新大學(xué)英語精讀6 LessonSixDeathofaPig 小豬之死

1、lesson six death of a pigi. background information 1) the norton sampler: the text was selected from the norton sampler , 3rd edition, edited by thomas cooley, new york and london :w.w. norton & company,1985. the norton sampler is a rhetorically arranged collection of short essays for compositio

2、n. it echoes the cloth samplers once done in colonial america, presenting the basic patterns of writing for students to practice just as schoolchildren once practiced their stitches and abcs on needlework samplers. the edition shows students that description, narration, and the other patterns of exp

3、osition are not just abstract concepts used in composition classrooms but are in fact the way we thinkand write. the norton sampler contains 63 carefully chosen readingsclassics as well as more recent pieces, essays along with a few real-world textsall demonstrating how writers use the modes of disc

4、ourse for many varied beautifully written, demonstrating its own lessons about good writing. students will find the book accessible and inspiring.2) e. b. white (1899-1985): leading american essayist and literary stylist of his time, white was known for his crisp, graceful, relaxed style. "no o

5、ne can write a sentence like white," james thurber once stated. white's stories ranged from satire to children's fiction. while he often wrote from the perspective of slightly ironic onlooker, he also was a sensitive spokesman for the freedom of the individual. 2. about pigswhy did e. b

6、. white choose to write about a pig? did his stories really happen? read the answers in this letter, which he wrote to all kids everywhere shortly before his death. dear reader: as for charlotte's web, i like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. one day when i was on

7、 my way to feed the pig, i began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. this made me sad. so i started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. i had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. gradually i worked

8、 the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm. three years after i started writing it, it was published. (i am not a fast worker, as you can see.) yours sincerely, e. b. white ii discourse analyses1. the main idea of the text.by recording the last few days h

9、e spent with his pig, e. b. white empathized with his ailing pig. his role was changed, from the butcher in winter to the pigs friend and physician and his feeling of caring, sorry and sympathies were revealed vividly. besides, he conveyed in his message that for humans or animals, time is painfully

10、 one-directional: the lost life can never return.2. the outline of the textpart i （pp 1-14） i bought a pig in the mid-september and i noticed something wrong with the pig. (pp 13) using the backshift way of description to tell my pig died and my feeling towards it. (pp. 414) with the time sequence,

11、the author described how they treated the sick pig after noticing it was illpart ii (pp15-35) my pig was suspected to got a fatal disease and the coming of doctor mcfarland (pp15-30) i phoned the doctor and the doctor suspected that erysipelas has to be considered. (pp 31-35) the doctors examination

12、 of the pig and my feeling of relief.part iii (pp3641) the death of my pig and his burial. (pp 3637) my pigs last activities and final death (pp.3940) my dogs burialiii. detailed study of the textpart 1 (pp 1-14)1. ailing adj. somewhat ill e.g.he was still ailing, it was said, and the squire nursed

13、him like the proverbial woman. 2. things might easily have gone the other way round:things might easily have happened in the opposite way, say, i died at last, and the pig lived.3. recall; recollectrecall: to remember; to revoke; to take back (verbs); the ability to remember (noun)recollect: to reca

14、ll to mind, rememberhe tried to recall how the faulty design had been tested. the company recalled all contracts until a new design could be implemented. general motors recalled their defective automobiles. he had total recall of all the meetings. workers could not recollect a worse catastrophe for

15、their company. 4. this uncertainty afflicts me with a sense of personal deterioration; if i were in decent health i would know how many nights i had sat up with a pig:the fact that i cannot remember exactly when the pig died shows that my health is deteriorating. otherwise, i would be able to rememb

16、er. notice the humor conveyed by the solemn tone as if the event was of great historical importance.5. afflict; inflictafflict: cause distressinflict: impose something unpleasante.g.jack was afflicted with running sores. jack wanted to know why god inflicted pain and sorrow on him.6. decent waiting

17、for a decent death.活著就是為了死的時(shí)候體面一點(diǎn)it was decent of her to help the homeless.   她幫助無家可歸的人，真是可敬。 i am a decent girl ! -我是正經(jīng)人家的女孩 he spent three years in a sweatshop before he found a decent job.他在一家血汗工廠做了三年才找到一份像樣的工作。his fi

