《大学思辨英语教程写作1》练习答案-Unit 1 Life and Value

Pre-class Exploration

1 Make up your own story with the following words. 1) apple, 2) alligator, 3) angry, 4) ambulance, 5) apologize

When I was enjoying my apple pie in the park, I heard a cry for help. It looked like an angry alligator was going to attack a naughty boy who got too close, now frightened. The police and ambulance were called but fortunately the alligator swam away. The boy thanked everyone and apologized for his misbehavior. The ambulance left and the parents were still angry with the naughty boy who could have been killed by attacking the alligator with an apple core. The boy apologized to his parents that he would never do it again.

2 Read the fable “Hare and the Tortoise” on Page 5 and 6 and complete the following outline. 1. Introduction of characters

_Hare&Tortoise ______________ 2. The bet

_Tortoise challenged Hare to have a race.__________ 3. The beginning of the race

_Hare raced off while Tortoise crawled slowly behind._____ 4. The middle of the race

_Hare stopped to took a nap while Tortoise kept going._ 5. The end of the race

When Hare woke up, he ran as fast as he could, but Tortoise passed the finishing line first.__ 6. The moral of the story

_Perseverance is the key to success.__________________________

Part I: Learning the Skills

Activity 1

Read the following passage and analyze it in terms of character(s), setting, plot, point of view and theme. Character(s) Main character(s):Kiwi Supporting characters:Tane-mahuta, birds Setting: forest Plot Beginning: Tanemahuta found the problem with the trees and asked the birds if someone would come down and live on the ground, eat the insects and save the trees. Middle: After the birds refused the god’s request to rescue the roots of his trees, Kiwi stood out to help. Ending: Tane-mahuta rewarded Kiwi by making him the most famous and most loved bird. Point of view:The omniscient point of view Theme:Sacrifices made for others will be rewarded eventually. Activity 2

Make notes about an important event in your life. Then discuss in small groups.

Suggestions for instructors ：Students share some events in their life, discuss it and then can select the most interesting story and talk about the reason of what makes it most interesting.

Activity 3

The following narrative passage by Jimmy Carter describes his childhood experience-mopping cotton on his father’s farm during the 1930s. To kill insects that ate cotton plants, Carter’s family covered each cotton plant with molasses mixed with poison.

Task 1 Understanding the text

Write T for true or F for false for each statement. _F_ 1) Carter wore shorts when he mopped cotton. _T_ 2) The poison turned from a liquid to a solid on his pants. _F_ 3) Carter folded his pants every night before he went to sleep. _F 4) Carter washed his pants with his other clothes.

Task 2 Responding to the text

Answer the following questions in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your partner. 1) Carter wrote “I preferred to protect my legs with long pants.” Why was this necessary? It would protect his legs from the sticky poison.

2) Was this a comfortable job? Why or why not? How do you think Carter felt about it?

It was very uncomfortable because the pants were sticky at first and hardened after a while and it was covered with poison. He felt “terrible” to put them back on in the morning. 3) Why do you think mopping cotton was an important formative experience for Carter? It was hard work and he learned to deal with it from young.

Part II: Case Analysis

Activity 4

Read Text A and consider how the author presents the most important day in her life.

Task 1 Understanding the text

Complete the following chronological outline for the text. Include the most important events in it. Add adjectives whenever possible.

1) Helen met Miss Sullivan on the third of March, 1887.

2) Miss Sullivan led Helen into her room, gave Helen a doll and spelled into her hand d-o-l-l. 3) Miss Sullivan put Helen’s hands under spout and spelled into her hand w-a-t-e-r. 4) An awareness of the live meaning of “w-a-t-e-r” awakened Helen’s soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

Task 2 Responding to the text

Write your answer to each question in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your partner.

1) Why did Helen often feel angry and bitter before she met Miss Sullivan? She could not see nor hear anything.

3) What was Helen’s reaction when Miss Sullivan first spelt the word “d-o-l-l” into her hand? She was interested in this figure play and imitated it.

4) What impact did this “w-a-t-e-r” incident have on Helen’s life? It is the start of her education, the life-changing event in her life.

Activity 5

Read Text B and think about how the story is developed.

Task 1 Understanding the text

Complete the following chronological outline for the text. Include the most important events in it. Add adjectives whenever possible. 1) Mathilde felt sad because she was poor.

2) Mathilde’s husband got a select invitation to a ball_______. 3) Mathilde was irritated about the news. 4) Mathilde’s husband agreed to give her _400 francs to buy a suitable gown____. 5) Matilde borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend. 6) Mathilde was a great success at the night of the ball.

7) She left the ball about four o’clock in the morning_______. 8) Mathilde found that she lost_the diamond necklace________. 9) Mathilde and Loisel bought a diamond necklace, returned it to Madame Forestier _ and had a hard life since then.

10) Ten years later, _Mathilde learned the diamond necklace she had borrowed was not real___.

Task 2 Responding to the text

Write your answer to each question in full sentences. Then discuss your answers with your partner.

1) Why was Mathilde so unhappy at the beginning of the story?

Young and good-looking as she was, she yearned for a luxurious life, but she was married to a government clerk with limited income. Her life was far from her expectations. 2) What was her reaction when she learned of the invitation to the ball? Why? She was frustrated as she did not have a proper gown to wear to the ball. 3) How did her life change due to the loss of the necklace?

She and her husband paid 3400 francs for a diamond necklace that she could return it to

Madame Forestier. They had to work very hard and lead a miserable life in order to pay off the debts.

4) What was the primary cause of Mathilde’s misfortune in your view?

The primary cause of Mathilde’s misfortune is her vanity and desire for a luxurious life.

Unsatisfied with her plain life as a clerk’s wife, she was eager to show her beauty at the grand ball, earning admiration from others.

5) How do you judge Mathilda’s behavior from an ethical perspective?

Answers may vary. For example, Mathilda was honest because she bought a real diamond necklace when she thought the one she lost was real and she was willing to work hard for ten years to pay off the debt—a high price to pay for her vanity but on the other hand, it showed her courage.

Part III: Language Study

Activity 7

Read Text A and Text B and note down the words and phrases that show time order. Text A Text B The Story of My Life The Diamond Necklace The most important day I remember in all my One evening … life …… The day of the ball drew near … It was the third of March, 1887, three months The next day ... before I was seven years old. The night of the ball arrived. On the afternoon of that eventful day, … about four o'clock in the morning. The morning after ... … about seven o'clock. When …. … all day... When…. Loisel returned at night…. In the days that followed … before .... At the end of a week …. One day, while …. The next day Earlier in the day ... Then … As … first ..then … When …. Every month ... At the end of ten years …. Activity 8

Read Text A and Text B again, find out two more examples with concrete details from each text, and discuss your examples with your partner. Example 1:

General: Do you know what it feels like if you can’t see and hear? Specific:

Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was.

Example 2: General:

I was so happy that day that I looked forward to the next day to come when I went to bed. Specific:

It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of the eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come.

Example 3:

General: Madame Loisel was pretty and attracted lots of attention at the ball. Specific:

The night of the ball arrived. Madame Loisel was a great success. She was prettier than any other woman present, elegant, graceful, smiling and wild with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, sought to be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wished to waltz with her. She was remarked by the minister himself.

Example 4:

General: She had to do all the housework herself. Specific:

She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She

washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans. She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing.