上外全新版大学英语综合教程讲义-book1-unit2.doc

UNIT 2UNIT 2First Period Preview task:Read text B and try to understand what the true friends are.Pre-Reading 1. Questions and Answers Q(1)What is a fair weather friend?Listen carefully: Just what are friends for? To have fun with, of course, to share in the good times. Yet most people would say that a real friend in more than just a fair weather friend. A fair weather friend? A fair weather friend is someone whos happy to stay with you when things are going well but leaves as soon as trouble arrives, while a good friend, a true friend, is one wholl stand by you when you find yourself in difficulties. A(1) A fair weather friend is one who is happy to stay with you when things are going well but leaves as soon as trouble arrives. Q(2)How can friend and friendship be defined? Friends (A):A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of ones heart, chaff（谷壳） and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift (筛，过滤) them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. - George Eliot (18191880), English novelist (B):A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud. - - Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882), American poet and philosopher (C):A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your successes. - Doug Larson (19021981), English middle-distance runner Friendship (A):True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost. - Charles Caleb Colton (17801832), English author and clergyman (B):Friendship is a ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul（天气恶劣的）. - Ambrose Bierce (18421914), American author and journalist, from The Devils Dictionary (C):Friendship is a treasure that always helps us overcome any kind of difficulty. Friendship is a comfort which always understands worries and emotions. Friendship is a blessing because it teaches the way to live. - Unknown Q(3)Can you give some examples of great friendship?Marx and Engles Marx valued Engels friendship so highly that he once said he loved and admired his friend very much. Engels had been aiding Marx who suffered greatly from bitter poverty. Were it not for the help Marx obtained from Engels, Marx would hardly have been able to overcome poverty and he surely would not have left behind him a monument. Word Web The stories in this unit are about friendship. Write down five words which you would use if you were writing a poem on this subject.durable long-standing enduring lifelong genuine help generous everlasting intimate close warm trust perpetual While-readingAs for “friend” or “friendship”, a sentence may occur to us - “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” It tells us the real meaning of “friendship” and the reason why it has always been the theme of some great writers and some art works. The stories between real friends often made us moved deeply, and at the same time, almost all of us long for truehearted friendship. Text B is a story about the genuine friendship between two old men, and what happened to them in this text made us ponder over the problem that what we will do when our friends get in trouble.Text B Never Let A Friend DownPart 1. ask the student to read the text and get information about the main characters Bill : 79- year-old, thin but strong, look far younger than his age, now he was living by himself 12 miles east of the town and he scraped a living hunting foxes and rabbits Royce: 59-year-old, had a bad leg and walked with difficulty, helped run the Wedding familys farmBill and Royce had been best of friends for 30 years, ever since the days when they traveled together fromfarm to farm in search of work. Bill caught up with Royce once a fortnight. This narrative mainly gives us an account of how a pair of best friends survived a fire disaster.Once Bill helped Royce burn off the weeds on one of his fields. Unfortunately, they ran into a big trouble.Part 2. assign the students to describe the danger they face (para5-9)After setting a fire to the weeds, they were in danger: Royces car plowed into a hidden bank of sand and the fire headed directly toward them. After a while, they were surrounded by flames. At this crucial time, Royce was found pinned against the steering wheel. Part 3. How did they survive a fire disaster? (Para 10-12 is about the detail of what Bill did for his friend.)Bill never let a friend down, dragging Royce away from the burning car as hard as he could. To save Royces life, Bill went out of his way of getting help from his home. The twin pillars of character- never give up no matter how bad the odds and never let friend down- determined him to save his friends life. At last they made it.Part 4. the result( after the accident)They survived this accident but Both of them were injured seriously. Tell sth about their injuries. (para13-14)Royces stomach and left hip were covered in deep burns. His fingers were burned completely out of shape.Bill was in equally bad shape. Pieces of blackened flesh and skin hung from his forearms, hands and legs.Bill was presented with the Bravery Medal at Government House, but his best reward came when he was praised by his friend Royce.Homework:(1).Q: Choose some sentences from the text and retell this accident. (ask students one by one to finish this task.)A: (L.14) Soon they were bumping over a sandy track to the weed-choked 120-acre field. (L.17) Bill soaked the tire with gasoline, then he put a match to it and jumped in the car. (L.22) The breeze suddenly swung around to their backs and began to gather strength. (L.24) “Lets get out of here!” Royce said. (L.21&25) But the car plowed into a hidden bank of sand, and they couldnt back it out of the sand bank. (L.28.) The gasoline tank exploded. (L.30) (After the explosion,) Royce was pinned against the steering wheel and unable to move. (L.32) Bill was breathless and unable to move, too.