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Unit 16 Stories Lesson 1 Stories from History

Pompeii: The city that became a time capsule

Around the end of the first century AD, a Roman writer called Pliny wrote about a terrible volcanic eruption that he had witnessed as a young man. The eruption had occurred on August 24th, 79 AD. The earth began to tremble and a volcano named Vesuvius, near Pompeii, Italy, erupted. Pliny described a cloud coming down the mountain, blocking out the sun and burying everything in its path, including whole villages and towns.

This particularly sad event left a deep impression on Pliny who had lost an uncle in the eruption. Yet, over the centuries, there was a greater loss. The people, towns and villages that had disappeared under the ashes were entirely forgotten by the world.

However, more than 1,600 years later, some scientists found the lost towns that had been buried under the ashes. By 1748, they had found an awesome historical site. They had started to dig out the ancient city of Pompeii.

In a way, Pompeii is like a “time capsule” preserving a frozen moment in history. Before the eruption occurred, it had been a booming Roman city with temples, markets, restaurants and theatres. Now as you walk along the streets of the city, time rewinds. You can admire the ancient architecture, statues, decorated walls and authentic objects characteristic of the time.

However, much more than buildings and objects, it is the forms of the people who were caught in the disaster that have made the city a monument to human history.

The bodies of people who had died in Pompeii left impressions in the ash that showed their exact shapes. As you walk, you will pass people gathered together for protection in their last hours of life. One person, sitting alone, looks like he is praying. Another man, lying on his side, looks as if he is trying to get up. One can only feel sorrow and deep sympathy for these once-living statues.

Today, more than 250 years after scientists found the city, thousands of tourists and hundreds of scientists visit Pompeii every year to learn more about the ancient world. In this way, the city, which the world had once forgotten, lives on nearly 2,000 years after its loss.

Unit 16 Stories Lesson 3 Life Stories Helen Keller

Helen Keller

Helen Keller was a very special girl who needed a superb teacher. By the time she was seven years old, she still couldn't speak, read or write. This was because

Helen couldn't see or hear. With these severe restrictions on her communication, Helen's behaviour was often unbearable.She was stubborn and angry, and often broke things when she wasn't understood.

Anne Sullivan was brought in to help Helen. Anne was a teacher and former student at a school for the blind in Boston. She had had eyesight problems early in life as well so she could relate to Helen's difficulties. Her first goal was to stop Helen's troublesome behaviour. Helen would need this valuable preparation in order to learn language. She would also need lots of love. When Anne and Helen first met, Anne gave Helen a big hug.

Helen would have to learn to understand words spelled on her hand. Anne's technique was simple and straightforward. She would put an object into one of Helen's hands and spell the word into her other hand. She started with dolls. She would let Helen play with the d oll, and then spell the letters “D-O-L-L” into her hand. Helen thought this was a game. She had a precise description of her excitement in her book, The Story of My Life: “Running downstairs to my mother, I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation.”

Then one day, Anne took Helen out to the well. Anne put Helen's hand under the water. As the water flowed over one hand, Anne s pelled “w-a-t-e-r” into the other hand. Then suddenly, Helen had a burst of understanding; the movement of the fingers meant the cool water flowing over her hand. This precious knowledge gave her hope and joy. Finally, the world of words was opening up to her.

Now that Helen understood the key to language, she was very eager to learn more and use it as much as she could. Children who can see and hear learn language easily but for Helen, it was a gradual and sometimes painful process. However, the results were amazing.

As Helen's knowledge and vocabulary expanded, she asked more and more questions. This soon led her to discover more complex words and changed her thinking processes. Trying to learn the word “love” was an experience that she remembered well. This is how she described it in her book, The Story of My Life:

“I remember the morning that I first asked the meaning of the word …love'. This was before I knew many words. I had found a few early violets in the garden and brought them to my teacher ... Miss Sullivan put her arm gently round me and spelled into my hand, …I love Helen.' …What is love?' I asked. She drew me closer to her and said, …It is here,' pointing to my heart ... Her words puzzled me very much because I did not then understand anything unless I touched it.”

