Unit Eight

1. TRAVEL Unit Eight

2. Teaching Objectives • Understand the main idea and structure of the text • Appreciate the fluid and sensual writing style • Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text • Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities

3. Lead-in Activities Group Discussion • What are some distinctive features of an out-of-the-way, inaccessible place such as a jungle, desert, or remote mountainous area? • Why would such a place appeal to many people today? • What are the characteristics of those people who are attracted to such places? • If you have both time and money, what places do you like to visit most? Why?

4. Words to describe the features of an out-of-the-way, inaccessible place : wild, beasts, danger, plants, animals, natural, mysterious, adventurous, etc.

5. Words used to describe the characteristics of those people who are attracted to such places : curious, brave, fond of traveling, interested in nature, etc

6. Lead-in Activities Play games with words Classify the following words into four categories: Insects Birds Reptiles Fish nightjar tarantula moth firefly parrot anaconda boa crocodile butterfly ant heron kingfisher cuckoo paichi piranha eel

7. Word Game Birds Insects reptiles fish tarantula moth firefly butterfly ant nightjar parrot heron kingfisher cuckoo anaconda boa crocodile paichi piranha eel

8. IN THE JUNGLE Annie Dillard

9. Contents • About the author • Background information • Text organization • Understanding the text • Language Points • Useful Expressions • Word Study

10. 1. About the author Annie Dillard (1945 — ) A nature writer and Pulitzer Prize winner. Text A is taken from Teaching a Stone to Talk(Expeditions and Encounters)(1988).

11. 2. Background Information

12. Amazon (river): river in northern South America, largely in Brazil, ranked as the largest in the world in terms of watershed area.

13. ( 纳波河): river in Ecuador.

14. Andes（安第斯山脉）: a mountain system of western South America extending more than 8,045 km along the Pacific coast. The mountains reach into seven countries: Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

15. The text is beautifully written. There is an abundance of sensory impressions in the essay. We feel the coolness of the drinks and of the night. We smell the sweetness in the air. We observe the wonderful sights and graceful movements on the river, on the lake and in the jungle. We taste the delicious village food. Now read the text and see how the writer uses her pen to make all these scenes reflect in our mind.

16. 3. Text Organization Part One (Para. 1-5) Description of the Napo River and surrounding jungle scenery at night, together with the author’s reflections on it. Part Two (Para. 6-8) Recalling of what happened to her at their arrival at the village and what others felt about the Napo River and the people there. Part Three (Para. 9-18) Detailed description of journeying in the jungle and her feelings about it.

17. 4. Understanding the text Part One 1. What happened in this part? When? Where? Who? What? Why? in the middle of the night. It was Feb. in the middle of summer. the Napo River in the Ecuadorian jungle, on the headwaters of the Amazon. the author, three North Americans, and four Ecuadorians. like any out-of-the-way place, the Napo River the Ecuadorian jungle seems real enough when you are there, even central. out of the way of what?

18. 4. Understanding the text A nightjar in deep-leaved shadow called three long notes; In the thatch house across the clearing behind us came the sound of a recorder, playing a tune that twined over the village,…… 2. Find the sensory expressions: Hearing: Smelling: Tasting: Seeing: Feeling: Each breath of night smelled sweet. We were holding cool drinks Idly watching a hand-sized tarantula seize moths …… That will do.

19. 5. Language Points (Para. 3) it coiled up the sandy bank and tangledits foam in vines that trailed from the forest and roots that loopedthe shore. 河水沿着沙岸蜿蜒流过，水沫裹挟在蔓生在森林里的藤蔓间以及盘绕岸边的树根上。 coil:move in a spiral course e.g. black smoke coiling up into the sky. 黑烟盘绕直上天空 tangle:mix together or intertwine in a confused mass trail:extend, grow loosely over a surface: e.g. vines trailing through the garden. 蔓生在整个花园之中的葡萄藤 loop:move in a loop or arc

20. 4. Understanding the text Part Two Not only does the author move effortlessly from one sensory impression to another, but she also handles the changes in time and place in a smooth, seamless way. Find the linking devices used to achieve coherence: Loosed my hair from its braids and combed it smooth. Later that night In the tent What happened on the arrival of the village. That afternoon At the village Now (back to night) Combed my hair, and listened to a free-lance writer. In the tent

21. 5. Language Points （Para 7）who were alternately staring at me and smiling at their toes. [alternately doing …..and doing …..] change between the two actions alternate: （1）[vi] if two things alternate, or if you alternate them, they happen one after the other in a repeated pattern [alternate between] 交替 e.g. She alternated between happiness and depression. 她时而快乐，时而沮丧 [alternate with] 轮流 e.g. Showers alternate with sunshine 时雨时晴

22. (2) [adj.] e.g. alternate winter and summer冬夏交替 alternate seasons of the year alternately[adv.] e.g. He is alternately rude and polite. 他时而粗鲁时而客气。

23. 4. Understanding the text Part Three All through these movements there is overall coherence. There is an echo --- “It would be worth it”, “The Napo River: it is not out of the way. It is in the way”. Q&A • What is the point of going to the Napo River in Ecuador according to the author? — It is simply to see what is there. We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place.

