College English Book 3
（全新版）大学英语3
外国语学院
南世锋
Unit 6 The Human Touch
Objectives
 1. Understand the main idea and
structure of the text;
 2. Appreciate how the repeated use of
clues helps weave a piece of narration
together;
 3. Grasp the key language points and
grammatical structures in the text;
 4. Conduct a series of reading, listening,
speaking and writing activities related
to the theme of the unit.
Text A
The Last Leaf
O. Henry
1. Pre-reading Tasks
2. While-reading Tasks
3. Post-reading Tasks

1. Pre-reading Tasks
Warm-up Questions
Background Information
Warm-up Questions
1. How do you understand the Human Touch?
It originates from the warmest aspect
from human normal feelings, a natural
revelation from real emotions among
one another, giving others a wonderful
felling of love, care and an encouraging
spirit.
Warm-up Questions
human touch：
人情味，源自人性之中最温情的一面，是
人与人之间真挚情感的自然流露，是一种
给人以爱与关怀的奇妙感觉，是一股可以
温暖人心的精神，也可指人们互相关怀鼓
励。
Warm-up Questions
2. What is the human nature?



Man is born kind.
Man is born evil.
Man is born neither kind nor evil.
Warm-up Questions
Virtues:
love, zeal, faith, self control, charity,
kindness, tolerance, loyalty, honesty,
selflessness, generosity
Weaknesses:
 greed, selfishness, jealousy, sadness,
anger, depression, pride, laziness,
meanness
Warm-up Questions
No one is perfect. Yet, we should try
our best to be a person with more
virtues and less weaknesses.
Love not only yourself but also your
family members, friends, even other
people you don’t know.
O. Henry


O. Henry was the pen name of the
American writer William Sydney Porter
(September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910).
O. Henry's short stories are well known
f o r t h e i r w i t , w o r d p l a y, w a r m
haracterization and clever twist endings.
His stories
The Four Million
Cabbages and Kings
The Gift of the Magi
The Ransom
of
RedReformation
Chief
The
A Retrieved
Ransom
of
Red Chief
The Cop and the Anthem
 A Retrieved Reformation
The Furnished Room
Baby in the Jungle
Major features of Henry’s stories
Henry's stories are famous for their
surprise endings, to the point that such an
ending is often referred to as an "O. Henry
ending." He was called the American answer
to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote
twist endings, but O. Henry stories were
much more playful. His stories are also well
known for witty narration. Most of O.
Henry's stories are set in his own time, the
early years of the 20th century. Many take
place in New York City and deal for the
most part with ordinary people:
clerks, policemen, waitresses.
Major features of Henry’s stories

 O. Henry's work is wide-ranging, and his

characters can be found
roaming the
cattle-lands of Texas, exploring the art
of the "gentle grafter," or investigating
the tensions of class and wealth in turnof-the-century New York.
 O. Henry had an inimitable hand for
isolating some element of society and
describing it with an incredible economy
and grace of language.
Major features of Henry’s stories
 Some of his best and least-known work
resides in the collection Cabbages and Kings, a
series of stories which each explore some
individual aspect of life in a paralytically
sleepy Central American town while each
advancing some aspect of the larger plot and
relating back one to another in a complex
structure which slowly explicates its own
background. O.Henry's work is fundamentally
a product of his time, and contains examples
of casual racism.
2. While-reading Tasks
Structure of the Text
Further Understanding
Structure (Part division of the text)
Scene Paras
s
1
2
3
Characters
Events
Paras 1-2 Sue,Johns Sue’s roommate
y
Johnsy caught
pneumonia.
Paras 3-8 The doctor, The doctor told Sue
Sue
that Johnsy
needed a strong
will to live on
Paras 9- Johnsy,
Johnsy decided that
17
Sue
she would die
when the last ivy
Structure (Part division of the text)
Scene Paras
s
Characters
4
Paras 18- Behrman,
21
Sue
5
Paras 22- Sue,
33
Johnsy
Events
Sue told Behrman
about Johnsy’s
fancy
As Johnsy was
encouraged by the
last leaf that
wouldn’t give in to
the weather, her
will to live returned.
Structure (Part division of the text)
Scen
es
Paras
Characters
Events
6
Paras 3437
7
Paras3839
the doctor, The doctor told Sue
Sue
that Johnsy would
recover, but
Behrman caught
pneumonia himself
and his case was
hopeless.
Sue,
Sue told Johnsy that
Johnsy
Behrman had
performed a kind
deed without any
Further Understanding



