高级英语课件第三版EverydayUseforYourGrandmama
春节的资料-英语四级准考证打印
Everyday Use for Your Grandmama
In
order to understand this passage better, we can
watch a movie---”The Color
of Purple”
故事发生于1909年美国南部。未受过教育的黑人女孩西莉被继父强 奸后，又被迫嫁给
了粗鲁，凶狠
的黑人男子，西莉称其为“先生”。在惊恐和胆怯中她开始了奴仆一般的痛
苦生活。幸而有亲姐妹南蒂与
之相伴，泪水中才多了一些欢乐。不久，这短暂的幸福也从
西莉身边消失了。因为“先生”强 奸南蒂不
成，恼羞成怒地将南蒂赶了出去，姐妹二人被
残酷的分开。年复一年，西莉在门口的邮筒中找寻南蒂的音
讯，她始终期盼有一天能与南
蒂再次重逢……(从中大家可以看到当时的整个社会的缩影，以及黑人生活
的社会环境和社
会地位，黑人女性的崛起和黑人女性的反抗精神也从有深刻得展现)
Everyday Use for Your Grandmama
Characters:
Maggie: a shy,young woman made
even more self-concious by scars she got in a
house
fire years ago. She hasn` t has much
formal education but has learned traditional
skills, such as quilting, from her familiy.
Mama(Mrs johnson): the narrator of the story.
She is a middle-aged or even older
African
American woman living with her younger daugter,
Maggie. Athough poor, she
is strong and
independent, and takes great pride in her way of
life.
Dee(Wangero):
Dee is Mama` s older
daugher. She is attractive, well-educated and
sophisticated.
Moreover, she is selfish and
she may even has caused the fire that disfigured
（损毁···的外貌）her sister. Mama(Mrs johnson) called
her Dee or Wangero.
Asalamalakim: a young
muslim man who accompanies Dee on her visit. Mama,
unable
to pronounce his name , called him
“Hakim-a- Baber”. The muslim greeting he gives
to her means “peace and happiness to
you. ” This maybe ironic because their visit
disturbs the peaceful lives of Maggie and
Mama. The relationship between him and
Dee is
unknown. He may be a friend, a boyfriend, husband
or spiritual adviser.
Main content:The story
begins when the mother and Maggie wait for Dee to
come
back goes back home with her lover. She
asks for some traditional household
appliances, especially two old quilts made by
their grandma. The mother refuses.
Instead,
she sends the two quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves
her eyes, two
old quilts(百纳被) are the cultural
heritage of blacks. Maggie inherits the black
tradition and she should own them.
The
text:
I. para1-2 The prelude: the three
family members.
II. Para3-16 The mother’s
recollections flashback:the three
persons’
relationships——mother; Maggie; Dee
III. Para17- 82 The process of Dee going back
home.
Detailed study of the text:
Paragraph 1---16:
Paragraph1:
1,...Maggie and I made so clean and
wavy...(wavy:波动起伏的。 It shows that Maggie
and
Mama had made carefully preparations for the
arrival of Dee.)
2,It is like a extended
living room. (extended: enlarged, prolonged.
Expressions
with extend: extended family)
Paragraph 2:
1,```homely and ashamed of
the burn scars down her arms and legs...(homely:
不
好看的，不漂亮的，later we will know how she got the
scar, so that is a suspense.)
2, she
thinks her sister has held life always...to say to
her.(she think that
her sister has always had
a firm control of her life and that she can always
has
what she want. )(课后习题paraphrase )
The
role of the first two paragraph: it describes the
place and main characters.
Paragraph3:
1,totter: 蹒跚。 Backstage: 背后。
Paragraph4:
1,Johnny Carson: he is famous for such
TVprograms, On TV he was a sporty man with
gray hair and a smiling face.
Paragraph5:
1, In real life i am a large, big-boned woman
with rough, man-working hands.(that
means Mama
was a typical black working woman.)
2, My fat
keeps me hot in zero weather.(because I am fat, I
feel hot even in freezing
weather.)(课后习题paraphrase )
3,I am the way
my daughter...an uncooked barely pancake.( this
sentence tells
that Dee was ashamed of his
mother as a woking-class black woman.)
4,
Johnny Carson has much to do ...witty
tongue.(johnney carson has a witty and
glib
tongue. But i outdo 超过，胜过 him and so he has to try
hard if he wants to
catch up with
me.)(课后习题paraphrase )
5,, who ever knew a
Johnson with a quick tongue?(that is a rhetorical
question.
