《英语短篇小说教程》练习参考答案unit5、6
《英语短篇小说教程》练习参考答案
Keys to Unit Five
Roald Dahl: The Taste
1) Questions for Discussion:
(Suggested answers for reference)
(1) Can you explain the writer’s plotting -- which part is the exposition, or complication, or climax, or resolution of this short story?
(exposition: lines 1-17);complication: lines 18-404; climax: lines 405-425; resolution: lines 426-431)
(2) The narrator seems to be rather suspicious of Pratt’s motive. Can you find the places in the story where he shows his suspicion and underline them?
1) He was completely engrossed in conversation with Mike’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Louise. … As he spoke, he leaned closer and closer to her, and the poor girl leaned as far as she could away from him, nodding politely, rather desperately…(lines 67-72)
2) … in two short swallows he tipped the wine down his throat and turned immediately to resume his conversation with Louise Schofield. (lines 78-80)
3) Except that, to me, there was something strange about his drawling voice and his boredom: between the eyes a shadow of something evil, and in his bearing an intentness that gave me a faint sense of uneasiness as I watched him. (lines 121-124)
4) And yet, curiously, his next questions seemed to betray a certain interest. “You like to increase the bet?” (lines 138-139)
5) It was a solemn, impassive performance, and I must say he (Pratt) did it well. (line 289)
6) … he was becoming ridiculously pompous, but I thought that some of it was deliberate…(lines 316-317)
(3) Can you say a few words about each of the three members of the Schofield family? Write down your impression on a piece of paper and read out what you have written to the class.
(Michael Schofield is stockbroker, getting rich almost too effortlessly. Conscious of being less “cultured,” he imitates the way of life of high class, attempting to copy the manners of the “polite society,” to suppress his emotion, to be courteous whenever possible. He loves his daughter, but pays little attention to his wife’s opinion.
Mrs. Schofield is similarly conscious of “cultured behavior,” always fearing that her husband may fail to keep to the polite manners. She is almost completely disregarded by her husband, and she knows it, but behaves as if her words had weight on him.
Louise is a lovely young lady, generally behaving in the way that her parents would wish her to behave. She does not show her anger though obviously she is displeased by Mr. Pratt. She also accepts the ridiculous betting upon her father’s repeated pleading.)
(4) The ending of the story is unexpected but significant. What does it reveal to you about the two characters, the humble maid and the wealthy and “highly cultured” Richard Pratt?
(Though low in social status and in economic position, the humble maid demonstrates her wisdom, cool-mindedness, loyalty and nobility. On the contrary, the member of so-called “cultured class” such as Mr. Pratt, reveals fully his dishonesty, meanness and evil intention.)
3) Explanation and interpretation:
(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significance in the context of the story.)
(1) He (Pratt) was completely engrossed in conversation with Mike’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Louise. He was half turned towards her, smiling at her…
(Pratt had an interest in his friend’s daughter and showed that almost openly. This shows that he is not a gentleman, but a mean-minded person.)
(2) (The narrator): “But why the study?”
Mike: “It’s the best place in the house. Richard helped me choose it last time he was here.”
(This is a foreshadowing. Richard Pratt had set the trap. From the very beginning of the betting, Pratt had already had the plan, and step by step he led Mike into the trap.)
(3) …and then he (Mike) picked up his knife, studied the blade thoughtfully for a moment, and put it down again.
(He was making an effort to restrain himself and suppress his anger, but he might do anything
if he can not control himself in an explosive moment. Pratt’s desire for his daughter was outrageous and he had been challenging his patience for almost too long.)
(4) It was a solemn, impassive performance, and I must say he (Pratt) did it well.
(The narrator seemed to have noticed that what Pratt had staged was a well-prepared “performance.”)
(5) Pratt glanced around, saw the pair of thin horn-rimmed spectacles that she held out to him, and
for a moment he hesitated. “Are they? Perhaps they are, I don’t know.”
(Pratt now saw the big hole in his plan, but after a moment of indecision, he calmly attempted to cover it up by saying something in a careless manner.)
