发布时间 : 星期二 文章Unit6-FeathersFromaThousandLiAway英语课件更新完毕开始阅读
高等学校研究生英语综合教程（上）--- Unit 6 主编：熊海虹
16 The first night she brought out a story about a three-year-old boy who knew the capitals of all the states and even most of the European countries. A teacher was quoted as saying that the little boy could also pronounce the names of the foreign cities correctly.
17 “What’s the capital of Finland?” my mother asked me, looking at the story.
18 All I knew was the capital of California, because Sacramento was the name of the street we lived on in Chinatown. “Nairobi!” I guessed, saying the most foreign word I could think of. She checked to see if that was possibly one way to pronounce “Helsinki”
19 The tests got harder—multiplying numbers in my head, finding the queen of hearts in a deck of cards, trying to stand on my head without using my hands, predicting the daily temperatures in Los Angeles, New York, and London.
20 One night I had to look at a page from the Bible for three minutes and then report everything I could remember. “Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and…that’s
21 And after seeing my mother’s disappointed face once again, something inside of me began to die. I hated the tests, the raised hopes and failed expectations. Before
all
I
remember,
Ma,”
I
said.
before
showing
me
the
answer.
高等学校研究生英语综合教程（上）--- Unit 6 主编：熊海虹
going to bed that night, I looked in the mirror above the bathroom sink, and when I saw only my face staring back --- and that it would always be this ordinary face --- I began to cry. Such a sad, ugly girl! I made high-pitched noises like a crazed animal, trying to scratch out the face in the mirror.
22 And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me --- a face I had never seen before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so that I could see more clearly. The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful. She and I were the same. I had new thoughts, willful thoughts—or rather thoughts filled with lots of won’ts. I won’t let her change me, I promised myself. I won’t be what I’m not.
Critical thinking: Step One
Work together with your partner to answer the following questions based on the text you’ve just read.
1. What does the word “feather” in the title “Feathers from a Thousand Li
Away” stand for in this text?
2. What kind of life had the old woman lived before she came to America
judging from the sentence“But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch”?
高等学校研究生英语综合教程（上）--- Unit 6 主编：熊海虹
3. Discuss the personality of the old woman in the text. 4. What was the daughter’s decision at the end of the text? Step Two
Discuss in groups the following questions.
1. What are your expectations for your (future) child? Will you act like the mother in the text? Why?
2. In the mind of the average Chinese city residents, what are the criteria of a person’s success? Do you agree or disagree with them? What will your ideal life be like in the future?
在一般的中国城市居民的心中，一个人成功的标准是什么？你同意还是不同意呢？你理想的未来生活是什么样的？