遗失在过去

James Joyce, a famous writer in the twentieth century. He was born in Dublin in 1882. James Joyce is famous for the using of “stream of consciousness” method in his words, but he is also good at setting proper background, creating symbols and using allusions. From his famous short novel Araby, we can see a lot of symbols. By analyzing those symbols, we will have a deep insight into the story and know the Dublin’s society and the main theme in Dubliners better.

In the first paragraph, it mentions the North Richard street and the street was blind, which means that the street is closed at one end, so the people who living in there are difficult to communicate with the ones outside. So it is a symbol for the un-open up station of Dublin as well as Ireland, and the boy who lives in such condition will have no choice but a blind future. And in the third paragraph, the author describes about the boy’s living condition. The houses had been grown somber and the dark dripping gardens where odours arose from the ashpits, which symbolize the Dublin’s society’s depravity and corruption. And it hints that the boy’s pursuit of romance would never come true.

In the second paragraph, it mentions that there was a priest who had been a tenant of the boy’s house, from his will, we can gain that he was indeed a good citizen of Dublin. And from the books he read: The Abbot, The Devout Communicant and The Memoirs of Vidocq. We know that he had given his life to both piety and flights of imaginations. The priest’s dead, the yellow books, musty air, some useless papers and the rusty bicycle-pump, all these things symbolize the vital past, a contrast to the blind and paralytic present. And the priest’s dead implied the decline of Catholicism. In this paragraph, we can also see “a central apple tree” in the wild garden. An apple tree which makes us think of the myth between Aden and Swan in the garden of Eden. The apple tree symbolizes the boy’s first love as well as a wish to try something more, but the tree was in a wild garden behind the house, in such condition, we can conclude that the boy’s love towards Mangan’s sister wouldn’t be able to yield positive results. And his trial for new things would never be encouraged by the Irish society.

In this novel, the word “Araby” plays an important role, as it is the title word. Araby is a splendid bazaar where Mangan’s sister recommended the boy to go. It is a place full of oriental fragrance in Dublin where the boy had a strong desire to have a visit there. It seems that Araby is a dream new world to the boy. However, when he arrived at Araby late at night, his dream new world turned out to be darkness and silence, and the woman who served him at the stall spoke to her customer out of a sense of duty. All those things disappointed the boy, his dream new world was tore into pieces. What the boy experienced in Araby tells us the conflict between the loveliness of the ideal and the darkness of the reality. Araby is a symbol of the cruelty of the reality. The dialogue between the two men and the woman seems has no setting or surprising ending, but it is the dialogue and the things the boy met in Araby indicate that the life of the young adults in Dublin who own a characteristic of ignorance and conventionalism and it also tell us that even when the Irishmen were chasing their dream, they would be disappointed by their own society and their blind to the bright future.

Different people will read James Joyce’s works from different point of views and may have different comprehension. All the symbols I listed above just my own understanding of Araby in this moment, I do believe that there still some more symbols in the texts, which need us to develop a deeper comprehension.

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American writer and journalist. During his lifetime he wrote and had published seven novels; six collections of short stories; and two works of non-fiction. Since his death three novels, four collections of short stories, and three non-fiction autobiographical works have been published. Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 for his novella The Old Man and the Sea.①His works are based on his own special experiences, the environment and the age he lived in. Almost all of his works reflect nothingness. The short story A Clean and Well-lighted Place was one of his early works. In this short-story, nothingness was portrayed most vividly. It assumed typical Hemingway’s style—nothingness and took Nothingness as the theme. In the work, Hemingway based on the story between the old man and the two waiters, pointed out that Nothingness commonly exists in human’s life, it is actually the experience of one’s own existence, and the only way to resist Nothingness is to keep a clean and well-lighted place in the mind. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is famous for its simple and terse dialogue. It created three characters, an old man and two waiters, Hemingway exposed the typical thought Nothingness through these three characters.②

 The story happed in a clean, well-lighted café, it was late at night and all the other people had left the café except an old man who sat in the shadow leaves of the tree, he was drinking brandy and drunk. The two waiters were talking about him. The old man was very rich, but he felt lonely and frustrated. So once he wanted to commit suicide. The two waiters took quiet different attitudes toward the old man’s killing himself. The young one felt very puzzled, for the old man had a lot of money, why should he take his own life? To the old waiter, he seemed to be more understood of the old man’s situation. The plot of the whole story was very simple, but Hemingway vividly described the inner-sides of the three characters. In the three characters’ spiritual world, nothingness exists everywhere in their lives.

