Little House in the Big Woods

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Unit 1

• Little House in the Big Woods

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In this unit you will 

• Read about the life in the wilderness in the
  United States in the early days
• Learn how to preview a book
• Take a test in fast reading
• Know a story about a Christmas present

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About the author

• Laura Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957)

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• Seated from left Ma (Caroline), Pa
  (Charles),Mary
• Standing from left Carrie, Laura, Grace

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About the author

• Laura Ingalls Wilder(1867-1957)
• born in Pepin, Wisconsin. She was the
• second of four daughters. Wilder's
• early life was spent constantly moving
• from place to place. Her father called
• himself a pioneer man and dreamed of
• going west to explore and settle on
• unknown territory.

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About the author

• They traveled through thick woods, over
  barren prairies,
• through the swollen Mississippi, and over icy
  waters all in their
• covered wagon. They moved from Missouri, to
  Kansas, to
• Wisconsin, to Minnesota, to Iowa and finally
  settled in De Smet,
• South Dakota, where her father claimed a
  homestead.

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About the author

• Laura and her three sisters grew up in De
• Smet. Wilder, however, never could quite see
• this place as home. The many moves in her
• early childhood made Laura come to the
• conclusion that the only way to know that
• she was truly home was to have her family
• around her. Following in her father's dreams,
• Wilder called herself a pioneer girl and made
• her home where her family took her.

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About the author

• Wilder did not begin writing
• her first book, Little House in the
• Big Woods, until 1931 and it was
• released the following year. The
• instant success of the book led to
• the Little House series, which
• became popular with young readers.
• Wilder took great care with each
• book to make sure that the point
• of view was consistently from that
• of a child.

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About the author

• In 1954 the American Library
• Association established the Laura
• Ingalls Wilder Award in her honor and
• Wilder was the first recipient. The
• award is now given every five years to
• the author who has made a substantial
• contribution to children's literature. A
• weekly television series, Little House
• on the Prairie, which was based loosely
• on Wilder's books, began in 1974 and
• ran for many seasons.

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Her writing

• Laura's daughter Rose grew up listening to
• her mother's stories of those pioneer days. She
• urged her mother to write them down so that
• other children could enjoy them as well. So in
  the
• 1930s and 40s, Laura recorded her memories of
• those days of long ago in a children's series
• known as the Little House books which includes

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Her writing

• Little House in the Big Woods (1932)Farmer
  Boy (1933)Little House on the Prairie (1935)On
  the Banks of Plum Creek (1937)By the Shores of
  Silver Lake (1939)The Long Winter (1940)Little
  Town on the Prairie (1941)Those Happy Golden
  Years (1943)

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Cultural background notes

• 1. Westward Movement in America  
• Westward movement in America carried settlers
  across America, from the Atlantic Ocean to the
  Pacific Ocean. The westward movement began in the
  early 1600's with European settlements along the
  Atlantic Coast of North America. It continued
  until the late 1800's. By that time, the western
  frontiers of the United States had been
  conquered.   (pioneer)

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Cultural background notes

• 2. Results of Westward Movement
• (1) Patterns of migration.
• (2) The frontier influence.

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Study the text

• In the Big Woods the snow
• was beginning to thaw. Bits of it
• dropped from the branches of
• the trees and made little holes
• in the softening snowbanks
• below. At noon all the big icicles
• along the eaves of the little
• house quivered and sparkled in
• the sunshine, and drops of
• water hung trembling at their
• tips.

• ????????????????????????,??????????,??????????
  ???,???????????????????? ??????,???????????

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• When Laura walked behind
• Ma on the path to the barn,
• the little bits of candle-light
• from the lantern leaped all
• around her on the snow. The
• night was not yet quite dark.
• The woods were dark, but
• there was a gray light on the
• snowy path, and in the sky
• there were a few faint stars.
• The stars did not look as
• warm and bright as the little
• lights that came from the
• lantern.

• ??????????????????,?????????,?????????????????
  , ????????????????????????,?????????????????,?????
  ???????????????

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• Pa said he must go to town to trade the furs of
  the wild animals he had been trapping all
  winter.
• The word trade is often used as a noun. But here
  trade is a verb, means to buy and sell goods.
  There are many such conversions in English.
• --- He watered the wine before drinking it.
  
• (water, verb,??) ---The earth orbits
  the sun. ( ?????)--- Point this pencil for me,
  please. (??)--- Oil the machine before you
  operate it. (??)--- She journeys to Europe once
  a year on
• business. (???)

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• Ma was worried, but Pa said that by starting
  before sun-up and walking very fast all day he
  could get home again before dark.
• Sun-up is an American expression for sunrise.
  Note that sometimes American English (AmE) and
  British English (BrE) have different words for
  the same thing.

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• British English   American English
• ??      shop     store
• ?? petrol gas
• ??? cinema movie theatre
• ?? railway railroad
• ?? trousers pants
• ?? flat apartment
• ???? taxi cab
• ??? cashier teller
•                

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• British English American English
• ?? marks grades
• ??? pavement sidewalk
• ?? autumn fall
• ?? elevator lift
• ?? rubber eraser
• ?? the chemist's the drug store
• ??? hairdresser's beauty parlor
• ?? sweets candies

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• The woods were dark, but there was a gray light
  on the snowy path, and in the sky there were a
  few faint stars.
• Wood/singular----woods/pluralIn English, some
  nouns will carry on new meanings when they are
  used in their plural forms. See more examples

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• Singular  Plural
• Color ?? ??
• Custom ??,?? ??,??
• Damage ?? ???
• Pain ?? ??
• Regard ?? ??,??
• spectacle?? ??
• Spirit ??,?? ??
• Wit ?? ??

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• She was sitting up late, waiting for Pa, and
  Laura and Mary meant to stay awake, too, till he
  came.
• mean to do something intend to do something, or
  plan to do something.

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Vocabulary

• Then one day Pa said that spring was coming.
• In the Big Woods the snow was beginning to
• thaw.

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• There were so many furs that when they were
  packed tightly and tied together they made a
  bundle almost as big as Pa.

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• and in the sky there were a few faint stars.
  The stars did not look as warm and bright as the
  little lights that came from the lantern.

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• Then Laura said, Ma, was it a bear?
• Yes, Laura, Ma said. It was a bear.
• Laura began to cry. She hung on to Ma
• and sobbed, Oh, will he eat Sukey?

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Fast Reading

• In this section, you are going to read
  three short passages in succession.  You are
  allowed  20 minutes to read the three passages
  and to do the reading comprehension exercises. 

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Answer keys for Unit 2

• Part A d
• Part B 1-5 cccaa 6-8 cdb
• Home reading 1-5 abccd
• 6-10 cbdbb