24. 4. Understanding the text • What did they find along the Napo River? — Parrots in flocks, anacondas, gray stripes of sandbar, palm-thatch shelter. • What message does the author want to convey to the reader by her description of what was going on in the evening in that village? — The Napo River is not out of the way. It is in the way.

25. 5. Language Points (Para. 9) We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place. may / might/could (just) as well do…. (1) (informal) used when you do not particularly want to do something but you decide you should do it e.g. I suppose we may as well get started. (2) used to mean that another course of action would have an equally good result e.g. Since the taxi is so slow, we might just as well go by bus.

26. 5. Language Points (Para.17) The sun would ring down, pulling darkness after it like a curtain。 夕阳会西下，像落幕似地把夜暮降下 ring down the curtain to end a performance, event, or action ring up the curtain to begin a performance, event, or action

27. 6. Useful Expressions • 渴望（做……） • 编辫子 • 喜形于色 • 观赏什么世界奇观 be dying for / to do …… braid one’s hair with open delight to see the most spectacular anything

28. to get a feel for ….. • 感受一下….. • 在眼睛的高度 • 目光所及 • 动人，感动人心 at the eye level as far as the eye can see catch the / one’s heart

29. 7. Word Study • spatter • illumine • dissolve • disembark • smear • glide

30. spatter:[vt, vi] to scatter (a liquid) in drops or small splashes.溅污 (syn.splatter) [spatter somebody/something with something] e.g. The walls were spattered with blood. [spatter something on/over etc something] e.g. Don’t spatter the paint over your sweatshirt. [spatter on/across/over etc] e.g. The first drops of rain spattered on the stones. Rain spatters on the pavement. 雨滴打在人行道上。

31. illumine (also illuminate) : (1) to make a light shine on something, or to fill a place with light e.g. A single candle illumined his face. The river was illumined by the setting sun. 这条河被落日照亮。 (2) (formal) to make something much clearerand easier to understand e.g. His lecture illuminated and explained many scientific phenomena.

32. dissolve: [vt / vi] 1▶BECOME PART OF LIQUID◀ If a solid dissolves, or if you dissolve it, it mixes with a liquid and becomes part of it [dissolve in] e.g. Sugar dissolves in water. [dissolve something in something] e.g. Dissolve the tablet in water. 2▶END◀ to formally end a parliament, business arrangement, marriage etc e.g. The monarch had the power to dissolve parliament.

33. 3▶EMOTION◀ [dissolve into/in laughter/tears etc] to start laughing or crying e.g. I dissolved into helpless laughter. 我情不自禁地笑起来 4 ▶BECOME WEAKER◀ to gradually become smaller or weaker before disappearing, or to make something do this e.g. After four days her hope of finding her son began to dissolve. 四天后，她要找到儿子的希望开始破灭

34. disembark: to go ashore from a ship e.g. The passengers disembarked at Southampton. • embark :[vi /vt] (opposite disembark) to go onto a ship or a plane, or to put or take something onto a ship or plane e.g. The plane has stopped to embark passengers. 飞机已停止使乘客登机。 We embarked at Liverpool for New York. 我们在利物浦上船前往纽约。

35. smear: (1) to spread a liquid or soft substance over a surface, especially in a careless or untidy way 涂抹 [smear something with something] e.g. His face was smeared with mud. The child's face was smeared with chocolate. 这个孩子的脸上抹得到处都是巧克力。 [smear something on/over etc something] e.g. Elaine smeared sun tan lotion on her shoulders. 把防晒膏涂抹在臂上

36. glide: (1) to move smoothly and quietly, as if without effort [glide across/over/down etc] e.g. The couples were gliding over the dance floor. The boat glided over the river. The years glided past. 岁月不知不觉地流逝。 (2) if a bird glides, it flies without moving its wings; if a plane glides, it flies without using an engine 滑翔

37. End