现代大学英语精读6 第四课Nettles

Plants
hawthorn elm oak maple
...and plowing through mats of flat-leafed water lilies, trapping our legs in their distinct character.para8
• moving with difficulty through water lilies which had flat leaves,with their winding roots sucking our legs.
ketchup
The narrator remembers this usual habit of Mike’s, so she recognized him at once when she saw him making a ketchup sandwich at her friend’s house after many years.
Part 2: (para.3-15)
Why does the author devote so much space to the narration of childhood memories? Is the narration vivid and interesting? Give your comments.
• The plot of story evolves around a middleaged woman’s reunion with a childhood boy friend in 1979, but it moves back and forth between past and present.
• to plow through:to move with difficulty
They played a game of war with each boys and girls.
show your a picture
main word: war, boys and girls, tree,baseball,throw
The subject of “Nettles” is about the problems of a middle-aged woman, the passions, confusions and dilemmas that any woman in a modern society might be confronted with, regardless of race, colour or nationality.
mike is deeply rooted in her memory.
there was a tin mug hanging on the pump......para3
Mike Mccallum had a son....,and who went to whatever school was at hand. (para5)
Para.16-para.68
This part mainly tells about the narrator’s life in Vancouver and her meeting Mike again.
Divided into 5 section
5 section
Section 1: Para 16--38 Section 2: Para 39--49 Section 3: Para 50--68 Section 4: Para 69--90
Writing style
• Many of Munro's stories are set in Huron County, Ontario.(Huron County is a county of the province of Ontario, Canada.) Her strong regional focus is one of the features of her fiction.
went to whatever school which is close at hand:near in space or time
Each of the trees on the place had an attitude and presence – the elm looked serene and oak threatening, the
maples friendly, the hawthorn old and crabby. para7
translate it into chinese
Why did author describe those trees like this?
Why
In the eyes of the little girl, every tree existed like a person that had a distinct character. In the previous sentence the narrator says that the farm was small enough for her to have explored every part of it. She was familiar with everything on the farm including the trees. The use of personification of the trees reveals the close and harmonious relationship between nature and the narrator.
Section 5: Para 91--93
But sunny had moved with her husband and her children and her furniture, in the normal way for the usual reason —— her husband had got another job. And I had moved for the newfangled reason that was approved of only in some special circles. (para.20)
另外还有一点现如今被小三的女人也越来越多在刚成为小三的时候其实自己并丌知道但一旦知道了真相后她们丌是对这个男人的欺骗表示愤恨而是要努力给自己的小三经历划上一个完满的句号通过转正而实现道德上的圆满
Nettles
——Alice Munro
Author: Alice Munro
She was born in Wingham, Ontario, Canada on 10 July 1931.
Character Relations
Sunny
friend
couple
Narrator
old friend
divorce
Narrator's husband
Johnston
friend(through his work)
Mike
couple
Mike's wife
Brian died son
about the Nettles
Nettle: a wild plant with rough leaves that sting
people
grasp the nettle: deal with an unpleasant
situation firmly and without delay 迎难而上,大胆抓棘手的问题
荨麻 【英文名】Nettle
outline
Part 1(para. 1-2): Meeting again by chance in 1979 Part 2 (para. 3-15): Childhood memory, her friend, Mike. Part 3 (para. 16-93): The detailed story that happened in 1979 Part 4 (para 94-95): conclusion--- a new perception of love
【别名】蜇人草、咬人草、蝎子草，防盗草、 无情草、植物猫、咬人猫
【分类】荨麻科 Urticaceae，荨麻属 Urtica L. 【习性】喜阴植物，生命旺盛，生长迅速，对 土壤要求不严，喜温喜湿。 【生境分布】广泛分布于亚欧大陆，在我国分 布在云南中部、贵州、四川东南部、湖北和浙江。
Why is the story entitled “Nettles”? Do nettles have any symbolic meaning here?
animals
——para3
——para6: skunk(臭鼬)
part 1: para 1-2
How does the author begin the narration? Do you find this beginning interesting or
peculiar? Why or why not?
achievements:
1. winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work 2.a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction 3. a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize 4.Generally regarded as one of the world's foremost writers of fiction
friendship and love marriage and diis not always smooth; love is not always sweet. Nettles are here and there in the journey of people’s life.
• Another is the omniscient 全知的 narrator who serves to make sense of the world.
• see the world. • literature can help a new awareness of the
world.
Nettles
para12-15
• Did the girl miss Mike after he left with his father? how and why does the author show this?
•We think that was the beginning of the complex emotion between them. The girl’s thought and action shows that she treasured their friendship but this kind of leave make she felt regret.
• The plot of the story does not follow the normal time order. The author begins her story in a rather unusual way. She starts her narrations from 1979 in the brief beginning paragraph. But after that she switches to “ years afterwards” in the second paragraph.
• From Para3 to Para 15 the writer gives a vivid description of her childhood, especially the memories of time she spent with mike. The puppy
love(少男少女短暂的爱情,早年初恋) she had for