Unit 2

Text I Unwillingly on Holiday Text II April Fools’ Day

Text I

Text II

Oral Work

Guided Writing

Listening

Pre-reading Activity

Structure

Vocabulary Acquisition

Intensive Reading

Text 1: Unwillingly on Holiday

1. Recall your last Golden Week. Describe the experiences

and your feelings.

2. Are you always expecting your holidays? Does any of

them disappoints you? And how?

1. Recall your last Golden Week. Describe the experiences

and your feelings.

2. Are you always expecting your holidays? Does any of

them disappoints you? And how?

Text I Pre-reading Activity

Unwillingly on Holiday

Young Tom Long is forced to stay with his kindly

Aunt and Uncle while his brother recovers from a

bout of the measles. At their flat, he is disappointed

to find there is no garden to play in; but his

disappointment turns to wonder when he discovers a

magical garden which only appears at night when an

old grandfather clock strikes thirteen. His nightly

excursions to this beautiful garden become even

more interesting when he realizes that the people he

meets cannot see him - except one young girl named

Hattie…

Young Tom Long is forced to stay with his kindly

Aunt and Uncle while his brother recovers from a

bout of the measles. At their flat, he is disappointed

to find there is no garden to play in; but his

disappointment turns to wonder when he discovers a

magical garden which only appears at night when an

old grandfather clock strikes thirteen. His nightly

excursions to this beautiful garden become even

more interesting when he realizes that the people he

meets cannot see him - except one young girl named

Hattie…

Text I Pre-reading Activity

Text I Pre-reading Activity

《汤姆的午夜花园》（ Tom's Midnight Garden ）是由英国儿童文学女作家菲莉帕 ·皮尔斯 于 1958 年创作的一部幻想作品。在这部小说中，主人公汤姆的“现在”在偶然的情况下通过一个不存在的钟点和梦境可以和另一个主人公海蒂（即巴塞洛缪老太太）的“过去”交叉纠缠，这“实际上是受了三十年代英国邓恩（ J ．N ． Dunne ）时间学说的影响。邓恩把时间看成和空间一样，过去和未来都摊在那里，现在的人在某种情况下可以与过去和未来的人相遇”。这样对于“时间”的想象是非常富有幻想力的，但是与此同时，小说最后还是让主人公回到现实生活中。《汤姆的午夜花园》确定无疑地表达了与时间和解的态度。

在书中，巴塞洛缪老太太多次表达了她对于时间的无奈之感：“后来我才知道，汤姆，花园一直都在改变，因为没有任何东西是一成不变的，除非在我们的记忆中。” 在最后和汤姆相认的时候，又说：“等你到了我这个年龄，汤姆，你就会常常生活在过去了。你回忆过去，梦见过去。” 而主人公汤姆一度想永远留在海蒂的梦里的想法，也随着他对于时间的了解与自身的成长而舍弃了。他主动放弃了这个对于时间与世间规律的反抗机会，认同了人们的成长历程，在回忆中把童年当成最美好的一段时光与感情，而最终走向成人世界。

Effective development of the main idea

An eye-catching title

A good description of the boy’s anger

A good description of the contradictions on the mind of the mother

An echo in the beginning and ending

Text I Vocabulary Acquisition

Read the text once and Try to write down the meaning of following words that best fits the context.

1. rage (L.2) ______________________________________

2. bear (fruit) (L.6) ______________________________________

3. gaze (L.9) ______________________________________

4. croaking (L.10) ____________________________________

5. spoil (L. 30) ______________________________________

6. hostile (L. 38) ____________________________________

7. coop up (L.45) ______________________________________

8. poky (L.46) ______________________________________

(a sudden feeling of) wild uncontrollable anger

yield

look intently and steadily

to speak with a rough voice

make unsatisfactory

unfriendly

(usu. pass.) to shut in a small space; confine

(of a place) uncomfortably small

Unwillingly on HolidayText I

Not all holidays are seen as pleasant occasions. Sometimes going on holiday can be something to be dreaded. Partly it could be the change from the known routine, going somewhere where you are uncertain of what is expected or what you will find. Some people find this an exciting new experience; others face it with dread. Read the following account. What would your feelings be about going somewhere new on holiday?

1 If, standing alone on the back doorstep, Tom allowed himself to weep tears, they were tears of anger. He looked his good-bye at the garden, and raged that he had to leave it—leave it and Peter. They had planned to spend their time here so joyously these holidays.

