Unit 6 A Day’s Wait

1. Unit 6 A Day’s Wait Part Ⅰ Background Information Part Ⅱ Warm-up Questions Part Ⅲ Comprehension Questions Part Ⅳ Language Points Part Ⅴ Group Discussion Part Ⅵ Assignment (exercises)

2. Part Ⅰ Background Information Part Ⅰ Background Information • 1)About the author • Ernest Hemingway（1899－1961）was born in a well-to-do suburb of Chicago．His father was a physician who liked to hunt and fish in his spare time．After graduation from high school，Ernest Hemingway worked briefly as a Journalist on the Kansas City Star，where he learned a great deal about exactness and style in reporting．In 1917 he went to Italy with a volunteer ambulance unit，then fought as a soldier In the Italian army，and was badly wounded．This experience in World War gave film material for many of his short stories and some of his novels，including The Sun Also Rises（1926）and A Farewell to Arms（1929）．During the Spanish Civil War（1936－1939），he went to Spain as a Journalist，strongly supporting the losing Republican side against the Fascist forces of Franco． In 1952，he published his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea．In 1954，he was awarded the highest prize a writer can receive，the Nobel Prize for Literature． • 2) About the text • Death and courage are two of the themes that Hemingway often writes about, Essentially Hemingway thinks of courage as a person’s ability to be calm and controlled in the face of death. “A man may be destroyed, but not defeated”, he declares. In this short story, Hemingway shows the feeIings of a nine-year-o1d boy who, through a misunderstanding, undergoes a shattering experience, This misunderstanding is brought about by what may seem to be a little thing, the fact that different countries use different kinds of medical thermometers. The experience nevertheless is a real crisis for the boy: he thinks he is going to die and has spent a day thinking about his death. However, in facing this crisis, the boy shows no fear and controls his emotions manfully． Ernest Hemingway Hemingway (1899-1961), American novelist and short-story writer, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and lucid prose style exerted a powerful influence on the American and British fiction in the 20th century.

3. Part Ⅰ Background Information Part Ⅰ Background Information • 1)About the author • Ernest Hemingway（1899－1961）was born in a well-to-do suburb of Chicago．His father was a physician who liked to hunt and fish in his spare time．After graduation from high school，Ernest Hemingway worked briefly as a Journalist on the Kansas City Star，where he learned a great deal about exactness and style in reporting．In 1917 he went to Italy with a volunteer ambulance unit，then fought as a soldier In the Italian army，and was badly wounded．This experience in World War gave film material for many of his short stories and some of his novels，including The Sun Also Rises（1926）and A Farewell to Arms（1929）．During the Spanish Civil War（1936－1939），he went to Spain as a Journalist，strongly supporting the losing Republican side against the Fascist forces of Franco． In 1952，he published his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea．In 1954，he was awarded the highest prize a writer can receive，the Nobel Prize for Literature． • 2) About the text • Death and courage are two of the themes that Hemingway often writes about, Essentially Hemingway thinks of courage as a person’s ability to be calm and controlled in the face of death. “A man may be destroyed, but not defeated”, he declares. In this short story, Hemingway shows the feeIings of a nine-year-o1d boy who, through a misunderstanding, undergoes a shattering experience, This misunderstanding is brought about by what may seem to be a little thing, the fact that different countries use different kinds of medical thermometers. The experience nevertheless is a real crisis for the boy: he thinks he is going to die and has spent a day thinking about his death. However, in facing this crisis, the boy shows no fear and controls his emotions manfully． Life Time 1899~1961 Place of Birth Oak Park, Illinois Nationality American Personal Experiences Serving as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War I Serving as a journalist in the Spanish Civil War

4. About the text • Death and courage are two of the themes that Hemingway often writes about, Essentially Hemingway thinks of courage as a person’s ability to be calm and controlled in the face of death. “A man may be destroyed, but not defeated”, he declares. In this short story, Hemingway shows the feelings of a nine-year-o1d boy who, through a misunderstanding, undergoes a shattering experience, This misunderstanding is brought about by what may seem to be a little thing, the fact that different countries use different kinds of medical thermometers. The experience nevertheless is a real crisis for the boy: he thinks he is going to die and has spent a day thinking about his death. However, in facing this crisis, the boy shows no fear and controls his emotions manfully．

5. Part Ⅱ Warm-up Questions • The teacher may start by asking the students to tell whatever they know about Hemingway and his works． • 2.Have you ever had a fever?How high did your temperature go? • 3.What’s the normal body temperature? • 4.Have you ever worried by what somebody said?

