Unit Eight

Teaching Objectives

Understand the main idea and structure of the text

Appreciate the fluid and sensual writing style

Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text

Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities

Lead-in Activities

Group Discussion1. What are some distinctive features of an

out-of-the-way, inaccessible place such as a jungle, desert, or remote mountainous area?

2. Why would such a place appeal to many people today?

3. What are the characteristics of those people who are attracted to such places?

4. If you have both time and money, what places do you like to visit most? Why?

Words to describe the features of an out-of-the-way, inaccessible place :

wild, beasts, danger, plants, animals, natural, mysterious, adventurous, etc.

Words used to describe the characteristics of those people who are attracted to such places :

curious, brave, fond of traveling, interested in nature, etc

Lead-in Activities

Play games with wordsClassify the following words into four

categories:

Insects Birds Reptiles Fish

nightjar tarantula moth firefly parrot anaconda boa crocodile butterfly ant heron kingfisher cuckoo paichi piranha eel

Word Game

Insects

Birds reptiles

fish

tarantulamothfireflybutterflyant

nightjar parrotheronkingfishercuckoo

anacondaboacrocodile

paichipiranhaeel

IN THE JUNGLE

Annie Dillard

Contents

• About the author• Background information• Text organization• Understanding the text• Language Points• Useful Expressions• Word Study

1. About the author

Annie Dillard (1945 — )

A nature writer and Pulitzer Prize winner.

Text A is taken from Teaching a

Stone to Talk (Expeditions and

Encounters) (1988).

2. Background Information

Amazon (river): river in northern South America, largely in Brazil, ranked as the largest in the world in terms of watershed area.

( 纳波河 ): river in Ecuador.

Andes （安第斯山脉） : a mountain system of western South America extending more than 8,045 km along the Pacific coast. The mountains reach into seven countries: Venezuela through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

The text is beautifully written. There is an abundance of sensory impressions in the essay. We feel the coolness of the drinks and of the night. We smell the sweetness in the air. We observe the wonderful sights and graceful movements on the river, on the lake and in the jungle. We taste the delicious village food. Now read the text and see how the writer uses her pen to make all these scenes reflect in our mind.

3. Text OrganizationPart One (Para. 1-5)

Description of the Napo River and surrounding jungle scenery at night, together with the author’s reflections on it.

Part Two (Para. 6-8)

Recalling of what happened to her at their arrival at the village and what others felt about the Napo River and the people there.

Part Three (Para. 9-18)

Detailed description of journeying in the jungle and her feelings about it.

4. Understanding the textPart One1. What happened in this part?When?

Where?

Who?

What?

Why?

in the middle of the night. It was Feb. in the middle of summer.

the Napo River in the Ecuadorian jungle, on the headwaters of the Amazon.

the author, three North Americans, and four Ecuadorians.

like any out-of-the-way place, the Napo River the Ecuadorian jungle seems real enough when you are there, even central.

out of the way of what?

4. Understanding the text2. Find the sensory expressions:Hearing:

Smelling:

Tasting:

Seeing:

Feeling:

A nightjar in deep-leaved shadow called three long notes;

In the thatch house across the clearing behind us came the sound of a recorder, playing a tune that twined over the village,……

Each breath of night smelled sweet.

We were holding cool drinks

Idly watching a hand-sized tarantula seize moths ……

That will do.

(Para. 3) it coiled up the sandy bank and tangled its foam in vines that trailed from the forest and roots that looped the shore.

河水沿着沙岸蜿蜒流过，水沫裹挟在蔓生在森林里的藤蔓间以及盘绕岸边的树根上。

coil: move in a spiral course e.g. black smoke coiling up into the sky. 黑烟盘绕直上天空tangle: mix together or intertwine in a confused masstrail: extend, grow loosely over a surface: e.g. vines trailing through the garden. 蔓生在整个花园之中的葡萄藤 loop: move in a loop or arc

5. Language Points

4. Understanding the textPart Two

Not only does the author move effortlessly from one sensory impression to another, but she also handles the changes in time and place in a smooth, seamless way.

Find the linking devices used to achieve coherence:

Time Place What happened

Later that night In the tentLoosed my hair from its braids and combed it smooth.

That afternoon At the villageWhat happened on the arrival of the village.

Now (back to night)

In the tent Combed my hair, and listened to a free-lance writer.

（ Para 7 ） who were alternately staring at me and smiling at their toes.

