四川外国语大学面积-倒数的认识教学设计
Lesson 6
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Author
Rod
Serling
is
one
of
the
leading
television
playwrights
today
in
the
United States,
best known for his science fiction TV series,
The Twilight
Zone
.
This
little
play,
adapted
from
Tomorrow
Scholastic
Literature
Anthology is a kind of science
fiction(
科幻小说
). The author obviously
is not just telling us an interesting
story. He has sth. else to tell us, and it
is important for us to understand his
message. The present text is Act One
of
the play, which will be studied intensively. The
climax(
高潮
)
，
however,
will be reached in Act Two, which is
printed here as TextB.
Text
Analysis
?
Plot
: Chaos on Maple Street due to the suspicion of the attack of
ETs as
being called Monsters
?
Setting
: Maple Street in a typical American town
?
Protagonists
: Residents
?
Language style:
go to Writing Devices
Ellipsis:
Ellipsis is common in speaking. Some elements in a sentence are
dropped.
e.g.
“Guess it was…” should be”I guess…”
“Came
awful close…” should be”I came awful
close…”
Introduction:
This is a short 2-act play. In reading a play, first we should
learn about the setting
or background, and get to know the characters and
their relations to each other; then we
must find out what is happening (the
plot
and
the
dramatic
conflict),
and
understand
how
the
drama
leads
to
the
climax or how the dramatic conflict is resolved.
For language, plays
are
particularly
good
for
learning
spoken
English.
Students
should
pay
particular
attention
to
the
pronunciation and
intonation,
as
well
as
such
special
features
of
oral
English
as
contractions,
ellipses
and
colloquial
expressions. Students
are strongly advised to act out the whole play.
Theme of the story:
In
this
play,
the
author
seems
to
emphasize
three
fatal
human
weaknesses: our deep
suspicion and distrust of one another, our
eagerness
to find a
scapegoat
替罪羊
, and our readiness to turn into a mob
乌合之
众
. It implies that if we human beings want to be really safe, we must kill
1
those monsters in our hearts: we should
try to understand and trust each
other,
to
be
less
eager
to
assign
blame,
and
to
resist
the
kind
of
group
(mob) mentality
which too often results in violence and tragedy.
Morality
:
This text is written in the
tradition of science fiction. Science fiction
usually
describes
imaginary
future
developments
in
science.
But
unlike
“
Round
the
World
in
80
Days
”
by
Jules
Verne,
today
’
s
science
fiction
often
tries
to
give
a
moral
message.
Therefore,
they
are
more
“
fiction
”
than
“
science
”
. The present text is a good example.
Questions:
How do you understand the title of the text?
How did the story take place?
What were people’s first reactions to this?
Why did Tommy try to stop Steve from going away?
How did Goodman become the first suspect?
Detailed Discussion of the Text
?
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street(title)
to be due:
to be expected to happen or arrive at a particular time
预期的
The
train is due in exactly 20 minutes.
on
Maple Street:
美国英语中，街道名称前用
on;
英国英语中用
in.
Q:
Who
are
the
monsters?
Are
they
really
responsible
for
all
the
troubles that happen on Maple Street?
Where are the real monsters?
The
title
of
the
play:
the
“monsters”
seem
to
refer
to
those
ETs
(extraterrestrial
[
′
?
kstr
?
t
?
′
r
?
str
?
?
l]
外星人
beings)
who
are
out
to
destroy us human beings on earth (the e
arthlings
（科幻小说中，尤指相对外
星人的）地球人
or earth people ). Or simply to say, the monsters refer to
the aliens
from the outer space.
While
they trigger a chain of reactions on Maple Street,
they are not
really responsible for all
the troubles they happen there.
When we
finish the play, however, we realize that monsters
actually
live
in
our
own
hearts
and
lie
in
the
weakness
of
human
nature,
namely,
the
deep
suspicion
and
of
one
another,
the
eagerness
to
find
a
scapegoat
替罪羊
, and the readiness to turn into a mob. Because of our
weaknesses
or
wicked
ways,
we
tend
to destroy
each
other
or
seek
our
2
own destruction. This, and not the ETs,
is our real enemy and real danger.
?
It is Maple Street, a quiet, tree-lined, residential street in a typical
American town. (Para. 1)
The
sequence of adjectives:
Opinion: beauti
ful
，
horrible
，
lovely
，
nice, etc.
Shape:
long
，
short
，
round, narrow, etc.
Age:
old
，
new
，
young, etc.
Colour:
red, black, orange, etc.
Origin:
British, Canadian, German, etc.
Material: plastic
，
me tal
，
aluminum, etc.
[
?
′
lu
′
m
?
n
?
m]
铝
residential:
adj.
住宅的
residence
n.
居住
resident
n.
居民
,
住户
reside
[r
?
′
za
?
d] vi.