18、rst novel was a flash in the pan, and he hasn't written anything decent since.他的第一部小說如曇花一現(xiàn)，此後他再沒寫出像樣的東西。the director of my factory was very decent about my being away when my wife was ill.我妻子病時(shí), 我告假回家去, 廠長對我是相當(dāng)寬容和照顧的。 the new manager is pretty decent to us.新上任的經(jīng)理對我們相當(dāng)和氣。he's done the decent

19、thing and resigned.他做了件體面的事, 辭職了.we must provide decent housing for the poor.我們必須為窮苦人提供適當(dāng)?shù)淖》?the lack of decent public transport is a great disadvantage.沒有適當(dāng)?shù)墓步煌üぞ呤呛懿环奖愕?you can't have good acting without a decent script.沒有像樣的劇本是不可能有好的表演的。his behavior is so awful that he ought to be drummed out

20、 of decent society.他的舉止如此低俗，應(yīng)該把他從文雅的社會中驅(qū)逐出去。his flippancy makes it difficult to have a decent conversation with him.他玩世不恭, 很難正經(jīng)地和他交談.ragged jeans are not very decent to wear to a ball. 穿著破舊的牛仔褲在舞會 上顯得不太得體. most university graduates consider white-collared position as decent jobs. 絕大多數(shù)大學(xué)畢業(yè)生 都認(rèn)為白領(lǐng)職位是體

21、面 的工作.7. it is a tragedy enacted on most farms with perfect fidelity to the original script:the raising of a pig is like a tragedy, because it always ends in the killing of the pig, and the set patternbuying, raising and butchering is strictly followed on most farms. notice here the author follows h

22、is metaphor, saying that most farmers never change the patternthe procedure of the buying, feeding and killing of a pig remains the same.8. enact - act out; represent or perform as if in a play e.g.she hated to re-enact the character in the play.she often enacted the stories told by her father.9. fi

23、delity: a fidelity is loyalty to a person, organization, or a set of beliefs.e.g.fidelity to engagement is a virtue信守諾言是一種美德。his fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion他的盡職及勤奮使他很快地得到晉升。10. premeditate: v. consider, ponder, or plan (an action) beforehand e.g.the crime was premeditated.犯罪是預(yù)

24、謀好的。 she carefully premeditated each step of her plan.她仔細(xì)地考慮她的每步計(jì)劃。11. in the first degreee.g.murder in the first second, third degree謀故、誤殺 m-! (驚呼聲)殺人啦!a principal in the first second degree【律】主從犯12. the murder, being premeditated, is in the first degree but is quick and skillful, and the smoked ba

25、con and harm provided a ceremonial ending whose fitness is seldom questioned:the tragedy has an endingthe killing of a pig and the serving of its meat. the killing, deliberately planned and carried out efficiently, is the most type of murder. however, whether pigs should end their lives that way has

26、 never been questioned. notice the humorous use of the legal term “premeditated”. 13. once in a while something goes wrong one of the actors goes up in his lines and whole performance stumbles and halts:the metaphor is carried on. occasionally something goes wrong. one of the actors in the play, in

27、my case, the pig, performs its part too early, thus creating the chaos, and the whole play has to stop. the author humorously introduces the premature death of his pig.14. the classic outline of the tragedy was lost:what is the classic outline of the tragedy ?to buy a piglet in spring, feed it throu

28、gh summer and fall, and butcher it in winter. in other words, the pig is not supposed to be sick any time in between.15. i found myself cast suddenly in the role of pigs friend and physiciana farcical character with an enema bag for a prop:the author was suddenly made to play the role of the pigs fr

29、iends and physicianhe had to take care of the pig when it got sickwhereas originally he was supposed to be the butcher.16. cast: throw: to place actors in roles; players in a play or movie e.g.they often cast loving glances. 他們常常傳送秋波.the cast bowed as the audience. applauded. 演員們向鼓掌的觀眾鞠躬.the directo

30、r cast me as a scientist.導(dǎo)演選派我扮演科學(xué)家。17. this was slapstickthe sort of dramatic treatment that instantly appealed to my old dachshund, fred, who joined the vigil, held the bag, and when all was over, presided at the interment:the whole matter of the pig getting sick and me taking care of it was like