6. Part Ⅲ Comprehension Questions The following questions are designed to check how well the students are prepared for this lessons： 1．What’s the title of this short story？ “A Day’s Wait” 2．A day’s wait for what？ For death． 3．Who has been waiting a whole day for death？ An American boy． 4．What’s his name？ The author doesn’t tell us the boy’s name，but his father calls him Schatz．

7. Part Ⅲ Comprehension Questions The following questions are designed to check how well the students are prepared for this lessons： 5．How old is the boy？ 9 years old． 6．In which season does the story take place？ In winter． 7．What has happened to the boy？ He has got ill． 8．What does the boy think of his illness？ He thinks his illness is very dangerous and he is going to die．

8. Part Ⅳ Language Points 1.But when I came downstairs he was dressed,sitting by the fire ... Instead of going back to bed as his father had told him to, the boy got dressed and went to the sitting room downstairs (his bedroom being upstairs). The boy might be in his pajamas when he went to his parents’ room. 2. ... looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years …1ooking, despite what he said,very ill and unhappy and young and vulnerable miserable: very unhappy; causing unhappiness Examples: You look miserable. What’s up? There’s nothing like a bad cold to make you feel miserable.

9. 3. ..You go up to bed. ..You go upstairs to bed . . . 4. When the doctor came ... The author doesn’t tell us how the boy went upstairs to bed and how the father called in the doctor to treat him. He has omitted what can be omitted to make a well-knit story. 5. took the boy’s temperature: put a thermometer in the boy’s mouth to measure his temperature 6. One hundred and two. 102 degrees Fahrenheit is about 39 degrees Celsius. The normal temperature of the human body is 98.6. F (37t ) when taken from the mouth.

10. 7. Downstairs, the doctor left ... The use of the word downstairs indicates that it was in the boy’s bedroom upstairs that the father asked the doctor about the boy’s temperature, so that he was able to hear the doctor say it was 102. When the doctor and the father went downstairs, the boy remained in bed upstairs, so he didn’t hear it when the doctor told the father there was nothing to worry about if the fever didn’t go above 104 degrees. 8. bring down: reduce; cause to fall Examples: He wants to bring down his weight from 170 pounds to 150 pounds.. It has been decided that measures should be taken to bring down the costs of the project.

11. 9. overcome: succeed in controlling or dealing with (sth. ); defeat Examp1es: Amy eventually overcome her shyness in class. They overcome the enemy after a long battle. 10. Back in the room I wrote ...: After seeing the doctor off I came back to the boy’s room where I wrote ... 11. ... and seemed very detached from what was going on The boy showed 1ittle interest in what was happening, because, as we learn later, he was thinking about his death.

12. 12. “ ..Just the same, so far”,he said. Here the boy may mean. “I’m still alive up to now, though I’m going to die.” 13. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, ... ; It would have been normal for a child in his condition to go to sleep,.., 14. ... looking very strangely: ... looking (at the foot of the bed) in a very strange manner 15. (would) rather:more willingly Examples: I would rather go todoy than tomorrow. I would rather play tennis than swim. ''

13. 16. ... the ground covered with a sleet that had frozen This is an absolute construction 17. varnish: cover with a clear liquid that is painted onto things Examples: Her cousin helped her sand ond varnish the chairs. Some women vornish their toe-nails. 18. slip: slide suddenly and without intending to Examples: The boy slipped while he was gettting out of the bath. My foot slipped and I nearly fell

14. Part Ⅴ Group Discussion • What time of day was it at the beginning of the story? • 2) What did the doctor say and what did he do about the boy’s i1lness? • 3) How did the boy.respond when his father was reading to him? • 4) Why did he prefer to stay awake? How do you think he felt when his father 1eft the room? • 5) What conc1usions can you draw fom the hunting scene about the father’s character and his influence upon his son?

15. Part Ⅵ Assignment(exercices) l. This book is more interesting than ( D ) that you have just read, A. this B. these C. one D. the ones 2. You wil1 be dismissed ( A ) you wi1l never be 1ate again. A.un1ess B. until C. when D. after 3. The board of management ( D ) seven persons. A. consists B. comprises C. makes up D. composes 4. The boy is lonely; he could be happier if he had someone ( B ) he could play. A. who B. with whom C. whom D. that 5. This song ( C ) memories of my childhood in the countryside. A. calls for B. turns off C. ca1ls up D. turns up

16. 6. My grandfather’s ideas are always ( C ) . He is too old to keep up with the times. A. in sty1e B. in time C. out of style D. out of the question 7. You should ( A ) being late for the appointment with the dentist. A. avoid B. present C. keep D. escape 8. The governments ( B ) spies in secret on a deserted road. A. found B. dismissed C. interviewed D. exchanged 9. What especia1ly impressed us was ( A ) the doctor handled the emergency. A. the way which B. the way C. in the way D. by the way 10. I hope you will ( B ) this problem from the point of development. A. look B. notice C. view D. watch