Unit Three

When Lightning Struck

Pre-reading questions

Have you encountered an accident? What was it?

lightning

Lightning

a powerful flash of light in the sky caused by electricity and usually followed by thunder

Lightning flashed overhead. like lightning extremely quickly lightning never strikes twice something b

ad or unpleasant is not likely to happen to the same people or in the same place twice

Have you read anything about an air crash before? How did it strike you?

TW China Airlines( 07.8.20)

aircrash

Natural and Man-made Disasters Flood Landslide Mudstone flow Tsunami Earthquake Cyclone/ typhoon / hurricane / tornado Car accident Disease Nuclear, biological & chemical terrorism, etc.

Tips: Misfortune is a good teacher. 不幸是良师。

Misfortunes tell us what fortune is. 经过灾难方知福。 Misfortunes test the sincerity of friends. 患难见友情。

Value, cherish, treat others and do everything with heart and soul, filial children, sincere friend, responsible parents, sweet beloved, moral citizen

Some words:

“Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life.”

---Hellen Keller

Suppose you were on a plane, which, suddenly got hit by a lightning and needed emergency landing. The attendant now ask the passengers to write down their “last words”, what will you say? Or you have only three days to live, what will you do?

I am about to——or I am going to——die ； either expression is used.

—— Dominique Bouhours ， French grammarian ， dying words

We should…

We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us.

Type of writing

situation problem actions conclusion

where

when who whathow

Narration

Theme

Love among people To eulogize such nice people

Structural analysis

Paragraphs 1-4 These four paragraphs are introductory

paragraphs, telling about the setting and the unexpected happening, and introducing main characters.

Paragraph 1 is about the happening of the terrible accident.

Paragraph 2 is about the girl sitting next to the author.

Paragraph 3 is about a young businessman.

Paragraph 4 is about emergency measures and procedures.

Questions about Paragraphs 1-4

What do you know about the girl Who was seating beside the author?

Why did the young businessman look worried?

What did the pilot decide to do?

Language Points 1 lightning: He runs as fast as lightening. The tower has been struck by lightning.

Lighten v. Become lighter in weight Be relieved of care or worry Make brighter

Lighten the burden/duty/ His face lightened as she apologized

I felt the slamming jolt, and then the horrible swerve that threw me against the door.

I felt the sudden, forceful, and loud shaking of our plane, and then its terrible turning aside that pushed me against the door.

close, shut, slam 这些动词均有“关”之意。

close 〓较多地用于正式或庄重的文体中，如关闭铁路、公路以及其它交通渠道，要用 close 。shut 〓着重关闭的动作、过程和方式手段。slam 〓象声词，指“砰的关上”，或用力关上。

The motorist had to ________ to avoid  knocking the old woman down in the middle of the road.A. swerve           B. twist           C. depart          D. swing

汽车驾驶员不得不突然转向，以避免撞到路中间的老妇人。答案： A

swerve    （移动时）突然转向，转弯      【 to turn suddenly to one side （when moving along）】twist         扭动，扭曲depart       启程，离开swing        摇摆，急速转向 【 to （ cause to） turn quickly round】

Oh Lord, this is it! Lord: an expression of surprise, fear, worry, etc. in such collocati

ons as “oh Lord!” and “Good Lord!” 一些女性用得较多表示感叹的词组 这类词组有 or dear, dear me, (good) gracious, (my)goodness等，表示惊异、不耐烦、难过等，这与汉语中的“天哪”有点相近：Oh dear! Why should you be so stubborn? 天啊！你怎么这样固执？Dear me, I didn't know you were so sharp-tongued. 嗨，不知道你的嘴竟然这样厉害。My goodness! How could you work so fast! 我的天，你怎么干得这么快！Goodness what a big cake! （我的）天哪，这么大的蛋糕！Gracious, what an ugly house. 天呀，这房子真难看！Good gracious! (Goodness gracious!)Is that the time? 天呀，已经是这个时候啦？Gracious me! What have you done to your hair? 我的天，你把头发弄成什么样子了？

一些男性用得较多的表示感叹的词组 这类词组有 oh Lord, Good Heavens, H

eavens, Good lord 等，也表示惊异、不高兴等情绪：Good lord, it's you! 我的老天，原来是你！Oh Lord, what shall we do now? 天啦，我们现在怎么办？O Lord, can a cabbage grow that big? 啊天哪， 白菜能长这么大？Good Heavens! It'll get into the papers. 天哪，这会登到报上去的。Heavens, what a cold room! 吓，这房间真冷！

This is it!