2

Town gardens are small, as a rule, and the Longs’ garden was no exception to the rules; there was a vegetable plot and a grass plot and one flower-bed and a rough patch by the back fence. In this last the apple-tree grew: it was large, but bore very little fruit, and accordingly the two boys had always been allowed to climb freely over it. These holidays they would have built a tree-house among its braches.

3 Tom gazed, and then turned back into the house. As he passed the foot of the stairs, he called up. “Good-bye, Peter!” There was a croaking

answer.

Text I

4 He went out on to the front doorstep, where his mother was waiting with his suitcase. He put his hand out for it, but Mrs. Long clung to the case for a moment, claiming his attention first. “You know, Tom," she said, “it’s not nice for you to be rushed away like this to avoid the measles, but it’s not nice for us either. Your father and I will miss you, and so will peter. Peter’s not having a nice time, anyway, with measles."

5 “I didn’t say you’d all be having a nice time without me,” said Tom. “All I said was—”

Text I

6 “Hush!” whispered his mother, looking past him to the road and the car that waited there and the man at the driving-wheel. She gave Tom the case, and then bent over him, pushing his tie up to cover his collar-button and letting her lips come to within an inch of his ear. “Tom, dear Tom —” she murmured, trying to prepare him for the weeks ahead, “remember that you will be a visitor, and do try — oh, what can I say? — try to be good.”

7 She kissed him, gave him a dismissive push towards the car and then followed him to it. As Tom got in, Mrs. Long looked past him to the driver. “Give my love to Gwen,” she said, “and tell her, Alan, how grateful we are to you both for taking Tom off at such short notice. It’s very kind of you, isn’t it, Tom?”

Text I

8 “Very kind,” Tom repeated bitterly.

9 “There’s so little room in the house,” said Mrs. Long, “when

there’s illness.”

10 “We’re glad to help out,” Alan said. He started the engine.

11 Tom wound down the window next to his mother. “Good-bye then!”

12 “Oh, Tom!” Her lips trembled. “I am sorry—spoiling the

beginning of your summer holidays like this!”

13 The car was moving; he had to shout back: “I’d rather have had

measles with Peter — much rather!”

Text I

14 Tom waved good-bye angrily to his mother, and then, careless even of the cost to others waved to an inflamed face pressed against a bedroom window. Mr. Long looked upwards to see what was there, raised her hands in a gesture of despair – Peter was supposed to keep strictly to his bed – and hurried indoors.

15 Tom closed the car window and sat back in his seat, in hostile silence. His uncle cleared his throat and said: “well, I hope we get on reasonably well.”

16 This was not a question, so Tom did not answer it.

Text I

17 He knew he was being rude, but he made excuses for himself; he did not much like Uncle Alan, and he did not want to like him at all. Indeed, he would have preferred him to be a brutal uncle. “If only he’d beat me, ” thought Tom, “then I could run away home, and Mother and Father would say I did right, in spite of the quarantine for measles. But he’ll never even try to beat me, I know; and Aunt Gwen –she’s worse because she’s a child-lover, and she’s kind. Cooped up for weeks with Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen in a poky flat…” He had never visited them before, but he knew they lived in a flat, with no gardens.

From Tom’s Midnight Gardens by Philippa Pearce

Text I

dread

vt. & vi. : to feel great fear or anxiety about (dread to; dread that)

n. [S, U] : great fear or anxiety (have dread of; in dread of)

Example:

I dread to think what will happen if she finds out.

He dreaded that his parents would find out.

She has an instinctive dread of snake.

He is in perpetual dread of exposure.

He looked his good-bye at the garden and raged that …

Task: Paraphrase — explain in a complex structure

He said good-bye to the garden by looking at it and felt furious that…

Task: Translate 要离开曾在孩提时代住过的小屋子了，她环顾四周，向每件熟悉的物品一一告别。

Upon leaving the small house where she lived in her childhood, she

looked her goodbye at every familiar object around.

Usually / More often than not, town gardens are small; the same is t

he case with the Longs’ garden.

Task: translate 父亲每年假期都要去一次我奶奶住的农村，而且总是带我哥哥小强去。

Town gardens are small, as a rule, and Longs’ garden was no exception to the rule.

Father went once a year during his holiday to the countryside where my grandmother lived, and as a rule, he took my brother Xiaoqiang with him.

Please note that every student should keep classroom discipline,

and you are no exception.

请注意，每位学生都应该遵守课堂记录，你也不例外。

Task: paraphrase

Tom gazed, and then turned back into the house.