To the young waiter, He was in a hurry to go home and go to bed, for he “never got to bed before three o'clock”. He hated the old man, for the old man “has no regard for those who must work”. He refused to refill his glass and even ejected him from the café. He always complained that nobody was considerate of him. His attitude towards the old man set off the old man’s nothingness, loneliness and dreariness, and also reveals the dull inner world of him. Actually, the young waiter lives in nothingness, he possesses many things in his life, nothingness meant lacking of money and material things. That was why he could not understand the old man’s action.

To the old man, nothingness meant a life of lonely, hopeless and meaningless. When he was young he also has a wife, confident and a good job like the young waiter. He did not need a clean and well-lighted place to evade darkness. But now, he was old in years, lost his wife and became deaf. All his ideals were destroyed, even he wanted to commit suicide was obstructed by his niece. Anyone who takes the place of the old man would be aware of his nothingness. He decided to take his own life just because he could not endure the great pressure of nothingness. That was why he needs a clean, well-lighted place to look for friendship, help and truth.

The old waiter had a deeper understanding of nothingness. He thought nothingness did not exist in a single state. It gobbled up everything in reality. “It was nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was nothing too”. He knew in this meaningless world, many people lived in loneliness, needed friendship, help and sympathy, just like him. From his inner monolog, we gain that he also desires a clean and well-lighted place. He felt the nothingness of life and understood the old man’s loneliness. He envied the young waiter’s confidence and enrichment of life. His understanding and envy makes this world more paleness.

The three characters in the story made different responses to nothingness. Through their ways of response, we can know what kind of attitude Hemingway took towards nothingness. In order to escape nothingness, the old man first attempted to kill himself, and then killed time by making him drunken. He was afraid of darkness. He was not willing to leave the clean and well-lighted café. The old waiter’s response was complicated. From his inner monolog, “What did he fear? It was not a fear or dread, it was a nothing that he knew too well. It was all a nothing and a man was a nothing too … Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee...” we can conclude that the old waiter also had uneasiness. The uneasiness existed when he was fully aware of his position, he was lack of “Everything but work”, and so he took active attitude. He wanted to help those who are lonely, and liked to stay at the café with those who did not want to go to bed. So each night he was averse to close up the café early. He thought maybe someone needs this clean and well-lighted place to prevent from dark.

When the two waiters talked about the old man’s suicide’s reason, the young one just response by saying “nothing” coldly. However, the old waiter can gained the real cause of the old man’s suicide from the word “nothing”, that is “nothingness”. He deeply knew about the big power of Nothingness, anyone who had experienced the Nothingness will has a deep impression. This is the inner meaning of Nothingness endowed by Hemingway. In the last paragraph of the story, the sentence “A clean, well-lighted cafe was a very different thing”, reveals the important role of the café and its’ symbolism. The story exposes the typical American thoughts at that time, sometimes they were called “the Lost Generation”. People at that time were distorted because of war, death, violence and terror. Those experiences had a deep influence in Hemingway’s ideology and his disillusion led to his perplexity, which made the characters in his works have such kind of characteristics and such kind of understanding of Nothingness.

     I don't know why I forget this  place for a long time,and now I have nothing to write down in here. Maybe something have lost.,for what we had experienced just lose in history,but I don't think it is a bad thing.

时光飞逝，一眨眼的功夫，三年的大学生活即将结束。回顾过去，在团组织的培育之下，自己无论是在思想上、工作上，还是在学习和生活上都取得了重大的进步。为了进一步提高自己的思想认识，在以后的学习和工作中迈上新的台阶，本人会继续严格要求自己，并积极向党组织靠拢。下面是我的个人总结：

在思想上，本人积极上进，努力向党组织靠拢，并时刻用团规党章来指导和约束自己的行为。大一上学期，我就已经向学院党总支部递交入党申请书，这表明了我想入党的决心。本人时刻严格要求自己，牢记团员的权利和义务，坚持拥护中国共产党，坚持科学发展观，努力学习马列主义，毛泽东思想、邓小平理论及“三个代表”重要思想，从而不断提高自身的理论素质，努力从思想上彻底要求自己的一言一行。

