Unit 10
Text 1
郧阳师专英语系综合英语教研室
Guiding tips
? Background Information
? About the Author
? Introduction of the Text
? Comprehensive
Questions
? Language Points
? Discussion
? Homework
Background Information(1)
Education in Britain(1)
? Education in the United Kingdom is
compulsory for everyone between the
ages of five to sixteen,This is the
absolute minimum length of time that
students attend educational
establishments,Increasingly,children
attend nursery schools at the age of
three or four,and more Britons every
year are staying in education after the
age of sixteen,Educational institutions
are expanding fast to meet the
increased demands.
There are two parallel school systems
in the UK,the state system,where
education is provided free; the
independent system,where parents
normally pay fees,About one in
thirteen of British school-age children
goes through the independent system.
Education in Britain(2)
Britain has a National Curriculum---a statement of the
minimum learning requirement of all children at each
stage in their education,This curriculum is compulsory in
the state system,Independent schools are not bound by
it,but in practice most of them teach what the National
Curriculum demands.
About forty percent go on to Further Education colleges
from the state or independent sectors,Students who
choose to continue their education want to go to a
university or university sector college to do a degree,A-
level and AS-levels in GCSE (General Certificate of
Secondary Education )are still the most common
entrance qualifications for students in the UK.
Background Information(2)
About Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
? English poet,one of the most important figures
in English literature,His masterpiece,in which
he achieved his fullest artistic power,is The
Canterbury Tales,This unfinished poem,about
17,000 lines,is one of the most brilliant works
in all literature,The poem introduces a group pf
pilgrims journeying from London to Canterbury,
To help pass the time they decide to tell stories,
Together,the stories represent a wide cross
section of 14th-century English life.
Background Information (3)
phrases of,thumb”(1)
? 1.Under one’s thumb,under
one’s control 在某人支配 (控制 )
下
? e.g,I can’t tell you what pain I
feel when I see how much my
mother is under my father’s
thumb.
? 2.All thumbs (fingers),clumsy,
unable to hold it,fingers feel
like thumbs手脚不灵巧,笨拙
? E.g,When I try to sew a button
on my shirt,I’m all thumbs.
? 3.Green thumb,good gardener,
naturally good with plants绿手
指,指种植花木蔬菜的高超技能
? e.g,Willie is the green thumb
in our group,He is the
gardener.
Phrases of,thumb”(2)
? 4.by thumb,to someone by
stopping the driver to give you
a lift以免费搭车的方式
? E.g,He traveled to other parts
of the country by thumb
? 5.thumb down; reject,not
accept反对
? E.g,He tends to thumb down
all my best ideas.
? 6.thumb up,approve,be for
sth,赞成
? E.g,The chairman thumbed up
our plan.
? 7.twiddle one’s thumbs,to do
nothing while you wait
impatiently for sth,to happen闲
着无事
? E.g,For the next half hour I
was twiddling my thumbs
waiting for my friends to arrive.
Phrases of,thumb”(3)
? 8.thumb through,turn the
pages of a book,magazine
etc,without reading much of it
快速浏览
E.g,She thumbed through the
guidebook,looking for
somewhere to visit in the
afternoon.
? 9.thumb one’s nose at,behave
in a way that you do not care
what they think蔑视
? E.g,He has always thumbed
his nose at the media.
? 10.stick out like a sore
thumb,very noticeable
because they are unusual or
inappropriate显得十分不自然,
不合适
? E.g,The ugly painting stuck
out like a sore thumb in the art
gallery.
About the Author
? Edward Blishen(1920-
),British novelist,
autobiographer,writer of
children’ s fiction,and
writer in the field of
education,He has been
working as an editor for
the Junior Press
Encyclopaedia,London,
since 1961.The text is an
extract from one of his
publication Roaring
Boys(1955).
Introduction of the Text(1)
organization and development(1)
? The text is a short and amusing story which vividly describes how a
fledgling substitute teacher tries to keep a class of unruly boys under
control,The story has an artistic outset---direct quotation of the
headmaster’s instruction which relates to the title---the thumb,a pun
of double meanings,
? The body of the text is a detailed account of the interaction between
the teacher and the students---the teacher,timid and incompetent,
tries all his means to bring the class into order while the students,
mischievous and arrogant,disregard all classroom disciplines,
? The story ends with a climax of the conflict in which the young
teacher takes up a book on Chaucer,which he intends to read to the
class but is mistaken for the Bible---a proof of the giant boys as
intellectual dwarfs.
Introduction of the Text
writing features of the text
? The text is a short narrative piece of writing which vividly
and amusingly relates how a young inexperienced
stand-in teacher attempts to control a class that has
frightened away a succession of substitutes for their own
teachers,The writer is particular successful in his
effective use of comic exaggeration,The narrative is
convincing due to the writer’s excellent description of a
situation totally out of control,and vivid due to the
writer’s keen observation of the behavior of a young and
inexperienced teacher when his authority is threatened,
? Many rhetorical devices are employed in this text,simile,
metaphor,striking contrast,parallelism,etc.
