Before Reading
1. An English Song — Colors of the Wind
Listen to the Song
Blank Filling
Notes
2. Warm-up Exercises
Discussion
Topic-related Prediction
3. Background Information
Listen to the Song
Listen to the Song
Blank Filling
You think you own whatever land you _________
land on
Earth is just a dead thing you can _______
claim
But I know every rock and tree and ________
creature
spirit has a name
Has a life has a ______
You think the only people who are people
look and think like you
Are the people who ____________________
But if you _____________________________
walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew
the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Have you ever heard ____________________________
why he grinned
Or asked the grinning bobcat ______________
Can
you sing with all the voices of the mountains
________________________________________
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
______________________________________
forest
Come run the hidden pine trails of the ______
taste the sun-sweet berries of the earth
Come ______
riches all around you
Come roll in all the ______
And for once never wonder what they’re worth
_______
my brothers
The rainstorm and the river are ___________
The heron and the otter are __________
my friends
And ______________________________
we are all connected to each other
never ends
In a circle in a hoop that _________
Have you ever heard ____________________________
the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or let the eagle ______________________
tell you where he’s been
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains
________________________________________
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind
____________________________________
How high does the sycamore grow
If you cut it down then you’ll never know
______________________________________
you’ll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
And __________________________________________
For ____________________________________
whether we are white or copper skinned
We need to ________________________________
sing with all the voices of the mountains
We need to ______________________________
paint with all the colors of the wind
You can own the Earth and still
All you’ll own is earth
____________________
Until _____________________________________
you can paint with all the colors of the wind
Notes
1. Disney’s film “Pocahontas” won Academy
1995 Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
and Golden Globe 1995 Best Original Song for
“Colors of the Wind”.
2. The singer is Vanessa Lynn Williams. She is the first African
American “Miss America” who was stripped of her title when the
nude photos of her were released in Penthouse magazine.
3. The theme of the song is the relationship between nature
and human beings.
It is not just a story of colonial America. It is
the story of Pocahontas, a Powhatan Indian
princess, as she and her people interact with
the new colonists from England.
Capt. John Smith leads a rag-tag band of
English sailors and soldiers to the New World to
plunder its riches for England. Meanwhile, in this “New World”, Chief
Powhatan has pledged his daughter, Pocahontas, to be married to the
village’s greatest warrior. Pocahontas, however, has her own ideas.
She has seen the vision of a spinning arrow, which she believes tells
her the change is coming. Her life does indeed change when the
English ship lands near her village. Between Ratcliffe, who believes
the “savages” are hiding the gold he expected to be plentiful, and
Powhatan, who believes these pale newcomers will destroy their land,
Smith and Pocahontas manage to prevent all-out war and save their
love for each other.
Discussion
1. According to the song, how do the native Americans relate
themselves to nature?
2. Do you think men are the master of nature? Why or why not?
3. How do you think men should handle the relationship with nature?
Topic Related Prediction
The topic of the unit is “Nature and Man”. What do you think
may be discussed in the text?
Background Information
1. Sally Carrighar
Sally Carrighar (1895-1985) is one of the
most respected American naturalists of her time.
The unhappy childhood and suicidal disposition
were overcome by an epiphany (顿悟) at the age
of thirty-five that the natural world should be the
source for her then unsuccessful writing career.
This realization proved a boon ( 裨益 ) and after a period of selfeducation to supplement the zoology course she took at Wellesley
College, Carrighar produced several critically acclaimed and popular
books that explored animal behavior. Several of her most popular
titles are The Twilight Seas, Icebound Summer, One Day at Teton
Marsh and One Day at Beetle Rock. Her books are seen as classics
of nature writing and may be viewed as a specialized form of travel
literature.
2. Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin (1916 - 1999), American-born violinist, was one
of the foremost virtuosos of his generation. Born on April 22, 1916, in
New York City, he appeared as solo violinist with the San Francisco
Symphony Orchestra at the age of seven. He later studied with the
Romanian violinist-composer Georges Enesco, who deeply
influenced his artistic development, and with the German violinist
Adolph Busch. Menuhin toured widely, often with his sister, the
pianist Hephzibah Menuhin, and later conducted the Bath (now the
Menuhin) Festival Orchestra. He also performed with the Indian
sitarist Ravi Shankar, who wrote Prabhati for him. Menuhin wrote an
autobiography, Unfinished Journey (1977). He moved to London in
1959, was knighted in 1965, and became a British subject in 1985. In
1993 he was granted a life peerage and took the title Baron Menuhin
of Stoke D’Abernon.
Global Reading
1. Part Division of the Text
2. True or False
3. Further Understanding
For Part 1 Table Completion
For Part 2 Blank Filling
For Part 2 Questions and Answers
Part Division of the Text
Parts Paragraphs
Main Ideas
1
1~4
2
5~12
3
13~29
How the author felt about the wilderness the first
morning she got to the Canadian island
How the author explored the island forest on her
first afternoon there
How the author made further explorations into the
wilderness with Dalton, a young native of the island
4
181~214
How the author finally identified herself with nature
amid the wilderness
True or False
1. The text is a narration. It’s about Sally Carrighar’s exploration
into the wilderness during a long camping holiday in summer on
an island in Canada.
( T )
2. The Carrighar family chose to spend some weeks on the island
because the father was brought up there and knew the place
quite well.
( F )
Because their friends, the Wymans, suggested they do so
and the father had not been back to his native country
Canada for some time.
3. Sally explored into the woods on her first afternoon there but
didn’t go further because on the way she met Dalton who told
him not to.
( F )
Because she was getting lost and was slightly alarmed by the forest.
True or False
4. Sally supposed the best way to enjoy a forest is to enjoy it all
alone.
( F )
Sally thought the best way to enjoy a forest is to have trees
and brush at your back but a wide escape if anything should
approach from behind.
5. Sally made her own small peninsula on the island and enjoyed
her time spent there alone.
( T )
6. Sally thought the Canadian summer was perfect.
Sally thought it was imperfect.
( F )
Table Completion
1. What did Sally see, hear and smell in her new world during the
first morning? Find out the sensory details in Part 1.
sight
lake, sky, mist, trees, people
color
delicate silvery blue (sky), evergreen (trees), golden
(sunlight)
smell
wood smoke, bacon frying, the firs’ fragrance
hearing
the human clatter
movement
ripples on a glassy lake surface, the sun in its effort
to dissolve the mist, wood smoke rising from the
chimney
2. How did Sally feel about the wilderness the first morning? Did
she enjoy it? How do you know?
Sally felt:
Clues in the text:
amazed, excited
curious and eager
as amazing as miracles was a
morning in June…
…got up quickly, quietly and slipped out to
see this new world.
relaxed and happy
…I closed my eyes and breathed deeply
to draw in more of it.
a sense of
sacredness
The sunrise seemed a kind of holiness…
…for this sacred experience, enjoyed alone,
I would get up at dawn every day during that
summer.
Blank Filling
Sally’s first attempt to explore the wilderness roused in her the
fear of trees when she got lost in the island forest. Trees were like
g_____
resences , which seemed to be h _____
ostile and m enacing
______.
iants and p ________
______ by them and strangely uneasy
She felt helpless, entirely e nclosed
there in the e___
rie atmosphere of the dense grove.
