which one receives or is entitled to receive by succession (as from a parent or predecessor). Heritage is the most widely applicable of these words, for it may apply to anything (as a tradition, a right, a trade, or the effect of a cause) that is passed on not only to ones heir or heirs but to the generation or generations that succeed .e.g. n our neglect of the magnificent spiritual heritage which we possess in our own history and literaturen but the war had left its heritage of povertyof disease, of misery, of discontentInheritance applies to what passes from parent to children, whether it be money, property, or traits of character. e.g. n my fathers blessing, and this little coin is my inheritanceInheritance, but not heritage, may also apply to the fact of inheriting or to the means by which something passes into ones possession. e.g. n come into possession of a property by inheritancen the power of regulating the devotion of property by inheritance or will upon the death of the ownerPatrimony applies basically to the money or property inherited from ones father, but is also used in the more general sense of ancestral inheritance. e.g. n contentto leave his patrimony not worse but something better than he found it8. dip into: (a) to read short parts of a book, magazine etc, but not the whole thing; (b) to use some of an amount of money that you have.n Medical bills forced her to dip into her savings.n Parents are being asked to dip into their pockets for new school books. (i.e. to pay for something with your own money)9. unctuous: (fml.) too friendly and praising people too much in a way that seems very insincere, e.g. n