The obvious answer is that no one in
the Johnson family has a quick tongue.)
Paragraph6:
1, It seems to me i have
talked to them always with one foot raised... from
them.(I
am ready to leave as quickly as
possible because of discomfort, nervousness,
timidity,etc, and turn my head away
from them in order to avoid them as much as
possible for the same reason.)课后习题paraphrase )
2,She would always look anyone in the eye.(she
would always look at somebody
directly and
steadily, not feeling embarrassed or
ashamed.)课后习题paraphrase )
Paragraph 9
1,
have you ever seen a lame跛足的 animal ...to be kind
to him? （here the narrator
compares Maggie to
an injured and pitiful animal.）
2,she has been
like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground..to the
ground. (Maggie
has been very shy ever since
the fire destoryed our other house. She is so shy
that she never raises her head or eyes when
looking at and talking to people, and
she is
always feel so neverous and restless that she is
unable to stand still.)
Paragraph10,
1,
Dee is lighter than Maggie..,(lighter means the
color of one` s skin, not weight.)
2,And
Dee.(an elliptical sentence, meaning”and there was
Dee”)
3, she had hated the house that much.(so
she was glad to see it burn down. This
shows
Dee is ashamed of her family.)
Paragraph11
1,she used to read to us without pity,
forcing...underneath her voice.(The narrator
implies that the books Dee read to them were
written by white people and full of
their
language and ideas, falsehoods and their way of
life.)
2,she washed us in a river of ...need
to know.(she imposed on us lots of falsity
and
so-called knowledge that was totally useless and
irrelevant to us.)课后习题
paraphrase )
Paragraph12
1,her eyelids 眼皮would
not flicker闪烁 for minutes at a time.（it shows that
Dee was undaunted勇敢的，无畏的, with a strong
character. She would look at anybody
steadily
and intently for a long time.）
2, Often I
fought off the tempation to shake her.( Often I
wanted so much to shake
her , but I restrained
myself.)
3,At sixteen she had a style of her
own, and knew what style was.( she had her
own
unique way of doing thing at an early age, she
also know what is fashion. That
means she is
totally different from her sister. )
Paragraph13
1,she stumbles along good-
naturedly...(she often makes mistakes while
reading,
but never loses her good temper.)
2, like good looks and money, quickness passed
her by.(she was homely and poor.
Besides she
was not smart.)课后习题paraphrase )
Paragraph14
1,”when did Dee ever had any friends ?” (a
rhetorical question that means Dee
never
really had any friend.)
Paragraph15
1,furtive:鬼鬼祟祟的，秘密的，
His furtive behaviour
aroused our suspicion.
他鬼鬼祟祟的行为引起了我们的怀疑。
Paragraph3--16: this section is what we call
exposition, providing background and
preparing
for the main action, which is what happens during
Dee` s visit.
Para.17
… but there they
are!
Before I could meet them (in the
yard), they have already arrived.
Para.18
…I stay her with my hand. I stop her from
dashing off with my hand.
1) stay: to stop,
halt or check somebody from doing sth.
2) Note
that the simple present tense --- the purpose is
to make the story
telling more vivid.
Para.19
1. Hair is all over his head a
foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky
mule tail.
A simile by comparing the young
man’s hair to a mule tail
2. I hear Maggie
suck in her breath.
I hear Maggie inhale her
breath and a sound like “Uhnnnh” escapes her
mouth.
3. like when you see the wriggling end
of a snake just in front of your foot on
the
road.
1) 课后习题Ⅳ-B-3 an elliptical sentence ---
it was like the reaction you
have when you see
the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your
foot
on the road.
2) Wriggle: to move to
and fro with a twisting and writhing motion
Para.20
1. A dress down to the ground, in
this hot weather
课后习题Ⅳ-B-4 an elliptical
sentence ---she is wearing a dress long enough to
touch the ground in spite of this hot weather.
2. a dress so loud…
1) an elliptical
sentence --- she is wearing a dress in loud colors
2) 课后习题Ⅳ-A-12 loud: attracting
attention by being unpleasantly colorful and
bright
3. there are yellows … the light of
the sun
throw back: to reflect
4. earrings
gold, … her shoulder
课后习题Ⅳ-B-5 an elliptical
sentence ---her earrings are gold, too, and they
are
hanging down to her shoulders.
5. it
is her sister’s hair.
