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EXERCISES 1
I .
Write a short note of about 100 words on Las
Vegas.
Suggested Reference Books [ SRB ]
1. any standard
gazetteer
2.
Encyclopedia Americana
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ⅱ. Questions on content:
1. Why did John
Koshak decide to stay and face the dangers of a
devastating hurricane?
2. What does “Magna Products” stand
for?
3. Why did Charlie think they were in
real trouble when he found the water tasted salty?
4. Why did
Grandmother Koshak, at this critical moment, tell
her husband she loved him?
5. Why did John Koshak feel a crushing
guilt?
6. Why
did Grandmother Koshak ask the children to sing?
7. What did
Janis understand when John put his arm around her?
Ⅲ. Questions on
appreciation:
1. What is the organizational pattern
of this piece of narration? How would you classify
the first six paragraphs?
2. What does the writer focus chiefly
on -- developing character, action (plot), or idea
(theme) ?
3.
Who is the protagonist or leading character in the
story?
4. What
opposing forces make up the conflict?
5. How does the writer
build up and sustain the suspense in the story?
6. How does the
writer give order and logical movement to the
sequence of happenings?
7. At what point in the story does the
action reach its h
ighest point?
8. At what
point would you have ended the story? Why?
9. Is the last
paragraph important? Why?
Ⅳ. Paraphrase：
1. We're elevated 23 feet.
(para 3)
2. The
place has been here since 1915, and no hurricane
has ever bothered it. (para 3)
3. We can batten down and
ride it out. (para 4)
4. The generator was doused, and the
lights went out. (para 9)
5. Everybody out the back door to the
cars! (para 10)
6. The electrical systems had been
killed by water. (para 11)
7. John watched the water lap at the
steps, and felt a crushing guilt. (para 17)
8. Get us
through this mess, will You? (para 17)
9. She carried on alone for
a few bars; then her voice trailed away. (para 21)
10. Janis had
just one delayed reaction. (para 34)
V.
Translate paras 21--27 into Chinese.
Ⅵ.
Look up the dictionary and explain the meaning of
the italicized words:
1. since the water mains
might be damaged (para 5)
2. sit out the storm with the Koshaks
(para 6)
3.
another neighbor came by on his way inland (para
6)
4. the
French doors in an upstairs room blew in (para 8)
5. the
generator was doused (para 9)
electrical systems had been killed by water (para
11)
devasted
everything in its swath (para 19)
carried on alone for a few
bars (para 21)
it a lean-to against the wind (para 25)
he pitched in
with Seabees in the worst volunteer work of all
(para 33)
Ⅶ. Discriminate the following
groups of synonyms:
1. demolish, destroy, raze,
annihilate
2.
disintegrate, decay, rot, spoil, molder, decompose
Suggested
Reference Books [ SRB]
1. Webster's New World Dictionary of
the American Language
2. Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms
3. Reader's
Digest, Use the Right Word
Ⅷ. Analyse
the formation of the following
words
and list 5--10 ex- amples of each:
1. television
2. northwestward
3. motel
4. bathtub
5. returnees
Suggested
Reference books [SRB]
1. any standard dictionary
2. Walker's Rhyming
Dictionary
3.
any book on lexicology or word building
Ⅸ.
In
this
narration,
the
writer
makes
effective use of
verbs.
List
10
verbs you
consider
used
most
eff
ectively
and
give
your reasons.
Ⅹ. Mention two examples of each of the
following: sim
ile, metaphor,
personification.
Ⅺ. Why does the writer
use so many e
lliptical and short simple
sentences? Illustrate your answer with a few
examples.
Ⅻ.
Analyse
paragraph
1.
Does
it have
a
topic
sentence,
a
central
idea? How
is the
paragraph
developed?
What
is the
function
of
the
last
sentence?
ⅩⅢ. Correct the mistakes in
the following sentences. Avoid run-on
sentences, sentence fragments, dangling modifiers,
illogical
or faulty parallelism and
unnecessary shifts in point of view.
1. The basketball game was
canceled. Because half of the players were in bed
with the flu.
2. These snakes are dangerous however,
most snakes are quite harmless.
3.
Looking
out
toward the
horizon, she saw
only
the
old cabin
in
which
Mary
had been
born.
A
single
cottonwood
that
had
escap
ed
the drought. The apparently boundless
expanse of sunburned prairie.
4. With the knowledge that,
although the documents have been stolen, they have
not yet been seen by a foreign agent.