居住
;
定居
dwell , inhabit, live
Their residential building is
located next to the park.
The reality
resides in the people.
the resident population
现住人口
dwelling
n.
a house, apartment etc where people live
(
正式
)
住处，住宅
dwell
v.
dweller
n.
?
lean against sth:
up against
She was leaning against
a wall with her face buried in her hands.
?
A Good Humor man (Para. 1)
A
man
who
sells
Good
Humor
products
or
works
for
Good
Humor
Company
“Good Humor” is a
brand of ice cream that is sold in the United
States.
?
to gossip(Para. 1):
vi.
传播流言
,
说长道短
She can spend a
whole day gossiping with her neighbours.
她能一整天都跟邻居们说长道短。
n.
a person who likes talking about other people's private lives
爱拨
弄是非的人
She is an old gossip.
她是一个长舌妇。
Gossipy: adj.
爱闲谈的
?
Another man waters his lawn. (Para. 1)
3
Like “water”,
the following nouns can also be used as
verbs:
land, screw
用螺钉固定
, face, back, grade, store, question, fish, book,
ship, paper:
(
cover with
wallpaper)
用墙纸覆盖（洞，污点）
, truck(
drive
a
truck)
驾驶卡车
, bike, dust
除去?的灰尘
, etc.
?
…
looks
up
and
listens
to
the
sound of
a
tremendous roar
from
overhead. (Para. 2)
a
terrible continuous loud noise, especially made by
animals like lions,
or by a man or a
machine.
?
A flash of light plays on his face, …
（
Para. 2
）
If light plays on
something, it shines on it and moves about on it.
译文
:
一道亮光划过他的脸，
·
·
·
·
·
·
?
…
the
man
who
has
been
polishing
his
car,
stands
there
speechless
, …
（
Para. 2
）
Subject
complement
modifying
“the
man”.
It
is
not
used
to
modify
the verb
“stands”.
e.g.
The sun was burning hot.
He was
lying there, fast asleep.
Three months
later, she came back home, penniless.
?
…
from across the street.
（
Para. 2
）
Note4
Pay attention to the use of double
prepositions.
e.g. He jumped out from
behind the tree.
?
What was that? A meteor?
（
Para. 3
）
Note5
?
…
I didn
’
t hear any crash, though, did you?
（
Para. 4
）
Note6
?
Guess it was a meteor, honey. Came awful close, didn
’
t it?
（
7
）
Ellipsis is common in speaking. In both
of the sentences above, the
subject is
dropped. The full sentence is
“
I guess it was a meteor, honey.
It came
awful close, didn
’
t it?
”
Awful:
adj.
a. very bad or unpleasant
e.g.
a really awful book
The weather
was awful.
I felt awful about not being
able to help.
b. [only before noun]
spoken
used to emphasize how much or how
good, bad, etc. sth. is
e.g.
an awful lot = a very large amount
4
It made him look like an awful fool.
c. look/feel awful:
to look or feel ill
You look awful
―
what
’
s wrong with you ?
adv. AmE
spoken
awfully; very
很；非常
That
kid
’
s awful cute, with her red curls.
Awe:
[U] a feeling of respect mixed with fear and wonder.
敬畏、
惊惧
.
Eg. He always stood in awe of his father.
Awesome:
expressing or causing feelings of awe.
令人敬畏的，
惊
惧的。
an awesome account of the terrors of war.
Q: Who is he addressing?
He is
addressing his wife. That is why he uses the word
“
honey
”
here.
?
… the power is off.
（
Para. 10
）
… There is no power; power is no longer
connected. “Off” he
re indicates
a state of not working or operating (of
a machine or electrical appliance).
Its
opposite is “on”.
?
I can’t get anybody on the phone, either. (Para.
11)
I can’t get anybody
to answer the phone.
?
I’ll cut through the back yard…
I
’
ll be right back. (Para. 16)
I’ll cut across/go right through the back yard
rather than go around it
in order to
save time
…
I
’
ll be back very soon; I won
’
t stay there.
cut through a place:
cut (sth.) with sharp metal through(sth.)
穿过
,
挤进
e.g.
I
’
ll cut through the backyard.
We can cut our way through
the forest with knives.
?
Doesn’t make sense. (Para. 17)
to have a clear meaning and be easy to
understand
A complete form of
the sentence is
: It doesn’t make sense.
“It doesn’t have any
reason or explanation.” or “I can’t understand
it.”
e.g.
No matter how I tried to read it, the sentence didn’t make (any) sense
(to me).
?
Maybe it
’
s an electrical storm or sth. (Para. 18)
“
or
sth.
”
is
used
when
you
can
’
t
remember
or
don
not
want
to
give
another example
of sth. you are talking about.
e.g. I
get you sth. to drin
k
—
tea, coffee, or sth?
5