Lesson 4 Nettles
I. Preparation:
1.
•
•
Author: Alice Munro
She was born in Wingham, Ontario, Canada
on 10 July 1931. Nearly all of Alice
She began writing in her teens. She
published her first story in 1950 while a
student at Western Ontario University.
While at school, she also worked as
waitress, tobacco picker and a library clerk.
• Munro’s fiction is set in southwestern
Ontario, but her reputation as a brilliant
short-story writer goes far beyond the
borders of her native Canada.
• Her accessible, moving stories offer immediate
pleasures while simultaneously exploring
human complexities in what appear to be
effortless anecdotal re-creations of everyday
life. In one novel and eight collections of
stories she has established herself as a major
voice among fiction writers.
Alice Munro at Giller Prize ceremony of 2004.
(CP file photo)
2. Cultural notes:
• 1. Uxbridge, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is Canada's second largest province,
covering more than one million square
kilometers, an area larger than France and
Spain combined. More than 12 million people
live in Ontario. The province is bounded by
Quebec on the east, Manitoba on the west,
Hudson Bay and James Bay on the north, and
the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes on
the south.
4. About the story “ Nettles”
• The short story “ Nettles”, which first appeared
in New Yorker in 2000, is included in this
book. In this story, the author uses first person
narration. The plot of story evolves around a
middle-aged woman’s reunion with a
childhood boy friend in 1979, but it moves
back and forth between past and present. Like
most other stories by Munro, the leading actor
is a woman.
• The “I” in the story should not be taken as the
author herself although the subject matter of
Munro’s stories has often developed from her
own experience. Munro has explained in
various interviews that her stories are not
autobiographical, but she does claim an
“emotional reality” for her relatively poor
provincial southwestern Ontario town during
the depression, going through the
rebelliousness
• and idealism of adolescence, discovering sex,
leaving home, falling in love, getting married,
having children, getting divorced, and getting
along in a variety of complicated relationships,
all inform the fiction she creates. “Nettles” is
no exception. Her fictional world ranges across
the whole breadth of Canada, but her stories
that take place in Ontario are rooted in
recollected by a perceptive adult memory.
II. Outline
• Part 1(para. 1-2): Meeting again by chance in
1979
• Part 2 (para. 3-15): Childhood memory, her
friend, Mike.
• Part 3 (para. 16-93): The detailed story that
happened in 1979
• Part 4 (para 94-95): conclusion--- a new
perception of love
III. Theme
• Life is not always smooth; love is not
always sweet. Nettles are here and there
in the journey of people’s life .
IV. Detailed Study of the Text
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Part 1 (para.1-2)
1. Nettle:
any of numerous
plants having
stinging hairs that
cause skin
irritation on
contact
2. Why does the author choose “Nettle” as
the story’s title?
• 3. counter - a piece of furniture that stands at
the side of a dining room; has shelves and
drawers
• e.g.
• The counter is covered with
• a plastic cloth.
4. ketchup - thick spicy sauce made from
tomatoes
e.g.
I enjoy the taste of the
fresh ketchup.
Part 2: (para.3-15)
• 1. pen n. :a fenced enclosure for animals; any
of various enclosures, such as a bullpen or
playpen, used for a variety of purposes
•
v. :to confine in or as if in a pen (=
enclose)
• e.g.
• He was kept chained in a pen at the rear of the
fort, and here Beauty Smith teased and irritated
and drove him wild with petty torments.
playpen: 婴儿用围栏
2. mug: n. with handle and usually
cylindrical
•
•
•
•
e.g.
Bear mug
Coffee mug
He asked me to make him a mug of coffee.
他要我给他弄杯咖啡。
• I've Latin to take for the examination, I
suppose I must mug it up somehow
我要考拉丁文了，我想我得临时抱一下佛
脚了。
• 3. boarding house: a private house that
provides accommodations and meals for
paying guests (公寓）
• e.g.
• He had no wife and no
• home save his two-room
• office in a boarding house.
• 4. at hand: A) close by; near.
•
B) soon in time; imminent
• e.g.
• I haven‘t my photograph album at hand, but
I’ll show it to you later.
我的照像簿不在手边，以后我再拿给你看。
• As the selling season is at hand, lots of fresh
orders will pour in. 由于销售旺季即将来临，
大量新订单会源源不断地涌来。
• 5. cab: a taxi can be called a cab, but here is a
compartment in front of a motor vehicle where
driver sits.
• e.g.
• Shall we walk or take
• a cab?
我们走路还是坐出租车？
6. racket: n. a loud and disturbing noise
(≈ noise)
• A racket is a wooden paddle, as one used in
table tennis. Here it refers to “loud noise”
• e.g.
• My neighbors are making an unholy racket.
我的邻居们吵闹得厉害。
• The students kicked up no end of a racket in
the street. 这些学生在街上大吵大闹.
