Lesson 9 Book II.docx

1、Lesson 9 Book IILesson nine The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Variations on a theme by William James by URSULA LE GUINContents I. Teaching Objectives II. Teaching MethodsIII. Background InformationIV. Warming-upV. Detailed Study of the textVI. Difficulties VII. ExercisesVIII. Reference BooksI. Teac

2、hing Objectives:To understand the textTo learn the useful words and phrases To learn about an allegory storyII. Teaching Method Situational Teaching MethodIII. Background Information1. URSULA LE GUIN2.AllegoryUrsula K. Le Guin is a well-known science fiction and fantasy writer. She was born in Berke

3、ley, California in 1929. After graduating from Radcliff College, she took an M.A. degree at Columbia University. Her writings force us to re-examine many of the things that we once took for granted, like our cities, our political and social structures, etc. She began writing during the 1950s, but no

4、t until the 60s did she begin publishing. Le Guins work has appealed to a wider audience than science fiction fans. Bringing a social scientists eye and a feminists sensibility to science fiction, she has employed this speculative genre to criticize contemporary civilization. Many of her storieslike

5、 “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” (1974 Hugo Award)create complex imaginary civilizations, envisioned with anthropological authority. Le Guin has also written poetry and juvenile fiction, including the Earthsea video-2 trilogy, Wizard of Earthsea video-2 (1968), The Tombs of Atuan video-2 (1971)

6、, and The Farthest Shore video-2 (1972), which rank among the classics of modern childrens literature. She lives in Porland, The textThis text is taken from The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. This writing may be called a piece of allegorical description. Allegory（讽喻） in literature is a symbolic

7、story that serves as a disguised representation for meanings other than those indicated on the surface. The characters in an allegory often have no individual personality, but are embodiments of moral qualities and other abstractions.“Omelas”So Omelas should not be read as a realistic story. Le Guin

8、 is playing around with the old idea about the greatest good for the greatest number and taking it to its logical extreme. What if, magically, all the evil in the world could be heaped on one person and everyone else could be happy. Would it be worthwhile or would the injustice done to that one prob

9、ably retarded child outweigh the good of all the rest. The ones who walk away are buying out of the system, refusing to accept their own happiness if it comes at the expense of someone else. On one level the story can be understood about the western world living off the suffering of the third world.

10、 On another level it can be understood about our societys refusal to accept the legitimacy of the plight of the poor. By this sharp contrast between the former happiness and the present cruelty, Le Guin draws the attention upon her themethe nature and basis of happinessshould the happiness of the ma

11、ny be based upon the suffering of the few? But she provides no solution except an open, thought-provoking ending that some people leave Omelas after seeing the child. IV. Warming-upIs Omelas a real place in the world?What is the meaning of the subtitle of the article?What does the author want to exp

12、ress?V. Detailed Study of the TextWhat does Paragraph one describe?The happy city of Omelas. Omelas is a port city by the sea with bright towers and houses with red roofs and painted walls. There are tree-lined avenues, moss-grown gardens, great parks and public buildings. Towards the north side of

13、the city there is a great water-meadow called the Green Fields. Far off to the north and west are mountains with snowy peaks half encircling Omelas. The people there were joyously celebrating the Festival of Summer with music, dance and processions. Men, women and children except for the riders who

14、were naked. The highlight of the celebrations was a horse race to be held on the great water-meadow called the Green Fields. So the whole city is immersed in happiness.With a clamor of bells the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea: The loud ringing of the bells, which sent the frightened swallows

15、 flying high, marks the beginning of the Festival of Summer in Omelas.bright-towered by the sea: Omelas is a port city by/near the sea. It had white towers that shone bright in the sun.The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags:The lines and chains on the ships were decorated with flags

16、which were shining in the sun.rigging: lines and chains used aboard a ship especially in working sail and supporting masts and spars; the rigging: all the ropes, chains, etc. that hold up a ships sails.e.g. The sailor climbed up the rigging to see if he could sight land.In the streets processions mo

17、ved: The streets were lined with houses with red roofs and painted walls. Between the houses there were old moss-grown gardens. There were also avenues lined with shady trees. The city had many big parks and public buildings. There were many processions moving through the streets and avenues.In this

18、 long sentence, the main idea “processions moved” is at the end of the sentence. This is a good example of a long periodic sentence (圆周句), preceded by a string of modifiers. Some were decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and grey, grave master workmen, quiet, merry women carrying their

19、babies and chatting as they walked. Some of these processions were marked by propriety and good taste, because they were made up of old people, grave master workmen and women carrying babies. There were no children or young people among them.In this long sentence, the main idea is at the beginning.

