现代大学英语精读第一册 Lesson3

Lesson Three Message of the Land

Teaching Objectives:

A. To know the background information about the author, and the style of this text.

B. To acquire the key words, important and difficult sentences and language points

C. To understand and master the usage of the basic rhetorical devices: simile and metaphor

D. To understand the connotation of the title and main idea of the text. Teaching Procedure:

I. Pre-task

1. Warm up

Individual questions:

The title “Message of the Land’ means that land can convey something to people. Then what does land convey to people, or what role does land play in people’s daily life in your mind?

What is people’s attitude to land nowadays?

2. Background information:

The author:

Pira Sudham(1942~)is an English writer in Thailand . He was born in a poor family in rural Esarn, in the northeast of the country. At the age of 14, he traveled to Bangkok to become a temple boy, a servant to the monks. He continued to study and won entrance to Thailand’s top University, Chulalongkorn. He later won a New Zealand government scholarship which allowed him to travel from New Zealand to Australia, China’s Hong Kong and Europe. Pira Sudham never forgets Esarn, where he experienced poverty and injustices in his early years, and which became the background for many of his short stories and novels. His novel Monsoon Country made him a nominee for the 1990 Nobel Prize for the literature. This text is adapted from the farmer and his wife in guidebook to better reading series published in 1982. The city: Bangkok

Bangkok, population 8,538,610 (1990), is the capital and largest city of Thailand. The city is located on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand. Bangkok is one of the fastest-growing, most economically dynamic and socially progressive cities in Southeast Asia. Local people like to think that it is emerging as a regional centre to rival Singapore and Hong Kong, but it suffers from major infrastructure and social problems as a result of its rapid growth. It is also one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

Bangkok is the economic center of Thailand. The Chao Phraya River allows Bangkok to function as a port. The Stock Exchange of Thailand is located in Bangkok. Tourism is a major source of revenue. The city contains many Buddhist temples (known in Thai as Wats), among the best known being Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Thailand Buddhism

Buddhism is Thailand's main religion. 94% of Thai people are Buddhist. The other are Muslim, Catholic or Chinese. Buddhism was born 2,546 years ago (the official year in Thailand is the year 2003 and the traditional year is the year 2546). Buddhism is linked with the historical Indian prince, Siddharta Gautama, who became the Buddha and reached the enlightenment. Now his teachings are still followed. His teachings say that people suffer because they are attached to material things, to women or men by heart links. These links cause suffer, jealousy so pain. People are never satisfied, i.e. they want more money, more power. The aim of Buddhism is to get rid of these pains and of these links. There are several kinds of Buddhism. Thai Buddhism is called Theravada Buddhism.

Quote from the author:

The following is a part of the author’s remarks, based on which we can have a glimpse of the poor of Tailand.

“If I had not left my village then, I would have been subject like most villagers, to the mercy of nature: floods, drought, disease, ignorance and scarcity. With endurance, I would have accepted them as my own fate, as something I can not go against in this life.”

II. Task cycle:

Theme of the text:

The text tells about the deep regret of the old people over the loss of traditional values and the way of life.

Structure of the text:

The text can be divided into two parts:

Part I (paras 1-7): about the interview of wife.

Part II: (paras. 8—11) about the farmer’s speech

In-class discussion:

Question: What kind of writing does this text belong to?

Answer: This text is an essay in a very broad sense of the word, or rather an interview.

It is written down by the writer who interviewed a farmer and his wife. (Since the World War II it has become popular for writers to interview people, record what they say and, after some, not too much, editing, publish these people’s stories in book form.)

Question: What are stylistic features of essay?

Answer: Generally speaking, the style of essay is colloquial. The language is

straightforward. The sentences are short and words are small and easy, which help readers to understand what’s going on.

Questions in mind:

What do we learn from the old couple in the interview? What are their characteristics?

What problems does the old couple meet with?

What is the root of the problem?

Are there any effective ways to solve the problem?

Detailed study of the Text:

1).

to belong to sb: to be owned by sb.

“Yes, these are our rice fields. They belonged to my parents and forefathers. The land is more than three centuries old.”

Question: In the first paragraph, why does the wife start her conversation with the talk about the land?

Answer: The wife has already regarded the land as part of her life. This is the land

where her parents and forefathers lived and it is bound with family history and tradition. It represents the root of her family.

2). …Sentence structure: the emphatic structure.

Pattern: it is \was …that\who…

Function: to emphasize some parts in a sentence,

e.g. the subject. e.g. the object. e.g. the adverbial of place)

It was that the policeman caught a pickpocket on No. 933 bus. (the adverbial of time)

Task: Make sentence a …… 此处隐藏：5658字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……