Unit 9　Splitting a Baby

圖片來源：Gustave Doré (1832–1883)/Wikimedia Commons/PD-US

　　During ancient Israel, Solomon succeeded the place of David as a king. King Solomon was called to be the wisest leader among all nations by that time. Therefore, many from other countries admired his ways of governing people. One of his remarkable approaches he had used in court for the sake of being just to distinguish between right and wrong was cutting a baby in half.　　Now coming before King Solomon, two prostitutes were having a dispute, claiming to be the mother of the same baby. As a matter of fact, the two women resided in the same house, and one of them had a baby three days before other giving the birth of her own. Soon after that, in the middle of the night, when sleeping, the newly mother of the newer baby smothered it. She then got up and secretly exchanged the corpse with the living one on the other woman’s chest. When dawn came, the mother of the older baby woke up and was just about to nurse it, she found her baby dead. However, later under the morning light she looked closely to the infant, it was not the son she had borne. Up to this point, the other woman keenly said to King Solomon, “What she described was not true, the living baby is mine.” Then the first one insisted and shouted, “You are lying, my son is alive, and the dead one is truly yours.”

　succeed [sJk`sid] v. 繼承；成功　remarkable [rI`markJbL] adj. 非凡的；顯著的　distinguish [dI`stIGqwIS] v. 區分；辨別

　dispute [`dIspyut] n. 爭執＊smother [`smVTK] v. 使窒息而死；悶死＊corpse [kOrps] n. 死屍；屍體

　　After pondering discreetly, Solomon spotted that this conflict is not an easy case. He turned to his inferiors and said, “Bring me a sword.” He ordered to give another soldier the sword afterwards, and he said to this soldier, “Make the living child into two pieces and give half of it to one and half to the other.” As soon as Solomon gave this

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Splitting a BabyUnit

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高中英文（四） 延伸閱讀

圖片來源：Gustave Doré (1832–1883)/Wikimedia Commons/PD-US

command, he heard the first woman shrieked crying out to him, saying “No!” The first woman burst into tears and was filled with compassion for her son. Regardless of her distress, she petitioned King Solomon not to kill the baby and told the king that she would gave up owning the baby in order to save his life. No sooner had the king seen this

than he instructed the soldier to stop carrying on his order and brought the living baby back to the crying woman.　　Without any doubt and with applause, seeing the solution of this argument, the verdict of King Solomon deserves to be addressed as the wisest king of all nations. Thus, being honest cannot be emphasized enough in all we do.

　ponder [`pandK] v. 沉思；考慮；琢磨　command [kJ`mAnd] n. 指令；命令　distress [dI`strEs] n. 悲傷＊petition [pJ`tISJn] v. 請求；乞求＊applause [J`plOz] n. 鼓掌；喝采＊verdict [`vRdIkt] n. 裁定；裁決；裁斷

　burst into tears　放聲大哭；突然哭起來　regardless of　不管；不顧；不理會　no sooner ... than　一…就；剛…就　carry on　繼續　cannot be emphasized enough　再怎麼強調也不為過

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Unit 9　Splitting a Baby

Graphic Organizer

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Setting

Resolution

King Solomon was full of wisdom in ruling the country.

Two mothers were arguing for a baby.

Solomon gave instruction to split the baby.

The honest woman got her baby back.

Climax

Conflict

高中英文（四） 延伸閱讀

I. True or False: Mark T for a true statement and F for a false statement.____ 1. Solomon was David’s son.____ 2. King Solomon ruled many countries.____ 3. The two women lived together.____ 4. Both of the babies died at the end of the story.____ 5. In the story, the living baby’s mother was sad because she was being honest.

II. Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer based on the reading.____ 1. In what era did Solomon become a king?

(A) He was a king in nineteenth century.(B) He was a king in the first millennium.(C) He was a king in America one hundred years ago.(D) He was one of the kings in old Israel before Jesus Christ was born.

____ 2. What does the underlined word “dawn” in paragraph 2 mean?(A) A person’s name.(B) It is the time of a day when the sun is about to rise. (C) A witness.(D) It means noon time.

____ 3. When did the first mother notice that her baby was stolen away?(A) A little while after she was supposed to feed the baby.(B) The night before she gave the birth. (C) Three days after she had her son. (D) A little while after she saw King Solomon.