(2). preview the text A and try to get the main ideaSecond period:Part5.Assign the student to retell the story Part6. Detailed explanation of text B:(1) Attentions to the vivid description of the fireFanned to the white heat, the fire line suddenly burst into a wall of flame, heading directly towards them.The fire bit at Bills arms, face and legs, but he. The car was eaten by flames.(2)Attentions to the verbs in the textThe car pitched violently forward, plowing into a hidden bank of sandPara 8, 9 and 15As soon as he had dragged him away he patted out the flames.(3) Important sentences:L.27 Suddenly the fire was on them. Bill pushed open his door only to find himself flung through the air as, with a roar, the gasoline tank exploded and the car leapt three feet off the ground. only to find only + 动词不定式， 表示一种出乎意料的结果find oneself + 现在分词/过去分词 表示不知不觉地发现自己在做某事with a roarL.55. A lifetime spent around the tough people (who make their home in the Australian bush) had permanently fixed into Bills soul two principles: never give up no matter how bad the odds and never let a friend down. A lifetime had fixed two principles into Bills soul. no matter how bad the odds never give up no matter how bad the odds and never let a friend down a lifetime (that was) spent around the tough people people who make their home in the Australian bush 一辈子与居住在澳大利亚灌木地带的那些刚强的硬汉一起生活的人生经历，将两条准则永久地铭刻在比尔心头：无论多么艰难，决不泄气，决不抛弃朋友。Text A All the Cabbie Had Was a LetterLeading words:“A faithful friend is the medicine of life”, put William Shakespeare. A true and sincere friendship is a precious assets for anyone in his or her life despite all the phrases in ones life and the distance. Bill and Royces story is a good example. Since friends are important to us, what should we do to keep in touch with our friends? After learning this story, maybe you will get the idea. This narrative is mainly a conversation between the cab driver and the author “ I” on his trip to a hotel by taxi.Topic-related Prediction 1. Text A is titled All the Cabbie Had Was a Letter. Before you read the story, think about the answers to the following questions.What does a cabbie do?What is a letter used for?Who wrote the letter to the cabbie?Why was all the cabbie had only a letter?2. Read the last sentence of Text A and try to guess what the story is about.When I got to my hotel room I didnt unpack right away. First I had to write a letter - and mail it.3. Read Text A as quickly as possible, and find out if you are right. Can you summarize the story with three sentences?Key words: lost in thought; read a letter; an old friend; lifelong friendship; regret; author decidedWarm-up Questions Q: According to the discussion and the story between Bill and Royce, what are the friends for?A: The friends are for the good times and bad times. No matter how bad the odds, never let a friend down.Q: How do you keep in touch with your friends? Do you often write letters to your friends? A: through letters, phone call, email, qq etc. frequently, sometimes, rarely, neverScanningScan Text A and decide which of the following statements is the theme. a. One should keep in touch with his friends. b. Never delay expressing your true feelings to a friend. c. A true friend will stand by you forever. d. Late is better than never.In a word, this narrative wants to convey its readers an idea: keep up correspondence with your friends and never hesitate in expressing your true feeling to your friends, cherish the friendship. Group Discussion 1)Ss work in pairs to skim the text and find out how many questions the narrator asked the cabbie and what were the latters responses.They are: a. Is your cab available? - Yes. b. Is the letter from a child or a grandchild? - No. Ed was my oldest friend. c. Hes someone youve known quite a while? - All my life. d. Did you go to school together? - All the way through high school. e. Is he dead? - He died a couple of weeks ago. f. Did you two work at the same place? - No, but we hung out together when single, later we grew more distant. g. The letter must have made you feel good, didnt it? - (The driver said something that the narrator couldnt understand.) h. I thought your friend was Ed. Why did he sign it Tom? - The letter was not from Ed to me, I am Tom. Its a letter I wrote to him before I knew hed died. So I never mailed it. (2)One pair of Ss perform the questions and answers for the class. Before doing so T explains that they neednt read word-for-word from the text, but should use their own words to get the meaning across. (3)T asks other Ss these Qs: At first, did you mistake Ed for the writer of this letter, like the storyteller did? Which round of Q-and-A leads to the misunderstanding?A: The second round: “Is the letter from a child or a grandchild?”“No. Ed was my oldest friends.”Homework: 1. finish the exercise 2 (P 40)2. learn the new expressions by heartavailable, estimate, postpone, be lost in, keep in touch, hang out, etcThird periodDictation: 完全沉浸于 be completely lost in引起的注意 get sbs attention坐进后座 settle into the back seat不着急 in no hurry不大会 not much of a hand at 保持通信往来 keep up correspondence从小学一直到高中 all the way through both grade and high school老街坊 an old neighborhood保持联系 keep in touch with老同学聚会 a class reunion时间不饶人 Time goes by.