綜合英語BookIVUnit7ASunriseontheVeld.ppt

1、Unit 7,A Sunrise on the Veld,Pre-reading:,What does the title suggest to you? What type of writing do you expect it to be?,Doris Lessing born on 22 October 1919 to British parents in Kermanshah. Her father, formerly a captain in the British army during the First World War, was a bank official. Her m

2、other, had been a nurse. In 1925 the family moved to a farm in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).,Writing career,The Grass is Singing （1950） Five （1953） The Golden Notebook （1962） African Stories （1964） The Summer Before the Dark（1973） The Story of a Non-Marrying Man and Other Stories （

3、1977）,1.Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) 2.In the novel series Canopus in Argos: Archives (vol. 15, 19791984). 3. The Good Terrorist (1985) realistic narrative. 4.The autobiographical Under My Skin (1994). Walking in the Shade (1997) . 5.The Sweetest Dream (2001) 6.Doris Lessing revisited her

4、 interest in Sufism in the Time Bites (2004) collection of essays.,Other works,The Grass is Singing (1950) with which Doris Lessing made her debut as a novelist （examines the relationship between a white farmers wife and her black servant. ） Both a tragedy based in love-hatred and a study of unbridg

5、eable racial conflicts.,The Golden Notebook (1962) Doris Lessings real breakthrough. It used a more complex narrative technique to reveal how political and emotion conflicts are intertwined. The style levels of differing documents and experiences mix: newspaper cuttings, news items, films, dreams an

6、d diaries.,The Cleft,won the 2007 Nobel Prise in Literature,The main idea,A young boy watches a buck being eaten by a swarm of back ants, is overcome by a feeling of range, misery and protest, and reaches a new understanding.,Text analysis,Veld:,Wild. High, flat, mostly treeless grassland in South A

7、frica.,Bush:,Wild uncultivated land, especially in Africa or Australia.,Buck:,Male deer,Look up the dictionary for the following words,DescriptionWorker 1/16 (1.5-2 mm). Slender, smooth, with sparse body hair. Shiny black to dark brown. 1-segmented waist (pedicel) between thorax and abdomen. Antenna

8、e 12-segmented, 1st long, last 3 form club. FoodSweet substances, meat fragments, cooked vegetables, other human food. Life CycleNests are constructed below ground, raising small craters around opening at the surface, or in rotting wood. Queen feeds 1st brood, then workers take over, tending young a

9、nd feeding queen.,Black ant,Detail questions,1. What did the boy hear and find?,2. What was the fighting shape?,3. What came into his mind?,4. What made him put down his gun?,5. How did the buck look like after it was eaten by the ants?,6. What did the boy said to the ants?,7. What had the sockets i

10、n the skull been?,8. What had the boy learned about the nature?,1. The ground was black with ants, great energetic ants that took no notice of him, but hurried and scurried towards the fighting shape, like glistening black water flowing through the grass.,The ground looked black because it was cover

11、ed with numerous black ants. These vigorous, strong and powerful ants, without paying any attention to the boy, were moving quickly towards the wounded buck which was struggled helplessly. The ants looked like brightly shining black water running through the grass.,Paraphrase 1,2. And, as he drew in

12、 his breath and pity and terror seized him, the beast fell and the screaming stopped.,Just as he took a breath, feeling pity for the buck and somehow afraid, the buck was no longer on its feet and became silent.,3. He peered over at the writhing blackness that jerked convulsively with the jerking ne

13、rves.,He looked closely at the twisting body of the buck covered with black ants, its only movement now was short, quick twitches.,Paraphrase 2,4. It was a swelling feeling of rage and misery and protest that expressed itself in the thought.,The thought well expressed his growing feeling of anger an

14、d unhappiness, and objection to what was happening.,5. At his feet, now, were ants trickling back with pink fragments in their mouths, and there was a fresh acid smell in his nose.,Near him the ants were gradually going home in small groups with bits of pink meat in their mouths and there was in the