这就是了 在谈话中，说到了你认为是关键的话，你可以说 This is it. 表示「这就是我们需要搞清楚的重点」，你也可以说 This is it. 表示「这就是我们在等待的」。

Somehow I managed to unbolt the door and scramble out.

By some means, I succeeded in releasing the bolt of the door and getting out of the bathroom.

Unbolt: unlock; release the bolts of The chimpanzee has learnt how to unbolt

the door and go out of the cage.

Scramble: (1) climb esp. over a rough or steep surface quickly, or cr

awl over usu. rough ground with difficulty. The boys scrambled over the wall. (2) struggle or compete with others, esp. to get sth. or a sh

are of sth. The children scrambled for the coins. It was raining cats and dogs, and many people were scra

mbling madly for shelter. (3) mix the whites and yolks of eggs together while cookin

g them scrambled eggs

Strap:1.To fasten or secure with a strap. 2. to beat with a strap

他用带子把包捆在自行车上。 He strapped the bag onto his bicycle. 现在有很多年轻人被助学贷款，昂贵的房租和各

种各样的信用卡捆住了。 Many youngsters are now strapped by schooling

loans, expensive rent and all kinds of credit cards.

Strap in: 你给孩子系好安全带了吗？ Have you strapped your child in?

As I lunged toward my seat… As I suddenly rushed forward in the direction of my seat… Lunge: make sudden forceful forward movements of the b

ody, often to make an attack She lunged at me with a knife.

Stricken expression an expression as if affected by sth. overwhelming, such as

disease, trouble or painful emotions

in a high school geography bee in a geography competition at a high school; in a geograph

y contest at a high school bee (1) a stinging insect that makes sweet honey, lives in

a large social groups and is opposed to be very busy. I have been as busy as a bee these days, fully occupied w

ith teaching and writing. (2) (AmE.Infml) a social gathering where people meet for

work, competition, and amusement All housewives in the neighborhood held a sewing bee. (3) (old fashioned ) friendly competition All the pupils got excellent grades in the spelling bee.

The laptop was put away the laptop was put in the place where it was usually ke

pt. Nowadays, some people have two computers: one a de

sktop and the other a laptop. Put away (1) put sth. in the place where it is usually kept He is in the habit of putting the books away after he rea

ds them. (2) put by (money); save for later use As an economical wife, she puts away some money ea

ch month.

Put away

你应该为老年而储蓄一些钱。 You should put some money away for your old

age. 把书收起来整齐地放在橱里 Put the books away neatly in the cupboard. 我存了一大笔钱。 I have a nice sum of money put away 她摒弃一切成见 . She put away all prejudices.

vaguely: (1) indistinctly; in a shape or form which is not clearl

y seen On the misty hillside, we could see vaguely some s

heep coming through the mist. (2) described or expressed in a way or manner whic

h is not clear These clauses in the contract are rather vaguely wo

rded.

vague vogue vulgar 模糊的 时尚的 庸俗的

New Orleans: the chief city of Louisiana, U.S.A. and the country’s second largest port for foreign trade, on the Mississippi River 160 miles from its mouth. Before the American Civil War, New Orleans was well known for its slave trade and for its exports of cotton.

…. The emergency procedures she had reviewed before takeoff.

Before the plane took off, the flight attendant had carefully instructed the whole set of actions or steps that the passengers must take in the face of an emergency, an unexpected and dangerous happening which must be dealt with at once.

Procedure:Procedure:

在第一次会议上大部分时间都花在程序德建立上了，因此我们直到第二次谈判才开始实际的业务。

So much time was spent establishing the procedure at our first meeting that we did not start any actual business until our second.

What is the correct procedure for renewing your car tax?

The new work procedure is a great improvement on / over the old one.

… always figuring that if we ever got to the point where we needed to use the jackets, I would have already died of terror…..

…always thinking that if we ever came to the critical juncture where we had to put on life jackets, I would have already died of fear.

the subjunctive mood, figure : vt: consider, believe 我觉得我赢的机会几乎是零。 I figured that my chances of getting win was roug

hly zero.

Para. 5-9 This part narrate and picture the feelings, thoug

ht, and actions of the writer, the kindness of the glamorous young woman and the behaviour of other fellow passengers when confronted with danger.

