新世纪英语高二学案uadd.docVIP

Unit One Words and Their Stories Additional Reading English Proverbs Characters Teacher of English: Ms Smith (MS) Students: Li (LI), Mao (MA), Anne (AN), Rivera (RI) MS: Good morning, everyone. I hope you all know what we are here for. The topic of our discussion this morning is “English Proverbs”. LI: So, I’m in the right group. MA: Me, too. RI: Me, too. MS: But I was told we would have four…and yet… AN: I’m coming. Good morning. Am I late? MS: Morning. “Speak of angels and you hear their songs.” AN: Is that a proverb referring to my coming? MS: Exactly. LI: We have a saying in Chinese, which I think is very close in meaning… MA: Speak of Cao Cao and he appears. MS: Right. Well, “first things first”. A proverb is a traditional saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short and brief manner. A proverb normally is a sentence, into which the writer often works rhyme. For instance, “East or west, home is best.” Sometimes it comes out in the form of a phrase. MA: I’ve seen dictionaries of proverbs. MS: Well, there are thousands of proverbs. They fall into three main categories. Those of the first type take the form of abstract statements. They express general truths. Here are two good examples: “One is never too old to learn.” and “A man who neglects his studies in youth will regret it in later years.” RI: I think there is some truth in both proverbs. To encourage a person who has had little education for some reason as a young man, we may use the former. With us, I guess the latter works. MS: So you have to keep this in mind. Never use proverbs out of context. “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” LI: I see. Then, what is the second type? MS: The second type uses specific observations from everyday experience to make a general point. AN: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Does it fall into the second category? MS: You’re right, dear. Then the third type consists of sayings from particular areas of traditional customs and beliefs. “After dinner, res