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gardenia, which presented to be magical and perfect, being wrapped in soft pink packing paper.
heady: adj. having a strong effect on one?s senses My mother contributed to these imaginings. (Para.3)
Meaning: My mother took part in the wild guesses about who the mysterious giver was.
Or maybe it was the old man across the street whose mail I retrieved during the winter so he wouldn?t have to venture down his icy steps. (Para.3)
Meaning: Perhaps the mysterious giver was the old man across the street whose mail I helped pick up during the winter, so he wouldn?t have to risk descending his icy steps.
venture: to go to some place even though you know that it might be dangerous or unpleasant
Example: Tom?s never ventured abroad in his life.
I don?t remember ever slamming my door in anger at her and shouting, … (Para.5) Meaning: In my memory, I have never shut my door in anger at her and shouting…
My feelings ranged from grief to abandonment, fear and overwhelming anger that… (Para.6)
Meaning: I had mixed feelings of deep sadness, abandonment, fear and extremely powerful anger that…
But my mother, in the midst of her own grief, would not hear of my skipping any of those things. (Para. 6)
Meaning: Although my mother was struggling to cope with her own grief at that time, she refused to allow me to miss any of those events.
not hear of something: to refuse to let somebody do something, especially because you want to help them
Example: Jack wouldn?t hear of my walking home alone.
… imbued with a sense that there was magic in the world and beauty even in the face of adversity. (Para.9)
Meaning: … held a very firm belief that wonderful things still existed in the world and beauty could still be found even in difficult situations.
in the face of: despite having to deal with a difficult situation or problem Meaning: Tom showed great courage in the face of danger.
Cultural Notes
1. Scarlet O’Hara
Scarlet O?Hara is the heroine in Margaret Mitchell?s novel Gone with the Wind. 2. Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 — 1882) was a famous American essayist, lecturer and poet, who exerted strong influence on American thinking by spreading his thoughts through publishing essays and giving public lectures. He was a prominent figure who led the Transcendentalist Movement of the mid-19th century. Emerson?s well-known essays include Nature, Self-Reliance, Compensation, The Over-Soul and The American Scholar.
Keys to Exercises
Post-Reading Exercises I. Reading Comprehension 1-5 CDBAB
II. Micro-writing Skills 1. Translation Practice English to Chinese
1) 或者，有可能是住在街对面的老人。冬天我曾帮他收信件，这样他就不用冒险走下门前结冰的台阶了。(division)
2) 母亲充满爱心地用一种美好的方式把这件裙子展示给我，就像展示艺术品一样。(inversion)
3) 她希望孩子们了解到自己是被爱着的而且是可爱的，富有创造力和想象力的。同时，她还希望我们坚信世界上存在魔法，逆境中仍有美丽。(division) Chinese to English
1) After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender?s identity and just delighted in the beauty and heady perfume of that one magical, perfect white flower nestled in soft pink tissue paper. (integration)
2) I didn?t care if I had a new dress or not. But my mother did. (negation to affirmation）
3) My mother contributed to these imaginings.(supplement & diction)
Unit 4 Memories
Text A The Little Boat That Sailed Through Time
Language Points
1. Swell, I thought, looking around for the boat. (Para.4)
Meaning: Terrific, I thought, searching all over for the boat in the basement. swell: adj. very good
Example: I had a swell time.
look around: to turn your head so that you can see something
Example: The detective came out of the old house and looked around. 2. You can bring it out. (Para.4)
Meaning: You can transform that block of wood into your boat. bring something out: to make something appear Example: A crisis brings out the best in Mary. 3. I started to chop away to shape the bow. (Para.5)
Meaning: I began to cut the block of wood in order to form the front part of my boat.
chop away at something: to aim blows at something with a heavy sharp tool 4. … I began to hollow out the hull. (Para.5)
Meaning: … I began to shape the main part of the boat by removing unnecessary parts from that block of wood.
hollow something out: to make a hole in something by removing part of it Example: Lily hollowed out the birthday cake and filled it with cream. 5. The words rang in my head as I worked. (Para.5)
Meaning: My mind was filled with the words as I worked.
6. The boat wasn?t much to look at, but I was proud of what I had built. (Para.6)
Meaning: Although the boat wasn?t good to look at, I took pride in what I had made by my own hands.
7. … resolved to return one day to recover my treasure. (Para.8)
Meaning: …determined to return to Storvassdal one day to get back my precious boat.
resolve (on something/ on doing something): to make a firm decision to do something
8. As I cradled the boat, I felt my grandfather?s presence. (Para.9)
Meaning: As I hold the boat gently in my arms, I felt my grandfather was being there.
9. … I hesitated to speak lest I disturb our tranquility. (Para.13)
Meaning: I was afraid of ruining our tranquility, so I was slow to speak. lest: conj. in order to prevent something from happening
10. Then Claire looked up and broke my reverie as she said softly… (Para.13)
Meaning: Then Claire raised her eyes and pulled me out of my own thoughts as she spoke in a soft way…
11. In the last unit of the narrative part, students should be encouraged to make their own comments on the development of the texts based upon what they have learnt in the previous three units. That is, Texts A and B can be taken as a pair of comparison and contrast for the teacher to organize his/her students to join in a discussion as to whether they both are good cases of narrative for recording one?s memory. For example, Text A can be a little bit too loose in tracing the author?s past by presenting several anecdotes less strictly connected with each other. The episode chosen as the climax is not described in detail, thus losing all the suspense and charm that it is expected to give. Moreover, the end is not ideally connected with the beginning or the title. By contrast, Text B is more tightly organized and more emotionally charged.
Keys to Exercises
Pre-reading Focuses
1. The little boat that sailed through time (conceptual metaphor: time is a lake)
spent the tenth summer of my childhood, the times I shared with my Grandfather Jorgen (conceptual metaphor: time is treasure)
They both echo the theme of the story that the past time is a valuable treasure and is worthy of memory.
2. The verbs all carry the characteristics of the meaning of the nouns they derive from. To relish the joys and to break my reverie contain a conceptual metaphor: ABSTRACT OBJECTS ARE CONCRETE OBJECTS in the derived meaning of the verbs.
Post-Reading Exercises I. Reading Comprehension 1~5 CADBC
II. Micro-writing Skills 1. Vocabulary Building
1) brought out 2) relish, relishes 3) picked up 4) referred 5) blocks 6) Lest 7) tireless 8) crisp 9) memorable 10) tranquil
2. Structure Cumulating
1) but his sister has
2) but she doesn?t speak it very well 3) but happy and hopeful
4) but in vain
5) but her father might
3. Cloze Testing
1) watching 2) on 3) All 4) all 5) out 6) located 7) in 8)Crying 9) had 10) one 11) manage
4. Functional Training
1. Associative field of boat bring (a boat) out launch (a boat) carry (a boat) verb with boat belongings material a block of wood bow hull mast BOAT inches of long sail craft handle the tools a razor-sharp ax chop away shape the bow hammer and chisel hollow out the hull
2. I spent the tenth summer of my childhood, the most memorable months of my life, in western Norway at the mountain farm where my mother was born. In the summer of 1964, I went to Norway with my parents and my wife and children. I shall never forget that moment. My last trip to Storvassdal was in 1991.
On the day I took them to Storvassdal, I hoped they would somehow understand the importance of the little boat and its simple message of self-reliance.