Paragraph5– the writer paragraph6,7– the young woman Paragraph 8– the writer’s feeling Paragraph 9– the writer’s friend

Questions about Paragraphs 5-9

Q: How did the writer reassure the high school girl?

Q: How did the glamorous young woman comfort the writer?

Q: Why did the writer feel pround of her fellow passenger?

Now we began a roller-coaster ride through the thunderclouds

Now we started a pretty rough flight through the thunderclouds as our plane began to roll steeply and swerve sharply.

Here, a roller-coaster ride is used metaphorically. The author’s pretty rough ride through the thunderclouds in the plane which was rolling and swerving dramatically is compared vividly to a roller-coaster ride.

Roller coaster: a small railway with open cars, steep slopes and sharp curves, usually found in, amusement parks, etc.

Many children find it great fun to take a ride on a roller coaster.

I pulled myself together I controlled myself./ I controlled my feelings. Pull oneself together: control oneself; to becom

e calm after being excited or disturbed. 过了一段时间他才从震惊中恢复过来，重新镇定

了下来。 It took some time for him to recover from the shock and pull

himself together . 他经历世事沉浮，但总能设法使自己重新振作起

来。 He had his ups and downs, but he had always managed to

pull herself together.

I reached for her hand and reassured her that we were going to make it

I held out my hand to take hers, comforted her and restored her confidence by saying that we would manage to have a safe and sound journey home.

“After this, London’s going to seem like small potatoes”

Small potatoes: insignificant or unimportant persons or things

He was only a small potato in the play. They are not small potatoes; instead they are bigwig

s.

small potato: 任何无用或无价值的东西“，特别指的是无名气的”小人物“。

反义词：大人物 big potato small beer 也表示“小人物，无足轻重的人 / 事 eg. Don‘t listen to Henry; he’s small beer. 不要听亨

利的，他没什么分量。 somebody nobody something nothing 此外 Jack-a-Lent 本意是 " 小玩偶 " ，也可以用来表

示 " 小人物 " 。

不少英语字词似是而非，千万不要望文生义，而误入陷阱。不少英语字词似是而非，千万不要望文生义，而误入陷阱。

如：如： Five-finger: “ 贼”，类似汉语的“三只手”，而不

是一种“五指”。 At sixes and sevens:“乱七八糟”，而 和“六”无关。 a chalkiness day:“ 良晨吉日”，而不是一种“大白天”。

Yellow book:“ 法国政府或议会的报告书”，而不是

一种“黄色书刊”。 White lie:“善意的谎言”，而和 “白色” 无关。 White smith:“银匠，锡匠”，而不是“白人史密斯”。

Green power;“金钱的力量”，而不是“绿色国家”。

Cats and dogs :“杂物，价值低的股票”，而不是“猫

和狗”或“狗事猫事”。 Couch potato:“电视迷”，而不是一种“沙发土豆”。

Take French leave:“ 不告而别”，而不是一种“请法国假”。

Dutch uncle ：“唠唠叨叨的人”，而不是一种“荷兰

大叔”。Go Dutch ：“ 各人自己付钱”，而不是“去荷兰”。

pull one’s leg ：“愚弄某人”，而不是“拉后腿”。 dumb as an oyster ：“守口如瓶”，而不是“不能说话的牡蛎”。

glamorous full of or characterized by charm. Her smile is so glamorous that no one can resist her charm. The glamorous woman has been an air hostess for almost 20 years.表示有魅力的同义词fascinating: extremely interestingeg.The book offers a fascinating glimpse of the lives of the rich and famous attractive: very pleasing in appearance or sound, or causing interest or pleasure eg.a very attractive young woman charming ： pleasant and attractive eg. We had dinner with our director and his charming wife. intriguing:Causing a desire to know more; mysterious. eg. I can't say the plot of the story is so very intriguing enchanting:Having the ability to enchant; charming, delightful. eg. If you don't mind my saying so, your smile is quite enchanting. seductive:having alluring or tempting qualities eg. She tempted him with a seductive dance.

魅力的程度比较

attractivecharming/ intriguing

enchanting/seductive

the female equivalent of the confident businessman a confident businesswoman

equivalent: adj. equal; of the same amount, position, value, etc.

He changed his pounds for the equivalent amount in dollars.

Changing his job like that is equivalent to giving him the sack.

n. sth. equivalent; sth. equal Some American words have no British equivalents.

confide disclose private matters in confidence Jane felt she could only confide in her mother. He came and confided to me that she had spent five y

ears in prison.