The meaning of love was still not apparent to Helen but she kept on trying to understand. “I smelt the violets in her hand and asked, half in words, half in signs, a question which meant, …Is love the sweetness of flowers?' …No,' said my teacher.”

Helen then felt the warmth of the sun shining on them. She pointed up and asked if that was love. When her teacher said that it wasn't, she was confused and disappointed. “I thought it strange that my teacher could not show me love.”

The wo rd “think” was also a difficult one for Helen but she had a breakthrough while working on a simple task. She was making necklaces with the help of Miss Sullivan when she noticed that she had made some mistakes. Uncertain about how to fix them, she stopped to think carefully. As she did this, Miss Sullivan touched Helen's head and spelled the word “think” into her hand.“In a flash I knew that the word was the name of the process that was going on in my head.”

It was the first time Helen had understood such a complex word — a word for something she couldn't touch. At that moment, her mind returned to the word “love”. As she thought about its meaning again, the sun came out. She pointed to the sun and asked her teacher again if that was love. Anne answered Helen by explaining that love was like the sun and clouds in a way.

“You cannot touch the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain … You cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Without love you would not be happy o r want to play.” In that vivid moment, Helen finally understood the beautiful truth of the word “love”.

Unit 17 Laughter Lesson 1 What's So Funny?

A

“Have you ever had trouble trying to spell a word?” I asked my husband one day. “Yes, sometimes. Why, what happened?” he asked.“This afternoon, I was in the town centre, where I had been doing some shopping. I suddenly realised I didn't have any money left so I quickly went to the bank to cash a cheque. I wanted to withdraw $40 from our bank account, but I'm so forgetful that I couldn't remember if 40 was spelled …fourty' or …forty'.” “What did you do?” my husband asked. “I took out fifty dollars instead.” I said.

B

The Wang family was planning to go on a holiday soon. Mr Wang wanted to know which place would be the most enjoyable for the whole family. He felt his daughter was mature enough and he didn't want to overlook her opinion so he asked her, “If I was going to Hainan Island and your mum was going to Thailand, where would you like to go?” She replied, “Hmm ... I'd like to go to Thailand.” He wondered about her response, and just to clarify, he asked her another question. “Well, if I was going to Thailand and your mum was going to Hainan Island, where would you like to go then?” This time she didn't hesitate, “Then I'd like to go to Hainan Island.” Now

Mr Wang was puzzled. “But why?” he asked. “Because I went to Thailand on the last trip,” she said.

C

Heavy snow last winter caused long delays at Heathrow airport. One afternoon, hundreds of unlucky passengers who had been expecting to board a flight to New York were told it had been cancelled. One unfortunate counter agent was dealing with all the passengers when an angry man, who had been queuing for some time, pushed his way to the front. “I want a first class seat on this flight, now!” demanded the man angrily. The young agent replied politely, “I'm sorry sir, but I can't ignore these people. They were here first. If you could wait your turn, I'll see what I can do.” This did not please the man. He yelled at the young girl, so that the passengers waiting in line behind him could hear, “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” The girl smiled, stood up and spoke loudly, “Attention please! We have a passenger here WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identification, please come to the gate.”

Unit 17 Laughter Lesson 3 My Favourite Comedy Text 1

Mr Bean is an internationally recognised comedy character on TV and in films. He constantly gets into awkward and absurd situations, which greatly amuses audiences regardless of their nationality or culture. The humour is always made clear through a series of simple and funny acts that rely purely on body language, which is universal.

One of my favourite shows has Mr Bean in a fancy restaurant. After being seated at his table, Mr Bean takes out a card, writes a few words on it, seals it in an envelope and places it on the table. After a moment, he looks back at the envelope but this time he looks surprised, as if he did not know it was there. He opens it to find a birthday card and delightedly puts it on the table for everyone to see.

