Unit 3 The Million Pound Bank-note

The Million Pound Bank-Note

The Million Pound Bank-Note A penniless (poor) and lost

young American in London becomes the subject of a bet between two rich and eccentric ( 古怪的 ) English gentlemen. They want to know how a poor man do and live with a million pound note. And a series of funny things happened.

The Million Pound Bank-Note:

short story :(original version:) by Mark Twain

play: (adapted from the short story)

film :Directed by Ronald Neame

If a rich person gives you a large amount

of money to use as you like, for example,

one million pound, what will you do?

Discussion

the bet

Have you ever made a bet with a friend? If so, what did you bet on? How did you feel about the bet after it was won or lost?

Characters in the play:Henry Adams: An American businessman,

lost in London without

money, friends or a job.

Roderick and Oliver:Roderick and Oliver:

Two rich brothers, who made a bet. Two rich brothers, who made a bet.

Roderick believed that a man couldn’t survive Roderick believed that a man couldn’t survive

in the city for a month with only a million in the city for a month with only a million

pound bank-note. But Oliver believed he pound bank-note. But Oliver believed he

could.could.

Main Characters Characters in Scene 3: Henry a lost American businessman in London Roderick a rich Englishman, Oliver’s brother Oliver a rich Englishman, Roderick’s brother Servant to the brothers Characters in Scene 4: Portia Oliver’s daughter Mr. Clemens a diner in the restaurant and expert

on bank-notes

Some new words

incredible: difficult to believe

难以置信的stare at: look at sb./sth. for a long

time 凝视nightfall: the time in the evening when

it becomes dark 傍晚

survive: continue to live or exist

生存 ; 存活spot: see or notice a person or thing 发

现account for: to be the explanation or

cause of sth. 是 .... 的原因charity: 施舍

1. Who was Henry?

Fast Reading

An American businessman,

who arrived in London by

accident, penniless, hungry

and lonely.

2. How did Henry Adams come to

England?

3. Where did Henry work before? How

much did he have?

It was the ship that brought him to England.

He worked for a mining company

before and he had no money at all.

4. What did the two gentlemen give

Henry?

5. When can Henry open the letter?

6. Why did they chose Henry?

They give him a letter.

He can’t open it until two o’clock.

Because Henry was honest, hard-

working and poor.

Put the following events in correct order:

A. Henry wandered in London streets.

B. About a month ago, Henry Adams was sailing out of the bay.

C. The next morning he was spotted by a ship.

D. Towards nightfall he found himself carried out to sea by a strong wind.

E. On the ship he earned his passage by working as an unpaid hand.

B D C E A

Why did the narrator say “you’re about to hear the most incredible tale”?

A. Because Henry Adams survived at sea.

B. Because Henry Adams earned his passage by working as an unpaid hand.

C. Because Roderick and Oliver invited Henry to step in and asked him questions.

D. Because Henry Adams, a tramp, was given some money for reasons unknown to him.

Now do the exercises in the textbook

comprehending

Answer key for Exercise 1: 1 F 2 F 3 O 4 O 5 O

Answer key for Exercise 2:1 clever 2 confident 3 foolish 4 glad 5 jealous

Sum up the main idea of the whole passage

The story happened in _________ in ________. Henry, a tramp who came from ______________ landed in Britain ____________. He earned his _________ by working as an _________ hand. Wandering in London streets, he met _______________ who asked him to _____________ their house. After asking Henry many questions, they gave him _________.

London1903

San Franciscoby accident passage

unpaid

two old brothers step inside

a letter

Please find out all the stage directions

(the Italics 斜体字 ), and guess their

functions in the play.

Functions: 1) tone of voice

2) behaviour

Divide up the class so that each group of students looks at one character and then share the idea of each group.

What kinds of people are Henry Adams , Oliver and Roderick?

Find some adjectives(or other words) to describe them after reading.

The characteristics of Henry:

It is my first trip here.

Well, to be honest, I have none.

(no money)

Well, I can’t say that I have any

plans.

I don’t want your charity. I just

want an honest job.

honest:

I earned my passage by

working as an unpaid

hand.

Could you offer me some

kind of work here?

I don’t want your charity, I

just want an honest job.

hard-workingpround

Well, it may seem luck to you but

not to me. If this is your idea of

some kind of joke, I don’t think

it’s very funny. Now, if you’ll

excuse me, I think I’ll be on my

way.

careless:

direct:I landed in Britain by accident.

The characteristics of Oliver and Roderick:

servants and not worrying about giving a stranger a million pound bank-note

prepared to bet one million pounds just for a bit of fun

They see that Herry is honest and proud

rich

mischievous

good judges of character

Enjoy Scene 3.