• What's your racket?
你是干哪一行的?
7. sour: v. go sour or spoil
adj. having a sharp biting taste
e.g.
The milk has turned sour. 这牛奶发酸了。
She gave me a sour look.
她狠狠地瞪了我一眼。
What a sour face she has! 她的脸色多难看！
Every white hath its black, and every sweet its
sour.
[谚]有白必有黑，有甜必有苦；事物各有缺
陷。
8. damp: adj. slightly wet; (= moist; ≈moist)
•
•
•
•
•
e.g.
The clothes are damp with perspiration.
Her eyes were moist with tears.
I don't like damp weather.
我不喜欢潮湿的天气。
9. skunk: n.
American cat-like animal typically ejecting an
intensely malodorous fluid when startled;
• 10. Our farm was small – nine acres:
• Nine acres are 54 mu. Owing to Canada’s
vast land, a farm of this size is considered
rather small.
11. Each of the trees on the place had an
attitude and presence – the elm looked
serene and oak threatening, the maples
friendly, the hawthorn old and crabby:
• In the eyes of the little girl, every tree
existed like a person that had a distinct
character. In the previous sentence the
narrator says that the farm was small
enough for her to have explored every part
of it. She was familiar with everything on
the farm including the trees. The use of
personification of the trees reveals the close
and harmonious relationship between
nature and the narrator.
• 12. serene: unaffected by disturbance; calm
and unruffled
• e.g.
• The school campus is charmingly simple and
serene. 恬静宜人的校园.
• She was always calm and serene.
她总是平静而安详 .
• 12. crabby - perversely irritable (= illtempered, bad-tempered)
• e.g.
• The crabby guy never said “No” ,whenever he
came across difficulties.
13. stony: covered with or full of stones
• fall on stony ground
• 无效, 没有结果(象种子落在石头上一样,
来自《圣经》)
• e.g.
• Two of the tyres punctured on the stony road.
有两个车胎在碎石路上扎破了.
• Warnings about the disastrous effect on the
environment fell on stony ground.
• 14. wade - walk (through relatively shallow
water)
• e.g.
• Can we wade across the river to the other side?
• No lives were lost, and we could wade ashore
in safety.
• I finally waded through the dull book. 我终于
啃完这本枯燥无味的书．
• 15. scum: n. a covering of usu. unpleasant
material that forms on the surface of liquid
• Scummy: adj. covered with scum
• e.g.
• Be careful of the scummy surface of the
polluted pond.
• Look at that scummy table. Let’s move to
another one.
16. plow: (AmE) move in a way resembling that
of a plow cutting into or going through the soil
(= plough BriE.)
• e.g.
• The ship plowed through the water.
• 17. They might have followed the boys
out … but somehow when they have all got
together , the game had taken shape:
• The subjunctive mood is used here, suggesting
that the girls was not sure how the boys and
girls got together, but she knew one way or
another they had all got together and made up
this game of war.
• 18. harassment: a feeling of intense
annoyance caused by being tormented
• e.g.
• Without him, travel is a bitter harassment.
•
19. take shape: to take on a distinctive
form (= take form)
•
•
•
•
e.g.
Our plans began to take shape.
The new building is beginning to take shape.
After years hard working, a modern
international port city landscape has taken
shape.
20. call out - utter aloud; often with
surprise, horror, or joy (= cry out, shout)
• e.g.
• She did not call out because she wished
to surprise him, and then she did.
• When I call out your name,
there is nothing to fear
coz I will be there …
• 21. dress - apply a bandage or medication
to (≈care for, treat, bandage )
• e.g.
• The nurses dress the victim's wounds.
• We dress wounds and bandage injuries,
busy all the afternoon.
• 22. There was a keen alarm when the cry came,
a wire zinging through your whole body,
fanatic feeling of devotion. :
• Both “a wire zinging through your whole
body”, and “fanatic feeling of devotion” are in
apposition to “a keen alarm”, further
explaining what this “keen alarm” was like.
keen: intense or vivid; strong
e.g.
• His entire body hungered for keen sensation,
something exciting (Richard Wright)
• (他的整个身体渴望一种强烈的感觉，一些
令人激动的事)
• She's keen to get ahead in her career.
她热望在事业上出人头地.
• Zing: v. move quickly, making a
whistling noise; to be vivacious or lively(轻
快,活泼)
• e.g.
• An arrow is zinging toward its target
• In the corner of a nice coffee bar, a chat
between the newly married couple was
zinging along .
• fanatic: adj. marked by excessive enthusiasm
for and intense devotion to a cause or idea
• n. a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm
(as for a cause )
• Hi, guy, anything may happen in this antilogic fanatic world.
• My bother is a car fanatic.
• She is a ballet fanatic.
