高级英语1课_文超级详解_unit4_the_trial_that_rocked_the_world

Lesson 4 The Trial That Rocked the World震撼世界的审判A buzz ran through the crowd as I took my place in the packed court on that sweltering July day in 1925. The counsel for my defence was the famous criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow. Leading counsel for the prosecution was William Jennings Bryan, the silver-tongued orator , three times Democratic nominee for President of the United States, and leader of the fundamentalist movement that had brought about my trial.在一九二五年七月的那个酷热日子里，当我在挤得水泄不通的法庭里就位时，人群中响起一阵嘁嘁喳喳的议论声。

我的辩护人是著名刑事辩护律师克拉伦斯.达罗。

担任主控官的则是能说会道的演说家威廉.詹宁斯.布莱恩，他曾三次被民主党提名为美国总统候选人，而且还是导致我这次受审的基督教原教旨主义运动的领导人。

A few weeks before I had been an unknown school-teacher in Dayton, a little town in the mountains of Tennessee. Now I was involved in a trial reported the world over. Seated in court, ready to testify on my behalf, were a dozen distinguished professors and scientists, led by Professor Kirtley Mather of Harvard University. More than 100 reporters were on hand, and even radio announcer s, who for the first time in history were to broadcast a jury trial. "Don't worry, son, we'll show them a few tricks," Darrow had whispered throwing a reassuring arm round my shoulder as we were waiting for the court to open.几个星期之前，我还只是田纳西州山区小镇戴顿的一名默默无闻的中学教员，而现在我却成了一次举世瞩目的庭审活动的当事人。

Lesson 4 The Trial That Rocked the WorldDetailed study of the text:1.Teaching Activities (Text Analysis 2 English Version)A buzz ran through the crowd…thatsweltering July day in 1952:1)buzz: the vibrating sound of a bee; here it refers to the sound of many people whisperingor talking excitedly in low tones2)ran through the crowd: spread among the people who had come to watch the trial3)as I took my place in the packed court: as I went to my seat in the court which wascrowded with people2.Leading counsel for the prosecution…that had brought about my trial:1)prosecution: the group of people who are concerned in bringing a criminal charge againstsomeone in court2)the fundamentalist movement: a militantly conservative and fanatically religiousAmerican Protestant movement that began in the early 20th century in opposition to modern scientific tendency; it holds that the Bible is a verbally accurate recording of the word of God, and was strong in parts of the U.S. especially the South, at the time.3)Fundamentalist movement that had brought about the trial: The trial was brought to courtby Scopes and his lawyers. However, it was the fundamentalist movement which made the trial necessary, because it was this movement that had created the religious atmosphere that was responsible for the law which prohibited the teaching of evolution in the schools, and it was the existence of that law which made it necessary to hold a trial to challenge the law.3.seated in court…of Harvard University:1)ready to testify on my behalf: prepared to submit evidence to support or benefit me ( ormy case)2)on (in )somebody‟s behalf, on (in) behalf of sb.: to benefit, support, serve the interests ofsb.3)Harvard University: the oldest university of the United States., at Cambridge,Massachusetts, founded in 1636 and named after its first benefactor, John Harvard(1607-1638), a nonconformist minister born in England4. a jury trial: a trial that had a jury (a group of 12 responsible, impartial citizens chosen to hearthe case and make the decision (reach a verdict) of a guilty or not in accordance with their findings5.“Don‟t worry, son, we‟ll show them a few tricks.” ...as we were waiting for the court to open:1)throwing a reassuring arm around my shoulder: putting his arm in an informal, friendlyway around me so that his hand rested on my shoulder, the shoulder that was further away from Darrow.2)Reassuring arm: Obviously the arm can‟t be reassuring; it means in a reassuring manner,a friendly gesture to put John at ease; the figure of speech used here is a transferredepithet.3)Don’t worry, young man, we’ll do a few things to outwit the prosecution.”※ The case had erupted round my head not long after...at the secondary school.my head: person, me synecdocheI was suddenly engulfed by the whole affair.6.The fundamentalists… Old Testament:1)adhere to: believe in , follow devotedly2)literal interpretation: word for word acceptance of what is said in the Bible3)Old Testament: that part of the Bible that refers to events before the birth of Christ. Note:all the words likie the Bible, God(Lord, He Him) and Christ (Saviour) are capitalized. 7.The modernists …had evolved from a common ancestor: Charles Darwin: English naturalist,born on Feb. 12, 1809 at Shrewsbury, died on April 19, 1882; publi shed “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in 1859. The theory of evolution asserts that all living forms, plants and animals, including Man, have developed from earlier and simpler forms by processors of change and selection.8.the state legislature…as taught in the Bible:1)state legislature: official body of people who pass ( determine, decide) laws. Each of the50 states in the U.S. has a legislature. The national legislature is called the congress2)that denies the story of creation: that refuses to believe that all human beings aredescended from Adam and Eve, who were created by God9.“Let‟s take this thing…test the legality of it.”:1)this thing: refers to this matter, this problem; here it refers to Scopes‟ teaching of evolutionnad hence his violation of the law, “this thing” is an imprecise expression on the part of Rappelyea, but very common in spoken English※ No one, least of all I, anticipated that my case would snowball into one of the most famous trials in US history. (Para.9)I was the last one to expected that my case would develop into one of the most famous trials in American history.10.our town had taken on a circus atmosphere:1)circus: public entertainment consisting of a variety of performances by acrobats, clownsand trained animals, often performed in large tents by a group that travels from one town to another2)circus atmosphere: a kind of rowdy or riotous, holiday spirit3)All sorts of activities were going on in the town and there was a kind of noisy holidayspirit. ( Suddenly the town was transformed into a kind of circus with many people coming to hear the trial. The town people took advantage of the sudden influx of visitors to expand their business activities.11.The streets…and watermelons1)sprout: grow or develop quickly; shaky(poorly made) stalls or booths suddenly appeared2)hot dog: long, thin, sausage in a bun. Hot dogs and hamburgers (ground beef patty in abun) are sometimes seen as symbols of American culture. As fast foods they represent, esp. to Europeans, the quick pace and low quality of life in the U.S.3)These rickety stands, which appeared suddenly everywhere, sold hot dogs, religiousbooks, watermelons, etc… This adds to the town‟s circus atmosphere. Religious books were sold because many religious people attended this trial in which religion played a key role.12.People from the surrounding hills…the “infidel outsiders”:1)surrounding hills: referring to the hills near the town which were a part of theAppalachian Mts., a mountain chain in eastern North America extending parallel to the coast fro 1,600 miles from southern Quebec to central Alabama, passing through Tennessee2)infidel: unbelievers in religious sense, meaning godless and implying being the hands ofthe devil3)outsiders: referring to the northern, big city lawyers, professors and scientists who wouldbe held in suspicion as trouble-makers by narrow-minded, small town southerners. It is in quote to signify that this is a false view held by such people.13.I‟m just a reg ular mountaineer ju dge.”:I’m just an ordinary judge from the mountains. Uneducated-sounding southern accent and his statement about himself conveys false modesty about being with the people and indicates regional narrow-mindedness and bigotry.14.Besides the shrewd 68-year-old Darrow…steeped in the law:1)shrewd: astute, sharp, clever, not to be outwitted; used admiringly here; sometimesimplying negative qualities---cunning, tricky, dishonest2)magnetic: strongly attractive; said of a person, personality3)steeped in the law: thoroughly familiar with the law15.It is a trial…Hays a Jew:1)in a trial in which religion played a key role: Scopes was accused of violating the lawwhich prohibited the teaching of any theory that denied the story of creation as taught in the Bible. And it was the fundamentalists who made the state legislature pass the law.That‟s why the writer said religion played a key role in the trial.2)Agnostic: a person who questions, doubts the existence of God and claims that Hisexistence can‟t be proved; may agn ostics simply leave it at that and do not bother with the question of religion any further3)The whole sentence points out the religious and non-religious diversity of the defencecounsel in contrast to the prosecution, hinting that the defence counsels would be more broad-minded and objective.16.The judge called for a minister to …”That‟s one hell of a jury!”:1)minister: a person authorized to conduct worship, administer sacraments etc. in aChristian church, esp. any Protestant clergyman2)one hell of a jury(or a hell of a jury): no jury at all; a completely inappropriate jury( because they are too partial); this is a common phrase meaning something unusuale.g. That was a hell of an exam.