Unit 2 Childhood memories
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I. Lead-in
Background information
II. Language Points
Sentence Study
Word Study
III. Guided Writing
IV. Presentation and Exercises
Lead-in
Background Information
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
• She is one of the major
American poets of the
20th century
• She lived between 1932
and 1963.
• She seems to have been
depressed and unhappy.
Ted and Sylvia
Sylvia with her kids
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
• Her works
• The Bell Jar (1963): her
struggle with depression under
her pseudonym Victoria Lucas
• Johnny Panic and the Bible of
Dreams (1979, written around
1952): a collection of short
stories, essays and extracts
from diaries. Superman is an
extract from it.
Mecca
•
A city in Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Islam,
where Prophet Muhammad was born.
The name "Muhammad" in traditional Islamic calligraphy
Jerusalem
 A holy city for Jews (Judaism), Muslims (Islam)
and Christians (Christianity)
 The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem lists
1204 synagogues (Jewish house of prayer), 158
churches, and 73 mosques within the city.
the Belz Great Synagogue
(犹太会堂；犹太教堂 )
the Church of the Holy the Omar Mosque
Sepulchre (圣墓，耶稣之墓）
Salvador Dali (1904 -1989)
•
a Spanish surrealist painter known for his
strange dream-like paintings (Surrealism 超现实
主义)
Self Portrait as
Mona Lisa, 1954
Salvador Dali
The Persistence
of Memory, 1931
Icarus
• In Greek mythology,
Icarus was a man who
tried to fly using wings
held together with wax.
• When he got too close to
the sun, the wax melted,
and he fell to the ground
and died.
Superman
a newspaper reporter in comics, films,
and the 1940 radio series
special abilities to fly and fantastically
strong
a special blue suit with a red cape
fights crime
always turns up at the right moment to
solve problems
Language Points
Sentences Study
Sentence 1
•
... I can recall the changing colors of
those days, clear and definite as a
pattern seen through a kaleidoscope.
(Para 1)
• As a metaphor, kaleidoscope means a
view, situation or experience that keeps
changing and has many different
aspects.
Sentence 2
•
… a breathless sense of having tumbled
like Icarus from the sky and caught myself
on the soft bed just in time. What does the
writer feel as she comes out of her dream?
What happened to Icarus?
She feels she has been falling out of
the sky, like Icarus. But, unlike him, she
caught herself on the bed to save
herself, while Icarus fell and died in the
sea.
Sentence 3
• The sunset flaunted its pink flag above the
airport, and the sound of waves was lost in
the perpetual droning of the planes. (Para 2)
• The sunset flaunted its pink flag means the pink
color of the setting sun was like a flag which the
sun was using to try to make everyone notice and
admire it.
• To drone means to make a continuous low sound.
Because Logan is an international airport, the
noise of the planes continued all the time. So it
was perpetual.
Sentence 4
•
4
During recess, David and I came
into our own. (Para 6)
• To come into one's own means to have the
opportunity to show how good or useful
someone is. Here the two children are good
at imaginative play with Superman games.
Sentence 5
•
5 ... the sallow mamma's boy on our
block who was left out of the boys'
games ... and skin his fat knees. (Para 6)
• To skin one's knees means to hurt one's
knees by falling on a rough surface in a
way that causes some skin to be removed.
Word Study
kaleidoscope
n. a toy that shows changing patterns
As a metaphor, it means a view, situation or experience
that keeps changing and has many different aspects.
Work in pairs. Translate the following into Chinese.
• a) the kaleidoscope
of the ages
• b) a kaleidoscope of
colour and pattern
• c) the kaleidoscope
of life
• d) the kaleidoscope
of illusions
1.时代的万花筒
2.颜色和图案的千
变万化
3.人生万花筒
4.瞬息万变的幻觉
flaunt
• n. to deliberately try to make people notice
something, e.g. your possessions, beauty,
abilities etc, because you want them to admire
you
• Examples:
• —Lawrence didn’t flaunt his wealth – he lived a
simple life.
• flaunt yourself:
• —Models flaunted themselves in tight designer
jeans.
Work in pairs. Translate the following into
Chinese.
a) If you’ve got it,
flaunt it.
b) Buy expensive
services and
products in order
to flaunt your
wealth.
c) The ill-bred woman
flaunted her riches
in public.
1. 有什么能耐施展出来
瞧瞧
2. 购买昂贵的服务和商
品以炫耀自己的财富。
3. 那位没有教养的妇人
当众炫耀她的财富。
drone v.&n.
to make a continuous low sound
Work in pairs. Match the sentences/phrases with the
meanings.
barren
a. without any interesting or positive features, dry and
empty
Work in pairs. Match the Chinese translation of barren.
a) barren or marginal
farmland
b) writing of barren insight
c) the barren, inhospitable
desert
1. 那片贫瘠的、荒凉的
沙漠
2. 缺乏洞察力的作品
3. 荒芜或边远的农田
tag
•
vt. to touch another player in some
children’s games
•
n. to fix a small piece of paper or other
material to something to give information about
it
Explain the meaning in the following phrases.
Carol tagged Carl in the hide-and-seek.
a price tag
luggage tag
May I have your tag, please?
All her suitcases have been tagged with her
name and address.
draft
• vt. (often passive, AmE) to conscribe
someone into the army forces 征召（某人）入
伍
• vt. to write sth such as a legal document,
speech, or letter that may have changes
made to it before it is finished
起草， 草拟
（法律文件、演讲或信件）
n. sth such as a plan, letter, or drawing that may
have changes made to it before it is finished
（计划、信件或绘画等的）草稿, 草案
n. a system in which professional teams in some
sports choose players each year from among
college students 运动员选拔制（某些职业运动队每年在大学
生中选拔新队员)
draft
•
Work in pairs. Translate the following
into Chinese.
决议草案
a draft resolution
NBA选秀
NBA draft
To help her father and brother, Mulan
was drafted. 为帮助父兄，木兰被应征入伍。
That is my first draft of the dissertation.
那是我学位论文的初稿。
They are drafting a new constitution for
the country. 他们正在为国家起草一部新宪法。
marvel at
to find sth surprising and fascinating
• Work in pairs. Translate the following into
Chinese.
We marvel at their tremendous
achievements. 我们惊叹他们取得的巨大成就。
People marvel at the accuracy with
which we have been able to diagnose
their handwriting.
人们对我们能准确判断出他的笔迹而赞叹不已。
come into one’s own
to show how effective and useful one can be to take
possession of what is rightfully one's own property
•
Work in pairs and explain the meaning of
the following sentences.
Michael wrote successful novels before,
but he really come into his own with the
latest one.
The shop owners at last came into their
own.
The scientific study of dreams has not yet
come into its own.
Guided Writing
• When we describe our childhood or other
habitual actions, routines and states in the past,
we can use the past simple tense.
• However, it’s also very common to use would
and used to to describe habitual actions and
routines in the past.
• Remember that we can’t use would to describe a
past state.
• For completed actions in the past, or to give
more information about a habitual action, we use
the past simple.
Presentation and Exercises