文:赵茜
(在前天的讲课评课中,赵讲的是下面的内容。下面还有大家对她的意见。——侯)
 

Lesson  Plan
Half a Day
By Naguib Mahfouz
We could begin the lesson by asking the students about their first day at college:
1. Was it hard for you to leave home for the first time in your life?
2. Who saw you off at the railway station?
3. Who came to school with you?
4. What did he say to your on the way?
5. Did you feel you were a stranger the first day you arrived?
6. What do you think is the business of university?
7. What do you expect to learn here?
8. Do you find life at college rich and colorful or tedious and boring?
9. Do you have trouble adjusting to life here?
10. What do you think you should do to get the most out of college?

Picture Talking for Warming-up
 

 
Today, we will study Half a day by Naguib Mahfouz. Let’s first appreciate The Persistence of Memory, 1931 by Salvador Dali (萨尔瓦多-达利的油画《记忆的永恒》). Can you find any clue about life and time from the picture? Do you know any sayings or quotes wise enough to express your feelings? I will write down a couple on the blackboard as hints. 
Let’s categorize the sayings and quotes according to the implications they carry. Hopefully, some expressions may help you better understand the story Half a Day, and meanwhile, you will find it excellent to have lots to express yourself in both writing and speaking. 
  Quotes and sayings
劝诫 “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”    --Andy Warhol
感慨 “Life is short and time is swift.”
无奈 "Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils." --Hector Berlioz
 
More quotes and sayings of time and life:
         If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.
--Lee Iacocca
         Nothing is worth more than this day.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
         Every second is of infinite value.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
         Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
--Will Rogers

       Background Information
 I.                   Naguib Mahfouz—— Education & Background
Naguib Mahfouz was born on the 11th Dec. 1911 in an old quarter of Cairo, the youngest son of a merchant. He studied philosophy at King Faud I (now Cairo) University, graduating in 1934. He worked in university administration and then in 1939 he worked for the Mini-stry of Islamic Affairs. He was later Head of the State Cinema Organisation at the Ministry of Culture. He also worked as a journalist. Although widely translated, his works are not available in most Middle Eastern countries because of his support of Sadat's Camp David initiative. In 1994 he survived an assassination attempt by Islamic extremists. He is married, has two daughters and lives in Cairo.
 
Naguib Mahfouz —— important works
 
Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arab to win the Nobel prize for literature, in 1988. He has been described as "a Dickens of the Cairo cafés" and "the Balzac of Egypt".
 
He is now the author of no fewer than 30 novels, more than 100 short stories, and more than 200 articles. Half of his novels have been made into films which have circulated throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
 
Mahfouz began writing when he was 17. His first novel was published in 1939 and ten more were written before the Egyptian Revolution of July 1952, when he stopped writing for several years. One novel was republished in 1953, however, and the appearance of The Cairo Trilogy in 1957 made him famous throughout the Arab world as a depictor of traditional urban life.
 
Works of his second writing period:
The Children of Gebelawi (1959)
The Thief and the Dogs (1961)
Autumn Quail (1962)
Small Talk on the Nile (1966)
Miramar (1967)
several collections of short stories.
 
 
Text Appreciation
 
I. Structure of the text
 
The text can be conveniently divided into three parts. In the first part (para.1-7), we learn about the boy’s misgivings about school. He found it hard to be away from home and mom, and thought school was punishment. The second part (para.8-16) describes how the boy felt about school. He found that life at school was rich and colorful in many ways, although it also required discipline and hard work. In the last part of the text, the boy walked out of the school to find that the outside world had changed beyond measure and that he had grown into an old man.
 
II. How to appreciate literature
         Plot of the story:
         Setting of the story:
         Protagonist v.s. Antagonists:
         Drama of the story lies in:
         Writing technique: (Have you ever read a story using the similar technique?)
         Theme of the story:
 
III Further discussion
1. Read the following suggestions made by the father. Which ones do you agree with and which ones not? Have you ever been given some suggestions by your parents when entering the university? List them out.
 
         School is a place that make useful men out of boys.
         Don’t you want to be useful like your brothers?
         Put a smile on your face and be a good example to others.
         Be a man.
         Today you truly begin life.
         …
 
2. From the description between Para.8 and Para.16, we can see different aspects of school life. Try to list as many aspects as possible in the following table.
 
3. In the last part of the text, the boy walked out of the school to find that the outside world had changed beyond measure. How might he feel about the changes? List exact words that support your choice.

　
  Writing devices
 
Ⅰ. Elliptical question & rhetorical question
 
“Why school?” I asked my father. “What have I done?”
 
A: Headmaster: We want you to go and tell the boy’s parents the news.
B: Teacher: Why me?
 
Father: We’ll go to Tianjin this weekend.
Daughter: What for?/ Why this weekend?/Why Tianjin?
 
Don’t you want to be useful like your brothers?
Can’t you see I’m busy? (Don’t disturb me!)
What good is a promise for an unemployed worker?
Does nothing ever worry you?
 
Please give more examples.
 
Ⅱ. Inverted sentences
 
… here and there stood conjurers showing off their tricks, or making snakes appear from baskets.
Conjurers stood everywhere. They were showing off their tricks or making snakes appear from baskets.
More examples:
         There are some exceptions to this reaction.
         Were there no air on the earth, there would be no life on it.
         In no case should we waste our time.
         There goes the bell.
         Away hurried the customers.
 
