Unit 9 Splitting a Baby 圖圖圖圖 : Gustave Doré (1832–1883)/Wikimedia During ancient Israel, Solomon succeeded the place of David as a king. King Solomon was called to be the wisest leader among all nations by that time. Therefore, many from other countries admired his ways of governing people. One of his remarkable approaches he had used in court for the sake of being just to distinguish between right and wrong was cutting a baby in half. Now coming before King Solomon, two prostitutes were having a dispute, claiming to be the mother of the same baby. As a matter of fact, the two women resided in the same house, and one of them had a baby three days before other giving the birth of her own. Soon after that, in the middle of the night, when sleeping, the newly mother of the newer baby smothered it. She then got up and secretly exchanged the corpse with the living one on the other woman’s chest. When dawn came, the mother of the older baby woke up and was just about to nurse it, she found her baby dead. However, later under the morning light she looked closely to the infant, it was not the son she had borne. Up to this point, the other woman keenly said to King Solomon, “What she described was not true, the living baby is mine.” Then the first one insisted and shouted, “You are lying, my son is alive, and the dead one is truly yours.” 59 Splitting a Baby Uni 9
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During ancient Israel, Solomon succeeded the place of David as a king. King Solomon was called to be the wisest leader among all nations by that time. Therefore, many from other countries admired his ways of governing people. One of his remarkable approaches he had used in court for the sake of being just to distinguish between right and wrong was cutting a baby in half. Now coming before King Solomon, two prostitutes were having a dispute, claiming to be the mother of the same baby. As a matter of fact, the two women resided in the same house, and one of them had a baby three days before other giving the birth of her own. Soon after that, in the middle of the night, when sleeping, the newly mother of the newer baby smothered it. She then got up and secretly exchanged the corpse with the living one on the other woman’s chest. When dawn came, the mother of the older baby woke up and was just about to nurse it, she found her baby dead. However, later under the morning light she looked closely to the infant, it was not the son she had borne. Up to this point, the other woman keenly said to King Solomon, “What she described was not true, the living baby is mine.” Then the first one insisted and shouted, “You are lying, my son is alive, and the dead one is truly yours.”
succeed [sJk`sid] v. 繼承;成功 remarkable [rI`markJbL] adj. 非凡的;顯著的 distinguish [dI`stIGqwIS] v. 區分;辨別
dispute [`dIspyut] n. 爭執*smother [`smVTK] v. 使窒息而死;悶死*corpse [kOrps] n. 死屍;屍體
After pondering discreetly, Solomon spotted that this conflict is not an easy case. He turned to his inferiors and said, “Bring me a sword.” He ordered to give another soldier the sword afterwards, and he said to this soldier, “Make the living child into two pieces and give half of it to one and half to the other.” As soon as Solomon gave this
command, he heard the first woman shrieked crying out to him, saying “No!” The first woman burst into tears and was filled with compassion for her son. Regardless of her distress, she petitioned King Solomon not to kill the baby and told the king that she would gave up owning the baby in order to save his life. No sooner had the king seen this
than he instructed the soldier to stop carrying on his order and brought the living baby back to the crying woman. Without any doubt and with applause, seeing the solution of this argument, the verdict of King Solomon deserves to be addressed as the wisest king of all nations. Thus, being honest cannot be emphasized enough in all we do.
ponder [`pandK] v. 沉思;考慮;琢磨 command [kJ`mAnd] n. 指令;命令 distress [dI`strEs] n. 悲傷*petition [pJ`tISJn] v. 請求;乞求*applause [J`plOz] n. 鼓掌;喝采*verdict [`vRdIkt] n. 裁定;裁決;裁斷
burst into tears 放聲大哭;突然哭起來 regardless of 不管;不顧;不理會 no sooner ... than 一…就;剛…就 carry on 繼續 cannot be emphasized enough 再怎麼強調也不為過
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Unit 9 Splitting a Baby
Graphic Organizer
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Setting
Resolution
King Solomon was full of wisdom in ruling the country.
Two mothers were arguing for a baby.
Solomon gave instruction to split the baby.
The honest woman got her baby back.
Climax
Conflict
高中英文(四) 延伸閱讀
I. True or False: Mark T for a true statement and F for a false statement.____ 1. Solomon was David’s son.____ 2. King Solomon ruled many countries.____ 3. The two women lived together.____ 4. Both of the babies died at the end of the story.____ 5. In the story, the living baby’s mother was sad because she was being honest.
II. Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer based on the reading.____ 1. In what era did Solomon become a king?
(A) He was a king in nineteenth century.(B) He was a king in the first millennium.(C) He was a king in America one hundred years ago.(D) He was one of the kings in old Israel before Jesus Christ was born.
____ 2. What does the underlined word “dawn” in paragraph 2 mean?(A) A person’s name.(B) It is the time of a day when the sun is about to rise. (C) A witness.(D) It means noon time.
____ 3. When did the first mother notice that her baby was stolen away?(A) A little while after she was supposed to feed the baby.(B) The night before she gave the birth. (C) Three days after she had her son. (D) A little while after she saw King Solomon.
____ 4. Which of the following statements is true?(A) These two women both worked under King Solomon.(B) The two babies were twins. (C) Soldiers are people who work under the king.(D) A sword looks like scissors.
____ 5. What can we infer from this passage?(A) Lying is often not a good resolution in any cases.
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〔2. King Solomon ruled only one country, Israel.〕
〔4. In paragraph 3, the living baby was not killed in the end.〕
〔5. In paragraph 3, the mother was distressed because she was losing her child.〕
(B) Telling lies will make people lose a son.(C) People were born honest.(D) A king cannot lie to the public.
III. Match the Words: Fill in the blanks using the following words.
regardless of pondered govern command distinguish disputed honesty compassion
Have you ever on telling a “white lie”? A white lie is that out of good will or you tell people something false to make them feel good, but it is still a lie. Also, it is sometimes hard to truth from lies. is the best policy that helps us our lives. The following is an interesting example of people telling a white lie. One time, a pediatrician was given a to check up on a baby. Once seeing it, the doctor said, “You have a beautiful baby.” Though looking pleased, the mother , “I bet you tell all the parents that, the look of a baby.” “I say this only to the parents whose babies are cute,” replied the doctor. “What do you say then?” asked the mother curiously, “the baby looks just like you,” the doctor answered.