大学综合英语第二册单元2

Unit 2

Brainstorming

. Expressions for describing general impressions of a person:

Positive expressions: polite, smart, cute, nice, a good leader, well-educated, entle, charming, wise man

Negative expressions: clumsy, forgetful, rude, careless, stupid, a follower, (somebody) having more age than

experience, wise guy (of someone who pretends to be smart, but actually behaves foolishly; cf. wise man)

Neutral expressions: funny (When used in an neutral way, the word means that someone's behaviour is

laughable; but the expression can be slightly negative when it means that someone's behaviour is strange, abnormal,

as in the saying: funny ha-ha or funny peculiar? This saying is used when someone says somebody is funny.)

sensitive, forgetful

2. Expressions for describing someone's emotional changes:

Changes for the better: calm, cool, cheer up, feel better, be sympathetic with

Changes for the worse: get panicky, feel nervous, have butterflies in the stomach, get irritated / angry, become

anxious, wear / have a questioning expression, be horrified, feel guilty, be embarrassed

3. Expressions of behaviour:

Silly behaviour: play the fool (e.g. to make people laugh), make a fool of oneself (unintentional), be up to no

good / mischief (intentionally, usually in secret), mess / fool around (wasting one's time, behaving foolishly),

behave badly, get into trouble

Good behaviour: be good / be as good as gold (of children, behaving very well), set a good example, turn over

a new leaf, behave oneself

Neutral behaviour: behave, conduct oneself (behave in a particular way, such expressions are usually used with

other qualifying expressions, e.g. conduct oneself responsibly; behave very well)

4. Expressions for social positions or titles:

headmaster, doctor, nurse, director, supervisor, head of department (HOD), chairman / chairwoman, professor,

coach, president

5. Expressions for commenting on personalities:

can't stand, (can't) put up with, It takes all sorts (to make a world). To err is human, to forgive is divine. (someone's

silly behaviour) almost brings down the house, arouse hilarious laughter, be disgusted at / with

Listening

1.

John had to write an essay. The essay would be about an elderly person, but John knew little about old

people. John's teacher advised him to visit an old people's nursing home

2.

John felt nervous when he first entered the office, but the director was very nice to him. She showed

him a list of the old people living there and helped him to choose an old lady to visit

3.

John found that the old lady was a bit deaf and clumsy, but that she was diligently knitting. She didn't

speak very much, and didn't seem to know what she was doing. John decided that she was crazy

4.

John received a package in which he found a wool sweater. A note from the director of the nursing

home said that it was given to him by the old lady as a gift for visiting her. The old lady was very happy

when she died a few days before.

Main Idea

My

great

uncle

Alden

Bentley

used

to

be

a

full-time

Baptist

minister.

He

was

beloved

and

considered

as

a

wonderful,

jolly,

gentle

man

despite

his

large

size.

However,

his

terrible

clumsiness, seemingly his only real fault, led him to give up his profession. During a pastoral call t

a South Carolinian woman, this clumsy young minister inadvertently sat on and killed her pet dog,

but he was too panicky to tell her the truth. Five years later, he revisited the woman, intending to

confess his guilt. Then unfortunately, his clumsiness left a horrible mess of the guest room he slept

in. At last, he unburdened himself. Before long, he retired from ministry and turned to teaching in

a private preparatory school.

内容梗概：

我的叔公阿尔登

?

本特利曾经是个全职的浸会教牧师。虽然体型庞大，却赢

得人们的爱戴。他被认为优秀、快活、善良。但他异常笨拙。这似乎是他唯一真

正的缺点，

使他放弃了牧师的职业。

事情还得从一次布道说起 。

在一位南卡罗林

纳女教友的家中，

他 不慎坐到女主人的宠物狗身上并将其压死，

可怜的他没有勇

气道 出真相。五年后，他再访该女士，并准备一吐为快，不幸的是，他的笨拙将

女主人为他精 心准备的客房搅得一片狼籍。最后他终于道出了实情。事过不久，

他便辞去牧师之职进入 一所私立预备学校教书。

Text Analysis

Para 1 The following sad but true tale concerns my great-

uncle, … Although he was

devastated, he could not bring himself to tell the woman what had happened.

下面 讲

述的是一个有关我叔公伤感而真实的故事。

他是一个能干的、

快活的、

受人爱戴

的人，身高

6

英尺，体重近

300

磅。在

20

世纪初，他受过良好的教育，成为一

个全职的牧师。尽管身躯庞大，但他温文尔雅，心地善良。叔公阿尔登

?

本特利

唯一的缺点就是行动笨拙。

年轻的时候 ，

有一次，

他去南卡罗林纳州的底谷给一

个女教友布道。

在落座时，

一不留神把女主人椅子上的宠物狗

“叮吱”

给压死了。

当女主人满屋子找 狗时，

阿尔登才意识到他臀部底下坐着的是什么。

他手忙脚乱< /p>

地把那条狗塞入大衣，

尽管心虚害怕，

但 他始终没能鼓起勇气告诉那个女人真相。

[summary]

The first paragraph is a general description of the narrator?s great

-uncle

and his accidental killing of a small dog because of his clumsiness.

1.

The following sad but true tale concerns my great-uncle, a wonderful, jolly, beloved

man who was over six feet four and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds.

concern:

v. 1

）

be relevant or important to

涉及

2

）

affect, worry

影响，使担心

3

）

relate, be about

对……有关系

He doesn?t bother about things that don?t concern him.

She was concerned about the growth of her children.

[idioms] be concerned in sth. :

have some connection with or responsibility for sth.

