郧阳师专综合英语教研室.pptVIP

Unit 9 The Pearl(Book4) 郧阳师专综合英语教研室 Contents I Background About the author: John Steinbeck (1902-1968)?American novelist, story writer, playwright, and essayist. John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. He is best remembered for THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1939), a novel widely considered to be a 20th-century classic. About the author He was born in Salinas, California. In The Pastures of Heaven (1932), a group of short stories depicting a community of California farmers, Steinbeck first dealt with the hardworking people and social themes associated with most of his works. His other early books include In Dubious Battle (1936), and Of Mice and Men (1937). About the author Steinbecks most widely known work is The Grapes of Wrath (1939; Pulitzer Prize, 1940), the stark account of the Joad family from the impoverished Oklahoma Dust Bowl and their migration to California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. A major literary figure since the 1930s, Steinbeck took as his central theme the quiet dignity he saw in the poor and the oppressed. Although his characters are often trapped in an unfair world, they remain sympathetic and heroic, if defeated, human beings. Steinbeck was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in literature. II Questions How do people usu. Think of pearl? As an ordinary piece of jewellery? A thing of great value? A useless ornament?Give reasons for your answer. What might happen if a very poor person came into possession of a very large pearl of great value? Think of two or three possibilities. III Text Structure The text can be divided into three parts: Part one(Line1—5): Kino, a poor fisherman,has just found a very large and valuable pearl. Part two(Line6—35):before Kino had come to his brush house, the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news. Part three(Line 36– 45): all manner of people grew interested in Kino. IV The Writing style This excerpt is a good example of creativity in writing. It describes