1、现代大学英语第一册,杨立民,Unit 1,Half a Dayby Naguib Mahfous,Background Information,Naguib Mahfous 纳吉布马福兹,Naguib Mahfous is the first Arabian language author awarded the Nobel Prize in literature(1988). He has been described as the “Dickens”(迪更斯 1812-1870， 英国著名现实主义小说家)of Cairo Cafs and the “Balzac” (巴尔扎克，1799-1
2、850，法国著名小说家)of Egypt.,“who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind. “,Warming-up questions,What is the text mainly about? Do you remember your first day of school? Were you scared? Happ
3、y? Excited? Or what? What were your feelings the first day you were here? Did you feel you were a stranger here? Did you find it hard to adjust to college life? At the end of the text, “I” turned out to be an old man. How do you understand this? How do you understand the title “Half a Day”? Is there
4、 any symbolic meaning?,New Words and Expression,Beneficial: Producing or promoting a favorable result; advantageous.,Beneficial birds / insects Beneficial to Sunshine is beneficial to plants.A temperate climate is beneficial to the health.,Cling: to hold closely; to refuse to let go,He clung to the
5、rope to keep from falling. Figurative meaning: cling to a purpose / out-dated customs / the last hope,Convince: to persuade, to make believe,Convince somebody to do something Convince somebody that Convince somebody of somethinge.g. adj. convincing: believablea convincing story,Exertion: great effor
6、t,Make exertions to do e.g. He made exertions to walk. V. exert: to put to use or effect; put forth/To bring to bear; exercise:e.g. I exerted all my strengths to move the box.For college students to do a part-time job will exert a profound influence on their personality and life.,Glance: a quick loo
7、k at something,Give the paper a glance before breakfast. At first glancee.g. At first glance the plan seemed unworkable.,Hesitate: to be slow to act because one fells uncertain or unwilling,He hesitated before he answered because he didnt know what to say. We do not hesitate to give our lives for ou
8、r country, let alone suffer some hardships. I hesitate to ask you, but will you lend me your car for a few days? She hesitated over the choice between the two blouses for her daughter.,Observant: careful to observe,Be observant of the traffic rules Be observant to avoid danger V. observeobserve the
9、rulesobserve a holiday,Perseverance: determination, persistence,Perseverance combined with energy is necessary to success in life. V. persevere (in, at , with): to persist ine.g. persevere in an effortpersevere in ones studies adj. persevering坚忍的, 不屈不挠的,Rivalry: competing,There is great rivalry betw
10、een the two sisters. Rival n. Competitor Often used to modify another noun:e.g. rival companies; rival products; rival teams; rival schools. Rival v. To attempt to equal or surpass/to be the equal of; match:e.g. Ships cant rival planes for speed.No one could rival him in this respect.,Sort: to arran
11、ge according to class, kind, or size; classify,sort out the wheat from the chaff I sorted the books into big ones and small ones. She tried to sort out her problems.,Vain: fruitless,In vain: without result e.g. Our labor was in vain. vain talk / a vain attempt / vain promises vain talker,Variety: qu
12、ality of not being the same,a variety of: The shopping-center sells a variety of goods. At school we learn a variety of things Vary v. differ e.g. Students vary in height. Their salaries vary. Various adj. of several different kind,Words and Expressions from Text,A street lined with gardens,line: to
13、 form a bordering line along e.g. Small stalls lined the alley.People lined the streets to see the famous man go past.,to make (out) of sb/sth: to make sb. /sth, become ,The army made a man of him. Hardships help make a man (out) of a boy. I dont think you can make a football star (out) of Johnny.,I
14、t is no good/use doing sth There is no good to be had in doing ,Meaning: it is not useful to do sth. e.g. It is no good crying over spilt milk. It is no use talking to him.,Be a man: a person who is strong and brave,Mrs. Baker found that her daughter was more a man than her son was. He is not man en
15、ough to accept his failures gracefully.,come into view: to begin to be seen,As soon as we turned the corner, the palace came into view. = come into sight Sth is in sight (view).,woke up to go on with ,Infinitive phrase of result, denoting the result of the main verb “woke up” E.g. They lifted a rock
16、 only to drop it on their own feet. They went back home only to find their house was broken into.cf. He picked up a stone to hit the attacking snake.,A matter of sth. / of doing sth.,a situation that involves sth. or depends on sth. E.g. Learning is a matter of seeing much, suffering much and studyi
17、ng much.Some people like pop music while others prefer serious music. Its a matter of taste.,bring about: to make sth. happen,Science has brought about many changes in our lives. The war brought about great human sufferings.,give rise to,(formal) to cause sth. to happen or exist E.g. Poor living con
18、ditions give rise to many diseases.,while: at the same time, although,While I did well in class, I was poor at sports. While I understand what you say, I cant agree with you. cf. while: whereas, and The soles are leather, while the uppers are canvas.He likes pop music, while I likes classic music.,r
19、esort to: turn to, make use of,Try not resort to violence. The government resorted to all kinds of methods to solve the problem. resort: n. a place frequented by people for recreation and relaxation.,There is no question of sth. -ing / sb. doing sth.,: it is not possible for sth. to happen / for sb.
20、 to do sth. E.g. There is no question of you arriving there in time. Cf. There is no question about your ability.,nothing () but: only,He could see nothing but her hands. Nothing remains of the old house but the cellar hole.,take advantage of: make use of,We must take full advantage of educational o
21、pportunities. Cf: to profit selfishly by, exploite.g. The company took advantage of the customer.,present itself / themselves (formal),to appear, to appear, to show E.g. When the chance to study at Harvard presented itself, I jumped at it.,to come to a halt: to stop,E.g. The came to a halt before it
22、 hit an old man. Work came to a halt when power / electricity was suddenly cut. C.f. to bring sth. a halt: to cause sth. to stop E.g. air traffic in the country was brought to a halt by heavy snowstorms.,let up: to slow down, to stop;,E.g. They did not let up in their efforts. The rain let up.,Group
23、 Discussion,Topic 1 Have you ever been given some suggestions by your parents when entering the university? What was your response then? List them out.,Topic 2 In the last part of the text, the boy walked out of the school to find that the outsid world had changed beyond measure. How might he feel a
24、bout the changes? Try to imagine and describe his feelings in details.,After-Class Thinking,“who has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind.” 1. After reading the text, how do you understand the comment on the author? 2. How do your understand the writing style and writing techn
25、iques of Half a Day?,Exercises,3. Pick out idiomatic expressions from the text.,to throw sb. into / out of a place for the first time from time to time to be lined with sth. to make sb./sth. out of sb./sth. to tear sb. away from a place to arrive at a place to be full of sb./sth. by oneself,to cling
26、 to sth. to come into view to lose ones way to glance at sb. to come over to burst into (tears, laughter) to come along to sort people into ranks to form people into a pattern,to fall in love with sb. all sorts of to wake up to go on with sth. just a matter of to fool around to bring about sth. to g
27、ive rise to sth. to resort to sth.,in addition to change ones mind to be over (to lie) ahead of sth. nothing but to take advantage of sth. to pass through a place to present oneself to look around,to step aside in vain on ones own to come to a halt to find ones way to do sth. to take over here and there to show off sth. in front,to be in a daze to let up to come up to sth. to stretch out ones arm to take sb. across,