在学习上，本人上课认真听课，做笔记，课后及时完成作业，努力掌握和巩固自己的专业知识。在这三年里，本人依次通过了英语公共四六级、计算机一级以及英语专业四级的考试。为了丰富自己的课外活动，提高自己各方面的知识技能。在课余时间，本人还积极参加各类英语竞赛，虽然获奖的次数甚少，但这并不代表我一无所获，最起码我学会了对待任何挫折都不要轻言放弃。除了学好专业知识外，本人还大量阅读课外书籍，扩大自己的知识面。因为二十一世纪是以知识作为竞争工具的时代，科学技术是第一生产力，只有掌握了丰富的科学文化知识，才有助于我们更进一步了解和贯彻科学发展观。

在工作上，本人现任06英本（1）班的生活委员，本着全心全意为同学服务的态度，对工作认真负责，尽心尽力做好自己分内工作。为了更好的锻炼自己，提高自身的社会实践能力，本人利用课余时间做过家教，自己认真负责的教学态度曾得到过学生的好评。

在生活上，与同学友好相处，互帮互助，尊敬师长。发扬勤俭节约、艰苦朴素的优良作风，保持乐观向上的生活态度。

以上是我的个人总结，我想我所取得的这些成绩离不开团组织的正确领导和悉心栽培。当然，人无完人，在我的学习、工作、生活中总会存在许多的不足之处。所以，我希望同学们能批评指出，我会再接再厉，争取更大的进步。

Background Information

Teacher:                                              Date: June 8, 2009

Unit: unit 2 English around the world     Grade Level: Grade1, Senior

                                                                                    Middle School Students

Topic: Listening and Speaking              Time Duration: 45 minutes

 Objectives

By the end of this lesson students will be able to:

1.      to learn about differences between American and British English.

2.      to learn about communication skills.

3.      to know how to use requests: He asked me to …

4.      to know how to use commands: She told me to …

 Materials and Equipment

A tape recorder with taped conversation; Some colored chalks.

Procedures

 Ⅰ.Warm-up Activities:                                      (5minutes)

     T: Good morning, boys and girls.

    Ss: Good morning, Miss Lin!

    T: Today we are going to learn Unit 2 English around the world. First, I would like to ask you a question. How long  have you learned English?

    Ss: Three years.

    T: And do you know about the difference between American and British English?

    Ss: …

    T: Yes, very good! And who can give us some example?

    S1: …

    T: Yes, very good. Any other example?

    S2: ...

    T: Well done! And any other difference between American and British English?

    Ss: …

    T: Excellent! Who can give me an example?

    S3: …

   T: Yes, very good. Now we know that they are different in spelling and pronunciation, but there are also different in words, take the Chinese word “秋天” for example, the British people say “autumn”, but Americans say “fall”. And sometimes the same English word in different English-speaking    countries has different meanings. Now who can give us an example?

S5: …

T: Yes, very good. So, does everyone clear about the different between American and British English?

Ss: Yes.

T: Good!

 

Ⅱ. Listening.                                               (15minutes)

T: Now let’s move on to part 2 Listening. Look at this picture, what can you see in this picture?

Ss: An old lady and a man.

T: Yes and the man is …

Ss: Mr. Brown.

T: The old lady is …

Ss: Mr. Brown’s landlady.

T: OK, read the word after me “landlady”.

Ss: Landlady.

T: Landlady.

Ss: Landlady.

T: What’s the meaning of “landlady”?

Ss: 女房东.

T: Yes, it means “女房东”or “老板娘” in Chinese.

T: The next one “closet”.

Ss: Closet.

T: Closet.

Ss: Closet.

T: “closet” means “壁橱” or “储藏室”.

T: From the test book, we know that Mr. Brawn’s landlady has many house rules. Now let’s listen to the tape for the first time, just listen to it carefully.

   (After finish the tape’s listening)

T: Now let’s listen to the tape for the second time and write down five of the landlady’s house rules like the example, using the phrase “ask…to…”

(Write down the following structure on the blackboard, using colored chalk to write the phrase “ask…to…”)

①     The landlady asked Mr. Brown to                   

②     The landlady asked Mr. Brown to                   

③     The landlady asked Mr. Brown to                   

④     The landlady asked Mr. Brown to                   

⑤     The landlady asked Mr. Brown to                   

(After finish the tape’s listening)

T: Now who gain the answers? Please raise your hands, I would like to invite five students to write down their answers on the blackboard.

(After the students finish writing down the answers)

T: Wow, well done, everyone. Now the whole class, let’s read these five sentences on the blackboard after me.

T: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to take off his shoes.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to take off his shoes.