Sally believed fear of trees was an emotion on primitive levels.
unjab
For example, E______
skimos , many other t ____
ribes and people in the P_____
all felt a ___
we to the trees or considered trees s _____
acred . A
conservationist Sir Fraser Darling even thought the fear of a w ilderness
_______
was the cause of its destruction by human beings.
Questions and Answers
1. What further explorations did Sally make with Dalton?
She learnt to paddle the canoe from Dalton, enjoyed the
forest on the mainland with the company of Dalton and shot a
porcupine with the help of Dalton.
2. What did Sally see in the mainland forest?
Trees, the ground, grasses and wildflowers, birds, meadow.
3. How did Sally feel about the wilderness this time? Scan
paragraphs 18~25 to find the adjectives which reveal her feeling.
She enjoyed it this time.
alive, wonderful, exciting, strange, pleasant, wild, unpredictable,
beautiful, enchanting, active
Sally Carrighar recalls a long camping holiday off into the wild
that she took when a teenager. We hear of her joys and fears as
she set about discovering the new world in which she found herself.
Sentence
Word
A WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE
Sally Carrighar
As amazing as miracles was a morning in June the year that I
was fifteen and woke up in a tent on an island in Canada. We had
arrived by lake steamer the previous night and, tired after the long
trip from Kansas City, had gone straight to bed. Now it was daylight. I
got up quickly, quietly and slipped out to see this new world.
The tent was a short way back from the shore with a path
leading down to a little dock. I walked to the end of it. Ripples were
gently rearranging the pebbles along the beach but the lake was
smooth. Its wide and beautiful surface, delicate silver-blue, streamed
with a mist that disappeared as I watched, for the light of the early
sun, splintering on the tops of the mainland evergreen trees, was
starting to fall on the mist and dissolve it. Curiously the lake’s level
surface seemed to be moving in alternate glassy streams, right and
left, an effect that sometimes occurs on quiet water, I don’t know why.
Sentence
Word
The bay in front of the dock was framed by
the shores of the mainland, which curved
together from both sides to meet in a point. At
that vertex another island, rocky and tall, rose
from the water. It looked uninhabited; and
although a few cabins were scattered along the
mainland, between and behind them was
unbroken forest. It was my first sight of a natural
wilderness. Behind our tent too, and several other tents here and a
house in their midst, was the forest. Over everything, as pervasive as
sunshine, was the fragrance of balsam firs. It was aromatic and
sweet and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to draw in more of it.
Voices from some of the tents meant that others were stirring. At
the house wood smoke rose from the chimney, another redolent
fragrance mingling soon with the smell of bacon frying. It is a
combination familiar to everyone who has known woodland mornings.
Sentence
Word
There would be talk at breakfast, the meeting with strangers — a loss.
The sunrise across the wild northern lake seemed a kind of holiness
that human chatter was bound to destroy a little. The water, so still
and lucent, beyond it the dark mystery of the forest, and the firs’
fragrance: for this sacred experience, enjoyed alone, I would get up
at dawn every day during that summer.
We would be here for three months with my father joining us for
July. Neither of my parents had been here before but friends, the
Wymans from Painesville, had written to say that they knew of this
island in the Muskoka Lakes and suggested our spending some
weeks there together. After three summers in Kansas City, where the
temperature day and night can stay above ninety, we were going to
get away somewhere, and since my father had not been back to his
native Canada for some time, the Wymans’ idea appealed to my
parents.
Sentence
Word
On the island were five or six visiting families. Some had children
of whom only one was a girl near my age. She would turn out to be
very lively, never happy unless she was engaged in some boisterous
game, I thought of her as an enemy. The family who owned this tiny
resort were named White. They had several grown sons and a
daughter. One of the sons, Dalton, nineteen, was just back from
Montreal where he had won the junior world championship in
canoeing. He was dark-haired and tall, with a puckish smile, to me
that year probably the most glamorous youth in the world. One could
never, of course, hope to be friends with him.
At the back of the house were a large vegetable garden, two or
three sheds and an old boat with grass growing up through its
timbers. Past them one reached a thicket. I pushed through it that
first afternoon, into the woods beyond.
Sentence
Word
The brush was thinner here but the trees grew densely. I
wandered on, memorizing some landmarks: this boulder, this berry
bush, this fallen log. I looked back. All had disappeared! It was a
different grove when one turned around.
The house was no longer in sight and my
heart beat faster. I was lost! But one couldn’t
get lost on an island, although this one was
large, three and a half miles long. It was only
necessary to find the shore, mostly rocky and
wild, and follow it back. But I still felt lost and
curiously afraid.
The trees, vaguely and strangely, were menacing. Not in any
park, cemetery or pasture had I ever been so entirely enclosed by
trees. These were massive, like giants. One surrounded by them felt
helpless. They spread above, forming together a cavelike dark. They
were presences. Which way had I come — where was the shore!
Sentence
Word
Fear of trees is an old reaction, still a familiar emotion on
primitive levels. Eskimos camping among trees, found along Northern
rivers, dare not settle down beneath one for the night until they have
stood off and thrown a knife into its trunk. Many other tribes have
been awed by trees. If a branch has been broken off, if its bark has
been damaged, or in the case of having to fell it, an apology would be
made to a tree. The blood of a slaughtered animal was brushed onto
it, or it was given a drink of water. In the Punjab, a former province of
India, human sacrifices were made to a certain tree every year. Trees
and groves in many parts of the world have been considered sacred.
In the Canadian woods I didn’t believe consciously that a tree
might be hostile. I was just strangely uneasy there in the eerie
atmosphere of the grove. One can name this dread and call it
claustrophobia, which probably is an ancient fear.
Sentence
Word
A prehistoric man might have felt trapped in dense woods, and
recently Sir Fraser Darling, the eloquent conservationist, has said
that many modern people are afraid of a wilderness, which is why
they are so willing to see it destroyed. Anyway I was slightly alarmed
by that island forest, and although I was rather eager to know what
was there I couldn’t force myself to continue farther.
My going and coming were noted, for I met Dalton on the way
back and he said, “You didn’t stay in the woods very long.”
“I was getting lost.” He smiled with amusement.
There were always three or four canoes
pulled up on the beach. One day I got one of
them out on the water and was floundering
around in it when Dalton came down to the
dock. He called, “Try to bring it back to the
beach and I’ll show you how to paddle.” I sat
in the bow facing him as with his strong, quick
stroke he shot us out onto the lake.
Sentence
Word
There he gave me the first lesson, demonstrating the right way to
hold the paddle, how to turn it so smoothly in pulling it back that a
canoe doesn’t vary its course by an inch. “Line up the prow with
some tree on the shore,” he said, “and don’t let it swing either side off
the trunk.” In shallow water again we changed places and awkwardly
I tried to put into practice what he had demonstrated. A skill, a start in
learning a new skill — inspiring prospect — from this young man who
himself was dedicated to perfecting a skill: was it possible that we
might have something in common?
The Whites had a piano. It was in the sitting room of the house
and I could no more stay away from it than I could have gone without
food. My frequent playing must have been a trial to some of the other
guests, especially a violinist who practiced several hours a day in his
tent (a situation I didn’t remind him of when I met him years later in
San Francisco where he was teaching the young Yehudi Menuhin).