____ 4. Which of the following statements is true?(A) These two women both worked under King Solomon.(B) The two babies were twins. (C) Soldiers are people who work under the king.(D) A sword looks like scissors.

____ 5. What can we infer from this passage?(A) Lying is often not a good resolution in any cases.

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〔2. King Solomon ruled only one country, Israel.〕

〔4. In paragraph 3, the living baby was not killed in the end.〕

〔5. In paragraph 3, the mother was distressed because she was losing her child.〕

〔5. (A)說謊不是解決問題之道。(B)、(C)、(D)本文未提及。〕

〔4. (A)第二段提到這兩位婦女是妓女。(B)兩個寶寶是不同人生的。(C)士兵是國王的下屬。(D)劍的形狀和剪刀一樣。〕

〔3. (A)第二段文章中提到她起床準備餵奶後。(B)文章中並無提及。(C)三天後是另一婦人生產之日。(D)應是在見所羅門王之前。〕

〔2. (C)證人。〕

〔1. (A)、(B)、(C)本文並無提及。(D)古以色列是在西元前（BC）的年代。〕

Unit 9　Splitting a Baby

(B) Telling lies will make people lose a son.(C) People were born honest.(D) A king cannot lie to the public.

III. Match the Words: Fill in the blanks using the following words.

　　regardless of pondered govern command　　distinguish disputed honesty compassion

　　Have you ever on telling a “white lie”? A white lie is that out of good will or you tell people something false to make them feel good, but it is still a lie. Also, it is sometimes hard to truth from lies. is the best policy that helps us our lives. The following is an interesting example of people telling a white lie. One time, a pediatrician was given a to check up on a baby. Once seeing it, the doctor said, “You have a beautiful baby.” Though looking pleased, the mother , “I bet you tell all the parents that, the look of a baby.” “I say this only to the parents whose babies are cute,” replied the doctor. “What do you say then?” asked the mother curiously, “the baby looks just like you,” the doctor answered.

主題閱讀文章中譯：剖開嬰孩

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高中英文（四） 延伸閱讀

　　在古代時期的以色列，所羅門繼承了大衛的王位而成了國王。在當代的列國間，所羅門被稱譽為是最有智慧的領袖，所以有許多來自其他國家的人都很仰慕他的治國之道。於所羅門的治理之道中，其中一個令人讚嘆的例子是發生於法庭內─為了秉持公義，正確判斷對錯，所羅門使用了一個對策─就是將嬰孩剖成對半。　　當時有兩個妓女為了爭奪一個嬰孩而來到所羅門王的面前請求判決。事情是這樣的，原來此二女同住一個屋簷下，其中一個婦女先生產了一個寶寶，三天後另一婦女也產下一個兒子。不久後的一個午夜，這位較晚出生嬰孩的媽媽在睡覺時，不小心壓到了她的孩子而將他悶死。於是她暗地裡將這屍體和那活著躺在較早生產婦女胸前的嬰兒掉包了。黎明乍起，這第一位婦女醒來正準備餵奶的時候，她發現寶寶死了。但稍後當她再次在較亮的日光下仔細的看著嬰兒時，她發現那不是她當初所生產的小孩。此刻，另一個婦女激動的對所羅門王說:「她剛說的都是假的，那活著的寶寶是我的。」第一位婦女堅持地大叫說:「妳說謊，我的孩子還活著。那死掉的才是你真正的兒子。」　　所羅門王愼謹地思考後，他認為這衝突不好解決，於是他對下屬說：「呈上一把劍來。」再來，他命令將此劍交給另一士卒。他並對此士卒下令，說：「將這活著小孩劈成兩半，讓這兩個婦女各拿一半。」所羅門王一下了這命令，他就聽見第一個婦女以尖銳的聲音呼求著說：「不可以！」那婦人因心疼她的孩子，便隨即大哭了起來。她顧不得心中的哀傷，請求所羅門王不要殺害她的孩子，並且為了救那孩子的命她願意放棄她的兒子把他給另一婦人。所羅門王見此況，立即下令士兵停止執行早先的命令，並將那活著的孩子歸給這哭泣的婦人。　　帶著無庸置疑的掌聲，看這場爭議的結果，就因所羅門王的裁定，他真是值得被稱為是列國中最有智慧的國王。因此，不管做什麼事，秉持誠實的品格真的是太重要了。

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