• 23. He lay limp and still while I pressed
slimy large leaves to his forehead and throat
and pulling out his shirt – to his pale tender
stomach, with its sweet and vulnerable belly
button.:
• At this point of the game, the boy was
supposed to be wounded, and by pressing
slimy large leaves to his forehead, his
throat and his stomach, the girl was
pretending to dress his wounds.
• 24. disintegrate: break into parts or
components; lose cohesion or unity
• e.g.
• The machine disintegrated.
• The group disintegrated after the leader died.
• disintegrate the enemy troops
瓦解敌军
• 25. resurrection: revival from inactivity and
disuse (≈revival)
• e.g.
• He had a resurrection of hope.
他的希望复苏了。
• With the joint efforts, the Asian economic
resurrection started by the end of 1999.
26. Filthy adj: extremely dirty; covered
with filth (=nasty; ≈dirty, soiled, unclean)
• e.g.
• Our campus is clean and beautiful but the
streets outside the campus are really filthy.
• The guy is always telling filthy jokes.
这家伙老是讲下流的笑话。
• Isn't it a filthy day?
今天天气糟透了!
• 27. One morning, of course, the job was all
finished, the well capped, the pump reinstated,
the fresh water marveled at:
• 1) “Of course” is used to mean that it was
natural for the job to be finished one day.
When the job was finished, Mike’s father
would leave the farm and move onto another
place for new jobs, and Mike would of course
leave with his father.
• The implied meaning of “of course” is
that the girl had known this would
happen sooner or later, but she wished
that the time spent on the work would be
prolonged so that Mike would not have to
leave so soon. She had not expected his
departure would come so soon.
•
•
•
•
2) marvel at: be amazed at (= wonder)
e.g.
We marveled at the child's linguistic abilities.
We marveled that they walked away unhurt from the
car accident. (我们感到惊异的是他们竟安然无恙地
逃离车祸)
• It was a real marvel that the baby was unhurt when
he fell from the fifth floor.
那婴儿从五楼摔下来竟没受伤真是一个奇迹。
• She works so hard in spite of her illness: she's a
marvel. 她带病努力工作, 真是难能可贵!
28. He liked to put ketchup on his bread:
• The girl noticed this unusual eating habit
of Mike’s and remembered it. So when
she “saw a man standing at the counter,
making himself a ketchup sandwich”, in
1979, many years after the last saw each
other, she recognized Mike at once.
29. boom: v. n. to utter or give forth with a deep,
resonant sound; to cause to grow or flourish;
boost;
e.g.
Profit multiply in the boom year.
兴旺之年利润增长。
The clock began to boom out twelve.
时钟开始敲十二点。
We heard a hollow boom of thunder.
我们听到低沉的隆隆雷声。
• 30. line up: to arrange in or form a line.
•
•
•
•
e.g.
The buildings all line up neatly.
Customers lined up in front of the store.
He is a busy man. He always has some urgent
things lined up for him to do, let alone the
routines.
• 31. Living as he did, in the hotel, he
could just pack up and be gone:
• 1) Since he stayed in the hotel, he could
simply pack up and has disappeared.
• 2) gone: Gone is the past participle of go,
used as an adjective.
• Something is gone when it has
disappeared, or when it no longer exists.
• e.g.
• All the passion is now gone from his eyes.
• My youth has gone. 我的青春已不复存在。
• 32. How all my own territory would be
altered, as if a landside had gone through it
and skimmed off all meaning except loss of
Mike:
• The implied meaning of this sentence is
that the impact of Mike’s leaving on my
life was beyond my imagination. I didn’t
expect that Mike’s leaving would have
such a tremendous power that it would
change the meaning of my existence
completely. All my thoughts were about
loss of Mike.
•
• Here both words “ territory” and
“ landslide” are used metaphorically,
comparing her life experience to a
territory and the great impact
• of Mike’s departure to a devastating
landslide.
33. A common name.
• This is an elliptical sentence. The
complete sentence would be: Mike was a
common name.
• 34. My heart was beating in big thumps,
like howls happening in my chest:
• I was so excited that my heart was
bounding violently as if my chest was
bursting with long loud cries.
•
•
•
•
•
•
35. howl - a long loud emotional utterance;
the long plaintive cry of a wolf
e.g.
He gave a howl of pain.
The howl of the wolf made
him horrified.
Part 3 (para. 16—93)
• 1. matron: A married woman or a widow,
especially a mother of dignity, mature age, and
established social position. (= lady, woman)
• e.g.
• I happened to met his mama,
• a nice matron with a dog
• walking in the park.
•
• 2. girlish - befitting or characteristic of a
young girl
• e.g.
• The matron with girlish charm and sweet
smiles was busy nodding to the guests around.
• Oh, the dress is too girlish for me to wear in
office.
• 3. flush - rinse, clean, or empty with a
liquid
• e.g.
