A Winter to
Remember
if winter comes,can Spring be far
behind?
郧阳师专英语系综合英语教研室
Type of the text
? This is a short piece of
narrative writing about an
unforgettable Winter.
? Millions have gone through
winters over and over again
but few have experienced a
winter as is described in the
passage,
? Basic elements of narration
? Time—early January to late March
? Place—in the depth of the country
? Unpleasant memories
? Outside
? 1.beautiful snow scene turned into ugly frost bound
sight
? 2.Birds growing tamer and waiting at the doorstep
? 3.water frozen almost instantly
? Inside
? 1.central heating inadequate and unco--operative;
oil-stove unavailable
? 3,water-pipes frozen
? 4.sitting inside in overcoats
? On good thing—eggs not broken when dropped
? The thaw—water squirting from pipes bringing about a
flood,
Detailed study of the text
? According to the weather men last winter
was one of the worst in living memory.
? According to /according as
? Please indict what’s wrong with the
following sentences.
? According to my opinion,Mr,Smith will
not come today.
? Attention,according to always followed
by him or her.
? In my opinion,Mr,Smith will not come
today.
? According as +clause
? you will be praised or criticized
according as your work is good or bad.
? According as +clause
? you will be praised or criticized according as
your work is good or bad.
? In living memory---in the years which can be
remembered by people still alive
? Here the author employed a figure of speech---
transferred epithet,
? 将本应该用来修饰某一类名词的修饰语用来修饰另一类
名词。例如：
There was a short,thoughtful silence,出现了一
阵短暂的、令人沉思的寂静。
The old man put a reassuring hand on my shoulder,
? 老人把一只令人安心的手放在我的肩膀上。
He closed his busy life at the age of sixty,在
六十岁时他结束了他那忙碌的一生。
This is the cheapest market in this country,这
是这个国家最便宜的市场了
? We live in the depths of the country,and my
whole family agree that it was Certainly a
inter we shall never forget,Snow began to fall
at round about the beginning of the new year and
continued on and off for approximately ten days.
? In the depths of the country—in the
very remote part of the country.
? The depths of the country are the parts
of the countryside which are Far from
cities and towns,The depths (plural)
may also mean,the deepest or the worst
part of something”,
? In the depths of the ocean/in the depths
of winter/in the depths of despair,
? My whole family— family is a collective noun,
denoting a group of individuals considered as
one complete whole,
? More examples of collective nouns of this type,
? A crowd of people /a team of football players
/the board of directors
? The whole class/ the entire army,
? On and off ---sometimes we can use another version to replace, on and off” ---,off and on”
? On and on ---continuously
? They talked on and on last night in the
dormitory,
? We live in the depths of the country—we live
somewhere in the countryside which is a long way
from any town,
? At first we were all thrilled to see it,It fell
silently and relentlessly in large soft flakes
Until every ugly patch and corner of our rather
rambling garden was smoothed over And had become
a spotless white canopy,
? Thrill—heart thriller
? The heart thriller refers to that kind of people
who can make other people feel
? Thrill,
? Thrill—to have or cause to have sudden sharp
feeling of excitement
? Relentless—showing or promising no abatement of
severity,intensity,or pace,
? It fell silently and relentlessly in large soft
flakes Until every ugly patch and corner of our
rather rambling garden was smoothed over And had
become a spotless white canopy.
? Large,soft flakes of snow fell heavily but
quietly ; as a result,our garden,which was
overgrown with plants and which was dirty and
untidy in places,looked very smooth,like a
completely clean white sheet,
? Canopy—dense/thick a thick canopy of
branches/or sometimes we use the following words
to modify canopy, forest/leafy/tree
? The trees formed a leafy canopy above their
heads,
? The children soon spoilt its
beauty by having snowball fights
and leaving their footprints all
over it,
? Spoil—make sth
useless/unsuccessful/not very good
? Her selfish behavior completely
spoiled the evening,
? Those children are thoroughly
spoilt!
? hungry birds too,in search of scraps of food,
made delicate impressions on its surface,
? Scrap—a small piece,bit
? She carefully scraped away the top layer of
paint.
? He scraped the car against the garage wall.
? The wood had been scraped clean.
? Delicate—soft,tender,of fine or thin material;
? As delicate as silk/ the delicate skin of a
young girl.
? Chicken is more delicate than beef.
? Impression—effect produced on the mind or
feelings
? What were your first impressions of London?
? The speech made a strong impression on the House.