Key Words and Phrases
Language Focus
Analysis of the Text
Key Words and Phrases
in tune: harmoniously (often followed by with)
e.g.
His ideas were in tune with mine.
The price of gold coins fluctuates (波动) in tune
with that of commodities.
stalk: v. (of an evil force) move through (a place) in a
threatening way; move quietly and cautiously in
order to get near
e.g.
There are sharks stalking their prey in those waters.
victim: n. person, animal, etc. suffering death, injury
or loss
e.g.
Thousands were victims of the plague in the Middle
Ages.
Four people were killed in the explosion, but the
police have not yet named the victims.
subtract: vt. take (a number, quantity) away from a larger
number or
quantity
e.g.
Students were given a lot of practice in writing,
adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
turn loose: allow (sth.) to be free of control
e.g.
The World Bank makes grants to developing
countries
but it doesn’t just turn the money loose.
世界银行拨款给发展中国家，但并不听任随便使
用。
to excess: to an extreme degree
e.g.
Don’t carry your grief to excess.
He drinks to excess.
他嗜酒无度.
for the rest: as regards other matters在其他方面
e.g.
The working conditions in my new job are
excellent, but for the rest, I am not impressed.
stand out: be easily seen above or among others
e.g.
These writers stood out above the rest.
stand by 支持
stand for 代表
stand on 坚持
stand well with 与……相处得好
Language Focus
 1. Literary Language

writing techniques in a narration
Language Focus
Make a dialogue between Sue and
Behrman according to the sentence
“She told him of Johnsy’s fancy, and
how she feared she would, indeed,
light and fragile as a leaf herself, float
away, when her slight hold upon the
world grew weaker” in Lines 65 to 68.
2. Figures of Speech
修辞
Personification拟人
My heart was singing.
This time fate was smiling to him.
My only worry was that January
would find me hunting for a job
again.
Euphemism委婉语
Die: fall asleep, cease thinking, pass
away, go to heaven, leave us
Old people: senior citizens
Fat people: weight watcher
Madhouse/asylum: mental hospital
Stupid people: slow learners
Simile明喻
like, as, as if, as though等.
This elephant is like a snake as
anybody can see.
He looked as if he had just stepped
out of my book of fairytales and had
passed me like a spirit.
Metaphor隐喻
没有比喻词，而是直接将用事物当作乙事
物来描写，甲乙两事物之间的联系和相似
之处是暗含的。
The diamond department was the
heart and center of the store.
The world is a stage.
Time is money.
Hyperbole夸张
My blood froze.
He almost died laughing.
When she heard the bad news, a
river of tears poured out.
Pun 双关
 以一个词或词组，用巧妙的办法同时
把互不关联的两种含义结合起来，以
取得一种诙谐有趣的效果。
 Seven days without water make
one weak/week.
 A cannonball took off his legs, so
he laid down his arms.
Irony 反语,讽刺
As welcome as a storm
The public is wonderfully
tolerant----it forgives everything
except genius.
Oxymoron矛盾修饰
She read the long-awaited letter
with a tearful smile.
Sweet pain/sorrow
living death
impossible hope
Alliteration头韵
 在句中有两个以上连结在一起的词
或词组，其开头的音节有同样的字母
或声音，以增强语言的节奏感。
 Proud as a peacock
 Safe and sound
 Home and hearth
 New Jersey is a story of struggle,
success, and sadness.
Parallelism 排比
把结构相同或相似、语气一致、意思
密切相关联的句子或句子成分排列起
来，使句式得到增强.
No one can be perfectly free till
all are free; no one can be
perfectly moral till all are moral;
no one can be perfectly happy till
all are happy.
The Order of Adjectives before
a Noun
(Exercise P205-206)




