英语小说导读海明威之 a clean welllighted place的课后练习.docx

英语小说导读海明威之 a clean welllighted place的课后练习.docx

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英语小说导读海明威之acleanwelllightedplace的课后练习

ANSWERSTOQUESTIONS

1

·Whatbesidestheinsomniamakestheoldwaiterreluctanttogotobed?

Ifwejustfromthesurfacetoanswerthisquestion,wecanpickupsomeopinionfromthestory:

.“Iamthosewholiketostaylateatthecafé,”theolderwaitersaid.“Withallthosewhodonotwanttogotobed.Withallthosewhoneedalightforthenight.”[page158]

“…EachnightIamreluctanttocloseupbecausetheremaybesomeonewhoneedsthecafé.”[page158]

However,ifweanalysesdeeply,wewillrealizethatinsomniaisjustasymbolismofthestory.Whenyouaresleeplessinthenight,youwillkeepawakethroughthehourofdarkness,andthiswillmakeyoufeellonelyandevenworse,thedespair.Thereisnotonlyaboutinsomniabutaboutloneliness,thedarknessoflife,thesegregationfromtheworld,andthenothingness.Andthosedesperatefeelingsarethemostimportantthingtomaketheoldwaiterandtheoldmanrefusetogotobed

·commentontheolderwaiter’smeditationwiththenadarefrain.

Nadameansnothing.ItisaSpanishword.Andfromthisrefrain,wecanknowthatnothingcannotbedealwithbymanorgod.Itisthesenselessnessofeachheart.Thereisnomeaninginlife.Nothingistheexperienceofone’sownexistence,andthethoroughunderstandingoflife.

·Whydoestheoldwaitersowellunderstandtheoldman’sneedforacafé?

Theoldwaiterisamiddle-ageman.Thoughheisn’tasoldastheoldman,hesuffersthewarandlife,andhealsohastheinsomnialikemanyothermen（perhapsincludingtheoldman）.Healsofeelsthelonelinessandnothingnessinhislife.Sohecanunderstandtheoldman’sfeelingaboutthelife,andhecanevenrelateandseehisfutureintheoldman.Thisiswhytheoldwaitersowellunderstandstheoldman’sneedforacafé.Thecaféisapeacefulplacewheretheoldmancanescapefromthelonelinessandnothingnessanddesperationinthelife.

·Whatdoesthecaférepresentfortheoldmanandtheoldwaiter?

Thecaféisacleanandwell-lightedplaceinthestory.Itisanidealizedspace.Sittinginthecafé,theywillfeelpeacefulandcomfortable.Thecaféisaplacewheretheoldmanandtheoldwaitercanescapefromloneliness.Thecaféislighted,becauselightcanchasesawaythedark.Thecaféisclean,whichmakesthemfeelcomfortableandpeaceful.

2

·Differentattitudestowardstheoldman

Theyoungwaiter:

Theyoungwaiterisselfishandimpatient.Helooksdownupontheoldman.Hethinkstheoldmanisnasty.Heiseasilyangryandimpolitetotheoldmanbecausehewantstogobackhomeandsleepsearly.Hedoesn’tunderstandtheoldman.Heevenwantstheoldmantosuicide.

.“I’msleepynow,Inevergetintobedbeforethreeo’clock.Heshouldhavekilledhimselflastweek.”[page155]

“Iwouldn’twanttobethatold.Anoldmanisanastything.”[page157para.6]

Theoldwaiter:

Theoldwaitershowshissympathyfortheoldman,whichistotallydifferentwiththeyoungerwaiter.Heknowstheimportanceofacleanandwell-lightedplaceforthosewhoneedaplacetoescapefromlonelinessandnothingness.Heknowstheoldman’ssufferingsandwassympathizedwithhim.Hedoesn’tthinkitisbadthattheoldmanstaysinthecafélate.Herespectstheoldman.

.“Notalways.Thisoldmanisclean.Hedrinkswithoutspilling.Evennow,drunk.”[page157]

·Whoseattitudeisclosertothatoftheauthor?

Ithinktheoldwaiter’sattitudeisclosertotheauthor’sattitude.Theyoungwaiterisignorance.Hedoesn’tunderstandtheoldman’smindsohecan’tstandfortheattitudeoftheauthor.Andtheoldwaiterissympathizedwiththeoldmanandheunderstandswhattheoldmansuffers.Heknowsthelonelinessandnothingness;heknowsthelossanddespairinthelife.Sotheoldwaiter’sattitudeabouttheoldmanisclosertotheauthor‘sattitude.

·Howdoestheauthormakehisownfeelingclearlytous?

EventhoughHemingwaydoesn’teditoriallystatehisownfeelings,wecanknowclearlyfromhisstory.Wecananalyzefromthedescriptionoftheoldman.

.“notalways.Thisoldmanisclean.Hedrinkswithoutspilling.Evennow,drunk.”[page157]

Averyoldmanwalkingunsteadilybutwithdignity.[page157]

3

·Thestyleofthestory

Inthisshortstory,wecanseeaveryHemingway’swritingstyle.

Firstly,youcanhardlyfindanycomplicatedwords,phrasesorsentences.Hemingwayuseseasyandsimplewordasmanyaspossible.Hetriestocutoutanyunnecessarywords.Thewholestoryiseasytoreadbutnottounderstand.

.Itwaslateandeveryonehasleftthecaféexceptanoldmanwhosatintheshadowtheleavesofthetreemadeagainsttheelectriclight.[firstparagraph]

Secondly,thestoryconsistsofalotofdialogues.Andthesedialoguesarecolloquialandloose.

