Reading and Language Reading and Language ActivitiesActivities

Part IIPart II

Book 3-Unit 5

Pre-reading Task

Comprehension Work

Language Work

Reading and Language Activities

Book 3-Unit 5Return to Menu

1. What do your family always do to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New year? List at least three things.

2. Are there any differences between the ways city people and people in the country celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year?

3. Do you think the Spring Festival is less festive than before?

4. What should we do to keep the most important traditional Chinese festival—the Spring Festival?

Discuss the following questions.

Book 3-Unit 5

Discovering the Spring Festival 

Items 

Your Observation 

Main Customs

 

 

Decorations 

 

 

Legends  

 

 

Changes 

 

Taboos 

 

Greetings 

house cleaning, shopping sprees for the Spring Festival, stay up all night/late on New Year’s Eve to guard against possible evils, temple fairs, setting off fireworks

New Year couplets, paper cut-out pictures, paper cuts, Yang Liuqing woodblock painting, Chinese New Year pictures, Chinese knots, Chinese lantern, upside-down Fu

some taboos that are out of practice; new ways of celebrations: traveling, eating out in restaurants on Lunar New Year’s eve, etc; ban on fireworks in cities

the legend of the monster Year (nian), the legend of the God of Wealth, the Gate God in Chinese myth

Book 3-Unit 5

1. For years, people believe that they should not get a haircut during the first two days of the Lunar New Year, as this could cause the death of someone in the family.

2. Another old convention told that bad luck would shadow anyone who shed blood on New Year’s Day.

3. Another New Year’s no-no is using scissors and kitchen knives. Therefore, in the past, many tailors stopped work for a few days.

4. The entire house should be cleaned before New Year’s Day. On New Year's Eve, all brooms, brushes, dusters, dustpans and other cleaning equipment are put away. Sweeping or dusting should not be done on New Year's Day for fear that good fortune will be swept away.

Taboos

Book 3-Unit 5

5. Everyone should refrain from using foul language and bad or unlucky words. Negative terms and the word “four” /SI/, which sounds like the word for death, are not to be uttered. Death and dying are never mentioned and ghost stories are totally taboo. References to the past year are also avoided, as everything should be turned toward the New Year and a new beginning. On New Year’s Day, people are not supposed to wash their hair because it would mean washing away good luck for the New Year.

Book 3-Unit 5

Greetings

1. Best wishes for the year to come!2. Good luck in the year ahead!3. May you come into a good fortune!4. Live long and prosper.5. May many fortunes find their way to you!6. I wish you longevity and health.

Book 3-Unit 5

Text Summary

Text Organization

Questions for Discussion

Difficult Sentences

Story Reproduction

Book 3-Unit 5

Listen to the recording and fill in the blanks to complete the summary of the text.

Motivated by _________________of her childhood, the

writer ______________________________ on a small

French-owned island called Guadeloupe. The success-

ful celebration not only ________________________

_____________in this foreign land, but also stirred up

____________________________________.

organized a Chinese New Year party

New Year spirit

recreated the Chinese Lunar

the local people’s interest in Chinese culture

the fond memories

Text Summary

Book 3-Unit 5

Text Organization

Para. 1

Para. 2

Para. 3

Para. 4 - Para. 5

The writer prepares for the Chinese New Year party, shopping for food and seeking help from her friends.

The party turns out to be a great success, with a rich variety of international dishes. The observance of the old Chinese custom of giving children red envelopes was greatly appreciated by the kids at the party.

After experiencing a miserable Chinese Lunar New Year on Guadeloupe with no activities and no Chinese food, the writer decides to recreate the Chinese Lunar New Year spirit in the foreign land.

The writer recalls how her family celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year when she was little.

Book 3-Unit 5

Question for Discussion1. In the writer’s family what should children do and not

do right before the Lunar New Year?

2. What were the family busy with before New Year’s Eve?

Before the Lunar New Year, children should eat some sweets so as to say some sweet words. They should not fight, nor make any disturbances so as not to cause the Kitchen God to report unfavorably on the family to the Jade Emperor.

The family would make an offering to the Kitchen God. Then, Mom would start the busy process of making New Year foods. Dad would prepare some Chinese New Yearcouplets. The whole family would take part in a big New Year house cleaning.

