Before Reading 

Ⅰ. The Times They Are A-changin’

1. Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, born on May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota in the USA, is widely regarded as perhaps America's greatest popular songwriter born in the twentieth century.

Much of his best work is from the 1960s when his musical shadow was so large that he took on political influence. The civil rights movement had no more moving anthem than his song Blowin' in the Wind. Millions of young people embraced his song The Times They Are A-Changin' during that era of extreme change. The radical political group The Weathermen named themselves after a lyric in Dylan's song Subterranean Homesick Blues ("You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows").

2. Listen to Bob Dylan’s song The Times They Are A-Changin’:

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Bob Dylan

Come gather ‘round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You’ll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you

Is worth savin’

Then you better start swimmin’

Or you’ll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won’t come again

And don’t speak too soon

For the wheel’s still in spin

And there’s no tellin’ who

That it’s namin’

For the loser now

Will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don’t stand in the doorway

Don’t block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There’s a battle outside

And it is ragin’

It’ll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don’t criticize

What you can’t understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin’

Please get out of the new one

If you can’t lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is

Rapidly fadin’

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin’

Ⅱ. Comedy

Listen to the passage and fill in the blanks with the missing words.

Comedy,             expression and a          dramatic genre (类型) that is intended to amuse. Comedy is associated with            , wordplay, pleasurable         , release of tension, and         . Imbued with a playful spirit, comic entertainment frequently          incongruous (不协调), ridiculous, or aspects of          . It generally follows a           of theatrical surprises that          a sense of delight in the viewer. Of all dramatic genres, comedy is the most         performed.

Ⅲ. Fast-food restaurant

A fast-food restaurant is a restaurant characterized by food which is supplied quickly after ordering (and which may or may not be consumed quickly as well), and by minimal service. The food in these restaurants is commonly cooked in advance and kept hot, or reheated to order. Many fast-food restaurants are part of restaurant chains or franchise (特许经营权) operations, which provide standardized foodstuffs to the individual restaurants, shipped from central locations.

Because of its convenience, fast food (also known as take-away food or take-out food) is very popular in many modern societies, but is often criticized of poor nutritional value (often contributing to obesity (肥胖), called junk food), advertising (especially directed at children), and other issues.

Ⅳ. High School

1. Introduction

High school, or secondary school, is the last segment of compulsory education in the United States, Canada, China, Korea and Japan. It provides a secondary education. Secondary education is a period of education which follows directly after primary education. The purpose of a secondary education can be to prepare for either higher education or vocational training. It is referred to by various different names in different countries, including high school in the United States and Australia, or middle school in the Netherlands. It occurs mainly during the teenage years. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education varies from country to country, but is generally around the seventh to the ninth year of education.

2. High School In United States

In the United States, high school generally consists of grades 9, 10, 11 and 12, though this may vary slightly by school district. In some areas, high school starts with tenth grade; a few American high schools still cover grades 7 through 12. American students are allowed to leave high school at age 16-18, depending on the state, or when they graduate or go on to college or other education. This school-leaving age is usually in grade 10 or 11 if the standard curriculum has been followed throughout life, without skipping grades or being held back. Thus, the last two years of high school are not compulsory, but most students complete high school and receive a diploma. A high school diploma or G.E.D. is generally required for entrance into a college or university, but many colleges accept a small number of students after eleventh grade.

3. High School In Canada

Secondary schooling in Canada differs depending on what province one lives in. Normally it follows the American pattern, however in Quebec, for instance, high school lasts five years and is started earlier and finished at a younger age than elsewhere in Canada. In Quebec most students follow high school by attending a CEGEP (College of General and Vocational Education), which is comparable to a junior college, and which is obligatory for Quebec students wishing to go on to university in Quebec.

4. High School In Australia

High school is the former name for secondary schools in Australia. The name was officially changed to secondary college in the early 1990s, but to the majority of the adult Australian population they are still "high schools". The exact length of secondary school varies from state to state, but the majority teach Year 7-12. It is compulsory to attend school until the age of fifteen, but most students remain at school to complete their studies and go on to college or university.

Ⅴ. Warm-up Questions

1. Is there a generation gap between you and your parents?

(Open-ended.)

2. What will you do if you have different opinions with your parents?

(Open-ended.)

3. What are the major components of a play?

(=characters, settings, stage directions, language, conflicts, climax, and theme.)

Global Reading

Ⅰ. Part Division of the Text

Ⅱ. Further Understanding

1. For Part 1

1. Group Presentation

Students work in pairs. One student tries to describe Heidi’s attitudes toward her father according to her speech at the very beginning of the play. Then the other student makes a speech to class.

2. Role Play

Three students stay in a group, and play Manager, Father, and Sean respectively according to what had happened in this part.

2. For Part 2

1. True or False

1. Diane disliked Kyle and did not want to go to the senior prom with him. (= F Diane liked Kyle and wanted to go to the senior prom with him.)

2. Mother thought the children should respect their father. (= T)

3. Dan Lucas invited Father to have lunch at the French restaurant on Third Road. (= F Father invited Dan Lucas to have lunch at the French restaurant on Third Road.)

4. Dan Lucas promised to ask his son to make a phone call to Diane because Father told him Diane was interested in his son. (= T)

5. As an honor student, Diane was pleased with the result. (= F As an honor student, Diane was humiliated with the result.)

2. Group Discussion

Three to four students stay in a group, and discuss the characteristics of Father, Mother and the children.

3. For Part 3

1. Group Discussion

Students form groups of three to four, and find out what Father said in the office. Then find out the response of Heidi and Mrs. Higgins. Discuss why they seemed to have different topics and what they thought during the interview.

(= In the office Father boasted to Mrs. Higgins how bright Heidi was. He listed several examples. He kept on talking even though Mrs. Higgins was not interested in the topic. He showed a typical example of a proud father.

Mrs. Higgins wanted to get down to business and finished the interview. So her topics focused on the enrolment of a new student. As she was frequently interrupted by Father, she got impatient and a little annoyed. But she tried to be polite and not to hurt the feelings of a proud father.

Heidi was embarrassed when her father boasted to Mrs. Higgins. She tried to stop her father, but her father ignored her. She couldn’t understand her father’s pride.)

2. Role Play

Students form groups of three and act as Mrs. Higgins, Father, and Heidi according to what had happened in this part.