Gaze: look intently and steadily, often with admiration or pleasure

We stood gazing at the beautiful scenery.

Stare: fixed on sth. In wonder, fear, anger or deep thought

He stared at me, trying to remember who I was.

Literal meaning: Tom looked long and earnestly at everything in

the small garden, and after that he went into the house.

Implied meaning: Tom could hardly tear himself away from

everything in the small garden, which had given him so much fun

and joy in previous holidays.

He put his hand out for it, but Mrs. Long clung to the case for a moment, claiming his attention first.

He held out his hand to take his suitcase, but Mrs. Long held the

case tight for a while, in an effort to call his attention first.

Cling to: (clung, clung) to hold tightly; refuse to go or let go The smell of cigarette smoke tends to cling.

I clung to my mother, weeping tears of sadness.

Task: paraphrase

Translate: 我伤心的哭着，紧紧拉着妈妈。

She murmured, trying to prepare him for the weeks ahead,…

Task: paraphrase

prepare someone for; prepare someone against:

She spoke in a low but not clear voice, trying to help him get

used to the idea of living at his uncle’s during the coming weeks.

We are fully prepared against any aggression.

He prepares himself thoroughly for the examination for a certificate

of competence.

…, gave him a dismissive push towards the car …

…, pushed him towards the car so as to send him away…

Dismiss from: send away from

He was dismissed from the service for his careless behaviors.

The teacher dismissed the class early.

Task: paraphrase

…, how grateful we are to you both for taking Tom off at such short notice.

how can we thank you enough for taking Tom away so quickly. We had hardly any time to ask for your consent.

Task ： Translate

他接到通知要他立即去西安，时间紧迫得连给他妻子打电话的时间都没有。

He was asked to leave for Xi’an at such short notice that he didn’t

even have time to call his wife.

at such short notice : with little time for preparation

Paraphrase:

Task ： translate 干些兼职工作来贴补费用吧

Do some part-time jobs to help out with your expense.

help out

Give help (to someone) at a time of period

He helps Tom out of his financial difficulties.

I’ll help you out with your work.

wind down

move by turning a handle

Wind down the car window

wind: vt. turn round and round

Would you please wind the film back to the beginning, I’d like to

see it again.

The clock ‘s stopped; you’d better wind it (up).

spoil

to make unsatisfactory

The cook has spoilt the soup by putting too much salt in it.He behaves like a spoilt child.

Task ： translate 他们不情愿参加我们的演讲比赛，真令人扫兴。

Their reluctance to join us in the speech contest really spoilt our fun.

Tom waved good-bye angrily to his mother, and then, careless even of the cost to others waved to an inflamed face pressed against a bedroom window.

Task ： paraphrase

Inflamed: red and swollen because hurt or diseased

Without considering the pain and suffering it might give others,

Tom waved good-bye to Peter whose red, feverish face was

pressed against the bedroom window.

Look at her inflamed eyes; she must have been crying.

Keeping very quiet and showing strong resentment and

unfriendliness.

Hostile: a. showing extreme dislike or disapproval; unfriendly

The prime minister was given a hostile reception.

in hostile silence

Hostility: n. There is now open hostility between the two countries.

Task: paraphrase:

He knew he was now acting rudely to his uncle.

He knew he was being rude.

be + being + a. ------ the subject is showing some quality only

temporarily

He is being polite in front of the guests.

我们我们

Keep in a small space

Coop up the dog all day.

Task: translate 我们被雨困在屋里。

Coop up

We were cooped up in the house by the rain.

她还沉浸在仇恨中。

She cooped up her mind in hatred.

Have you ever heard of April Fools’ Day before?

From the notes written by various English children, what

impression do you get of April Fools’ Day?

What do you think of playing jokes on people on the first of

April? Do you think it interesting or meaningless or harmful or

harmless? Give reasons for your answer.

Have you ever heard of April Fools’ Day before?

From the notes written by various English children, what

impression do you get of April Fools’ Day?

What do you think of playing jokes on people on the first of

April? Do you think it interesting or meaningless or harmful or

harmless? Give reasons for your answer.

Text II Extensive Reading Questions

April Fools’ Day

April Fool's Day is traditionally a day to play practical jokes on

others, send people on fool's errands, and fool the

unsuspecting.

The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning

of this tradition was in 1582, in France. New Year's was

celebrated on March 25 and celebrations lasted until April 1st.