• The nurse flushed the wound with antibiotics
• Don’t forget to flush the toilet before leaving.
• 4. throw up: eject the contents of the stomach
through the mouth (= vomit)
• e.g.
• After drinking too much,
• the man threw up in
• the street.
• The patient threw up
• the food last night.
• 5. dovetail - fit together tightly, as if by means
of a dovetail
• e.g.
• How well do these new
• ideas dovetail into
• the existing system?
这些新意识与现存体
• 制吻合得如何？
•
•
•
•
6. reel: to feel dizzy
e.g.
My head reeled with the facts and figures.
Dozens of opportunities suddenly opened
up, and my mind was reeling.
• 7. stoke: to eat steadily and in large
quantities
• e.g.
• Before going out into the cold, we stoked
up on ( = filled our stomachs with)
porridge and bacon and eggs.
• 8. rampage: an outbreak of violent or raging
behavior
• Here “launch out on a rampage of talk”
means to started to say one’s say or to talk
freely and to one‘s heart’s content or to get something
off one’s chest. (畅所欲言; 海阔天空地聊)
• e.g.
• The captured tiger was on the rampage for
several days
捕获的老虎几天来一直处于狂躁不安中。
• 9. forgo: to do without, give up
• e.g.
I‘ll have to forgo my vacation in order to attend
a summer Chinese course
为了参加暑期中文班我只好放弃暑假。
She decided to forgo dessert for a few days
她决定几天不吃甜点心。
10. keep track of: keep contact with
e.g.
As a doctor James has to keep track of the latest
developments in medicine. 作为一名医生，詹
姆斯必须了解医学的最新发展动态。
He reads the newspapers to keep track of current
events. 他阅读报纸以了解时事.
Please ask if you cannot keep track of what I'm
telling you
如果你们听不懂我所讲的话，请提问。
• 11. discreditable: tending to bring
discredit or disrepute; blameworthy
(≈disreputable)
• e.g.
• His marks were not at all discreditable .
• 11. During that time of life that is supposed
to be a reproductive daze, with the women’s
mind all swamped by maternal juices, we
were still compelled to discuss Simone de
Beauvior and Arthur Koestler and “ The
Cocktail Party”:
• 1) Reproductive daze:
• Daze means being amazed, or bewildered
often by a shock or blow. Here reproduction
refers to the process by which animals or
plants produce new individuals. So
“ reproductive daze” describes the amazing
and confusing condition that young mothers
are stereotypically ( in old fashion) supposed
to be in. Since these two young mothers
continued to discuss literary and intellectual
matters, the stereotype is called into question.
• 2) maternal juice: mother’s milk
• Here the plural is used, probably referring
to juices with which a mother feeds the
baby, such as milk, fruit juices in addition
to mother’s milk. The phrase “swamped
by maternal juices” should not be taken
literally, but rather figuratively, meaning
the young mothers were busy looking
after their babies.
3) The implied meaning of the sentence is
• As young mothers, we supposed to lead a
terribly busy and sometimes confused life
brought about by giving birth to and raising
babies, and our minds were supposed to be
fully occupied by how to feed the babies and
things like that. However, in the midst of all
this felt the need to discuss some of the
important thinkers of our time like Simone de
Beauvoir and Arthur koestler and T. S.
Eliot’s sophisticated verse play ‘ The cocktail
Party’.
12. The main idea of paragraphs 20-26:
• In Paras.20-26 the narration returns to 1979
when she spent the weekend at Sunny’s
country home. First she explains the different
reasons for which they had moved away from
Vancouver. Then the narrator talks about her
unsuccessful marriage and her problems with
her children, which lead her to phone Sunny
and get the invitation to spend the weekend
with the latter’s family.
• 13. And I had moved for the newfangled
reason that was approved of only in some
special circles – leaving husband and house
and all the Things acquired during the
marriage ( except, of course, the children,
who were to be parceled about), in the hope
of making a life that could be lived without
hypocrisy or deprivation or shame:
• 1) The tone of this sentence is slightly ironic.
The word “newfangled” is a humorously
derogatory term, meaning newly made, new
novel, untested. “Some special circles” refer
to feminists and their sympathizers and
supporters. The more conservative social
values and attitudes do not approve of women
leaving their husbands and houses, and would
consider doing so as newfangled in a native
sense.
• 2) Husband and house:
• Without articles before them the two
words function as collective nouns for the
normal acquisitions associated with
marriage. In addition they alliterate( 押头
韵), making them more memorable.
• 3) … the children, who were to be parceled
about…:
• Parcel about: share by division
• As the wife and husband were separated,
the arrangement for the children was to
take turns in living with the father and
mother.
• 14. … a long necessary voyage from
the house of marriage:
• “ The house of marriage” is a
metaphor, comparing marriage to a
house, a place that provides shelter,
living space, etc. On the other hand,
such a house can be a sort of
confinement, hindering one’s freedom.