But Dalton enjoyed my music. He used to come and stand at one end
of the piano with his elbow on top, listening and watching.
Sentence
Word
He gave me more paddling lessons and after a while I too could
hold a canoe’s prow on the trunk of a shoreline tree. In the
afternoons I went out with him in his racing canoe, as ballast he said,
while he kept up his training. His canoe was a little sliver of a thing
with graphite all over the outside to make it slip through the water
faster. In Montreal he had paddled a mile in four minutes and seven
seconds, a record which probably has been beaten many times, but
when he dipped in his paddle, his canoe leapt away like a dolphin.
He landed us on the mainland one day and said, “Let’s take a
little walk.” With a companion one could enjoy a forest. Besides, the
trees here were of varying heights, they didn’t form caves. It was an
intricate scene, everything was prolifically growing — and dying. The
ground was a litter of brown leaves and fir needles and sticks. It was
unkempt compared with a park but fascinating.
Sentence
Word
All around us was limber movement. The grasses and wildflowers
bent quivering in the flow of the breeze and the trees above were a
green ruffling commotion. Their leaves, as they tossed and swung,
seemed to be cutting the sky into bits, to be scattered as scraps of
sunlight along the ground.
Birds were lacing the air, in and out of the trees and bushes. One
on the ground was jumping forward and scratching back through
dead leaves and one, also searching for insects, was spiralling upon
a tree trunk, pressing its stiff, short tail on the bark as a prop. At that
time, in June, most of the birds would be feeding young. Dalton said,
and they had to work all day catching insects for them. Besides this
bright movement of wings, then, there must be thousands of tinier
creatures doing whatever insects do on a summer afternoon: a world
everywhere alive.
Dalton seemed to have realized that I knew almost nothing about
what was here and was showing me things: a porcupine’s tracks, a
bee tree, a fox’s burrow.
Sentence
Word
He knocked on a tree and a flying squirrel poked its little head out of
a hole. It was all wonderful, even exciting, but strange.
We came out on a small elevation. Below was a meadow brimful
of yellow-green sunlight. Perhaps this was the pleasantest way to
enjoy a forest: with trees and brush at your back but a wide escape if
anything should approach from behind. Unmentionable were wolves,
bears. (They may have been there in fact. That forest is now built up
but resorts not far away advertise that guests can hear wolves
baying.) Dalton had brought his rifle. Was he just thinking of shooting
something for fun, or was the gun for protection?
The thought of escape was still there. Compare a park: only a
few spaced-out trees were allowed to grow, their dead branches were
pruned away, the flowers were all in neat beds, the grass was kept
mowed, never allowed to become weeds or “grasses”. All controlled,
therefore safe.
Sentence
Word
Here the plants grew their own way and the animals went their
own way — one might appear anywhere, any time. No one knew
what might happen — did happen, for there were dead broken trees
among the live ones. Everything was wild — naturally. That was the
meaning of forests of course, that they were wild. Therefore
unpredictable.
Yet the wilderness was a beautiful, even enchanting place with its
graceful movement and active life. Even underfoot if one scratched
away the brown leaves as the bird had done, one might come upon
small, secret lives. But might there be things that would bite? I had
heard of tarantulas. With a feeling of cowardice, shrinking back, I
wanted to leave, to return to the wide placid lake. And then I did
something which made it seem that, on nature’s terms, I had no right
to be here at all.
Sentence
Word
Dalton said, “Look!” “There’s porcupine in
the crotch of that tree over there.” One of the
wild inhabitants of this forest, only medium
sized for an animal, sat on the branch, his back
a high curve, with his quills raised and bristling.
He might be lying like that to let the sunshine
come into his fur, warm down to his skin. He
looked sleepy. Dalton handed the rifle to me
and said, “Let’s see if you can hit it.”
He showed the way the gun should be held, braced against my
shoulder, how to sight the target along the barrel. “Now pull the trigger
back with your right hand — slowly, just squeeze it.” I pulled the
trigger and with astonishment saw the porcupine fall to the ground.
Sentence
Word
Dalton was full of praise. “Very good! I didn’t think you could do it.”
We went down along the side of the meadow. Beneath the tree lay
the porcupine, limp and still. Even his fur and quills were that lifeless
now. Looking smaller, this was the little creature who, a few moments
earlier, had been up on the bough wrapped in sunshine, enjoying life.
I burst into tears.
Dalton went over alone the next day and drew out the quills and
brought them to me to decorate the basket of scented sweet-grass
that I, like all the women, was making. I gave them away?
I never returned to the mainland forest alone, but by midsummer
I’d made my own a small peninsula on the island. Padding along its
shore one morning I had tied the canoe to a tree overhanging the
lake and sat in its shade doing embroidery. The point — it was the
southern tip of the island — was narrow, not more than fifty yards
wide.
Sentence
Word
Through its trees I could see across to the bay on the other side and
the center was open, with a thin cover of grass and wildflowers
among sun-warmed rocks. It looked perfectly safe and I went ashore
to investigate.
There was no trail leading away from here,
the point seemed private, peculiarly mine, and it
pleased me very much. I came back the next
day and then other days. Sometimes I walked
about but more often sat under one of the trees,
which were firs and quivering aspens, listening
to the songs of the birds and watching them and
a squirrel who was always there. I had a
wonderful feeling — I had had it too with the
chipmunk — that I was acceptable here, that I
was liked, for they made little overtures even
before I started feeding them bits of bread.
Perhaps it helped that I talked to them.
Sentence
Word
Gradually, a few moments one day, more moments the next,
being there in that small safe woodland began to seem almost the
same experience as making music, as the way, when I played the
piano, I was the music, my physical body feeling as if it dissolved in
the sounds. I could say my dimensions then were those of the
melodies and the harmony that spread out from the piano in all
directions. I had no consciousness of my individual self.
Tenuously, imperfectly that Canadian summer, the same thing
happened when I would walk around the peninsula, unafraid. It was
not a wide going out and out, as with music, but again by losing
myself — this time by becoming identified with whatever I was
especially aware of. It happened first with a flower. I held a blue
flower in my hand, probably a wild aster, wondering what its name
was, and then thought that human names for natural things are
superfluous. Nature herself does not name them.
Sentence
Word
The important thing is to know this flower, look at its color until the
blueness becomes as real as a keynote of music. Look at the
exquisite yellow flowerettes in the center, become very small with
them. Be the flower, be the trees, the blowing grasses. Fly with the
birds, jump with the squirrel!
Finally I spent every morning there. No one knew where I had
gone.
Sentence
Word
The bay in front of the dock was framed by
the shores of the mainland, which curved
together from both sides to meet in a point. At
that vertex another island, rocky and tall, rose
from the water. It looked uninhabited; and
although a few cabins were scattered along the
mainland, between and behind them was
unbroken forest. It was my first sight of a natural
wilderness. Behind our tent too, and several other tents here and a
house in their midst, was the forest. Over everything, as pervasive as
sunshine, was the fragrance of balsam firs. It was aromatic and
sweet and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to draw in more of it.
Voices from some of the tents meant that others were stirring. At
the house wood smoke rose from the chimney, another redolent
fragrance mingling soon with the smell of bacon frying. It is a
combination familiar to everyone who has known woodland mornings.