[alternately doing …..and doing …..] change between the two actionsalternate: （ 1 ） [vi] if two things alternate, or if you alter

nate them, they happen one after the other in a repeated pattern

[alternate between] 交替 e.g. She alternated between happiness and d

epression. 她时而快乐，时而沮丧[alternate with] 轮流 e.g. Showers alternate with sunshine 时雨时晴

5. Language Points

(2) [adj.]

e.g. alternate winter and summer 冬夏交替 alternate seasons of the year

alternately [adv.]

e.g. He is alternately rude and polite.

他时而粗鲁时而客气。

4. Understanding the text

Part Three

All through these movements there is overall coherence. There is an echo --- “It would be worth it”, “The Napo River: it is not out of the way. It is in the way”.

Q&A What is the point of going to the Napo River in

Ecuador according to the author?

— It is simply to see what is there. We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place.

4. Understanding the text What did they find along the Napo River?

— Parrots in flocks, anacondas, gray stripes of sandbar, palm-thatch shelter.

What message does the author want to convey to the reader by her description of what was going on in the evening in that village?

— The Napo River is not out of the way. It is in the way.

5. Language Points

(Para. 9) We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place.

may / might/could (just) as well do….

(1) (informal) used when you do not particularly want to do something but you decide you should do it

e.g. I suppose we may as well get started.

(2) used to mean that another course of action would have an equally good result

e.g. Since the taxi is so slow, we might just as well go by bus.

5. Language Points

(Para.17) The sun would ring down, pulling darkness after it like a curtain 。

夕阳会西下，像落幕似地把夜暮降下ring down the curtain

to end a performance, event, or action

ring up the curtain

to begin a performance, event, or action

6. Useful Expressions

– 渴望（做……）

– 编辫子

– 喜形于色

– 观赏什么世界奇观

be dying for / to do ……

braid one’s hair

with open delight

to see the most spectacular anything

– 感受一下… ..

– 在眼睛的高度

– 目光所及

– 动人，感动人心

to get a feel for …..

at the eye level

as far as the eye can see

catch the / one’s heart

7. Word Study

spatter

illumine

dissolve

disembark

smear

glide

• spatter: [vt, vi]to scatter (a liquid) in drops or small splashes. 溅污 (syn. splatter )

[spatter somebody/something with something]

e.g. The walls were spattered with blood.

[spatter something on/over etc something]

e.g. Don’t spatter the paint over your sweatshirt.

[spatter on/across/over etc]

e.g. The first drops of rain spattered on the

stones.

Rain spatters on the pavement.

雨滴打在人行道上。

• illumine (also illuminate) : (1) to make a light shine on something, or to fill

a place with light

e.g. A single candle illumined his face.

The river was illumined by the setting sun. 这条河被落日照亮。

(2) (formal) to make something much clearer and easier to understand

e.g. His lecture illuminated and explained many scientific phenomena.

• dissolve: [vt / vi]1 BECOME PART OF LIQUID▶ ◀

If a solid dissolves, or if you dissolve it, it mixes with a liquid and becomes part of it

[dissolve in] e.g. Sugar dissolves in water. [dissolve something in something] e.g. Dissolve the tablet in water.

2 END▶ ◀

to formally end a parliament, business arrangement, marriage etc

e.g. The monarch had the power to dissolve parliament.

3 EMOTION▶ ◀

[dissolve into/in laughter/tears etc] to start laughing or crying e.g. I dissolved into helpless laughter. 我情不自禁地笑起来4 BECOME WEAKER▶ ◀

to gradually become smaller or weaker before disappearing, or to make something do this

e.g. After four days her hope of finding her son began to dissolve. 四天后，她要找到儿子的希望开始破灭

• disembark: to go ashore from a ship e.g. The passengers disembarked at Southampton.

• embark : [vi /vt] (opposite disembark) to go onto a ship or a plane, or to put or take so

mething onto a ship or plane e.g. The plane has stopped to embark passengers. 飞机已停止使乘客登机。 We embarked at Liverpool for New York. 我们在利物浦上船前往纽约。

• smear: (1) to spread a liquid or soft substance over a surf

ace, especially in a careless or untidy way 涂抹 [smear something with something]

e.g. His face was smeared with mud.

The child's face was smeared with chocolate.

这个孩子的脸上抹得到处都是巧克力。 [smear something on/over etc something]

e.g. Elaine smeared sun tan lotion on her

shoulders.

把防晒膏涂抹在臂上

• glide:(1) to move smoothly and quietly, as if without e

ffort

[glide across/over/down etc]

e.g. The couples were gliding over the dance floor.

The boat glided over the river.

The years glided past.

岁月不知不觉地流逝。(2) if a bird glides, it flies without moving its wi

ngs; if a plane glides, it flies without using an engine 滑翔