Book 3-Unit 5

3. What was the writer’s happiest memory of the Lunar New Year?

4. Why does the writer call her last New Year “the most miserable New Year of our life”?

Her happiest memory was of the New Year dinner and especially of the money in red envelopes being handed out to kids.

The writer and her husband spent a most miserable New Year on the Caribbean island of French Guade-loupe which was devoid of Chinese people, foods, and the Chinese New Year’s spirit. The couple ate mildewed sausage and cried in each other’s arms.

Book 3-Unit 5

5. What was she going to do this year?

6. What were the necessary jobs involved in her preparation for the New Year celebration?

7. What contributions did the writer’s friends make to the celebration?

She was going to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on the island in Chinese fashion and recapture her childhood experience of the festival.

Her preparation included (1) purchasing Chinese foods and other things for the event; (2) writing a New Year couplet; (3) sending invitations to her friends and (4) preparing red envelopes for children.

Her friends added color to the party by bringing food and drink from their own countries.

Book 3-Unit 13

8. What surprised the writer when she was about to hand out the red envelopes?

9. What were the writer and her husband requested to do after this celebration?

When the writer brought out a platter of red envelopes, she was overwhelmed to see the children get down on their knees to kow-tow to her.

The couple were invited to give talks on Chinese culture to the local people because the party had aroused the local people’s interest in learning about Chinese culture.

Book 3-Unit 5

Difficult Sentences

不许打闹，不要让灶神到天宫玉皇大帝那里说对我们家不利的话。

1. There should be no fighting or disturbances so as not to cause the Kitchen God to report unfavorably on our family to the Jade Emperor in Heaven.

used to indicate prohibition

the king of all the gods in Chinese mythology

report against our family

the supreme god, patron of the Roman people in Roman mythology: Jupiter

the principal god of the Greek pantheon, ruler of the heavens and father of other gods and mortal heroes: Zeus

Book 3-Unit 5

就是在这儿我和丈夫度过了一生中最惨淡的一个新年。吃的是父母寄来的由于在海关扣押太久而发了霉的香肠。

2. It was here that my husband and I spent the most

miserable New Year of our life, eating sausage sent

from Mom and Dad that had mildewed after being

detained in customs for too long.

emphatic it

present participle phrase as adverbial

Book 3-Unit 5

3. After dinner, we announced that it was time to give

out the red envelopes and explained that when one’s

mother and father hands them to one, one should

always kneels down and kow-tow.

used to express obligation

饭后，我们宣布是分发红包的时候了，并解释说当父母给压岁钱时小孩子应该跪下并磕头。

Book 3-Unit 5

Book 3-Unit 5

happy memory of the Lunar New Year celebration in hometown the most miserable New Year on French Guadeloupe

last year idea of holding a Chinese New Year celebration on the

island preparations and contributions of her friends to the

party handling out red envelopes to children reasons to do more reading on Chinese culture

Story Reproduction

In Other Words

Work with Sentences

Word Study

Book 3-Unit 5

In Other WordsPut the following words from the text into the blanks. (page 71: A)Put the following words from the text into the blanks. (page 71: A)

1. Browsing among books in a library comes as a _________ for me after a week’s routine in the office.

2. With the advance of space science, interplanetary travel is no longer regarded as a _________ idea.

3. Outside the stadium, a number of young people _____________ about the latest match.

4. What has been taken for granted by ordinary people can sometimes enable an observant scientist to have a __________ for making inventions.

fanciful shaky fake treat traveldiminish detain appropriate jabber brainstorm

treat

were jabbering

brainstorm

fanciful

Book 3-Unit 5

5. As the attraction of novelty soon ___________, the sales will fall.

6. The unexpected dense fog has _________ the passenger train for several hours.

7. The father’s hopes hinged entirely on his only son, not knowing that he was a young man with___________ prospects.

8. Immigration officers arrested the man for using a _________ passport.

9. The saying goes like this, “Bad news ________ fast.” Haven’t you heard of it?

10. Edison’s mother designed a home education program __________ for her son’s talents.

diminishes

detained

shaky

fake

travels

appropriate

Book 3-Unit 5

Work with Sentences

Rewrite the following sentences using the expressions Rewrite the following sentences using the expressions below. (page 72: B)below. (page 72: B)

in a flash devoid of make an offering to report oncatch up take advantage of labor over

1. Those who treat poor people coldly lack human sympathy.

2. To conduct their experiments, students are advised to make full use of the advanced facilities in the lab.

3. John threatened that he would talk to the headmaster about the boy’s bad behavior in school.

are devoid of human

take full advantage of the advanced facilities in the lab. report unfavorably on the

Book 3-Unit 5

sympathy.

boy to the school headmaster.

