Unit Five How to Celebrate Holidays

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Unit FiveHow to Celebrate Holidays
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Thanksgiving--- general information

• Thanksgiving is observed in the US on the
  fourth Thursday in November. For many Americans,
  its the most important holiday apart from
  Christmas. Its a day for family to have a
  reunion. Schools, offices and most businesses
  close for Thanksgiving and many people make the
  whole weekend a vacation.
• (to be continued)

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(continued)

• A traditional dinner with foods that come from
  North America features Thanksgiving. Wild
  turkeys, pumpkins ,corn on the cob, sweet
  potatoes (also called potato-yams) make up a list
  of typical food on this day.

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Wild Turkey
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Pumpkin
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Corn on the Cob
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A Thanksgiving Dinner
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Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade

• On Thanksgiving there are special television
  programmes and sports events. In New York there
  is the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, when a
  long line of people wearing fancy costumes march
  through the streets with large balloons in the
  shape of imaginary characters. Thanksgiving is
  considered the beginning of the Christmas period,
  and the next day many people go out to shop for
  Christmas presents.

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Thanksgiving--- the myths

• (1) Who observed the first Thanksgiving?
• It was not the Pilgrims but the Indians. The
  native Americans celebrated many Thanksgiving
  before Europeans ever arrived. For example, one
  Indian tribe (Wampanoag ) held six Thanksgiving
  festivals throughout the year.

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Thanksgiving--- the myths

• (2) Was the pilgrims Thanksgiving a merely
  harvest festival?
• No. In fact, Thanksgiving praises God for the
  harvest, makes reference to the "goodness of God"
  in providing for them the feast. It had a
  religious significance.

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The First Thanksgiving
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Thanksgiving--- the popular story behind it

• Follwing is the story believed by many as the
  origin of Thanksgiving.
• On December 11, 1620 ,the Pilgrims set around at
  Plymouth Rock. Their first winter was
  devastating. They could not find enough to eat
  ,and consequently many of them died. By the
  spring, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who
  sailed on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims obviously
  needed help and it came from an English-speaking
  member of the Wampanoag nation, Squanto.
• (to be continued)

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(continued)

• Squanto decided to stay with the Pilgrims for
  the next few months and teach them how to
  survive. He brought them food and skins, taught
  them how to cultivate new vegetables and how to
  build Indian-style houses. He educated the
  Pilgrims on poisonous plants,  medicine, how to
  get sap from the maple trees, use fish for
  fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for
  their survival.
• (to be continued)

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(continued)

• The harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one and
  the Pilgrims decided to celebrate with a feast.
  They asked Squanto and the leader of the
  Wampanoags, Massasoit to bring their immediate
  family and to dine with them. The English had no
  idea how large Indian families could be and
  Squanto and Massasoit arrived accompanied by 90
  relatives. The feast lasted three days. The
  Pilgrims and Indians ate outdoors at large
  tables.
• This is generally regarded as the first
  Thanksgiving .

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Mayflower
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Pilgrims

• The 102 English people who sailed to America on
  the Mayflower in 1620. Weakened by the seven-week
  crossing and the need to establish housing, they
  came down with pneumonia and consumption
  (tuberculosis). They began to die -- one per day,
  then two, and sometimes three. They dug the
  graves at night, so that the Indians would not
  see how their numbers were dwindling. Later ,they
  got help from the Indians and established
  Plymoth colony.

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Pilgrim Landing
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Native Americans

• They were living in North America for many
  hundreds of years before Europeans reached the
  continent. For a long time, white people called
  them Indians. Today, many people dont like this
  name since it is based on a mistake made by
  Columbus who thought he had landed in India when
  he arrived in America.

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Native Americans
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Native Americans
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About the author

• Born 11 August 1921
• Place of Birth Ithaca, New York
• Died 10 February 1992
• Place of Death Washington

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Major Works

• 1939, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard.
• 1965, Haley's first major book The Autobiography
  of Malcolm X published
• 1976, the completed version of the Pulitzer
  Prize-winning book Roots published
• 1990, A Different Kind of Christmas, a book about
  the underground railroad, and Queen, the story of
  Haley's paternal ancestors published

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Coast Guard
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Discussion

• Have you ever felt that you are indebted to
  somebody for what you are or what you have?

