Unit 4 American Dream Text A Tony Trivisonno’s American Dream

1. Unit 4 American DreamText A Tony Trivisonno’s American Dream

2. Teaching Aim: • 1.       understand the main idea (Tony Trivisonno realized his American Dream through his own efforts) and structure of the text (one part telling the story of Tony’s life and the other giving the author’s comments on it); • 2.       learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features, together with supporting details which demonstrate the features;

3. Unit 4 American DreamText A Tony Trivisonno’s American Dream • 3.       grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text; • 4.       conduct a series of listening, speaking and writing activities centered upon the theme of the unit.  • Time allotment: • 1st period2nd period3rd period4th period5th periodPre-reading;While-reading (text organization)While-readingWhile-readingWhile-reading (descriptions of physical appearance )Theme-related Language Learning Tasks)

4. Back-ground Information • American Dream • The American Dream is the idea held by many in the United States that through hard work, courage and determination one could achieve prosperity（繁荣）. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations. What the American dream has become is a question under constant discussion. The term stems from the departure in government and economics from the models of the Old World. Additionally, from the American Revolutionary War well into the later half of the eighteenth century, many of America's physical resources were unclaimed and held out the promise of land ownership and lucky investment in land or industry in the nineteenth century.

5. "The ideal of freedom and opportunity that motivated the Founding Fathers（开国者）; the spiritual strength of the nation. Katherine Lee Bates wrote in 1893 ‘America the Beautiful' of a ‘patriot（爱国者）dream that sees beyond the years.’ In 1960 the poet Archibald MacLeish, debating ‘national purpose,’ said: ‘There are those, I know, who will reply that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right, It is. It is the American dream.’ The American Dream, to some, stresses opportunity. The phrase defies definition as much as it invites discussion. As a force behind government philosophy, it seems to be interpreted by most users as a combination of freedom and opportunity with growing overtones of social justice" - From “Safire’s New Political Dictionary” by William Safire (Random House, New York, 1993).

6. The Statue of Liberty was for many immigrants the first point of view of the United States. It signifies freedom and personal liberty and is iconic （图标的）of the American Dream.

7. Immigrants • Old Days: Throughout its history, America has served as the destination point for a steady flow of immigrants. During the colonial era most migrants came from northern European countries. Their numbers declined with the onset of the Revolutionary War during the 1770s, but immigration later picked up strongly again during the 1840s and 1850s. New arrivals came from several European countries during this period, but most came from Ireland and Germany, where devastating crop failures forced many residents to leave their homelands. Many settled in New York City, where the population increased from 200,000 residents in 1830 to 515,000 in 1850. By 1860, New York was home to over one million residents. More than half of the city's population at that time were immigrants and their American-born children. After the Civil War,

8. America's growing industrial economy required the addition of many more workers, and this need was filled once again by immigrants arriving from Europe. Approximately 25 million arrived between 1866 and 1915. While earlier immigrants had come mainly from northern European countries such as England, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, by the 1880s most new immigrants were arriving from southern and eastern European countries such as Italy, Poland and Russia. Like their Irish predecessors, most of these new arrivals were poor and uneducated. Many were peasants from rural regions who were being pushed out by Europe's industrial revolution.With the U.S. entry into World War I in 1919, immigration declined dramatically, and remained low through the Depression era of the 1930s and the World War II years of the early 1940s. The number of new arrivals began to increase again during the late 1940s, and has risen steadily since that time.

9. Recent Trends: Today's immigrants arrive from all parts of the world. The current phase of immigration history began in 1965, when strict quotas based on nationality were eliminated. In 1978, the United States government set a single annual world quota of 290,000, and this ceiling was raised again in 1990 to 700,000. During the 1990s, immigrants have arrived at a pace that at times has exceeded one million new arrivals per year, and have settled in all parts of the country.

10. Depression Days • The period of severe economic failure in most countries of the world that lasted from 1929 until World War II. It began in the US when the New York Stock Exchange fell on 29 October 1929, known as Black Tuesday. • Warming-up Activities • Pairing: What does a gardener do?

11. Language Points • afford v. 1.give money or responsibility to负担得起take adventure or risk冒险 • eg. He can’t afford to travel alone for fear of being kidnapped. • 2. give • eg. The building affords us a beautiful view of the city. • Related Word: affordable a.可支付得起的 • turn away: refuse to help拒绝帮助；不让进入 • eg. He’s my son after all. I can’t just turn him away when he is in trouble. • assume v. suppose猜 • eg. I assume that the moving van will be here this morning.我想流动大篷车今早该到了。 • [compare] assume, suppose, presume • Assume 含有[compare] 强烈的武断成分； • Suppose 认为，猜想，用于个人陈述意见； • Presume 理由充分，用于正式场合。