“the problems I brought up on this plane with me sure don’t seem real big right now,”

“the problems I brought to attention on this plane with me surely don’t seem really serious right now.”

sure: (adv. American colloquial word) surely. Certainly, undoubtedly

The boy sure is tall. real (adv. American colloquial word ) very I am real sorry.

indiscriminate: (1 ).unselective; not showing the ability to make judg

ments or to see a difference. My wife has an indiscriminate taste in music. We do not like her indiscriminate application of cos

metics. (2)unrestrained; without careful thought or planning Though she is not rich, she is fond of indiscriminat

e spending. Her indiscriminate use of money is in sharp contrast

to her husband’s economical use of his income.

I was sure that even if I survived the plane crash, I would have a couple of broken fingers from all the TLC:

I was certain/ I firmly believed that even I lived through the air crash, I would have a couple of broken fingers from all the tender loving care/ as a result of her soulful squeezes.

TLC: an acronym coined by the writer, standing for tender loving care.

No one panicked: No one was very much affected with panic. / No one was overw

helmed or overpowered by panic. Panic: n./adj/v (panicked; panicking) Seeing the hijacker, everyone was panicking. The crowd panicked at the sound of the explosion.

alarm, fear, fright, horror, panic, terror, dread这些名词均含“恐惧、惧怕、惊恐”之意

alarm ：强调突然意识到有危险而产生的恐惧心理。 fear ：普通用词，侧重指面临危险或灾祸时内心所引起的恐惧心情。

fright ：通常指一阵突然的、令人震惊的短暂恐惧，有时含夸张意味。

horror ：侧重指因看到令人讨厌或危险的东西或情景而引起的厌恶情绪、极度恐惧心情或战栗的动作。

panic ：常指因突如其来的外界威胁使人群出现惊慌、恐惧或混乱。

terror ：指极大的恐惧和惊骇，语气最强。 dread ：可与 fear换用，着重害怕的心理，但 dre

ad常指胆怯和丧失勇气。

As we jolted and screeched our way downward, I could hear small pockets of soothing conversation everywhere:

As our plane was shaking forcefully downward, making a high pitched noise, we could hear small groups of people talking to, comforting and soothing each other and there in the plane.

screech: (1)shriek; make an unpleasant high sharp

sound, esp. because of terror or pain (2)(of a machine, esp. of tires or brakes) make a

high sharp noise

Paragraphs 10-12

These paragraphs are about what the passengers saw and did after they landed safely.

Paragraph 10– passengers reaction to the safe landing.

Paragraph11 – writer phoning her husband.

Paragraph 12—writer’s emotional feeling after parting from the people

Questions about Paragraphs 10-12

How did the passengers react to their safe landing?

What acts of kindness were done after the safe landing?

What had the writer’s husband been complaining about?

.--- to transfer us to alternative flights to get us moved to other flights that would take us to our

respective destinations. Transfer: (1) (cause to ) move or change from one vehicle to another in the

course of a journey At London we transferred from the train to a bus. (2)move from one place, job, position, etc. to another The head office has been transferred from London to Cardiff. He has got himself transferred from a rural school to an urban

one.

We chatted about the lives we now felt blessed to be living, as difficult or rocky as they might be.

In our talk now, we expressed our gratitude to God for the good luck in our lives, which might be very hard and uncertain.

lament: (1) grieve audibly; wail We lamented for a friend’s death. (2)express sorrow or regret for The royal members lamented the passing of the aristocr

atic society. (3) complain about sth. She is always lamenting the lack of sports facilities in to

wn.

Grieve Mourn Lament 区别 Grieve: 悲伤；难过 形容承受巨大的悲伤。作不及物动词时，强调内心的真诚悲伤，具有持久性；作及物动词时，指使悲伤、使难过。

It grieves me to see you in such pain. Mourn: 哀悼；哀痛 尤指因为某人的过世而让你感到悲伤；可以事显现于外表

的哀痛，也可指哭泣。对于某事物不复存在或消失，也可以用该词形容。

The child still mourned the loss of his mother. Lament: 悲叹；哀悼 对某事表现出悲伤，有时也包含后悔、失望等情绪；也可

指对某人的死或不幸表示哀痛。 He lamented his thoughtless acts.

He had been complaining that he was not getting to see very much of me because of my book tour.