5. Last year, after
graduating from high school, my father put me to
work in his office.
6. To appreciate the poem, it must be
read aloud.
7.
I helped my mother wash clothes last Sunday, thus
causing me to miss that film.
8. Driving across the
state, many beautiful lakes were seen.
9. Unselfish people not
only are happier but they are more successful.
10. I finally
realized that my daydreaming was not making me
beautiful, slender, or friends.
11. He is a man of wide
experience and who is also very popular with the
farmers.
12.
I am
interested
in
electronics,
because
it is a
new field and which offers
interesting
opportunities to one who
knows
science
13. We swept the room
carefully, and the furniture and shelves were
dusted.
14. If
one's mouth is dry, eat a lump of sugar or chew
gum.
15. You must make yourself
interesting to the group that listen to you
and
are constantly trying to detect
your mistakes.
ⅩⅣ. Topics for oral
work:
1. What are the strong and weak points
of the narration?
2. Whom do you admire most in this
story? Why?
3.
What have you learned about people and society in
the United States? Does the story give a true and
complete picture? XV.
Write a short
narration of around 300 words relating your ex-
perience of an earthquake, a flood, a typhoon or a
hailstorm. 15
习题全解
I.
Las Vegas. Las Vegas city is the seat
of Clark County in South
Nevada. In
1970 it had a population of 125,787 people.
Revenue
from
hotels,
gambling, entertainment
and
other
tourist-oriented
industries
forms
the
backbone
of
Las
Vegas's
economy, Its
nightclubs
and casinos are
world famous. The city is also the commercial hub
of a ranching and mining area. In the 19th century
Las Vegas was
a watering place for
travelers to South California. In 1.855-1857 the
Mormons maintained a fort there, and in 1864 Fort
Baker was
built by the U. S. army. In
1867, Las Vegas was detached from the Arizona
territory and joined to Nevada. (from The New
Columbia
Encyclopedia )
Ⅱ.
1.
He
didn'
t
think his
family was
in any
real
danger,
His former
house
had
been
demolished by
Hurricane
Betsy
for it only stood
a
few feet above sea level. His present house was 23
feet above sea level and 250 yards away from the
sea. He thought they would
be
safe
here as
in
any
place
else.
Besides,
he
had
talked
the
matter
over with
his
father
and
mother
and
consulted
his
longtime
friend,
Charles Hill, before making his
decision to stay and face the hurricane.
2. Magna
Products is the name of the firm owned by John
Koshak. It designed and developed educational toys
and supplies.
3.
Charlie thought they were
in real trouble
because
salty water was
sea water.
It showed
the sea
had reached the
house
and
they
were in
real trouble for they might be washed into the sea
by the tidal wave.
4. At this Critical moment when
grandmother Koshak thought they might die at any
moment, she told her husband the dearest and
the
most
precious
thing
she
could
think
of.
This
would
help
to
encourage
each
other
and
enable
them
to
face
death
with
greater
serenity.
Koshak
felt
a
crushing guilt
because
it was
he who
made the
final decision
to
stay and
face
the
hurricane.
Now
it
seem
ed
they might
all die in the hurricane.
other Koshak
asked the
children
to sing because she
thought
this
would
lessen
tension
and boost the
morale
of
everyone.
knew that John was trying his best to
comfort and encourage her for he too felt there
was a possibility of their dying
in the
storm.
Ⅲ.
piece of narration is
organized as follows. .introduction, development,
climax, and conclusion. The first 6 paragraphs
are introductory paragraphs, giving the
time, place, and background of the
conflict
-man versus hurricanes. These
paragraphs also
introduce the
characters in the story.
2. The writer focuses chiefly on action
but he also clearly and sympathetically delineates
the characters in the story.
3. John Koshak, Jr. , is
the protagonist in the story.
4. Man and hurricanes make
up the conflict.
5. The writer builds up and sustains
the suspense in the story by describing in detail
and vividly the incidents showing how
the Koshaks and their friends struggled
against each onslaught of the hurricane.
6. The writer
gives order and logical movement to the sequence
of happenings by describing a series of actions in
the order of
their occurrence.
7. The story
reaches its climax in paragraph 27.
8. I would have ended the
story at the end of Paragraph 27,because the
hurricane passed, the main characters survived,
and the
story could come to a natural
end.
9.
Yes,
it
is.
Because
the
writer states
his
theme
or the purpose behind
his
story
in the
reflection of
Grandmother
Koshak:
We