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现代大学英语精读5


Lesson One Where Do We Go from Here

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the rhetorical device in the text

Teaching difficulties: how to identify the rhetorical device in the sentence and understand the

implication for some sentences

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

I. Background information:

The 1960s were turbulent times for the United States. The anti-war movement, the Civil Right movement, the counter-culture movement, the feminist movement were all unfolding in this period of time. The civil Rights movement was a major movement which began with the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 and the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955. Martin Luther King jr. (1929-1968), as a key leader of the movement, played a significant and irreplaceable role. His name is associated with the march on Washington in 1963 and his famous speech “ I have a dream”, delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. He was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. this speech, delivered in 1967, in more on the side of reasoning and persuasion and less on emotional appeal. Thus his analysis of riots and revolution in the united states in his speech is sound and convincing. On the night of April4. 1968, King was shot dead, as he stood o the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.

Part II. Details studies of the text

Part III. Structure of the text:

Part i. Para. 1—2 Martin Luther King link the theme of the speech with the question of "Where we are now". That is, in order to know where we go from here we must first recognize where we are now. Without knowing our present situation, how can we design a policy for the future?

Part ii Para. 3--5 This is a transitional paragraph to call for all the African-American must “rise up with an affirmation of his own Olympian manhood”.

Part iii (Para. 6--9) In this part the author puts forward the second task: how to organize the strength of the Negro in terms of economic and political power. Then the author goes on to define power and points out the consequence of the misinterpretation of power.

Part iv (Paras.10--15) This part deals with economic security for the Negro Americans. The speaker advocates guaranteed annual income which he thinks is possible and achievable. He also deals on the advantages of this security.

Part v (paras. 16—20) In this part, Martin reaffirms his commitment to nonviolence. He explains why he thinks violence is no solution to racial discrimination. He refutes the idea of Black revolution.

Part vi (para 21—25) In this part, Dr. King raises a fundamental question—the restructuring of the whole of American society. He points out that the problem of racism. The problem of economic exploitation and the problem of war are tied together. They are the triple evils of the society.

Part vii. (para 26—28) This part serves as the co

ncluding remark for the speech: we shall overcome.



Lesson Two Two Kinds

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. present their viewpoint on generation gap

Teaching difficulties: how to identify the development of a story

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Background information:

The Joy Luck Club, from which “Two Kinds” is taken, explores conflicts between two generations and two different cultures. Set in China and in the United States, the novel is woven by stories of four Chinese mothers and their four daughters. Four Chinese women, who have just arrived in the United States and who are drawn together by the shadow of their past—meet in San Francisco to play mah-jongg, eat dim sum and tell stories. They call their gatherings the Joy Luck Club. While they place high hopes on their daughters, the youger generation think of themselves as Americans and resist their mothers’ attempts to change them into obedient Chinese daughters. Only after they have grown up and become more mature do they realize that the legacy left by their mothers is an important part of their lives, too. The noivel stayed on the best-selling book list of The New York Times for 9 months. A finalist for the national Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, it has been translated into about 20 languages and made into a Hollywood movie.

Part II. Detailed Study of the Text

Part III. The Structure of the text:

Part i (paras.1—3) the beginning part of the story provides the reader with some background information. It tells about the mother and her hopes for her daughter. This paves the way ofr the development of the conflict between the daughter and the mother.

Part ii(paras.4—11)this part is about the mother’s unsuccessful attempt to change her daughter into a Chinese Shirley Temple. In the beginning the child was as excited as the mother about becoming a prodigy. At this point, the conflict between mother and daughter was not visible.

Part iii(paras12—20) in this part we learn that the mother was trying very hard to train her daughter to be a genius. As the tests got more and more difficult, the daughter lost heart. She decided that she would not let her mother change her. This change of attitudes would lead to the gradual development of the conflict.

Part iv (paras 21—28) while watching a Chinese girl playing the piano on an Ed Sullivan Show, a new idea flashed into the mother’s head. With the new plan introduced, the ocnflict would develop further.

Part v (paras 29—46) it tells about how the girl was made to learn the piano under the instructions of Old Chong. The relationship between mother and daughter was getting more and more tense.

Part vi (para.47—60) Jing-mei was to perform in a talent show held in the church. Jing-mei started all right and soon made a mess of her performance. Undoubtedly this was

a heavy blow to her mother. The crisis of the story is about to come.

Part vii (para 61—76) the girl assumed that her failure at the show meant she would never have to play the paino. Yet two days later her mother urged her to practice as usual. She refused and the mother insisted. They had the most fierce quarrel they had ever had. This is the crisis or climax of the story.

Part viii( 77—93) this concluding part is narrated from a different point of view. Now the daughter had grown up form a little girl to a mature woman.

Part IV. Discussion about generation gap.