•
•
15. But it was too much to expect of my
daughters – who were ten and twelve years
old – that they should feel the same way.
expect sth of sb : hope or think it likely that
( someone or something) will be or do
( something)
• e.g.
Don‘t expect much of him; he is at best a student.
不要对他期望过高；他只不过是个学生。
We will never fail to live up to what our parents
expect of us
我们决不辜负我们的父母对我们的期望。
• 16. Accusations, confessions of
misery…:
• This is another incomplete sentence. The
complete sentence is: In their angry
outburst, the girls admitted that they
were miserable and blamed their
mother for causing their misery.
• 17. snap: to open, close, or fit together
with a click
• e.g.
• The lock snapped shut.锁吧嗒一声关上了。
18. A picture of Italian deli
18. sun porch: an enclosed porch
designed as a sunroom
• 19. … I would be frightened, not of any
hostility but of a kind of nonexistence:
• … I would be frightened, not of any hostility
but of a kind of nonexistence.
• The implied meaning of the sentence is that I
would be frightened, and my fear was not
caused by my neighbor’s visibly noisy and
• violent way of life, but by a feeling that
compared to them I did not really exist.
(paras.27-93)
• 1. The main idea of this part (paras.27-93) :
• This is the main part of the story, in
which the author tells what happened
during the weekend she spent with
Sunny’s family in the country.
2. The hills were a series of green bumps and
some cows.
3. squalid: (= shabby; filthy)
• 1) very dirty and unpleasant ( esp. as a
result of lack of care or lack of money)
• 2) having or concerning low moral
standard; sordid
• e.g.
• That is a squalid overcrowded apartment
in the poorest part of town.
• It’s a squalid story of sex and violence
• 4. She did not ask me – was it delicacy
or disapproval ? – about my new life:
• 1) She did not ask me about my new life,
either out of subtle consideration for my
feeling about this sensitive subject or out
of disapproval for my new life style.
2) delicacy: subtly skillful handling of a
situation (= finesse; ≈ tact)
• e.g.
• The diplomatic negotiations of great delicacy
were still going on. 极微妙的外交谈判正在
进行中．
• The man phrased the apology with
delicacy. 此人用老练的措词表示道歉
• Everyone admired the delicacy of her features
人人都羡慕她娇美的容貌。
5. I would have told her lies, anyway, or
half lies:
• Sunny didn’t ask me about my life. If she
had asked me, I wouldn’t have told her
the truth--not the whole truth anyway.
• This shows that the 2 friends have
different attitudes toward marriage and
have taken 2 different roads of life.
•They used to share a lot in their lives when
they were young, but now Sunny remains a
typical wife and mother while the narrator has
abandoned everything in order to live a life
“without hypocrisy, deprivation or shame”.
Her choice would be considered rather
unconventional in the eyes of many people,
perhaps including her friend Sunny. This
parting of the ways prepares for their later
“dwindling friendship” mentioned in the last
paragraph.
6. Veranda (1)
Veranda (2)
7. A lady with an overnight bad
• 8. .… where Mike McCallum was spreading
ketchup on a piece of bread:
• The sentence in Para.31 is connected with
the opening sentence of the story: “ … I
walked into the kitchen of my friend
Sunny’s house… and saw a man
standing at the corner, making himself
a ketchup sandwich.”
•
• 9. I was full of happy energy:
• The word “ happy” is transferred
epithet(转移修饰.) Though used before
the noun “ energy”, it actually modifies
“ I”. The sentence means I was full of
energy because I felt so happy.
• 10. We were washing the dishes
together, so that we could talk all we
wanted without being rude:
• It would be rude of them if they talked to
each other only, ignoring the host and
hostess and leaving them out of the
conversation. However, when they were
washing the dishes in the kitchen, they could
talk all they wanted without being socially
impolite.
11. scrabble
12. crap: something worthless and
unwanted
• e.g.
They call computer a good thing, for most of
the time, it is, but now, never! It runs as slowly
as crap snails. When one step has been
operated, some virgin has already got married
and given birth to millions of babies! God
damn! I can’t stand my computer! It's sheer
crap! Computer?!
• Crap!!! It gets my blood boiled!
• Craputer should be its justified name!!!
• 13. scrupulous - having scruples; arising
from a sense of right and wrong;
principled; conscientious and exact;
painstaking
• e.g.
• He is not over-scrupulous in his business.
• (他做生意不很谨慎)
• 14. refrain - not do something (= forbear;
≈act)
• e.g.
• He refrained from hitting him back.
• She could not refrained from weeping .
15. Why does the narrator ask a series of
questions in paragraph 46?