When he looks at the menu, an astonished look swiftly appears on his face. He takes all the money out of his wallet, counts it and puts it in a saucer. He then looks from the menu to the money with concern until he finds one thing that makes him smile. Then he orders a dish called “steak tartare”. When the dish arrives, he is shocked to discover that “steak tartare” is actually raw hamburger. He makes an attempt to eat it, but it is clear from the look on his face that he finds the taste truly disgusting. He cannot hide his feelings, except when the waiters ask if everything is all right. When this happens, he smiles and nods, indicating that everything is fine. When the waiters are not looking, however, he busies himself hiding the raw meat anywhere he can reach — the sugar bowl, the tiny flower vase, inside a bun and under a plate. He becomes so desperate in the end that he even hides some inside the purse

of a woman sitting near him and throws some down the trousers of the restaurant's violinist!

I like to watch Mr Bean on TV but I wouldn't want to meet someone like him in real life and I certainly wouldn't want to have dinner with him!

Text 2

Rowan Atkinson is the actor who plays Mr Bean. In Britain, Mr Atkinson is quite famous for many other wonderful characters that he has created but internationally, he is best known for the dizzy, awkward, clumsy, but always amusing Mr Bean. If you think that Rowan Atkinson is anything like his famous creation, then you are in for a surprise.

Rowan was born on January 6, 1955, and spent his early years on the family farm with his mother, three older brothers and his strict father, who did not believe in the value of television. For a time, he attended the same school as Tony Blair, who was two years older than him. At 13, Rowan earned a scholarship to a boarding school. Later, he studied at Newcastle University where he had the highest marks in his year. At Oxford, he obtained his Master's degree in electrical engineering. This might explain his interest in fast cars, of which he has a vast collection.

Rowan's career change from an electrical engineer to a famous comedian was partly due to some speaking problems he had in his childhood. He compensated for this by talking very deliberately. This may have inspired the abnormal speech patterns of many of his characters. While still at primary school, Rowan had already shown admirable acting talent. Although his teachers predicted a career in acting, Rowan was not convinced himself, until he met a group of talented people at university, who were involved in theatre, and he realized this could be a career for him. Another key event occurred when, one day in 1976, he was playing around and pulling faces in the mirror. He realised something. “I discovered my face,” he said later. John Lloyd, who worked for the BBC, says, “It was one of those things which happen very rarely in your life, when you realise you are in the presence of genius. I was convinced he would be more famous than Chaplin.”

Unit 18 Beauty Lesson 1 What Is Beauty?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

In 1878, when Margaret Wolfe Hungerford wrote “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, she was stating that there was no consiste nt view on beauty. Standards of beauty change across time and cultural groups.

Traditions and fashions, like society itself, change and adapt with time, so it is reasonable that our ideas of beauty change as well. In 19th-century Europe, women used to wear corsets to achieve a body shape that is no longer considered healthy. Men would wear woollen shawls across their shoulders. It is hard to imagine that they would be seen as attractive in the 21st century. Nowadays, in the Western world, one in every ten people has a tattoo or a form of body art. In the past, some cultures used tattoos as an addition to costumes, to show family associations or to mark criminals so that they could easily be recognised.

In contemporary society, culture remains a major part in determining our ideas of beauty. In some countries, young women follow slimming diets to lose extra kilos in preparation for their wedding day. In other cultures, looking thin for a husband-tobe is not what a woman desires at all — rather, looking a little overweight is considered more attractive.

With the influence of history, society and culture, there are no precise criteria which can be used to judge what is beautiful. Lifelong commitment and, indeed, the survival of society itself rely on people seeing beauty in difference and depth. The human race would soon die out if we could only see beauty within a set of limited criteria.

Physical beauty must also be accompanied by an attraction to something deeper within a person. This particular kind of attraction is found in a wide range of personal qualities, e.g. kindness, warmth, a healthy conscience, etc. Judging the appeal of a person's inner beauty is much more subjective. It takes more than a casual glance to appreciate and it is much more important than physical beauty.

Beauty, therefore, has more than one dimension. We are influenced by our culture, our biology and our time in history to notice physical beauty quickly and easily, but it is inner beauty that requires us to truly see. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

Unit 18 Beauty Lesson3 Poetry

A Tranquil Night by Li Bai The Night Before Christmas