四、练习答案

Text I

Text comprehension

I. Decide which of the following best states the author’s purpose.

C

II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1．T Refer to Paragraph 1.

2．F Refer to Paragraph 2. We were unable to play with our fourth- and fifth-grade friends, or to sneak out to the empty lot to hunt ghosts and animal bones.

3．T Refer to Paragraph 4.

4．T Refer to Paragraph 5.

5．F Refer to Paragraph 6. My favourite was literature; I enjoyed reading novels such as Little Women and Black Beauty.

6 T Refer to Paragraph 8.

III. Answer the following questions.

1．Refer to Paragraph 2. They kicked, screamed and pleaded to show their reluctance.

2．Refer to Paragraph 3. He was a stern, repressed maniacal child killer.

3．Refer to Paragraphs 4-8. She hated that smell of the school auditorium while she favored such scents as the soft French perfume that her American teacher wore in public school. She did not like learning the Chinese language, which she thought sounded pedestrian, nor did she like the Chinese calligraphy.

4．Refer to Paragraph 7. Though her grandmother was a fragile woman in her seventies, her voice could cover even the loudest of all the street vendors. She told vulgar jokes, and spoke quick, loud, grinding Chinese unlike the quiet, lilting romance of French or the gentle refinement of the American South.

5．Refer to Paragraphs 9 and 10. He was more radical than the author in his antagonism towards Chinese culture, and in his mad earnest effort to be 100% Americanized.

IV. Explain in our own words the following sentences taken from the text.

1．My brother and I were unable to walk out quietly and secretly, like other children, to the open field to play kids’ games, for we were forced to go to Chinese school.

2．Our kicking, screaming and pleading could not in the least make our mother change her mind about sending us to Chinese school.

3．She dragged us by force all the way from our home to school, a long hilly distance of seven blocks, finally leaving us, hostile and tearful, in front of the severe headmaster.

4．In Chinatown, large crowds Of Chinese were coming and going with their routine responsibilities in a disorderly, overexcited way.

5．He was fastidiously particular about my mother’s English.

6．Ultimately I was permitted to stop learning Chinese culture.

7．Finally I assumed that I was an American. But now I regret how I cut myself off my Chinese roots.

Writing strategies

1．She was brought up in a bi-cultural setting in America.

2．Examples of simile:

My only memory of him is that he swayed on his heels like a palm tree.

The room smelled like Chinese medicine, an imported faraway mustiness. Like ancient mothballs or dirty closets.

Examples of metaphor:

When he tripped over his own tongue, he’d blame it on her: “See, Morn, it’s all your fault. You set a bad example”.

What infuriated my mother most was when my brother cornered her on her consonants.

Language work

I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.

1．escorted on foot; leaving the two of us hostile and tearful

2．unfamiliar exotic stale damp smell

3．would rather learn other things than

4．Fairly frequently

5．dull and, what’s more, lacking individualities

6．eventually became the unintended

II. Fill in each blank with one of the two words from each pair in their appropriate forms and note the difference in meaning between them.

sent smell

Note: Both words denote that which is perceived through the nose by means of the olfactory sense. Smell is a general word, which can be applied to pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sensations. Scent refers to any odour, natural or artificial, that is faintly diffused through the air, and it is almost always delicate and pleasing.

1．smell

2．smell

3．scent

4．scent

chant sing

Note: Sing emphasizes an uttering of a succession of articulate musical sounds, especially with the human voice, while chant can be used to refer to the recitation of something repetitiously or monotonously in a sing-song manner.

1．chanted

2．singing

3．chanting

4．singing

permit allow

Note: To permit is to grant leave to or empower by expressing consent; the word suggests authority that could prevent, implying a greater or lesser degree of approval, and may indicate official sanction. Nevertheless, to allow, used positively, means to grant as a right or privilege, and it is a less formal term and often carries the idea of simply not attempting to hinder.