This time it is her
sister’s hair style that makes Maggie utter an
exclamation
of dislike and disapproval.
6.
it is black as night … behind her ears.
1)
black as night: a simile
2) rope about:
metaphor --- compare the moving of Dee’s pigtails
to that of a
rope
3) like small lizards: a
simile
4) Dee’s new hairstyle is African, and
looks bizarre to the country girl Maggie.
Para.21
1. “Aalamalakim, my mother and
sister!”
To call strangers “y mother and
sister” is not the American way of greeting,
but a Muslim habit
2. he moves to Maggie
but she falls back…
hugging a girl at the
first meeting is a western habit. Maggie is too
shy and,
as a rural girl, she is probably not
used to being hugged by young men she doesn’t
know.
Para.22
… kisses me on
the forehead
Not usual for a daughter to kiss
her mother on the forehead. Normally, people kiss
each other on the cheeks for greeting. This
shows Dee is very distant and unloving
with
her family.
Also note she takes all the photos
first before she kisses her. A loving daughter
will run up to her mother and throw her arms
around her.
Para.23
1. meanwhile
Asalamalakim is going through … hand.
课后习题Ⅲ-8
paraphrase---meanwhile Dee’s boyfriend is trying
to shake hands with
Maggie in a fancy and
elaborate way.
2. Maggie’s hand is as limp as
a fish… sweat…
Simile. Maggie’s hand lacks
firmness and is cold though she is sweating
3.
or maybe he doesn’t know how…
ungrammatical
spoken English
4…. He soon gives up on Maggie
Soon he knows that won’t do for Maggie, so he
stops trying to shake hands with
her in that
manner.
Note “gives up on Maggie”, not gives
up Maggie, the meanings are diffirent.
Para.25
There is an exclamation mark which shows emphasis.
Here, we also can see the trace of the name
changing. During the Civil Rights Movement
in
the 1960s, many African Americans were
disappointed by the influence of
integration.
Many blacks affirmed their African roots by
discarding their “slave
names” and adopting
Africans names, even many didn’t know the meaning
or how
to spell them correctly. And
they also wore African hair styles and African
clothing.
The author held negative opinion
about the name changing. She thought an African
name was not related to the recent past of the
black Americans’’ experience.
Para.26 Mama
felt her daughter “Dee” no longer existed. So
that, she describes
her daughter’s visit as
something happening in the past.
Pare.27 She
meant that the girl born again with a new name.
(Dee no longer existed.)
Para.28 “Dee” vs.
“Big Dee”
The daughter’s name was after her
aunt, and then we added “Big” to aunt’s name
to make a distinction.
Para.32 “Though, in
fact, … through the branch
es”
.
Actually, I could trace it back before the
Civil War, through the family branches.
But
Dee seemed tired, I wouldn’t go on either.
Para.33 “There you are”.
It is a
colloquial expression. Dee’s boyfriend meant “I
knew you couldn’t trace
it further back” by
saying this.
Para.36 1. “Looking down … a
Model A car”.
Here “a Model A car” meant
something old and out-of-date.
2.
“every once … my head”
Now and then he and Dee
communicated through eye contact in a secretive
way.
Para.41 “Ream it out again”
Try to
pronounce it again no matter how difficult.
Ream: to extract the juice from; to enlarge a
hole with a reamer
Para.42 1. “Well, soon …
the way”
We overcame the difficulty and could
pronounce it.
2. “I tripped it out”
I failed to say to say it correctly.
Trip:
to stumble; catch one’s foot and lose balance
Para.43 The narrator hints some conflict here.
We can guess those beef-cattle are
Muslims.
Para.44 “I accepted some of their doctrines”
Conversion to Islam was also part of many
African Americans’ search for a new
identity
by this.
Para.45 1. Greens – green leafy
vegetables eaten cooked or raw.
2. “She
talked … potatoes”
Talk a blue streak: talk a
lot and rapidly
3. “Everything delighted
her”
“New interest” vs. “Old hatred”
-----Indicated a change of value.
Para.52
“Maggie’s … an elephant’s”
It is a simile.
Elephants are said to have good memories.
Para.53 “I can use … alcove table”
Centerpiece – an ornament
Alcove – a
secluded section of a room for meal. 凹室
Para.54 1.“Sink” is used figuratively meant a
depression in the wood of the handle
left by
the thumb and fingers.
2. “You could …
the wood”
The objects record history. Dee only
noticed the nice shape, but Mama and Maggie
connected them with the people who used them.