Ⅲ. “with” absolute structure
Then there was a band ...,  with clowns and weight lifters walking in front.
More examples:
         He stood there with a stick in his hand.  (with + n. + prep.)
         Paul soon fell asleep with the light still burning. (with + n. + participle)
       She can’t go out with all these dishes to wash. (with + n. + to do.)
       He was lying on the bed with all his clothes on. (with + n. + adv. )
Language Understanding
 
I. Sentence Paraphrase
1. They did not make me happy, however, as this was the day I was to be thrown into school for the first time.
What does “they” refer to?
What does the narrator imply by using “to be thrown into school”?
2.       My mother stood at the window watching our progress, and I turned towards her from time to time, hoping she would help.
       What does “progress” mean here?
       What kind of help could his mother offer?
       What does the sentence tell us about the boy’s relationships with his parents?
3.       a street lined with gardens …
a street where there are gardens … along both sides
lined with …: past participle phrase used here to modify “a street”. It can be regarded as a relative clause cut short, eg.
a novel (that was) written by Charles Dickens
personal computers (that are) made in China
4.       I did not believe there was really any good to be had in tearing me away from my home and throwing me into the huge, high-walled building.
There is no good to be had in doing sth.
It is no good/use doing sth.
5.       … from each floor we were overlooked by a long balcony roofed in wood.
… on one side of the courtyard was a building with a long wood-roofed balcony on each floor where we could be seen. Or
… from the balcony on each floor of the building people could see the pattern into which we formed.
6.       Well, it seemed that my misgivings had had no basis.
Well, perhaps my doubt, worry and fear about what school would be like were all groundless. Or
Well, it seemed that I was wrong to think that school was a dreadful place.
7.       In addition, the time for changing one’s mind was over and gone and there was no question of ever returning to the paradise of home.
There is no question (of doing): there is no possibility
Besides, it was impossible for us to quit school and return to the good old days when we stayed home playing and fooling around all day. Our childhood was gone, never to come back.
8.  Nothing lay ahead of us but exertion, struggle, and perseverance.
nothing but: only
We would have to do our best and keep working very hard until we finished school. This is what I imagined our school days would be like. Or
The kind of life that was waiting for us at school would be full of exertion, struggle and perseverance.

Ⅱ. Word study
1. to make sb./sth. (out) of sb./sth.
       It’s a place that makes useful men out of boys.
       (make boys become useful men)
       eg.
       The army made a man of him.
       He said the Government were frightened of nothing. The real trouble was we were making a mountain out of a molehill.
2. There is no good to be had in doing sth.
It is no good/use doing sth.
There is no good to be had in buying a boat when you don’t have enough spare time to use it.
It’s no good crying over spilt milk.
It is worth doing well what is worth doing.
it is no (not much) good                     
it is no (not any, hardly any, little) use  
it is useless
it is not the slightest use
it is worth(worthwhile)
there is no (no good, no use)
There is no denying that women are playing an important role in the world today.
3. to tear sb. away from a place
to (make sb.) leave a place or a person unwillingly because one has to
eg.
       Can’t you tear yourself away from the TV for dinner?
       I found the program absolutely fascinating. I couldn’t tear myself away—even to finish an urgent e-mail.
4. to cling to sth.
to hold tightly; not release one’s grip on
eg.
       The little child clung to his mother for comfort.
       Some of the victims of the fire climbed out of the building, clung to the window ledges for a minute or two and then dropped to their death a hundred feet below.
       She still clings to the belief that her son is alive.
5. burst into (tears, sobs; laughter, a guffaw, song)
       begin, suddenly and/or violently, to cry, laugh, sing etc.
 
eg.
       Aunt Annabel, who has been nervous and jumpy lately, suddenly burst into tears.
       As the comic got into his stride, the audience burst into hoots of laughter.
cf.
       The aircraft turned on its back and burst into flames.
The orchards seemed to have burst into blossom overnight.
I mentioned the incident later to a tailor friend and he burst out laughing/crying.
6． sort people into ranks
       put ... in order; arrange
       They sorted the apples according to size into large ones and small ones.
cf.
       She spent a happy afternoon sorting out her coins and stamps.
       It’s no good standing back and waiting for things to sort themselves out.
　In-class discussion and presentation
 
1. If you had only half a day left to live, what would you most want to do? List the top five things you would do and give us your reason.
2. Suppose the narrator found his home at last. What would happen after that?
3. Work in group. Make up your own story of “Half a Day” and perform it.
  Suggestions:
1. 注意下列几个单词的发音：
However   thrown   they   clutching
2. 重点强调隐喻的用法：
3. 把学校和监狱作对比，图示法，让学生从课文中找出相对应的单词做比较。
4. 针对英语专业的学生，文学上的扩展式内容要多一些。
5. 用课文中所学的单词模仿写一篇作文，题目自理。
6. 课文导入时可采取多种方式：问答式，问题由简单到复杂，满足不同英语水平学生的需要，每人受益，激发他们学习英语的兴趣。或说一些与课文内容有关的话题分组开展讨论。或看图说话等等。
7. 师生互动加强。
8. 多采用启发式教学，猴子教学法，把猴子扔给学生，让他们多活动，多思考。
9. 让学生自己摸索开锁的方法。

关于课文，参见“散文Half a Day”