31、crude comedy, but my dog liked it very muchhe did not miss any part of it; he was there when i stayed awake during the night to take care of the pig ; he was there to hold the enema bag during medical treatment; he was even in charge of the burial after the pig died.18. slapstick: a rough play in wh

32、ich the humor depends on physical actions rather than on the clever use of language19. when we slid the body into the grave, we both were shaken to the core:the author feels deeply upset. notice the pomposity of the language and the exaggeration used to create humor.20. but im running ahead of my st

33、ory and shall have to go back:this sentence concludes the summary, and prepares the reader for the complete story.21. overhang - project over e.g.the tall trees overhang the road.22. rail fence23. a pig couldnt ask for anything betteror none has, at any rate: a pig couldnt ask for better living cond

34、ition; at least no pig has ever complained. notice the humor herea pig couldnt speak; therefore it couldnt let us know whether it was contented with its living conditions or not.24. there is never any identification needed on a country phone; the person on the other end knows who is talking by the s

35、ound the voice and by the character of the question:it is a small village and everyone knows everyone else. therefore you dont have to say who you are when you talk to someone on the phone.25. henry says roll him over on his back and give him two ounces of castor oil or sweet oil, and if that doesnt

36、 do the trick give him an injection of soapy water:they didnt even bother to check what was wrong with the pig and decided on the treatment straight away, as if the only disease a pig could suffer from was indigestion. castor oil, sweet oil and soapy water are all for the purpose of having the vomit

37、 and thus solving indigestion.26. do the trick: provide a solution; give the desired result e.g.if we use a piece of cork it might stop the leaking and do the trick. i have a fever. can the tablet do the trick?27. though: ad. (postpositive) howevere.g.he said he would come, he didnt, though.  他

38、說他要來，可是并沒有來。she promised to phone. i heard nothing, though.  她答應(yīng)要打電話來. 可我沒聽到回信兒.4.i expect you're right i'll ask him, though.  我認(rèn)為你說得對-我去問問他也好.28. catch up on: if you catch up on an activity that you have not had much time todo recently, you spend time doing it. e.g.i was catching

39、up on doing a bit reading, as i was fully engaged in the past two weeks.29. odds and ends: a group of small objects of different types which are not very valuable or important one good thing i got done at the office today was to clean up my desk. i'd let so many odds and ends pile up that you co

40、uld scarcely see the desk itself. but i got busy and took care of everything."30. unconsciously i held off, for an hour, the deedthe even succession of days. i wanted no interruption, wanted no oil, no deviation.the author uses parallelism (no interruption in the regularity of feeding, the stea

41、diness of growth, the even succession of days; no interruption, no oil, no deviation) to emphasize, or so it seems, that he was unwilling to accept the failure of his “scheme”.31. hold off: to stop or delay doing something e.g.let's hold off until we have more data.the rain held off just long en

42、ough for us to have our picnic.  雨一時(shí)下不起來，我們有足夠的時(shí)間吃完野餐。could you hold off (making) your decision until next week?  你可以推遲到下星期再做決定嗎? 32. desultory - marked by lack of definite plan or regularity or purpose; jumping from one thing to another; (purposeless)e.g.he broke into a desultory chat wit

43、h me over his business affairs.  他突然開始和我漫無邊際地談起他的生意來了。32. roll by: move awaye.g.i am sure that our difficulties are only temporary. we must wait until the clouds roll by.  我相信我們的困難是暫時(shí)的，我們一定要等待時(shí)機(jī)。he waited and waited till the clouds rolled by.  他等了又等，直到時(shí)機(jī)到來。33. summon: ask to come; gat

44、her or bring togethere.g.he summoned his soldiers to fight.  他號召部下戰(zhàn)斗。the shareholders were summoned to a general meeting.  那些股東被召集去叁加股東大會。i was summoned by my boss (to explain my actions).  老板把我召去（要我對自己的行為做出解釋）.34. clothesline: a cord, rope, or wire on which clothes may be hung to dry

45、 or air.e.g. its a skid-proof clotheslinefrom the department store.35. listless: marked by low spirits; showing no enthusiasm (=dispirited)e.g.and between the trees appeared one or two street lamps, listless as the eyes of someone drowsy.樹縫里也漏著一兩點(diǎn)路燈光，沒精打采的，是渴睡人的眼。 at last, she asked listlessly, “is

