After breakfast we would go up to the store and the things were in the same place—the minnows in a bottle, the plugs and spinners disarranged and pawed over by the youngsters from the boys‘ camp. 2．Passive Rhetoric
Identify the topic sentence in Paragraph 3 of the text and its supporting details. Topic sentence: The lake had never been what you would call a wild lake. Details:
There were cottages sprinkled around the shores, and it was in farming country.
Some of the cottages were owned by nearby farmers,
and you would live at the shore and eat your meals at the farmhouse. That‘s what our family did.
UNIT 2
Part 1 Text-processing
Teacher-aided Work
Lead-in
Listen to the recorder and take notes. Then fill in each gap in the following passage with ONE word according to what you have heard. Finish your work within 10 minutes
Tape script:
Ernest Hemingway (1899—1961), a Nobel Prize winner for literature, is one of the greatest American writers. His style, the particular type of hero in his novels, and his life attitudes have been widely recognized and imitated, not only in English-speaking countries, but all over the world.
Hemingway was a myth in his own time and his life was colorful. He was born Ernest Miller Hemingway in Oak Park, Illinois, son of a successful physician. Hemingway was a good son in the sense that he complied with his parents‘ expectations. He made good grades in school; he wrote for the school paper and literary magazines; he participated in sports. And Hemingway often went hunting and fishing with his father or his friends on the lake near Charlevoix, Michigan, which provided him with materials that he drew on for some of his best writing. However, he was not comfortable with the polite, effete, but curiously materialistic culture of his time. After high school, he left home for Kansas City and worked as a reporter. During World War I he served as an honorable junior officer in the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps near the Italian front, and in 1918 was severely wounded in both legs. After the war, he went to Paris as a foreign reporter, employed by The Toronto Star. Influenced and guided by Sherwood, Anderson, Stephen Crane and Gertrude Stein, he became a writer and began to attract attention. Later he actively participated in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In 1961, in ill health, anxiety and deep depression, Hemingway shot himself with a hunting gun.
The Sun Also Rises (1926) is Hemingway‘s first true novel. It casts light on a whole generation after the First World War and the effects of the war by way of a vivid portrait of ―The Lost Generation‖, a group of young Americans who left their native land and fought in the war and later engaged themselves in writing in a new way about their own experiences. The young expatriates in this novel are a group of wandering, amusing, but aimless people, who are caught in the war and removed from the path of ordinary life.
The Sun Also Rises was an international success. But his mother was strongly against what was written in the book and also held a negative attitude towards Hemingway‘s living style. Although Hemingway‘s career was taking off, his personal life was showing cracks. By 1927, his wife, Elizabeth Hadley, was to divorce Hemingway, who was to promptly marry Pauline Pfeiffer, a girl Hemingway had fallen in love with. Eventually, Hemingway settled into a patterned life with Pauline in Key West. He had also earned a reputation as a heavy drinker. In this letter, Hemingway tried hard to explain his life to his parents and sincerely hoped that someday his parents would like his writing.
Passage for gap-filling:
Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois into the 1) family of a successful
physician. Hemingway behaved well in the sense that he complied with his parents‘ expectations. However, he was not comfortable with the 2) materialistic culture of his time. During World War I he worked for the Red Cross near the Italian front. After the war, he went to Paris and became a writer. Later he participated in the Spanish Civil War and World War II. In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. In 1961, he committed 3) suicide. The Sun Also Rises (1926), Hemingway‘s first true novel, gives a vivid portrait of ―The Lost Generation‖, a group of young Americans who left their native land and fought in the war and later engaged themselves in writing in a new way about their own experiences. This novel was an international success, but his mother was strongly against the 4) contents of the book and also 5) disapproved of his living style. In this letter, Hemingway tried hard to explain his life to his parents and sincerely hoped that someday his parents would like his writing.
In-depth Comprehension 1. Questions
1) Para 3: Does ―it is not all unpleasant‖ mean ―it is not extremely unpleasant‖ or ―it is not
unpleasant in all the parts of the book‖? Why?
It means ―not the whole of the content of the book is unpleasant‖. As an adverb, ―all‖ means ―altogether‖, ―entirely‖ or ―wholly‖, which meaning is used here. It may also mean ―to a very great degree‖. But in this meaning, it is either used in the phrase ―all the…‖, such as ―all the sooner‖, or in a compound word, such as ―all-important‖, ―all-powerful‖, etc.
2) Para 3: Does ―such a book‖ refer to The Sun Also Rises alone, or the type of book that it
represents? If it is the latter, then what type of book is it?
It refers to a book like The Sun Also Rises. This kind of book describes life as it is. The term for it is ―naturalistic novel‖.
3) Para 3: What does ―the sort of thing…behind closed doors‖ refer to? Which does Hemingway
stress, ―the sort of thing…‖ or ―a very lovely side…‖ preceding it? Why does he mention both instead of only the side he stresses?
It refers to bad things people do secretly. Hemingway stresses it so as to justify his description of such things in The Sun Also Rises. He mentions the good side to show the lack of reason for his mother‘s criticism of his book, and the bad side as a justification for what he describes in his book.
4) Para 3: What is Hemingway‘s implication and intention in saying ―I have a long life to write
other books and the subjects will not always be the same?‖
The implication is that he was not going always to write books like The Sun Also Rises, which displeased his mother, and that his mother might like his other books. His intention is to reconcile his mother.