Part V. Complete the exercises of the text.

A report about generation gap

Lesson Three

Goods Move. People Move. Ideas Move. And Cultures Change.

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. How to develop an argument

Teaching difficulties: how to develop an argument

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Lead-in : Globalization has become one of those words with the highest frequency of appearance but at the same time it is also a most controversial issue in terms of content, implication and consequence. Since the early 1990s, globalization has developed rapidly and brought great changes to the world. However, groups of people for various reasons oppose globalization and point to the negative effects of globalization. So when we face an article of such an important and sensitive issue, we are apt to ask:

What is the author’s attitude towards globalization? What makes her adopt such an attitude? How does she present her argument?

Part II. Detailed study of the text

Part III. Structure of the text

Part i (para 1—3) Globalization is a reality but it is not something complietly new. What is new is the speed and scope of changes.

Part ii (para 4—6) this part deals with different views on globalization.

Part iii (para 7—9) three points are made in this part:

a. Westernization is not a straight road to hell, or to paradise either.

b. Cultures are as resourceful, resilient, and unpredictable as the people who compose them.

c. Teenagers are one of the powerful engines of merging global cultures.

Part iv (para 10—13) this part tells of the author’s experience with Amanda Freeman.

Part v (para 14—19) in order to prove fusion is the trend, the author used Tom Soper and mah-jongg as an example.

Part vi(para 20—24) this part describes the cultural trends in Shanghai.

Part viii( para25—28) the author used the experience at Shanghai Theatre Academy to illustrate the point that the change is at the level of ideas.

Part ix (para 29—34)the author in this part introduced Toffler’s view on conflict, change and world order.

Part x (para35—36)the main idea is there will not be a uniform world culture in the future; the cultures will coexist and transform each other.

Part xii(37—39) the author again used an

example in Shanghai to illustrate the transformation of culture.

Part IV. Complete the exercises in the textbook

Part V. collect their viewpoints about attitude towards globalizaion.

Lesson Four

Professions for Women

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the rhetorical device in the text

Teaching difficulties: how to understand the poetic and symbolic sentences in the article

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Background information:

Virginia Woolf is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of modernism as well as one of the pioneers of women’s liberation from patriarchy. She is known for her experimentation and innovation in novel writing. In her novel, emphasis is on the psychological realm of her characters and the moment-by-moment experience of living, which are depicted by the techniques of interior monologue and stream of consciousness. In this essay, Virginia Woolf gives a clear and convincing presentation of the obstacles facing professional women.

Part II. Detailed study of the text

Part III. General analysis of the text

Para 1: In the profession of literature, the author finds that there are fewer experiences peculiar to women than in other profession because many women writers before her have made the road smooth.

Para 2: the author responds to the host’s suggestion that she should tell the audience something about her own professional experiences. So she now tells her own story –how she became a book reviewer when she was a girl.

Para 3.the speaker focuses on the first obstacle to becoming a professional women writer. She uses a figure of speech “killing the Angel in the House” in describing her determination to get rid of the conventional role of women in her writing.

Para 4. after the Angel was dead, the question which remains to be answered is “what is a woman?” it is a transitional link between the quthor’s first and second experience.

Paragraph 5. In this paragraph the author talks about her second experience in her profession of literature. As a novelist, she wished to remain "as unconscious as possible" so that nothing might disturb or disquiet the imagination. But she was faced with the conflict between her own approach to art and the conventional approach expected of her by male critics. She believed that sex-consciousness was a great hindrance to women's writing. To illustrate this point, she employs a second figure of speech, "the image of a fisherman lying sunk in dreams on the verge of a deep lake."

Para 6. This paragraph sums up the author's two experiences, pointing out that the second obstacle is more difficult to overcome than the first. Women have many prejudices to overcome in the profession of literature and especially in new professions that women are entering.

Para.7. In this last paragraph Woolf concludes her speech by raising some important q

uestions concerning the new role of women and the new relationship between men and women.

Part IV. Complete the exercise of the text

Part V. a report on the professional women in China

Lesson Five

Love Is a Fallacy

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the rhetorical device in the text

Teaching difficulties: how to identify the rhetorical device in the sentence and understand the

implication for some sentences

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Lead-in:

This is a humorous essay in which the narrator tells his failure to win the heart of a young woman with the force of logic, which therefore proves to him that "love is a fallacy"--"it is inconsistent with logic."

Part II. Detailed study of the text

Part III. Question on Appreciation:

1.How did the narrator describe himself? What does it show? How does the author bring out the pomposity of the narrator? What makes the satire humorous?

2.why was the narrator interested in Polly Espy? What kind of girl was she.

3. How did the narrator's first date with Polly Espy go?

4. How does the language used by Polly strike you? Find some examples from the text and explain what effect her language creates.

