Trump’s stunning win (P1)

浙江省金华市外国语学校   翁冰玫

 

I. Warming up   

Free talk: 

What do you think makes a great leader of a country?

 

II. Pre-reading

These days, the US presidential election is the talk of the whole world. The winner will be the 45th president of the US. 

v Who were the two candidates?     

Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump.

v  Which parties do they belong to?

The Democratic Party & the Republican Party.

v  Who won the election in the end? 

Donald Trump.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hillary Clinton seemed to have the lead all the way, yet Donald Trump won a really unexpected victory. 

 

III. While reading 

1. Read through the article and answer the following questions.

1) Why is it said that the US has entered a brand new era because of the newly-elected president? 

Because Donald Trump, the newly elected president, is quite different from any previous US president.

 

2) In what ways is Donald Trump different from his opponent Hillary Clinton or any previous president? 

 

 

3) Why did Donald Trump win the hearts of his supporters? 

Supporters’ voices 

1) He never hides his opinions, which is considered to be a sign that he is not a hypocrite. 

2) Many Americans think the country should step out of the downturn and go in a different direction. 

 

Interestingly, some voting for Trump said they just chose the less unpleasant one from two unpleasant candidates. 

 

Many people are strongly against Donald Trump being their next president. After the final results came out, chaos broke out in many cities in the US. Read “US election 2016 result: 'He's not my president'” from BBC Trending (http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-37922897).

 

    "It is time for us to come together as one united people," said the 45th US president-in-waiting, Donald Trump, after defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

     "I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans," he promised, as he addressed supporters at his victory rally in New York. 

     But even before he spoke, some on social media were making it clear that as far as they were concerned, he would never speak for them. Many expressing that view did so with the hashtag"#HesNotMyPresident" - which was used more than 180,000 times within a few hours. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s probably why at the beginning and at the end of the article, the author said: “It’s true that the US is entering a new era. It’s just not clear yet what kind of era it’s going to be.” 

 

4) Share your opinions: 

  What do you think of the reactions of Americans after the General Election? 

 

5) What do you think the title of the article, “Trump’s stunning win”, means? 

The fact that Trump, as an outsider to politics, has won the general election and become the 45th president-in-waiting of the US, is astonishing. It may have been beyond most people’s expectations.

 

IV. Post reading 

    Americans have reacted quite differently to Trump’s win. So it is with the political leaders all around the world. Read the following and learn more: http://breakingnewsenglish.com/

 

World leaders have mixed reactions to Trump’s victory

      Some world leaders have congratulated Donald Trump on his surprise win in the US Presidential election on Tuesday. Other leaders were a little less warm. Mr Trump defeated his rival Hillary Clinton to become the US' 45th President. He will take office on January 20, 2017. He will then be aged 70 years, 7 months and 6 days. This means he will be the oldest person to become President. In his victory speech, Mr Trump told Americans: "Working together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding our nation and renewing the American dream. [We will] have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us." 

      Russia's president Vladimir Putin was among the first to congratulate Mr Trump. He said, "We are ready to do our part to return Russian-American relations to a stable path of development." China said it looked forward to working "in a constructive way” that avoided “conflict and confrontation". Mexican President Pena Nieto said, "Mexico and the United States are friends, partners and allies and we should keep collaborating."  France's President Francois Hollande said the result opened up “a period of uncertainty”. Germany's Justice Minister wrote, "The world won't end, but things will get more crazy." Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "Hand in hand with Mr Trump, we will try to work together." 

 

Opinion sharing: 

How do you think Trump’s victory in the election will influence the world? 

 

Social novel wins (P4-5)

山东省烟台第二中学   朱洪图

I. Warming up 

•Have you ever read this book? 

•Who is the author?

•What is the genre (类型) of this book? 

 

 

•In October 2016, his novel The Sellout won the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

 

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (commonly known simply as the Booker Prize) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK.

 

II. Skimming 

Read the text and answer the following question.

• What is the main idea?

A social novel about slavery and racial and economic inequalities won the the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

 

• How many parts can you divide this article into? What is the main idea of each part?

 

Read again and match the paragraphs to the descriptions below.

• Para. 1-3: The Sellout made a big splash by winning the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

• Para.4: The main plot of this novel.

