Let’s enjoy the following pictures
矛
盾
Self-contradiction
Do you know what
the expression
Have you heard the story self-contradiction
“Pandora’s box”?
means?
When you see the picture,
what story or expression
can you think of?
Do you think snakes have
feet? What does the
expression mean?
Answer the questions:
1 What are the expressions above called
in Chinese?
典故
Allusions
2 Then do you know some allusions in
English? Match the two parts.
Scrooge
最大最好的部分
a sacred cow
不可批评的人或事物
sour grape
吝啬的人
the lion’s share
把得不到的说成不 好
kill the goose that lays
the golden eggs
rack one’s brains
break the ice
black sheep
绞尽脑汁
打破沉默
害群之马
杀鸡取卵
When we refer to words or phrases like
these to talk about another person or thing,
we are using allusion. Now read the
guidelines of this section on Page56 to
know what an allusion is.
An allusion is a way of making an indirect
reference to stimulate ideas and
associations with other things.
Read Points1-5 to learn the meaning
of each allusion and find the ways of
making an allusion.
a
b
c
d
e
examples from literature
examples from religion
examples from works
examples from history
examples from real life
According to the Points1-5, fill in
the form.
Allusions Come
from
The meanings
Lei Feng
To describe a person
Real life who is kind and ready
to help others
Mona
Lisa
A work of To describe a person
with charming smile.
art
Lin Daiyu The novel To describe the
young lady who is
Red
Mansion Sentimental and
sickish
To describe
The Bible someone
Judas
Who betray their
friends or beliefs
The battle
To describe a
History
of
final
Waterloo
defeat or failure
Read the instruction and the table to
understand the meaning of each
allusion and think over to decide
which of them are from literature,
religion, history, real life or other
sources. After that, put them in the
right places in Zhang Hong’s diary.
Answers:
1) a Herculean
2) dark horse
3) Mickey Mouse course
4) Daniel I the lion’s den
5)Achilles’ heel
6) good Samaritan
7) catch-22
8)Jonah
The coincidences
• 1.完全对等型
Walls have ears.
Easy come, easy go.
A big tree is a good shelter .
Strike the iron when it is hot.
In black and white.
Talk black into white.
It takes two to make a quarrel.
Constant dripping wears away the
stone.
Behind the mountains, there are people
2 基本对等型
Save your breath.
Laugh one’s head off.
Love me, love my dog.
3 形式不同但意思一致
Make someone turn in his grave.
Burn one’s boats.
Don’t cast your pearls before swine.
The biter is sometimes bit.
When the cat’s away, the mice will play.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Two heads are better than one.

Discussion
Discuss in groups and decide which
situations the following allusions are
used in.
the prodigal son be over the moon
Pandora’s box
dark horse
Scrooge
sour grapes
Homework
1. Try to understand the meanings of
allusions learnt this class and use
them correctly.
2 Do PartC1and PartC2 on Page120
in workbook.