综合英语4 unit9 How I found My Voice.ppt

Unit 9 How I Found My Voice By James Earl Jones Content Pre-reading questions Background information Text Structure Language study Text analysis Exercises Pre-reading questions Have you ever spoken to a large audience? How did you feel? Do you think voice is important to personal development? Have you met a person who has helped/ influenced you greatly? Background information James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi, United States) is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has spent more than five decades as one of Americas most distinguished and versatile actors. He moved to his maternal grandparents farm in Jackson, Michigan at the age of five, but the adoption was traumatic and he developed a stutter so severe he refused to speak aloud. When he moved to Brethren, Michigan in later years a teacher at the Brethren schools started to help him with his stutter. He remained functionally mute for eight years until he reached high school. He credits his high school teacher, Donald Crouch, who discovered he had a gift for writing poetry, with helping him out of his silence. The teacher believed forced public speaking would help him gain confidence and insisted he recite a poem in class each day. I was a stutterer. I couldnt talk. So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school. /programs/view/uoEQPA-BOPU/ Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage. --- Anais Nin Structural analysis This autobiographical narration comprises three parts. Part One (Paragraphs 1-2): The writer presents a striking contrast between his successful career as an actor and television announcer and his severe stutter in his early childhood. Part Two (Paragraphs 3-22): This part mainly describes the author’s s