• Para.5-6: The reviews about this novel.

• Para.7-8: Paul Beatty’s opinions on whether racism still exists in the US. 

 

Decide whether these statements are true or false.

• It wasn’t published in the UK but it won a British prize. F

• It took Paul Beatty 10 years to complete the book. F

• Some words in the book may annoy people. T

• The Sellout is too difficult for readers to understand. F

• In The Sellout, Bonbon attempts to bring slavery and segregation back to his neighborhood. T

• Bonbon is taken to the Supreme Court because he protests against racial inequalities. F

 

IV. Language points

Study the following words and phrases.

•turn down  拒绝

•award  vt.  授予, 给予

•original  adj.原创的，首创

• narrator 叙述者

•on trial  受审

•offend vt. 1. 冒犯; 2. 使不舒服

•turn  sb off 使丧失兴趣 

   e.g. What turns teenagers off science and technology?

•address vt. 向发表演说  

• a wake-up call  警钟

 

Sentence patterns

•It was this book that made a big splash (引起轰动) by winning the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

本句使用了强调句型，强调句子主语this book 。

强调句型： It is/ was + 被强调部分（通常是主语、宾语或状语）+ that/ who（当强调主语且主语指人）+ 其他部分

 

•But upsetting as it may be to some, the book’s content isn’t far away from that of our times.

本句中as表示“虽然，尽管”，引导让步状语从句，此时句子常使用部分倒装结构，句型为：形容词/副词+as/though+主语+谓语。

例如：

1) Tired as/though I was, I went on working. 

2) Much as/though I respect your point of view, I can’t agree.

 

V. Post-reading

1) Fill in the blanks with proper words based on the text.

Bonbon, the narrator in The Sellout, is an African-American urban farmer who lives in a small town outside Los Angeles. _______ by his father, a _______, Bonbon grew up taking part in psychological studies about _____. After his father is killed by the _____ during a traffic stop, the main character starts a strange social ________ of his own. 

•He tries to put his _____ back on the map, from which it has been officially _____, by reintroducing _____ and segregation in the local high school. This ends with Bonbon _____ in the Supreme Court.

 

Key: Brought up, sociologist, race, police, experiment, town, removed, slavery, on trial

 

2) Discussion 

•If you were asked to describe this novel, The Sellout, to a friend, what would you say to him or her?

Hint：the writer, the main plot, the reviews of this book, your own opinions.

 

Changing for worse (P6)

山东烟台二中   柏钦琳

 

I. Warming up   

v Do you have any experience of doing a part-time job? 

v If so, can you describe how you feel about your job?

 

II. Fast reading

1. Read the text quickly and answer the following questions.

1) When was the author hired as a part-time reporter for a finance website?

When she was midway through a master’s degree at The London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

2) How did the author behave while doing her job?

She came in to work, greeted her colleagues and listened more than she contributed in each morning meeting. She stayed back for fear that her ideas might be turned down.

 

3) Why did the boss think that the author wasn’t fit for the job?

She hadn’t made enough of an effort to join the team and had lost the enthusiasm she had showed in her interview.

 

4) What was the advice given to her by her boss?

Let her guard down.

 

III. Careful reading  

2. Read the article again and explain the meanings of the following words and phrases as they are used in the article.

balance keep sth equal in importance

contribute give opinions during a meeting

turn down reject or refuse 

take a chance  take a risk 

the right fit the most suitable person  

expertise     expert knowledge in one field 

 

3. Paraphrase the following sentences: 

1) so rather than giving ideas that might get turned down, I stayed back. 

I wasn’t active and didn’t have enough courage to put forward my opinions out of fear that my opinions might be rejected by others.

 

2) They had liked the person who walked into the interview, and they didn’t respect me when I hid that person from them.

They had liked the way I showed myself in the interview and didn’t like it when I was afraid to show too much of myself.

 

3) In trying to earn a full time job, I “leaned back” in order to not show too much of myself or my lack of expertise.

To get this full time job, I stayed passive and hesitant in my job because I didn’t want to show my true self and expose my supposed lack of knowledge in this field to my colleagues. 

 

IV. Discussion

What qualities do you think one should have as a qualified employee?

enthusiastic, diligent, hard-working, responsible, punctual, creative, considerate, powerful, cooperative …