? It was now,when the garden was all churned up
and of a dirty grey color,that a severe frost
set in,hardening the snow into ugly lumps of
grimy concrete.
? The garden was all churned up—referring to the
snow in the garden which was turned upside down
and inside out
? Of—that has a certain quality,It is also
correct to say,when the garden was… a dirty
grey color.”.
? Set in---begin and continue
? As he had not taken enough care of the cut,a
serious infection set in.
? A heavy snowstorm set in before the small
fishing—boat reached the shore.
? This sentence is emphatic sentence.
? Lump—mass,usu,Without a regular shape,
? A lump of sugar
? A lump sum—one payment for a number of separate sums
that are owed
? In the lump—added together; taken as a whole,
? Have a lump in the throat—a feeling of pressure
? Grim—stern; severe; forbidding; without mercy
? A grim joke/story ---one with an element of cruelty
in it.
? Concrete—form into a mass; solidify
? After the children had had snowball fights in the
garden,the snow turned into slush and its color
became a dirty grey,Just then it became severely
cold and the snow froze hard and looked like large
pieces of dirty concrete,
? for the next three months the whole countryside
lay in a grip of iron.
? Why did the writer say that the whole
countryside lay in a grip of iron?
? The whole countryside—the earth,the river,the
gardens,the farms—was frozen solid,so solid
that the countryside seemed to be kept in the
firm hold of iron,
? The whole countryside lay in a grip of iron—the
whole countryside was hardened by ice,A grip of
iron is a metaphor meaning, a very solid mass.”
? Lay in---provide oneself with a stock of
? Lay in stores for the winter
? Lay in provisions
? Every day the birds grew tamer,often waiting
hopefully almost on our backdoor step,
? Why the birds grow tamer?
? As it was severely cold and everything was
frozen,the birds had no way of getting anything
to eat,so they grew tamer and tamer so long as
the frost lasted,
? Tame ---1.(of animals) used to living with human
beings; not wild or fierce
? A tame monkey
? 2,(of a person) spiritless; submissive
? Her husband is a tame litter man,
? 3,dull
? A tame baseball match,
? The story has a tame ending,
? We fed them with bits of cheese,chopped up meat
and any leftovers we had,We also put out bowls
of water,which unfortunately within an hour had
frozen solid.
? Cheese—solid food made from milk curds;
? Cheese-paring---excessive carefulness in the
spending of money,
? Cheese—paring economies,吝啬的节俭．
? Tiramisu － a delicious Italian style cake, The original meaning of this cake refers, bring me
away.” Chop up—cut by blows with an axe or
other edged tool
? Meat is often chopped up (cut into small bits)
before being cooked,
? Leftovers—what is left,unwanted or of little
value.
? Indoors it was pretty cold too,Our central
heating system proved both inadequate and
uncooperative,
? Inadequate—not adequate (to a purpose,to do
sth); insufficient,
? Uncooperative—not co-operative
? He looked at me with an air of surprised
disapproval,…
? Disapproval—the opposite of approval
? Un,in-,and dis-are negative prefixes which mean”
the opposite of, or, not”,
? Undoubtedly / unfortunately/ unhappy/ unlikely
? Inability/incompetent/incomplete/indirect
? Disappear/discomfort/dislike/disobey
? Inadequate partly because it needed overhauling
and partly because the poor state of the doors
and most of the windows made a whistling stream
of cold air come through; unco-operative because
occasionally it simply went on strike.
? What did the writer mean by, it simply went on
strike?”
? It here refers to the central heating system,
The clause means,“our central heating system
just refused to work,In other words,it broke
down.” this is an example of personification,
The writer is giving a humorous touch to the
description,
? To make matters worse there were tiny holes in
the brickwork of many of the rooms,As a result
the water pipes froze so that for several weeks
our water supply had to be brought in buckets
from a nearby farm,
? As a result—therefore,consequently
? As a result he had been given an excellent job.
? As a result of---
? He was late as a result of the snow.
? Buckets
? Kick the bucket—this euphemism of death
? Come down in buckets—pour down
? The rain was coming down in buckets.
? We tired to buy a number of oil-stoves to keep
these rooms warm,but other people had thought
of doing this too—when we called at the village
shop the shopkeeper told us she had sold out and
that although there were more on order they were
unlikely to be delivered until the spring—which,
of course,was a great comfort,
? Why did the writer say,which was a great
comfort” when they couldn’t buy the oil-stove?