5. Why did the narrator teach Polly Espy logic? Did he succeed?

6. Did the narrator love Polly Espy? How did he try to "acquaint her with his feeling"?

7. How did Polly respond to the narrator's arguments for going steady with her? Why did she reject him? What does it show? As the story progresses, Polly turned out to be smarter than the narrator had previously thought. How does this contrast contribute to the humor of the piece?

Part IV complete the exercise in the text

Lesson Six

Life Beyond Earth

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. learn to analyze the text

Teaching difficulties: how to learn to analyze the text and understand the implication for some sentences

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. General introduction:

The author deals with recent developments in the search for alien organisms. He discusses various arguments about alien civilization. He does not think that such belief and search is irrational or even crazy. He writes that most people with such belief “operate from the same instinct, which is to know the truth about the universe”. At the same time he maintains a scientific attitude, pointing out that although there are many persuasive arguments, there is still no hard evidence to prove the existence of alien life. Yet he does not stop there. He further points out that since the world we live in—the only inhabitable world in the universe so far—is still far from perfect, people in the world need to direct more energy to making it better. Life on Earth is his greater concern.

Part II. Detailed study of the text:

Part III. Organi

zation of the piece:

1. Analysis of the text:

(1) Paras. 1--2 the emergence of life

(2) Para. 3 (transition) What else is alive out

(3) Paras. 4--10 search for life

(4) Paras. 11--23 search for intelligence

(5) Paras. 24--42 Mars.

(6) Paras. 43--45 Dyson's argument

(7) Paras. 46--52 conclusion

2. Questions to discuss:

1) What do you think of the opening paragraph? Does the author begin the article in a forceful way?

2)What role does this paragraph play? What is meant by "the enveloping nebula of uncertainties"? What is the contrast involved as imroduced by "despite"?

3) What new idea is introduced in Paras. 17--19?

4) Comment on the first sentence in Paragraph 21.

5) Comment on the role of Paragraph 35.

6) What is the conclusion of the author? What would the author expect of people investigating extraterrestrial life?

Lesson Seven

Invisible Man

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the implied meaning of some sentences

Teaching difficulties: how to identify the implied meaning in the sentence

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Background Information:

1. about the author 2. about the article

Part II. Detailed study of the text

Part III. Analysis of the text:

Para 1. From this opening paragraph we readers can learn a number of important things:

(l) By saying "It goes a long way back, some twenty years," the author tells us that the story took place in the past.

(2) The "I' here is the narrator, not the author, of the story, and the author is using the first-person narration in telling the story. As we read On, we will find this narrator is also the main character, the protagonist, of the story.

(3) Words like "I was looking for myself" and "I am nobody but myself" point out the central theme of the novel--searching for self-identity.

Para. 2 This paragraph tells us a bit about the historical background against place. It also introduces a new character--the narrator's grandfather. On his deathbed, he said something that alarmed and puzzled the whole family.

Para 3 This paragraph is about the tremendous effect of the grandfather's words upon the narrator, Those words became a constant puzzle for him. As the old man said these words ironically, the boy couldn't understand him. Although the grandfather did not appear in the battle royal scene or any other events in the rest of the book, his words haunted the narrator at every important moment in his life.

Para 4 It tells us about the setting of the battle royal. The narrator was to give his speech at a smoker in a leading hotel in the town. The time is round 1950, the place is a hotel in a Southern town, and the occasion is a gathering of the leading white men of the town. Bearing these in mind will help us readers understand why things happened that way

and what was the meaning of all this.

Para. 5 Besides giving more details about the place, this paragraph introduces the people involved in the incident the town's big shots, who were "wolfing down the buffet food, drinking beer and whisky and smoking black cigars," and the other black boys who were to take part, who were "tough guys".

Para 6 to 9 The main body of the battle royal incident is from Paragraph 4 to paragraph 9. It can be further divided into 4 subsections: the naked white girl's dance; the fight itself; the grabbing for the prize money; the narrator's speech. Paragraphs 6 to 9 form the first subsection in which the author describes the white girl's dance.

Paras. 10--28 They form the second subsection of the battle royal incident violent and brutal fight itself. Pay attention to the use of specific words narration realistic and vivid.

Paras. 29--46 They describe how the white men further humiliated the black boys even after the battle royal was over. Instead of giving the money the boys were supposed to get for their performance, the white men made fun of them by making them scramble for the money on an electrified rug. This part adds to the general chaos of the whole scene.

Para 47--90 They form the last subsection of the whole battle royal incident. In this part the narrator finally got his chance to deliver his well-prepared speech. However, in the middle of his speech, he made a mistake, but everything went well in the end and he was given an award--a scholarship for college.