Sentence
Word
There would be talk at breakfast, the meeting with strangers — a loss.
The sunrise across the wild northern lake seemed a kind of holiness
that human chatter was bound to destroy a little. The water, so still
and lucent, beyond it the dark mystery of the forest, and the firs’
fragrance: for this sacred experience, enjoyed alone, I would get up
at dawn every day during that summer.
We would be here for three months with my father joining us for
July. Neither of my parents had been here before but friends, the
Wymans from Painesville, had written to say that they knew of this
island in the Muskoka Lakes and suggested our spending some
weeks there together. After three summers in Kansas City, where the
temperature day and night can stay above ninety, we were going to
get away somewhere, and since my father had not been back to his
native Canada for some time, the Wymans’ idea appealed to my
parents.
Sentence
Word
On the island were five or six visiting families. Some had children
of whom only one was a girl near my age. She would turn out to be
very lively, never happy unless she was engaged in some boisterous
game, I thought of her as an enemy. The family who owned this tiny
resort were named White. They had several grown sons and a
daughter. One of the sons, Dalton, nineteen, was just back from
Montreal where he had won the junior world championship in
canoeing. He was dark-haired and tall, with a puckish smile, to me
that year probably the most glamorous youth in the world. One could
never, of course, hope to be friends with him.
At the back of the house were a large vegetable garden, two or
three sheds and an old boat with grass growing up through its
timbers. Past them one reached a thicket. I pushed through it that
first afternoon, into the woods beyond.
Sentence
Word
The brush was thinner here but the trees grew densely. I
wandered on, memorizing some landmarks: this boulder, this berry
bush, this fallen log. I looked back. All had disappeared! It was a
different grove when one turned around.
The house was no longer in sight and my
heart beat faster. I was lost! But one couldn’t
get lost on an island, although this one was
large, three and a half miles long. It was only
necessary to find the shore, mostly rocky and
wild, and follow it back. But I still felt lost and
curiously afraid.
The trees, vaguely and strangely, were menacing. Not in any
park, cemetery or pasture had I ever been so entirely enclosed by
trees. These were massive, like giants. One surrounded by them felt
helpless. They spread above, forming together a cavelike dark. They
were presences. Which way had I come — where was the shore!
Sentence
Word
Fear of trees is an old reaction, still a familiar emotion on
primitive levels. Eskimos camping among trees, found along Northern
rivers, dare not settle down beneath one for the night until they have
stood off and thrown a knife into its trunk. Many other tribes have
been awed by trees. If a branch has been broken off, if its bark has
been damaged, or in the case of having to fell it, an apology would be
made to a tree. The blood of a slaughtered animal was brushed onto
it, or it was given a drink of water. In the Punjab, a former province of
India, human sacrifices were made to a certain tree every year. Trees
and groves in many parts of the world have been considered sacred.
In the Canadian woods I didn’t believe consciously that a tree
might be hostile. I was just strangely uneasy there in the eerie
atmosphere of the grove. One can name this dread and call it
claustrophobia, which probably is an ancient fear.
Sentence
Word
A prehistoric man might have felt trapped in dense woods, and
recently Sir Fraser Darling, the eloquent conservationist, has said
that many modern people are afraid of a wilderness, which is why
they are so willing to see it destroyed. Anyway I was slightly alarmed
by that island forest, and although I was rather eager to know what
was there I couldn’t force myself to continue farther.
My going and coming were noted, for I met Dalton on the way
back and he said, “You didn’t stay in the woods very long.”
“I was getting lost.” He smiled with amusement.
There were always three or four canoes
pulled up on the beach. One day I got one of
them out on the water and was floundering
around in it when Dalton came down to the
dock. He called, “Try to bring it back to the
beach and I’ll show you how to paddle.” I sat
in the bow facing him as with his strong, quick
stroke he shot us out onto the lake.
Sentence
Word
There he gave me the first lesson, demonstrating the right way to
hold the paddle, how to turn it so smoothly in pulling it back that a
canoe doesn’t vary its course by an inch. “Line up the prow with
some tree on the shore,” he said, “and don’t let it swing either side off
the trunk.” In shallow water again we changed places and awkwardly
I tried to put into practice what he had demonstrated. A skill, a start in
learning a new skill — inspiring prospect — from this young man who
himself was dedicated to perfecting a skill: was it possible that we
might have something in common?
The Whites had a piano. It was in the sitting room of the house
and I could no more stay away from it than I could have gone without
food. My frequent playing must have been a trial to some of the other
guests, especially a violinist who practiced several hours a day in his
tent (a situation I didn’t remind him of when I met him years later in
San Francisco where he was teaching the young Yehudi Menuhin).
But Dalton enjoyed my music. He used to come and stand at one end
of the piano with his elbow on top, listening and watching.
Sentence
Word
He gave me more paddling lessons and after a while I too could
hold a canoe’s prow on the trunk of a shoreline tree. In the
afternoons I went out with him in his racing canoe, as ballast he said,
while he kept up his training. His canoe was a little sliver of a thing
with graphite all over the outside to make it slip through the water
faster. In Montreal he had paddled a mile in four minutes and seven
seconds, a record which probably has been beaten many times, but
when he dipped in his paddle, his canoe leapt away like a dolphin.
He landed us on the mainland one day and said, “Let’s take a
little walk.” With a companion one could enjoy a forest. Besides, the
trees here were of varying heights, they didn’t form caves. It was an
intricate scene, everything was prolifically growing — and dying. The
ground was a litter of brown leaves and fir needles and sticks. It was
unkempt compared with a park but fascinating.
Sentence
Word
All around us was limber movement. The grasses and wildflowers
bent quivering in the flow of the breeze and the trees above were a
green ruffling commotion. Their leaves, as they tossed and swung,
seemed to be cutting the sky into bits, to be scattered as scraps of
sunlight along the ground.
Birds were lacing the air, in and out of the trees and bushes. One
on the ground was jumping forward and scratching back through
dead leaves and one, also searching for insects, was spiralling upon
a tree trunk, pressing its stiff, short tail on the bark as a prop. At that
time, in June, most of the birds would be feeding young. Dalton said,
and they had to work all day catching insects for them. Besides this
bright movement of wings, then, there must be thousands of tinier
creatures doing whatever insects do on a summer afternoon: a world
everywhere alive.
Dalton seemed to have realized that I knew almost nothing about
what was here and was showing me things: a porcupine’s tracks, a
bee tree, a fox’s burrow.
Sentence
Word
He knocked on a tree and a flying squirrel poked its little head out of
a hole. It was all wonderful, even exciting, but strange.
We came out on a small elevation. Below was a meadow brimful
of yellow-green sunlight. Perhaps this was the pleasantest way to
enjoy a forest: with trees and brush at your back but a wide escape if
anything should approach from behind. Unmentionable were wolves,
bears. (They may have been there in fact. That forest is now built up
but resorts not far away advertise that guests can hear wolves
baying.) Dalton had brought his rifle. Was he just thinking of shooting
something for fun, or was the gun for protection?
