Unit 11 Text II A Debt to Dickens Pearl S. Buck

1. Unit 11 Text II A Debt to DickensPearl S. Buck • Learning Objectives • Learn to identify any shift in tense in narration and see the implication in so doing. • Learn to use descriptive words accurately.

2. Organization and development of the text • Section 1 (para. 1): Stating the writing purpose: to express a feeling of warm gratitude to Charles Dickens • Section 2 (para. 2-3): Explaining factors that contributed to her feeling of loneliness and alienation • Para. 2: living environment of the seven-year-old child • Para. 3: her feeling of being foreign, and her longing to know more about her own folk

3. Organization and development of the text • Section 3 (para. 4-7): Explaining how she had benefited from reading Dickens • Para. 4: an extraordinary accident – the discovery of Dickens’ works and thus the discovery of her playmates • Para. 5: the discovery meant to that small, lonely child: she entered into her own heritage by reading Dickens • Para. 6-7: The reading program, which lasted for about ten years, has taught her a lot.

4. Comprehension Questions • In what way is her life experience unusual? • from a missionary’s family, brought up in China • How would you describe Buck’s childhood? （paragraph 2-3） • Intensely solitary (alien from her own culture, not accepted by the Chinese culture either) • “solitary”, isolated, lonely, alien, foreign • “wonder” about her own folk, how they live, play etc. • (pay attention to the literary descriptions about the childhood)

5. Comprehension Questions • How did Buck come across Dickens works? • One August afternoon, (paragraph 4, detailed, vivid descriptions) • Why did Dickens’ novels appeal so much to Buck? • In reading Dickens, she found her way into her heritage. (She was able to identify herself with her culture, to regain her identity. 找到自我 • Characters depicted in the novels

6. Comprehension Questions • Why is Buck so grateful to Dickens, regarding herself owing to Dickens a great debt? • She has been reading Dickens for about 10 years (para 6) • “He opened my eyes to people, taught me to love all sorts of people… • “give me the zest for life, that immense joy in life and in people. • ( not only satisfy her longer for her own culture, but also taught her Christian faith and shaped her morals.)

7. Language Points • ache/pain/pang: a bodily sensation that causes acute discomfort or suffering • Pain may range in its application from a sensation that makes one uneasily aware of some bodily disturbance or injury to a sensation resulting from severe injuries or disease and of agonizing intensity: from a sensation that is purely local to one that affects the entire body. • e.g. a pain in the finger • chest pains • …his body was wracked with pain. • An ache is a steady, dull, and often generalized pain that is frequently associated with some underlying disorder. • e.g. the ache of an abscessed tooth • …backache that accompanies kidney disease

8. A pang is a sharp, sudden, and usually transitory pain of great intensity, especially one that recurs in spasms. • e.g. …pangs have taken hold upon me… • …attacking them [fleas] was a waste of time, and unless a particularly savage pang forced you into action, you just sat and let yourself be devoured. • ache (v.): feel a continuous, but not very sharp pain there • e.g. The noise of the traffic made my head ache. • an aching back • ache to do sth/for sth: want to do or have something very much • e.g. I was aching to tell him the good news.

9. pain • a pain in the finger • chest pains • His body was wracked with pain. ache • the ache of an abscessed tooth • backache that accompanies kidney disease

10. ache (v.) • The noise of the traffic made my head ache. • an aching back ache to do sth/for sth • I was aching to tell him the good news.

11. pang • Pangs have taken hold upon me. • Attacking them [fleas] was a waste of time, and unless a particularly savage pang forced you into action, you just sat and let yourself be devoured.

12. obligation: • You can look at the books without any obligation to buy. • I have certain obligations to my family. • to meet/fulfil an obligation: • be under an obligation:to place sb under an obligation: e.g. • Signing a contract places you under a long-term obligation.

13. perch: • A house perched on a cliff above the town. treacherous(ground or situations) particularly dangerous because you cannot see the dangers, e.g. • There are treacherous currents in the bay

14. Heritageis the most widely applicable of these words, for it may apply to anything (as a tradition, a right, a trade, or the effect of a cause) that is passed on not only to one’s heir or heirs but to the generation or generations that succeed .e.g. • our neglect of the magnificent spiritual heritage which we possess in our own history and literature • …but the war had left its heritage of poverty…of disease, of misery, of discontent

15. Inheritance applies to what passes from parent to children, whether it be money, property, or traits of character. e.g. • …my father’s blessing, and this little coin is my inheritance Inheritance, but not heritage, may also apply to the fact of inheriting or to the means by which something passes into one’s possession. e.g. • …come into possession of a property by inheritance • …the power of regulating the devotion of property by inheritance or will upon the death of the owner

16. dip into: (a) to read short parts of a book, magazine etc, but not the whole thing; (b) to use some of an amount of money that you have. • Medical bills forced her to dip into her savings. • Parents are being asked to dip into their pockets for new school books. (i.e. to pay for something with your own money)

17. unctuous: (fml.) too friendly and praising people too much in a way that seems very insincere, e.g. • There is something smug and unctuous about him.

18. gruff: (a) unfriendly or annoyed, especially in the way you speak: e.g. • a gruff reply • A gruff voice sounds low and rough as if the speaker does not want to talk

19. Diluted, undiluted: • The effect of his speech was diluted by the speaker’s nervousness. undiluted: (literary) an undiluted feeling is very strong and not mixed with any other feelings: e.g. • undiluted joy.