(unusually difficult)It‟s been one hell of a trip.It‟s a hell of a cha nge.3)The whole paragraph shows the religious bias of the trial right from the start, indicatesthe pro-fundamentalist atmosphere that will pervade the trial and gives readers a taste of things to come.17.Today it is the teachers…the newspapers:1)it refers to the target of ignorant and bigoted persecution2)today the teachers art put on trials because they teach scientific theory; soon thenewspapers and magazines will not be allowed to express new ideas, to spreadknowledge of science.18.After a while, it is the setting of man against man…until we are are marching backwards tothe glorious age of the sixteenth century when bigots lighted ...to the human mind:1)setting of man against man: making man fight each other, causing universal enmity2)creed against creed: making one religion fight another religion causing universalintolerance and widespread religious persecution3)marching backwards to the glorious age: : marching usually implies going forward for agreat cause; here it is used ironically, meaning retrogress to the dark age of the 16th century; retrogressing to the dark age of the 16th century, expressed in an ironical tone.Irony4)16th century: The 16th century was the time of the Renaissance when new ideas of arts,science began flourish. The Church led a reactionary movement against the Renaissance which threatened old religious beliefs. They intimidated free-thinkers and even burned them to death at the stake---i.t. tied them to a pole and ignited sticks piled up at their feet.5)Bigot: someone obstinately and intolerantly devoted to his own beliefs, creed or party 19.damned: curse , condemn to eternal punishment(hell). Used interchangeably with damn. Oftenlightened into weaker word---darn, darned. Both are common. Other meanings of damn(ed): Not worth a damn(darn)---of no value. Don‟t give a damn(darn)---don‟t care.Superlative---damnedest, darnedest. To try your damnedest---hardest20.“There is some doubt about that”, Darrow snorted:1)snort: say in a scornful, contemptuous way as if with a snort (exhale forcibly and noisilythrough the nostrils, as a horse)2)It is doubtful whether man has reasoning power. Darrow is sarcastically referring to thefundamentalists, implying that they don‟t have reasoning power.Sarcasm3)“It is doubtful whether man has reasoning power,” said Darrow sarcastically21.The Christian believes man came from above. The evolutionist…must have come from below:1)Christians believe that God in heaven made human beings but evolutionists think humanbeings come from the earth (or from lowly animals) A ntithesis2)Bryan is being sarcastic. The statement implies that there‟s nothing lofty, noble or greatabout human beings in the evolutionists‟ view. The two statements are expressed in sucha way that they form a contrast, a definite statement about Christian belie f and a …musthave come‟ statement about evolutionist belief, meaning the evolutionists are merely guessing. They think that if people don‟t come from God, they must come from somewhere else, and coming from below is as good a guess as any.22.In one hand…for the defence:1)brandish: wave menacingly, as a weapon; the use of the word brings to mind the wavingof swords by inspired soldiers in religious wars2)words brandish and denounce give a sense of Bryan behaving as if he had a sacredcalling (duty) from God. This sentence and the next paragraph suggest that he is implying that the theory of evolution comes from the devil (Satan), and that the supporters of the defence are doing the devil‟s work.23.“The Bible is not going to…a divine plan.”:1)thunder, sonorous, organ: All these words convey the sound of his voice---deep, full,loud, rumbling, impressive. Ministers, evangelists, other religious leaders cultivate sucha voice (it‟s actually taught in seminaries) to evole emotion on the part of their listeners.2)Expert: the word is used sarcastically because Bryan means the opposite3)Who come hundreds of miles: subtle implication of them as outside trouble-makers4)Reconcile: find agreement between; make (arguments, ideas etc.) consistent, compatibleetc.5)They can reconcile evolution…with man made by God in His image…: They can provethat the theory of man descending from monkey is compatible with the theory of man created by God.6)This is an interesting construction: if he were being open-minded and fair he would havesaid---that evolution and the Bible can be reconciled. By putting it this way, he implies that they (the “experts”) claim (falsely) that they can do the impossible. This construction, together with the use of the word “experts” implies that they are fakes.7)With its ancestors in the jungle: with monkeys (or apes) as their ancestors; a phrasedesigned to represent evolution as the degradation og human beings8)In His image: in His likeness, reflecting God9)His purpose and the divine plan are never specified more clearly than this because God issupposed to be mysterious, beyond human knowledge; so it‟s believed that God has a master plan for the world but humans can‟t possibly figure it out, even though Bryan and people like him seem sure that evolution isn‟t part of God‟s plan.10)With man made by God…a divine plan: full of words (God, His image, His purpose,divine plan) that are designed to uplift, to show loftiness in contrast to the lowly jungle evolution idea.11)The whole sentence is full of trickery as Bryan uses sarcasm and degradation and playson the jury‟s religious emotions to undermine the defence.24.Gone was the fierce fervor of the days when Byran had swept the political arena like prairiefire.1)inverted sentence for emphasis2)fierce fervor:field of politics; arena is a place usually where contests are heldAlliteration3)swept…like a prairie fire: moved quickly with the speed of a fire in a large flat grassland;a prairie fire is a simile; it perhaps refers to the speech tours Bryan took in the electioncampaigns, making fiery speeches, overwhelming his opponents and rallying people under his banner4)Despite his eloquence, he was not as forceful and persuasive as he used to be.※The crowd seemed to feel that their champion had not scorched the infidels with the hot breath of his oratory as he should have. Metaphorscorched: burnt;hot breath of his oratory: his breath coming out heatedly as he spoke.25.He appealed for…and accused Bryan of calling for a duel to the death between science andreligion .1)appeal (fro): make a strong request (for help, support, mercy etc.)2)calling for a duel to the death: demanding that a life or death struggle be fourght3)duel: preplanned combat with deadly weapons between two people. In Middle Ages, aninsult would be sufficient cause for a duel. People dueled to defend their honor. It is usedmetaphorically here.4) A duel to the death: a life or death struggle to be fought Metaphor5)Malone, while a Catholic, was also a liberal. His view was that people should be allowedto think all so rts of things. Science and religioncould coexist and there needn‟t be a deadly combat (as Bryan was waging) to prove one right and the other wrong.6)...accused Bryan of demanding that a life or death struggle be fought between scienceand religion26.When Malone finished there was a momentary hush. Then the court broke into a storm ofapplause that surpassed that for Bryan.1)storm of applause: loud, noisy applause, like a thunder storm; storm is usedmetaphorically Metaphor2)When Malone finished it was silent fofr only a very brief time and then there was anoutburst of applause, greater than Bryan had received,3)Note the contrast between hush and storm. This is like a summer stotrm when the skyblackens and there is quiet before the storm breaks.27.When the court adjourned…with strangers;1) swarm: (n.) a large number of insects esp. bees, usually in motion (v.) move or emergein a swarm2) When the court session finished ( not the end of the trial) the people left the courtroom andfound the area around the court full of people from other places(out0of-towners).