Comprehensive Questions
? 1.Why do you think the writer felt pale when he saw the
headmaster’s thumb?
? (The headmaster’s thumb looked like a short and thick
cudgel to the writer,He felt pale,perhaps because
1) he was astonished to be told that he had to keep the
pupils under control by force;
2)compared with the headmaster’s huge thumb,his own
thumb was quite small; so he felt embarrassed for being
not so manly as the headmaster)
? 2.Why did the writer regret apologizing to the boy in the
hall?
? (He regretted doing so because it was the boy,and not
he himself,who was in the wrong,The boy was running
in the hall,which was obviously against the rules and
regulations of the school,He had bumped into the
teacher and nearly knocked him over,Instead of
scolding the boy,the writer apologized,This showed his
lack of self-confidence and his fear of the boys.)
? 3.What does the writer mean by,one desk was chasing
another”?
? (The writer is trying to tell us that the boys were fighting,
they were using their desks as weapons.)
? 4.Why did the writer say,The air was full of pieces of
chalks,a strange rain of it”?
? (Some other pupils used chalk as a weapon in their fight,The
classroom smelt of chalk and pieces of chalk flew about in the air
and dropped to the floor.)
? 5.why did the teacher fail to keep the class under his thumb in the
history lesson?
? (He failed to do so probably because of the following reasons:
1)He lacked self-confidence,He trembled on the way to the
classroom.
2)He had little experience in teaching,He didn’t know how to keep
discipline in the classroom,He felt angry as nobody seemed to take
any notice of him,Then in order to show his authority as a teacher,
he shouted at the whole class,Actually he should have spoken
calmly and in a more appropriate manner,He felt totally at a loss
what to do in front of the enormous,roaring boys,He blushed and
yelled in turn,which made the class,even the studious-looking boy,
look down on him.
3)He didn’t seem to know much
about methodology or the way
to conduct a class skillfully,He
produced a book on Chaucer,
a big and academic-looking
book,with the intention of
giving the boys a favorable
opinion of him but the result
proved just the opposite.
4)He was not patient enough as a
teacher,He was too easily
shocked,stung,hurt and
frightened.)
Language Points
? 1.A succession of startled substitutes had
stood before them,ducked,winced and fled.
? a succession of,a number of persons or things
following on one after another一连串,一系列,e.g.
? A succession of unexpected visitors came to our
department on the first day of school.
Last summer there was a succession of
uncomfortable hot days.
The worst misfortune that befell her was to bear
a succession of girls.
? Paraphrase,a number of
teachers,one after another,
took the place of their own
teacher,none of them
remained calm in front of them,
They draw back in fear,felt
frightened,unable to deal with
the situation,and finally left in
a hurry.
? 2.It was plain the headmaster
thought they had got nowhere.
? It’s plain that,it’s obvious that
e.g.
It’s plain that he did not wish to
continue.
? 3.Indeed that was the worst of it---
that these improprieties couldn’t
be nailed down.
nail sth,down,literally means,fix
something firmly, and figuratively
means,establish clearly and
unmistakably”,E.g.
nail sth,down,define sth,
precisely
e.g,Hard figures are impossible to
nail down.
nail sb,down,make sb,say
precisely what he believes or
wants to do e.g.
What does she want? I can never
nail her down (to anything).
? 4.I managed to make out that mixed up with these
giants was a certain amounts of furniture.
? Make out,to see or understand with difficulty e.g.
? I can’t make out what she wants.
? I can just make out the writing on the blackboard.
? 5.My voice trailed away,my voice became gradually
fainter and stopped at last.
? trail away/off,(of sb’s speech )gradually become quieter
and then stop,esp,because of shyness,confusion etc.
? E.g,Her voice trailed away in shyness.
? His interest in the work soon trailed off.
? 6.I was toying inwardly with
ideas of thunderbolts,
earthquakes,mass execution,
? toy with sth.1)consider sth,idly
or without serious intent
? E.g,I’ve been toying with the
idea of moving abroad.
? toy with sth.,2)handle or
move sth,carelessly or absent-
mindedly
? E.g,She was just toy with her
food,as if she wasn’t really
hungry.
? 6.I was shocked to the core.
? To the core,right to the center;
absolutely
? E.g.The apple is rotten to the
core.
? Her refusal shocked us to the
core.
? He is honest to the core.
Discussion
? Is it right for anybody
to keep somebody
under his thumb?
Would you like to be
kept under
somebody’s thumb?
? Supposing you were
a teacher,what will
you do to keep a
group of unruly
students under your
thumb?
Homework
? Review text 1.
? Finish the exercises
on workbook.
