Unit Fourteen

Homeless

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Contents A. Text one I. Pre-reading: (I). Warm-up questions (II). Background information II. While-reading: Text Analysis (I) Structure analysis (II) Comprehension questions (III) Language points (IV) Difficult sentences III. Post-Reading: (I) Grammatical items (II) Translation Exercises (III) Oral activities (IV) Writing practice B. Text two （I）Questions for text comprehension （II）Language points

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I. Pre-reading: (I) warm-upCultural Background The theme of “home” is sentimental, and most writers and poets have some works related to “home”, and Emily Dickinson, the famous American poet, is one of them. She has been “locked” at her house for almost a whole life, yet a sense of “homelessness” can be felt from most of her poems. It does not mean material house shortage, but the feeling of isolation.

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Home by Emily DickinsonYears I had been from home,

And now, before the doorI dared not open, lest a faceI never saw before

Stare vacant into mineAnd ask my business there.My business, — just a life I left,Was such still dwelling there?

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I fumbled at my nerve,I scanned the windows near;The silence like an ocean rolled,And broke against my ear.

I laughed a wooden laughThat I could fear a door,Who danger and the dead had faced,But never quaked before.

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I fitted to the latch, My hand, with trembling care, Lest back the awful door should

spring, And leave me standing there.

I moved my fingers offAs cautiously as glass,

And held my ears, and like a thief

Fled gasping from the house.

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II. While-reading: Text Analysis Text AnalysisModern life is progressing on an accelerating pace and the majority of modern people are losing more and more control of their own lives. This makes them the victims of endless anxiety. Yet they do not know the cause of all this, nor can they find any solution to it. The author of this essay wants to find the cause of this problem and she focuses her attention on home. By the word “homeless”, we generally mean the state of not having a material house. Yet, through her investigation and observation, the writer adds new meaning to this word which reveals a worse problem

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suffered by many people living in modern society, even if they do have a house. The problem is the loss of the traditional conception of home and traditional family values in people’s mind. With the development of modern life, the concept of home has gradually lost its connotation of permanence and stability. People living in a house have no sense of belonging and pride of ownership at all. The writer points out the faults of society in dealing with this problem, which is turning the problem into an issue while ignoring people’s delicate feelings. If society does not take the problem seriously, all modern people would become homeless in this way or that.

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Structural AnalysisIn terms of organization, the article clearly falls into three main parts:The first part (Paragraphs 1-3) starts with a specific example and then naturally moves on to the discussion of the topic.The second part (Paragraphs 4-7) gives a definition of home and points out the symptoms of the problem concerning home in modern society.

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Structural AnalysisThe third part (Paragraphs 8-9) is also the ending of the writing, the writer talks about the fault of society in dealing with the problem of homelessness and calls on people to look at the problem from a microcosmic perspective.

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Rhetorical DevicesThe Rhetorical device used in the text is a

kind of loose structure A general statement is followed by some specific details, which serve as a minor adjustment of the statement so as to make it more exact, or as supporting evidence, or as a further explanation.

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e.g. “She had a house, or at least once upon a time had had one.” (Paragraph 2) “That was the crux of it; not size or location, but pride of ownership.” (Paragraph 7)“We turn an adjective into a noun: the poor, not poor people; the homeless, not Ann or the man who lives in the box or the woman who sleeps on the subway grate.” (Paragraph 8)

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Detailed ReadingQuestions What is the writer’s emphasis in her definition of “home”? (Paragraph 3)She is not merely talking about shelter from the elements, but what would provide people living in it with certainty, stability, predictability and privacy.2. What is the writer’s method in investigating this problem? (Paragraphs 1-3)The writer’s method is a microcosmic one which focuses on specific people and their detailed feelings.

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3. What is the author’s definition of home? (Paragraphs 4)In defining home, the writer considers both the material and the emotional elements. In her definition, home is not only a shelter, but a place of certainty, stability, predictability and privacy for all the members of the family.4. What is the problem concerning home in modern society? (Paragraph 5)In modern society, people do not live in one place all their life, so the word home has lost its connotation of permanence and stability. People do not own the place they live, so they have no sense of belonging and pride of ownership about such a home.

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5. What does the author think is the fault of society in dealing with the problem of homelessness? (Paragraph 8)

Society turns the problem into an issue, taking people’s pain and lessening its own participation in it. By doing so, society will not be able to solve the problem from its origin.