? For the time being the oil—stoves were out of
stock,but the mere thought of the possibility
of their buying some in spring gave them little
cause for satisfaction,The writer is being
ironical here.
? The dash is used in the above sentences to mark
a sudden change of ideas or to give some
explanation.
? Which,of course,was a great comfort—this is
type of non—restrictive relative clause which
has for its antecedent a whole sentence,or,as
in this case,a clause or several clauses,Here,
which refers to the fact that, although there
were more on order they were unlikely to be
delivered until the spring”.
? A great comfort is an example of irony,the use
of words which are clearly opposite to one’s
meaning, 反话,, Actually the fact mentioned
above could not be a comfort,because oil—
stoves would not be needed when spring came,
? Throughout January and February and much of
March we sat about in our overcoats and warmed
ourselves by tramping to and from the farm,
lugging buckets of water.
? Tramp—walk with heavy steps
? He tramped up and down the platform waiting for
the train.
? It can also be regarded as a noun
? Sound of heavy footsteps
? I heard the tramp of marching soldiers.
? Lug—pull of drag roughly and with much effort
? Lugging two heavy suitcases up the stairs
? Lug a handcart along,
? On one occasion the water actually froze before
it reached the house,and our youngest son—not
the most intelligent of youth—promptly took it
all the way back to the farm.
? The dash is used to mark a sudden change of
ideas of to give some explanation,
? Why did the writer call their youngest son,not
the most intelligent of youth”?
? What the writer really meant was that their
youngest son was very stupid,so stupid as to
take the bucket of water all the way back to the
farm from the house,
? Here the author employed a figure of speech---
understatement
? Understatement
? 低调陈述不像夸张那样夸大其词,而是正话反说,重话轻
说,含蓄内敛,形式上迂回,其目的同样在于增强语言力
度,提高表达效果,
? It’s a great being with my sister and my friend,
Ann,I’m a real tourist now,and things here are
the finest of the world,food I’ve never tasted,
scenery one could hardly tear themselves away,
and music even Beethoven would admire… It’s by
no means not a pity,however,that you’re not
win us!
? This piece of work is nothing to be proud of=
? It is disgraceful,
? If this regime is out of power,no tear is to be
shed=we expect this this regime to be out of
power,
? However,one good thing did happen,One of the
children dropped a container with a dozen eggs
in it,I stooped down furiously to pick up what
I thought would be the messy remains only to
discover the eggs had come to no harm—they were
as solid as if they had been hard—boiled,
? Stoop—bend the body forwards and downwards;
bend the neck so that the head is forward and
down
? Stoop to pick sth up.
? From the sentence,they were as solid as if they
had been hard—boiled”,we can realize that
this winter was so severe cold,
? why did the writer think it a good thing
that the dropped eggs had not become the
messy remains?
? The writer is being ironical,They
didn’t like the severe cold that winter,
It caused them a lot of inconvenience
and discomfort,However,there was one
thing which was not quite so bad,The
eggs were frozen so hard that when the
children dropped them,they did not
break.
? Late in March,it finally thawed,Water squirted
from pipes in at least half a dozen places,
Instead of carting buckets of water into the
kitchen from the farm we now brought them in
from different parts of the house,Eventually we
found a plumber,The plumber undoubtedly saved
us from drowning,I have been devoted to
plumbers ever since,
? The author 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”.
Writing technique
? 1,the writer 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 sufferings
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.
? Color—vivid metaphors are used to show how the
early beauty of the snowfall has been changed
into something harsh and ugly.
? A spotless white canopy
? Ugly lumps of grimy concrete
? Sound—a number of phrases help to express the
sound effects associated with the severe winter
which caused discomfort and inconvenience
? A whistling stream of cold air
? Tramping to and from the farm
? 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,
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,
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,
? The hungry birds growing tamer day by day in
search of food
? The stream of cold air finding their way into
the house
? Every family trying to buy oil—stoves for more
heating
? Everyone wearing overcoats in the house
? The water frozen in the bucket while being
carried
? 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 person plural we is used throughout to give an
informal tone,Phrase 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,
?,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 writer uses personification to portray
the heating system as if it were human.,our
heating system proved both inadequate and unco—
operative,… unco—operative because
occasionally it simply went on strike.”
? Here the writer 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 of 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,The author 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”,
Homework
? Summarize what we have learnt
today
? Pick out the key words of each
paragraph
? Write a short essay to
describe a summer day,
OVER
Remember
if winter comes,can Spring be far
behind?
