Unit 5 A Miserable, Merry Christmas. Cultural background: 圣诞节 (Christmas): 12 月 25 日是基督教徒纪念耶稣基督诞生的日子, 称为圣诞节. 英文 Christmas 由

Unit 5

A Miserable, Merry Christmas

Cultural background:

圣诞节 (Christmas):

12 月 25 日是基督教徒纪念耶稣基督诞生的日子 , 称为圣诞节 . 英文 Christmas 由 Christ( 基督 ) 和 Mass( 弥撒 ) 两字组成 , 意思是圣诞节这一天教徒们到教堂去 , 举行崇拜仪式以庆祝耶稣基督的诞生 .

Cultural background:

圣诞树 (Christmas Tree) 圣诞老人 (Santa Claus, F

ather Christmas) 圣诞礼物 (Christmas Gift)

Christmas songs:

Silent Night

《平安夜》 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

《听，天使报佳音》 Jingle Bells

《铃铛儿响叮当》

Christmas Day:

Have you ever experienced anything that first made you miserable and then very happy? If you have, tell it to the class.

The organization of the text:

Part 1(Line 1-34) The author was very unpleasant not to receive the dreaming gift.

Part 2(Line 35-59) Through a serial of things, the author finally got his dreaming gift---a pony, how happy he was!

Part 3(Line 60-65) The author thought it was a Christmas with both happiness and sadness.

A Miserable, Merry ChristmasLincoln Steffens

Christmas was coming. I wanted a pony. To make sure that my parents understood, I declared that I wanted noting else. "Nothing but a pony?" my father asked. "Nothing," I said. "Not even a pair of high boots?" That was hard. I did want boots, but I stuck to the pony. "No, not even boots."

"Nor candy? There ought to be something to fill your stocking with, and Santa Claus can't put a pony into a stocking," That was true, and he couldn't lead a pony down the chimney either . But no. "All I want is a pony," I said. "If I can't have a pony, give me nothing, nothing." On Christmas Eve I hung up my stocking along with my sisters.

The next morning my sisters and I woke up at six. Then we raced downstairs to the fireplace. And there they were, the gifts, all sorts of wonderful things, mixed-up piles of presents. Only my stocking was empty; it hung limp; not a thing in it; and under and around it -- nothing. My sisters had knelt down, each by her pile of gifts; they were crying with delight, till they looked up and saw me standing there looking so miserable. They came over to me and felt my stocking: nothing.

I don't remember whether I cried at that moment, but my sisters did. They ran with me back to my bed, and there we all cried till I became indignant. That helped some. I got up, dressed, and driving my sisters away, I went out alone into the stable, and there, all by myself, I wept. My mother came out to me and she tried to comfort me. But I wanted no comfort. She left me and went on into the house with sharp words for my father.

My sisters came to me, and I was rude. I ran away from them. I went around to the front of the house, sat down on the steps, and, the crying over, I ached. I was wronged, I was hurt. And my father must have been hurt, too, a little. I saw him looking out of the window. He was watching me or something for an hour or two, drawing back the curtain so little lest I catch him, but I saw his face, and I think I can see now the anxiety upon on it, the worried impatience.

Translate this sentence

u After an hour or two, I caught sight of a

man riding a pony down the street, a pony and a brand-new saddle; the most beautiful saddle I ever saw, and it was a boy's saddle. And the pony! As he drew near, I saw that the pony was really a small horse, with a black mane and tail, and one white foot and a white star on his forehead. For such a horse as that I would have given anything.

Translate this sentence

s But the man came along, reading the nu

mbers on the houses, and, as my hopes -- my impossible hopes -- rose, he looked at our door and passed by, he and the pony, and the saddle. Too much, I fell upon the steps and broke into tears. Suddenly I heard a voice. "Say, kid," it said, "do you know a boy named Lennie Steffens?"