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Discussion

• Its true that we may be grateful to a
  stranger who tells us the directions in the
  street, but we often forget to express our
  gratitude to the milkman, the elevator
  operator, our teachers, friends or parents ---
  all who oblige us in one way or another.
• What refrains us from doing so?

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Text Organization

• Part One (Paras 1-9)
• On Thanksgiving Day in 1943, the writer , who was
  a young coastguardsman at that time at sea, came
  up with the idea of expressing his gratitude to
  those who had helped him.

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Text Organization

• Part Two (Paras 10-16)
• The writer wrote thank-you letters to his father,
  his grammar school principal, and his grandmother
  respectively.

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Text Organization

• Part Three (Paras 17-23)
• The writer received three letters in reply in
  which each told him how much he or she
  appreciated his letter.

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Text Organization

• Part Four (Paras 24-26 )
• The writer wishes everyone to find the good in
  others and praise it.

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Language Study

• under way in motion or operation
• The national educational reform is already
  under way.
• A debate on whether it is proper to keep pets
  is under way.

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Language Study

• You can get something under way, or something can
  get under way or be under way.
• 1) I need two more assistants to get the research
  under way.
• 2) Twenty players will be competing for the
  championship when the tournament gets under way
  tomorrow.

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Language Study

• What does the word holds probably mean based on
  the context?
• Hold, here used as a noun, is the place in a
  ship or plane where cargo is stored. (????)
• e.g. The hold was full when the ship left the
  port.

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Language Study

• load (v.) put goods onto a vehicle
• How long will it take to load the machines
  onto the truck?
• load (n.) amount of weight carried by a vehicle
• After getting paid, she left, promising to
  return the next week for a new load of wash.
• (Other forms unload, overload ,reload, nload of
  )

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bombs packed delicately in padded racks.

• According to the description, the bombs were like
  wine packed carefully in racks, and there was
  soft material under the bombs to keep them safe.

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quite the same as for folk ashore, this
Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing
a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.

• Paraphrase Just like people on land, on this
  Thanksgiving morning we were also busy preparing
  a traditional dinner with roast turkey as a
  typical course.

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The pattern a period of time see an event
simply means the event takes place during that
period of time.

• The late 20th century has seen some unprecedented
  changes in China.
• 2) The past week saw Tom buried in the books
  trying desperately to catch up with the missed
  readings.

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put away remove (sth.) to a place where it is
usually stored

• 1) She folded up the towels and put them away in
  the cupboard.
• 2) The children were asked to put away the toys
  by themselves after class.

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When you get to something or get to doing
something, you start doing or dealing with it.

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• 1)   Unless its an emergency, youll have to
  wait for weeks before the committee gets to your
  proposal.
• 2)   Recently I got to rereading some of my early
  works and was amazed how much I have changed.

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Translation

•  
• 1)????????
• 2)???????????????????
• 3) ???????????,??????????

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Language Study

• in quest of seeking, trying to find
• He went to America in quest of liberty.
• He visited many witnesses of the accident in
  quest of the truth of his sons death.

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Now complete the following sentences with this
phrase.

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• 1)  Mary sent an application letter to the
  company _______________________.
• 2)  Scientists have been studying AIDS for years
  ________________________.

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reverse turn around to the opposite direction
exchange the position of

• 1) The videotape will reverse automatically when
  it finishes.
• 2)  Suddenly remembering that she forgot to lock
  the door, Mary reversed her car and drove back
  home.
• 3) Attention please this vehicle is reversing!

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turn over think about, consider

•  1)  As He watched the chairman speaking, Prof.
  Randolf turned over in his mind the speech he was
  about to deliver to the audience.
• 2) He had turned the matter over and over again,
  trying to figure out a solution.

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Translate the following into English.

• ????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????

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swallow hard make a movement in the throat
because you are nervous, frightened, angry, etc.

• He swallowed hard as he turned over the
  examination paper. (????????.)
• Mother swallowed hard as she opened the letter
  coming from the front. (????????)
• He must not show any emotion, he reminded himself
  as he took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
  (?????)

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Negation with beyond

• Apart from the common negation using NO/NOT,
  the word beyond is a useful and idiomatic
  expression of negation in English. If something
  is beyond understanding or belief, it can not be
  understood or believed if something is beyond
  someone, the person can not deal with it.

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• So when translating the sentence
  ???????,???????
• We can say
• 1) The article is so difficult that I dont
  understand it at all.
• 2) The article is too difficult for me to
  understand.
• We can also say
• 3) The difficult article is completely beyond me.