5) Para 5: ―Hadley may have divorced me‖ expresses a guess. That is to say, Hemingway did not
exactly know whether Hadley had divorced him or not. How would you account for this fact?
It was very likely that Hadley, seeing that her husband had fallen in love with another woman, had agreed and promised to divorce him before the time he was writing this letter. Maybe, in Paris, where they were living, a man or woman could divorce his or her spouse without the latter‘s presence. Those of you who can may come up with a better explanation. 6) Para 5: What do you think is Hemingway‘s reason for telling his mother that all the profits and
royalties of The Sun Also Rises, by his order, were being paid directly to Hadley?
This arrangement must have been one of the conditions for their divorce. He told his mother about this to reduce her worry about her grandson. The sentence below which says ―so you can see Bumby on the profits of The Sun Also Rises‖ testifies to this.
7) Para 5: Was the book The Sun Also Rises very popular? If it was popular, how do you know?
Yes. The book had gone into 5 printings (15 000 copies) at that time, and it was still going strongly. And what‘s more, the profits of the book had already run to several thousand dollars at that time.
8) Para 5: Judging from the sentenced ―I am not taking one cent of the royalties, which are
already running into several thousand dollars, have been drinking nothing but my usual wine or beer with meals, have been leading a very monastic life and trying to write as well as I am able‖, can you imagine what rumors Hemingway‘s mother must have heard of his life style?
She must have heard such rumors as her son‘s extravagance, heavy drinking, and merry-making.
9) Para 5: Why does Hemingway say he and his mother had different ideas about what
constitutes good writing?
His mother thought what he wrote of in the book was a great shame, but he didn‘t think so. He thought what he wrote of was only the real presentation of the people in society.
10) Para 5: ―…but you really are deceiving yourself if you allow any Fanny Butchers to tell you
that I am pandering to sensationalism…‖ How do you understand this part of the sentence?
Hemingway despises Fanny Butcher for her ignorance and he wants to tell his mother what Fanny Butcher said about the book was false, and she should not believe it.
11) Para 5: How does Hemingway refute Fanny Butcher‘s accusation against him of ―pandering
to sensationalism?‖
He refutes her by saying that, though popular magazines such as Vanity Fair, and Cosmopolitan, magazines pandering to sensationalism, invited him to write for them, he wasn‘t interested in it at all.
12) Para 5: What is Hemingway‘s intention in saying that he was trying to write as well as he
could, with no eye on any market, nor any thought of what the stuff would bring, or even if it could ever be published?
This is a further refutation of Fanny Butcher‘s criticism of him. The motive for a writer‘s pandering to sensationalism is to make their books good sellers so as to make money out of them. This is what she called ―the lowest ends‖ in Paragraph 4. But, in fact, he only wanted to write as well as he could with no eye on any market, showing that Butcher‘s accusation was groundless.
13) Para 5: What does ―the money making trap which handles American writers‖ mean?
It means that American writers, once they decided to make money out of their writing, were forced to write what catered to vulgar interests. They were no longer free to write what they considered really meaningful.
14) Para 6: Who was the other person that Hemingway was sending the letter to? How do you
know?
His father. Later in the paragraph, he says ―Dad has been very loyal and while you, mother, have not been loyal at all.‖
15) Para 6: Whom does Hemingway mean his father was loyal to? Why do you say so? Then what
does ―loyal‖ mean?
He means that his father was loyal to his family members, in this particular case, to Hemingway. The reason for this conclusion is that here he is only talking about his father, mother and himself. Such being the case, a son‘s loyalty to his parents is the same as filial duty, and a parent‘s loyalty to his or her son is paternal or maternal love. 2．Multiple-choice Questions
1) In this letter Hemingway tries to _______A______.
A. persuade his parents to understand his life and writing
B. express his displeasure with his mother‘s finding faults with his writing and life C. show his scorn of the book reviewer Fanny Butcher D. discuss literary theory with his mother Explanation:
Paragraph 7 is the summary of this letter, which clearly shows this point.
2) The Sun Also Rises was _____C______ .
A. only an ordinary book B. a great disgrace C. a great success
D. a book that caused people pain or disgust Explanation: ―The book has gone into, by the last ads I saw in January, 5 printings (15,000copies), and is still going strongly‖, ―… the profits of Sun Also Rises…‖ and ―which are already running into several thousand dollars‖ show the book was very popular and it was a great success for Hemingway.
3) Hemingway‘s mother didn‘t like his book The Sun Also Rises because ____D___.
A. it was a book which disgraced her
B. the book was severely criticized by the book reviewer Fanny Butcher C. the people Hemingway wrote of were burned out, hollow and smashed D. she couldn‘t understand the young people at that time Explanation: ―We have different ideas about what constitute good writing‖ shows his mother did not like his writing and she couldn‘t understand the young people at that time in terms of feelings and values.
4) ―A great talent‖ in Paragraph 4 refers to _____C_____.
A. a character in The Sun Also Rises
B. the person who was the model of a character in the novel C. Hemingway himself
D. the reviewer Fanny Butcher Explanation It refers to Hemingway himself. The sentence shows the reviewer‘s recognition of Hemingway‘s genius as a writer, but she thought that he was not making use of his genius to produce serious literature, but to make profits.
5) It was _____B_____ that Hemingway calls his father ―Dad‖, his mother ―mother‖, his son
―Bumby‖ and his wife ―Hadley‖. A. quite accidental
B. due to different emotional distances