Here is an exclamation used to draw attention or open a

conversation.

e I looked up. It was the man on the pony, back

again. "Yes," I spluttered through my tears. "That's me." "Well," he said, "then this is your horse. I've been looking all over for you and your house. Why don't you put your number where it can be seen?" "Get down," I said, running out to him. I wanted to ride. He went on saying something about "ought to have got here at seven o'clock, but--"

I hardly heard, I could scarcely wait. I was so happy, so thrilled. I rode off up the street. Such a beautiful pony. And mine! After a while I turned and trotted back to the stable. There was the family, father, mother, sisters, all working for me, all happy. They had been putting in place the tools of my new business: currycomb, brush, pitchfork -- everything, and there was hay in the loft.

But that Christmas, which my father had planned so carefully, was it the best or the worst I ever knew? He often asked me that; I never could answer as a boy. I think now that it was both. It covered the whole distance from broken-hearted misery to bursting happiness -- too fast. A grown-up could hardly have stood it.

A miserable, merry Christmas

Miserable Merry

Demand: wanted a pony as a Christmas gift

Emotion: hurt, wronged, ached and cried

Disappointment: no gifts in his stocking at all

Emotion: happy, thrilled

Happy surprise: a man riding a pony coming

Broken-hearted misery Bursting happiness

miserable

adj. causing unhappiness; very unhappy 同义词 :unhappy, wretched 反义词 :comfortable 扩展 : n. misery

adv. miserably

merry

adj. happy, cheerful; bright and gay 同义词 : happy, cheerful 扩展 : n. merriment

adv. Merrily

merry-go-round 旋转木马

Mixed-up

adj. (different things) put together 类似的复合词 :

grown-up 成熟的 , 成人的 turned-on 赶时髦的 broken-down 坏的 , 损坏的

limp

adj. soft; not stiff or firm Vi. 跛行 同义词 : lame, cripple 扩展 : adv. Limply 柔软地 , 无生气地 adv. Limpingly 一瘸一拐地 n. limpness

Kneel (knelt)

V. go down or remain on the knee(s) 同义词 : get down on the knees 形近词 : knee n. 膝盖 习惯用法 : kneel down (on), 跪下 ( 在 )

eg: she went into the church, knelt down and began to pray.

indignant

adj. angry at sth. Unfair 同义词 : angry, furious 惯用法 :

1. be indignant at/about/over sth. 对某事感到愤慨

2. be indignant with sb.

对某人感到愤概

weep

V. cry 惯用法 :

weep for/over… 为…流泪 , 为…哀伤 eg: She is always weeping over her lost yout

h.

rude

adj. not at all polite 同义词 : impolite, ill-mannered 扩展 : adv. rudely

n. rudeness

wrong

Vt. treat unjustly 委屈 惯用搭配 :

1.In the wrong: 错 , 理亏 eg: which of the two drivers was in the wron

g?

2.sth. Is wrong with… 出毛病 ( 故障 )

eg: what’s wrong with your watch?

lest

conj. For fear that 同义词 : in case 例句 :

I wrote down the date of her birthday lest I (should) forget it.

lest 引导状语从句用虚拟语气 (should)+ 动词原形

anxiety

n. fear caused by uncertainty about sth. 扩展 : adj. anxious n. anxiousness 习惯用法 : anxiety to do sth. 急于想做某事的

愿望 eg: Nell’s anxiety to succeed led her to work

hard.

impatience n. inability to wait calmly 扩展 : impatient patient

impatience patience 习惯用法 :

1.be impatient for sth. / to do sth 急不可耐地做 eg: I’m impatient to see our new boss.

2.be impatient of 不能忍受的 eg: Mother was impatient of bad manners.

brand

n. 商标 , 牌子 扩展 :

brandy n. 白兰地酒 brand-new adj. 崭新的 , 全新的

splutter

v. speak quickly and confusedly (from excitement, etc.) 语无伦次地说

eg: she took too big a gulp of whisky and started to cough and splutter.

她喝了一大口威士忌 , 开始咳嗽和语无伦次起来 .

scarcely

ad. hardly, almost not 固定句型 : scarcely…when/before 刚…就 习惯用法 : 否定词位于居首 , 句子倒装 . Eg: Scarcely had the teacher finished speaki

ng when the door opened.

thrill

vt. Excite greatly 使非常激动 扩展 :

thriller: n. 使人毛骨悚然的人 ( 物 ), 恐怖小说 thrilling: adj. 颤栗的 eg: we thrilled to his tales of South adventure.

trot

vi. run or ride slowly, with short steps 习惯用法 :

trot out: 使 ( 马 ) 跑步给人看 ; 炫耀 trot out one’s knowledge: 炫耀知识

misery

n. the state of being very unhappy, poor, ill, lonely, etc.