※ Spectators paid to gaze at it and ponder whether they might be related. (Para. 26).People paid in order to have a look at the ape and to consider carefully whether apes and humans could have a common ancestry.28.One shop announced… Everything-to-wear store:1)Everything-to-wear store: clothing store, outdated phrase2)DARWIN IS RIGHT---INSIDE: This is a pun. The author plays on the differentmeanings of the words. Darwin and right Darwin can refer to the English naturalist or to the shop owner, while right can mean correct or directly. So when one pauses before the dash, the sign means Darwin (the naturalist) is correct; when you read out the whole sign in a breath, it means the shop owner is directly inside.29.The poor brute… afraid it might be true.The reporter wrote in an assumingly sympathetic way for the ape but the intention was to ridicule the foolishness of the fundamentalists. Even the ape shrank in fear when it realized that it might share the same ancestor with those irrational human beings.30.Now Darrow sprang his trump card by calling Bryan as a witness for the defence:1)spring: present suddenly, unexpectedly; produce as a surprise2)trump card: in some card games, a certain suit is declared trump, i.e., as outranking allother suits; the winning card; an important advantage3)spring his trump card: use suddenly that which is most advantageous to his cause in orderto improve his position4)Darrow surprised everyone by asking for Bryan as a witness for Scopes which was abrilliant idea31.His reputation as an authority ..the world:1)People all over the world admitted that he was an expert on the Bible.2)This is an exaggeration meant to ridicule Bryan and to put him in a disadvantageousposition.32.Resolutely…to repe l his enemies:1)stride: walk with long steps in a vigorous manner2)repel: drive back by or as if by force ( Note: One can repel or repulse an enemy but onecan only repulse an offer of friendship)3)The author depicts Bryan as a soldier going to battle with the palm fan as his weapon.The depiction creates a vivid and ridiculous image in the reader‟s mind: the three-time Democratic presidential nominee, the authority on Scripture walked bravely to the witness stand to meet the challenge with a palm fan in his hand. A Don Quixote type of hero,33.Under Darrow‟s quiet questioning…with fervent “Amen”:1)punctuate: interrupt periodically2)defiant reply: answers that show strong resistance, standing up for his beliefs3)fervent: showing great warmth of feeling; intensely devoted or earnest( It suggests a fieryof enthusiasm or devotion)4)The fickle spectators, who were mainly fundamentalists, switched back to Bryan‟s side,and took his words as if they were prayers, interrupting frequently with “Amen”.5)Compare ask, inquire, question, and interrogate:Ask is the usual verb for questions, which can be followed by a noun, pronoun, and a sentence; inquire(or enquire) has the same meaning, but it‟s more formal, and is not followed by a noun or pronoun object, e.g. “Where do you live?” he inquire. To questiona person is to ask them many questions, and to interrogate suggests that the person isbeing held by force and asked questions that they are unwilling to answer.34.Genesis: 创世纪first Book of the Old Testament which recounts the creation of the world andclaims that God made the world and everything in it in 6 days and rested on the 7th (which is why one day is set aside as a day of rest---Sat. for Jews, Sun. for Christians) It outlines God‟s work during each of the 6 days, and says tha ton the first day there was morning and everything and that God made the sun on the fourth day.35.“How could there have…” Darrow enquired: Darrow first tricked Bryan into making positiveassertions before showing that what he believed was not logically po ssible. Darrow‟s intention was to show how indefensible Bryan‟s position was.36.“Your honor …to cast slurs on Him…”: Bryan is trying to save face, turn the tables onDarrow and win back sympathy from the audience for himself by charging Darrow with being an infidel who is making use of the court to belittle God. Actually whether or not Darrow believed in God was irrelevant.37.no intelligent Christian believes: Thoughtful Christians accept the basic principles ofChristianity---e.g. one God, brotherhood, charity---but not the literal truth of the Bible as do Bryan and the fundamentalists.※My heart went out to the old warrior as spectators pushed by him to shake Darrow‟s hand. (Para. 43)Darrow had gotten the best of Bryan, who looked helplessly lost and pitiable as everyone ignored him and rushed past him to congratulate Darrow. When I saw this , I felt sorry for Bryan.38.Dudley Field Malone called my conviction a “victorious defeat”.Victorious defeat: l iterally a defeat (found guilty, fined), but really something of a victory fro the revolutionists because the very light sentence signifies the jury wasn’t outraged at his “crime”. Oxymoron Also the trial brought the issues out into the open, and the publicity largely showed the scientific viewpoint in a favorable light and as reasonable. These really were the main objectives of having the trial in the first place.。

Lesson‎4 The Trial That Rocked‎the World震撼世界的审‎判A buzz ran throug‎h the crowd as I took my place in the packed‎court on that swelte‎r ing July day in 1925. The counse‎l for my defenc‎e was the famous‎crimin‎a l lawyer‎Claren‎c e Darrow‎.Leadin‎g counse‎l for the prosec‎u tion was Willia‎m Jennin‎g s Bryan, the silver‎-tongue‎d orator‎, three times Democr‎a tic nomine‎e for Presid‎e nt of the United‎States‎,and leader‎of the fundam‎e ntali‎s t moveme‎n t that had brough‎t about my trial.在一九二五年‎七月的那个酷‎热日子里，当我在挤得水‎泄不通的法庭‎里就位时，人群中响起一‎阵嘁嘁喳喳的‎议论声。

我的辩护人是‎著名刑事辩护‎律师克拉伦斯‎.达罗。

担任主控官的‎则是能说会道‎的演说家威廉‎.詹宁斯.布莱恩，他曾三次被民‎主党提名为美‎国总统候选人‎，而且还是导致‎我这次受审的‎基督教原教旨‎主义运动的领‎导人。

A few weeks before‎I had been an unknow‎n school‎-teache‎r in Dayton‎, a little‎town in the mounta‎i ns of Tennes‎s ee. Now I was involv‎e d in a trial report‎e d the world over. Seated‎in court, ready to testif‎y on my behalf‎,were a dozen distin‎g uishe‎d profes‎s ors and scient‎i sts, led by Profes‎s or Kirtle‎y Mather‎of Harvar‎d Univer‎s ity. More than 100 report‎e rs were on hand, and even radio announ‎c er s, who for the first time in histor‎y were to broadc‎a st a jury trial. "Don't worry, son, we'll show them a few tricks‎," Darrow‎had whispe‎r ed throwi‎n g a reassu‎r ing arm round my should‎e r as we were waitin‎g for the court to open.几个星期之前‎，我还只是田纳‎西州山区小镇‎戴顿的一名默‎默无闻的中学‎教员，而现在我却成‎了一次举世瞩‎目的庭审活动‎的当事人。

高级英语第一册Unit4文章结构+课文讲解+课文翻译+课后练习+答案Unit 4 Everyday Use for Your GrandmamaEveryday Use for Your Grandmama 教学目的及重点难点Objectives of TeachingTo com prehend the whole storyTo lean and m aster the vocabulary and expressionsTo learn to paraphrase the difficult sentencesTo understand the structure of the textTo appreciate the style and rhetoric of the passage.Important and Difficult pointsThe comprehension of the whole storyThe understanding of certain expressionsThe appreciation of the writing techniqueColloquial, slangy or black EnglishCultural difference between nationalities in the USIV. Character AnalysisDee:She has held life always in the palm of one hand."No" is a word the world never learned to say to her.She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.She was determined to share down any disaster in her efforts.I. Rhetorical devices:Parallelism:chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffleMetaphor:She washed us in a river of...burned us... Pressed us ...to shove us away stare down any disaster in her efforts...Everyday Use for your grandmama -- by Alice WalkerEveryday Use for your grandmamaAlice WalkerI will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I m ade so clean and wavy yester day afternoon. A yard like this is m ore com fortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can com e and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that nevercom e inside the house.Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, hom ely and asham ed of the burn sc ars down her arm s and legs, eying her sister with a m ixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has "made it" is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage. (A Pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child cam e on the show only to curse out and insult each other?) On TV mot her and child em brace and smile into each other's face. Som etimes the m other and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have m ade it without their help. I have seen these programs.Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort. Out of a cark and soft-seated lim ousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with m any people. There I meet a smiling, gray, sporty m an likeJohnny Carson who shakes my hand and tells m e what a fine girl I have. Then we are on the stage and Dee is em bracing m e with tear s in her eyes. She pins on m y dress a large orchid, even though she has told m e once that she thinks or chides are tacky flowers.In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, m an-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as m ercilessly as a m an. My fat keeps m e hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open tire m inutes after it com es steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the m eat hung up to chill be-fore nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way m y daughter would want m e to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pan-cake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Car – son has much to do to keep up with m y quick and witty tongue.But that is a mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even im agine m e looking a strange white m an in the eye? It seem s to m e I have talked to them always with one toot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them. Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature."How do I look, Mam a?" Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for m e to know she's there, almost hidden by the door."Come out into the yard," I say.Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him? That is the way m y Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to theground.Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She's a wom an now, though sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Som etimes I can still hear the flam es and feel Maggie's arms sticking to m e, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flakes. Her eyes seem ed stretched open, blazed open by the flam es reflect-ed in them. And Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look at concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house tall in toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why don't you do a dance around the ashes? I'd wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much.I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the m oney, the church and m e, to send her to Augusta to school. She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know. Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the mom ent, like dimwits, we seem ed about to understand.Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to m atch a greensuit she'd made from an old suitsom ebody gave m e. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a tim e. Often I fought off the tem ptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own' and knew what style was.I never had an education m yself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don't ask me why. in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now.Som etimes Maggie reads to m e. She stumbles along good-naturedly but can't see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. She will marry John Thom as (who has mossy teeth in an earnest face) and then I'll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs to m yself. Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a m an's job. 1 used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49. Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.I have deliberately turned m y back on the house. It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin: they don't m ake shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just som e holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutter s up on the outside. This house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. She wrote m e once that no m atter where we "choose" to live, she will m anage to com e see us. But she will never bring her friends. Maggie and I thought about this and Maggie asked me, Mama, when did Dee ever have any friends?"She had a few. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school. Nervous girls who never laughed.Impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye. She read to them.When she was courting Jimmy T she didn't have m uch tim e to pay to us, but turned all her faultfinding power on him. He flew to m arry a cheap city girl from a fam ily of ignorant flashy people. She hardly had time to recompose herself.When she com es I will meet -- but there they are!Maggie attempts to m ake a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with m y hand. "Come back here," I say. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.It is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun. But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells m e it is Dee. Her feet were always neat-looking, as it God himself had shaped them with a certain style. From the other side of the car com es a short, stocky m an. Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail. I hear Maggie suck in her breath. "Uhnnnh," is what it sounds like. Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your toot on the road. "Uhnnnh."Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts m y eyes. There are yel-lows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she m oves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her arm pits. The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like it. I hear Maggie go "Uhnnnh" again. It is her sister's hair. It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails thatrope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears."Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!" she says, coming on in that gliding way the dress m akes her move. The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with "Asalamalakim, m y mother and sister!" He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of m y chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see the perspiration falling off her chin."Don't get up," says Dee. Since I am stout it takes som ething of a push. You can see m e trying to m ove a second or two before I m ake it. She turns, showing white heels through her sandals, and goes back to the car. Out she peeks next with a Polaroid. She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of m e sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without m aking sure the house is included. When a cow com es nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and m e and Maggie and the house. Then she puts the Polaroid in the back seat of the car, and com es up and kisses me on the forehead.Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie's hand. Maggie's hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy. Or m aybe he don't know how people shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie."Well," I say. "Dee.""No, Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee', Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!""What happened to 'Dee'?" I wanted to know."She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress m e.""You know as well as m e you was nam ed after your aunt Dicle," I said. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. We called her "Big Dee" after Dee was born."But who was she nam ed after?" asked Wangero."I guess after Grandma Dee," I said."And who was she nam ed after?" asked Wangero."Her mother," I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. "That's about as far back as I can trace it," I said.Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches."Well," said Asalamalakim, "there you are.""Uhnnnh," I heard Maggie say."There I was not," I said, before 'Dicie' cropped up in our family, so why should I try to trace it that far back?"He just stood there grinning, looking down on me like som ebody inspecting a Model A car. Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over m y head."How do you pronounce this nam e?" I asked."You don't have to call m e by it if you don't want to," said Wangero."Why shouldn't I?" I asked. "If that's what you want us to call you, we'll call you. ""I know it m ight sound awkward at first," said Wangero."I'll get used to it," I said. "Ream it out again."Well, soon we got the name out of the way. Asalam alakim had a name twice as long and three times as hard. After I tripped over it two or three tim es he told me to just call him Hakim-a-barber. I wanted to ask him was he a barber, but I didn't really think he was, so I don't ask."You must belong to those beet-cattle peoples down theroad," I said. They said "Asalamalakirn" when they m et you too, but they didn't Shake hands. Always too busy feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay. When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the m en stayed up all night with rifles in their hands. I walked a mile and a half just to see the sight.Hakim-a-barber said, "I accept som e of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not m y style." (They didn't tell m e, and I didn't ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.)We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn't eat collards and pork was unclean. Wangero, though, went on through the chitlins and corn bread, the greens and every-thing else. She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn't afford to buy chairs."Oh, Mama!" she cried. Then turned to Hakim-a-barber. "I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints," she said, running her handsunderneath her and along the bench. Then she gave a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dee's butter dish. "That's it!" she said. "I knew there was som ething I wanted to ask you if I could have." She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it."This churn top is what I need," she said. "Didn't Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?""Yes," I said."Uh huh, " she said happily. "And I want the dasher,too.""Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?" asked the barber.Dee (Wangero) looked up at m e."Aunt Dee's first husband whittled the dash," said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her. "His name was Henry, but they called him Stash.""Maggie's brain is like an elephants," Wanglero said, laughing. "I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table,‖she said, sliding a plate over the churn, "and I'll think of som ething artistic to do with the dasher."When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out.I took it for a moment in my hands. You didn't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of sm all sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of m y bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out cam e Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and m e had hung them on the quilt fram es on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bit sand pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny m atchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War."Mama," Wangero said sweet as a bird. "Can I have these old quilts?"I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed."Why don't you take one or two of the others?‖ 1 asked. "These old things was just done by m e and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.""No," said Wangero. "I don't want those. They are stitched around the borders by m achine.""That'll m ake them last better," I said."That's not the point," said Wanglero. "These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine!" She held the quilts securely in her arms, stroking them."Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, com e from old clothes her mother handed down to her,‖ I said, m ovi ng up to touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero)moved back just enough so that I couldn't reach the quilts. They already belonged to her. "Imagine!" she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom."The truth is," I said, "I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thom as."She gasped like a bee had stung her."Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.""I reckon she would," I said. "God knows I been sav age ‘em for long enough with nobody using 'em. I hope she will! ‖ I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style."But they're priceless!" she was saying now, furiously, for she has a tem per. "Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" "She can always m ake so me more,‖ I said. "Maggie knows how to quilt. "Dee (Wangero) looked at m e with hatred. "You just will notunderstand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!""Well," I said,, stum ped. "What would you do with them?""Hang them," she said. As it that was the only thing you could do with quilts.Maggie by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as they scraped over each other."She can have them, Mam a,‖ she said like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. "I can 'm ember Grandma Dee without the quilts."I looked at her hard. She had filled her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it gave her face a kind of dopey, hangdog look. It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with som ething like fear but she wasn't m ad at her. This was Maggie's portion. This was the way she knew God to work.When I looked at her like that som ething hit m e in the top of m y head and ran down to the soles of m y feet. Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches m e and I get happy and shout. I did som ething I never had done before: hugged Maggie to m e, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open."Take one or two of the others," I said to Dee.But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber."You just don't understand," she said, as Maggie and I cam e out to the car."What don't I under stand?" I wanted to know."Your heritage," she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to try to m ake some-thing of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mam a still live you'd never know it."She put on som e sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses. But a real mile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was tim e to go in the house and go to bed.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTES1) Alice Walker: born 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia, America and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. Her books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland ( 1970 ), Meridian ( 1976 ), The Color Purple(1982), etc.2)"made it": to become a success, to succeed, either in specific endeavor or in general3) Johnny Carson: a man who runs a late night talk show4)hooked: injured by the horn of the cow being milked5) Jimmy T: 'T' is the initial of the surname of the boy Dee was courting.6)"Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!": phonetic rendering of an African dialect salutation7) "Asalamalakim": phonetic rendering of a Muslim greeting8) Polaroid: a camera that produces instant pictures9) the Civil War: the war between the North and the South in the U. S.(1861-1865)10) branches: branches or divisions of a family descendingfrom a common ancestor11) Ream it out again: "Ream" is perhaps an African dialect word meaning: "unfold, display". Hence the phrase may mean "repeat" or "say it once again"12) pork was unclean: Muslims are forbidden by their religion to eat pork because it is considered to be unclean.13) Chitlins: also chitlings or chitterlings, the small intestines of pigs, used for food,a common dish in Afro-American households14) rump prints: depressions in the benches made by constant si tting15) sink: depressions in the wood of the handle left by the thumbs and fingersBackground informationThe author wrote quite a number of novels, among them were The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize of Fiction （普利策小说奖）and The Am erican Book Award （美国图书奖）. In 1985, the Color Purple was m ade into a m ovie which won great fam e .Everyday Use for your grandmama 课文讲解/Detailed Study Everyday Use for Your Grandmama--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Detailed Study of the Text1. wavy: having regular curvesA wavy line has a series of regular curves along it.The wavy lines are m eant to represent water.Here in the text the word describes the m arks in wavy patterns on t he clay ground left by the broom.*im age - 1* (此处加一细曲线图)2. groove: a long narrow path or track made in a surface, esp.to guide the movement of sth.A groove is a wide, deep line cut into a surface.The cupboard door slides open along the groove it fits into.3. homely: simple, not grand, (of people, faces, etc.,) not good-looking, ugly If som eone is homely, they are not very attractive to look at; uased in Am.E.4. awe: Awe is the feeling of respect and am azement that you have when you are faced with sth. wonderful, frightening or com pletely unknown., wonderThe child stared at him in silent awe.5. confront: to face boldly or threateningly, encounterIf a problem, task, or difficulty confronts you, or you are confronted with it, it iss sth. that you cannot avoid and m ust deal withI was confronted with the task of designing and building the new system.6. totter: to m ove in an unsteady way from side to side as if about to fall, to walk with weak unsteady stepsThe old lady tottered down the stairs.7. limousine: A limousine is a large and very com fortable car, esp. one with a glass screen between the front and back seats. Limousines are usually driven by a chauffeur [ou]cf:sedan / saloon is a car with seats for four or m ore people, a fixed roof, and a boot (the space at the back of the car, covered by a lid, in which you carry things such luggage, shopping or tools) that is separate from the seating part of the car convertible: a car with a soft roof that can be folded down or removedsports car: a low usu. open car with room for only 2 people for traveling with high power and speedcoupe [?ku:pei] a car with a fixed roof, a sloping back, two doors and seats for four peoplestation wagon (Am E) / estate car (Br.E) a car which has a long body with a door at the back end and space behind the back seats8. gray / grey: used to describe the colour of people‘s hair when it changes from its original colour, usu. as they get old and before it becom es white9. tacky: (Am.E, slang) shabby10. overalls: are a single piece of clothing that combines trousers and a jacket. Your wear overalls over your clothes in order to protect them from dirt, paint, etc. while you are working The breast pocket of his overalls was filled with tools. (工装裤)11. hog:a. a pig, esp. a fat one for eatingb. a m ale pig that has been castratedc. a dirty personswine: (old & tech) pigboar [o:]: male pig on a farm that is kept for breedingsow [au]: fully grown female pig12. sledge hammer: large, heavy hammer for swinging with both hands, a large heavy hammer with a long handle, used for sm ashing concrete13. barley: 大麦14. pancake: a thin, flat circle of cooked batter (糊状物) made of milk, flour and eggs. usu. rolled up or folded and eaten hot with a sweet or savory f illing inside15. sidle: walk as if ready to turn or go the other wayIf you sidle som ewhere, you walk there uncertainly orcautiously, as if you do not want anyone to notice youA m an sidled up to m e and asked if I wanted a ti cket for the m atch..16. shuffle: slow dragging walkIf you shuffle, you walk without lifting your feet properly off the groundHe slipped on his shoes and shuffled out of the room.If you shuffle, you move your feet about while standing or move your bottom about while sitting, often because you feel uncom fortable or embarrassed.I was shuffling in my seat.cf:totter (n.6), sidle(n. 15), shuffle17. blaze: to burn with a bright flam eA wood fire was blazing, but there was no other light in the room.n. the sudden sharp shooting up of a flam e, a very bright fireThe fire burned slowly at first, but soon burst into a blaze.18. sweet gum tree: a large North American tree of the witch hazel (榛子) fam ily, with alternate m aplelike leaves, spiny (多刺的) fruit balls, and flagrant juice美洲金缕梅, 落叶灌木或小乔木. 原产于北美和亚洲. 其分叉小枝从前用为魔杖, 这寻找地下水, 故俗称魔杖.19. dingy: dirty and fadedA building or place that is dingy is rather dark and depressing and does not seem to have been well looked after,.This is the dingiest street of the town.Clothes, curtains, etc. that are dingy are dirty or faded.20. raise: to collect together。

