Lesson Ten

1. LessonTen The Trial That Rocked the World

2. Objectives of Teaching • To comprehend the whole text • To lean and master the vocabulary and expressions • To learn to paraphrase the difficult sentences • To understand the structure of the text • To appreciate the style and rhetoric of the passage.

3. III. Background Knowledge: • 1. Religions • God: the Deity, the Divinity, Holy One, Jehovah, the Lord, Providence, the Almighty, the Creator and etc. • There is only one God in heaven. But the belief in God has developed three religious sections: • Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

4. III. Background Knowledge: • Christianity: • Roman Catholic • Protestant • Orthodox Eastern Church • Trinity: the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit/Ghost, with Jesus Christ as its incarnation.

5. III. Background Knowledge: • Bible: • Name of the Christian Scriptures, the Old Testament and the New Testament.  

6. III. Background Knowledge: • Bible • Old Testament: Christian name for the Hebrew Bible, the first portion of the Christian Bible • Genesis: first book of the Old Testament which tells the origin of the world and of man 

7. III. Background Knowledge: • Bible • New Testament: the distinctive Christian portion of the Bible • Gospel: Greek word for good news. the first four books of the New Testament.

8. III. Background Knowledge: • Bible • fundamentalism: conservative religious movement. Its aim is to maintain word for word interpretations of the Bible. Nowadays this word can apply to other religions.

9. III. Background Knowledge: • 2. American governing system • a. Legislature: parliament---Congress and Senate • b. Executive: the president and his administration • c. Judicial: the Federal Supreme Court

10. III. Background Knowledge: • 3. Civil Law: • 4. Criminal Law • 5. Jury • 6. Counselor / Counsellor

11. VI. Detailed Study: • 1. buzz: a noise of a low hum, low confused whisper • 2. sweltering: very hot, causing unpleasantness, torrid, sultry

12. VI. Detailed Study: • 3. counsel: a group of one or more lawyers (barristers) acting for someone in a court of law • 4. prosecution: the act of bringing a criminal charge against sb. in a court of law

13. VI. Detailed Study: • 5. silver-tongued: (lit.) able to give fine persuading speeches, eloquent  • 6. orator: a good public speaker, a person who delivers an oration (formal and solemn public speeches)

14. VI. Detailed Study: • 7. nominee: a person who has been named officially for election to a position, office, honour, etc. • a Nobel Prize nominee / a presidential nominee

15. VI. Detailed Study: • 8. bring about: cause • Scientists have brought about great changes in our lives.

16. VI. Detailed Study: • 9. involve: to cause sb. to become connected or concerned • Don't involve other people in your mistakes. • We are all involved, whether we like it or not.

17. VI. Detailed Study: • 10. testify: to make a solemn statement, esp. under oath in a court of law, of what is true • The witnesses testify / give evidence in the law court. • One witness testified that he had seen the prisoner ran out of the bank after it had been robbed.

18. VI. Detailed Study: • 11. on hand: available, present, • cf: • within reach: the distance one can reach • at hand: near in time or place

19. VI. Detailed Study: • Always have your dictionary on hand / within reach / at hand when you study. • Please be on hand at 12 sharp. • I have a great deal of important work on hand.

20. VI. Detailed Study: • All his old friends will be on hand / present to see Jack receive the medal of honour. • I want you to be at hand / near during my interview with the boss of the company. • The post office is close at hand.

21. VI. Detailed Study: • 12. reassure: comfort and make free from fear, stop worrying often by saying sth. kind or friendly • The doctor reassured the sick man about his health. • She won't believe it in spite of all our reassurance.

22. VI. Detailed Study: • cf: assure: try to cause to believe or trust in sth.; promise • The captain assured the passengers that there was no danger.

23. VI. Detailed Study: • 13. erupt: (of a volcano) to explode and pour out fire • Here, emerge, happen quickly, come down upon unexpectedly and violently; • I was suddenly engulfed by the whole affair.

24. VI. Detailed Study: • 14. adhere to: to favour strongly, stick firmly to; • The wallpaper won't adhere to the ceiling. • They adhere to the contract.

25. VI. Detailed Study: • He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. • adhere to the four cardinal / fundamental principles

26. VI. Detailed Study: • 15. prohibit: to forbid, to ban • to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors / pornographic literature or video tapes / prostitution / visiting prostitutes / smoking in public places, etc.

