UNIT 12
A Winter to Remember
I. General Understanding of the Text
This is a short piece of narrative writing about an unforgettable winter. Millions have gone through winter s over and over again but few have experienced a winter as is described in the passage. How does the writer succeed in conveying the uniqueness of this particular, never-to-be forgotten winter?
1. The write carefully selects a subject which has made a clear impression on him and wants to evoke sympathy from the reader. He aims at telling the reader about the suffering experienced in the extreme cold by establishing the situation in the first two short introductory paragraphs.
2. He tries to convey a distinct impression of the extreme cold both outside and inside by setting out specific and concrete details. It is precisely the mention of such particular things as definite colors and sounds, and specific action and attitudes of people that awaken the reader’s interest and win his sympathy.
(1) Color—Vivid metaphors are used to show how the early beauty of the snowfall has been changed into something harsh and ugly, e.g.,
A spotless white canopy
Ugly lumps of grimy concrete
(2) sound—a number of phrases help to express the sound effects associated with the severe winter which caused discomfort and inconvenience, e.g.,
A whistling stream of cold air
Tramping to and from the farm
(3) actions —a series of everyday occurrences are mentioned to emphasize the severity of the cold, e.g., children having snowball fights, feeding birds with leftovers, people lugging buckets of water, plumbers repairing pipes.
(4) attitude—the description of the attitude of some members of the family towards the severe winter holds the reader’s interest, e.g., the youngest son promptly taking the water all the way back to the farm, the writer stooping down furiously to pick up the eggs.
(5) sight—last but not least, some “sights” are described to add to the vividness of the event, e.g., water squirting from pipes in half a dozen places.
3. The writer skillfully uses description within the narration. In other words, description is closely woven into the whole passage. The effects of a severe winter are described in detail.
Examples:
(1) the hungry birds growing tamer day by day in search of food
(2) the streams of cold air finding their way into the house
(3) every family trying to buy oil-stoves for more heating
(4) everyone wearing overcoats in the house
(5) the water frozen in the bucket while being carried
(6) the frozen eggs dropped but not broken
4. The writer adopts a subjective and informal style, with the exception of the third paragraph, which is a good example of a literary descriptive style. The first plural we is used throughout to give an informal tone. Phrases like on and off, round about, pretty cold, lugging buckets of water, carting buckets of water are more characteristic of speech than writing. One of the sentences in Paragraph 5 is quite long, i.e.,
“We tried to buy a number of oil-stoves to keep these rooms warm…—which, of course, was a great comfort.”
This sentence consists of no less than eight clauses and is rather loose in structure. However, the ideas conveyed in this sentence are not really complicated.
5. The writer adopts a dry, ironic and self-mocking tone towards the difficulties of this harsh winter. (Irony is a kind of writing technique in which words or actions are seen as conveying the opposite of their surface significance.) The ironic humor in the passage helps to grip the reader’s interest. The writer’s sense of humor, which is kept under all circumstances, can be seen in the following instances.
(1) The write ruses personification to portray the heating system as if it were human. “Our heating system proved both inadequate and unco-operative because occasionally it simply went on strike.”
Here the write implies that “things” as well as nature are ganging up on him to make life as unpleasant as possible.
(2) He uses an ironic understatement to suggest that he can retain his sense of humor in the face his son’s obvious stupidity.
“…and our youngest son—not the most intelligent of youths—promptly took it all the way back to the farm.”
(3) He employs ironic overstatement to show that he can smile at his troubles.
“The plumber undoubtedly saved us from drowning. I have been devoted to plumbers ever since.”
II. Duration of Time:
Six periods
III. Objectives
On completion of the unit, students are expected to understand the techniques of subjective and informal style ( a literary descriptive style) and the dry, ironic and self-mocking tone.
IV. Difficult Points
The most significant points are devices employed to achieve the subjective, informal style and dry, ironic and self-mocking tone.
1. devices to achieve the style: the first person plural we
2. devices to achieve the tone:
A. personification
B. ironic understatement
C. ironic overstatement
V. Teaching Procedures
A. Ask students to talk about their experiences (likes and dislikes) of cold winter and then naturally bring out the topic of the text—a cold winter which deserves to be remembered.
B. Ask students to guess the main idea of the text, then tell them to go over the text rapidly once without worrying about the new words and phrases. The suggested time limit is 5 minutes.
C. Ask students to sum up the main idea of the text and do comprehension exercise on pages 149-150
Keys: B. B. B. A. D. A. D. D. B. A. D. C.
D. Do the vocabulary exercise on page 147.
Key: Section A: d. g. h. a. i. j. b. e. c. f.
Section B: 1. nearly; 2. mercilessly; 3. garden with plants spread out in all directions; 4. covering; 5. a mark left by pressure; 6. covered with a dark dirt; 7. uneaten food left after a meal; 8. examination and repair; 9. pull or carry with great effort and difficulty; 10. disorderly and dirty things that remain; 11. become warm enough for snow and ice to melt; 12. carry in a two-wheeled/four-wheeled vehicle pulled by an animal or pulled /pushed by hand
E. Details of the text.
(1) in living memory: remembered by people still alive
(2) in the depths of the country: in the very remote or far-flung part of the country. The depths of the country are the parts of the countryside which hare far from cities and towns. The depths (plural) may also mean “the deepest or the worst part of something”,
i.e. in the depths of the ocean, in the depths of winter, in the depths of despair
(3) on and off: from time to time
(4) approximately: nearly
(5) be thrilled: be very excited and overjoyed
thriller: something that makes people feel excited and overjoyed
(6) relentlessly: severely or cruelly; in the text it means continuously
(7) rambling garden: a garden in which plants grow loosely in all directions; garden overgrown with plants
(8) smooth over: a. be made even and flat
b. make difficulties seem small or unimportant
i.e. he managed to smooth over the bad feelings between his wife and daughter.
(9) spotless: very clean
(10) canopy: covering
(11) scrap: a tiny piece
(12) delicate: finely made
(13) churn up: turn upside down, scour
(14) set in: begin and continue
i.e. When autumn came, cold days set in.
(15) grimy concrete: (metaphor) hard ice covered with dark-colored dirt like cement
(16) lay in a grip of iron: were hardened by ice
(17) tame: docile, easy to control
(18) chop up: cut small, mince into small pieces
(19) leftovers: food that left after eating
(20) uncooperative: (personification) not working
(21) overhauling: thorough exam and repair
(22) went on strike: (personification) (the central heating) did not work
(23) sell out: sell all of goods in stock
(24) lug: carry / pull, carry with great effort
(25) promptly: quickly
(26) stoop: bend
(27) furiously: very angrily
fury: n.
(28) come to no harm: is not broken
(29) thaw: (of ice) become warm and melt
(30) squirt: force out in a thin fast stream
(31) be devoted to plumbers: showing great fondness or loyalty; caring a great deal
i.e. a devoted father or friend
He is very devoted to his wife
Most of our meeting were devoted to discussing the housing problem.
VI. Oral Work
Role-play: My Favourite Season
Situation: Two students of English, Zhang and Li, talk about their favourite season in the year. Zhang likes spring best while Li prefers autumn
VI. Exercises in Workbook.