限定描绘大长高，
形状年龄和新老；
颜色国籍跟材料，
作用类别往后靠.
e.g.
1. beautiful brown leather jacket
2. small antique wooden table
3. fabulous new diamond ring
4. gorgeous pink silk scarf
5. fantastic new British film
Analysis of the Text
 1. Explain composition of a short story
narration: scene, theme, characters,
climax.
 2. Ask students to identify theme,
characters, climax, etc. in the text.
 3. Appreciate the atmosphere build by its
beautiful sentences and phrases.
3. Post-reading Tasks




Group Discussion
Performance
Debate
Exercises
Group Discussion
1) Which character in the story impresses
you most? Why?
2) What is the essential message the writer
wants to convey to his readers through
the story? Is it of social significance?
Explain.
Performance
 Form groups and act different
roles.

Debate
Many years ago, a college student
lost his life to save an old farmer’s
life, which aroused a heated
discussion among people. Some
thought that it was not worthwhile for
a college student who might
contribute a lot to the society in the
future to risk death for an old life,
while some other people held the
Debate
Supporting arguments
1. It is the only way to save her life.
2. It is worthwhile for the old to risk
death to save
 the young’s lives.
Opposing arguments
1. Behrman could try other means to
save Johnsy’s life instead of sacrificing
himself.
Exercises
Vocabulary
I.
1. 1)flutter/fluttering

3) cling to

5) fancy

7) fierce
masterpiece

9) nonsense

11) subtracted
2) acute
4) streaming
6) mock
8)
10) bare
12) victim
Vocabulary





2.
1) gave in/gave up
2) figure out
3) sized up
4) wiped out
5) pulling up
6) wear away
7) sit up
8) hear of / about
Vocabulary
 3. 1) Illnesses usually stand out in
childhood memories.
 2) According to the bulletin, Albright
College now offers a joint bachelor's
degree program in environmental studies
together with Duke University.
 3) The new government is less
oppressive, but violence still stalks the
country.
 4) There is scarcely any surface water
Vocabulary
 4. 1) It was dreary lying in the tent with
nothing to read, so we built a camp fire.
Soon the smell of steaks, bread and
coffee mingled with that of fresh grass
and earth. Other campers seemed to be
doing the same. Here and there people
were eating, drinking or dancing to their
hearts' content, if not to excess. What a
merry night!

2) Miss Florence, our music teacher,
Vocabulary
 II. Words with Multiple Meanings
 1. He went to Paris on business last
month.
 2. The train to Brussels goes at 2:25p.m.
 3. As soon as they arrived at the meadow,
the shepherd let the sheep go.
 4. We went exploring together in the
mountains. / We will go exploring together
in the mountains.
Vocabulary








III.Usage
1. a little white wooden house
2. long, curly red hair
3. a large old round table
4. a cheap Indian restaurant
5. a huge cool chocolate ice-cream
6. rapid technological advance
7. a handsome young Chinese American
Structure
 1. 1) The kitchen smells of burnt rubber.
 2) It smells of rose.
 3) It tastes of fish.
 4) It tastes of gasoline.
 2. 1) I killed the spider by hitting it.
 2) The little girl supported herself by
selling matches.
 3) You can unlock the door by turning
Comprehensive Exercises
 I. Cloze
 (A)
 1. Victim 2. in tune 3. Scarcely 4. in a
whisper 5. cling to 6. merry
 7. sat up 8. nonsense 9. fancy 10. fierce
11. sin 12. masterpiece
 (B)
 1. As 2.whose 3. that 4.or 5. jail 6. Her 7.
so 8.buy 9. not
Comprehensive Exercises
II. Translation
Here and there we see young artists
who stand out from other people.
They may be in worn out jeans all the
year round, or walk barefoot / in bare
feet even in winter, or drink to excess,
or cling to the fancy of creating a
masterpiece without actually doing
any creative work. In fact, many of
Thanks for Your Attention