Explanation

1. A large quantity of money= a large

sum of money 常用于修饰不可数名词。

Now he has a large amount of money.

He can do anything he wants with it.

1)只用于修饰可数名词的有 :dozens ofscores of a great many a big (large/great) number ofbig (large/great) numbers of2) 只用于修饰不可数名词的有 :mucha great (good) deal ofa great (good) amount of

3) 既可修饰可数名词 , 也可修饰不可数名词的有 :

a lot of

lots of

plenty of

a large quantity of

2. What will you do with it?

do with 对待；处理 What shall we do with the rubbish?

比较 :do with/deal with

两个都有 “处理 , 对付”之意 do with 中的 do 是及物动词 ; 而 deal

with 中的 deal 是不及物动词 , 所以 do

with 用 what 提问 , deal with 用 how 提问。

How are you going to deal with the waste paper?What are you going to do with the old books?

3. make a bet make a bet on sth. with sb.= bet on sth. with sb. I bet …= I’m certain… 我肯定…类似的短语： have a bet 打赌 win/lose a bet 打赌赢 / 输了 accept / take up a bet 同意打赌

4. Now ladies and gentlemen, you’re

about to hear the most incredible tale.

女士们， 先生们， 你们将要听到一个最令人难以置信的故事。 be about to do 正要（即将）做某事e.g. Just as I was about to leave the

room, the telephone rang.

我正要离开房间， 电话铃响了。

辨析： be about to/ be to/ be going to

1)be about to do sth. 表示 “马上就要”，一般不和时间状语连用。

2)be to 表示按计划或职责、义务要求必须做的事或即将发生的动作。

3)be going to 打算将要做某事，也可表示很可能发生的事或自然现象。

I was about to jump when the

guide stopped me.

When is the invention to be put

into use?

I’m not going to tell you the

truth.

5. He is lost in London. 他在伦敦迷了路。be lost 迷路；倾心于某事e.g. He was lost in the forest for three

days and nights and was finally rescued

by his friends. 他迷失在树林里三天三夜 , 最后被朋友们救了出来。e.g. He was so lost in reading this book

that he forgot the time of his train.

他看书入了神 , 把上火车的时间都忘了。

6. Permit me to lead the way, sir. 先生 , 请让我来带路吧。 permit someone to do 准许……做某事e.g. Will you permit us to use this room for a meeting this afternoon? 你能准许我们今天下午在这个房间开个会吗？ permit doing 准许做某事e.g. The rules of the club don’t permit smoking. 俱乐部的规矩是不允许吸烟。与 permit 同义的词 allow ，也这样使用。

permit v./ n.

n./ pron. ~ + sb. to do sth. doing Dogs are not ~ted in the building. We don’t ~ __________ (smoke) in the office. I was ~ted _____________(explain) it. You can’t enter the building without a ~.

smoking

to explain

词语辨析： permit allow let

permit 含有比较积极地同意某人做某事，多用于正式场合； allow 含有听任或默许某人做某事，它可以和副词连用， permit 则不能； let 多用于口语， 祈使句中应用 let. 如：

Will you permit me to say a few words?

Mary wouldn’t allow me in.

Let my try.

7. by accident= by chance

eg. I only found it by accident.

8. stare at

stare at angrily= glare at

词语辨析： stare, glare, gaze, glance

Stare 指由于好奇，惊讶，深思而长时间目不转睛地“直视，注视，瞪视”， 有时表粗鲁无礼； glare 指由于兴趣，惊奇而长时间无意识地“凝视、注视”；glance 指“瞥视“”匆匆一看“。他们都可跟介词 at.

9. Find oneself carried out to sea ( 发现某人自己被漂流到海上 )

find oneself + 介词短语 / 分词 ( 发现某人自己不知不觉… )

He found himself walking in the

direction of the park. 。

After wandering around we found ourselves back at the hotel. 我们四处漫步后发现自己回到了酒店。

词语辨析 foolish, silly, stupid

foolish 意为“愚蠢的”强调人缺乏智慧，常识，判断力；行为举动愚蠢，考虑不周全。

silly 意为“傻的”，表人头脑简单，不懂世事，缺乏判断力；行为无聊。

stupid 意为“笨” 侧重人的智力差，反应迟钝。

10. I earned my passage by working as

unpaid hand, which accounts for my

appearance. 我靠做义工来顶替船费 ,

这就是我为什么衣冠不整的原因了。earn one’s passage 挣取旅费e.g. He couldn’t afford the fare, and so

he had to earn his passage by doing jobs

on the ship. 他交不起船费 , 只得靠在船上做些零活来挣取路费。

11.account n. 帐目；帐户 ; 帐单 My salary is paid directly into my bank ~. Can you really afford this ~ ? The ~s show that business is improving. account for ： 1 explain the cause of sth 解释 / 说明某事的原因 He could not ~ for his absence from school. This might ~ for his laziness. 2 to make up an amount of sth 占…的比例 According to Holowka, buildings account for

65% of total US electricity use.

account for 对……做出解释；说明原因e.g. Nobody could account for his

absence from school.

