高级英语 课件 第三版 Everyday Use for Your Grandmama
颂祖国-合工大考研分数线
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.?