lesson fifteen lesson fifteen touched by the moon nirmal gbosb

LESSON FIFTEENLESSON FIFTEEN

Touched by the MoonTouched by the Moon

Nirmal GbosbNirmal Gbosb

Zhu Ziqing’s 'Moonlight over the Lotus Pond (Hetang yuese )': 《荷塘月色》

http://bbs.exue.com.cn/thread_85631_1.html

ManilaManila : :

Philipine Archipelago

ManilaManila

IndiaIndia

Taj Mahal Taj Mahal 印度印度泰姬泰姬

陵陵

Its inverted image looks like a face of a beautiful girl

the Himalayasthe Himalayas

cottage cottage

Touch the moonTouch the moon

about the authorabout the author

• Touched by the Moon is adapted from an essay written by Nirmal Gbosb, ( 尼尔姆 · 吉博斯波 ) a Manila-based writer, and published in the magazine “Asia”, September 30, 1997.

Structure of the text:Structure of the text:

• This article is a very beautiful prose describing the sight of the moon. It can be divided into five parts

• Part I: (para 1-2) describing the sight of the moon during my visit to my friend’s house in Manila

• Part II: (para 3-5) describing the sight of the moon on three other occasions

• Part III: (para 6-7) talking about what I saw and heard during one of my trips

• Part IV: (para 8-9) comparing the relationship between human beings and nature in the past and at present

• Part V: (para 10) back to match the beginning of the article and express the my feeling facing the beautiful sight

About the TextAbout the Text

• word study to point to: to show sb. Sth. By holding up a finger toward i

t.

to point sth. at sb. :to aim sth. at sb..

e.g. He pointed a gun at me.

to point out: to tell sb. Sth. That he/ she did not know or has not thought about.

e.g. He pointed out my mistakes.


• word study• awe-struck adj. suddenly filled with a feeling of respect mixed with fear

and wonder. e.g. I was awe-struck by the sight of the full moon.• calendar n. 1) a list of the days, weeks and months of a particular

year. e.g. Do you have next year’s calendar? 2) a list of dates or events of a particular kind. e.g. The Cup Final is an important date in the sporting

calendar.


• word study confuse v.

1). To make people feel that they can not think clearly or do not understand.

e.g. They confused me by asking so many questions.

2). To put sth. Into disorder; to upset.

e.g. Her unexpected arrival confused all our plan.

confused adj.


• word study constant adj. 1) going on all the time; without a break.

e.g. The entrance is in constant use; do not block it.

2). unchanging; fixed.

e.g. Pressure in the container remains constant.


• word study gleam v. 1). To shine softly.

e.g. A few faint gleams of sunshine lit up the gloomy afternoon.

2). Brief show of some quality or emotion.

e.g. a gleam of hope in an apparently hopeless situation.


• word study

shape v.

1). to form; to develop in a particular way.

e.g. To shape the wet clay on a potter’s wheel.

2). to have a great influence upon.

e.g. His attitudes were shaped partly by early experiences.


• Word study

style n. 1). Manner of writing or speaking, esp. contrasted with

what is actually written or said.

e.g. She is a very popular writer but I just don’t like her style.

2). Manner of doing anything.

e.g. a typically British style of living.


• word study to be typical of : having the usual features or qualities of

a particular group or thing.

e.g. It is the typical of the weather in Beijing.

The winter is long and dry and the spring is very short.

to bathe in a light: to envelop in a light.

e.g. The children bathe in a light doing exercises.


• word study to be due to do sth.:

scheduled to do; arranged to do

e.g. His book is due to be published in October.

· to be at one’s best : to be in the best state

e.g. I wasn’t at my best at the party so I didn’t enjoy it.


• word study

to gleam white in the moonlight : to shine white softly in the moonlight.

e.g. The mountain gleamed white in the moonlight

to be flanked by sth: to be placed on each side of or at the side of

e.g. The prisoner was flanked by the two detectives.


• word study

at the edge of: at the outside limit or boundary of a solid object.

e.g. He lived at the edge of the forest. to tumble over sth.: to roll to and fro or over and o

ver.

e.g. The stream tumbled over the rock.


• word study

to climb away: to go or come in the specified direction.

e.g. The road climbed away between the mountain.

to leave behind sth:. e.g. The storm left a trial of destruction behind.


• word study

to tower above sb.: to be of much greater height than others nearby.

e.g. The skyscrapers tower above New York.

to lose one’s sense of sth.: to lose one’s understanding of value of sth.

e.g. He lost his sense of humor.


• word study

to fall on sth.: to descend or drop.

e.g. Sunshine falls on his shoulder.

a row of : a number of people or things arranged in a line.

e.g. He planted a row of cabbages.


• word study

the sight of : thing to be seen,esp. sth. Remarkable.

e.g. Come and see the sight of London.

In anger: having strong feeling of displeasure and hostility.

e.g. It was more in sorrow than in anger that he criticized his former colleague.


• Word study

to drum sth. Into one’s mind to keep coming into

e.g. The noise drummed into my mind.

to measure out sth. to give a measured quantity of sth.

e.g. He measured out a dose of medicine.


·Sentence paraphrase 1) It had touched many aspects of his life, including those concerning his ordinary daily life.

To touch: to have an effect on For many practical reasons in his daily life he

had to pay attention to the moon. For example, it could provide some light; it could tell people about the time and possible weather changes, etc.

About the textAbout the text

Sentence paraphrase

2) We sat in the sun looking at the scattering of stone-tiled roofs.

We sat in the warmth and light of the sun, looking at the few houses spread out over a large area.


·Sentence paraphrase

3) Energy flies around us. Modern cities depend on energy to

provide heat and drive machines, etc, But energy production produces pollutants. The author obviously does not like the fact that “energy flies around us”.



4) The cycles of the sun and the moon are simple but gigantic forces which have shaped human lives.

The changes of days and nights, months and seasons, or the changes of the weather are great forces which have long affected human lives.



4) We have lost our sense of wonder at the elements--- our lives are full of forces that are so new and barely understood that we are confused shadows of what we should be.

We used to be awed by nature. It filled us with wonder. But now we have lost our sense of wonder. We can no longer enjoy that feeling because our lives are full of new things that are made by ourselves but not quite understood by ourselves. As a result, we are no longer what we should

be. We have become difference persons and are totally confused by these changes.

※ ※ In-class DiscussionIn-class Discussion

1).What does nature mean to us? Does it simply mean the provider of everything we need for our survival be?

2).Is nature something to used? Or conquered? Or admired and loved?

lesson fifteen lesson fifteen touched by the moon nirmal gbosb

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