BTLEW Lesson 11 – Silent Spring Part Three ENTER

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Lesson 11 – Silent Spring

Part ThreePart Three

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Text Text AppreciatioAppreciationn


I. Text Analysis 1. Theme 2. Structure 3. Further discussion

II. Writing Devices 1. Diction 2. Antithesis 3. Alliteration & assonance 4. Rhetorical question 5. Metaphor 6. Parallelism

III. Sentence Paraphrase

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I.I. Text Text AnalysisAnalysis

Out of his ignorance and lack of concern for the integrity of nature, man is tampering with nature by abusing chemicals, causing irrecoverable harms on environment and people.

Theme of the story

The end of Theme.

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Part 1 (paras. 1—2) about:

Part 2 (paras. ) about:





I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisStructure of the text

3—5

6 — 9

10—23

beauty and harmony enjoyed by both nature and all its life

evil spell

transitional paragraphs, directing readers’ attention to the very cause of the nationwide disaster— a white powder, the chemical

explanation of how the ecological disasters were created

24—25 proper solution to the disasters

The end of Structure.

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I.I. Text AnalysisText Analysis

Before the use

After the use

Before & after the use of chemicals

all life in harmony with its surrounding people’s life: the town in the midst of prosperous farms; fishing the streams plants: blooming flowers; growing on green field; oak, maple, birch flaming and flickering with life animals: birds feeding on the berries and on the seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow; floods of migrants pouring through; sweet singing of birds

Scan the text and list out the related information.

To be continued on the next page.

loss of life: mysterious diseases sweeping the flock of chickens; sickening and killing cattle and sheep and fish; several and unexplained deaths of adults and children; birds trembling violently and being unable to fly; soundless birds; browned and withered vegetation

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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisBefore & after

the use of chemicalsDiscuss

in groups.

Before

the use

After

the use colorful nature: brown, withered


colorful nature: in spring:white clouds of bloom , green fields, in autumn: oak and maple and birch setting up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered in winter:white snowThrough much of a year: laurel, ferns, wildflowers

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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisBefore & after

the use of chemicalsDiscuss

in groups.

Before the use

After the use

silent nature:Sound: stillness, a spring without voices

Movement: backyards deserted, birds trembled violently and could not fly, fish died


active nature:Sound: barking of the fox, birds’ chorus in the morning

Movement: drift, flame, flicker, silently crossthe fields, fly and feed, pour through, observe, flow, lie, raise houses, sink wells, build barns

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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisEvil Spell In Para.

3,4,5

Question: What is the evil spell? Spell is a bewitched state, a state completely captured by magic power. Mysterious diseases swept the flocks of chickens; cattle and sheep sickened and died; birds trembled and could not fly; fish died in the streams. People were infected with new diseases with several sudden and unexplained deaths. Vegetation withered and got browned. No life was on the road, in the stream; silence lay over the fields, the woods and marsh.


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I.I. Text AnalysisText Analysis Relations: organisms & nature


Natural selection man’s tampering with nature

Mutual interaction between organism and environment, but mainly surroundings mold organisms(Nature, to a great extent, determines the physical form, the habits of the earth’s vegetation and animal life.)

Slight modifying of nature by organism, but in the past quarter century, the only man impetuously upsetting the balance of ecology, thus changing the very nature of the world.

Hundreds of millions of years needed for the natural production of organism

Little time needed for the unnatural or synthetic creation

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I.I. Text AnalysisText Analysis Relations: organisms & nature


Natural selection man’s tampering with nature

Hundreds of millions of years allowing for the retaining of the ecological balance—adjustment by both environment and organism

New unnatural creation (invented in laboratories) having no counterparts in nature, leaving no room for nature to adjust properly

Interaction taking place at a very slow and careful pace

Changes taking place at an impetuous, fast pace, leaving nature no time to resume its balance

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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisQuestion: Why did Carson call man’s tampering with nature a war against nature?A war involves the killing of hundreds of thousands of people—the “bad people or good people”—with their invented weapons.

Insects, birds, plants, fish, even “pests” are all part of nature. By creating and using chemical “weapons”, man killed every insect the ”good” or “bad”, stilled the song of birds and the leaping of fish, coated the leaves with a deadly film, and ruined the soil. The whole ecology of nature was upset.


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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisFor

Reference Question: Why did Carson say the chemical war is never won?

Chemicals kill indiscriminately, reduce biodiversity and contaminate the entire environment. They cannot solve the pest problem, for pests can adapt to the chemicals and evolve into super races immune to chemicals, and they can undergo a “flare-back”. The vicious circle will never end until man is killed along with other lives.


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Question: In Carson’s opinion, what led to the insect problem?

