Unit 3

Generation Gap

Teaching Objectives

Students will be able to: Grasp the main idea and structure of the text; Appreciate the basic elements of a play; Master the key language points and grammatical

structures in the text; Understand the stylistic differences between Understand the stylistic differences between

speech and writingspeech and writing.

Teaching Set-up

Text A Pre-reading: Pair Interview Background Information

While-reading: Text Organization Language Points Related Exercises

Post-reading:

Useful Expressions

Group Discussion Text B

Language Points Assignments

Warm-up Activity

• Form pairs to interview each other the following questions.

Do you think parents’ love for their children is the greatest love in the world? Why?

How would you describe your relationship with your parents?

Is there a generation gap between you and your parents? How do you resolve your differences?

Background Information

Play• major components of a play

• functions of stage directions

• layout of a stage

• conflict

• climax

• theme

play

characters

settings

stage directions

language

conflictsclimax

theme

to set up stage properties in the proper place;

to indicate a change in setting; to direct actors’ movement, gesture, facial

expression, tone of voice, etc.

functions of stage directions

Up Left

Stage Left

Up Right

Center Stage

Down Left

Stage Right

Down Right

Audience

conflicts

• essence of a play

• a clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills

• forms:

man against man

man against environment

man against himself

climax

When a conflict develops to the most intensified point, it becomes a climax.

conflict climax

theme

Unlike a novelist or short-story writer, a playwright can not come forward, interrupt the action, and tell the audience what he/she means by a certain scene or explain to them what is going on in the minds of the characters. The audience must conclude by themselves what the theme of the play is.

Text Organization

• How many settings does the play comprise? Please scan the play to divide it into several scenes according to the changes in setting.

Scenes Main Ideas

One(line 1-65)

Two (line 66-169)

Three (line170-210)

Father embarrassed Sean by talking too proudly to the restaurant manager.

Father embarrassed Diane by persuading a work-mate into pressing his son to ask her to the senior prom.

Father embarrassed Heidi by boasting to an official of her new school about how bright she was.

Language Points

1. end up find oneself in a situation that is not intended or expected

+ prepositional phrase

If he goes on like this he’ll ~ in prison.

+ -ing

At first they hated each other, but they ended up getting married.

+ adj.

If he carries on driving like that, he’ll ~ dead.

2. sake

Idioms:

for Christ’s, God’s, goodness’, heaven’s, pity’s, Pete’s, etc. sake

(used for emphasizing what you are saying when you are annoyed or angry)

★ Some people find the use of Christ, God or heaven here offensive.

1) the benefit or good of sb. or sth.

(for sb’s ~/ for the ~ of sb.)

We hope for her sake that the wedding goes as planned.

They stayed together for the sake of the children.

2) the purpose of doing, getting, or achieving sth.

(for the ~ of sth./ for sth.’s ~)

I hope you’re not doing this just for the sake of the money.

Don’t get married just for the sake of it.

3. know better (than that/ than to do sth.) See P. 84 Structure be sensible enough not to do sth., used for saying that so

meone should not make a mistake

You left the car unlocked? I thought you’d ~. He knows better than to judge by appearances.

4. keep (sb.) in suspense The audience is kept in ~ to the very end of the pl

ay.

Collocation: break the suspense, hold sb. in suspense,

be in suspense over …

5. bet 1) be sure I bet she was late for the meeting on purpose. I bet it will snow tomorrow.2) risk (money) on the result of a future event

I bet you $5 that they will win the next election. I bet on the wrong horse. It lost the race.

6. at any rate

(You use at any rate to indicate that the important thing is what you are saying now, and not what was said before.)

At any rate, you survived the car accident.

CF.

birth rate, first-rate, at this/ that rate （这样 / 那样的话） , rate of exchange ( 汇率 )

7. exhaust1) make (sb.) very tired, either physically or mentally

Four hours’ work almost exhausted her.

What an exhausting day!

adj. ~ing, ~ed2) use up completely

What will we do, now that we’ve exhausted our reserves of oil?

They have exhausted the supply of oxygen.

8. junior1) younger (followed by to)

Jane is several years ~ to her husband.

She’s four years his ~.

Do you want John Brown Senior or John Brown Junior, the father or the son?

(The abbreviation Jr. or jr. is used after the name of a person who has the same name as his father, e.g. Tom Brown, Jr.)

2) lower in rank than others

junior employees

He shares my major but is ~ to me.

☆consist, compose, comprise & constitute consist 是个不及物动词，与介词 of 一起连用，不可

用于被动语态， consist 的主语表示事物的整体， of 后的宾语表示事物的组成部分。例如：

North America consists of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Water consists of hydrogen and oxygen.

compose 的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体，但在被动语态中正好相反。例如：

The United States, Canada, and Mexico compose North America.

Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.

Confusable Words

comprise 的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。该词亦可表“由…组成之意”。此时主语表示事物的整体，宾语表示事物的组成部分。例如：

• Fifty states comprise the United States. (= The United States comprises fifty states.)

• North America comprises the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

• The committee comprises 10 people.

constitute 的主语表示事物的组成部分，宾语表示事物的整体。例如：

• The United States, Canada, and Mexico constitute North America.

Useful Expressions

1. 舞台前方2. 对观众说话3. 到头来让人尴尬4. 当餐厅服务员5. 为某人感到骄傲6. 一致地7. 偶尔一次8. 围坐在餐桌旁

the edge of the stage

address the audience

end up embarrassing sb

wait tables

be proud of sb

in unison

once in a whilebe seated around the dinning

room table

9. 使产生悬念10.传下来11.无论如何12.世界和平13.减少；缩小14.转向某人15.影响；刺激16.优秀生17.整天提心吊胆18.负责19.填写20.初中

keep in suspensehand downat any rateglobal peacenarrow downturn to sb.come overan honor studentlive in constant dreadin charge offill outjunior high school

Sentence Translation

Translate the following sentences from Chinese into English.