46、that you?” 36. right - regain an upright or proper position (change posture)e.g.the capsized boat righted again.the half-drunk man finally righted himself and sat in chair with a forced smile.37. in the upset position the corners of his mouth had been turned down, giving him a frowning expression: t

47、his is a vivid description of the pigs facial expression ( as is a pig was capable of giving a facial expression) during the treatment, which shows that he didnt like it.38. they did not look troublesome but at the same time they did not look like mere surface bruises or chafe marks, rather they see

48、med blemishes of internal origin:those small dark spots immediately puzzled and worried the author. although they didnt seem too serious, they were not bruises caused by external force but were symptoms of internal illness.39. rehearse: to practice in preparation for a public performance (= practice

49、)e.g.he rehearsed the interview in his mind beforehand.他把面試時(shí)要講的話預(yù)先想好了.if you can rehearse it 10 times in front of others, it will eventually become a good presentation. ask the listeners to comment on your presentation. 40. list of words ending with -someadventuresome; awesome; blithesome;boresome;

50、bothersome; burdensome; cuddlesome; cumbersomedarksome; delightsome; dolesome; eyesome;fearsome; gamesome; gladsome; gleesome;handsome; irksome; lightsome; lonesome; longsome; meddlesome; nettlesome; quarrelsome; tiresome; toothsome;toilsome; troublesome; unhandsome; unwholesome; venturesome;weariso

51、me; wholesome; winsome; worrisome41. at someone elses expense: (humorous) being a guest at someone elses expense. the author had just had a good dinner at his friends place.42. crave - have a craving, appetite, or great desire for e.g.by this time the inner man began to crave nourishment.到這個(gè)時(shí)候，肚子開始咕

52、咕叫著要吃東西了。he knows that if they trust him, he can give them the happiness which they crave.他認(rèn)識到如果他們信賴他，他能夠把他們所熱切渴望的幸福賜與他們。43. lusty; lustfullusty: full of strength or vitalitylustful: full of strong drive, desire, or enjoyment, especially strong sexual desiree.g.the lustful sailors were driven upon t

53、he rocks by the siren's song. the team broke the huddle with a lusty yell. 44. vicarious: experienced through the actions of other peoplee.g.his success gave her vicarious pleasure. 他的成功給她如同身受的快樂。he got a vicarious thrill out of watch his son score the winning goal.他看著兒子射入一球獲勝，也感到同樣興奮。part ii (1

54、5-35) the process of treating the ailing pig. 1. dachshund2. made many professional calls on his own:the dog would often even visit the pig by himself as if he were a doctor or nurse. notice the humorous use of the word “professional”.3. bedridden: confined to bed (by illness) e.g.they were bedridde

55、n all of wednesday and thursday, and seemed to grow more and more tired and worn, all the time. 4. you could see him sown there at al hours, his white face parting the grass along the fence as he wobbled and stumbled about, his stethoscope danglinga happy quack, writing his villainous prescriptions

56、and grinning his corrosive gin:fred was quite excited about the event. he was down at the pigpen all the time. because of his swollen joints, he moved about unsteadily. his face set apart the grass along the fence as he moves about. he was like a doctor, with his long, dropping ears dangling like a

57、stethoscope, and he scrabbled on the ground as if he were prescribing some medicine.5. quack - an untrained person who pretends to be a physician and who dispenses medical advice e.g.he is a quack doctor.他是個(gè)庸醫(yī)。don't be taken in he's just a quack.可別上當(dāng)-他純粹是江湖醫(yī)生.6. corrosive - of a substance, e

58、specially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action e.g.rust and acids are corrosive.銹與酸都是腐蝕性的。the calling of a man's self to a strict account, is a medicine, sometimes too piercing and corrosive.一個(gè)人的嚴(yán)厲自責(zé)是一種有時(shí)過于猛烈，蝕力過強(qiáng)的藥品。 7. when the enema bag appeared, and the bucket of warm suds, his happiness was complete, and he managed to squeeze his enormous body between the two lowest rails of the yards and then assumed full charge of the