Transcript Document

Unit 2
Friendship
Part I. Lead-in questions:
 How are you getting along with your friends? What
do you think are friends for?
 Give your comments on the following quotation :A
friend is one to whom one may pour out all the
contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together,
knowing that gentle hands will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of
kindness, blow the rest away.

--- George Eliot
Text A
All The Cabbie Had Was a Letter
--- By Foster Furcolo
Part II. Cultural Notes (1)
 Halloween:
Halloween is celebrated annually 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 hollow pumpkins and play ”trick or
treat” .
Part II. Cultural Notes (1)
 Trick or treat is a traditional activity at Halloween.
Children dress in costumes and visit houses. At
each house they say “trick or treat”, which means
they will play a trick or joke on the people in the
house unless they are given a “treat”, e.g. sweets or
money. Most people prefer to give treats rather
than having tricks played on them.
Part II. Cultural Notes (2)
 Grade school: Also known as elementary school or
grammar school, is a school of kindergarten
through fifth grade (sometimes up to the fourth or
the sixth grade), where basic subjects are taught.
Part III. Writing Features (1)
 1) This is a story with the letter as its weaving
thread for development.
 2) Letters are known as mail (U.) as well. Do you
know what a snail mail is ?
Part III. Writing Features(2)
 Decide which of the following statements expresses
the theme of Text A
--- One should keep in touch with his friends.
--- Never delay expressing your true feelings to a
friend. (√)
--- A true friend will stand by you forever.
--- Late is better than never.
Part III. Writing Features (3)
 The story ends abruptly. At first, readers are led to
believe that the letter was from the cabbie’s friend
to him which turned out just the opposite.
 A surprising ending is usually adopted in stories to
enhance the effect. Many great writers have tried
this writing method. The most typical one is
O.Henry, an American writer of short stories.
Part III. Writing Features(4)
 Most of the text is a re-creation of the
conversation between the taxi driver and the
narrator. Naturally, examples of how English is
spoken in daily life abound in the story. An
observation of these conversations tells us that in
spoken English, sentences are short simple, and
sometimes even incomplete. For instance, “From a
child or maybe a grandchild?” “Went to school
together.”
Part III. Writing Features (5)
 From the text, we can conclude that the narrator
knows well how to keep the conversation going.
Sometimes, he expresses his agreement to show that
he is a sympathetic listener. He also asks questions
directly to elicit more information from the cabbie.
Other times , he asks indirect questions by making
guesses.
Part III. Writing Features :Text
Organization
 Part I. (paras.1-20):From a conversation with the
cab driver the author learned how much he
regretted failing to keep up correspondence with
his old friend Ed.
 Part II. (paras.21-35):Reading the letter, the
author learned more about the lifelong friendship
between the driver and Old Ed.
 Part III. (paras.36) The driver’s story prompted
the author to write to his friends immediately.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 At least they do with me because I’m on the road
so much. (para.5)
 --- At least letters from home mean a lot to me because
I travel a lot.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 But I take it he’s someone you’ve known quite a
while. (para. 7)
 --- But I assume you have known him for a long
time.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 And there aren’t many of us left.(para.24)
 --- Many of our old friends have passed away since.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 Every time I go to a class reunion, for example,
there are fewer and fewer still around. (para. 25)
 --- For instance, whenever I go to a class reunion,
I found fewer and fewer of my old classmates were
left alive.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 But for the last 20 or 30 years it’s been mostly
just Christmas cards. (para.28)
 --- But for the past 20 or 30 years, we have just
sent Christmas cards to each other to keep in touch.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 Your friendship over the years has meant an
awful lot to me, more than I can say because
I’m not good at saying things like that. (para. 29)
 --- All these years, your friendship has been very
important to me, more important than what I can
say because I am not good at expressing my
feelings in words.
Part IV. Difficult Sentences
 Or as if he were trying to see something in the
distance. (para. 35)
 --- Or it seemed he tried to see something far away.
As if introduces the subjunctive mood (虚拟语气).
Part V. Language Points
available(para.2): that can be obtained 可以利用的,可
得到的
 e.g. 1)We have used up all the available resources.
 2)The boss will be available in one hour.
 3) 这个饭店有意大利面卖吗?
 Is spaghetti available in this restaurant?
Part V. Language Points
or something (para. 2): (infml) 诸如此类的事
 e.g. 1)The air fare was $199 or something.
 2) Here’s some money. Get yourself a sandwich or
something.
Part V. Language Points
know/learn by heart(para.4): memorize , remember
exactly 记住,能背出
e.g. 1) You have to know all he music by heart if you
want to be a concert pianist.
2) The pupils are required to learn a classic poem by
heart every day.
Part V. Language Points
estimate(para.5): vt. form a judgment 估计
e.g. 1) I estimate that the total cost for the treatment
of the disease will go from $5,000 to $6,000.
2) Bill Gates’ personal riches were estimated at (to
be)$368 million.
Part V. Language Points
may/might (just )as well(para.6): 也行, 无妨
 e.g. 1)You’re here. You may as well stay.
 2) You may just as well send your application letter
to the company and have a try.
Part V. Language Points
not much of a(para.6)… not a good 不太好的
e.g. 1) I am not much of a singer .
 2)He’s not much to look at, but he has a wonder
personality.
 3)He is not much of a father, but he is a good
professor.
Part V. Language Points
correspondence (para.7): n (u). the act of writing 通
信联系
e.g. 1)Any further correspondence (letters) should be
sent to my new address.
2) Her correspondence with her high school writing
teacher lasted for years.
 correspond v. correspondent n . 保持通信联系的
人
Part V. Language Points
practically (para. 8): adv. almost, virtually 几乎
e.g. 1) The role of TV in our life is practically
unchallenged.
 2) 有些人认为戒烟几乎是不可能的.
 Some people take it practically impossible to quit
smoking.
Part V. Language Points
kind of/ sort of(para.12): a little bit 有点儿
e.g. 1) She wasn’t beautiful , but she was kind of cute.
2)The boy’s description kind of gives us an idea of
what’s happening.
Part V. Language Points
come up (para.17): happen unexpectedly; appear
出现
 e.g.: 1) Something has come up and I won’t attend the
meeting.
 2) The issue of campus security came up this semester.
Part V. Language Points
 urge(para.21): (sb. to do. sth.) v. try very hard to
persuade 劝说，敦促
 e.g. 1) I urged my cousin to take a year off to study
drawing.
 2) Sir Fred urged that Britain join the European
Monetary System.
Part V. Language Points
postpone(para.21): (usu. followed by n./动名词
delay ,put off 推迟
 e.g. 1) The couple had postponed having children
so that they could develop their careers first.
 2) The Russian experts postponed dumping Mir in
the Pacific Ocean until March 23, 2001.
Part V. Language Points
hang out (para.28): stay in a place for no purpose 闲
逛,徘徊
e.g. 1) I often hang out in coffee bars on weekends.
 2) 别再跟他们一起闲荡了。
 Stop hanging out with them.
 Synonyms: loiter, linger
Part V. Language Points
choke up (para.30): become too upset to speak 哽得
说不出话;堵塞
 e.g. 1) She was choked up when she heard of the
sudden death of her friend.
 2)I choked up and could not finish my words.
Further discussion
 Did you write letters to your friends? Do you write
it now? Why?
 What could you learn from this text? Will you
reach for your pen?
 Who will be the first one you want to write to?
What will you say to him or her?
Part VI. Writing Assignment
 Write an essay in which you express how
remorseful you are for having done or failed to
do something. The title is :
What if I had_____.