15、 air a sharp fresh smell, that of blood and fresh raw flesh.,Paraphrase 3,6. It might have been lying there years, except that on the white bone there were pink fragments of flesh.,People might think the buck had been lying there for years, if there had not been scraps of punk meat on the white bone

16、.,Proudly stepping the earth, frisking a pretty white tail, it had sniffed the cold morning air.,The buck, walking around happily and proudly with its beautiful white tail swishing from side to side, had breathed in and smelt the cold morning air.,Paraphrase 4,Stylistic analysis,Generally, the text

17、is a moving, even disturbing piece of narrative writing about a wounded buck being eaten by ants in the bush. Though short, it is a convincing portrayal of a living thing dying in pain.,1.The writer employs similes to help us to picture something through comparison and parallelism for further imagin

18、ative effect.,2.She employs exaggeration and a range of imagery in describing the ants -to create an impression of horror.,3.She makes use of specific, concrete details such as sounds, light, movements, smells and colour-to make the scene realistic and vivid. By using concrete words and specific det

19、ails, the writer achieves her purpose of “reaching” the reader and arousing his sympathetic interest.,The specific and concrete words,4.She deliberately refers to the buck in different terms to avoid monotony,eg,1)the fighting shape 2)the beast (fell and the screaming stopped) 3)the writhing blackne

20、ss that jerked convulsively with the jerking nerves. 4)the mass that still looked vaguely like shape of a small animal. 5)the shape (had grown small) 6)(he saw) the blackness (thin),5.She varies the length and complexity sentences to avoid monotony and sustain the readers interest.,6.The writer uses

21、 the a narrator who speaks in the third-person to relate the boys experience which superficially leaves her detached from and objective about the matter. But she uses the first person when relating the boys thoughts to achieve vividness.,7.The writer ends the passage by asking two rhetorical questio

22、n to focus the readers attention on particular point the boys amazement about the ants ability in trapping the buck.,Vocabulary,1. Scurry:,Move in haste, (at a low level),2. Peer:,Look carefully, perhaps with some difficulty,3. Jerk:,Move suddenly,4. Twitch:,A repeated short small sudden movement of

23、 the muscles made without conscious control.,5. Protest:,objection,6. Anguish:,Great physical and mental suffering,7. Ebbing:,Going back as a group,8. Pincers:,Hand-like parts of the head of an ant, used for seizing and holding food,Vocabulary,9. Socket:,An opening, or a hollow place, hole,10. Skull

24、:,The bone of the head in which is enclosed the brain,11. Frisk:,Move quickly from side to side and up and down,12. Sniff:,Smell, or breathe, or draw air into the nose with a sound,B. 1. Glistening:,shining,12. Rustling:,Making slight sounds when moving together,Vocabulary,3. Writhe:,Twist (the body

25、),4. Convulsively:,In the way that the body twists when in great pain,5. Interfere:,Get in the way of another,6. Trickle:,Flow in small drops or in a thin stream,7. Skeleton:,The framework of all the bones in a human or animal body,8. Glittering:,Shinning brightly, showing tiny flashes,9. Incredulou

26、sly:,Showing disbelief, unbelievingly,10. Exhilarated:,In very high spirits,4) A discussion on the psychology of the boy in the story,The Boys Feeling The Reason for the feeling 1. fear, Anticipating sth. unknown 2. pity and terror Seeing the wounded buck still struggling 3. rage, misery, protest Se

27、eing the buck fall and being devoured by the ants 4. Resignation Feeling unable to help the buck 5.nausea An acid smell in his nose 6.anger The ants having clean-picked the whole buck 7.incredibility Thinking the buck still fresh and lively only moments ago Your comments on the boys rumination over

28、life in the bush. (Let the students air their views freely),5)Language points,Take notice of/ take no notice of Draw in ones breath Be filled with/ be seized with/be taken possession of Nothing but/ anything but It comes into ones mind that/ An idea occurs to sb. Protest (v.): against/at/about; sth.

