Life in Lilliput

廣東中山市龍山中學(xué) 陳麗芳

在暴風(fēng)雨中幸存下來(lái)的格列佛被巨浪沖到了岸上。醒來(lái)后，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己全身被很多細(xì)繩子緊緊地綁起來(lái)了。 等待他的會(huì)是什么呢？

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難詞探意

1. fasten /?fɑ?sn/ v. （使兩部分）系牢；扎牢；結(jié)牢；扣緊

2. occasional /??ke???nl/ adj. 偶爾的；偶然的；臨時(shí)的

3. ribbon /?r?b?n/ n. （用于捆綁或裝飾的）帶子；絲帶

4.hesitate/?hez?te?t/v. （對(duì)某事）猶豫；遲疑不決

When I woke up and tried to get up, I could not move. I was lying on my back and my whole body, my arms and legs were stronglyfastened. Soon I was placed on a long wooden platform and carried to a small country called Lilliput which was just as beautiful as many of the rich countries in Europe. The little people who lived there called “Lilliputians” who are about fifteen centimeters tall.

In this new country, I behaved as well as possible to get my freedom back. Lilliputians soon began to lose their fear of me. They called me the Man-Mountain. Sometimes I lay down and let them dance on my hand, and from time to time children came to play games in my hair. Gradually I was able to speak their language well.

One day the King invited me to watch the regular entertainments, which are greatly enjoyed by him, his family, and his lords and ladies. I was most interested in the rope-dancing. A very thin rope is fixed thirty centimeters above the ground. People who want to become the King's most important officials jump and dance on this rope, and whoever jumps highest without falling gets the best job.Sometimes the King orders his lords to dance on the rope, to show that they can still do it. This sport is rather dangerous, and there areoccasionaldeaths as a result. It seems a strange way of choosing officials.

There is another interesting entertainment. The King holds a stick in front of him, and sometimes moves it up and down. One by one, people come up to him and jump over the stick or crawl under it.They go on jumping and crawling as the King moves the stick. The winner is the one who jumps and crawls for the longest time, and he receives a blueribbonto wear round his waist. The second best receives a red ribbon, and the third best gets a green one. Many of the lords wear their ribbons proudly at all times.

Later, the King and his lords agreed to set me free as long as I promised the follows：

·to help the Lilliputians in war and peace

·to give two hours' warning before a visit to their capital, so that people could stay indoors

·to be careful not to step on any Lilliputians or their animals

·to carry important messages for the King if necessary

·to help the King's workmen carry heavy stones

·to stay in Lilliput until the King allowed me to leave.

On his side the King promised I would receive food and drink, enough for 1,724 Lilliputians. I agreed to everything at once. My chains were broken, and I was free at last!

The first thing I did was visit the capital city, Mildendo. I stepped carefully over the city wall,which was less than a meter high, and walked slowly through the two main streets. It is usually a very busy city, with shops and markets full of people, but today the streets were empty. There were crowds watching me from every window. The King had invited me to look at his rooms. Then I lay down on the ground and looked through the windows one by one. You cannot imagine a more beautiful place to live in. The rooms and furniture are perfect in every detail. As I was looking in, I could see the Queen, surrounded by her lords and ladies. She kindly put her hand out of the window for me to kiss.

About two weeks after my first visit to the capital, I was visited by one of the King's most important officials. His name was Reldresal.

I started the conversation. “I'm so glad they've taken away my chains,” I told him.

“Well, my friend,” he answered, “you're only free because the King knows we're in a dangerous situation.”

“Dangerous?” I cried. “What do you mean?”

“Lilliput has enemies at home and abroad,” he explained. “For six years now we've had two political groups, the High-Heels and the Low-Heels. Perhaps the High-Heels were more popular in the past, but as you can see, our present King and all his officials wear the lowest heels. The two groups hate each other, and a High-Heel will refuse to speak to a Low-Heel. That's the problem in Lilliput.Now, we're getting information that the people of Blefuscu are going to attack us. Blefuscu is an island near us, almost as large and important as Lilliput. They've been at war with us for three years.”

“But how did this war start?” I asked.

“Well, you know, of course, that most people used to break their boiled eggs at the larger end.But our King's grandfather once cut a finger while breaking his egg this way, and so his father the King ordered all Lilliputians, from then on, to break the smaller end of their eggs. People who do that are called Small-Endians. But Lilliputians feel strongly about this and some Big-Endians have fought angrily against this law. As many as eleven thousand people have been killed because they refused to break their eggs at the smaller end. Some of the Big-Endians have escaped to join our enemies in Blefuscu. The King of Blefuscu has always wanted to defeat Lilliput in war, and now we hear that he's prepared a large number of ships, which will attack us very soon. So you see, my friend, how much our King needs your help, in order to defeat his enemies.”

I did nothesitatefor a moment. “Please tell the King,” I answered warmly, “that l am ready to give my life to save him and his country.”

Activity A Reading for understanding

Ⅰ. Understanding the main idea

What is this chapter mainly about?

Ⅱ. Understanding the basic elements

Ⅲ. Understanding the details

1. What can you learn from the description of two regular entertainments in Lilliput? Fill in the table.

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2. What does the author want to tell us through the description of the entertainments?

3. What problems does Lilliput have?

Activity B Reading for writing

Ⅰ. Useful expressions for writing

1. expressions to describe surroundings

as beautiful as 和……一樣漂亮

perfect in every detail 每一個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)都很完美

cannot imagine a more beautiful place 無(wú)與倫比的美麗

2. expressions to describe behavior

step carefully 小心翼翼地邁步走

walk slowly 慢慢地走

lie down on the ground 躺在地上

look through the windows 透過(guò)窗戶去看

3. expressions to express disagreements

feel strongly about 強(qiáng)烈地感受到

fight angrily against 憤怒抵抗

refuse to do 拒絕

Ⅱ. Writing techniques

Gulliver's Travels can be called a satire novel, which applies many kinds of satire techniques to reach the aim of revelation and critique, such as irony, hyperbole, contrast, symbol, etc.

Symbol(象征)

A symbol is a person, place, action, word, or thing that represents something else other than itself. Can you find the symbolic meanings behind them? The background information will help you.During the 18th century, there were two different political parties in England: Whig and Tory, who argued over King James Ⅱ's rights as a king. The conflicts (沖突) between Protestants (新教教徒) and Catholics (天主教徒) were about religious ceremonies, which made England in a mess. Meanwhile,Irish people lived a miserable life due to wars and oppression (壓迫) from England.

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