The thought of escape was still there. Compare a park: only a
few spaced-out trees were allowed to grow, their dead branches were
pruned away, the flowers were all in neat beds, the grass was kept
mowed, never allowed to become weeds or “grasses”. All controlled,
therefore safe.
Sentence
Word
Here the plants grew their own way and the animals went their
own way — one might appear anywhere, any time. No one knew
what might happen — did happen, for there were dead broken trees
among the live ones. Everything was wild — naturally. That was the
meaning of forests of course, that they were wild. Therefore
unpredictable.
Yet the wilderness was a beautiful, even enchanting place with its
graceful movement and active life. Even underfoot if one scratched
away the brown leaves as the bird had done, one might come upon
small, secret lives. But might there be things that would bite? I had
heard of tarantulas. With a feeling of cowardice, shrinking back, I
wanted to leave, to return to the wide placid lake. And then I did
something which made it seem that, on nature’s terms, I had no right
to be here at all.
Sentence
Word
Dalton said, “Look!” “There’s porcupine in
the crotch of that tree over there.” One of the
wild inhabitants of this forest, only medium
sized for an animal, sat on the branch, his back
a high curve, with his quills raised and bristling.
He might be lying like that to let the sunshine
come into his fur, warm down to his skin. He
looked sleepy. Dalton handed the rifle to me
and said, “Let’s see if you can hit it.”
He showed the way the gun should be held, braced against my
shoulder, how to sight the target along the barrel. “Now pull the trigger
back with your right hand — slowly, just squeeze it.” I pulled the
trigger and with astonishment saw the porcupine fall to the ground.
Sentence
Word
Through its trees I could see across to the bay on the other side and
the center was open, with a thin cover of grass and wildflowers
among sun-warmed rocks. It looked perfectly safe and I went ashore
to investigate.
There was no trail leading away from here,
the point seemed private, peculiarly mine, and it
pleased me very much. I came back the next
day and then other days. Sometimes I walked
about but more often sat under one of the trees,
which were firs and quivering aspens, listening
to the songs of the birds and watching them and
a squirrel who was always there. I had a
wonderful feeling — I had had it too with the
chipmunk — that I was acceptable here, that I
was liked, for they made little overtures even
before I started feeding them bits of bread.
Perhaps it helped that I talked to them.
Sentence
Word
Gradually, a few moments one day, more moments the next,
being there in that small safe woodland began to seem almost the
same experience as making music, as the way, when I played the
piano, I was the music, my physical body feeling as if it dissolved in
the sounds. I could say my dimensions then were those of the
melodies and the harmony that spread out from the piano in all
directions. I had no consciousness of my individual self.
Tenuously, imperfectly that Canadian summer, the same thing
happened when I would walk around the peninsula, unafraid. It was
not a wide going out and out, as with music, but again by losing
myself — this time by becoming identified with whatever I was
especially aware of. It happened first with a flower. I held a blue
flower in my hand, probably a wild aster, wondering what its name
was, and then thought that human names for natural things are
superfluous. Nature herself does not name them.
Sentence
Word
The important thing is to know this flower, look at its color until the
blueness becomes as real as a keynote of music. Look at the
exquisite yellow flowerettes in the center, become very small with
them. Be the flower, be the trees, the blowing grasses. Fly with the
birds, jump with the squirrel!
Finally I spent every morning there. No one knew where I had
gone.
Sentence
Word
1. What does “stream with” mean?
It means to produce a continuous
flow of liquid.
2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.
开阔迷人的湖面，呈一片淡淡的银蓝色，迷蒙的薄雾，我看着看着便消失
了，原来是对岸大陆常青树林枝头闪耀着的朝阳，正照着晨雾使它消散。
1. The sentence pattern “Curiously…” means “It is very curious
that…”. Similar patterns are “Oddly / strangely (enough) …”.
Examples:
Curiously (enough), he seemed to have known that already.
真奇怪，那件事他好像知道了。
Strangely (enough), I said the same thing to my wife only
yesterday.
说也奇怪，我就在昨天也同妻子谈到这件事。
2. What does “level” mean here?
It means “flat, smooth”. It is an adjective here.
By saying “enjoyed alone”, does Sally mean that a companion would
spoil her enjoyment of the natural beauty?
No. When she was alone, there was only nature and the
wilderness, without the presence of human beings. She
was also excluded either because she played the role of a
bystander who stood outside of the scene, just like a
spectator in front of the picture of a landscape or because
she had dissolved herself in the surroundings and “had no
consciousness of her individual self”.
What does the author mean?
To Sally at that time, Dalton was probably the most glamorous
youth in the world. Of course, Sally hoped to make friend with
him. But she was in awe of him, because he was so brilliant that
it seemed impossible to be accepted by him as a friend.
1. Paraphrase the first part of the sentence.
Anyway I was a little frightened by the forest on the island.
2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.
不管怎么说，那岛上的林子让我感到几分紧张，尽管我很想知道林子里有
些什么，却不能勉强自己继续往前走了。
1. What does “inspiring prospect” refer to here?
It refers to the inspiring prospect of mastering a new skill and
a favorable opportunity to get to know Dalton and make
friend with him.
2. What can we infer from the question “Was it possible that
we might have something in common?” What is the answer to
the question?
Sally hoped Dalton and she would have something in
common and they would become friends. The question is
answered later implicitly in their encounter with the porcupine.
Their totally different attitudes to the killing of the animal
revealed that they were different kinds of person and could
not have much in common.
Paraphrase this part of the sentence.
My frequent playing of the piano must have been unbearable to
some of the other guests, ...
What does “a wide escape” mean here?
It means an easy or a successful escape (which is made
possible because of plentiful time, enough space, etc.). The
opposite of it is “a narrow escape” (死里逃生).
1. What does “build up” mean here?
It means some buildings were built in the forest.
2. Translate this part of the sentence.
现在森林里盖了些房子……
Why does the author say she had no right to be there at all?
Open-ended.
Reference: The author then shot a little porcupine which,
totally unaware of the approach of the danger, was sitting on
the branch of a tree and enjoying the sunshine and its life. The
author felt regretful and guilty of her killing. She thought her
behavior had disturbed the peace there, for it was “a world
everywhere alive”, a world where “the plants grew their own
way”, “the animals went their own way” and “everything was
wild — naturally”. So on nature’s terms, she seemed to have
no right to be there.
1. What can we infer from these sentences?
Dalton and Sally responded differently to the killing of the
porcupine. Dalton took it simply as a successful hunting while
Sally probably thought that was a slaughter and felt resistant to
see the trophy — “the quills”. The two persons differed greatly
in how they related themselves to nature.
2. Since Sally didn’t seem to like the hunting, why do you think she
pulled the trigger and shot the porcupine?
Open-ended.
1. What does “the same thing” refer to?
It refers to the same feeling with that when I was making music
or playing the piano: my physical body felt as if it dissolved in the
sounds and I lost the consciousness of my individual self.
2. Translate the sentence.
那个并不完美的加拿大之夏，当我心无所畏地绕着半岛散步时，很微妙，同
样的事发生了。这次倒并不是感觉象随着音乐四散开去一样，不过仍然是自
我的消失与不复存在 —— 这一次我与那些我所能特别意识到的事物溶为一
体了。
pervasive: adj.
existing everywhere
The local attorney has called corruption in the police department
“pervasive, rampant and systemic”.