29、/that/ protest your innocence(to say that you are innocent)/ protest (n.): as a against; in against; a storm of / a wave of ; without ; under ,A swelling feeling of rage and misery Interfere in : take part in a matter which doesnt concern one. Please dont our conversation. Its none of your concern./

30、interfere with: prevent sth. from happening. We shouldnt let pleasure our work. Past suffering/hope/reform Make a decision Remind sb. of / about sth.; remind sb. to do sth.; remind sb that; remind sb what / when/ how etc. Remember to do sth/ doing sth,Clean-picked, swift-footed, cross-eyed, hard-hea

31、rted. long-winded, narrow-minded, open-minded, quick-witted, ready-made, short-sighted, slow-footed, true-born, warm-hearted, tree-lined Except that/ except for/ except At any rate Fancy that/fancy doing sth. Incredulous: doubtful(sb.)/incredible (hard to believe)(sth) A swarm of ants/bees/locusts/m

32、osquitoes, a bouquet/bunch of flowers, a drop of water, a flock of sheep a fleet of ships, a herd of cattle, a litter of pigs, a mass of sand, a pack of dogs, a pack of wolves, a range of mountains, a school of fish/ whales, a series of events, a suit of clothes,glistenshine with radiating light Cf.

33、 flash, gleam, glance, glint, sparkle, glitter, shimmer, glimmer, twinkle, etc. peerlook very hard as if unable to see clearly at, into, over, through Cf. gaze, stare, gape, glare, ogle, etc. jerkmove in sudden abrupt motions Cf. snap, twitch, yank, etc.,that took no notice of him,not take any/much

34、notice (of something) e.g. I hope youll take notice of what Im going to tell you. I waved but they took no notice . I waved, but he didnt take any notice (=pretended not to notice),Task: Translate 我沒太理會她的建議。,I did not take much notice of her suggestions.,glisten gleam glitter,intransitive to shine a

35、nd look wet or oily glisten with e.g. The boys back was glistening with sweat. glistening black hair gleam intransitive to shine softly Syn glimmer e.g. His teeth gleamed under his moustache. glitter intransitive to shine brightly with flashing points of light syn sparkle e.g. The river glittered in

36、 the sunlight.,He peered over at the writhing blackness that jerked convulsively with the jerking nerves.,1. to move with a quick sudden movement, or to make part of your body move in this way E.g. Wilcox jerked his head to indicate that they should move on. jerk back / up / forwards etc e.g. Sudden

37、ly he jerked back in his chair. The sound of the phone jerked me awake . 2. to pull something suddenly and roughly jerk at e.g. Doyle jerked at the girls hair, to make her sit down. She jerked open the car door and got out.,It was a swelling feeling of rage and misery and protest that expressed itse

38、lf in the thought:,Task: Understand and Paraphrase the sentence,The thought well expressed his growing feeling of anger and unhappiness, and objection to what was happening.,Swell 膨脹；增大；增多 風使船帆鼓脹。 大雨使河水上漲。 這些小項目使總額增加了。,The wind swelled the sails.,The heavy rain swelled the river.,were ants trickling

39、 back with pink fragments in their mouths.,1. liquid flows slowly in drops or in a thin stream trickle down /into / out e.g. The tears trickled down her cheeks. people, vehicles, goods etc move there slowly trickle in /into / away e.g. The first few fans started to trickle into the stadium.,Task: Tr

40、anslate 觀眾們魚貫而入。,The audience trickled in.,水從水管里流出來了。,Water trickled out of the pipe.,Saw the blackness thin.,1. to become fewer in number, especially when there were many before e.g. The crowd had thinned out and only a few people were left. The trees thinned as we got closer to the top of the mountain. Traffic was finally thinning. Her hair had been thinned and cut