Unit 1 Little House in the Big Woods. In this unit you will: Read about the life in the wilderness in the United States in the early days Learn how to.

Unit 1Unit 1Unit 1Unit 1

Little House in the Big Little House in the Big WoodsWoods

In this unit you will: • Read about the life in the wilderness in t

he United States in the early days• Learn how to preview a book• Take a test in fast reading • Know a story about a Christmas present

About the author:

Laura Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957)

Seated from left: Ma (Caroline), Pa (Charles),Mary Standing from left: Carrie, Laura, Grace

About the author: Laura Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957): born in Pepin, Wisconsin. She was the second of four daughters. Wilder's early life was spent constantly moving from place to place. Her father called himself a pioneer man and dreamed of going west to explore and settle on unknown territory.

About the author:

They traveled through thick woods, over barren prairies, through the swollen Mississippi, and over icy waters all in their covered wagon. They moved from Missouri, to Kansas, to Wisconsin, to Minnesota, to Iowa and finally settled in De Smet, South Dakota, where her father claimed a homestead.

About the author:

Laura and her three sisters grew up in De Smet. Wilder, however, never could quite see this place as home. The many moves in her early childhood made Laura come to the conclusion that the only way to know that she was truly home was to have her family around her. Following in her father's dreams, Wilder called herself a pioneer girl and made her home where her family took her.

About the author: Wilder did not begin writing her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, until 1931 and it was released the following year. The instant success of the book led to the Little House series, which became popular with young reader

s. Wilder took great care with each book to make sure that the point of view was consistently from that of a child.

About the author: In 1954 the American Library Association established the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in her honor and Wilder was the first recipient. The award is now given every five years to the author who has made a substantial contribution to children's literature. A weekly television series, Little House on the Prairie, which was based loosely on Wilder's books, began in 1974 and ran for many seasons.

Her writing

Laura's daughter Rose grew up listening to her mother's stories of those pioneer days. She urged her mother to write them down so that other children could enjoy them as well. So in

the 1930s and 40s, Laura recorded her memories

of those days of long ago in a children's series known as the Little House books which includes

Her writing

Little House in the Big Woods (1932)Farmer Boy (1933)Little House on the Prairie (1935)On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937)By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939)The Long Winter (1940)Little Town on the Prairie (1941)Those Happy Golden Years (1943)

Cultural background notes 1. Westward Movement in America Westward movement in America carried set

tlers across America, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The westward movement began in the early 1600's with European settlements along the Atlantic Coast of North America. It continued until the late 1800's. By that time, the western frontiers of the United States had been conquered. (pioneer)

Cultural background notes

2. Results of Westward Movement (1) Patterns of migration. (2) The frontier influence.

Study the text In the Big Woods the snow was beginning to thaw. Bits of it dropped from the branches of the trees and made little holes in the softening snowbanks below. At noon all the big icicles along the eaves of the little house quivered and sparkled in the sunshine, and drops of water hung trembling at their tips.

大森林中的雪已经开始融化了。雪块从树枝上掉了下来，落在下面松软的雪堆上，形成了一个个小洞。中午时分，小屋屋檐下所有的大冰柱在阳光下颤动闪烁。 在冰柱尖儿上，一颗颗小水珠摇摇欲坠。

When Laura walked behind Ma on the path to the barn, the little bits of candle-light from the lantern leaped all around her on the snow. The night was not yet quite dark. The woods were dark, but there was a gray light on the snowy path, and in the sky there were a few faint stars. The stars did not look as warm and bright as the little lights that came from the lantern.

劳拉跟在妈妈身后向牲口棚走去。一路上，灯笼里透出点点烛光，在她四周的雪地上跳跃。夜还不是太深 , 森林里已经暗下来。铺满白雪的小路隐隐泛着灰色的光，夜空中悬挂着几颗暗淡的星星。看上去，这既可星星还不如灯笼的微光那么温暖明亮。

• Pa said he must go to town to trade the furs of the wild animals he had been trapping all winter.

• The word trade is often used as a noun. But here trade is a verb, means to buy and sell goods. There are many such conversions in English.

--- He watered the wine before drinking it. (water, verb, 掺水 )

---The earth orbits the sun. ( 绕…轨道而行 )--- Point this pencil for me, please. ( 削尖 )--- Oil the machine before you operate it. ( 上油 )--- She journeys to Europe once a year on

business. ( 去…旅行 )

• Ma was worried, but Pa said that by starting before sun-up and walking very fast all day he could get home again before dark.

• Sun-up is an American expression for sunrise. Note that sometimes American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) have different words for the same thing.

British English American English

商店 shop store汽油 petrol gas电影院 cinema movie theatre铁路 railway railroad裤子 trousers pants公寓 flat apartment出租汽车 taxi cab出纳员 cashier teller

British English American English

分数 marks grades人行道 pavement sidewalk秋天 autumn fall电梯 elevator lift橡皮 rubber eraser药房 the chemist's the drug store理发店 hairdresser's beauty parlor糖果 sweets candies

• The woods were dark, but there was a gray light on the snowy path, and in the sky there were a few faint stars.

• Wood/singular----woods/pluralIn English, some nouns will carry on new meanings when they are used in their plural forms. See more examples:

Singular PluralColor 颜色 军旗Custom 风俗，习惯 海关，关税Damage 损害 赔偿金Pain 疼痛 努力Regard 注意 问候，致意spectacle 场面 眼镜Spirit 精神，情绪 酒精Wit 机智 理智

• She was sitting up late, waiting for Pa, and Laura and Mary meant to stay awake, too, till he came.

mean to do something: intend to do something, or plan to do something.

Vocabulary

Then one day Pa said that spring was coming.

In the Big Woods the snow was beginning tothaw.

• There were so many furs that when they were packed tightly and tied together they made a bundle almost as big as Pa.

• … and in the sky there were a few faint stars. The stars did not look as warm and bright as the little lights that came from the lantern.

Then Laura said, “Ma, was it a bear?” “Yes, Laura,” Ma said. “It was a bea

r.” Laura began to cry. She hung on to Ma and sobbed, “Oh, will he eat Sukey?”

Fast Reading

In this section, you are going to read three short passages in succession. You are allowed 20 minutes to read the three passages and to do the reading comprehension exercises.

Answer keys for Unit 2

•Part A: d•Part B: 1-5 cccaa 6-8 cdb•Home reading: 1-5 abccd 6-10 cbdbb