郧阳师专英语系综合英语教研室
Type of the text
? This is a short piece of
narrative writing about an
unforgettable Winter.
? Millions have gone through
winters over and over again
but few have experienced a
winter as is described in the
passage,
? Basic elements of narration
? Time—early January to late March
? Place—in the depth of the country
? Unpleasant memories
? Outside
? 1.beautiful snow scene turned into ugly frost bound
sight
? 2.Birds growing tamer and waiting at the doorstep
? 3.water frozen almost instantly
? Inside
? 1.central heating inadequate and unco--operative;
oil-stove unavailable
? 3,water-pipes frozen
? 4.sitting inside in overcoats
? On good thing—eggs not broken when dropped
? The thaw—water squirting from pipes bringing about a
flood,
Detailed study of the text
? According to the weather men last winter
was one of the worst in living memory.
? According to /according as
? Please indict what’s wrong with the
following sentences.
? According to my opinion,Mr,Smith will
not come today.
? Attention,according to always followed
by him or her.
? In my opinion,Mr,Smith will not come
today.
? According as +clause
? you will be praised or criticized
according as your work is good or bad.
? According as +clause
? you will be praised or criticized according as
your work is good or bad.
? In living memory---in the years which can be
remembered by people still alive
? Here the author employed a figure of speech---
transferred epithet,
? 将本应该用来修饰某一类名词的修饰语用来修饰另一类
名词。例如：
There was a short,thoughtful silence,出现了一
阵短暂的、令人沉思的寂静。
The old man put a reassuring hand on my shoulder,
? 老人把一只令人安心的手放在我的肩膀上。
He closed his busy life at the age of sixty,在
六十岁时他结束了他那忙碌的一生。
This is the cheapest market in this country,这
是这个国家最便宜的市场了
? We live in the depths of the country,and my
whole family agree that it was Certainly a
inter we shall never forget,Snow began to fall
at round about the beginning of the new year and
continued on and off for approximately ten days.
? In the depths of the country—in the
very remote part of the country.
? The depths of the country are the parts
of the countryside which are Far from
cities and towns,The depths (plural)
may also mean,the deepest or the worst
part of something”,
? In the depths of the ocean/in the depths
of winter/in the depths of despair,
? My whole family— family is a collective noun,
denoting a group of individuals considered as
one complete whole,
? More examples of collective nouns of this type,
? A crowd of people /a team of football players
/the board of directors
? The whole class/ the entire army,
? On and off ---sometimes we can use another version to replace, on and off” ---,off and on”
? On and on ---continuously
? They talked on and on last night in the
dormitory,
? We live in the depths of the country—we live
somewhere in the countryside which is a long way
from any town,
? At first we were all thrilled to see it,It fell
silently and relentlessly in large soft flakes
Until every ugly patch and corner of our rather
rambling garden was smoothed over And had become
a spotless white canopy,
? Thrill—heart thriller
? The heart thriller refers to that kind of people
who can make other people feel
? Thrill,
? Thrill—to have or cause to have sudden sharp
feeling of excitement
? Relentless—showing or promising no abatement of
severity,intensity,or pace,
? It fell silently and relentlessly in large soft
flakes Until every ugly patch and corner of our
rather rambling garden was smoothed over And had
become a spotless white canopy.
? Large,soft flakes of snow fell heavily but
quietly ; as a result,our garden,which was
overgrown with plants and which was dirty and
untidy in places,looked very smooth,like a
completely clean white sheet,
? Canopy—dense/thick a thick canopy of
branches/or sometimes we use the following words
to modify canopy, forest/leafy/tree
? The trees formed a leafy canopy above their
heads,
? The children soon spoilt its
beauty by having snowball fights
and leaving their footprints all
over it,
? Spoil—make sth
useless/unsuccessful/not very good
? Her selfish behavior completely
spoiled the evening,
? Those children are thoroughly
spoilt!
? hungry birds too,in search of scraps of food,
made delicate impressions on its surface,
? Scrap—a small piece,bit
? She carefully scraped away the top layer of
paint.
? He scraped the car against the garage wall.
? The wood had been scraped clean.
? Delicate—soft,tender,of fine or thin material;
? As delicate as silk/ the delicate skin of a
young girl.
? Chicken is more delicate than beef.
? Impression—effect produced on the mind or
feelings
? What were your first impressions of London?
? The speech made a strong impression on the House.
