Unit 8

Slavery Gave Me Nothing to Lose

Background Information

Eatonville: It is a small community of great significance to

African-American history and culture. Located just north of Orlando, Florida between Winter Park and Maitland, it is historically recognized as the first incorporated African-American municipality in the United States and one of the oldest surviving African communities in the U.S. Following the Civil War, “free” Africans settling in the area worked primarily as farm hands clearing land or helping in the construction of nearby Maitland, a white township.

Eatonville is culturally important for its renowned native daughter, Zora Neale Hurston, author, anthropologist and folklorist. Her words captured forever the culture of the community and painted an image of an environment typical of the rural Southern working-class African-American. Each January, Eatonville plays host to the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities. In addition to Zora Neale Hurston, other notable residents of Eatonville include Hall of Fame football player, Deacon Jones and Dr. Benjamin Perry, president of Florida A&M University.

Background Information Orlando:

It is the fifth-ranking U.S. destination of overseas travelers—after San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles and New York City—and it claims the second highest number of hotel rooms in the US, lagging just behind Las Vegas in the bedroom stakes. The city has also established itself as part of Florida’s high-tech corridor, boasting not only the space technology industries focused on the Florida Space Coast (also keen on “booms”), but a healthy dose of bits and bytes makers as well.

There wasn’t much to Orlando until Walt Disney started buying up property at the city’s southwestern edge in the 1960s and the property he bought became Disney World in 1971. Since then, waterslides, roller coasters, fairy tale palaces and costumed characters have made Disney World one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions.

Background Information Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960):

American writer, folklorist & anthropologist. Born in Eatonville, Florida, Hurston was educated at Howard University, at Barnard College, and at Columbia University, where she studied under German-American anthropologist Franz Boas. Eatonville was the first incorporated all-black town in the United States, and Hurston returned there after college for anthropological field study that influenced her later output in fiction as well as in folklore.

Hurston also collected folklore in Jamaica, Haiti, Bermuda, and Honduras. Mules and Men (1935), one of her best-known folklore collections, was based on her field research in the American South. Tell My Horse (1938) described folk customs in Haiti and Jamaica. 

As a fiction writer, Hurston is noted for her metaphorical language, her story-telling abilities, and her interest in and celebration of Southern black culture in the United States.

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Some of her earliest work was published in the small magazine Fire!, which Hurston, along with notable writers such as Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman, produced in 1926. Her best-known novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), in which she tracked a Southern black woman’s search, over 25 years and 3 marriages, for her true identity and a community in which she can develop that identity. Hurston’s prolific literary output also includes such novels as Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934) and Seraph on the moremore

Suwanee (1948), short stories, plays, journal articles, and an autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942). Hurston’s work wasn’t political, but her characters’ use of dialect, her manner of portray- ing black culture, and her conservatism created controversy within the black community. Throughout her career she addressed issues of race and gender, often relating them to the search for freedom. In her later years Hurston experienced health

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problems, and she died impoverished and

unrecognized by the literary community. Her

writings, however, were rediscovered in the

1970s by a new generation of black writers,

notably Alice Walker, and many of Hurston’s

works were republished. In 1995 a two-volume

set of her writings, some previously unpublished,

was released.

Background Information

Jacksonville:

It is 134 miles northeast of Orlando, Florida. Once infamous for its smelly paper mills, it is now one of the South’s insurance and banking capitals. Although Jacksonville claims to be the capital of Florida’s historic “First Coast”, the city dates its beginnings from an early-1800s settlement named Cowford, because cattle crossed the St. Johns River here. Cowford changed its name to Jacksonville in 1822 to honor General Andrew Jackson, the provisional governor who forced Spain to cede Florida to the United States 2 years earlier.

Text Structure Analysis

The passage is divided into three parts.

Part I (Para. 1-3):

I didn’t feel the difference between the

black and the white when I was a little girl.

Part II (Para. 4):

A transitional paragraph

I was made to realize that I was a little black girl .

Part III (Para. 5-7):

My family background of having slave forefathers and my color didn’t give me the feeling of being inferior to the white.

