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Clearing in the Sky

Clearing in the Sky. Jesse Stuart. Clearing in the Sky. Jesse Stuart. Clearing in the Sky. Unit 15. W arming up. R einforcement. T ext Analysis. B ackground. Clearing in the sky. Unit 15. Questions/Activities. Warming up. Check-on Preview. Objectives. W. B. T. R. Warming up.

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Clearing in the Sky

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  1. Clearing in the Sky Jesse Stuart

  2. Clearing in the Sky Jesse Stuart

  3. Clearing in the Sky Unit 15 W arming up Reinforcement T ext Analysis Background

  4. Clearing in the sky Unit 15 Questions/Activities Warming up Check-on Preview Objectives W B T R

  5. Warming up Questions/Activities Make a list of all the words and expressions useful for describing a typical farmer’s work and life. Component parts Farm tools Animals used for food or farming Farm work W B T R

  6. Warming up Check-on Preview Match the words with their correct meaning in the text. 答案见备注栏 1. rugged 2. brag 3. sting 4. pasture 5. fondle a. to talk too proudly about sth. b. to feel or make sb. feel a sharp pain in a part of their body c. to touch gently and in a loving way d. wild and not even; not easy to travel over e. a large area of land where animals feed on the grass. f. the top of a mountain W B T R

  7. Warming up Objectives • To understand the structure and the general idea of the story. • To think about how to interpret the story. • To know something about the author. • To solve your own questions about the story. W B T R

  8. Clearing in the Sky Unit 15 Author Background B W T R

  9. Background Author His Life Jesse Stuart (1907-1984) • Born in the Kentucky hills where he first worked as a farmer • A prolific American writer, known for short stories, poetry, and novels • Named Poet Laureate of Kentucky in 1954 • Centers his writing around Kentucky land and people he knows well • Established Jesse Stuart State Nature Preserve Commission to preserve W. Hollow from destruction B W T R

  10. Background Author His Works Poetry: Man with a Bull-Tongue Plow,1934 (a collection of 703 sonnets) Kentucky is My Land, 1952 Novels: The Thread that Runs so True,1950 Daughter of the Legend,1965 Collection of short stories: Men of the Mou. 1941. Tales from the Plum Grove Hills, 1946 Clearing in the Sky & Other Stories, 1950 My Land Has a Voice, 1966 B W T R

  11. Clearing in the Sky Structure Unit 15 Theme Text Analysis Detailed Analysis W B T R

  12. Text Analysis Theme Think about these questions: Why is the father so fond of his land? How do you understand the father’s feelings? What American values does this short story convey? How do you view these values? W B T R

  13. Text Analysis Theme American values: Self-reliance, rugged individualism, respect for hard manual labor Food for thought: Why are these values strong in American culture? How about in present industrialized America? Father-son relationship Human beings and land/nature Unyielding vigor in old age W B T R

  14. Text Analysis Theme A background note: Respect for hard work and a tradition of sentimental glorification of the rural way of life are particularly strong in the American culture, partly due to the Calvinist view that work is the only way to attain personal salvation, partly due to the early settlement and frontier experience. Thomas Jefferson developed this tradition into a political theory that farming gives people strength, courage, industry, independence, honesty, and fierce love of freedom, the foundation of democracy. In the present-day US, many people are getting nostalgic about their good old days, while many people consider these values old-fashioned and unrealistic. W B T R

  15. Text Analysis Theme Think about these questions: What values does farming carry in China, a country with over 5,000 years of farming history? How do you like this story? Do you find it touching or over-sentimental? What does this say about you? Have you ever given any thought to farming? What about your parents and grandparents? How do you look at different generations’ attitudes toward farming and rural life? W B T R

  16. Text Analysis Structure 1 2 3 Paras. 27-43 The old farmer explained to his son why he made the clearing and opened so many paths up to the clearing. Paras. 1-4 On a hot summer day, a 70-year-old farmer was taking his son somewhere on his land. Paras. 5-26 The places father and son went brought fond memories of their life in the past. W B T R

  17. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I Part II Part III Main Idea Sentence Paraphrase Words & Expressions Exercise W B T R

  18. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Main Idea What did you expect to read after seeing the title “clearing in the sky”? How are your reading expectations fulfilled? What can you know about the father and the son from the opening paragraphs? How would you describe the father’s character according to these few paragraphs?

  19. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase I wiped the streams of sweat from my face to keep them from stinging my eyes. (para. 2) to cause sharp but usu. temporary pain a continuous flow of things or people e.g. a stream of phone calls/ visitors Paraphrasing:I wiped the sweat that was flowing down from my face so that my eyes wouldn’t hurt.

