Unit 4 Kindness
Pre-Class Tasks
I. Mini-Research
Reference key:
Kindness means a) the state or quality of being kind; b) a kind act, favor; c) kind behavior; d) friendly feeling; e) liking. Its synonyms include benignity, benevolence, humanity, generosity, charity, sympathy, compassion, and tenderness.
1.Mark Twain once said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Life can be difficult and painful. Kindness is a virtue that gives satisfaction and strength to the people in difficulty and help them get through difficulties.
II. Co-Learning
1.(10) One last shot
(9) Making a youngen’s day
(8) Shirt off your back
(7) The cost of kindness
(6) The ultimate act of sportsmanship
(5) The other side of the law
(4) Christmas surprises
(3) The two-way street
(2) The power of many
(1) Friendly support
2.Open-ended question.
III. Presentation
Omitted
Text A Gripped by Kindness
Hilary Parkinson
Text Analysis
I. Background information
1. About the text
This article is taken from Reader’s Digest, an American general-interest family magazine. It tells us that kindness can change people’s lives. After damaging the relationship between her uncle’s family and hers, the author suffered helplessness and despair. Then in London Underground, she received help and warmth from strangers who gripped her suitcase handle and lifted it. Such kind behavior moved the author a lot and those strangers helped pull her through the hard time. Influenced by them, the author learned to be ready to help others in need.
2. About Reader’s Digest
Reader’s Digest is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Former
ly based in Pleasantville, New York, it is now headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace. For many years,Reader’s Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States. According to Mediamark Research (2006),Reader’s Digest reaches more readers with household incomes of more than $100,000 than Fortune,The Wall Street Journal,Business Week, and Incbined.
II. General analysis of the text
The whole text falls into three parts:
Part Paragraph(s) Main Idea
I 1You can change someone’s life just by lifting her suitcase.
II 2-8How the strange hands help the author lift her suitcase and get
through her helplessness and despair.
III 9Those strange hands influence the author a lot.
III. Detailed study of the text
1. I was also crying uncontrollably.
Meaning: It’s impossible for me to stop crying.
2. As I struggled to get the suitcase up another flight of steps, I was struggling to understand how my life had fallen apart.
Meaning: When I attempted to lift the suitcase up the stairs, I was trying hard to understand how my life had turned into a mess.
●flight n. a series of steps between two floors or levels
His room is three flights up.
A flight of stone steps leads down to the courtyard.
●fall apart: to break into pieces
When I picked up the model airplane, it fell apart.
Their marriage fell apart in the end.
3. Earlier, I had made a silly, joking remark.
●remark
n. sth that you say or write which expresses an opinion, thought, etc. about sb/sth As the chairman said in his introductory remarks, the growth of the company has been phenomenal.
Don’t make rude remarks about their appearance.
v. to say something as a comment; mention
She remarked that it was getting warmer and warmer.
The guests remarked on her new dress.
4. It was never meant to hurt my aunt’s feelings, but it did.
Meaning: I didn’t intend to hurt my aunt’s feelings, but in fact I did it.
●be meant to do sth: be supposed or intended to do something
This music hall is meant to have the best acoustics in China.
It was meant to be an apology but it only made her angrier.
5. …weeping as I spoke to a family friend who lived in England.
●weep v. (wept, wept) (formal or literary) to cry, usually because you are sad
He wept over his failure.
He was weeping with frustration.
Compare: cry, blubber, moan, sob, wail, weep, whimper
cry: 表示“哭泣”之意的最为普遍的用词，亦可用于动物的鸣叫声
The champion cried with (/for) joy as he was given the medal.
blubber: to cry loudly, especially in a way that annoys people 哭闹
He was blubbering like a child.
moan: to make a long, low sound expressing physical or mental suffering （尤指因不幸、死亡而）呻吟、悲泣
The patient moaned all night.
sob: to cry loudly while breathing in short, sudden bursts 啜泣，呜咽，抽噎
A little boy was sobbing in the corner of the room.
wail: to cry out with a long, high sound, especially because you are very sad or in pain （尤因悲伤或痛楚而）恸哭，痛哭
The child wailed with pain.
weep: to shed tears, usually for a long time （尤指长时间地）流泪哭泣
She wept bitterly when her pet died.
whimper: (of a person or animal) to make a series of low, feeble sounds expressive of fear, pain, or discontent 呜咽，抽噎
A child in a bed nearby began to whimper.
6. …I believed my aunt and uncle when they said I’d ruined the relationship between themselves and
nearby
my family.
●ruin
v. to damage sth so badly that it loses all its value, pleasure, etc.; to spoil sth
Heavy smoking ruined his health.
You’ll completely ruin the flowers if you touch them.
n. the physical destruction or disintegration of something or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed
Last month saw his dreams shattered and his business in ruins.
After the war many monasteries fell into ruin.
7. Their reaction was all out of proportion.
●proportion n. the correct relationship in size, degree, importance, etc. between
one thing and another or between the parts of a whole
The proportion of trucks to cars on the roads has changed dramatically.
●out of (all) proportion:in the wrong relation to the size, shape, or position of
other things
The sculpture seemed out of proportion to its surroundings.
●in proportion to/with sth
His head is large in proportion to his small frame.
8. But at the time, it was as if I had razed everything my family had built.
●raze v. to completely destroy a building, town, etc. so that nothing is left
raze a building to the ground
The troops attacked his village and razed it to the ground.
9. …it was a tube of endless white tiles.
Meaning: I felt so exhausted that I thought there were countless white tiles.
●endless adj. having or seeming to have no end or limit
A good book will provide endless hours of fun.
The possibilities were endless.
10. At the top of the steps, the hand would let go…
Meaning: At the top of the steps, the hand would stop holding my suitcase.
●let go (of sb/sth): to stop holding sb/sth
Please let go of my hand.
You need to let go of the past.
11. I do remember thinking through the haze of grief that each hand looked different…
●haze n. a mental state in which your thoughts, feelings, etc. are not clear
She sat by herself in a haze of nostalgic bliss.
●grief n. something that causes great sadness
He was in deep grief at the death of his mother.
12. …they pull me through the sadness of that memory.
●pull sb through sth: to help sb survive a dangerous or difficult situation
His patience pulled him through.
The girl had about a fifty-fifty chance of pulling through.
13. …and I watch the commuters and tourists surge by…
●commuter n. a person who travels into a city to work each day, usually from
quite far away
a train packed with commuters
●surge v. to move quickly and in force in a particular direction
The floods surged along the valley.

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