20、This is an example of a loose sentence (松散句). The writer uses a vast variety of sentence structures. decorous: adj. fml. (of appearance or behavior) correct; showing proper respect for the manners and customs of society. e.g. Behavior that is decorous is polite and correct and doesnt offend people.m

21、auve: adj. having a pale purple colour. n.sth. that is mauve is of a pale purple color e.g. mauve writing paperIn other streets the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a dance: In other streets the processions were different. The mu

22、sic was much faster and one could see the glimmering light reflected from gongs and tambourines. The people danced to the music as they moved forward. The whole procession was a dance.shimmer: shine with a soft tremulous slightly shaking light; glimmerChildren dodged in and outover the music and the

23、 singing: The children ran about playfully, now in and now out of the procession. Their high-pitched shouting could be heard clearly above the music and singing like the calls of the swallows flying by overheard.dodge: v. to avoid (sth.) by moving suddenly aside.e.g. He dodged the falling rock and e

24、scaped unhurt.infml. to avoid (a responsibility, duty, etc.) by a trick or in some dishonest waye.g. She somehow managed to dodge all the difficult questions.dodger: a tax dodger, a draft dodger 逃避服兵役者dodge: n. infml. a clever way of avoiding sth. or of deceiving or tricking sb. a tax doge 逃税花招synon

25、yms: avoid, escape, avert, evade, eludeavert: to prevent (sth. unpleasant) from happening e.g. An accident was averted by his quick thinking.evade: derog. to avoid (esp. a duty or responsibility), esp. using deception e.g. Give me a direct answer and stop evading the issue.elude: escape from esp. by

26、 means of a trick e.g. The fox succeeded in eluding the hunters by running back in the opposite direction.their high calls rising like the swallows crossing flights over the music and the singing: a simileflight: rising, settling or flying in a flockAll the processions wound towards the north side o

27、f the city: The streets twisted and turned so the processions also twisted and turned as it moved forward to the north side of the city. wound: past participle of the verb wind to make (ones way) in a winding or twisting course. where on the great water-meadow exercised their restive horses before t

28、he race: This is an attributive clause modifying the north side of the city. The main structure of the clause is “where (on the great water-meadow) boys and girls exercised their restive horses before the race.”lithe: adj. (esp. of people or animals) able to bend and move easily and gracefullye.g. t

29、he lithe bodies of the dancersexercised their restive horses before the race: put their horses through some exercises because the horses were eager to start and stubbornly resisting the control of the ridersrestive: stubbornly resisting control; unruly; disobedient; unwilling to keep still or be con

30、trolled, nervouse.g. 1.If youre restive, youre impatient, bored, or dissatisfied. 2. The crew were restive and rebellious.restively: adv. restiveness n.They flared their nostrils and pranced and boasted to one another: The writer uses personification here by treating the horses as human beings. The

31、horses open wider their nostrils, jumped about and seemed to be boasting to one another. All this shows the horses excitement before the race.flare: to (cause to ) open outwards, esp. to widen gradually towards to bottome.g. flared trousers Her nostrils flared with anger.flare: n. a widening towards

32、 one ende.g. trousers with wide flaresprance: v. (of animal, esp. a horse) to jump high or move quickly by raising the front legs and springing forwards on the back legsfarther and nearer and ever approaching:these words, in a grammatical way, also indicate the music movement heard from the starting place “farther” to the comparative degree “nearer” to the continuous tense “approaching,” stressing the distance