Para. 91—94 They bring the story to a final end. The narrator was overjoyed with his triumph, and that night he dreamed of his grandfather and awoke with the old man’s laughter rining in his ears.

Part IV. Complete the exercise in the text

Part V. Do some translation work.

Lesson Eight

The Merely Very Good

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the development of the text

Teaching difficulties: how to analyze the development of the article and the implied meaning for some sentences

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. Information on the author:

Jeremy Bernstein(1929- ): professor of physics and writer. After getting his Ph. D. in physics at Harvard, he spent time at the institute for advanced study in Princeton and at the National Science Foundation. He taught physics for 5years at New York University and then at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey.

But Jeremy Bernstein has also spent more than 30 years on the staff of The New Yorker magazine, writing mostly about physics, computers, and other topics in physical science. He moves as comfortably among sentences and paragraphs as among equations.

Part II. Detailed study of the text:

Part III. Questions about the article

1. Oppenteimer is called “ Father of the Atomic Bomb” and had been in charge of the Los Alamas nuclear laboratory f

or many years. Yet the author considers him as merely very good. Do you think the author is right and fair in relegating Oppenheimer to the merely very good?

2. Do you think it is right to say to be highly focused or not is the cause separating the great ones from the merely very good? What is your view?

3. How does the author manage to bring the people he wants to compare into the article?

Oppenheimer’s anecdote: Oppenheimer and dirac meeting

Gottingen, talking about poetry and physics

His decision to go to the conference

Spender’s being at the conference—Spender’s obsession with Auden—great versus merely very good.

4.How does the author develop the article?

He uses the 1981 conference as the benchmark and goes back to earlier times and in the last two paragraphs returns the scene to the time of writing. This technique of montage is used largely in cinema.

For example:

The 1981 conference and the author’s indecision—(flashback to 1925—1927) earlier life of Oppenheimer and his relations with Dirac—(back to 1981) the author’s decision: Spender and Auden—(flashback)Spender and Oppenheimer(1956)—(1958)Oppenheimer, Dirac and the author—(back to 1981) meeting with Spender—(bringing the scene to 1996) concluding remarks.

Lesson Nine

The Way to Rainy Mountain

Teaching aims: 1. fully understand the article

2. grasp the rhetorical device in the text

Teaching difficulties: how to identify the rhetorical device in the sentence and understand the

implication for some sentences

Time distribution: eight periods

Teaching method: students-centered

Teaching procedures:

Part I. About the Author

N. Scott Momaday was born in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1934. Momaday belongs to a generation of American Indians born when most tribal communities had long ceased to exist as vital social organizations. His Kiowa ancestors shared with other Plains Indians the horrors of disease, military defeat, and cultural and religious deprivation in the 19th century. Their only chance of survival was to adapt themselves to new circumstances. Momaday’s grandfather, for example, adjusted to changing conditions by taking up farming, a decision pressed upon him by the General Allotment Act of 1887.

Part II. Detailed study of the text

Part III. The analysis of the text

Para 1. the opening paragraph of the essay is a lyrical description of the author’s ancestral land, which plays a key role in his exploration of his Kiowa identity.

Para 2. the author explains his purpose of his visit to Rainy Mountain: to be at his grandmother’s grave.

Para 3. it sums up the history of the Kiowas as a Plains Native culture—the golden time and the decline in their history.

Para 4. it is about how the Kiowas migrated from western Montana and how the migration transformed the Kiowas.


Para 5. the author returns to his grandmother again. Since she is the immediate reason for him to come to Rainy Mountain, she is the link between the author and his ancestors.

Para 6. The Kiowas felt a sense of confinement in Yellowstone, Montana.

Para 7. this paragraph is a depiction of the landscape which they came upon when they got out of the highlands in Montana.

Para 8. in this para the author describes Devil’s Tower and tells the Kiowas’s legend about it.

Para 9. the author tells about the last days of the Sun Dance culture by using his grandmother as a witness.

Para 10. for the first time, the author concentrates only on his grandmother’s story rather than mixing it with the history of the whole Kiowa tribe. Also for the first time, the author shifts the focus of depicting the lanscape to describing a person—his grandmother Aho as an old woman.

Para 11—12 paragraph 11 is about the old houses at Rainy Mountain, which the author’s grandmother and other Kiowas used to live in, but which are now empty. This paragraph serves as a transition between the depiction of Grandma Aho and the reunion at her house.

Para 11 and 12 describe the reunions that were once held at the grandmother’s house when the author was a child. We can see the author accepts change and loss as facts of life. He neither denies nor defies them. Imagination helps him strike a balance between them. So, after depicting his dead grandmother’s old house, he brings to life the joy and activity that once filled it. As a child Momaday took part in those events. By re-creating those scenes, he reminds himself of who he is.

Part IV. Complete the exercise of the text


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