6. What is the perspective suggested by the writer in solving the problem? (Paragraph 9)

The writer suggests people forget about the broad strokes and concentrate on the details. This would bring people back to the essence of the problem and enable them to have real sympathy towards those people who have no home.

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Class Activity Brainstorming: “Home” is a broad concept, so write down by yourselves anything relevant to this concept and then compare your notes with your classmates’. Perhaps from this activity you can find out different values of “home” in different people’s lives.Finding “Home” Poems: Search more poems about home, including “Home, sweet home”, and feel about them. If interested, you can compose one by yourself.

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Words and ExpressionsParagraphs 1-3pass through v.experience e.g. China is passing through the stage of urbanization and modernization.wind up v.come to be in an unexpected and usually unpleasant situation, esp. as a result of what one doese.g. Because of ill management, the company wound up having a huge debt to pay off.

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rummage v. search unsystematically and untidily through a mass or receptacle.e.g. He rummaged the drawer for his false teeth.Collocations:rummage around / in / through sth. for sth.e.g. rummaging through (the contents of) a drawer for a pair of socks

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Paragraphs 4-7edge v.move slowly with gradual movements or in gradual stagese.g. She edged her way through the crowd to the front just to be closer to her idol. Derivation:edging (n.)e.g. a white handkerchief with blue edging

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Collocations: edge your way into / round / through, etc. sth.

e.g. Maggie edged her way round the back of the house.

edge up / downe.g. Profits have edged up.

be edged with sth.e.g. The tablecloth is edged with lace.

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huddle v.crowd together; nestle closelye.g. They huddled together for warmth.Synonyms: assemble, cluster, congregate, crowd, gather

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Paragraphs 8-9 crux n. the basic, central, or critical point or feature e.g. Now we come to the crux of the problem. Derivation: crucial (a.) This aid money is crucial to the government's

economic policies.

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IV. Sentences It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not

suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow

driveway running up to a one-car garage and a patch of backyard. (Paragraph 2)

Explanation: With this description of a house, a very ordinary one found nearly in any town in the U.S. the author wants to indicate Ann’s real situation: what she had really got was

a house, but not a home in the real sense of the word.

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You are where you live. She was somebody. (Paragraph 2) Explanation:One belongs to the place where he or she lives. The place where one lives gives him his identity. So Ann claims her own identity, given the house she once had and everything inside it.

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I love my home with a ferocity totally out of proportion to its appearance or location. (Paragraph 4)Paraphrase:Even if my home is small and shabby, and of a disadvantageous location, I still bear strong and deep love for it.

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Now they are real estate. (Paragraph 6)Paraphrase:Now homes have been degraded into pieces of

material possession that can be rent or sold, which means they are no longer the embodiment of the love among family members.

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But in the main I think we work around it, just as we walk around it when it is lying on the sidewalk or sitting in the bus terminal — the problem, that is. (Paragraph 8) Paraphrase:But on the whole I think we have not addressed the issue honestly and directly; it is like that the problem is lying on the floor and we just walk around it.

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That is everything. (Paragraph 9)Explanation:They (the above-mentioned problems) are not unimportant things, but so significant as to affect a person’s feeling of existing as an integrated person. Or, if people cannot have a real home with all its emotional features and relative family values, they can not have certainty, stability and privacy in modern society.

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III. Post-Reading

Oral Activities Giving a Talk Topic: Comment on Anna Quindlen’s Essay and

Thought on Homelessness Structure for reference:

The definition of home: instead of a material shelter, it is the safe place for the heart to settle down

Homelessness may not just refer to tramps; those people who have the house but never have the feeling of security and belonging are also homeless.

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Having a DiscussionTopic: Homelessness in ChinaReasons for reference:The social welfare system has not covered all walks of people.The increasing numbers of migrant workers in big cities.Suggestive solutions:Providing the underprivileged with more care and consideration on the part of the government, etc..

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WritingEssay WritingEssay Writing: How to Write a Critical EssayThe critical essay refers to any writing that utilizes the intellectual tools of a particular academic major for the purpose of critiquing an idea or point of view.

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The key to writing a good critical essay is understanding and defining the standard against which the object under study is being evaluated.Whether your critical essay is focusing on the negative or positive elements of a certain topic or thing, a good deal of the planning process should be devoted to comprehending and explaining the critical standard, or the basis of critique.

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谢谢观赏

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