Unit 6 Section A
The Widow
Questions:
1. How does the story impress
you, or how do you feel about
it, a happy one or an unhappy
one?
2. Who or what has left you the
deepest impression, if any?
3. Why did the couple address each
other Wife and Husband, rather
than Honey or Sweetheart?
Because the ‘messenger’ called
them so at their wedding and they
used them in order to remember
her good wishes.
4. How did the wife and husband show their
love/affection/care/concern for each other?
They expressed their concern or love for each
other through daily routines:
They understood and appreciated each other,
sharing their housework.
They kept using ‘Wife’ and ‘Husband’ in greetings.
They liked talking about their mysterious
‘messenger’, who brought them a lot of joy.
The widow kept the fading envelop as symbol of
love both from her husband and God.
5. Why did the husband say ‘she was the
wrong shape for a heavenly messenger’?
(an angel, a religious being believed to act
as an attendant, agent, or messenger of
God in human form with wings and long
robe.) And it is evident that the shape of
the short, fat, and old lady doesn’t match
that of an angel.
What’s the symbolic message of the
‘short, portly, elderly person’?
The symbolic message is just as
you don’t have to be beautiful to be
a messenger, you don’t have to be
very rich to live a happy life.
7. How does this ‘love’ story
compare ‘Romeo and Juliet’ or
‘Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai
(Butterfly Love)’?
8. Which is your favorite love mode,
the ‘widow’ mode or the ‘Titanic’
mode or the ‘Butterfly’ mode, and
why?
9.Do you have a mysterious but
happy story in your life?
Language points:
the opposite of a widow is a
widower
alone:
He lives alone.
She likes being alone in the house.
Time alone will tell.
not to be alone in doing sth
I’m not alone in thinking that this is a mistake.
to leave/let sb/sth alone: not interfere with
sb/sth
Let me alone.
Leave my things alone.
but let alone: without considering
The baby can’t even walk, let alone run.
considerably: a lot
The courses vary considerably in
length, level, and objectives.
considerable: of noticeable important
The earthquake in Ruichang, Jiangxi
Province caused considerable
damage to the local houses.
to underline: draw a line under
something written or print/ emphasize
The upsurge in violence underlines
the need for continuing peace talks.
The improvement in retail sales has
underlined by these figures.
The professor underlined that the
students would not welcome these
changes.
to experience: feel
to experience
pleasure/pain/difficulty/defeat/
problems/hardships/depression/
discrimination/
changes/(wonderful)feeling
to experience sth at first hand
They experienced Chinese hospitality
at first hand.
intense: very great/very strong
intense
heat/pain/interest/anger/hatred/
jealousy/convictions(信念)
/competition/pressure/
cold/sunlight/concentration
to begin with: start
We began the meeting with a
discussion about the budget.
The movie begins with a plane crash.
The word ‘cat’ begins with the letter
‘c’.
blur (n): a shape that is difficult to
see clearly
Everything is a blur when I take my
glasses off.
but It happened so long ago that it’s
just a blur to me now.
to file: walk in line
to file past/into/in/across/out
but Please file the invoices in
chronological order.
sympathizer (n.)
to sympathize (v.)
to sympathize with sb
We sympathize deeply with the families of the
victims.
sympathy (n)
to have/feel sympathy for sb/sth
We have great sympathy for the victims of the
earthquake.
sympathetic (adj)
to feel/be sympathetic to/toward/with sb/about
sth
sympathetically (adv)
to define: state precisely the
meaning of /explain
Some words are hard to define
because they have many different
uses.
In this dictionary, ‘reality’ is defined
as the state of things as they are,
rather than as they are imagined to
be.
It’s hard to define exactly what has
changed.
to approach: come near in space,
time, quality, or quantity
Chinese New Year is approaching.
He is a good player, but doesn’t approach
international standard.
but There are several ways of approaching
(deal with) this problem/issue.
I find him difficult to approach (not easy
to talk to in a friendly way).
to approach sb about sth: go to sb for
help or support
I have approached my boss for a pay rise.
to congratulate sb (on sth)
We congratulated him on his recent promotion.
Let me congratulate you on winning the Hartford
Award!
You can congratulate yourself on having done a
good job.
but congratulations (to sb on sth)
Congratulations on a well-earned retirement after
42 years on the job.
Let me offer my hearty/sincere congratulations
upon your receiving this honor.
Congratulations on your graduation!
for (all): despite/in spite of
For all his complaining, he enjoyed
himself very much.
For all his wealth and fame, he’s a
very lonely man.
to loan: lend
Loan me five bucks, will you?
I loaned him some lunch money.
loan (n): money lent
an interest-free loan; a bank loan
to apply for/ask for/pay off/repay a loan
but Can I have a loan of your course
book/bike?
a loan shark: a lender of money at high
rate of interest
to afford: have enough money,
time, space, etc for
They had to walk because they couldn’t afford the
taxi.
I’m so busy, I can rarely afford the luxury of a
restful weekend.
to afford to do sth
I can’t afford to lose my job.
No politician can afford to ignore the power of
television.
affordable: cheap enough for ordinary people to
afford
sth to be affordable
affordable housing/childcare/prices
to recall: remember
As I recall, you still owe me 50
bucks.
The old man recalled the city as it
had been before the war.
Try to recall exactly what happened.
He recalled that he paid back the
loan over a month ago.
to convey: make known to another
person
Words cannot convey how delighted
I was.
His music conveys a sense of
optimism.
I tried to convey how grateful we all
were for his help.
She could see the look that conveyed
all the tenderness he felt for her.
to respond: reply/react
Thousands of readers responded to our
questionnaire.
Colleges responded swiftly to the demand for
new courses.
The body often responds to stress by becoming ill.
Protesters threw stones at police, who responded
with rubber bullets.
The government should listen to people and
respond to their needs.
Animals respond to kindness.
The patient responded well to drug treatment.
to assert: state something clearly
as truth/state forcefully
He asserted his innocence/opinions.
She asserted that she was innocent.
to assert one’s
rights/independence/authority (维护
自己的权利/独立性/权威)
to assert oneself 表现出自信/理直气壮
to restrain: control/prevent from
doing sth
to restrain oneself/one’s
anger/laughter/tears/impulses/
ambitions/natural urges/desire
anniversary: yearly return of the
date of an event
a wedding anniversary; the 50th
anniversary of our country’s
independence;
an anniversary celebration
to bring up: mention/educate and
care for
Don’t bring up that embarrassing
topic.
She was brought up to believe that
money is the most important thing in
life.
He was born and brought up in
Canada.
to insist: declare firmly/demand
to insist (on (doing) sth)
All right, I’ll do it, if you insist.
He insisted on his innocence, even
though the police refused to believe
him.
She still insists she wasn’t there at
the time.
to attend: be present at an event or
activity/go regularly to a place
to attend a meeting/
a class/classes/school/
the seminars/church/the funeral/the
wedding/the court
The meeting was well attended.
Hundreds attended the wedding.
to matter: be important
People need to realize that education
matters.
Winning this award matters a lot to
me.
Does it matter if I don’t take a
present?
It doesn’t matter what you wear -----
- just as long as you come.
Stay warm!
And have a
nice day!