2018-2019学年度第28期总第677期

 

A Role to Call His Own (P1)

北京大学附属中学宋姝莹

I. Lead in

Discuss: Who is your favorite actor/ actress, and why?

·handsome/ good-looking/ gorgeous/ stunning (=beautiful, attractive)

·talented/ versatile (多才多艺的)/ experienced

·good acting skills/ unique style/ a great sense of humor/ a passion for acting

· … 

Make a guess: What is the man doing in the picture?

The man holding the golden statuette (小金人雕像) is delivering an acceptance speech (获奖感言) after winning the Oscar.

 

II. Reading Comprehension

Skimming

1. Who is Rami Malek?

Rami Malek is a 37-year-old Egyptian-American actor, who played Freddie Mercury—Queen’s lead singer—in the film Bohemian Rhapsody and won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his outstanding performance.

2. What is the article mainly about?

The article is mainly about the reasons for Malek’s success in winning the Oscar and the significance of his victory.

Scanning   Detailed reading

Read and answer the following questions.

1. What did Malek do in order to give a truthful portrayal of Mercury the rock star?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. What are the reasons for Malek’s success in winning the Best Actor Oscar?

For one thing, he was committed to/ was devoted to making his performance as real as possible (put a great deal of effort into practicing). For another, a family background similar to Mercury’s enabled him to relate to/ empathize with (共鸣) the character.

3. Why did playing the role of a pharaoh and a terrorist upset Malek?

The reason is that due to his background, he was only offered stereotypical roles, roles were offered to him because of his Egyptian origin.

4. Why was Malek’s victory so sweet?

Because he was the first non-white actor in 12 years to win the Best Actor Oscar, and his victory was seen as a victory for/ an inspiration to immigrants everywhere.

5. How do you understand the title “A role to call his own”?

When Malek played Mercury, he was not just telling someone else’s story—he was also telling his own story, because he also has an immigrant background and feelings. For this reason the role can be seen as his own.

Other possible answers:

eg. The role was tailor-made (量身定做) for Malek as he could empathize with the character due to his similar immigrant background. He wasn’t just acting, he was telling his own story.

 

III. Post-reading Discussion

In your opinion, what makes a good actor/ actress? List as many aspects as you can and state your reasons.

 

IV. Grammar Focus

Non-predicate Verbs 非谓语

非谓语有三种形式：

1) to do 不定式：表目的或结果

2) -ing 现在分词: 主动，表时间、原因、条件、结果、让步、方式、伴随等

3) -ed 过去分词: 被动

Fill in the blanks using the appropriate form of the verb.

1. In order to tell the story of the rock star as truthfully as possible, Malek had to give his all.

2. He hired voice and movement coaches to help him capture Mercury’s accent and postures.

3. Malek began to wear a set of fake teeth a year before the film even started shooting, just so he could get used to the feeling of speaking with them in. 

Exercise: Fill in the blanks using the appropriate form of the verb.

1. Many theaters now allow people _____ (book) their tickets online _____ (save) their time.

2. He hurried to the cinema, only _____ (find) that the film had finished.

3. Last night, there were millions of people ______ (watch) the award ceremony live on TV.

4. The film star wears sunglasses when he goes shopping so he can go about without ___________ (recognize).

5. _______ (order) over a week ago, the CDs are expected to arrive any time now.

6. Film has short history, especially when ________ (compare) to such art forms as music and painting.

 

V. Language Focus

Key Words & Phrases 

•take home the Oscar= win the Oscar

•win/ earn an award for … / be awarded for…            赢得……奖项

•be committed to…         致力于，投入

Synonyms: devote, dedicate

e.g. He devoted/ dedicated his life to eliminating racial discrimination. 他毕生致力于消除种族歧视。

•struggle to do …费力

•strive for/ to do …拼搏奋斗

•fit in适应

•blend in和谐，协调

•adjust/ adapt oneself to…调整……使适应

•mingle with … =socialize with …社交

•be seen/ regarded/ considered/ deemed as …被视为

 

 

Finding fun in failure (P4)

山东省烟台第二中学  李欣桐

I. Lead-in

What do you if you unintentionally maker a mistake?

•Ignore it. Things happen all the time.Negative

•Learn from it and move on. Failure is the mother of success.Positive

•Ignore it and make every effort to avoid failure in the future.Burden

A museum showing failure 

Founded by Samuel West, a Swedish psychologist, the Museum of Failure opened in Sweden in 2017 and has since embarked on a world tour.

Samuel West hopes that the museum can create public interest in failure and  foster new ways of thinking about it.                                            

Successes are alike while failures have their own taste.

Now the museum is hitting the road, with a traveling exhibition in Shanghai from Jan 18 to March 17. 

Self Balancing Scooters

Few people are willing to pay for in the light of the fact that it might  cause the rider uncertainty while riding it.

Cellphone only for Twitter

No more than 20 words can be seen.

Ball pen only for women

Twice the price of a normal pen

•What do these failures have in common?

The producer didn’t meet the customers’ need and failed to do market research beforehand.

•What good can come from these failures?

They may inspire better versions of the original product.  

 

II. Skimming  

What is the main idea of the article?

The culture of ＿＿＿＿ is now on the rise. We should treat failures wisely, learning from our mistakes rather than being ＿＿＿＿.

Judge whether the statements are T or F.

1. The Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia is a showcase for both famous and unknown failures.

2. Mega-brands companies that everybody respects such as Nokia, Apple and Coca-Cola make mistakes.

3. Silicon Valley is in agreement with the famed German-American physicist Albert Einstein.

4. Anna Isaac believes that failure may lead to carelessness and lack of effort.

What are the two kinds of failure?

•The kind that shows laziness or incompetence (不足), and the kind that takes us forward. 

•The key is whether we’ve learned something from our mistakes.

 

IV. Language focus

Paying attention to the words in bold, analyze the sentences.

• I really hope you see that these mega-brands that everybody respects, they screw up too.

（宾语从句）我真的希望这些大家尊重的（定语从句）大牌子也会搞砸。

• The best companies are those that encourage failure, embrace out-of-the-box thinking, and allow employees to make mistakes and see what happens.

（定语从句）最好的公司就是那些鼓励失败，欢迎创新思维而且允许员工犯错看看会发生什么（宾语从句）。

•They are worried that if failure becomes “a badge of honor”, it may even be seen as “uncool” when someone tries to reduce the risk of failure.

他们担忧（宾语从句）如果（条件状语从句）失败成为了荣耀的勋章那么当有人想要降低失败的风险（条件状语从句）会被认为是不潇洒的。

The key is whether you’ve learned something from your mistakes. 

（表语从句）关键是你是否在错误中学到东西。

Fill in the blank.

•We try to learn from our mistakes and move on, ＿＿＿＿ (leave) them behind.

We leave them behind.

•＿＿＿＿ (inspire) by the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia, Samuel West, a psychologist from Sweden, decided to make our silly mistakes public.

Samuel West was inspired by the Museum of Broken Relationships.

 

IV. Language focus

Translate into Chinese:

•from time to time时不时

•do quite the opposite恰恰相反

•found the Museum of Failure创立失败博物馆

•hit the road上路；投入运营

•display products展示/陈列货物

•screw up搞砸

•the home of innovative tech companies创新科技公司的发源地

•embrace out-of-the-box thinking欢迎创新思维

•be skeptical of对……怀疑

•as sb put it正如某人说的

•reduce the risk of failure减少失败的风险

•lead to carelessness导致粗心

• lack of effort缺少努力

•could have prevented本可以阻止

•set apart分开

•takes you forward带你向前

 

V. Deep thinking  

Have you ever experienced failure? What did you do?