Para55-82:
Dee asks for the old
quilts.
Words:
Para55:rifle:plunder;to
search messily
Eg: The men rifled
through his clothing and snatched the wallet.
hang back(off):to be reluctant to advance,as
from timidity and shyness
Eg: I saw him
step forward momentarily but then hang back,
nervously massaging
his hands.
dishpan:a pan in which dishes,cooking
utensils,etc,are washed
teeny(colloquial):tiny
Eg: I forgot to
mention one teeny wittle item.
Para61:stroke
中风; 一件(幸运的)事n.
（用笔等）画；轻抚；轻挪；敲击vt.
Eg: He
had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly
paralysed.
It didn't rain, which turned out
to be a stroke of luck..
She held the
quilts securely in her aarms,stroking them.(this
is a
sentence in our textbook)
Para74:“That was Maggie’s portion.”
Here “portion” means fate in our textbook.
Para80:“You ought to try ro make something of
yourself,too…”
Here in our
textbook,“make” means to turn out to be;to prove
to have the
essential qualities
Sentences:
“Bits and pieces of grandpa Jarrell’s Paisly
shirts.”(para55)
the quilts there were bits
and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s
Paisly
shirts.
“MaMa,”Wangero said,sweet as a
bird.”Can I have these old quilts?”(para56)
Simile. “MaMa,”Wangero said in an extremely
sweet voice.
“I promised to give them quilts
to Maggie…John Thomas.”(para64)
Incorrect
should be “I promised to give these quits to
Maggie
when she marries John Thomas.”
“She gasped like a bee had stung her.”(para65)
breathed suddenly in painful surprise.
“God knows I been saving’em…nobody using’em.”(
para67)
Incorrect grammer. It should be”God
knows I have been saving them long enough
with
nobody using them.I was hoping somebody would use
them.”
“Lwss than that!”(para68)
quilts
would be in rags or in an even worse condiction.
“I can remember Grandma Dee without the
quilts.”(para73)
Paraphrase:I do not need the
quilts to remind me of Grandma lives
in my
memory.
It's really a new day for us.(para80)
us colored people,this is a new era,and we
must seize our
opportunities.
But a real
smile,not scared.(para82)
smiled a real smile
from the bottom of her heart,not nervous.
Paragraphs(The portrayal of the characters and
the plot of the story):
para61: “She held the
quilts securely in her arms,stroking them. ”
In para.63,she was “clutching them closely to
her bosom.”All this shows how much
she
wanted them and how determined she was to have
them.
para66：“She’d probably be backward
enough to put them to everyday use.”
Here
Wangero said that Maggie was behind times,and not
as well educated as she
was and that Maggie
would not able to appreciate the value of the
quilts and would
use them just as quilts,not
as works of art.
para74：“It was Grandma Dee
and Big Dee…to quilt herself. ”
Again it shows
Maggie has inherited the cultural legacy from the
maternal ancestors.
Para75:In this paragraph
the action reaches the did something she had
never done before by hugging Maggie to her
bosom,snatching the quilts from
Wangero’s
hands and putting them on Maggie’s lap.
Para80:“Your heritage…”“heritage ”is a key
word. Wangero understood that old
quilts
represented heritages but her interpretation of it
was superficial as she
only saw it as a thing
for Maggie who was closely involved in carrying
on the heritage by making them.
Para82:This paragraph contains the final
section of the plot-resolution;it records
the
outcome of the story ens with Mama and Maggie
sitting in the
yard,just enjoying a dip of
snuff,undisturbed.
CONCLUSION:
Mama grew
up in a world where colored people were treated
much differently than
Maggie and Dee have
experienced. When Mama was growing up, she had few
civil
liberties as a colored person. She is a
very spiritual woman; she mentions that
she
sings church songs, and describes one of her
actions in comparison to how she
might act in
church when the “spirit of God touches her”. Mama
has a deep, rich
personality, and although she
has not lived an easy life, the rough life she has
lived has turned her into a strong
woman.
Mama is happy with the life she has
been given. Although she has not accomplished
much materialistically, she is proud of who
she is. On the night in which the story
takes
place, Mama and Maggie sit on the porch, “just
enjoying, until it was time
to go in the house
and go to bed”. It is easy to imagine that this is
how the
two spend many evenings, and Mama says
that after Maggie marries she will be “free
to
sit here and just sing church songs to herself” .
Her life is not very exciting,
but she is
happy.