Unit 2
Text A
Message of the Land
Pira Sudham
I Introduction
1 Background
1. Genre (type of writing)
This text is different from the previous two, which are both stories. In teaching stories, we must first help students to follow the plot and find out what the author intends to get across to the reader—the thesis, which is often implied, and not directly stated. Readers often have different ideas about the thesis of a story.
The prent text is an essay in a very broad n of the word, for it was written down by the writer wh
o interviewed a farmer and his wife. Since the end of World War II it has become popular for writers to interview people, record what they say and, after some, not too much, editing, pu blish the people’s stories in book form.
2. Style
The style of such writing is colloquial, the language straightforward, and the ntences generally short. When we read the text, we feel as if we were sitting face to face with the couple, listening to their stories and experiences, sharing their joys and sorrows.
Note the figures of speech the farmer and his wife u. They are vivid, expressive and appropriate. Here are a few examples:
... and it is like a knife piercing my heart. (para. 2)
... and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year, and like us getting old and exhausted. (para. 3)
When each of them has a pair of jeans, they are off like birds on the wing. (para. 9) 3. Urbanization
Urbanization is the process by which more and more people leave the countryside to live and work i
n cities. We find in the farmer and his wife qualities that are shared by many who till the land—love of the land, love of physical labor, and above all, love of family. We are also impresd by their honesty and kindness and by their simple life. Their children, however, are quite different. The way they leave the land is typical of many young people born and brought up in the countryside. They don’t e any
attraction in farming and, as soon as possible, leave for the city to ek their fortune. As a result, farming is left to the old people. This is true not only in Thailand but also in many other developing countries.
2 Structure
The text can be roughly divided into two parts; both can be further divided into veral ctions.
Part I What the farmer’s wife says (paras. 1–7)
1. A brief introduction of her family and their land (paras. 1–3)
1) The land has been pasd on to them from her parents and forefathers.
2) She miss her four children who have all left home to work in faraway
places/work far away, leaving the old couple to take care of the land alone.
3) Her husband is different from her, patient and silent, minding his own life.
4) She and her husband still hang on to the land although it is no longer so fertile.
2. How many other changes have taken place. (paras. 4–7)
Many of the things she es and hears bother her. She doesn’t like tho changes and cannot adapt to them and therefore is considered old-fashioned by the young people. Part II What the husband/farmer says (paras. 8–11)
1. His wife is wrong about him. He not only es and hears a lot more things, but also knows what the root of all evils is. (paras. 8–9)
2. His biggest worry—who will take over his land when he dies. His biggest wish is to have a lot of grandchildren. (para. 10)
3. He is determined to continue his life as always becau he loves the land and enjoys farming, and he hopes he can pass on the land’s cret message to his grandchildren. (para. 11)
3 Teaching Tips
1. Rice cultivation
To help students mostly born in the 1990s understand the hardships of paddy rice farmer we could give them a brief account of how rice is cultivated with the help of pictures.
纵向水平杆Rice is cultivated basically in two ways. Rice farmers in developing countries usually sow eds in small edbeds then hand-transplant the edlings into flooded fields that have been plowed and leveled (made flat and smooth) by water buffalo-drawn plows. One advantage of transplanting edlings instead of planting ed is that the young plants help limit weeds by shading them from needed sun. In industrialized countries ed is sown with a machine or cast from an airplane into machine-leveled fields that are then flooded. Herbicides are the primary method of weed control.
Transplanting rice edlings by hand is a hard job for the farmers have to stand in muddy water barefoot and push the edlings into the mud with their fingers a few at
a time.
2. Discussion
• What kind of people do you think the farmer and his wife are? What fine qualities do you find in them?
• Compare the farmer with his wife. What do they have in common? In what ways are they different?
• Do you think the farmer and his wife are conrvative in some way? Explain. • What do you think is the land's cret message the farmer wants to pass to his grandchildren?
• Do you agree with all that the farmer and his wife say?
• Do you think it’s reasonable for young people in the countryside to leave for the city to ek better opportunities for themlves?这绝对不是我干的
晒课II Detailed Discussion of the Text
1. They belonged to my parents and forefathers. (para. 1)
belong to sb: to be owned by sb
eg This computer belongs to my roommate, Wang Lin.