在一起闲逛 hang out on the same corner点头称是 nod in agreement在远处 in the distanceText organizationParts lines Main ideas11-42From a conversation with the cab driver the author learned how much he regretted failing to keep up correspondence with his old friend Ed243-87Reading the letter by himself, the author learned more about the lifelong friendship between the driver and Old Ed. 388-89The drivers experience urged the author to reach for his pen. Detailed study of the text:(1) Important sentences:L.5. He sounded as if he had a cold or something. This sentence implies the sad state of mind the taxi driver was in. L.9-10. “At least they do with me because Im on the road so much.”Paraphrase: At least letters from home mean a lot to me because I travel a lot in a car for long distances. L.48-49. It had references to things that probably meant something to the driver,Paraphrase: The letter mentioned something that might be important to the driver. L.53-54. “Like it says there,” he answered, “about all we had to spend in those days was time.”Paraphrase: “As the letter says there, ”he answered , “though we didnt have much money we had a lot of free time.”L.60. there are fewer and fewer still around.Paraphrase: Fewer and fewer of us are left alive. L.65-66. But for the last 20 or 30 years its been mostly just Christmas cards.Paraphrase: But generally speaking we have sent only Christmas cards to keep in touch with each other for the last 20 or 30 years. L.70-72. Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because Im not good at saying things like that.Paraphrase :Your friendship over the years has been very important to me, more important than I can say because Im not good at expressing my feelings. (2) Questions and Answers1. What did the driver and Ed use to do before they got married?They went to school and passed time together. 2. What did the narrator mean by saying the first sentence in the letter reminded him of himself?The letters author often postponed writing to his friends. 3. Who wrote the letter? Who did the narrator think had written the letter? Find out sentences that demonstrate the narrator s misunderstanding? The driver wrote the letter. The narrator thought that Ed had written the letter. For example, “I know Id like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend.” 4.What did the narrator decide to do when he arrived at the hotel? Why? He decided to write a letter and mail it immediately because he would not wait until it was too late. (3) The letter plays a very important role in the development of the story.The title “All the Cabbie Had Was a Letter” deserves atteetion. The story begins with the cabbie reading sth attensively.The letter helped start a conversation. The author learned more about friendship from reading the letter himself.Deeply moved by the cab drivers immense regret and sadness, the author showed his great sympathy and reached for his pen to write a letter to his friend and mail it(4) surprising endingT points out that a surprising ending is sometimes adopted in stories. The narrative is woven practically around this story comes as a big surprise: the letter was written by the driver to Ed but never mailed to him. However, the author had mistaken it as a letter for the driver all the way till the eleventh hour. This ending lends more weight to the sadness of the story and also leaves a deeper impression on the readers. Compare: O Henrys The Last Leaf, Maupassants NecklaceWriting Style 1.Find out sentences from Text A similar in meaning to those given below. 1) Go on reading your letter. Go ahead and finish your letter. 2) Im not used to writing letters. Im not much of a hand at writing. 3) For one reason or another you lose touch even though you never forget. You kind of lose touch even though you never forget. 2. Try to make the following sentences complete. 1) From a child or maybe a grandchild?Is the letter from a child or maybe a grandchild? 2) Died a couple of weeks ago.He died a couple of weeks ago. 3.Say something about the differences between spoken English and written English. Most of this text is actually a re-creation of the conversation between a taxi driver and the narrator. Therefore it provides ample examples of how English is spoken in daily life by native speakers. In spoken English sentences tend to be short and simple. Some sentences are incomplete. Besides, some words or phrases do not usually find their way into written English, for example, sort of, kind of, you know, I think, I guess, I take it, well, go ahead, hang out, its no fun to do sth., not much of a hand at doing sth., a couple of, every now and then, an awful lot,etc. Homework:Finish the exerciseFourth period(1) Dictation:Time went by in a twinkling of eyes. It has practically been a couple of years graduated from my university. Although I seldom kept up correspondence with classmates, it did not mean that they were absolutely not on my mind any longer. In fact, I did kind of miss them every now and then. The truth was that I was not much of a hand at writing. I did know by heart that I might just as well keep in touch with them to know more about each other, urging myself to writing and answering more letters and never postponing mailing them.(2) Background Information Halloween Halloween is celebrated annually. It is on the night of 31 October, when people once believed that ghosts could be seen. Now, in Britain and America, it is a time when children have parties, dress up as witches, make lanterns out of pumpkins from which the inside has been removed, and play “trick or treat”. “Trick or treat ”is a traditional activity at Hallowe