課外閱讀材料 The Washwoman 語言賞析及應用課例分析

姚維佩

一、文本解讀：

1. 文本大意：“The Washwoman”描述了一位年過七旬、瘦小羸弱，靠給別人洗衣服維持生計的老婦人。她有一個富有的兒子，本不該孤苦無依，但兒子卻對她冷酷無情、毫不關心甚至以母為恥。一天，老人從“我”家里背走一大包臟衣服，按照慣例她會在兩三周后洗好歸還，可這次兩個多月過去了她卻毫無音訊。家里人猜測她可能去世了，可老人卻在寒冷的深夜出現歸還衣物。在生命的最后階段，也要堅守承諾掙扎著完成自己的工作。

2. 寫作手法：作者運用生動豐富的語言對老婦人的外貌、動作等進行具體細致的描寫，使老婦人的形象更加生動豐滿。此外，作者還運用了多處對比，如其他猶太老婦人和洗衣老婦人、巨大沉重的臟衣服和瘦小羸弱的老婦人、自尊自立的老婦人和冷酷無情的兒子、身體的羸弱和內心的強大、不同時期外貌特征等。

二、課例分析

1. Learning objectives

1） Appreciate the beautiful and powerful language of the story.

2） Learn to adopt “Show more than tell”， “Figures of speech” and other writing techniques.

3） Write a passage about Jane Goodall.

2. Learning procedures

Step1. Lead in by talking about the image of the washwoman.

T： After the previous reading class， have you got a clear image of the washwoman？ Now what words would you like to use to describe the washwoman？

S： small， old， wrinkled， sickly and weak...

Step 2 Appreciate the beauty of the language （appearance and action）

PPT呈現以下幾組圖片Old washwomen VS Zhao Yazhi

設計意圖：這兩張圖片中的女人在年齡上都是Old women，讓學生更清楚明白只用 “old”去描述一個人，太籠統。

Jane Goodall VS Old washwomen設計意圖：這兩張圖片中的女人在年齡，甚至是外表上（如長滿皺紋的臉）都是old women， 但身體狀況以及心態上，明顯是Jane Goodall更加健康，過得更充實快樂。

針對洗衣婦、趙雅芝和珍·古道的三幅圖片，教師提問：Can we just describe them “old women”？ 然后再次呈現washwoman的圖片，讓學生以回顧課文的方式，再重新梳理一遍外貌方面的細節描寫。

同時課件上呈現思維導圖，引出關于動作（不同的說和走）的呈現，在呈現額外補充的不同的“說”和“走”時，筆者以簡單的英文釋義的方式，讓學生搶答是具體的哪個說，哪個走。如：say in a low voice？ （whisper）; say in a loud voice ?（shout/yell）; walk silently and secretly （tiptoe， slide， slip）; walk in a hurry（rush/race）， etc.

Tip 1： “Show more than tell” helps portray a vivid image of the character.

Step 3： Appreciate the beauty of the language （varied grammatical structures 豐富的語法結構）

（1） an inversed sentence （para.1）

This washwoman， small and thin as she was， possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant forebears.

T： The inversed part： small and thin （表語前置）， =“though she was small and thin”. Now I give you one sentence，

（2） a sentence written with the pattern： sb. Action 1， action 2 and action 3 （para.1）

She would then lift the bundle， put it on her narrow shoulders， and carry it the long way home.

T： This pattern is quite useful if you want to express a series of actions that happen one by one. Can you give me one example like this sentence？

S： I opened the door， stepped into the classroom and found so many teachers in our classroom.

（3） a sentence written with the pattern： sb. does/did sth， v-ing（adj.1） and v-ing （adj. 2）. （para.6 ）

The old woman sate on a kitchen chair trembling and shaking.

Tip2： ?Varied grammatical structures are preferred in a good writing. 設計意圖：從把聚焦點從多樣的句式轉移到豐富的語法結構，因為3個例子分別運用了倒裝、謂語動詞、非謂語動詞。而與以往傳統語法講解相比，筆者在處理文本中出現的這幾個語法點時，輕形式，重意義，旨在讓學生領會這幾個語法形式的含義。

Step 4： Appreciate the beauty of the language （figures of speech修辭格 ）

1. Under the bundle tottered the old woman， her face as white as a linen sheet. （para.9） Simile 比喻

T： Compare this sentence with this one： Under the bundle tottered the old woman， with her face white. Which one is better？

S： the former.

2. She was even thinner now， more bent. （para.9）

3. Most Jewish women of her age were sickly and weak. All the old women in our street had bent backs and leaned... But this washwoman， small and thin as she was，... （para.1） Contrast 對比

T： What？蒺s the function of “contrast” here？

S： a contrast between the past the present， between the washwoman and other women of her age.

T： Yeah. Thus， we have a clearer understanding of the changes of her appearance in sentence 2. The qualities are highlighted in sentence 3.

4. Mother uttered a half-choked cry， as though a corpse had entered the room. （para.9） Exaggeration 夸張

T： what if I change the sentence into this one： Mother uttered a half-choked cry， as though a beggar had entered the room.

S： （shaking their head to show disagreement）

T： What is “corpse” in Chinese？

S： 尸體.

T： Was the washwoman really a corpse？

S： No， she was still alive， though quite weak.

T： Then， why was she described as a corpse？

S： Because she was very very ill， even about to die/ close to death.

Tip 3： Figures of speech makes description more vivid and convincing.

設計意圖：這4句分別利用了常用的比喻、對比、夸張的修辭格，對學生來說，難度最大的不是識別，而是應用。究其原因，主要還是對修辭格作用理解不夠透徹，因此，筆者刻意地對某些句子進行局部修改，如as white as a linen sheet， 改成with a white face.反問同學們還能說明洗衣婦的病態的臉色嗎？學生就一下子恍然大悟了。再比如夸張，為何作者會選擇corpse而不是beggar 等詞，進過課堂深入解釋之后，學生明白了夸張有因，夸張有度的原理，同時為下一步寫作做好了鋪墊。

Step 5： Write a passage about Jane Goodall

Outline 1. ?General introduction （her title /occupation）

2. ?General image of Jane Goodall （her appearance）

3. ?Her ambition and achievement （supporting example）

4. ?Conclusion （her influence）

設計意圖：該寫作任務重點是對本課堂所學的三個寫作技能的應用，因此筆者設計一個段落寫Jane的image， 以及一個具體的事例（一個被Jane拯救的大猩猩和她深情擁抱的一幕），旨在讓學生多用show more than tell技能。而設計 Her ambition的目的是讓學生可以用對比（同齡女孩的夢想）或者虛擬語氣（她本可以選擇過舒適的生活，卻選擇了一條艱難的路）等。