1．allowed; permitted

2．allowed; permitted

3．permitted

4．permitted

infuriate anger

Note: Both words mean to arouse extreme displeasure, and usually antagonism, in a person or animal. Anger, a more general term, may apply to mild as well as severe displeasure, and is often used as a participle to describe one’s disposition. Infuriate is a stronger word, implying a reaction so intense that one virtually loses control of one’s actions, implying that something is unbearably offensive.

1．angered

2．infuriating

3．infuriated

4．angered

III. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word or phrase taken from the box, using its appropriate form.

1．In our era of extensive social restructuring, it is important to grant women equality.

2．Panel painting, common in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe, involved a painstaking, laborious process.

3．Frosty Paws contains refined soy flour, water, vegetable oil, vitamins and minerals.

4．Coral reefs are one of the most fragile, biologically complex, and diverse marine ecosystems on Earth.

5．If you say that some people behave in a stoical way, you approve of them because they do not complain or show that they are upset in bad situations.

6．Rudman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a total of six years in prison for the robbery and the shooting of Mr. Smith.

7．Even her own party detested her nagging, and gave her the cold-shoulder.

8．This historic building is as much part of our heritage as the paintings.

IV. Make a sentence of your own for each of the given words with meanings other than those used in the text. You may change the part of speech of these words, if necessary.

1．At the top of the stairs stood a white-coated doctor.

2．How parents keep children under their sway is the subject of heated discussion over child rearing.

3．He said the principal method he used to improve his English was reading a lot.

4．It is upsetting to discover that you have backed a loser.

5．Such a crisp day in summer is really rare.

6．Young people are usually less content with their lot.

V. Replace each of the italicized phrases in the following paragraph by such a quantifier as few, a few, fewer, little, a little, less, and make other necessary changes.

VI. Put a word in each blank that is appropriate for the context.

（1） keep

（2） survive

（3） young

（4） which

（5） However

（6） because

（7） addition

（8） against

（9） themselves

（10） lost

Translation

I. Translate each of the following sentences into English, using the expressions given in brackets.

1．Nowadays, some parents are hard on their sons and daughters, asking them to learn English, to learn to play the piano, to learn painting, and to learn many other things as well.

2．He is determined to give up gambling, so when he sees his former gambling friends, he is more than eager to disassociate himself from their company.

3．The reporters received a stern warning not to go to the earthquake-stricken area without official permission.

4．Life is tough for parents whose kids fail to keep up in school.

5．The suspect considered sneaking away, but his family managed to dissuade him.

6．The cables are all bright yellow to prevent pedestrians from tripping over them.

7．Infuriated by the decision, he threw up his arms in exasperation.

8．The paint on the door of this old house has been blotched and streaked by years of weathering.

II. Translate the following into English.

While absorbing the essence of a foreign culture, we should not be content with imitation without creation. An obsession with simple imitation will sterilize creation, and as such it will be impossible for us to scale new heights in art and impossible to present to the world excellent works of our own creation. Simple imitation is by no means equivalent to novelty and originality. On the contrary, novelty and originality result from the combination of modern and traditional styles, the combination of the distinctive features of foreign countries with those of our own nation, and the combination of artistry and education.

Text II

I. Answer the following multiple-choice questions:

1．A

2．D

3．C

4．D

5．B

II. Questions for discussion:

1．Adultery was considered as immoral and associated with evil. Punishment was direct and swift. It consisted of subjecting a person convicted of adultery to public disgrace.

2．Although the author’s mother didn’t really forgive her aunt for her sin, the tone in which she told the story was sympathetic. She was also critical of the barbaric acts of the villagers and the heartless society that drove people to seek fulfillment for their emotional needs beyond accepted social boundaries.

3．The story itself is controlled by a single idea—the suffering that results from sin. It focuses on the effect of sin on individuals and on the community.

4．The presentation of her mother’s story, as she tells her story to her daughter, is reminiscent of the oral tradition. The author had never given much thought to her mother’s life in China, and she was amazed at what she learned.

5．The essay explores female identity in old China and the author’s own cultural lineage. It also reflects on issues concerning immigrant culture, such as heritage and assimilation.