Nature had built-in checks and balances to hold the varieties of species within bounds. Man’s tampering with nature disturbed the balances. Insect problems arose with the intensification of agriculture—the devotion of immense acreage to a single crop and the spreading of thousands of different kinds of organisms from their native homes.


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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisQuestion: What is the difference between the natural spreading of species and the man-assisted process? And how does this process contribute to the pest problem?

The natural spreading of the species involves the restraining hand of natural enemies that keep down its numbers in its native land.

An alien species is introduced by man into a new territory finds no natural enemies, thus becoming enormously abundant in number.


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Question: What should we do to solve pest problems?

We should try to have the basic knowledge of animal population and their relations to their surroundings to promote an even balance, control the power of outbreaks of insects and reduce new invasions rather than seeking new technology to suppress this plant or that

animal.


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Question: What is Carson’s contention?

Nature is an integral nature. We should promote our knowledge of relation of chemicals and ecology. Before we use chemicals, we should know clearly about their effect on environment and people and make reasonable use of them.


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What have people done to nature?

What does nature actually mean to man?

In what ways has man disturbed the balance of nature?

Why have people created more and more poisonous chemicals?

What can we do to avoid the vicious cycle of abusing chemicals?


Further discussion about the text


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How does man tamper with nature? What are the consequences?

How much does man know about nature?

Do you think that man has been endowed with the unique power to change nature?

What would man’s tampering of nature bring about?

What should man do to redress the balance of nature?


Further discussion about the text

The end of Further discussion.

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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevices

Diction

Polysyndeton

In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered across a background of pines. (1)

… only silence lay over the fields and the woods and marsh. (4)


Stress each details

Polysyndeton: repetition of conjunctions in close succession, which has an cumul

ative effect

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Diction

Polysyndeton


… the physical form and the habitsof the earth’s vegetation and its animal li

fe have been molded bythe environment. (10)

Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil, … (11)

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Diction

Emotive & specific words



The town lay in the midst of prosperous farms, where, in spring, white clouds of

bloom drifted above the green fields. (1)

Emotive words: words that

connote people’s feelings about things or ideas

Impress and move feelings

Colorful description of

nature

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Diction


… where countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow. (2)


Specific words stressing abundance and variety of species

Along the roads, laurel, great ferns and wildflowers delighted the traveler’s eye... (2)

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Diction


Others came to fish the streams, which flowed clear and cold out of the hills and contained shady pools where trout lay. (2)


… and when the flood of migrants was pouring through in spring… (2)

Then foxes barked in the hills and deersilently crossed the field. (1)

Specific words make the

description vivid and lively.

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Diction


The few birds seen anywhere trembled violently and could not fly. (4)


… mysterious diseases swept the flocks of chicken; the cattle and sheep sickened and died. (3)

… that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scores of bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh. (4)

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Diction

Qualifying phrases

Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings, had been relatively slight. (10)


To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth’s vegetation and its animal

life have been molded by the environment. (10)

Qualifying phrases stress

precision.

Only in the present century has one species— man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of this world. (10)

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Diction

Concrete words

The end of Diction.

Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests or gardens lie long in soil, entering into living organisms, passing from one to another in

a chain of poisoning and death. Or they pass mysteriously by underground

streams until they emerge and combine into new forms that kill vegetation, sicken cattle, and work unknown harm on those

who drink from once pure wells. (11)

Pure factual description

Concrete words describe

identifiable qualities of

particular things, feelings or events.

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Antithesis

The rapidity of change follows the impetuous pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature. (13)

Antithesis: the relation between successive units that are put in contrast

a pair of antitheses“drastic and rapid pace of man”

vs. “slow and careful pace of nature”


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Antithesis: more examples

This imagined tragedy may easily become a harsh reality we all shall know. (8)

Try to find more examples

in the text.

The end of Antithesis.

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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesAlliteration & assonance


…, and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them, ... (8)

Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds or of different vowel sounds at the beginning of words.


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Alliteration & assonance: more examples

There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children. (3)

Others came to fish the streams, which flowed clear and cold out of the hills and contained shady pools where trout lay. (2)

The use of alliteration and assonance helps

achieving sensory impressions.

Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

The end of Alliteration & assonance.

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Rhetorical question

Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such

a large number of poisons on the surface of the

earth without making it unfit for all life? (16)How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to his own kind? (18)

Rhetorical question is a question asked to imply a definite answer.

Rhetorical question is often used in argument & persuasion.

The end of Rhetorical question.

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The town lay in the midst of prosperous farms, where, in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. (1)

metaphor: a figure of speech containing an implied comparison in which one thing is described in terms of another.

