Advanced English

Advanced English : Advanced English Liaoning Institute of Technology 2005 Edition Book I

Slide2 : Mark Twain —Mirror of America 　　　　 Noel Grove

Slide3 : 1. Research Work 2. Title of the Text 3. Background 4. Aims of Teaching 5. Structure 6. Detailed Study 7. Summary 8. Figuration 9. Exercise 10. Quiz 11. Readings 12. Homework

Slide4 : Information searched before class Ideas about the text

Slide5 : Mark Twain —Mirror of America Mark Twain: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835--1910). two fathoms deep. Mirror: a faithful representation or description of his country

Slide6 : National Geographic Magazine: Mark Twain: Life Works Evaluations

Slide7 : His Life: Printer Pilot Soldier Miner Reporter Writer Hannibal

Slide8 : Main Works: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1864) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) Life on the Mississippi (1883) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

Slide9 : Evaluations Remarks: Mark Twain is a part of America. His personal success and failure were those of America. He moved, along with America, from innocence to experience. Ernest Hemingway : All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ... There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.

Slide10 : Comprehension of the text Mastery of important language points Enlargement of the students' vocabulary Devices of figuration

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Slide12 : Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finn's idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyer's endless summer of freedom and adventure. In-deed, this nation's best-loved author was every bit as adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined. I found another Twain as well – one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, a man who became obsessed with the frailties of the human race, who saw clearly ahead a black wall of night. Part I

Slide13 : Paraphrase: Mark Twain is famous to most Americans as the creator of Hack Finn and Tom Sawyer. Hack's sailing / voyage / journey / travel on the river was so pleasant, lighthearted, carefree, simple and peaceful that it made his boyhood seem to be infinite, while Tom's independent mind and his exciting and dangerous activities made the summer seem everlasting. Part I

Slide14 : Father: metaphor. Endless: hyperbole. idyllic: [i / ai] adj. of idyll, a simple happy period of life, often in the country, or a scene from such a time, a description of this, esp. a poem. Part I

Slide15 : cruise: A cruise is a holiday during which one travels on a ship and visits lots of places. When it is used as a verb, it means to move at a constant speed that is comfortable and unhurried. eg. He was on a world cruise. Part I

Slide16 : cynical: A cynical person believes that all men are selfish. He sees little or no good in anything and shows this by making unkind and unfair remarks about people and things. Part I

Slide17 : obsess: fill the mind continuously, to worry continuously and unnecessarily. If sth obsesses you or if you are obsessed with it or by it, you keep thinking about it over a long period of time, and find it difficult to think about anything else. eg. She is obsessed by the desire to become a great scientist. Part I

Slide18 : frailty: a weakness of character or behavior. eg. One of the frailties of human nature is laziness. Part I

Slide19 : Why is Mark Twain one of America's best-loved authors? Because His literary works such as two novels about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are loved by Americans, who imagine he was adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous. Part I

Slide20 : Tramp printer, river pilot , Confederate guerrilla, prospector, starry-eyed optimist, acid-tongued cynic: The man who became Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he ranged across the nation for more than a third of his life, digesting the new American experience before sharing it with the world as writer and lecturer. He adopted his pen name from the cry heard in his steamboat days, signaling two fathoms (12 feet) of water -- a navigable depth. His popularity is attested by the fact that more than a score of his books remain in print, and translations are still read around the world. Part II

Slide21 : Personal tragedy haunted his entire life, in the deaths of loved ones: his father, dying of pneumonia when Sam was 12; his brother Henry, killed by a steamboat explosion; the death of his son, Langdon, at 19 months. His eldest daughter, Susy, died of spinal meningitis , Mrs. Clemens succumbed to a heart attack in Florence, and youngest daughter., Jean, an epileptic, drowned in an upstairs bathtub . Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh. The moralizing of his earlier writing had been well padded with humor. Now the gloves came off with biting satire. He pretended to praise the U. S. military for the massacre of 600 Philippine Moros in the bowl of a volcanic, crater . Part III

Slide22 : This excerpt is a brief yet impressive introduction of Mark twain, one of the greatest writers in America. His adventurous, patriotic, romantic and humorous characteristics are known by most people. Before becoming a writer, he had done various kinds of jobs which greatly enriched his writings. His experience on the Mississippi River left such a profound and permanent influence on him that his beat when he wrote about this river. He came to fame with a short novel about the Calaveras jumping frog, and then reached the peak of his career by Tom Sawyer and Huk Finn.

Slide23 : However, the bitterness of his life, especially the successive deaths of his family members, is seldom made known to the public. And it is this dark side of his life that makes his later works filled with a satiric tone. Ironically, the man who makes the world laugh is made bitter by his all misfortunes. Thus his bitter life experience seems to be in contradiction with his own humorous works. And by presenting both sides of his life, the author presents to his readers a fuller picture of Mark Twain that will help them understand his works much better.

Slide24 : 1. Metaphor: Mark Twain -- Mirror of America saw clearly ahead a black wall of night... main artery of transportation in the young nation's heart the vast basin drained three-quarters of the settled United States All would resurface in his books...that he soaked up... Steamboat decks teemed...main current of...but its flotsam When railroads began drying up the demand... ...the epidemic of gold and silver fever...

Slide25 : 2. Simile: Most American remember M. T. as the father of... ...a memory that seemed phonographic 3. Hyperbole: ...cruise through eternal boyhood and ...endless summer of freedom... The cast of characters... - a cosmos. 4. Parallelism: Most Americans remember ... the father of Huck Finn's idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyer's endless summer of freedom and adventure.

Slide26 : 5. Personification: life dealt him profound personal tragedies... the river had acquainted him with ... ...to literature's enduring gratitude... ...an entry that will determine his course forever... the grave world smiles as usual... Bitterness fed on the man... America laughed with him. Personal tragedy haunted his entire life.

Slide27 : 6. Antithesis: ...between what people claim to be and what they really are... ...took unholy verbal shots at the Holy Land... ...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever 7. Euphemism: ...men's final release from earthly struggle 8. Alliteration: ...the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home ...with a dash and daring... ...a recklessness of cost or consequences...

Slide28 : 9. Metonymy: ...his pen would prove mightier than his pickaxe 10. Synecdoche Keelboats,...carried the first major commerce

Slide29 : Exercise II: (P158) Exercise III: (P159) Exercise IX: (P161) Exercise X: (P162) Exercise XIV: (P164)

Slide30 : These tablets make me feel rather-------. a. ill b. comfortable c. sluggish d. tedious Football hooliganism is now reaching ------proportion. a. hot b. popular c. epidemic d. considerate That child --------new facts like a sponge! a. takes up b. soaks with c. soaks up d. takes over

Slide31 : That sounds like my sister --------. a. all over b. over all c. over d. to over Her kindness to him was met with a cruel --------. a. refusal b. rebuff c. silent d. astonishment Key

Slide32 : C C B A B

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Slide34 : Oral Work: Why does the writer consider Mark Twain a mirror of America? 2. Written Work: Write a summery of the text within 200 words. 3. Research Work: Information about Lesson Ten: The Trial That Rocked the World

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