• They reveal what was going on in her
mind whole watching the stars. Standing
near Mike in the darkness, she felt
sexually aroused and wanted to be
intimate with Mike, but she was not sure
if that was what he also wanted. She
concluded that he was a scrupulous man
and that he would refrain even if he also
felt sexually attracted to her.
• 16. sleazy: adj. morally degraded ( = seamy,
squalid ≈ disreputable )
• e.g.
• Some kids are badly influenced by those
sleazy films.
• Some sleazy characters hang around
casinos.(一些骗子在赌场周围乱逛。)
• 17. It would be a sleazy thing to do, in
the house of his friends:
• It would be a morally low thing to have
extra-marital affairs in the house of his
friends.
• 18. My sleep was shallow, my dream
monotonously lustful, with irritating
and unpleasant subplots:
• I didn’t sleep peacefully that night,
thinking about Mike with sexual desire.
• 19. lustful: feeling or showing strong
sexual desire
• e.g.
• Is it not better to fall into the hands of a
murderer, than into the dreams of a
lustful woman?
• 20. brunch: n. combination breakfast and
lunch; usually served in late morning; v. eat
a late-morning meal
• A new word formed by joining two others and
combining their meanings; "`smog' is a blend of
`smoke' and `fog'"; "`motel' is a portmanteau
word made by combining `motor' and `hotel'";
"`brunch' is a well-known portmanteau".
• e.g.
• We brunch in Sundays.
21. caddy: v. If you caddy for a golfer, you act as
their caddie (a person who carries golf clubs
and other equipment for a player)
e.g.
Every weekend I like go playing golf with
my friends and Jack always caddies for
me.
• 22. … I liked riding beside him, in
wife’s seat:
• The front seat beside the driver is usually
taken by the wife when the husband is
driving. So sitting in the wife’s seat, the
narrator felt a pleasure in the idea of them
as a couple, indulging in a womanly
emotional fantasy.
• 23. light-headed: lacking seriousness;
given to frivolity
• e.g.
• He did not know what he was talking of, I dare
say; ten to one but he was light-headed at the
time.
• “I don’t care what you care,” said the
light-headed young woman
• 24. beguile: attract; cause to be enamored
• e.g.
• Her ways beguiled him.她的风度迷住了
他。
• We beguiled the children with fairy tales.
我们讲童话来哄小孩。He beguiled us
with songs.他唱歌为我们解闷。
25. … they don’t bother with Canadian:
• Here Mike was complaining about
foreigners who don’t bother to make a
distinction between Americans and
Canadians> The Canadians are annoyed
when they are taken for Americans. They
like to think of themselves as being
different from the Americans, as having
their own Canadian identity.
26. It might be that he thought it unseemly
to talk of our partners or our children,
under the circumstances:
It seemed that he thought it improper to
talk of our spouses or kids when we
were alone.
• 1) Unseemly: not decent or proper (=
improper)
• e.g.
• It would be unseemly for judgers to
receive pay increases when others are
having to tighten their belt.
• 2) Under the circumstances: used to say
that a particular situation makes an action,
decision necessary when it would not
normally be. Pay attention to the plural
form of the noun “ circumstance” and the
use of the definite article “the” before
the noun.
• ▲ “Circumstance” is usually used in
plural form. (e.g. under any
circumstances)
• 27. iron: Sports Any of a series of golf
clubs having a bladelike
• metal head and
• numbered from one
• to nine in order of
• increasing loft (打高飞球).
• 28. Here comes our weather:
• Before they set out for golf course,
Johnston warned them that there was a
prediction of rain. But they said they
would take their chances. As the rain was
coming, Mike called it “our weather”
29. He began methodically to pack up
and fasten his bag:
• He began methodically to pack his bag
because golf clubs were of various sizes,
and he needed to put them in good order.
Also the word “methodically” shows that
Mike was calm, not in a hurry, without
particular alarm as he said that the rain
was coming.
• 30. wheel: v. To fly in a curving or
circular course
• e.g.
• A flock of gulls wheeled just above the
dock.
• 31. agitate v. upset; disturb
• e.g.
• He became quite agitated when he was
asked about his criminal past.
• My dear,' said he to Esther, 'you must not
agitate yourself.
32. Stinging nettle photo
• 33. … and what I thought were flowering
nettles with pinkish-purple clusters, and
wild asters:
• The narrator mistook these plants as nettles.
Later in the last sentence of paragraph 91 she
corrects herself. As we can see, the word
“nettles” in the story has both meanings, the
literary meaning, that is the plant with
rough leaves that sting people,
• and the figurative meaning, that is
something irritate and annoy people. It
may not be far-fetched to suggest that
the author is comparing life, human
relationships, etc. to the effects of
nettles.
• 34. frail: adj. physically weak; easily broken
or damaged or destroyed (≈delicate = fragile;)
• e.g.
• Also, he is so thin and frail (at times I meet
him in the corridor) that his knees quake under
him.