Text 1
郧阳师专英语系综合英语教研室
Guiding tips
? Background Information
? About the Author
? Introduction of the Text
? Comprehensive
Questions
? Language Points
? Discussion
? Homework
Background Information(1)
Education in Britain(1)
? Education in the United Kingdom is
compulsory for everyone between the
ages of five to sixteen,This is the
absolute minimum length of time that
students attend educational
establishments,Increasingly,children
attend nursery schools at the age of
three or four,and more Britons every
year are staying in education after the
age of sixteen,Educational institutions
are expanding fast to meet the
increased demands.
There are two parallel school systems
in the UK,the state system,where
education is provided free; the
independent system,where parents
normally pay fees,About one in
thirteen of British school-age children
goes through the independent system.
Education in Britain(2)
Britain has a National Curriculum---a statement of the
minimum learning requirement of all children at each
stage in their education,This curriculum is compulsory in
the state system,Independent schools are not bound by
it,but in practice most of them teach what the National
Curriculum demands.
About forty percent go on to Further Education colleges
from the state or independent sectors,Students who
choose to continue their education want to go to a
university or university sector college to do a degree,A-
level and AS-levels in GCSE (General Certificate of
Secondary Education )are still the most common
entrance qualifications for students in the UK.
Background Information(2)
About Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
? English poet,one of the most important figures
in English literature,His masterpiece,in which
he achieved his fullest artistic power,is The
Canterbury Tales,This unfinished poem,about
17,000 lines,is one of the most brilliant works
in all literature,The poem introduces a group pf
pilgrims journeying from London to Canterbury,
To help pass the time they decide to tell stories,
Together,the stories represent a wide cross
section of 14th-century English life.
Background Information (3)
phrases of,thumb”(1)
? 1.Under one’s thumb,under
one’s control 在某人支配 (控制 )
下
? e.g,I can’t tell you what pain I
feel when I see how much my
mother is under my father’s
thumb.
? 2.All thumbs (fingers),clumsy,
unable to hold it,fingers feel
like thumbs手脚不灵巧,笨拙
? E.g,When I try to sew a button
on my shirt,I’m all thumbs.
? 3.Green thumb,good gardener,
naturally good with plants绿手
指,指种植花木蔬菜的高超技能
? e.g,Willie is the green thumb
in our group,He is the
gardener.
Phrases of,thumb”(2)
? 4.by thumb,to someone by
stopping the driver to give you
a lift以免费搭车的方式
? E.g,He traveled to other parts
of the country by thumb
? 5.thumb down; reject,not
accept反对
? E.g,He tends to thumb down
all my best ideas.
? 6.thumb up,approve,be for
sth,赞成
? E.g,The chairman thumbed up
our plan.
? 7.twiddle one’s thumbs,to do
nothing while you wait
impatiently for sth,to happen闲
着无事
? E.g,For the next half hour I
was twiddling my thumbs
waiting for my friends to arrive.
Phrases of,thumb”(3)
? 8.thumb through,turn the
pages of a book,magazine
etc,without reading much of it
快速浏览
E.g,She thumbed through the
guidebook,looking for
somewhere to visit in the
afternoon.
? 9.thumb one’s nose at,behave
in a way that you do not care
what they think蔑视
? E.g,He has always thumbed
his nose at the media.
? 10.stick out like a sore
thumb,very noticeable
because they are unusual or
inappropriate显得十分不自然,
不合适
? E.g,The ugly painting stuck
out like a sore thumb in the art
gallery.
About the Author
? Edward Blishen(1920-
),British novelist,
autobiographer,writer of
children’ s fiction,and
writer in the field of
education,He has been
working as an editor for
the Junior Press
Encyclopaedia,London,
since 1961.The text is an
extract from one of his
publication Roaring
Boys(1955).
Introduction of the Text(1)
organization and development(1)
? The text is a short and amusing story which vividly describes how a
fledgling substitute teacher tries to keep a class of unruly boys under
control,The story has an artistic outset---direct quotation of the
headmaster’s instruction which relates to the title---the thumb,a pun
of double meanings,
? The body of the text is a detailed account of the interaction between
the teacher and the students---the teacher,timid and incompetent,
tries all his means to bring the class into order while the students,
mischievous and arrogant,disregard all classroom disciplines,
? The story ends with a climax of the conflict in which the young
teacher takes up a book on Chaucer,which he intends to read to the
class but is mistaken for the Bible---a proof of the giant boys as
intellectual dwarfs.
Introduction of the Text
writing features of the text
? The text is a short narrative piece of writing which vividly
and amusingly relates how a young inexperienced
stand-in teacher attempts to control a class that has
frightened away a succession of substitutes for their own
teachers,The writer is particular successful in his
effective use of comic exaggeration,The narrative is
convincing due to the writer’s excellent description of a
situation totally out of control,and vivid due to the
writer’s keen observation of the behavior of a young and
inexperienced teacher when his authority is threatened,
? Many rhetorical devices are employed in this text,simile,
metaphor,striking contrast,parallelism,etc.