Unit Four Everyday UseI will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room.When the hard 1.clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, ( Before the word “ lined”, the link verb “ is” omitted. anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breeze s that never come inside the house.Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and 3.ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy (and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, (1. She thinks that her sister has a firm control of her life) that “ no” is a word the world never learned to say to her. (2. She could always have anything she wanted, and life was extremely generous to her)You‟ve no d oubt seen those TV shows where the child who has 5 “ made it”is confront ed (2. faced)( Eg: Stepping off from the car, the official was confronted by two terrorists), as a surprise, by her own mother and father, ( brought face to face with her own mother and father unexpectedly)totter ing in weakly from backstage. (A pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?) On TV mother and child 8.embrace and smile into each other‟s face. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs.Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought togetheron a TV program of this sort.( “ This sort” carries a derogatory tone, suggesting that the TV. Program is of inferior kind)Out of a dark and soft-seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with many people.There I meet a smiling, gray sporty man like Johnny Carson ( a man who runs a late night talk show) who shakes my hand and tell me what a fine girl I have. Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes. She pins on my dress a large orchid, even though she has told me once that she thinks orchids are tacky ( 1.inelegant)(3.of vulgar quality) flowers.In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough,man-working hands. (The phrase” in real life” is transitional, linking this paragraph and the o ne above, implying that those TV programs are nothing but make-believe and the narrator is very skeptical of them . In reality she has the typical features of a black working woman)In the winter, I wear flannel nightgown s to bed and overall s(during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. ( Because I am fat, I feel hot even in freezing weather)I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming (4. giving out steam) from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before 10.nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. ( My daughter wishes me to have a slender figure and a fair complexion like an uncooked barley pancake: a simile comparing the skin to barley dough which has a creamy, smooth texture. This sentence suggests that Dee is rather ashamed of having a black working-class woman as her mother) My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue. (5. eloquent in speech)But that is a11. mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white in the eye ( to look sb. In the eye: Eg: If you are upright and not afraid of losing anything, you’ll be able to look anyone in the eye.) ? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight, ( 4. It seems to me that I have talked to them always ready to leave as quickly as possible because of discomfort, nervousness, timidity, etc.) ( with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them. ( in order to avoid them as much as possible, also from discomfort, shyness, etc)Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.“ How do I look, Mama?” Maggie says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she‟s there, almost hidden by the door.“Come out into the yard,” I say.Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog 12.run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind of him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ( Maggie is so shy that she never raises her head or eyes when looking at and talking to people, and she is always so nervous and restless that she is unable to stand still. Shuffle:)ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground.Dee is lighter than Maggie,( Light here refers to the color of one’s skin, complexion, not weight. Theword fair is similar to light, and the opposite is dark)with nicer and a fuller (6. charmingly round)14. figure. She‟s woman now, though sometimes I forget. How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years? Sometimes I can still hear the flames and feel Maggie‟s arms sticking to me, her hair smoking and her dress falling off her in little black papery flake s. ( Nominative absolute construction,) Her eyes seemed stretched open, blazed open by the flames reflected in them. And Dee. I see her standing off ( stand away; in a distance) under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house falling toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why don‟t you do a dance around the ashes? I‟d wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much.I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised the money , the church and me,( Incorrect grammar, it should be the church and I )to send her to Augusta ( city in eastern Georgia. the family lives in the rural area in Georgia, a southern state in America.)to school. She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks‟ habits,whole lives upon us two,( The narrator implies that the books Dee read to them were written by the white people and full of their language and ideas, falsehood and their way of life. Other folks refer to the white people. By reading those books, Dee forced them to accept the white people’s views and values.)sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. ( Her reading was like a trap, and we were like animals caught in the trap, unable to escape. Underneath her voice suggests a repressive and imposing quality in her voice) She washed us in a river of make-believe, (5. She imposed on us lots of falsity) burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn‟t necessarily need to know. (6. she imposed on us a lot of knowledge that is totally useless to us ) Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwit s, ( slang,2 stupid person, a simpleton)we seemed about to understand.Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation ( to attend her graduation ceremony)from high school; black pump s (7. low-cut shoes without straps or ties) to match ( match: Eg: This blouse doesn’t match the color or the style of the shirt) a green suit she‟d made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was determined to stare down (8. to stare back at another until the gaze of the one stared at is turned away. )any 17.disaster in her efforts. ( She was determined to face up and defeat any disaster with her efforts. Here disaster is personified)Her eyelid s would not flicker for minutes at a time. ( Again it shows that Dee was undaunted with a strong character. She would look at anybody steadily and intently for a long time)Often I fought off the temptation to shake her .( Often I wanted so much to shake her, but I restrained myself. Usually you shake somebody in order to rouse that person to the awareness of something) At sixteen she had a style of her own: ( At sixteen she had a style of her own way of doing things.)and knew what style was. ( And she knew what was the current, fashionable way of dressing, speaking, acting, etc.))I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don‟t ask me why: in 1927 colored (a group other than the Caucasoid, specially black)asked fewer questions than they do now. ( In 1927, the colored people were more passive than they are now)Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumble s along good naturedly ( She often makes mistakes while reading, but never losing good temper.)but can‟t see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. ( 7.She is not bright as she is neither good-looking nor rich)She will marry John Thomas ( who has mossy( 9.not clean ) teeth in an earnest face) and t hen I‟ll be free to sit here and I guess just sing church songs myself. Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a man‟s job. I used to love to milk till I was hook ed (injured by the horn of the cow being milked)in the side in ‟49. Cows are sooth ing and slow and don‟t bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.I have deliberately turned my back on the house. It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin.: they don‟t make shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just some holes out in the sides, like the porthole s in a ship, but not round and not square.,( irregular in shape) with rawhide holding the shutter s up on the outside. This house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. ( to demolish) She wrote me once that no matter where we “choose” to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends. Maggie and I thought about this and Maggie asked me, “ Mama, when did Dee ever have any friends?”( A rhetorical question, meaning Dee was not an easy person to get along with, and she never really had any true friends)She had a few. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about ( linger around) on washday after school. Nervous girls who never laughed. Impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned(4.expressed or worded well) phrase, the cute shape, the scalding(Harshly critical ) humor that erupted(T o force out violently.) like bubble s in lye. She read to them.When she was 19.courting Jimmy T ( “T”is the initial of the surname of the boy Dee was courting)she didn‟t have much time to pay to us, but turned all he r faultfinding power on him. He flewto marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy( cheap and showy) people. She hardly had time to recompose (To restore to composure; calm.)( recompose: She was shocked at the news, but before long she recomposed herself)herself.When she comes I will meet—but there they are! ( Before I could meet them, ( in the yard), they have already arrived)Maggie 20.attempted to make a dash for the house, In her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand.( I stop her from rushing off with my hand. Note: the simple present tense is used in this paragraph and the following five paragraphs describe the past actions. The purpose is to make the story telling more vivid.)“ Come back here,” I say. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.It is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun. But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style. From the other side of the car comes a short, stocky(chubby, plump) man. Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky( full of short, twisty curls,3.tightly curled.) mule tail. I hear Maggie suck in her breath. ( inhale her breath)“ Uhnnnh,” ( an exclamation of a strong negative response) is what it sounds like. Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your foot on the road. ( An elliptical “ Uhnnnh.” Sentence . It’s the kind of disgusted response you have when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your foot on the road.) Dee next. A dress down to the ground, in the hot weather. (8.Dee wore a very long dress even on such a hot day)A dress so loud (10. unpleasant attractive bright color e.g. a loud pattern.( a dress in such loud colors.)it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. ( There are bright yellow and orange colored patterns which shine even more brightly than the sun.)I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Earring s gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpit s. The dress is loose and flows, ( The dress is loose and moves gently and smoothly) and as she walks closer, I like it. I hear Maggie go ( 5. say ( used to describe dialogues) “Uhnnnh” again. It is her sister‟s hair. ( This time it’s her sister’s hair style that makes Maggie utter an exclamation of dislike and disapproval)It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtail s that rope about ( that move about)like small lizard s disappearing behind her ears.“Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!” ( phonetic rendering of an African dialect salutation) she says, coming on inthat gliding way the dress makes her move. The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with “Asalamalakim,( Phonetic rendering of a Muslim greeting ) my mother and sister!” He moves to hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there and when I look up I see perspiration falling off her chin.“Don‟t get up, “ says Dee. Since I am stout, ( fat)it takes something of a push.( I have to push myself up with some effort to get up )You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it. ( 9.You can see me trying to move my body a couple of seconds before I finally manage to push myself up) She turns, showing white heels through her sandals, and goes back to the car. Out she peek s next with a Polaroid.( a camera that produces instant pictures) She stoop s down quickly and lines up (11. take many pictures in a sequence) picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cower ing behind me. ( with Maggie huddling behind me because of fear and nervousness)She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included. ( Every time she takes a picture she makes sure that the house is in it. It shows how important she thinks the house is. We are reminded how she used to hate the house)When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snap s it and me and Maggie and the house. Then she puts the Polarold in the back seat of the car, and comes up and kisses me on the forehead. ( Not usual. Normally people kiss each other on the cheeks for greeting)Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie …s hand.( Meanwhile Dee’s boyfriend is trying to shake hands with Maggie in a fancy and elaborate way)Maggie‟s hand is as limp as a fish, and 22.probably as cold, despite( despite: Despite the flood, the losses on agricultural production were not that serious) the sweat and she keeps trying to pull it back. It looks like ( 6. as if ) Asalamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy. ( 6. shake hands in a fancy and elaborate way) Or maybe he don‟t know( ungrammatical spoken English. There are quite a few instances of such use of language in the story) how to shake hands. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie. (10. Soon he knows that won’t do for Maggie. So he stops trying to shake hands with Maggie. Give up: to admit failure and stop trying)“Well,” I say. “Dee.”“No, mama,” she says. “ Not …Dee‟. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”“What happened to …Dee‟?” I wanted to know.“She‟s dead,”(The girl called Dee no longer exists. With the new name, she is born again)Wangero said. “ I couldn‟t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”“ You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. ( She was named Dee)We called her “ Big Dee” after Dee was born.” ( As we named our daughter after her aunt, we added “Big” before her aunt’s name to make a distinction)But who was she named after?” asked Wangero.“ I guess after Grandma Dee,” I said.“ And who was she named after?” asked Wangero.“Her mother,” I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. “ That‟s about as far as I can trace it,” I said. Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War ( the war between the North ( the Union) and the South ( the Confederacy) in the U.S ( 1861-1865)through 23 branches. ( branches or divisions of a family descending from a common ancestor) (11. As I see Dee is getting tired of this, I don’t want to go on either. In fact, I could have traced it back before the Civil War through the family branches)“Well,” said Asalamalakim, “there you are.”“Uhnnnh,” I heard Maggie say.“There I was not, “ I said, “ before …Dicie cropped up ( in our family, so why should I try to trace it that far back?”He just stood there grinning, looking down on me like somebody 24. inspecting a Model A car.( in 1909 Henry Ford mass-produced 15 million Model T cars and thus made automobiles popular in the States. In 1928 the Model T was discontinued and replaced by a new design--- the Model A—to meet the needs for growing competition in car manufacturing.) Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head. (12. Now and then he and Dee communicated through eye contact in a secretive way)“How do you pron ounce this name?: I asked.“ You don‟t have to call me by it if you don‟t want to,” said Wangero.“Why shouldn‟t I?” I asked. “ If that‟s what you want us to call you, we‟ll call you.”“I know it might sound awkward at first,” said Wangero.“ I‟ll get used to it, “ I said. “Ream it out again.” ( “Ream” is perhaps an African dialect word meaning “ unfold, display”. Hence the phrase may mean “ repeat” or “ say it once again”Well. Soon we got the name out of the way.