• Be careful of these frail porcelain plates
• 35. … from the direction of the midnight
clouds:
• These clouds were very dark, the color of the
night. Note that earlier in Paragraph 70 the
narrator has said “the clouds had changed color,
becoming dark blue instead of white”. The
changing of colors of the clouds indicated that
a wild storm was coming.
• 36. splatter - the noise of something spattering
or sputtering explosively
• e.g.
• Hearing a splatter of gunfire from the distance,
he wondered if something happened.
• 37. bear down: exert a force with a heavy
weight; To apply maximum effort and
concentration
• e.g.
• The snow bore down on the roof.
• The ship bore down on our canoe.
• If you really bear down, you will finish the
task.
• 38. stoop: v. To bend (the head or body)
forward and down (= crouch, bend, bow)
• e.g.
• They had to stoop in
• order to fit into the cave.
• 39. butt - to strike, thrust or shove against,
often with head or horns
• e.g.
• He butted his sister out of the way.
• 40. crouch - bend one's back forward from the waist
on down
• e.g.
• He crouched down to stroke the dog.
• The cat crouched, ready to spring at the bird.
• Cf. squat ( down, on) v.
• To sit on a surface with the knees bent and the legs
drawn fully up under the body, esp. balancing on the
front of the feet
• e.g. He squatted down beside the footprints and
examined them closely.
• 41. miniature - being on a very small scale (=
small; little)
• e.g.
• He took lots of photos with a miniature
camera.
• She pointed to a miniature portrait, hanging
above the wall.
• 42. clamp: n. a device (used by carpenters)
that holds things firmly together ;
• v. To fasten, grip, or support with or as if with
a clamp.
• e.g.
• He clamped the chair
• Together until the glue
• has hardened
•
43. This was more of a ritual, a recognition of
survival rather than of our bodies’ inclinations:
•
In this sentence, the author makes a
distinction between the spirit and the body.
During the storm, the two were holding each
other tightly, but they did that to protect
themselves from the terrible storm. We can
see that in a sense, the rain had washed away
the lust and purified her mind, thus purifying
their relationship, too.
•
1) ritual: a set form or system of rites, religious or
otherwise
•
•
e.g.
He had made a ritual of the kisses he gave
her when he bade her good-night; first he
kissed the palms of her hands then he kissed
her closed eyes, first the right one and then
the left, and at last he kissed her lips.
•
•
•
•
2) inclination: a particular disposition or
bent of mind; tendency; a more or less vague
mental disposition toward some action,
practice, or thing (= tendency)
e.g.
He had an inclination to give up too easily.
It is fortunate that your inclination and your
father's convenience should accord so well.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
44. drench: To wet through and through; soak.
e.g.
29 dead as rains
drench southern
China
a drenching
rain 倾盆大雨
• 45. I felt the heat of the sun strike my
shoulders before I looked up into its festival
lights:
• The sun and its light are in sharp contrast with
the “ midnight clouds”, “ curtains of rain”,
“ thick and wildly slapping curtains”, etc. The
sunlight is “ festival”, celebrating the ending of
the world storm and the survival of the two
main characters.
• 46. His voice surprised me, like the sun. But in the
opposite way. It had a weight to it, a warning:
• Right after the storm was over, the sun came out
suddenly, with its cheerful light, and so it surprised
the narrator pleasantly. Now Mike said something in a
voice that also surprised her, but in the opposite way.
The weight and warning in his voice told the narrator
what he was going to tell her was not happy news. So
he surprised her in the opposite way. As he made up
his mind to tell her something, he sounded apologetic.
He seemed to say, “ I know how you feel and what
you want. I feel the same, but I can’t because…”
•
47. We had passed right by that:
• By these words, the narrator means they
were not ordinary friends but soul mates.
As they understand each other perfectly,
no words were needed at this moment.
• 48. I knew now that he was a person who
had hit rock bottom:
• Rock bottom: the lowest level or point
This is a vivid way of saying that he was a
person who had experienced the worst in life,
the hardest experience a person might have to
endure.
• 49. He and his wife knew that together and
it bound them, as something like that would
either break you apart or bind you, for life:
• He and his wife experienced the worst
together and knew the meaning of that
experience. Experience of this kind,
involving life and death, posed the gravest
test to people. If they were able to stand the
test and emerged from the worst together,
their friendship or marriage would be
strengthened, and sacred bondage would
be formed between them. But if they failed
the rest, their relationship would be broken
and they would be driven apart.
• 50. But they would share a knowledge of it –
that cool, empty, locked, and central space:
• The implied meaning of the sentence is that
they both understood what that terrible
experience was like and what it meant to
them. Note the use of the four adjectives
before the word “ space”, which refers to the
rock bottom. The word “ cool” ( or cold)
may be associated with death, tragedy and
sorrow; the word “ empty” indicates a sense
of loss; “ locked” implies secret, private, not
open to others; “ central” perhaps means
this experience was essential to their lives.