27. VI. Detailed Study: • cf: • FORBID is more direct and familiar, while PROHIBIT is more formal or official; they do not widely differ in their essential implications. • to forbid a child to leave the house

28. VI. Detailed Study: • 16. violate: to disregard or act against sth. solemnly promised • The actress violated the terms of her contract. • This is considered as a violation of the Constitution. • If you violate someone's privacy or peace, you disturb it.

29. VI. Detailed Study: • 17. legality: the condition of being lawful; lawfulness • The legality of this action will be decided by the court.

30. VI. Detailed Study: • 18. indict: to indict sb. for a crime means to charge them with it officially • Five men were caught at the scene and indicted.

31. VI. Detailed Study: • cf: • accuse, charge, prosecute, blame • One accuses sb. of cheating. • One charges sb. with cheating. • One prosecutes sb. for theft. • One blames sb. for the failure.

32. VI. Detailed Study: • least of all: to an insignificant degree • Nobody need worry, you least of all/ least of all you. • Least of all would I lie to you. • Nobody seemed amused, least of all Jenny.

33. VI. Detailed Study: • 19. anticipate: to expect what will happen • We are not anticipating that there will be much trouble. • We anticipate that the enemy would try to cross the river and so seize the bridge.

34. VI. Detailed Study: • take on: begin to have (a particular quality, appearance, etc), assume sth. • He has taken on some irritating mannerism. • The chameleon can take on the colours of its background. • Her eyes took on a hurt expression. 

35. VI. Detailed Study: • 20. festoon: If you festoon sth. with decorations, lights or other things, you spread or hang these things over it in large numbers in order to decorate it. • The garden was festooned with coloured lights.

36. VI. Detailed Study: • 21. sprout: to grow or come out, appear and spread rapidly • n. new growth of a plant, shoot • bean sprouts / bamboo shoots • 22. rickety: weak in joints and likely to break • rickety old man / stairs / cart

37. VI. Detailed Study: • 23. evangelist: one who preaches the gospel (good news) • 24. exhort: urge earnestly or advise strongly sb. to do sth. • to exhort sb. to do good / to work harder, etc.

38. VI. Detailed Study: • 25. cheer: support and encourage, shout in praise, approval or support • Every time a Chinese runner won a race the crowd cheered. • The crowd cheered their favourite horse.

39. VI. Detailed Study: • 26. infidel: (old & derog.) (used esp. in former times by Christians and Muslims of each other) someone who does not follow one's own religion, unbeliever • 27. draw up: to form and usu. write • to draw up a plan / a contract

40. VI. Detailed Study: • 28. florid: (of a person's face) having a red skin • 29. paunchy: (derog. and humour) (esp. of a man) having a fat stomach, pot belly • 30. attorney-general: chief law officer and legal expert of the government of a state

41. VI. Detailed Study: • 31. shrewd: clever in judgement, esp. of what is to one's own advantage • a shrewd lawyer who knows all the tricks • He is a shrewd and sometimes ruthless adversary.

42. VI. Detailed Study: • 32. steep: soak, to let sth. stay in a liquid for softening, bringing out a taste etc. • Steep the coffee • Leave the coffee to steep for 5 minutes

43. VI. Detailed Study: • 33. agnostic: person who believes that one can only have knowledge of material things and that nothing is or can be known about God or life after death • cf: atheist: person who doubts the existence of God

44. VI. Detailed Study: • 34. growl /au/: to say sth. in a low rough and rather angry voice. • The dog growled at me. • He growled out a demand to her to stop.

45. VI. Detailed Study: • 35. preliminary: introductory, preparatory • 36. spar: to box without hitting hard, argue or dispute (with sb) • The children are sparring with each other.

46. VI. Detailed Study: • 37. drawl: to speak or say slowly with vowels greatly lengthened • drawl out one’s words

47. VI. Detailed Study: • 38. ignorance: lack of knowledge • Poverty, disease and ignorance remain major world problems. • We are in complete ignorance of his plans. • She is very young, and ignorant of what life really is. • They ignored traffic regulations.

48. VI. Detailed Study: • 39. bigot: one who obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his own opinions and prejudices, esp. religious beliefs.   • bigotry: the state of having very strong, unreasonable attitudes and opinions

49. VI. Detailed Study: • 40. rampant: widespread and impossible to control • Theft, robbery, trafficking in narcotics, rural women and children are rampant in some places. • Rich soil makes some plants too rampant. • Mosquitoes are rampant in the dormitory.

50. VI. Detailed Study: • 41. fagot: a bundle of sticks of firewood • 42. enlighten: cause to understand, free from ignorance or false beliefs, give more knowledge. • Can you enlighten me on this subject? • the age of Enlightenment in the 18th century