同义词 : suffering 扩展 : miserable adj. Misery loves company. 同病相怜 .

Make sure

act as so to make something certain 查明 , 弄清楚

eg1: Father makes sure that all the lights are off before he goes to bed.

eg2: Arrive early at the cinema to make sure of getting a seat.

Nothing but

Nothing other than; only

除了…以外没有什么 ; 仅仅 , 只不过 Eg1: She is concerned about nothing but mo

ney. Eg2: I could do nothing but stand there waitin

g.

Stick to

refuse to give up or change

坚持 , 不放弃 eg1: The decided to stick to their previous pla

n. eg2: If you stick to the truth, you’ve nothing to

fear.

Hang up

fix (sth.) at a high place so that it does not touch the ground 挂起

Eg1: There are some hangers in the closet on which to hang up your clothes.

Eg2:Let’s hang up a map of the world in our study.

Or something

(used when the speaker is not sure)

诸如此类 Eg1: I think he left because he had lost his j

ob or something. Eg2: Her name is Mary of Margaret or some

thing.

Catch sight of

see suddenly or for a moment

看到 , 发现 Eg1: Suddenly Evens turned and caught sigh

t of Andrew. Eg2: Just then I caught sight of him getting o

n a bus.

Draw near

Move near 接近 Eg1: Winter is drawing near. Eg2: Night drew near. 扩展 : draw on 到来

Break into

1.suddenly start (to cry, laugh, etc.)

突然…起来 Eg1: The audience broke into applause. 2.enter by force; interrupt 闯入 ; 打断 Eg2: The thieves planned to break into a ban

k.

Eg3: He broke rudely into our talk.

In place

In the right place 在适当的位置 Eg1: As soon as all the chairs are in place, w

e can let the audience in. Eg2: I think an expression of thanks to our ho

st would be in place.

有两个钟头 , 他大概一直在留神我的动静 . 他只把窗帘掀开一点儿 , 生怕我发现他 ,但他还是看到了他的脸 . 我觉得现在我还能看到他脸上的 ,那种担心忧虑而焦急的神情 .

要是能有这样一匹马 , 我愿意付出任何代价 .

该句中用虚拟语气 ,其介词 for 相当于一条件从句 ,表示隐含虚拟条件的词还有 with, without等 .

eg: We would never have reached the shore without that plank.

pony

n. a short horse

boot

n.长统靴

圣诞袜的传说 : 很久很久以前有一个心地善良的贵族，他的妻子因病去逝，抛下他和

他的三个女儿。 这个贵族尝试了不少发明，都失败了，但也因此耗尽了钱财，所以他们不得不搬到一家农舍里生活，他的女儿们也只得亲自烧煮、缝纫和打扫。 　　

一晃几年过去，女儿们陆续到了出嫁的年龄，父亲却变得更加沮丧，因为他没钱给女儿们买嫁妆。一天晚上，女儿们洗完衣服后将长统袜挂在壁炉前烘干。圣人 Nicholas 知道了她们父亲的境况后，就在那天晚上，来到她们的家门前。他从窗口看到一家人 都已睡着了，同时也注意到了女孩们的长统袜。随即，他从口袋里掏出三小包黄 金从烟囱上一个个投下去，刚好掉在女孩们的长统袜里。

　 第二天早上，女儿们醒来发现她们的长统袜里装满了金子，足够供她们买嫁妆了。这个贵族也因此能亲眼看到他的女儿们结婚，从此便过上了幸福快乐的生活。

　 后来，世界各地的孩子们都继承了悬挂圣诞袜的传统。有些国家的孩子则有其它类似的风俗，如在法国，孩子们将鞋子放在壁炉旁等等。

eve

n. day or evening before a church festival or any day or event; time just before anything

New Year’s Eve

Christmas Eve Eve: 大写时作为人名 ,夏娃 ( 《圣经》中的人物 )