No one can ignore the pervasive influence of the army in national
life.
fragrance: n.
pleasant smell
The rose has a delicate fragrance.
The blind can enjoy the fragrance of flowers even if they
cannot see them.
NB: 中心意思都是“令人愉悦的或甜甜的味道”的名词有: fragrance,
aroma (浓郁的香味，如植物，香料或食物的香味), bouquet (酒香),
perfume, scent等。 例如：
the fragrance / perfume of lilacs
紫丁香的芳香
the aroma of sizzling bacon
嘶嘶作响的熏猪肉的香味
the bouquet of a fine Burgundy wine 优质勃艮第葡萄酒的香味
the scent of newly mown hay
刚割下的干草的香气
chatter:
1. n. informal talk, especially about things that are not serious
or important
Once the teacher left, the chatter in the classroom gradually rose
to a din.
我已经听够了你没完没了的唠叨。
I’ve had enough of your constant chatter.
2. vi. talk quickly in a friendly way without stopping, especially about
things that are not serious or important
I couldn’t hear the film with her chattering away all the time.
It really irritates me the way he chatters on about nothing all
the time.
boisterous: adj.
someone, especially a child, who is boisterous makes a lot of
noise and has a lot of energy
Their house always seemed to be full of boisterous children.
A large, boisterous crowd poured into the bar, singing and
shouting noisily.
glamorous: adj.
attractive, exciting, and related to wealth and success
Princess Diana was considered as one of the world’s most
glamorous women.
The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and
attractive hotels.
menace:
1. vt. (formal) threaten
A gang of youths were menacing the passengers on the bus.
Hurricanes periodically menace the Gulf Coast.
2. n. sth. or sb. that is dangerous; a threatening quality, feeling, or
way of behaving; a person, especially a child that is annoying or
causes trouble
I was unnerved by the menace in her voice.
他被控以威吓勒索钱财。
He was accused of demanding money with menaces.
The man’s worse than irritating; he’s a positive menace.
那家伙不仅仅是令人不快，他是一个十足的讨厌鬼。
CF: menace & threaten
这两个动词都含有“威胁、恐吓”的意思。
threaten 指如不服从将会有严重后果，以此来威胁、迫使别人做某事或
不许别人做某事。例如：
The gangster threatened to burn down the store unless the
owner paid extortion money.
那歹徒威胁说如果店主不交出他勒索的钱就要放火烧毁这家商店。
menace 多指用目光、行动或武器等对别人进行恐吓。例如：
The robber menaced him with a revolver.
强盗用手枪恐吓他。
awe:
1. n. a feeling of great respect and liking for sb. or sth.; admire sb.
and have great respect for them and sometimes a slight fear
of them (often used in the pattern: stand / be in awe of sb.)
His fellow officers regarded him with awe as some sort of genius.
As little children, we stand in awe of adults who are, of
course, much taller than us.
她对他的渊博学识极为崇敬。
She is / stands in awe of his profound learning.
2. vt. (often passive) (formal) if you are awed by sb. or sth., you
feel great respect and liking for them, and are often slightly
afraid of them
We were awed by his brilliance as a pianist.
Collocations:
be / stand in awe of…
inspire awe in…
hold / keep sb. in awe
with awe
敬畏……
在……中引起敬畏
使（某人）感到敬畏
敬畏地
hostile: adj.
angry and deliberately unfriendly towards someone and ready to
argue with them
Her friendly greeting was met by an unsmiling, hostile stare from
the children gathered round the car.
The minister is well known for his hostile attitude towards
the trade unions.
自从我比派克分数高以后，他就对我有敌意了。
Ever since I got better marks than Parker, he has been hostile
to me.
CF: hostile, unfriendly & inimical
这三个形容词均含有“不友好的、不友善的”的意思。
hostile 指怀有敌意的，故意对某人生气或不友好，并且随时准备和某
人吵架争论。例如：
Their hostile looks showed that she was unwelcome.
他们怀有敌意的表情表明她不受欢迎。
unfriendly 指不友好的、不利的。例如：
An unfriendly attitude of the shop-assistant often annoys
customers.
售货员冷淡的态度常常让顾客生气。
A cold, damp climate is unfriendly to people who suffer
form arthritis.
寒冷、潮湿的气候对关节炎患者不利。
inimical 让某事变难，从而阻止某事的存在或发生。例如：
Jealousy is inimical to friendship.
妒忌有损友谊。
eerie: adj.
strange and frightening
In bed at night she heard the eerie noise of the wind howling
through the trees.
他有一种奇怪的感觉，好像曾经见过这个陌生人。
He had the eerie feeling that he had met this stranger before.
CF: eerie & weird
这两个形容词均含有“奇异的、怪异的”的意思。
weird 可指超自然的影响因素的作用，但也可指那些仅仅是奇异的或不
寻常的东西。例如：
weird clothes
weird ideas
奇装异服
怪诞的念头
There is a weird power in a spoken word.
在所说的字词中有一种奇异的力量。
eerie 由于一种害怕而产生的无法解释的恐惧或不安。例如：
At nightfall on the marshes, the thing was eerie and fantastic
to behold.
在夜幕降临时，沼泽里的东西看起来阴森可怕而且古怪。
dense: adj.
made of or containing a lot of things or people that are very close
together
A dense crowd waited for the arrival of the President.
There will be dense fog in northern parts of the country
tomorrow.
flounder: vi.
not know what to say or do because you feel confused or upset;
have a lot of problems and be likely to fail completely; be unable
to move easily because you are in deep water or mud, or cannot
see very well
She lost the next page of her speech and floundered for a few
seconds.
Yet even as his business was flourishing, his marriage to Lynne
was floundering.
男孩在水中拼命挣扎，直到有人跳入水中把他救起。
The boy floundered in the water till someone jumped in to save
him.
swing: vi.
turn around quickly, or to make sth. do this
The Scottish soldiers marched along to the sound of the pipes,
arms and kilts swinging.
She swung round to face him.
CF: swing, sway & waver
这三个动词都含有“摇摆”的意思。
swing 通常指一端固定另一端悬空的物体作弧形的运动。
He was swinging his bag back and forth .
他把包前后摇晃。
sway 意指从一端到另外一端缓慢地移动。例如：
The trees swayed gently in the breeze.
这些树木在微风中轻轻摇晃。
waver 表示朝几个方向缓慢地移动。例如：
The candle flame wavered, throwing shadows on the wall.
烛火在摇曳，在墙上投下很多阴影。
Directions: Fill in the blanks with the four words above. Change the
form where necessary.
swung into the path of a lorry.
1. The car ______
wavered to the floor.
2. The feather ________
swayed the baby’s cradle with her foot until he went to
3. She _______
sleep.
be dedicated to:
be devoted to
He is very dedicated to his work.
She has been a ballet dancer since eight, and is completely
dedicated to the art.
no more … than:
used to emphasize that sb. or sth. does not have a particular
quality or would not do sth.
It would be unfair to suggest that he will be no more
effective than his predecessors.
他同我一样都不会讲西班牙语。
He’s no more capable of speaking Spanish than I am.
stay away from:
keep a distance from; not interfere with
Government employers and officers also stayed away from
work during the strike.