1. 他们不希望国家政府干预。 They didn’t want any interference from the national go

vernment.2. 我认为 1977 年之后就没有出版了；不论怎么说，我指

的就是 1977 年的版本。 I don’t think there has been an edition since 1977; at an

y rate, that’s the one I’ll be referring to.

3. 我不想让他心存悬念，而是很快告诉他已经通过考试。 I did not keep him in suspense, but quickly informed

him that he had passed the exam.4. 他们已经将选择缩小到 12 个地点。 They had narrowed the choice down to a dozen sites.5. 我的祖母把她的一件首饰换成了食物。 My grandmother traded a piece of her jewelry for foo

d.

Discussion

Read Part 2, and discuss the characteristicsRead Part 2, and discuss the characteristics

of Father, Mother, and the Children. of Father, Mother, and the Children.

Hint: pay attention to the way they speak, their tone of voice, their facial expressions and their ac

tions, etc.)

Father

Father’s attitudes towards Mother was that ____________________________. He pulled the chair for her before dinner, and obeyed her commands like ‘do go on’, ‘do get on with it’, ‘don’t keep us in suspense’. Besides, although Father was/felt pleased with what he had done for Diane, he had learned from experience that________________________________. That was why he could quickly realize his blunder, as made clear by the sentence ‘I do? Yes, yes, I guess I do. I’ve… done it again, haven’t I?”

He shows great respect for Mother

his efforts were not always welcome

Mother

In her speech Mother uses quite a number of do’s and don’ts, please’s, dear’s, and sweetheart’s. She is the real head of the Thompson household, giving out commands to her children as well as her husband. On the other hand, knowing her children’s attitude towards Father’s meddling, she tries to________________ , as in the instances when she ________________________ by telling the children “Don’t interrupt”, “Don’t distract your father”, and “give your father the respect he deserves”, or when she tries to divert the conversation by_______________________.

maintain the peacemaintains Father’s dignity

talking about her dessert

Children

The Thompson children respect Mother, as shown by theirfrequent “Yes, Mother” and “Sorry, Mom”. On the other hand, they are used to Father’s ______________________.Sean and Heidi often make bemused comments like “Fatherknows better!”. Diane’s feelings are entirely different,though. She is ______________ when Father tells her “I have a surprise for you.” Then she is ____________ asFather mentions her feelings toward young Kyle. Later asFather goes on delaying telling the truth, she becomes____________. Finally, when she learns the truth, she ______________.

meddling with their affairs

put on guard embarrassed

hystericalloses her temper

Text B When Father Doesn’t Know Best

Words and Phrases

1. respond 1) reply, especially in writing (rather formal) pattern: respond to sb./sth. She never responded to my letter. They responded that they would like to see the house. 2) react to sth. pattern: respond to sth. with sth./ by doing sth. The body often responds to stress by becoming ill. Protesters threw stones at police, who responded with

rubber bullets. respondent, response, responsible, responsibility

2. contrary adj. completely different ~ to sth. Contrary to popular belief, the animals do not often a

ttack humans. n. on the ~ The risk of infection hasn’t diminished― on the cont

rary, it has increased. quite the ~ I don’t disagree― quite the contrary― I think you’r

e absolutely right. to the ~ Despite all evidence to the contrary, he believed his

plan would succeed.

3. justify show that sb./sth. is right or reasonable, esp. sth. that oth

er people think is wrong

Her success has justified the faith her teachers had put in her.

How people can justify spending so much money on cosmetics?

I don’t see why I should justify myself to you.

justified adj.

having a good reason for doing sth.

pattern: ~ (in doing sth.)

Were they morally justified in lying to Mrs. Brown?

4. acknowledge 1) admit or accept that sth. is true

She won’t ~ that there’s a problem. He is widely ~ed as the best player in the world. Wimbledon is widely ~ed to be the premier tenni

s tournament.

2) reply to letter; tell sb. that you have received sth. that they sent to you

Please ~ receipt of this letter.

3) show that you have noticed sb./sth. by smiling, waving, etc.

James ~ed his lawyer’s presence with a small nod.

Proverbs and Quotations

1. Like father, like son.

有其父，必有其子。2.Spare the rod and spoil the child.

孩子不打不成器。3.Train up a child in the way he should go.

培养孩子去走正路。4.Mother’s darlings make but milksop heroes.

惯宝宝，不成器。

5.All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.

-- Abraham Lincoln, American president

我之所有，我之所能，都归功于我天使般的母亲。 -- 美国总统 A. 林肯6.If you want your children to keep their feet on the gro

und, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

-- John Bunyan, British essayist

你若希望你的孩子总是脚踏实地，就要让他们负些责任。

-- 英国散文家 J. 班扬

7.The fundamental defect of fathers is that they want their children to be a credit to them.

-- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher

父亲们最根本的缺点在于想要自己的孩子为自己争光。

-- 英国哲学家 B. 罗素

Difference Between Speech And WritingWrite a dialogue between Li Ping and Helen on thebasis of the following passage.

• Li Ping is a Chinese student in the US. He is invited to a party for the first time. He does not know what he should talk about at a party. He asks his friend, Helen, for advice. Helen thinks that at a party people sometimes talk about sports, and current events. She believes that talking about China will be a good topic and people will like it. She also warns Li Ping not to ask about people’s income because it is too personal.

Writing Practice