? It was now,when the garden was all churned up
and of a dirty grey color,that a severe frost
set in,hardening the snow into ugly lumps of
grimy concrete.
? The garden was all churned up—referring to the
snow in the garden which was turned upside down
and inside out
? Of—that has a certain quality,It is also
correct to say,when the garden was… a dirty
grey color.”.
? Set in---begin and continue
? As he had not taken enough care of the cut,a
serious infection set in.
? A heavy snowstorm set in before the small
fishing—boat reached the shore.
? This sentence is emphatic sentence.
? Lump—mass,usu,Without a regular shape,
? A lump of sugar
? A lump sum—one payment for a number of separate sums
that are owed
? In the lump—added together; taken as a whole,
? Have a lump in the throat—a feeling of pressure
? Grim—stern; severe; forbidding; without mercy
? A grim joke/story ---one with an element of cruelty
in it.
? Concrete—form into a mass; solidify
? After the children had had snowball fights in the
garden,the snow turned into slush and its color
became a dirty grey,Just then it became severely
cold and the snow froze hard and looked like large
pieces of dirty concrete,
? for the next three months the whole countryside
lay in a grip of iron.
? Why did the writer say that the whole
countryside lay in a grip of iron?
? The whole countryside—the earth,the river,the
gardens,the farms—was frozen solid,so solid
that the countryside seemed to be kept in the
firm hold of iron,
? The whole countryside lay in a grip of iron—the
whole countryside was hardened by ice,A grip of
iron is a metaphor meaning, a very solid mass.”
? Lay in---provide oneself with a stock of
? Lay in stores for the winter
? Lay in provisions
? Every day the birds grew tamer,often waiting
hopefully almost on our backdoor step,
? Why the birds grow tamer?
? As it was severely cold and everything was
frozen,the birds had no way of getting anything
to eat,so they grew tamer and tamer so long as
the frost lasted,
? Tame ---1.(of animals) used to living with human
beings; not wild or fierce
? A tame monkey
? 2,(of a person) spiritless; submissive
? Her husband is a tame litter man,
? 3,dull
? A tame baseball match,
? The story has a tame ending,
? We fed them with bits of cheese,chopped up meat
and any leftovers we had,We also put out bowls
of water,which unfortunately within an hour had
frozen solid.
? Cheese—solid food made from milk curds;
? Cheese-paring---excessive carefulness in the
spending of money,
? Cheese—paring economies,吝啬的节俭．
? Tiramisu － a delicious Italian style cake, The original meaning of this cake refers, bring me
away.” Chop up—cut by blows with an axe or
other edged tool
? Meat is often chopped up (cut into small bits)
before being cooked,
? Leftovers—what is left,unwanted or of little
value.
? Indoors it was pretty cold too,Our central
heating system proved both inadequate and
uncooperative,
? Inadequate—not adequate (to a purpose,to do
sth); insufficient,
? Uncooperative—not co-operative
? He looked at me with an air of surprised
disapproval,…
? Disapproval—the opposite of approval
? Un,in-,and dis-are negative prefixes which mean”
the opposite of, or, not”,
? Undoubtedly / unfortunately/ unhappy/ unlikely
? Inability/incompetent/incomplete/indirect
? Disappear/discomfort/dislike/disobey
? Inadequate partly because it needed overhauling
and partly because the poor state of the doors
and most of the windows made a whistling stream
of cold air come through; unco-operative because
occasionally it simply went on strike.
? What did the writer mean by, it simply went on
strike?”
? It here refers to the central heating system,
The clause means,“our central heating system
just refused to work,In other words,it broke
down.” this is an example of personification,
The writer is giving a humorous touch to the
description,
? To make matters worse there were tiny holes in
the brickwork of many of the rooms,As a result
the water pipes froze so that for several weeks
our water supply had to be brought in buckets
from a nearby farm,
? As a result—therefore,consequently
? As a result he had been given an excellent job.
? As a result of---
? He was late as a result of the snow.
? Buckets
? Kick the bucket—this euphemism of death
? Come down in buckets—pour down
? The rain was coming down in buckets.
? We tired to buy a number of oil-stoves to keep
these rooms warm,but other people had thought
of doing this too—when we called at the village
shop the shopkeeper told us she had sold out and
that although there were more on order they were
unlikely to be delivered until the spring—which,
of course,was a great comfort,
? Why did the writer say,which was a great
comfort” when they couldn’t buy the oil-stove?