Who does the bag on the at belong to?
2. ... it was I who stayed with my parents till they died. (para. 1)
Learn how to u the emphatic form “it ”.五笔打字练习
More examples:
It was my sister who went to teach in a village school upon graduation. It was in Shanghai that I first met Professor Li.
3. My husband moved into our hou as is the way with us in Esarn. (para. 1) (When we got married) my husband came to live in our hou. It was the tradition here in Esarn that the bridegroom should come to live with the bride’s family.
“As” here introduces a defining relativ e clau, and functions as its subject, reprenting what is stated in the main clau.
More examples:
As is often the ca, the boy was late for class. (as—subject of the clau)
As was only to be expected, the election was very clo. (as—subject of the clau) 4. The rest, two boys and two girls, went away as soon as we could afford to buy jeans for them. (para. 1)
Our other children—two boys and two girls left as soon as we had the money to buy them jeans.
the rest (of sth): the remaining people or things; the others
eg Three tall boys were asked to clean the windows; the rest of the class were to sweep the floor and clean the desks.
One of the books is quite difficult; the rest are easy.
afford sth/to do sth: to have enough money to buy or to do sth
eg Quite a lot of Chine families can afford cars.
At the moment I can’t afford a trip to Europe.
5. They come home to e us now and then, stay a few days, and then they are off again. (para. 2)
They come home to e us from time to time, stay with us for a few days, and then leave again.
(every) now and then: from time to time; now and again; occasionally
stay a few days:Here the noun phra “a few days” is ud adverbially.少数民族的特点
be off: be away from a place
eg My father is off to Russia next week.
6. ... and tell us that they are doing well. I know this is not always true. (para. 2) ... although they always tell us that everything is fine with them, I know they also have difficulties and problems. They just do not tell us becau they do not want us to worry.
7. ... it is like a knife piercing my heart. (para. 2)
(When I hear about their hardships) I feel very bad/sad.
8. It’s easier for my husband. He has ears which don’t hear, a mouth which doesn’t speak, and eyes that don’t e. (para. 2)
News about my children’s problems doesn’t make my husband as sad as me. He doesn’t bother about what’s happening around us and to our children. Our children’s hardships don’t
em to bother him.
9. He has always been patient and silent, minding his own life. (para. 2)
He’s always been patient and talks little. He just does his duty and carries on his life. Note: The usual phra is “mind one’s own business” which means “do not interfere”.
10. All of them remain my children in spite of their long abnce. (para. 3) Although they are often away for a long time, I love and care about them as always becau they are my children.
in spite of sth: although sth is true
eg The children went out to play in spite of the cold.
In spite of his age, my grandpa lives an active life.
11. Our piece of land is small, and it is no longer fertile, bleeding year after year, and like us, getting old and exhausted. (para. 3)
Our land is getting poorer with each passing year, like us who are getting old, weak and tired.
合同条件year after year: every year for many years
Similar expressions:
day after day, week after week, etc
12. ... but in a bad year, it’s not only the ploughs that break, but our hearts, too. (para. 3)
... but when there is a drought, the soil is so hard that the ploughs break. And we become very, very sad.
PRGR... but our hearts:the verb in the clau introduced by “but” is omitted to avoid repetition.
Note: The verb “break”, ud twice in the ntence, has different meanings. (ploughs) break: to parate into two or more pieces
(heart) break: (people) to become very sad
Two adjectives derived from the collocation:
heartbreaking: causing extreme sadness, as in a heartbreaking story heartbroken: extremely sad
13. Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it’s all cash. (para. 4) Just ten years ago, we could exchange one thing for another, but today we have to pay (u money) to get everything we need. (In the past we were more or less lf-sufficient. But now we have to buy everything from/in/on the market.)
14. Men ud to make things with fine bamboo pieces, but no longer. (para. 4)
In the past men made fine bamboo crafts but they no longer do that.
ud to but : This expression is often ud to show a change
eg They ud to come and e their parents every week, but no longer.cost过去式
15. Shops have sprung up, filled with colorful plastic things and goods we have no u for. (para. 4)
Shops have suddenly appeared in the villages. They are filled with attractive plastic th ings and with things we don’t need.
