Unit 5  Never Judge by Appearances

Before Reading

An English Song --- Easy to be Hard

The Band --- Three Dog Night

Song Appreciation

Questions on the Song and the Text

Maugham

Kobe

Yokohama

Bridge

Cocktail

Gin fizzes

Global Reading

Word-web 

Prediction

Part Division of the Text

Further Understanding

For Part 1&2

For Part 3

Detailed Reading

After Reading

Useful Expressions

Spot Dictation

Discussion and Debate

Writing Practice

Sentence Translation

Talk about the Pictures

Proverbs and Quotations

Supplementary Reading

                     Culture Notes

                     Reading

                     Comprehension Task

Before Reading

1. An English Song —Easy to be Hard

The Band —Three Dog Night

  Three Dog Night: Jimmy Greenspoon, Cory Wells, Danny Hutton, Pat Bautz, Michael Allsup, Paul Kingery. From 1969 to1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets. During this period Three Dog Night was undoubtedly the most popular band in America: twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, seven number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. By late '75, they had sold nearly 50 million records. Since 1986, Three Dog Night has toured regularly. Their records continue to sell in great numbers and they receive regular airplay on radio stations around the world. )  

Song Appreciation

Easy to be Hard

Three Dog Night

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard, easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, I need a friend

How can people be so heartless
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, we all need a friend

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Come on, easy to give in, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Much too easy to say no

Questions on the Song and the Text

1.   Do some people care too much for people in general but forget the needs of their closest friends?

(=Yes. Some people want to show their concern for people in general in public or create their public image but in the depth of their hearts, they just care about themselves.）

2.   What is the singer complaining about?

(=Too many people find it all too easy to be cold, to say no.) 

2. Maugham

Maugham, W(illiam) Somerset: 1874-1965

Birthplace: England

Nationality: British

Achievements:  Of Human Bondage (1915)

               The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

               The Painted Veil (1925)

               Cakes and Ale (1930)

               Christmas Holiday (1939)

               The Hour Before the Dawn (1942)

               The Razor's Edge (1944)

               A Romance (1948)

              The Trembling of a Leaf (1921)

              The British Agent (1928)

              First Person Singular (1931)

              Ah King (1933)

              Quartet (1948)

             The Circle (1921)

             Our Betters (1923)

             East of Suez (1922)

 (= Maugham, W(illiam) Somerset (1874-1965): English author, whose novels and short stories are characterized by great narrative facility, simplicity of style, and a disillusioned and ironic point of view. Maugham was born in Paris and studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg and at Saint Thomas's Hospital, London. His partially autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage (1915) is generally acknowledged as his masterpiece and is one of the best realistic English novels of the early 20th century. The Moon and Sixpence (1919) is a story of the conflict between the artist and conventional society, based on the life of the French painter Paul Gauguin; other novels are The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930), Christmas Holiday (1939), The Hour Before the Dawn (1942), The Razor's Edge (1944), and Cataline: A Romance (1948). Among the collections of his short stories are The Trembling of a Leaf (1921), which includes “Miss Thompson,” later dramatized as Rain; Ashenden: or The British Agent (1928); First Person Singular (1931); Ah King (1933); and Quartet (1948). He also wrote satiric comedies-The Circle (1921) and Our Betters (1923)-the melodrama East of Suez (1922), essays, and two autobiographies.)

3. Kobe

Kobe: one of the leading Japanese ports;

      a major industrial center and railway hub;

      a cultural center;

      heavily bombed during World War II but was rebuilt and enlarged

  Kobe, city, capital of Hyogo prefecture, S Honshu, Japan, on Osaka Bay. One of the leading Japanese ports, it is also a major industrial center and railway hub. It is part of a transportation network, which includes express trains and highways, that links it to Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya. It has shipbuilding yards, vehicle factories, iron and steel mills, sugar refineries, and chemical, rubber, and food-processing plants. A cultural center, Kobe has several colleges and universities and many temples and shrines. Kobe was heavily bombed during World War II but was rebuilt and enlarged, with much commercial building taking place on landfill in Osaka Bay.

4. Yokohama

Yokohama: Japan’s second largest city;

           one of the leading seaports in Japan;

           revived and prospered after the heavy bombardment during World War II;

  Yokohama, city, capital of Kanagawa prefecture, SE Honshu, Japan, on the western shore of Tokyo Bay, Japan’s second largest city and one of its leading seaports. Yokohama has excellent transportation links with most major Japanese cities. Virtually destroyed by an earthquake and fires in 1923, Yokohama was quickly rebuilt; the city was modernized, and extensive improvements were made in its harbor. Yokohama suffered heavy bombardment during World War II, but it revived and prospered. The city has four universities; a variety of Christian churches, Shinto shrines, and temples; and numerous parks and gardens, notably Nogeyama Park, which was created after the earthquake.

5. Bridge

  Bridge, card game derived from whist, played with 52 cards by four players in two partnerships. Bridge probably originated in the Middle East in the 19th cent.

6. Cocktail

Cocktail, short mixed drink originating in the United States and served as an appetizer. It generally has a basis of gin, whisky, rum, or brandy combined with vermouth or fruit juices and often flavored with bitters or grenadine. It is blended by stirring or shaking in a vessel containing cracked ice. The term is also applied to nonalcoholic beverages served as appetizers, e.g., tomato juice cocktail, and also to mixed, cut-up fruits and to shellfish and oysters served with a sharp sauce.

7. Gin fizzes

Gin, spirituous liquor distilled chiefly from fermented cereals, malted and unmalted, and flavored with juniper berries. Gin fizzes, a cocktail of gin, egg white, lime and lemon juice, sugar, and cream, shaken with ice and often topped with soda or seltzer.

Global Reading

1. Word-web

(Directions:) Think of as many as possible words and phrases about friend.

friendly, sociable, amiable, intimate, close, chummy, warm-hearted, cordial, nice, generous, helpful, thoughtful, cruel, heartless, humorous, frank, stubborn, active, hard to talk to, strict, smart, organized, decent, cautious and timid, sophisticated and vicious

2. Prediction

(Directions:) Predict what the text is about or what kinds of plot are possible under such a title

(点击出现：You may think: a story about how people helped their friend in need.

 An entirely different story: Those who appear to be friendly may turn out to be so evil-minded as to be ready to strike a cruel blow at a friend in need. )

3. Part Division of the Text

4. Further Understanding

For Parts 1 & 2

Questions and Answers (问题和答案一一点击出现)

1.      Who narrates Parts I and II?

(=Part I and Part II are narrated by “I”, who offers his subjective opinion of Burton’s character.)

2.      Who narrates Part III?

(=In Part III Burton himself takes over the narration to tell what happened between him and a friend in trouble. He sounds cool and objective; just because of this he is shown to be so vicious and so cold-blooded.)

3.      Why is there such a difference?

(=When contrasts abound, it is hard for readers to easily predict what will happen next.)

For Part 3

Section Division

(Directions:) Part Three, which constitutes the main plot, can be subdivided into three sections.