如果他知道什么是对他好的，他就不会和那伙人混在一起。
If he knew what was good for him, he would stay away
from those guys.
go without:
endure the lack of sth.; manage without sth. (used esp. after can,
could and have to)
一个人不吃食物能活多久？
How long can a human being go without food?
dip: vt.
move down; put your hand into a bag or box in order to take out one of
the things inside; read short parts of a book, magazine, etc., but not the
whole thing; put sth. into a liquid and lift it out again
太阳落山了。
The sun dipped below the horizon.
He kept dipping into the bag of sweets.
有的书必须精读，有的只要随便翻翻即可。
Some books are intended to be read at length, others to be
dipped into.
She dipped her toe into the swimming pool to see how cold the
water was.
unkempt: adj.
unkempt hair or plants have not been cut and kept neat
He always looks unkempt, as if he’s only just got out of bed.
Theirs is the only garden in the neighborhood with an unkempt lawn.
CF: sloppy, slovenly & unkempt
这三个形容词都含有“不整洁”的意思。
sloppy 一般指衣服松垮的，不整洁的，脏的。例如：
sloppy dress
休闲服装
slovenly 指懒惰的，不整洁的，粗心大意的。例如：
不修边幅的外表
a slovenly appearance
粗心的作家
a slovenly writer
unkempt 指头发或植物没有修剪或者没有保持整洁。例如：
During the owners’ absence the lawn became dreadfully unkempt.
主人们不在的时候，草地变得凌乱不堪。
ruffle: vt.
make a smooth surface uneven; offend or upset sb. slightly
A gust of breeze moved down the hillside, ruffling the grass.
Nothing could ruffle the perfect composure with which she
casually greets members of the staff.
commotion: n.
sudden noisy activity
They heard a commotion downstairs.
老师生气地问：“这房间怎么乱哄哄的？”
“Why is there so much commotion coming from this room?”
asked the angry teacher.
toss: vt.
throw sth., especially sth. light, with a quick gentle movement of
your hand
He screwed the paper into a ball and tossed it into the fire.
Gasping, she tossed her hair out of her face.
我们掷硬币来决定谁出去买小圆面包。
We tossed a coin to decide who would go out and buy buns.
CF: throw, cast, fling & toss
这些动词都含有“扔、投掷”的意思。
throw 最概括地表示“扔”
Someone threw a stone at the car.
有人对着车子扔了块石头。
cast
含有文学色彩，指把某物扔到某处
Sparks leapt as he cast more wood on the fire.
他把更多的木头扔进火里的时候，火苗就窜起来了。
fling 用很大的力气把某物扔到某处
He flung the box into the river.
他用力把盒子扔进河里。
toss 常指快速地扔很轻的东西
She crumpled the letter and tossed it into the fire.
她把信捏成一团，扔进了火里。
Directions: Fill in the blanks with the four words above. Change the
form where necessary.
flung its opponents into the prison.
1. The military government _____
2. There’s only one cake and two of us, so let’s _____
toss for it.
3. The fisherman _____
cast their nets into the sea.
flung her shoe at the cat.
4. She ______
5. The evening sun ______
casts long shadows.
spiral:
1. vi. move in a continuous curve that gets nearer to or further from
its central point as it goes round; if debt or the cost of sth.
spirals, it increases quickly in a way that cannot be controllable
Prices are spiraling up.
With one wing damaged, the model airplane spiraled
downwards.
2. n. a line in the form of a curve that winds around a central point;
moving further away from the centre all the time
A snail has a spiral shell.
The bird rose in the air in a slow, ascending spiral.
prop:
1. n. an object placed under or against sth. to hold it in a
particular position; sth. or sb. that helps you to feel strong
I need some sort of a prop to keep the washing line up.
The army is one of the main props of the unpopular government.
她生病期间，她女儿是她的依靠。
Her daughter was a prop to her during her illness.
2. vt. support sth. by leaning it against sth., or by putting sth. else
under, next to, or behind it; prevent sth. from falling by putting
sth. against it or under it
Prop the gate open with a brick.
邮递员把自行车靠在墙上后把邮件放到信箱里。
The mailman propped his bicycle up against the wall and then
put the mail into the mailbox.
prune: vt.
cut off some of the branches of a tree or bush to make it grow better;
(esp. British English) make sth. smaller by removing parts that you do
not need or want
下午她修剪玫瑰。
She spent the afternoon pruning roses.
Many museums have pruned their
collections, believing this will improve them.
go one’s own way:
do what you want, make your own decisions, etc.
He always goes his own way, without considering other people.
在学校时我不太合群，总是独来独往。
In school I was a loner. I always went my own way.
enchanting: adj.
very pleasant or attractive
She’s an absolutely enchanting child.
On a summer evening it is enchanting to hear the sound of the
shepherd’s flute floating across the valley.
on one’s terms:
according to the conditions that sb. wants
He prefers to live on his own terms.
Tell them they must surrender on our terms – there will be no
negotiation.
最后，他们根据总统的意见同意了那个议案。
They finally agreed to the Bill on the President’s terms.
Collocations:
on one’s (own) terms
bring sb. to terms
come to terms
make terms (with)
keep terms with sb.
on good / bad terms with sb.
in terms of
in the long / short terms
按照自己的主张；根据自己的条件
迫使某人接受条件，迫使某人屈服
达成协议；让步，妥协
与……讲条件，与……达成协议
与某人保持友好关系；与某人交往
同某人关系好/不好
用……的话；从……方面来说
从长远（就眼前）来说
Directions: Put into each gap one of the above phrases in their proper
forms.
1. Hitler thought that by the ceaseless bombings over England, he
would ______
bring England ________
to terms .
2. Do it ____
on your _________
own terms !
3. They ____________
came to terms after long bargaining.
4. _______________
In the short terms we expect to lose money on the book, but
in the long terms we hope to make large profits.
_______________
5. I began to ______________
keep terms with him when I was sixteen years of age.
6. __________
In terms of natural resources, it is one of the poorest countries
in Western Europe.
7. They have been ________________
on bad terms with the neighbors since they
moved here.
bristle:
1. vi. behave in a way that shows you are very angry or annoyed; if
an animal’s hair bristles, it stands up stiffly because the animal
is afraid or angry
The cat’s fur bristled and it arched its back.
他怒发冲冠。
His hair bristled with anger.
She bristled at the opinions that she had in
any way neglected the child.
2. n. short stiff hair that feels rough; a short stiff hair, wire, etc. that
forms part of a brush
The only paintbrushes we could find were old and had lost
most of their bristles.
The best quality men’s shaving brushes are made from badger
bristle.
brace:
1. n. sth. that is used to strengthen or support sth., or to make it stiff
I had to wear a brace for my crooked teeth when I was a
teenager.
He was recently fitted with a brace for his bad back.
2. vt. mentally or physically prepare yourself or sb. else for sth.
unpleasant that is going to happen
The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion.
做好准备，面对坏消息吧！
Brace yourself for a shock!
make overtures:
make an attempt to begin a friendly relationship with a person,
country, etc.
He had lately begun to make clumsy yet enduring overtures of
friendship to her.
两国同时主动提出建立正式外交关系。
The two countries simultaneously made overtures to each other
for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations.
superfluous: adj.