Metaphor

More examples


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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesMetaphor: more examples


The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants were pouring through in spring and fall people traveled from great distances to observe them. (2)

Metaphor is used

to heighten

effect and

clarity.


Metaphor used together with alliteration stressing the striking display of colors

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On the mornings that had oncethrobbed with the dawn chorus ofscores of bird voices there wasnow no sound; … (4)

Metaphor: more examples

The end of Metaphor.

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Parallelism

These chemicals are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes,

killing every insect, the “good” and the “bad”, tostill the song of birds and the leaping of fish, to

coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil… (16)

Chemicals sprayed on croplands or forests orgardens lie long in soil, entering into living

organisms, passing from one to another in a chain of poisoning and death. (11)

Parallelism involves balancing the structural elements of a sentence.

Clear and effective

The end of Writing Devices.

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III.III. Sentence Sentence Paraphrase 1Paraphrase 1

The rapidity of change follows the impetuous

pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of

nature. (13)

Parallel structure: introduced by correlative conjunctions, such as either…or, both…and, not only…but also, whether…or, rather than

More examples

go to 2

The rapid change of the environment takes place as a consequence of man’s drastic and reckless alteration of nature. It does not occur as a result of slow and careful working of nature.


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III.III. Sentence Sentence Paraphrase Paraphrase These chemicals are now applied almost universally

to farms, gardens, forests, and homes, killing every insect, the “good” and the “bad”, to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil—all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects. (16)

back to 1

The purpose of the wide use of the chemicals in farms, gardens, forests and homes is to kill some weeds or insects. But the fact is that they claim the lives of birds, fish and leaves and have a delayed effect in soil.

Paralleled structures used as adverbial of results

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Given time—time not in years but in millennia—life adjusts, and a balance has been reached. (12)

It takes thousands of years for life to adapt itself to environment. Actually it so happens that life adapts and a balance has been reached.

Participle phrase used as adverbial of conditions

go to 3

More examplesIf life is given time


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III.III. Sentence Sentence ParaphraseParaphrase

1. Given opportunities, the will make a good artist.

2. Cooked in the Chinese styles, pork tastes like fish.

back to 2

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And even this, were it by some miracle possible, would be futile, for the new chemicals come from our laboratories in an endless stream. (14)

Even if life did adjust to the chemicals by some miracle, it would be useless, because the new chemicals are continuously created and produced .

Unreal conditional clause in which

“were” is placed at the beginning of the

clause

go to 4

More examples

If it were…possible


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1. Were an expert given the job, he would adopt a different approach.

2. Were this allowed to happen again, no one would respect the law.

back to 3

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The chemicals are the synthetic creations of man’s inventive mind, having no counterparts in nature. (13)

Man-made productsMan’s creative power

There are no such things as chemicals in nature. go to 5

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The whole process of spraying seems caught up in an endless spiral. (17)

The whole process of spraying chemicals to kill insects is a vicious cycle of chemical abuse. The more deadly chemicals are used, the more resistance they meet from the insects.

Get involved inNever-ending process of increasing abuse of

chemicals

go to 6

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Thus it is no accident that our most troublesome insects are introduced species. (23)

It is certain, unavoidable

That’s why the most troublesome insects in our country are brought in from other places.

“it” used as an anticipatory subject

go to 7

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I am saying, rather, that control must be geared to

realities, and that the methods employed must be

such that they do not destroy us along with the

insects. (19)

On the contrary I am saying that the control should be determined by the actual environment and that the methods should not be harmful to humans that they die along with the insects .

Formal structure so…that

go to 8

More examples

Be adapted to


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1. The defeat is such that they won’t be

able to recover from it for some time.

2. The president’s tone of voice was such

that the students knew that the

university authority took the incident

seriously.

back to 7

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… instead we need the basic knowledge of animal populations and their relations to their surroundings that will “promote an even balance and damp down the explosive power of outbreaks and new invasions”. (24)

Instead we need the basic knowledge of

animal populations and their relations to their

surroundings. This knowledge contributes to

retaining an equal balance and reducing their

mass-breeding and invading power. go to 9

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we have subjected enormous numbers of

people to contact with these poisons,

without their consent and often without

their acknowledge. (25)

We have made enormous numbers of people contact with these poisons.

make sb. experience, suffer

go to 10

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Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a

large number of poisons on the surface of the earth

without making it unfit for all life? (16)

Such a number of poisons stored on the surface of the earth will surely make it unfit for all living things.

Rhetorical question store for

future use

go to 11

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Such a system set the stage for explosive

increases in specific insect populations. (20)

Such a way of farming creates favorable

conditions for the rapid increase of

particular insects.

The end of Sentence Paraphrase.

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BTLEW Lesson 11 – Silent Spring Part Three ENTER