He had been voicing dissatisfaction or unhappiness, saying that he was not able to see me quite often because I had been on my book tour

see very much of sb.: see somebody quite often or frequently

They have seen very much of each other recently.

book tour: a tour made by an author for the promotion of his or her book recently published

I felt almost tearful to be parting from the people whose lives had so intensely, if briefly, touched mine.

I felt that I was on the point of shedding tears when I was saying goodbye to the people whose lives had so strongly influenced mine even though for a short time

cling to :粘紧 , 附着 , 紧贴 , 坚持 ( 意见 ), 墨守 (习惯 ) PP. clung, clung树叶上挂满露珠，树看上去清新葱绿。Dew drops clinging on their leaves, the trees looked green and fresh. stick  adhere  cohere  cling

都含“粘着”、“坚持”的意思。stick 是常用词 , 指“好象用某种粘结物使粘着或结合在一起 ", 如 :He always sticks to his word.他总是信守诺言。adhere属正式用语 , 语意比 stick强 , 指“自动地或义务地忠于一理想、事业、领导人等 ", 如 :adhere to the Party's policy坚持党的方针。cohere 指“粘合在一起 " 、“团结一致 ", 如 :There are moral principles by which society coheres.有些道德法则使社会得以团结一致。cling 指“紧抱 " 、“坚守 ", 如 :cling to one's own view.坚持己见。

blessed[blesid]: crooked, learned, naked, wicked, wreched, rugged Bitter pills may have blessed effects.

• an‘ticipate: vt.  预期 ,  期望 ,  过早使用 ,  先人一着 ,  占先• anticipate+ + n/ gerundhope ， anticipate ， await这些动词均有“希望，期待”之意。

hope 指希望得到积极、有利的结果，所期待的可能实现，也可能不会实现。anticipate 指对未来的期望，一般是对好事的期待。await书面用词，指对将要或预料要发生的事怍于期待状态。

in'tense; adj: Extreme in degree, strength, or size__intensity n. infensify. v. 紧张的评估工作过后，我们现在放松了。 After intense work for the evaluation was done, we are now r

elaxed. knowledge-intensive industry 知识密集型的产业 technology-intensive技术密集型的 The examination is labor-intensive and time-consumi

ng. 这种检查方法费力又费时。 graphics-intensive有许多图案的 ICU ----intensive care unit 大陆 ICU叫“重症监护病房” 香港 ICU叫 “深切关怀病房”

Paragraphs 13-14

The ending part of the text Paragraph 13 – the writer’s frequently

remembering the accident. Paragraph 14 – the purpose of writing

the text.

Questions about Paragraphs 13-14

Why does the writer sometimes look up at an airplane?

For what is the writer indebted to her fellow passengers?

What is the most important thing the writer thinks she ought to do?

terra firma: (Latin) dry land After such a rough voyage, we were glad to reach t

erra firma again. terra ，意为 earth （ parterre 花坛 , subterranean

地下 , terrace阳台 , terrarium水晶球 , territory领土 )

fateful: (1) vitally affecting subsequent events; being of gre

at consequence The commander made a fateful decision to counter-

attack. (2) controlled by or as if by fate; predetermined His death seemed quite fateful.

…for the many acts of kindness I witnessed and received. … for the many good deeds/ kind favors they had done to

me and to others.

I am indebted to my fellow passengers for their kindness and wish I could pay them back

I am very grateful/thankful to my fellow passengers for their kindness and friendship and wish I could return kindness for their kindness.

clutch: (1) seize (sth./ sb.) eagerly He clutched the rope we threw to him. (2) hold (sth./ sb.) tightly in the hand(s) Mary was clutching her doll to her chest.

take, grasp, grab, grip, clasp, clutch, snatch, seize这些动词均有“抓住，握紧”之意。take : 最普通用词，不带感情色彩。指用手抓、取某东西或控制某物。grasp : 指紧紧抓住、抓牢。grab : 指粗暴而急迫的抓住。grip: 语气比 grasp强，指用手的最大力量紧紧抓住。clasp : 指用手紧握或用臂紧抱。clutch : 强调匆忙、紧急地抓、抓紧。snatch : 指突然抢走，侧重动作更快或更具暴力性质。

seize : 指突然抓住某物，强调突然的猛烈动作。

… I feel struck by lightning all over again. … I feel as if I were shocked by lightning all over

again./ … all of a sudden, I come to realize I have become enlightened.

--- the point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on

---the most important point is not to return kindness for kindness, but to spread it and make it well known to people who are younger or come later.