T: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to put the umbrella in the umbrella’s stand.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to put the umbrella in the umbrella’s stand.

T: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to be quiet after nine o’clock.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to be quiet after nine o’clock.

T: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to lock the door if he came back after midnight.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to lock the door if he came back after midnight.

T: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to speak quietly on the phone.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown to speak quietly on the phone.

T: OK! Look at the blackboard, from this structure we can find that if you want to tell somebody that you would like them to do something, we can use the phrase…

Ss: “ask sb. to do sth.”

T: Yes, “ask sb. to do sth”. And if you want to tell somebody that you wouldn’t like them to do something, what can we say?

S4: “ask sb. not to do sth.”

T: Yes, excellent! And who can use the phrase “ask sb. not to do sth.” to make a sentence for us? You can use the sentences what we just heard in the listening       part.

Ss: The landlady asked Mr. Brown not to smoke in the bathroom.

T: Yes, very good. Another one, who can?

S5: The landlady asked Mr. Brown not to shower after midnight.

T: Yes, well done. So everyone please remember this phrase “ask sb. to do/not to do sth.” Nest time I will check you, for whether you are familiar in using it or not. OK?

Ss: OK!

 

Ⅲ. Speaking.                                             (15minutes)

T: Now we will move on to part 3 Speaking. First, let’s look at some new words. (Write down the new words on the blackboard)

Pronounce / p r ə` n au n s/ 发音；宣告；断言

Broad/ b r ɔ: d/ 宽的

Repeat/ r i `p i: t/ 重做；重复；复述

Ketchup/ k e tʃ ə p/ 番茄酱；番茄沙司

(Teach the new words to the students)

T: OK, now, listen to the tape on dialogue1.

(After finish listening to tape)

T: Now I will give you 3minutes to discuss with your partner about the answers of the following sentences.

(After 3 minutes)

T: OK, now who can give us the answer of the first sentence?

S6: Emily asked Karen how to pronounce “kilometer”.

T: Yes, good. And the second sentence, who can?

S7: The teacher asked Karen and Emily if there was anything that wasn’t clear to them.

T: Yes, very good. And the third one, who can?

S8: Karen told the teacher that Emily had asked her how to pronounce “kilometer”.

T: Good! Everyone clear about the answers?

Ss: Yes.

T: Good! Now I would like to invite two students to act this dialogue out. But one thing, I would like you to change the word “kilometer” into the word “dancer”, OK?

Ss: OK.

(After the students’ acting)

T: Now, let’s listen to tape on dialogue2.

(After finish listening to the tape)

T: Listen to tape for the second time and follow it.

(The second time’s listening finish)

T: OK. Let’s discuss with your partner again to gain the answers to complete the following sentences.

(After 3minutes)

T: Now the whole class, let’s complete the sentences together. Ms Smith told Harry to…

Ss: to take those two pizzas to Mr. Thompson on Broad Street, Number12.

T: Harry asked Ms Smith …

Ss: if she could spell that name.

T: He also…

Ss: He also asked her if she could repeat the address.

T: Ms Smith told …

Ss: Ms Smith told Harry not to forget to buy her some ketchup on his way back.

T: Well done, everyone. Now follow me to read the sentences.

T: Ms Smith told Harry to take those two pizzas to Mr. Thompson on Broad Street, Number12.

Ss: Ms Smith told Harry to take those two pizzas to Mr. Thompson on Broad Street, Number12.

T: Ms Smith told Harry not to forget to buy her some ketchup on his way back.

Ss: Ms Smith told Harry not to forget to buy her some ketchup on his way back.

T: We have learned a phrase use for request “ask sb. to/not to do sth.” Now I will tell you a phrase use for command “tell sb. to/not to do sth”, just like “Ms Smith told Harry not to forget to buy her some ketchup on his way back.” And anyone who can use this phrase to make a sentence for us?

S9: …

S10: …

T: Wow, good sentences. Everyone clear about how to use the phrase “tell sb. to/not to do sth.”

Ss: Yes.

T: Anyone who doesn’t clear about that we will discuss it after class in personal. OK?

Ss: OK!

 

Ⅳ.Summary and Homework.                                (5minutes)

T: Today we have learnt about the differences between American and British English, and the two important phrases “ask sb. to/not to do sth.”, “tell sb. to/not to do sth.” After class, please use each of the phrases to make three sentences. And do exercise one on page12. And remember to do preparation for the reading part. That’s all for today, class is over.