.“Hewasindespair.”

“Whatabout?

”

“Nothing.”[page155]

Thirdly,thedialogueisdeviatedfromordinaryconversationorder.

.“Hemustbeeightyyearsold.”

“AnywayIshouldsayhewaseighty.”

“Iwishhewouldgohome.Inevergettobedbeforethreeo’clock.Whatkindofhouristhattogotobed?

”（Thesethreedialoguesactuallyaresaidbytheyoungwaiter.）

·Whatrepetitionofwordsorphrasesseemparticularlyeffective?

Theword“café”appearsabout9times.Theword“nothing”appealsabout8timesandthe“Nada”appealsabout23times.“Light”appeals5times.“Cleanandpleasant”appeals3times.And“lighted（includingwell-lighted）”appealsabouttwice.

Ithinkthesewords’andphrases’repetitionsareveryeffective.Theyhaveadeepsymbolisminthestory.Forexample:

Caféstandsforapeacefulplaceintheirheart,wherecangivethemcomfort.Andthroughthisrepetitionwewillpaymoreattentiontothiswordandthinkaboutitsprofoundmeaningandsymbolism.Anotherexample:

inthestory,HemingwayusetheSpanishwordNada,thisisnotonlytoshowtheauthorwasgoodatSpanish,butalsotodrawreadersattention.Andmakesreaderthinkaboutthisword.

·WhydoyouthinkHemingwayfavorsasimplevocabulary?

IthinkthatHemingwayusesasimplevocabularybecausethewordisnotthemostimportantthingtoshowforhim.Themostimportantthinginhismindistoconveyideasabouttheworld.Andhedoesn’twantreadersspendalotoftimetoreadthestory,hewantsthereadersspendmoretimetothinkaboutwhatistheprofoundthingthestorywantstotell,andhewantsreaderstounderstandthestoryexactlybutnotjustpayattentiontotheplot.Andtheextremeshortnessmakesthepointofthestorymorepowerful.

4Thepointofviewanditsappropriateness

Thepointofviewofthestoryisthethirdpersonnarrator.

Hemingwayusesthispointofviewinordertomakeusseewhat’shappeningbothinsideandoutsideofthecharacters’minds.Wegethintsofwhat’shappeningwiththeyoungerwaiterandtheoldman.Andwecangetacloselookattheinsideoftheoldwaiter’smind,wherethetruemeaningofthestoryisrevealed.

5Thesymbolismofinsomnia

Thiswordjustappealsattheendofthestory.Whenyouareinsomniac,youcannotsleepinthenight.Andyouwilltouchtheworldmorecloselyandfeellonelier.Inthestory,insomniaisnotonlyakindofdisease,butthefeelingofloneliness,thedarknessoflifeandthesegregationfromtheworld.Itisaboutfear,nothingandloss.

6Themainideaofthestory

Thestorytalksaboutloneliness,whichHemingwayconsiderstobetheprincipaltragedyofmodernlife.Nothingisalsoanimportantthemeofthestory.Fortheoldman,nadameanshopelessness,aimlessnessandmeaninglessnessoflife.Sohechoosessuicide.Fortheoldwaiter,heunderstandsthefeelingoftheoldmanandhassympathytohim.Hecanalsofeelnothinginhislife.Asfortheyoungwaiter,hehasyouth,confidenceandajob.Hedoesn’trealizeheisalsoinnothing.Heisunawareofwhathehas.Hislifeisanotherkindofmeaninglessness.

7Elementsofthesettingofthestoryandtheatmospherethatwasbuilt

·Thephysicalsetting

.Itwaslateandeveryonehadleftthecaféexpectanoldmanwhosatintheshadowtheleavesofthetreemadeagainsttheelectriclight.Inthedaytimethestreetwasdusty,butatnightthedewsettledthedustandtheoldmanlikedtositlatebecausehewasdeafandnowatnightitwasquietandhefeltthedifference.[page154—page155]

Inthisparagraphwecanseethetime—fromdaytimetonight.Theplace—acafé,acleanandwell-lightedcafé.Anditmakesatmospherethatadifferentplacefromthedaytime.Nowtheplaceisquietandthegoodlightgivespeopleasenseofsecurityandpeace.However,italsomakespeoplealittleupsetandhopelessnessthattheoldmansitsintheshadow.

·Thementalsetting

.Somelivedinitandneverfeltitbutheknewitallwasnadaypuesnadaynadaypuesdana.Ournadawhoartinnada,nadabethynamethykingdomnadathywillbenadainnadaasitisinnada.…hailnothingfullofnothing,nothingiswiththee.[page159]

Thisistheoldwaiter’smeditationofthenadarefrain.Itmakesstressfulatmosphere.wecanfeeltheakindofnothingnesswhichyoucannotescape.Thewordsgivereadersconfusionbutyoucanfeelthelossandhugedespairclearly.

·Thesocialsetting

.“Youhaveyouth,confidence,andajob,”theoldwaitersaid.“youhaveeverything.”

“Andwhatdoyoulack?

”

“Everythingbutwork.”

“YouhaveeverythingIhave.”

“No..IhaveneverhadconfidenceandIamnotyou.”[page158]

Thisdialogueistalkingabouttheirsocialstatus.Theyoungwaiterthinksthathehasconfidenceandajob.Buttheoldwaiterthinksthathehasnothing.Thiscomparisonmakewethinkaboutwhatdotheyreallyhave.Andtheatmosphereislonely,espe