When New Year's Day as changed from March 25 to January 1st

in the mid-1560's by King Charles IX, there were some people

who still celebrated it on April 1st and those people were called

April Fools.

Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as

saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm

clock back an hour is a common gag. The news media even gets involved

too. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim,

"April Fool!“

April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy

gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant.

Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday

on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April

Fool!

Text II Practice

Workbook, Page 18, Comprehension

Oral Work

Recall the most unforgettable experience you

had during the vacation and exchange it with

your partner by asking him/her what he/she did

and telling him/her what you did.

During the conversation, you have to elaborate

why the experience is unforgettable and decide

whose is more interesting.

Précis Writing

Paragraph Writing

Letter Writing

Précis Writing

Practice: write précis of Unwillingly on Holiday

Choose the topic sentence that best begins the précis, decide the

details that are necessary for the précis, and write a précis of one

paragraph in the Workbook.

Try to do your best to keep as close to the original in content as

possible, but use fewer words.

Listening

Dictation 1

Dictation 2

Listening

Key

Key

Listening

1. The strange flapping sound came from _______.

A. a fish B. dripping water C. a bird

2. “His torch gave out and we were left with only mine” means _____.

A. they started out with two torches, but ended up with one giving

light

B. he gave his torch to me as mine had been left somewhere else

C. they had two torches, but he gave one away, so they had only one

Workbook Page 25

Multiple choice questions

C

A

Listening

3. Tim’s suggestion made Romany feel a bit uneasy because

_______.

A. he was afraid that he would be attached by some large

octopuses

B. he was afraid of some terrible monster he had read about

C. he was afraid that his dog might be eaten by a big fish

Workbook Page 25-26

A

Listening

4. The strange sound was from ______.

A. the entrance of the cave

B. the end of the cave

C. somewhere above their heads

5. Romany felt sick when he thought of a bird’s sharp bill thrusting

into his dog’s eyes because ______.

A. if his dog was blind, it couldn’t lead Romany out of the cave

B. Romany regarded the dog as his intimate friend and he would be

very sad if anything happened to the dog

C. Romany thought that the bird might also thrust its sharp bill into

his own eyes

Workbook Page 26

B

B

Listening

B. Put these events in the order of happening.

1. They pushed on and went near the end of the cave.

2. They heard a mighty splash.

3. Romany wrapped the bird in his coat.

4. They were about to leave the cave.

5. They finally left the cave.

6. They heard a strange flapping sound.

7. Raq caught the sea-bird.

8. Romany took the sea bird from Raq’s mouth.

Workbook Page 26

Listening

think much of 重视 , 尊重 in court 在法庭上 criminal n. 罪犯 , 犯罪者 guilty adj. 犯罪的 , 有罪的 guilty look 内疚的神色 the guilty party 犯罪一方 a guilty conscience 犯罪感 have a guilty conscience 问心有愧；做贼心虚 be found guilty 被判决有罪 be guilty of a crime 犯了罪

Useful Words and Expressions of Dictation 1

Listening Dictation 1

British and American Police 0fficers

Real policemen, both in Britain and the U. S., hardly recognize any

common points between their lives and what they see on TV --- if

they ever get home in time.

Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do

not think much of them.

The first difference is that a policeman’s real life deals with the law.

Most of what he learns is the law.

Listening Dictation 1

He has to know actually what actions are against the law and what

facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as

much law as a lawyer, and what’s more, he has to put it into practice

on his feet, in the dark and, running down a narrow street after

someone he wants to talk to.

Little of his time is spent in talking, with beautiful girls or in bravely

facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of working life arranging

millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad,

ordinary people who are guilty --- or not of stupid, unimportant

crimes. (177 words)

Listening Useful Words and Expressions of Dictation 2

representative 代表 General Assembly 联合国大会 permanent n. 永久的 , 持久的 permanent address 固定地址 permanent tooth 成人齿 a permanent job 固定职业 a permanent committee 常设委员会 Security Council n. 联合国安全理事会 troop n. 军队

Listening

The United Nations

In 1945, representatives of 50 nations met to plan this

organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war,

many more nations joined.

There are two major parts of the united Nations. One is called

the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member

nation is represented and has an equal vote.

The second part is called the Security Council. It has

representatives of just 15 nations.

Dictation 2

Listening Dictation 2

Five nations are permanent members ： the United States, Russia, F

rance, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every tw

o years by the General Assembly.

The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world. I

f necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop lit

tle wars before they turn into big ones.

It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when

this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. (156 words)