4) Suggested Homework:
(Turn the short story into a performable short play.)
Task One: Divide the class into groups of six.
Task Two: Rewrite the story in the form of a play. Shorten it by keeping only the necessary conversation and cutting away the rest. Add a brief introduction and some
conclusive comments.
Task Three: Prepare to act out the story with 6 characters in the play – the narrator who introduces the story at the beginning and makes a brief comment at the end, Mike Schofield, his
wife, his daughter Louis, Richard Pratt and the maid.
The play may begin like this:
Narrator: Mike Schofield, a wealthy stock broker, is holding a dinner party in his house in London.
Among those sitting at table is a gentleman named Richard Pratt, a famous gourmet.
Pratt has unusual knowledge of wine and by simply tasting it, he can tell the year and
the place of its production. As usual, tonight, the host expects a little bet with him on his
ability to name the vintage of a particular wine.
Mike: I’ve got some special wine tonight. You’ll never name this one, Richard. Not in a hundred years!
Pratt: A claret?
……
(The students can cut and paste and reorganize from the original text, starting from line 115. )
《英语短篇小说教程》练习参考答案
Keys to Unit Six
Mary Gavell: The Swing
1) Questions for Discussion:
(Suggested answers for reference)
(1) What is the significance of the opening sentence “As she grew old, she began to dream again”? Is it only the old age that causes the mother to dream and daydream more often now?
(Dream is a replacement of what she cannot have in real life. As she grew old, she became less active physically and felt more lonely in her emotional life. That is why, most of her dreams are about the remembered past, the life with her son.)
(2) What is it about Julius, the husband, that annoys the wife? Is he an annoying person? Why do you think he behaves the way he does? Does he understand her emotional situation?
(The husband, Julius, suffers from the same problem. Old age made him physically weak so he moved about less and talked less. He shares the feeling of loneliness, but the man’s reaction is different from his wife. The ending part of the short story proves that. He keeps the emotion to himself, becoming more withdrawn and behaving, in his wife’s eyes, rather strangely.)
(3) In one of the flashbacks, there is description of one of the Sunday dinners at the adult son’s home. How is the mother-son conversation different from her talks with her boy on the swing?
(The conversation between the mother and her adult son does not have the intimacy and attachment it once had when the son was a boy. Behind the mature politeness, there is some distance between generations. While in the past, they could talk about anything and everything and could share true sentiments.)
(4) How do you explain the jacket hanging on the nail?
(We cannot explain it realistically or rationally, unless we regard is also as part of the dream. There is a literary school of writing called “magic realism,” in which the real and the fantastic are merged for a special effect. So, this can best be understood as a touch of “magic realism.”)
3) Explanation and Interpretation:
(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significance in the context of the story.)
(1) (The mother thought:) “I wish that when I ask him how he is he wouldn’t tell me that there is every likelihood that the Basic Research Division will be merged with the Statistics Division.”
(The grown-up son’s interest is in his work, while the mother’s interest is in his personal life. Her question shows her concerned of him as a son, but his mind bends on his career. He is now living in a world that his mother knows little about, and he is no longer as dependent on her as he was when he was a child. The mother feels some sadness because the conversation once again reminds her of the fact that her son has left her nest and now is flying on his own wings.)
(2) she had had the ancient piano tuned… had been reading books on China… and was going to dig it (phlox) all up and try iris (in the garden)…
(She has been trying to find things to do, possibly to kill boredom and loneliness.)
(3) He came every night or two after that, and she lay in bed in happy anticipation, listening
for the creak of the swing.
(She waits, lying in bed, for the happy time with eagerness. So the meeting with her son
in dream highlights the problem in her old age living with a reticent and inactive husband. It is her only moment of great joy – remembering the life of the past.)
(4) … she sat and watched as he walked down the little back lane that had taken him to school, and off to college, and off to a job, and finally off to be married…
(It is the boy’s growing-up process: leaving home, going to school, to college, to working unit and establishing his own family. The scenes pass before her mind’s eye quickly and there is a tragic sense reminding her that her son, as a child, has left her forever.)