许国璋英语第二册 Lesson 5

许国璋英语第二册 Lesson 5

Words to the text
Cox
San Francisco
city
coast
period
each
meet
supply
check
assignment
assign
steadily
punctuation
composition
literature
favorate
subject
poem
pour
heartbreakingly
heart breaking
wonder
enjoy
keen
viewer
view
TV
theater
TV theater
recognize
title
recent
contain
lively
message
accomplish
bored
bore
once
guide
Words to the dialogue
general
general cleaning
broom
dust pan
mop
as well
down stairs
to fight
furniture
tidy up
Text
A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
Mrs. Cox teaches English in a high school in San Francisco, a big city on the West Coast of the United States. She had wanted to become a teacher when she was young. She has taught eight years now and always enjoyed her work.
A school day at Mrs. Cox's high school is divided into six periods of one hour each. Mrs. Cox teaches five of these six periods. During her "free" period from 2 to 3 p.m., Mrs. Cox has to meet with parents, order supplies, make out examinations, check assignments, and take care of many other things. So Mrs. Cox works steadily from the time she arrives at school in the morning until she leaves for home late in the afternoon, and her "free" period isn't really free at all.
An English teacher usually divides her time among three subjects: language (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.), composition, and literature. Mrs. Cox's favourite subject is literature, and her most exciting classes are those on the literature of Black Americans. For Mrs. Cox, like most of the students in her school, is Black.
In her sixth period today, Mrs. Cox taught a poem by a well-known Black writer in the United States. She wrote the poem on the blackboard and read it aloud.
No sooner had she finished reading the poem than students' questions began pouring in. One boy said the poem was heartbreakingly sad. Another student, a girl, said she had read a book by the same writer, but she wasn't able to enjoy it as much as her mother did, and she didn't know why. A third, a keen viewer of TV theatre, recognized a phrase in the poem which had been used as the title of a recent play. As she answered the questions, Mrs. Cox made sure that her students understood every line of the poem. She asked them to discuss if the poem contained any message. The discussion became so lively that no one wanted to stop when the bell rang. Some said there was no message, some said there was, some said it really didn't matter, and the class ended at that.
As she drove home, Mrs. Cox thought about the class she had just left. Today she could feel good about what she had accomplished as a teacher. Not one of her students looked bored. Every one of them seemed interested in the poem. Once they started to talk, they forgot about the time. She did not have to make them learn; she only had to answer their questions and to guide the discussion. This, she thought to herself, is what teaching is all about!
Dialogue
General cleaning
Comrades, let's start cleaning.
But where are the things? We need a broom, a dust pan and a mop.
They are down stairs. I will go and get them. Shall I fetch a pail of water as well?
Yes, please. Now, let's divide up the work. Wangming can sweep the floor and I will mop it. Xiaoyou can dust the furniture. Yangling can clean the window, while Wuying tidies up the room.
Let's do a good job today.