Book one

Unit Four American Dream

I Objectives

Students will be able to:

  1. understand the main idea(Tony realized his American Dream through his own efforts) and the structure of the text (one part telling the story of Tony’s life and the other giving the author’s comments on it)
  2. learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features, together with supporting details which demonstrate the features

3. master key language points and grammatical structures in the text

4. conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit

II Time Allotment

1st period: pre-reading, while-reading( text organization)

2nd period: while-reading

3rd period: while-reading

4th period: while-reading (descriptions of physical appearance)

5th period: check on students’ home reading (text B), theme-related language learning tasks

III Text Analysis

He came from a rocky farm in Italy, somewhere south of Rome.

rocky: full of rocks.(more examples: sunny, rainy, windy, etc.)

 He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.

1 inch = 0.0254m

1 foot = 0.3048m

five-foot-seven or eight: about 1.70m

It was hard to comprehend his broken English.

comprehend: understand

If someone talks in broken English, they speak slowly and make a lot of mistakes because they only know a little of the language.

I told Tony that I couldn’t afford a gardener (=I don’t have enough money to hire a gardener).

afford: (usu. with can, could or be able to) have enough money, time, space, etc.

We are able to afford a house.

I went into my house unhappy.

unhappy: Adverbial.

He sat motionless.

She went back to London, eager to see her children.

…, the lawn had been mowed, the garden(had been) weeded, and the walks (had been)swept.

Walk (countable): path for walking. A garden with many pleasant walks.

omission in this sentence

I told her of my experience the night before.

In this sentence the night before modifies my experience.

We were trying to rebuild our business and bring some of our workers back to the plants.

plant: factory. a chemical plant

I managed to work out some kind of small weekly pay.??

work out: calculate

small pay, salary

Summer passed into fall, and winds blew cold.

wind (countable): referring to its type or direction, etc. warm winds, a north wind ; (uncountable ) referring to its strength, etc. much wind, little wind

The months passed.

The definite article the？the months refers to the months of that winter？

My wife and I were delighted with what we felt was a satisfying end of the story.

what was a satisfying end of the story是what引导的名词性分句作with的宾语。we felt是插入语。

On the edge of town, he had found a house for sale, a complete wreck.

town (uncountable): go to town.

We can’t afford to. No sale.

afford: (usually with can or could) be able to do something without risk to oneself

You’re not getting a damn thing from your lot.

lot: a piece of land

From then on, it was interesting to see that any discarded odds and ends around our place — a broken screen, a bit of hardware, boards from packing — Tony would gather and take home.

discard: throw away . The underlined part is Object of gather and take.

Tony passed away.

pass away (euphemism): die

I asked our people to check on his family and see that everything was properly handled.

check on: examine something to discover if it is correct, safe, true, etc.

handle: manage, control

see (to it)that… : make sure that… See to it that you are ready on time.

He grew in stature in my mind.

stature: height of the body

This sentence means that he grew taller and taller in my mind.

Descriptions of Tony’s physical appearance

line3: He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.

lines 59-60: He seemed to stand a little straighter. He was heavier. He has a look of confidence.

line71: neatly dressed

The descriptions of Tony’s appearance show that Tony became more and more successful.

Tony’s story

Tony’s story was made up of several events and narrated according to time sequence. Students

scan the text to list the main events and circle all the time words, phrases or sentences functioning as transitional devices in this text.

Event 1: Tony worked as a help at Mr. Crawford’s house.

one evening line2

the next evening line 12

the next two days line 19

on Friday line 21

Event 2: Tony got a job clearing snow at Mr. Crawford’s factory.

Summer passed into fall line 27

one evening line28

The months passed. line32

Event 3: Tony learned to become a skilled grinder.

One day line34

Months later line39

Event 4: Tony bought a house with Mr. Crawford’s help.

A year or two passed line44

Event 5: Tony bought a farm and sent for his family in Italy

After about two years line 59

Sometime later, on a Sunday afternoon line71

Event 6: Tony passed away.

Then, during the war line77

IV Words and Expressions

  1. driveway: a compound word (see P.74)
  2. comprehend ; a problem beyond one’s comprehension
  3. turn away (turn down , turn up , turn out, turn in, turn off, turn on)
  4. assume; assumption
  5. compliment (praise) him on the work he has done
  6. work out a plan, a problem, one’s pay
  7. weekly, daily, monthly, yearly
  8. helpful, helpless (hopeless, hopeful, useless, useful, etc.)
  9. a man with determination. I am determined to succeed.
  10. She has an enormous capacity for hard work. A hall with capacity(容纳量) of 2000
  11. micrometer, micro-
  12. precision; precise
  13. instrument: 仪器，尤指用于干精细活或科学工作中用的器械等appliance：多指电器 electrical appliances。equipment：设备，装备 facilities：设施，辅助物。sports facilities, eg, swimming pools
  14. This house is for sale.
  15. call on (call for: need； call off: cancel )
  16. character, A is characteristic of B, A characterizes B(A是B的特征)
  17. discard: throw away
  18. hardware, software
  19. spot, on the spot: then and there
  20. to have a look of confidence; He is self-confident.
  21. amaze: surprise. Amazement
  22. go on a diet(to lose weight for example)
  23. abandon, give up, desert
  24. sponsor
  25. approach the house
  26. pass away: die (euphemism)
  27. handle a problem
  28. tractor, tract: draw (attract, attractive, attraction, abstract)
  29. principle, principal
  30. vision, television
  31. optimism, optimist
  32. above all
  33. integrity
  34. giant
  35. create, creative, creation
V Cultural notes
1.The American Dream: What do those words mean? money, power, freedom, equal rights,
immigrant, from cabin to White House
2. depression days, economic depression(euphemism): economic crisis
VI Assignment
Describe a person.

Outline:

1. Who is the person you are about to describe?

2.What are the person’s central characteristic features?

3. Give examples to illustrate these features.

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