? For the time being the oil—stoves were out of
stock,but the mere thought of the possibility
of their buying some in spring gave them little
cause for satisfaction,The writer is being
ironical here.
? The dash is used in the above sentences to mark
a sudden change of ideas or to give some
explanation.
? Which,of course,was a great comfort—this is
type of non—restrictive relative clause which
has for its antecedent a whole sentence,or,as
in this case,a clause or several clauses,Here,
which refers to the fact that, although there
were more on order they were unlikely to be
delivered until the spring”.
? A great comfort is an example of irony,the use
of words which are clearly opposite to one’s
meaning, 反话,, Actually the fact mentioned
above could not be a comfort,because oil—
stoves would not be needed when spring came,
? Throughout January and February and much of
March we sat about in our overcoats and warmed
ourselves by tramping to and from the farm,
lugging buckets of water.
? Tramp—walk with heavy steps
? He tramped up and down the platform waiting for
the train.
? It can also be regarded as a noun
? Sound of heavy footsteps
? I heard the tramp of marching soldiers.
? Lug—pull of drag roughly and with much effort
? Lugging two heavy suitcases up the stairs
? Lug a handcart along,
? On one occasion the water actually froze before
it reached the house,and our youngest son—not
the most intelligent of youth—promptly took it
all the way back to the farm.
? The dash is used to mark a sudden change of
ideas of to give some explanation,
? Why did the writer call their youngest son,not
the most intelligent of youth”?
? What the writer really meant was that their
youngest son was very stupid,so stupid as to
take the bucket of water all the way back to the
farm from the house,
? Here the author employed a figure of speech---
understatement
? Understatement
? 低调陈述不像夸张那样夸大其词,而是正话反说,重话轻
说,含蓄内敛,形式上迂回,其目的同样在于增强语言力
度,提高表达效果,
? It’s a great being with my sister and my friend,
Ann,I’m a real tourist now,and things here are
the finest of the world,food I’ve never tasted,
scenery one could hardly tear themselves away,
and music even Beethoven would admire… It’s by
no means not a pity,however,that you’re not
win us!
? This piece of work is nothing to be proud of=
? It is disgraceful,
? If this regime is out of power,no tear is to be
shed=we expect this this regime to be out of
power,
? However,one good thing did happen,One of the
children dropped a container with a dozen eggs
in it,I stooped down furiously to pick up what
I thought would be the messy remains only to
discover the eggs had come to no harm—they were
as solid as if they had been hard—boiled,
? Stoop—bend the body forwards and downwards;
bend the neck so that the head is forward and
down
? Stoop to pick sth up.
? From the sentence,they were as solid as if they
had been hard—boiled”,we can realize that
this winter was so severe cold,
? why did the writer think it a good thing
that the dropped eggs had not become the
messy remains?
? The writer is being ironical,They
didn’t like the severe cold that winter,
It caused them a lot of inconvenience
and discomfort,However,there was one
thing which was not quite so bad,The
eggs were frozen so hard that when the
children dropped them,they did not
break.
? Late in March,it finally thawed,Water squirted
from pipes in at least half a dozen places,
Instead of carting buckets of water into the
kitchen from the farm we now brought them in
from different parts of the house,Eventually we
found a plumber,The plumber undoubtedly saved
us from drowning,I have been devoted to
plumbers ever since,
? The author 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”.
Writing technique
? 1,the writer 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 sufferings
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.
? Color—vivid metaphors are used to show how the
early beauty of the snowfall has been changed
into something harsh and ugly.
? A spotless white canopy
? Ugly lumps of grimy concrete
? Sound—a number of phrases help to express the
sound effects associated with the severe winter
which caused discomfort and inconvenience
? A whistling stream of cold air
? Tramping to and from the farm
? 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,
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,
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,
? The hungry birds growing tamer day by day in
search of food
? The stream of cold air finding their way into
the house
? Every family trying to buy oil—stoves for more
heating
? Everyone wearing overcoats in the house
? The water frozen in the bucket while being
carried
? 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 person plural we is used throughout to give an
informal tone,Phrase 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,
?,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 writer uses personification to portray
the heating system as if it were human.,our
heating system proved both inadequate and unco—
operative,… unco—operative because
occasionally it simply went on strike.”
? Here the writer 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 of 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,The author 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”,
Homework
? Summarize what we have learnt
today
? Pick out the key words of each
paragraph
? Write a short essay to
describe a summer day,
OVER
