Unit 8 The Discus Thrower
Key to the Exercis
Text comprehension
I . Decide which of the following best states the author's purpo of writing.
C
II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or fal.
1. F (Refer to Paragraph 1.)
东莞plc培训2. F (Refer to Paragraph 2. Here it is stated that the patient's skin is not brown from the sun, though it looks deeply tanned from a distance. Rather, his skin becomes reddish becau he was in his last stage of life, that is, he was approaching death.)
3. F (Refer to Paragraph 7. When the doctor offered his help, the patient remained silent f
or a long time, and then in real earnest he asked for a pair of shoes, hoping against hope that the doctor would make him a whole being again.)
4. T (Refer to Paragraph 7.)
III. Answer the following questions.
1. Refer to Paragraph 1. No, he doesn't. Instead, he finds the activity justifiable. For one thing, he thinks the activity is well-meant, i.e. he wants to collect more pathological evidence in order to give the patients more effective treatment. For another, his activity is not spying in the true n, for the act is far from furtive.
2. Refer to Paragraph 2. The fact that there are no get-well cards, no small, private caches of food and day-old flowers shows that he has been abandoned by his family and friends.
3. Refer to Paragraph 7. As a blind man, he is restrained in activity. Now without legs he is completely confined to bed. Like a caged bird, he longs for freedom and dreams of
going back to his career. Thus it is understandable why he repeatedly asks for shoes.
4. Refer to Paragraphs 9?0. This is the way he express his wrath with the unfair fate. He is deprived of sight and now his legs. Derted by society, he is left with very little. Indignant as he is, he can avenge himlf upon nobody. What he can do is only to crash his plate against the wall to vent his anger and despair. Moreover, he would rather die in a stroke like the plate than linger in agony.
5. Refer to Paragraph 11. The laughter is unique as is indicated in Paragraph 11. It comes both from the pleasure after revenge by crashing the plate and the hope to extricate himlf from his agony by means of an abrupt death like the plate. Since freedom in this material world is impossible to him, he wishes to have it in the other world.
IV. Explain in your own words the following ntences.
gug1. "Yes, I am going down," he says, meaning literally that he is going down with the bed but metaphorically that his physical condition is going from bad to wor.
2. The wild, relaxed laughter is a totally new sound in the world that nobody has ever heard. The joyful laughter could even give a promising future to cancer patients.
3. The aide looks across at me, shaking her head to express her frustration and pursing her lips to signal her annoyance.
Structural analysis of the text
This text can be divided into three parts. Part 1, i.e. Paragraph 1, rves as an introduction to the background of the story. Part 2, i.e. Paragraphs 2?3, describes the strange behaviour of a particular patient dubbed "the discus thrower" and his conflict with the health workers. Part 3, i.e. Paragraphs 14?5, tells the reader about the death of the patient. Here are the suggested headlines for the three parts: Part 1: Spying on Patients: a Habit of Mine; Part 2: Encounters with a Particular Patient; Part 3: The Death of the Patient.
Rhetorical features of the text
1. The questions he asks himlf:
Ought not a doctor to obrve his patients by any means and from any stance, that he might the more fully asmble evidence?
Is he mute as well as blind?
What is he thinking behind tho lids that do not blink? Is he remembering a time when he was whole? Does he dream of feet? Or when his body was not a rotting log?
The questions call for no answer but they reveal the inner thoughts of the narrator. He ems to be trying to place himlf in the position of the patient for a better understanding of the patient's psychology.visit是什么意思
2. The questions he asks in his dialogue with the patient:
"How are you?"
unlock下载 "How do you feel?"
"Anything more I can do for you?"
The questions help to show that the narrator is very patient with and responsible for his patient.
泰戈尔
jbcVocabulary exercis
I. Explain the underlined part in each ntence in your own words.
失怙>aeis考试1. reddish brown
2. low-growing
3. almost unbearable degree
勺子 英文4. brings the spoon into light contact with
5. visit the patients
II. Fill in the blank in each ntence with a word from the box in its appropriate form.
converge
1. accomplice 2. probing
3. furtive 4. solid
5. pruned 6. acknowledging