4. Thanksgiving Day was originally a day when the pilgrims presented their sacrifices to God as a token of gratitude.

5. The famous novel Jane Eyre on which Charlotte Bronte worked painstakingly for years became a milestone in women’s literature.

6. The tree branch cracked ominously and all of a sudden Jerry plunged down into the deep hollow of the dead tree.

7. Though he entered the training program much later than his classmates, the boy resolved not to lag behind the others.

made an offeringover

labored

in a flash

to catch up with others.

Book 3-Unit 5

Book 3-Unit 5

In pairs, match the word with its explanation.In pairs, match the word with its explanation.

1. lunar

2. disturbance

3. couplet

4. alley

5. swarming

6. stuff

7. mildew

8. stationery

9. calligraphy

10. announce

a. fillb. the act of disturbingc. laned. measured by the revolution of the

moone. a unit of verse consisting of two

successive linesf. crowdedg. make known publiclyh. affect or become affected with

mildew i. writing materials and office suppliesj. the art of fine handwriting

Vocabulary Work

Word Study (Page 73: b)

1. Study the five expressions in Exercise a together with the example sentences in Exercise b.

2. Give English interpretations of the terms based on the example sentences. Then try to translate the example sentences into Chinese.

3. Try to finish Exercise b: work on one sentence out of the prompts.

Book 3-Unit 5

1. There should be no fighting or disturbances so as not to cause the Kitchen God to report unfavorably on our family to the Jade Emperor in Heaven.

1. a. When the teacher threatened to report unfavorably on him to the schoolmaster, the boy behaved himself for a whole day.

b. Species have a better chance of survival in a favorable environment than those in an unfavorable one.

c. Remember not to speak unfavorably of your uncle in front of other people.

Book 3-Unit 5

She impressed me rather favorably (=well) at the interview.Our products compare favorably with (=are as good as, orbetter than) all the leading brands.

不许打闹 , 不要让灶神到天宫玉皇大帝那里说对我们家不利的话。

2. Shop front were piled up with all sorts of foods and gifts appropriate for the New Year’s holiday.

商店的橱窗都堆满了新年期间所需要的各种食品、礼品。

to form a pile or heap

2. a. His desk was piled up with books he meant to read, but somehow, they remained untouched.

b. It is typical of Chinese hospitality that dishes must pile up when hosting a guest to a dinner.

c. The day after the job vacancy was advertised, the manager found his desk piled up with application letters.

Book 3-Unit 5

3. We cried in each other’s arms. 我们相拥而泣 .

3. a. The daughter couldn’t help holding her long awaited mother in her arms even in the streams of passengers.

b. The baby was so adorable that the little girl took it in her arms.

c. The woman cried in her husband's arms when she learned that her son would never return to her.

arm of the seaarm of the law

arm in armat arm’s lengthwith open arms

Book 3-Unit 5

4. We especially prepared some red cards to identify in Chinese and French every dish on the table.

我们特意准备了一些红色卡片，把桌子上每道菜都用汉语和法语标上名。

1. vt. to assign a label to2. vt. to ascertain the origin, nature, or

definitive characteristics of3. vi. to establish an identification with another

or others e.g. That politician is closely-identified with

the former government.

Book 3-Unit 5

4. a. I immediately identified the speaker at the other end of the phone. It must be Mr. Brown .

b. The coastguard managed to identify the upturned boat floating in the sea.

c. The detective cracked several big cases as he is very skilful in identifying criminals from their fingerprints .

Book 3-Unit 5

5. On Gradeloupe getting things done takes time.

在歌德洛普做件事情是要花时间的 。

5. a. In China promoting Putonghua all over the country takes time.

b. It takes time for a newcomer to get used to the bossy manager.

c. They realized that getting the court verdict carried out takes time.

Book 3-Unit 5

Book 3-Unit 5 Return to Menu