Comprehensive Questions
? 1.Why do you think the writer felt pale when he saw the
headmaster’s thumb?
? (The headmaster’s thumb looked like a short and thick
cudgel to the writer,He felt pale,perhaps because
1) he was astonished to be told that he had to keep the
pupils under control by force;
2)compared with the headmaster’s huge thumb,his own
thumb was quite small; so he felt embarrassed for being
not so manly as the headmaster)
? 2.Why did the writer regret apologizing to the boy in the
hall?
? (He regretted doing so because it was the boy,and not
he himself,who was in the wrong,The boy was running
in the hall,which was obviously against the rules and
regulations of the school,He had bumped into the
teacher and nearly knocked him over,Instead of
scolding the boy,the writer apologized,This showed his
lack of self-confidence and his fear of the boys.)
? 3.What does the writer mean by,one desk was chasing
another”?
? (The writer is trying to tell us that the boys were fighting,
they were using their desks as weapons.)
? 4.Why did the writer say,The air was full of pieces of
chalks,a strange rain of it”?
? (Some other pupils used chalk as a weapon in their fight,The
classroom smelt of chalk and pieces of chalk flew about in the air
and dropped to the floor.)
? 5.why did the teacher fail to keep the class under his thumb in the
history lesson?
? (He failed to do so probably because of the following reasons:
1)He lacked self-confidence,He trembled on the way to the
classroom.
2)He had little experience in teaching,He didn’t know how to keep
discipline in the classroom,He felt angry as nobody seemed to take
any notice of him,Then in order to show his authority as a teacher,
he shouted at the whole class,Actually he should have spoken
calmly and in a more appropriate manner,He felt totally at a loss
what to do in front of the enormous,roaring boys,He blushed and
yelled in turn,which made the class,even the studious-looking boy,
look down on him.
3)He didn’t seem to know much
about methodology or the way
to conduct a class skillfully,He
produced a book on Chaucer,
a big and academic-looking
book,with the intention of
giving the boys a favorable
opinion of him but the result
proved just the opposite.
4)He was not patient enough as a
teacher,He was too easily
shocked,stung,hurt and
frightened.)
Language Points
? 1.A succession of startled substitutes had
stood before them,ducked,winced and fled.
? a succession of,a number of persons or things
following on one after another一连串,一系列,e.g.
? A succession of unexpected visitors came to our
department on the first day of school.
Last summer there was a succession of
uncomfortable hot days.
The worst misfortune that befell her was to bear
a succession of girls.
? Paraphrase,a number of
teachers,one after another,
took the place of their own
teacher,none of them
remained calm in front of them,
They draw back in fear,felt
frightened,unable to deal with
the situation,and finally left in
a hurry.
? 2.It was plain the headmaster
thought they had got nowhere.
? It’s plain that,it’s obvious that
e.g.
It’s plain that he did not wish to
continue.
? 3.Indeed that was the worst of it---
that these improprieties couldn’t
be nailed down.
nail sth,down,literally means,fix
something firmly, and figuratively
means,establish clearly and
unmistakably”,E.g.
nail sth,down,define sth,
precisely
e.g,Hard figures are impossible to
nail down.
nail sb,down,make sb,say
precisely what he believes or
wants to do e.g.
What does she want? I can never
nail her down (to anything).
? 4.I managed to make out that mixed up with these
giants was a certain amounts of furniture.
? Make out,to see or understand with difficulty e.g.
? I can’t make out what she wants.
? I can just make out the writing on the blackboard.
? 5.My voice trailed away,my voice became gradually
fainter and stopped at last.
? trail away/off,(of sb’s speech )gradually become quieter
and then stop,esp,because of shyness,confusion etc.
? E.g,Her voice trailed away in shyness.
? His interest in the work soon trailed off.
? 6.I was toying inwardly with
ideas of thunderbolts,
earthquakes,mass execution,
? toy with sth.1)consider sth,idly
or without serious intent
? E.g,I’ve been toying with the
idea of moving abroad.
? toy with sth.,2)handle or
move sth,carelessly or absent-
mindedly
? E.g,She was just toy with her
food,as if she wasn’t really
hungry.
? 6.I was shocked to the core.
? To the core,right to the center;
absolutely
? E.g.The apple is rotten to the
core.
? Her refusal shocked us to the
core.
? He is honest to the core.
Discussion
? Is it right for anybody
to keep somebody
under his thumb?
Would you like to be
kept under
somebody’s thumb?
? Supposing you were
a teacher,what will
you do to keep a
group of unruly
students under your
thumb?
Homework
? Review text 1.
? Finish the exercises
on workbook.