(formal) more than is needed or wanted
Giving her so many presents was really superfluous.
Please get rid of those superfluous exclamation marks in your
writing.
keynote: n.
the main point in a book, system of beliefs, activity, etc. that
influences everything else
This issue has become the keynote of the election campaign.
他的演说主旨是世界和平。
World peace was the keynote of his speech.
exquisite: adj.
extremely beautiful and very delicately made;
There’s a little courtyard with fountains and orange trees —
it’s really exquisite.
CF: delicate & exquisite
这两个形容词都含有“精美”的意思。
exquisite 指某件物品工艺或设计很完美，非常漂亮或者指人的行为或者
做事的方法非常敏感，非常有品味。例如：
an exquisite piece of jewelry
一件精致的首饰
exquisite manner
高雅的举止
delicate 指某物容易受损或者某物制作得很仔细，连细节都注意到了。例如：
The body is a delicate machine.
人体是一部精致的机器。
Be careful with those plates. They are very delicate.
这些碟子很容易坏，用时要小心。
That delicate instrument can record even very slight changes.
那台精密的仪器能测出很细微的变化。
After Reading
1. Useful Expressions
2. Comparison Used in the Text
3. Listening Comprehension
4. Discussion
5. Talk about the Pictures
6. Proverbs and Quotations
Useful Expressions
1. 溜出去
slip out
2. 流淌着
stream with
3. 平静的湖面
the lake’s level surface
4. 自然界的荒野
a natural wilderness
5. 与……混杂在一起
mingle with
6. 带着顽皮的笑容
with a puckish smile
7. 一种原始情感
an emotion in primitive levels
8. 避开，远离
stand off
9. 向……献祭
make sacrifices to
10. 打破纪录
beat a record
11. 在微风中颤动
quiver in the flowing of the breeze
12. 翻涌的绿波
a green ruffling commotion
13. 在树叉上
in the crotch of a tree
14. 沐浴着阳光
be wrapped in sunshine
15. 与……相认同；与……打成一片
be identified with…
16. 音乐的主音
a keynote of music
Comparison Used in the Text
1. Comparison is used here and there in Text A. Find out the
examples in the text.
a park
 comparison between ________
a forest and _______
the differences:
In a forest the plants grew their own way and the animals went
their own way. Everything was naturally wild, therefore
unpredictable. While in a park all the things are carefully
controlled, therefore safe.
the forest on the island when Sally explored
 comparison between ___________________________________
______________
wilderness alone and ________________________________
the forest on the main land when Sally
was accompanied by Dalton
________________________
the differences:
The trees on the island formed a cavelike dark. They were
hostile and menacing. Sally felt fearful and was slightly alert.
By contrast, the trees on the main land didn’t seem to form
caves. She enjoyed the forest with the company of Dalton.
Sally
 comparison between _______
Dalton and ______
the differences:
Dalton felt at home in the forest while Sally hardly knew anything
about it. Dalton was full of praise when Sally killed the porcupine,
whereas Sally burst into tears for shooting the animal.
 comparison between ____________________
the porcupine when alive and ____________
the porcupine
after being shot dead
__________________
the differences:
It was lively and enjoying the life in the crotch of the tree while
limp, still and lifeless after being shot down.
2． What is the author’s purpose in making the above comparison?
The author’s purpose in using comparisons is to make her narration
more vivid and more impressive, thus to highlight the theme of the
essay. Comparison between the forest on the island and the trees in
a city park brings out the contrast between them, underlining the
“wilderness” in the former. Similarly, comparison between Dalton and
Sally and their different reactions towards the killed porcupine serve
to reveal the differing degrees of exposure and closeness to the
“wilderness” between them and their fundamentally different attitudes
towards nature, especially animals.
Listening Comprehension
Directions: Listen to the passage and answer the following questions.
1. Why do you have to exercise extreme caution when planning to
take your non-hiking spouse on a hike?
There is a high risk associated with the first trip, not only of
injury, but also of your being denied another chance to hike with
her.
2. Why was the man in the story so proud of his wife? When did the
real trial begin?
Because the climb from the valley floor to the lookout point
above the falls was very difficult and this was her first hike. But
the real trial began with the descent, for it was extremely cruel on
the feet and knees.
3. Why has the speaker himself stopped asking his wife to accompany
him since their first hike together?
Because her knees swelled on the drive home.
4. What are some of the rules the speaker mentions for taking your
spouse on his or her first hike?
1. Extreme caution is the governing principle.
2. Ask around to find the best trail for her situation and fitness.
3. Plan an unselfish trip with her interests in mind.
4. Be willing to cut the trip short if things are not working out.
This unit is about the pleasure from appreciating the wilds of
nature. Yet getting back to nature is sometimes difficult.
Are you planning, for example, on taking your non-hiking spouse
on a hike? If your answer is “yes”, you must proceed with extreme
caution!
Before leaving for the trip, you must first honestly assess your
spouse’s fitness level and outdoor interests, and then plan your hike
accordingly. The reason is that there is a high risk associated with
the first trip, not only of injury but the future of all hiking and outdoor
trips with your spouse. If you mess up the first hike you may never
get a second chance.
Once at the lookout point above Upper Yosemite Falls in
Yosemite, I met a man and his wife. He was introducing her to those
who would listen and told us that it was her first hike and he was so
proud of her. He had a good reason to be proud because the climb
from the valley floor to this point above the falls was very difficult.
But the real discomfort was just beginning because the descent was
extremely cruel on your feet and knees. When I saw her walking bent
over, I said to myself, “You dummy! This will no doubt be her first and
last hike.” Can you imagine how she was walking and felt when she
reached the bottom?
I once took my spouse on a great hike, or so I thought, but the
suffering associated with the climb was not to her liking. When her
knee swelled on the drive home, that was it — the end. Years have
now passed and I have stopped asking her to accompany me.
Here are some rules for taking your spouse on her first hike:
1. Extreme caution is the governing principle.
2. Ask around to find the best trail for her situation and fitness.
3. Plan an unselfish trip with her interests in mind.
4. Be willing to cut the trip short if things are not working out.
Good luck because you will need all your luck for this.
Discussion
Discuss with your partner on the following topics:
1. In her essay, Sally Carrighar moves from being a stranger to
becoming a part of the wilderness. Try to trace the steps in this
progress.
2. What point does she make about the relationship of humans with
the wilderness?
3. Relate one of your own experiences with nature. Explore your own
feelings towards it.
Talk about the Pictures
Proverbs and Quotations
1. The landscape belongs to the man who looks at it.
风景属于看风景的人。
2. All men are poets at heart.
所有的人在内心深处都是诗人。
3. You will never enjoy the world aright, till the sea itself flows
in your vein, till you are clothed with the heavens, and crowned
with the stars.
— Traherne, British poet
直到以苍穹作衣，以星辰作冠，血脉里流淌着海水，人们才能真正享受世界的
美。
—— 英国诗人 特拉赫恩
4. Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
事物的美存在于仔细观察者的头脑中。
5. Go where he will, the wise man is at home. His hearth the earth,
his hall the azure dome.
— Emerson, American thinker
明智者四海为家 —— 地球是他的壁炉，蓝天是他的客厅。
—— 美国思想家 爱默生