•
51. I was not one of the people among
whom they would make their new, hard,
normal life.
• 我不属于那些他们可以结交的, 可以展开
他们崭新而又艰辛的普通生活的朋友.
• 52. I was a person who knew – that was all.
A person he had, on his own, who knew:
• These words mean that the narrator was
different from all other people in his life.
She was a person he could confide his
deepest secret to. She was a soul mate.
• 我是了解他一切的人. 一个他自己拥有的,
了解他的朋友.
53. What is Paragraph 91 about?
• Para.91 is essential for understanding the
meaning of the title of the story. While
they were driving back, Mike and the
narrator noticed an itch or burning on
their bare forearms, the backs of their
hands and around their ankles. She
remembered the nettles.
• But those plants with big pinkish-purple
flowers( described in Para. 72) are not nettles.
They are called joe-pye weeds. The nettles are
stinging insignificant-looking plants with stalks
outfitted with skin-piercing spines. Her
mistaking joe-pye weeds for nettles implies
that ordinary life is more like the insignificantlooking nettles that are stinging and piercing,
thus irritating and annoying people rather than
the joe-pye weeds with showy pinkish-purple
flowers. Real life is disturbing, frustrating,
and unsettling, offering no tidy resolution.
• 54. outfit - provide with (something) usually
for a specific purpose (= equip, fit out, fit)
• e.g.
• She bought a ski outfit.
她买了一套滑雪装备。
• We will outfit with necessities
• two days before sailing.
我们将在出航前两天整装。
• 55. inflame v. To make more violent; intensify;
To arouse to passionate feeling or action
• e.g.
• The crimes inflamed the
• entire community.
• The good news inflamed
• the young couple.
• 56. welt - a raised mark on the skin (as
produced by the blow of a whip)
• e.g.
• The mad man went the stick on the back
of the other's head, raising such a welt
that the blood came.
• 57. wriggle - to move in a twisting motion,
(especially when struggling)
• e.g.
• The child tried to wriggle free from his
aunt's embrace.
• He will find a dozen ways to wriggle out
of any charge that can be brought against
him.
• 58. Love that was not usable, that knew its
place:
• The sentence means that love was not an
object that could be used or be made use
of; and we knew exactly the limits of our
love and would not displace it.
59. With the weight of this new stillness
on it, this seal:
• Here the narrator is comparing her love for
Mike to a well. Remember in Para. 12, the
narrator said, “… the well capped, the pump
reinstated, the fresh water marveled at.” Just as
it was necessary to put a cap on the well to
keep the water clean and fresh, it was also
necessary to have the weight of this new
stillness as a seal on their underground
resources of love.
Part 4. (Para.94-95)
• Like some of Munro’s other stories, this
one ends with the narrator’s epiphany, a
moment of sudden intuitive
understanding, or a flash of insight. It is
part of the author’s style to search for
some revelatory gesture by which an
event is illumunated and given personal
significance.
• . What happened, or rather what did not
happen between Mike and her gave her a
new perception of love. This is the theme
of the story. The event that took place
during that weekend may not seem very
special or exciting, but through it the
author explores the complexity of human
emotions and the beauty of ordinary life.
• 61. dwindle - become smaller or lose
substance
• e.g.
• Her savings dwindled down.
• It will dwindle and dwindle as the months roll
on, and there is no more fuel.
V. Assignment
• Proofreading and Error Correction (15 min)
• The huntergatherer tribes that today live as our prehistoric
1.___
human ancestors consume primarily a vegetable diet su
pplementing
2.___
with animal foods. An analysis of 58 societies of modem
huntergatherers, including the Kung of southern Africa, reveale
d that one
half emphasize gathering plant foods, onethird concentrate on fishing
and only one-sixth are primarily hunters.
• Overall, two-thirds
and more of the huntergatherer’s calories come from plants. Detailed
3.___
studies of the Kung by the food scientists at the Universit
y of
London, showed that gathering is a more productive sour
ce of food
than is hunting. An hour of hunting yields in average abo
ut 100
4.___
edible calories, as an hour of gathering produces 240.
• 5.___
Plant foods provide for 60 percent to 80 percent
of the Kung
6.___
diet, and no one goes hungry when the hunt fails
. Interestingly, if
they escape fatal infections or accidents, these c
ontemporary
aborigines live to old ages despite of the absenc
e of medical care.
7.___
• 5.___
Plant foods provide for 60 percent to 80 percent
of the Kung
6.___
diet, and no one goes hungry when the hunt fails
. Interestingly, if
they escape fatal infections or accidents, these c
ontemporary
aborigines live to old ages despite of the absenc
e of medical care.
7.___
•
Thank you !