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Now rephrase the following sentences with
beyond and then translate them into Chinese.

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• 1. There is no doubt about his loyalty.
• 2. No word can express my admiration for him.

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gratitude being thankful, thankfulness

•  1)  The students expressed their gratitude to
  their teacher in a card.
• 2)  Thanksgiving was the early settlers
  expression of gratitude for gods blessings.

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specific particular, precise and exact

•  1) Though there are specific courses required
  within each discipline, all students should
  complete the 10 basic ones outlined in the
  curriculum.
• 2) The Federal Government should be more specific
  when issuing warnings about terrorist threats.

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on sb.s behalf / on behalf of sb. for sb. in
the interests of sb. as the representative of
sb.

• The Reemployment Center, as its name indicates,
  operates mainly on behalf of the layoff.
• ????????????
• In response to continuing inquiries from the
  media, her husband has issued the following
  statement on her behalf.

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If you impress something on somebody, you make
them understand its importance or degree.

•  1)  Despite the tough job, my mentor has always
  impressed upon me that there is always a way to
  overcome barriers.
• 2) Failing all the job interviews, Ted now needed
  no one to impress on him the necessity of a
  college certificate.

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If something impresses you, you feel great
admiration for it.

• What impressed me most was the harmonious
  relationship between the villagers.
•  

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graduate to/into advance in degrees

• She graduated to a higher position in the
  company.

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diminish become lesser or smaller

• 1) The past year has seen the value of our car
  diminish substantially.
• 2) Though he was promoted to a higher rank,
  his responsibilities diminished in reality.
• sbs influence, patience, wind, etc. can also
  diminish

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Translation

• 1) The reporter exposed the corruption in the
  city government.
• 2) Agricultural workers top the list of
  candidates for skin cancer because they are
  outdoors and are exposed to the sun on a daily
  basis.
• 3) Being exposed to these cultures enables us to
  not only learn about other cultures, but also see
  our own culture in a new light.

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immerse cover completely in a liquid absorb
deeply

• 1)  Immerse the vegetable in clear water several
  times to remove the sand and soil.
• 2) As a community, we are immersed in the quest
  for harmony throughout the world's nations.

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Language Study

• assemble bring or call together into a group
• The students assembled solemnly on the
  playground.
• My grandparents had assembled all the
  members of the family for this years picnic..
• (compare resemble)

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Language Study

• considerate thoughtful of the regards or
  feelings of others
• Friendly and considerate, he invariably
  consults with inferiors before making decisions.
• (compare considerable)

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accord grant

• 1) Government at all levels should accord
  priority to reporting cases of SARS honestly.
• 2) Hindi is likely to be accorded the status
  of an official language at the United Nations,
  according to the Minister of State for External
  Affairs.
• 3) To exercise their functions effectively,
  inspectors shall be accorded privileges and
  immunities as following.

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Language Study

• successive following one after the other
• After three successive defeats, he decided to
  withdraw from the match.
• He was elected mayor for the third successive
  term.

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Language Study

• humble (v.) to cause someone to realize he is
  not as important or good as he thinks he is .
• The result of the speech contest humbled him.
• humble (adj.) not arrogant low in rank
• he came from a fairly humble, poor background.
• Be humble in front of God.

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go about behave keep busy doing sth. set about

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• 1)  In winter everyone goes about in fur coats
  and thermal boots.(behave)
• 2)  In spite of the bomb attack yesterday, most
  people seem to be going about their business as
  usual.(keep busy doing)
• How do you go about getting a passport these
  days? (set about)

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Appreciate the Essay

• As a veteran writer, the author displays a good
  command of the language. For example , in Para
  18 he vividly presents us a picture of earnest
  soldiers when the mail bag arrived. Verbs like
  pound, cluster, shout , and push indicate that
  they cant wait to get their own mails.

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Mark Twins comment on praise

• Mark Twain once said I can live for two months
  on a good compliment. To give the praise costs
  the giver nothing but it can produce
  considerable results on the receiver. This
  coincides with what the author said in the essay
  Find the good--- and praise it.
• What do you think of this statement?

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Reminder

• An ounce of praise is worth a pound of scolding.
• Gratitude is something of which none of us can
  give too much.
• Our praise are our wages.---Shakespeare
• Therefore dont hesitate to praise or thank
  others, since it will not only bring joy into
  other peoples life ,but add happiness into our
  own life.