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Unit 4
Part I
Listening Task
Script for
the recording:
You
may
recall
from
Unit
One,
the
author
Eudora
Welty
telling
us
how
she,
in
her
early
childhood, developed a
love for reading under the influence of her
parents. Perhaps you'd like to
know
what her teachers were like. Well, let's listen to
what she has to say about them:
Every school week, visiting
teachers came on their days for special lessons.
On Mondays, the
singing
teacher
blew
into
the
room
fresh
from
the
early
outdoors,
singing
in
her
high
soprano
to
do-sol-mi-do.
Miss
Johnson
taught
us
rounds
—
row
row
your
boat
gently
down
the
stream
—
and
the echo, a
competition. She was from the North, and she was
the one who wanted us all to stop
the
Christmas carols and see snow. The snow falling
that morning outside the window was the first
most of us had ever seen, and Miss
Johnson threw up the window and held out wide her
own black
Cape and caught flakes on it
and ran, as fast as she could go, up and down the
ais1es to show us
the real thing before
it melted.
Thursday
was
Miss
Eyrich
and
Miss
Eyrich
was
Thursday.
She
came
to
give
us
physical
training.
She
wanted
no
time
on
nonsense.
Without
greeting,
we
were
marched
straight
outside
and summarily divided into teams (no
choosing sides), put on the mark, and ordered to
get set for
a relay race. Miss Eyrich
cracked out
my turn, nearly upon me.
(Wait, have I been touched
—
was that slap the touch? Go
on! Do I go
on without our passing a
word? What word? Now am I racing too fast to turn
around? Now I'm
nearly
home,
but
where
is
the
hand
waiting
for
mine
to
touch?
Am
I
too
late?
Have
I
lost
the
whole race for our side?) I lost the
relay race for our side before I started, through
living ahead of
myself,
dreading
to
make
my
start,
feeling
too
late
prematurely,
and
standing
transfixed
by
emergency, trying to
think of a password. Thursdays still can make me
hear Miss Eyrich's voice.
—
get set
—
go!
V
ery
composedly and very slowly, the art teacher, who
visited each room on Fridays, paced
the
aisle and looked down over your shoulder at what
you were drawing for her. This was Miss
Ascher. Coming from behind you, her
deep, resonant voice reached you without being a
word at
all, but a sort of purr.
It was much the sound given out by our
family doctor when he read the
thermometer and found you were running
a slight fever,
you go right ahead with
it.
After Listening
1.
On Mondays,
Miss Johnson, our singing teacher, would blow into
the room, singing in her
high soprano
from ouir desks,
2.
Miss
Eyrich
gave
us
physical
training
on
Thursdays.
She
wanted
no
time
on
nonsense.
Without greeting, she ordered us to
march straight outside and get set for a relay
race.
3.
In a very
composed and slow manner, the art teacher Miss
Ascher would pace the aisle and
19
look
down
over
your
shoulder
at
what
you
were
drawing
for
her. Her
voice
was
deep
and
resonant, much like the
reassuring sound given out by
our
family doctor when he read the
thermometer and found you were running
a slight fever.
Part II
Reading Task
Text A
Comprehension
Possible answers to content questions:
1.
His major was natural history. He was
especially interested in the study of insects.
2.
Professor
Agassiz told Scudder to take a fish from a huge
jar of specimens and look at it. As
to
the care of the specimen, he instructed Scudder to
keep the fish before him in a tin tray,
occasionally moisten the surface with
alcohol from the jar, and always take care to
replace
the stopper tightly.
3.
The
specimens
were
kept
in
huge
neckless
glass
bottles
with
leaky,
wax-
besmeared
corks,
which were
half eaten by insects, and begrimed with cellar
dust.
4.
He felt a passing feeling of
disappointment. Gazing at a fish was not a
pleasing idea to an
ardent
entomologist.
5.
Scudder thought in ten minutes he had
seen all that could be seen in that fish. During
the next
few hours of observation, he
gazed at the fish from various angles and could
discover little
more except that his
mute companion looked ghastly.
6.
In the
afternoon, it occurred to Scudder that he would
draw the fish. When he tried to draw
the creature, he began to discover new
features in it.
7.
By saying
“
a pencil is one of the best
of eyes,
”
Professor Agassiz
meant that when his student
began
to
draw
the
fish
with
a
pencil,
he
necessarily
had
to
examine
the
object
under
observation
more
closely
and
more
attentively
and
consequently
he
would
discover
more
about it. It was in
this sense that a pencil was deemed one of the
best eyes.
8.
Professor Agassiz commented that
Scudder had not looked very carefully, and that he
hadn
’
t
even seen
one of the most conspicuous features of the
animal, which was plainly before his
eyes as the fish itself. He further
instructed that Scudder should look again.
9.
Scudder was piqued and mortified by
Professor Agassiz
’
s
criticism. But when he set himself
to
the task with a will, he discovered one new thing
after another, until he saw how just the
Professor
’
s
criticism had been.
10.
Scudder found it disconcerting because
he must not only think of his fish all night,
studying
what that unknown but most
visible feature might be, without the object
before him, but also
give an exact
account of his discoveries the next day, without
reviewing them.
11.
The
fish
’
s most conspicuous
feature Scudder missed at first was that the fish
had symmetrical
sides with paired
organs.
12.
’
s repeated
injunction. Scudder considered this the best
entomological lesson he ever had
because its influence had extended to the details
of every
subsequent study. It was a
legacy of inestimable value the Professor had left
to him and so
many others which they
could not buy, with which they could not part.
20
Text Analysis
1.
Parts
Part One
Part Two
Paragraphs
Paras 1-8
Paras 9-13
Main Ideas
Scudder
’
s first
morning in the laboratory was characterized
by boredom and despair.
By
drawing
the
fish
in
the
afternoon,
Scudder
discovered
new
features
in
the
fish
but
failed
to
notice
its
most
conspicuous characteristic.
Scudder
discovered
one
new
feature
after
another
when
he
began
to
work
in
earnest
and
saw
how
just
the
Professor
’
s
criticism had been.
By
the
end
of
the
third
day,
Scudder
had
learned
the
best
entomological
lesson
in
life,
one
that
was
to
guide
his
subsequent study and research.
The eight months Scudder spent studying
haemulons was of
greater
value
to
him
than
years
of
later
investigation
into
insects.
Part Three
Paras14-18
Part Four
Paras 19-24
Part Five
Paras 25-28
2. Narration.
3.
In chronological order.
4.
For
example,
the
odd
animals
stored
in
the
upper
apartment
of
the
laboratory;
his
lunch
at
school;
his observation of the whole group of haemulons,
etc. Details such as these are omitted
because
they
are
of
little
help
in
bringing
out
the
theme
of
the
essay
—
how
the
professor
’
s
teaching
method
enabled
him
to
see
the
importance
of
close
observation
and
thus
exerted
a
life-long influence on his
academic career.
Language
Sense Enhancement
1.
(1) lingering
(2)
resuscitate
(3) sloppy
(4)
gaze
(5) loathsome
(6)
ghastly
(7) sideways
(8)
despair
(9) concluded
(10)
infinite
Vocabulary
I
. 1.
(1) for myself
(2) concluded
(3) infinite
(4) internal
(5) misery
(6) mode
(7) ventured
(8) visible
(9) observation
(10)
commended
2.
1)
I lay in bed
feeling thoroughly wretched.
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