12. work out: 1.make sth. possible 计算出 • eg. My mother allowed me to take the trip, but asked me to work out the total cost first. • 2.设法凑出，得知 • eg. Finally I worked out that the parcel had been sent to Paris by mistake. • determination n. 1.decision 决心 • eg. She has great determination to succeed. 她决心成功。 • 2.conclusion 裁决 • eg. The detective made a determination as to the cause of the car accident; he found that the brakes had failed. 侦探对车祸的原因作出结论，发现刹车失灵。 • Related Word: determine v. 下决心 • 注意：have determination on doing sth = have determination to do sth. = determine to do sth. • personnel n. department 可以看作是集体名词，后谓语可以是单数，也可以是复数。Crew 全体机组人员； • Staff 公司职员； • Faculty 教员。 • eg. Personnel has/have received your

13. application form. • eg. All personnel in this company are • entitled to medical insurance. • 注意：这几个词注意也具有同样的属性 • Related Word: personal a. 个人的。 • capacity n. ability 能力；才能 • eg. She has a capacity for hard work. • 当capacity 意为才能时，后常接for/ of / 不定式 • eg. They had an infinitive capacity for patience. • eg. This is a hall with a seating capacity of 3000. • [compare] capacity, capability, ability • Capacity 后常接for/ of /不定式，指接受的能力或理解的能力，强调后天培养。 • Ability 后常接for/ in /不定式，指人本身的能力或才能。强调先天。

14. Capability 指潜能。 • turn down: refuse • eg. He was offered the job but he turned it down because it involved too much traveling. • skilled a. 有技能的 • eg. She is a skilled thief. 她是一个受过训练的小偷。 • Related Phrase：be skilled in / at 在某方面熟练 • [compare] skilled 和skillful • Skilled 作定语时，可修饰人和物，意为“熟练的，受过训练的”， 指经过正规训练有多年经验的；skillful指人聪明，做事灵巧，常与at 搭配。 • call on: visit • eg. He wanted to call on his girlfriend after work, and then go to see a movie with her. • Related Phrases: • call after追喊, 以...命名call someone names骂人call in召集, 召来, 来访call it a day今天到此为止, 暂停止call down祈求到, 招致, 责骂call on号召, 访问, 指派, 回答问题call forth使产生, 引起, 使起作用call round偶然拜访 • character n. 品德，品质，性格 • Related Phrases: in character of 与……相符；

15. out of character与……不相符； • in the character of 以……资格。 • down payment: an initial amount of payment 首付 • loan v. n. 贷款。eg. a loan of a car • bank n. 银行 • tax n. 税 • 13. discard: throw away • eg. I’m going to discard those magazines if you finished reading them. • [compare] discard, desert, abandon • Discard 扔掉一些具体的东西，但也可用于抽象含义； • Desert违背诺言，抛弃天职，或者逃避法律、道义上的责任和义务； • Abandon 后跟计划，意见，政策，希望，地位或习惯。 • spot n. a place • eg. I found him in our familiar meeting spot.

16. Related Phrases: on the spot 当场 • in a spot 进退不得 • [compare] spot, stain • Spot 用来指点状污迹；ink spot • Stain 用来指大片的污迹；Coffee stain。 • approach v. 1. make sth. close 接近 • eg. As I approach the house, I noticed that the door was open. 当我靠进这所房子的时候，我注意到房门是开着的。 • 2. to begin to handle a situation or work on sth. 着手处理 • eg. I approach the problem of reducing costs b making a list of them. 在解决降低成本的问题时，我先列了一个清单。 • n. 1. a course of action, a way of handling a situation态度，方法 • eg. She took a quiet, friendly approach in dealing with her daughter about the problem. • 2. means of access接近的方式 • eg. The pilot made a slow, gradual approach to the airport runway. 飞行员慢慢地逐渐地靠近机场跑道。 • principle n. 原则

17. 同音词principal n. 校长 • eg. The principles are to be followed by our principal. • Related Phrases: on principle 基于……原则 • in principle 原则上 • Text B Ben Carson: Man of Miracles •  Language Points • surroundings n. environment 环境，周围的事物 • 带有ings 结尾的词具有以下性质： • ① 表示一堆或一块儿，多为集体名词。 • ② 后面的谓语动词为复数居多。findings n. 发现的东西 • sweepings n. 垃圾；a.彻底的，广泛的 • belongings n. 财产，相关的物品 • clippings n. 剪下的东西 • savings n. 储蓄

18. earnings n. 所得，收入 • 如： • threaten v. make threats • eg. A manager threatens to fire an employee unless her work improves. 一个经理威胁要开除一个女雇员除非该人的工作有所改进。 • 常用于：threaten sb. to do sth. / threaten sb. with sth. • 在 important • necessary • It is possible that 从句中，要用虚拟，即用过去表示现在。 • vital • urgent • essential • Tasks • 1. Do Exercise Book Unit Four and recite some parts of the context. • 2. A Composition