unit14 英语泛读教程第三册

Unit 14 Three Days to See

Ⅰ Objectives

1. Understanding the text

2. Mastery of some language points

3. Learning the writing style: autobiography

4. Knowing the life of Helen Keller

5. Learning from Helen Keller

6. Knowing how to read the administrative language

Ⅱ Key points

1. Full understanding of the text

2. Mastery of some language points

3. Distinguish autobiography from biography

Ⅲ Difficult points

1. Some of the words and phrases are difficult

2. Mastery of the reading skill

3. Though being told to cherish our ability to see and hear some students might still not value time so much

IV Time Arrangement

 About two periods of class will be used for the analysis and discussion of the

passage itself.

Total class hours: three periods

V Teaching procedures

1. Title:

 --- What Helen Keller wished to see if she had the power of sight for just three

days

2. Preview Questions

What would you do if you only have three days to see?

3. Related information

(1) About the author

Helen Keller (1880-1968) is one of the most remarkable persons born in the 19th

century. She lost her eyesight and hearing at 19 months old. But she managed to

overcome the double handicap of blindness & deafness and to take an active part

in the life of the world. She graduated with honors from Radcliff College in 1904.

Since then she carried on a career that had really begun at the age of 11, when she

arranged a tea party at which she collected money to help the education of a

smaller deaf-blind child. Even in her eighties, she still spent her busy life in the service of the other handicapped people. She traveled widely & had friends all

over the world. Of course, she could never have accomplished this alone. Just as

remarkable as Miss Killer was her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who undertook to lead

her out of the darkness & enable her to have a normal life. Helen wrote a number

of books, including her autobiography & a biography of Miss Sullivan.

During her life, Helen Keller was one of the world's great heroes. Her

remarkable story was well known throughout the world. Born in 1880, she

contracted an illness when she was less than 2 years old that left her unable to hear

or see. At a time when the lives of most people, and certainly, most disabled

people, were constrained by their society's medical, philosophical, social, and

economic limitations, Miss Keller went on to develop formidable powers of

intellectual and emotional achievement. She traveled to the farthest reaches of the

world; became a leading figure who publicly campaigned on behalf of civil rights,

human dignity, women's suffrage, and world peace; and met the most celebrated

personalities of her time. It is therefore not surprising that Helen Keller today

remains a woman whose astounding personality and accomplishments attract

widespread admiration and awe.

(2) About Anne Sullivan

Anne Sullivan had lost most of her sight at the age of five. By the age of ten,

her mother died and her father deserted her. She and her brother Jimmie were sent

to the poorhouse in February 1876.

Anne's brother died in the poorhouse. It was October 1880 when Anne finally

left and went to commence her education at the Perkins Institution. One summer

during her time at the institute, Anne had two operations on her eyes, which led to

her regaining enough sight to be able to read normal print for short periods of time.

Anne graduated from Perkins in 1886 and began to search for work. Finding

work was terribly difficult for Anne, due to her poor eyesight, and when she

received the offer from Michael Anagnos to work as the teacher of Helen Keller, a

deaf-blind mute, although she had no experience in this area, she accepted it

willingly. She worked very hard and was instrumental in the education of Keller.

(3)About the text

"Three Days to See" is the most beautiful piece of writing ever written by a blind

person. Its language is lucid ,subtle and prosaic. It tells us the exact perception of

a blind and perhaps only a blind can write such a wonderful piece. Helen Keller,

from the point of view of a blind, tells us how to value our sight.

4. Text Analysis

Part I (para. 1-2): Introduction: What should we do if we are given only a few days to live?

Part II (para. 3-7): Two kinds of attitudes toward life: treasure each day, living with a

gentleness, a vigor & a keenness of appreciation vs. “Eat, drink and be merry”

Part III (Para. 8-19): The author‟s point of view: the seeing see little, not treasuring their sight

much & paying little attention to the world around him by providing her own experience