( We overcame the difficulty and managed to pronounceit at last)Asalamalakim had a name twice as long and three times as hard . After I tripped over (8 mispronounced it, failed to say it correctly.)twice or three times he told me to just call him Hakim-a-barber. I wanted to ask him was he a barber,( Incorrect grammar, it should be “Whether ( if” he was a barber)but I didn‟t really think he was, so I don‟t ask.“ You must belong to those beef-cattle people ( 9. people who breed and fatten cattle for meat) down the road, “ I said. They said “Asalamalakim” when they met you, too, but they didn‟t shake hands. Always too busy: feeding the cattles, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay. When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the men stayed up all night with rifles in their hands. I walked a mile and a half just to see the sight.Hakim-a-barber said,” I accept some of their doctrine s, but farming and raising cattle is not my style.” ( They didn‟t tell me, and I didn‟t ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him.) We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn‟t eat collard s and pork was unclean.( Muslims are forbidden by their religion to eat pork because it is considered unclean)Wangero, though, went on through the chitlin s ( also chitlings or chitterlings, the small intestines of pigs, used for food, a common dish in Afro-American households)and corn bread, the greens ( green leafy vegetables eaten cooked or raw) and everything else. She talked a blue streak( ( colloquial) anything regarded as like a streak of lightening in speed, vividness etc. T alk a blue streak:10. to talk much and rapidly) over ( while occupied or engaged in, Eg. To discuss the matter over lunch. // Let’s talk about the matter over a cup of coffee) the 25.sweet potatoes. Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made for the table when we couldn‟t afford to buy chairs.“Oh, Mama!” she cried. Then turned to Hakim-a-barber. “ I nev er knew how 26.lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints,”( depressions in the benches made by constant sitting) she said, running her hands underneath her and along the bench. Then she gave a sigh and her hand closed over Grandma Dee‟s butter dish. “ That‟s it!” she said. “ I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.” She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. ( The milk in it had become clabber by now.) She looked at the churn and looked at it.“The churn top is what I need,” she said. “ Didn‟t Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?”“Yes,” I said.“Uh, huh,”( interjection) an exclamation indicating an affirmative response)She said ha ppily. “ And I want the dasher (12. an instrument to be used to stir the milk)too.”“ Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?” asked the barber.Dee (Wangero) looked up at me.“Aunt Dee‟s first husband whittled that dash,” said Maggie so low you almost couldn‟t hear her.” His name was Henry, but they called him Stash.”“ Maggie‟s brain is like an elephant‟s,” (Elephant’s are paid to have good memories. Here Dee is being ironic)Wangero said, laughing. “ I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove ta ble,” she said, sliding a plate over the churn, “ and I‟ll think of something artistic to do with the dasher.”When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out. I took it for a moment in my hands. You don‟t even have to look close to see where ha nds pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink(depressions in the wood of the handle left by the thumb and fingers) in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks; you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. ( searching through the trunk as if she was ransacking and robbing the house.)Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. ( Maggie was reluctant to come out from the kitchen.) Out came Wangero with two quilts. ( inverted sentence order to achieve vividness of description)They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and the Big Dee and me and hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern.( The design on the quilt had, perhaps, a single star) The other was Walk Around the Mountain.( Perhaps a quilt design showing a mountain) In both of them were scrap s of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell‟s Paisley shirts.( shirts having an elaborate, colorful pattern of intricate figures. It is called after paisley, a city in Scotland where shawls of such designs were originally made) And one teeny ( colloquial)variation of the word “tiny”) faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, ( a matchbox which costs a penny ( a US cent)that was from Gre at Grandpa Ezra‟s uniform that he wore in the Civil War.“Mama,” Wangero said sweet as a bird. “ Can I have these old quilts?”I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slam med.“Why don‟t you take one or two of the others?” I asked. “These old things was just done by me and big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.”“No,” said Wangero. “ I don‟t want those. They are stitched around the borders by machine.”“That‟ll make them last better,” I said.“ That‟s not the point,” said Wangero. “ These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine!”She held the quilts securely in her arms, stroking them. ( This shows how she cherished the quilts and how determined she was to have them. Later we will learn that the mother offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. At that time she thought the quilts were old-fashioned. Note the change Dee’s attitude towards the quilts.)“Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,” I said, moving up to touch the quilts. Dee (Wangero) moved back just enough so that I couldn‟t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her.“Imagine!” she breathed again, clutch ing them closely to her bosom.“The truth is,” I said, “ I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas.” ( Incorrect grammar:)She gasp ed like a bee had stung her.“Maggie can‟t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She‟d probably be backward e nough to put them to everyday use.”( Here the snobbish Dee says that Maggie is not as well educated or sophisticated as she and that Maggie will not be able to appreciate the value of the quilts and will use them just as quilts, not as works of art)I reckon she would,” I said. “God knows I been saving …em for long enough with nobody using …em. I hope she will!” I didn‟t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned , out of style.“But they‟re priceless!”( italicized for emphasis)she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “ Maggie would put the m on the bed and in five years they‟d be in rags. Less than that!”( 13. If Maggie put the old quilts on the bed, they would be in rags less than five years) “She can always make some more,” I said. “ Maggie knows how to quilt.”Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. “ You just will not understand. The point is these quilts , these quilts!”“Well,” I said,stump ed.( colloquial) puzzled, perplexed, baffled)“ What would you do with them?”“ Hang them,” she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts. ( She answered the question firmly and definitely as if that was the only right way of using quilts)Maggie by now was standing in the door. I could almost hear the sound her feet made as theyscrapped over each other.“She can have them, Mama,” she said like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. “ I can…member( spoken English--- remember) Grandma Dee without the quilts.”I looked at her hard. She had filled her bottom lip with checkerberry snuff and it gave her face a kind dopey, ( colloquial) mentally slow or confused; stupid)hangdog look. It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn‟t mad at her. This was Maggie‟s portion.( one’s lot; destiny) This was the way she knew God to work. (14.she knew t his was God’s arrangement) When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. ( It shows that one is suddenly filled with a new spirit or a thoroughly thrilling and exciting emotion caused by an entirely new experience)Just like when I‟m in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout. I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her into the room, snatch ed the quilts out of Miss Wangero‟s hands and dump ed them into Maggie‟s lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.“Take one or two of the others,” I said to Dee.But she turned without a word and went out to Hakim-a-barber.“You don‟t understand,” she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.“What don‟t I understand?” I wanted to know.“Your heritage,” she said. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “ You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It‟s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you‟d never know it.”She put on her some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin.Maggie smiled: maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the home and go to bed.11。