  20. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Words & Expressions Phrases Grammar Words keep…from make up one’s mind in the shade below zero wipe stream sting protest pasture meadow measurements

  21. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Exercise 1 • Fill in the blanks with words from this part. • Do all bees and wasps ______? • She knew the teacher’s remarks were right, but she was still ____ by them. • When there is heavy pollution, the smog could even ______ people’s eyes. • Hearing such words at such a time is like the _____ of salt in a wound. • Audiences _________ into the stadium to watch the Euro Cup. • Tears __________ down her cheeks. • Farmers in Inner Mongolia often keep a ________ for sheep to graze on, but tourists often mistake it for a _______. • 答案见备注栏

  22. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Exercise 2 • Fill in the blanks with correct numbers. • 1. One yard is _______ feet and one foot is ______ inches. One foot is roughly _____ cm. • 2. A mile equals ________ kilometers. • 3. One acre equals ________ square yards and ________ hectare, roughly _________ Chinese mu. • 4. One hundred degrees Fahrenheit equals _________ degrees Centigrade and -20F equals _________ C. • 答案见备注栏

  23. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Main Idea • What can we know about the father’s life from this part? • What memories does the walk to the mountain top bring to the son? • How do you like the descriptions of nature in this part? • Why do you think the father didn’t tell the son what he wanted to show him? And about the path? • Does this walk to the mountain top have any symbolic meaning?

  24. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Sentence Paraphrase The pines on top of the mountain above us looked as if the fingers of their long boughs were fondling a white cloud. (para. 19) fondle: to touch or stroke lovingly Paraphrasing:This is a metaphorical sentence; the pines are personified as people with long fingers fondling a white cloud. Similar metaphorical use of language in this part include the “saddle” between two hills, the “canopy” of trees, etc.

  25. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Words & Expressions Sentence Pattern Phrases Words Grammar brag wooded fell rugged canopy rustle fondle a wisp of lean on the time he found a coffee tree metaphorical use of language

  26. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Exercise 1 • Fill in the blanks with verbs. • 1. I remembered how he ____ the leaves from the woods and ____ them over this field and then ______ them under and let them ___. 2. He _____ a cover crop and _____ it under. • 3. He _____ down a white oak and ____ it over the stream to serve as a foot log. • 4. The steep slope _____ abruptly towards the sky. • 5. Several paths ______ the main path and ______ around the slope, _________ the mountain gradually. • 答案见备注栏

  27. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Exercise 2 • Fill in the blanks with unit words. • a ______ of alfalfa • a _______ of flowers/keys • a _______ of bread • a _______ of grass • a _______ of sand/rice • a _______ of soap • a _______ of wind • 答案见备注栏

  28. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Exercise 3 • Translate the sentences. • 不要老是依赖别人的帮助。(lean) • 他总是吹嘘自己能挣很多钱。(brag) • 答案见备注栏

  29. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III: Main Idea • Is his father aware of his health condition? Why does he choose to ignore the doctor’s advice? • What is so special about “the clearing in the sky” to Jess’s father? What are the reasons he gave for making the clearing? How do you explain his special pride in the clearing? • Why has he built so many paths leading up to the clearing? • What does the clearing stand for to him?

  30. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III: Sentence Paraphrase • But I have cheated death many times! Now I’ve reached the years the Good Book allows to a man. Three-score years and ten. (para. 36) The Bible Score means twenty. Three-score and ten is three times twenty plus ten, that is, seventy. Paraphrasing:Although I have been very close to dying many times, I have managed to escape death. I have reached my seventy, which is the age a man could live to according to the Bible.

  31. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III: Sentence Paraphrase • The doctors told me to sit still and take life easy. (para. 42) relax, live in comfort, not to worry Paraphrasing:The doctors told me not to do anything, not to work too hard or do too much, just relax.

  32. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III: Words & Expressions Sentence Pattern Words Phrases Grammar cheat allow thin (v.) matt (v.) wind (v.) pick up take the trouble to do take life easy emphatic structure: It was on this slope that my father once made me a little wooden plow. relative clause introduced by where/when Three times the length .

  33. Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III: Exercise Translate the following sentences into English. 1. 我的祖父时常回忆过去那些夜不闭户的好日子。 (relative clause) 2. 他们决定搬到那个有很多好学校的地区去。 (relative clause) 3. 众多客户向法院起诉保险公司骗走了他们应得的赔偿。 (cheat) 4. 特技演员的工作很危险，但他好几次都死里逃生。(cheat) 5. 联合国调查团获准进入叙利亚战区。(allow) 6. 政府的教育改革使所有儿童都能接受九年制义务教育。 (allow) 答案见备注栏

  34. Clearing in the Sky Unit 15 Discussion Reinforcement Role-Play W B T R

  35. Reinforcement Role-Play • Choose one topic 1. Imagine yourself to be Jesse. Describe your father’s farm to your son with unforgettable memories of your happy childhood. 2. Imagine yourself to be Jesse’s mother. Describe your husband to your grandson after he passes away. W B T R

  36. Reinforcement Discussion • Work in groups of four: 1. Can you map out the mountain where Jess and his father lived? 2. What simple values does Jesse’s father have? How would you compare him with a typical Chinese farmer? W B T R

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