When I was young living in the Negro town of Eatonville, I enjoyed watching and contacting the white people. To me, the difference between black and white was that the white rode through town and never lived there. When I moved to a school in Jacksonville, I was taken as a black girl. It didn’t depress me, though. Rather, I regarded as an advantage the history that my forefathers had been slaves. In my view, people of different colors are just the differently colored bags with almost the same contents in them.

Summary of the Text

Words and Expressions

up to exclusively in passing break off in that give of at one’s elbow in the main

Up to yesterday, we had no idea where the child was.

直到昨天，我们还不知道孩子在哪里。

He was here up to a moment ago. 他刚才还在这里。

1. up to: until; up till （ Para. 1 ）

2. exclusively: ad. involving only the things mentioned, and nothing else (Para. 1)

The selfish man looks out for himself exclusively.

那自私的人只顾他自己。

There is now a trend away from an exclusively academic curriculum towards teaching more practical subjects in schools.

现在很多学校出现了由仅仅教授理论的课程转向教授更多实用的学科的趋势。

3. in passing: by the way; casually (Para. 2)

I don’t remember the address; he only mentioned it in passing.

我记不起那个地址了，他只是随便提到过。

I have not come on a visit; I have just called in passing.

我不是特意来造访的，只是顺便来看看你。

4. break off: end; esp. suddenly (Para. 2)

He broke off his holiday to attend a business meeting.

他中止休假，去参加一个商务会议了。

Britain threatened to break off diplomatic relations.

英国威胁要中断两国的外交关系。

5. in that: for the reason that; because (Para. 3)

I’m lucky in that I’ve passed the exam. 我很幸运，因为我考试通过了。

I prefer his plan to yours in that I think it is more practical.

比起你的计划，我更喜欢他的，因为我觉得他的计划更实际。

6. give of: give (money, time, etc.), esp. in a way that seems generous (Para. 3)

We thanked all the people who have given of their money.

我们对所有那些捐出钱款的人深表谢意。

We’re very grateful to all the people who have given of their time.

我们对所有那些付出时间的人深表谢意。

7. at one’s elbow: nearby, close by (Para. 5)

A virtue of this cottage is that the ocean is at your elbow.

这座别墅的好处之一是临近大海。

During the visit, the interpreter was always at her elbow.

在参观过程中，翻译一直在她身边。

8. in the main: in general; on the whole (Para. 7)

His friends are lawyers in the main. 他的朋友多数是律师。

In the main, the money raised goes to children’s charities.

大多数情况下，募集的资金送到儿童慈善机构。

9. in company with: together with (Para. 7)

I, in company with many others, feel his decision was wrong.

我和其他许多人都感到这个决定是错误的。

In the army, he found comradeship, excitement and adventure in company with men of similar taste.

在军队里，他和志趣相投的人一同感受了友情、刺激和冒险。

Questions for Discussion ：

1. What effect did being viewed as a Negro have on Zora and how did she see her own future?

2. What have you heard about the black in the United States?

Writing: A Letter of Recommendation ( 推荐信 )

应朋友要求，为其深造谋职等写一封推荐信

写作模式（ 1 ）

1) He came to my notice in…, when he happened to... 2) With a steady increase in contacts and exchanges of ideas, he showed a wide scope of knowledge about… as well as a strong interest in… 3) A deeper impression he left upon me occurred in…, when… 4) His academic performance ranked among… ( 进一步说明 ) 5) Gradually, both his unique abilities in… and our same quest for… pushed me to …

写作模式（ 2 ） 6) After stepping into the stage of…, he came

to demonstrate a greater originality in…, a good indicator of which was… 7) To my knowledge, it is only in the last two years that… 8) So I have every reason to assure you that…一步阐述 )

写作模式（ 3 ）

9) As far as the content of his character is concerned, he clings to the motto that… 10) So his compass for… rests not so much with… as with… 11) And particularly remarkable are… and… 12) In short, what is native to him and what he has attained through his previous efforts, complete with…, have made it an honor for me to recommend him to you.