与某事有牵连或对某事负有责任

concern oneself (in / about / with ):

interest oneself in sth., be busy with

sth.

关心某事，忙于某事

He was concerned in the crime.

T

here?s no need to concern yourself with this matter; we?re dealing with it.

jolly:

adj. joyful, merry, jovial

快活的，兴高采烈的

(of person or thing) pleasant,

delightful

令人高兴的，愉快的

I prefer a jolly companion to a dull man.

What jolly weather we have today!

[idioms] a jolly dog (slang):

a joyful person

快活的人

Jolly Roger:

pirate?s black flag, usu. with skull and cross

-bones

海盗旗

beloved:

adj. much loved

受人喜欢的

n. much loved person

心爱之人

This well-beloved novel sells up to five edition.

Nobody would neglect his beloved.

was

also

well-educated

and

in

the

early

1900s

became

a

full- time

Baptist

minister.

Baptist minister:

A Baptist minister is a clergyman of a Christian denomination that

believes in baptism.

Baptism:

a religious ceremony, in which a person is sprinkled with or immersed in

water as a sign that he / she has become spiritually pure and his / her sins have been

washed away. The person thus becomes a member of this Christian church.

(

下载图片

Baptism

)

3.

A

kindly,

gentle

man

despite

his

size,

Uncle

Alden

Bentley?s

only

real

fault

seemed to be that he was terribly clumsy.

kindly:

adj. kind, kind hearted

善良的

( of climate ) pleasant

（气候）温和的

adv. in a kind way

仁慈地，友好地

The students were watching her with kindly interest.

Kindly take your hands off my knee.

[idiom] ( not ) take kindly to sth.:

( not ) like sth.

不喜欢

I don?t think he takes kindly to foreign tourists.

clumsy:

adj.

awkward

in

movement

or

shape

笨拙的

tactless

不圆滑的，愚蠢的

difficult to handle or use

不好用的，粗笨的

She stumbled clumsily, as though drunk, and sat down.

John?s efforts at reconciliation were clumsy and na?ve.

Mechanical switches often clumsy and unreliable.

4. As a young minister, he was paying a pastoral call one day on a woman in Dillon,

South Carolina, when he inadvertently sat on her Chihuahua, Twinkie, and killed it.

[paraphrase]

He was visiting a woman in Dillon, South Carolina as a minister. When

he sat down, he unintentionally sat on the woman?s small dog and unfortunately killed

it.

A pastoral visit

is part of duties or activities in the Christian churches. It is related to

the general needs of people rather than the spiritual or religious needs.

Chihuahua:

Chihuahua is a breed of small round-headed dogs originally raised in the

Chihuahua area in northern Mexico. (

下载图片

)

Twinkie:

Twinkie is the dog?s name.

pastoral:

adj. 1) (of poem, picture, etc.) portraying country life

（诗画等）有田园风

光的

2) of a pastor

牧师的，主教的

In English literature, many poets wrote beautiful pastoral poems.

The

pastoral

duties

and

activities

of

clergy

in

the

Christian

churches

relate

to

the

general needs of people, rather that just their religious needs.

pay a call on sb.:

visit sb. briefly

短暂的拜访

Doctors have no time to pay calls on their patients these days

Note

the

different

prepositions

after

call

,

call

(

vi.

)

at

somewhere;

call

(

vt.

)

on

somebody, pay

a call on

somebody; pay

a call at

somewhere.

inadvertently:

adv. unintentionally

无意地

inadvertent:

adj. unintentional

无意的

Though he claimed to have inadvertently kicked her dog, he still ought to apologize.

5

As the lady searched for and called for her dog throughout the house, Uncle Alden

felt underneath his hip and, realizing what he had done, panicked and slipped the dead

into his coat pocket.

panic(k):

v. suddenly become anxious or afraid

惊慌失措

n. a very strong feeling of

anxiety or fear

惊恐

[Note]

When the verb

panic

is used in its

–

ed

form, the end-consonant

c

is changed to

-

cked

. This rule is also applicable to some other words with

c

as last consonant, e.g.

picnic

(

v

.),

picnicked

(

v

.).

Don

?t panic. Sit still and keep calm.

Sandy was close to panic.

She heard a rustle behind her and turned, panic-stricken.

slip:

v. slide unintentionally, lose footing or balance

滑倒，

失去平衡

make one?s way

quietly or unobserved

偷偷地走（进或出）

place stealthily or casually with sliding

motion

偷偷塞入（进）

I slipped on the snow and sprained my ankle.

I hope we can slip away before the police notices.

She slipped the not e into my hand.

[idioms]

let slip:

reveal accidentally

有意无意地透露

(sth.) slip one’s mind:

forget about sth.

忘记

slip up (colloquial):

make mistake

犯错

6

Although he was devastated, he could not bring himself to tell the woman what

had happened.

[paraphrase]

Although he was conscience-stricken for his follies he could not make

himself tell the woman.

devastate:

vt. destroy or damage badly

严重损坏或摧毁

devastated:

adj. shocked and upset

惊惶的

devastating:

adj. destroying; overwhelming

有破坏性的，不知所措的

devastation:

n. destruction

毁灭

A hurricane has devastated the plantation.

We were devastated by her decision.

( cannot ) bring oneself to do:

( cannot ) make oneself do something, usually used in

a non-assertive sentence, such as a negative or question sentence

没办法做到

I could never bring myself to associate with a person like that.

Some teenagers cannot somehow bring themselves to an awful revision.

I couldn?t bring myself to touch him.

cf. bring oneself to something