没人能对他旷课做出解释。

account for: be the explanation of sth;

explain the cause fo sth. 做某事的解释 ;

解释某事物的原因

His illness accounts for his absence.

他因病缺席 .

Please account for your own conduct.

请你对自己的行为作出解释 .

12.to be honest 老实说 = to tell you the truth = honestly speaking

类似的说法： to be frank = frankly speaking 坦率地说

To be honest, I don’t think we have a chance of winning. 说实话， 我认为我们取胜的可能性不大。

Summary of the Million Pound Bank-

Note

Henry, a San Francisco businessman

is rescued at sea by a British ship that

takes him to London where he finds

himself without money, friends or the

hope of finding a good job. Hungry

and alone, he walks the streets of the

city when unexpectedly he is asked

to a large and grand house. Two rich

brothers, Roderick and Oliver, have

made a secret bet, Roderick believes

that a man cannot survive in the city

for a month with only a million

Pound bank-note in his possession

but Oliver believes he can. The play

takes us along on Henry’s

misadventures with humor and

surprise to discover who will win the

bet.

Summary and homework

What do you think of this play? Is

money so important? Some people say

that money is everything. But some

people still think that money can

bring them happiness. What do you

think of this?

What do you think will happen to Henry after taking the money?

1. Review the key sentences in this part.

2. Read the whole passage fluently.

3. Preview the words in the second period.

Comprehending

词语辨析 probably , possible, perhaps, maybe

Probably 表“很可能”， 若说成 very/most probably, 其可能性程度不言而喻；

possibly 表“可能，也许”（ =perhaps), 若说成 quite possibly 则表“很有可能”， 肯定句中常与 may, might 连用，否定句和疑问句中改用 can , could;

perhaps 是英国用法，美国多用 maybe, 表“或许”， 它们多用于口语， maybe 更为随便。

.pretend to be 假装是

pretend to do 假装做

pretend to be doing 假装正在做

pretend to have done 假装已经做了

pretend that –clause 假装

注意： pretend 后不跟 doing

Using language

take a /one’s chance (take chances) of doing sth./ on sth. 冒险，碰运气

类似的表达： take/run a risk (take/run risks) of doing sth / on sth

He had his chance once. I don’t know why he didn’t take it. 他曾有过一次机会， 我不懂他为什么不利用它。

难句分析 1. I wonder, Mr Adams, if you’d mind us asking

a few questions.

I wonder whether (if) you… 是表示委婉的请求的句式，用于较为正式的场合。 译为：不知您是否…

…whether(if) you mind us asking a few questions 在句中作 wonder 的宾语从句 , 该句中的 (mind us)asking a few questions 为动名词的复合结构 , 该结构在句中作动词 mind 的宾语 .

“ 名词的所有格 / 形容词性物主代词 +doing”为动名词 (-ing 形式 ) 的复合结构 , 该结构在句中能做主语 , 表语和宾语 .

动名词 (-ing 形式 ) 的复合结构 :1. 用作主语 :Sophia’s having seen them did not surprise us. 索非亚看见了他们 , 这并不使我们感到惊讶 .2. 用作宾语 :Excuse my interrupting you.3. 用作表语 :What worried the child most was his not being allowed to visit his mother in the hospictal. 使那孩子不安的是不允许他到医院探望他的妈妈 . 在现代英语中 , 动名词复合结构用作宾语时 , 其名词多用通格 , 形容词性物主代词也多用代词的宾格 .mind us asking..就属这种情况 .I hate people being unhappy. Please say nothing about us calling.

难句 2.And it was the ship that brought you to England.

该句为强调句 , 其句型为 : “It was + 被强调部分 +that+ 句子剩余的部分” .

It was in this room that Lu Xun once lived.

Was it because his mother was ill that he didn’t go to school.

When was it that the club was set up? 这个俱乐部成立是什么时候 ?

难句 3. I earned my passge by working as an unpaid hand, which accounts for my appearance. 我是作为一个不拿工资的帮手赚来我的船费的 , 这就是我为什么会衣冠不整的原因了 .

该句中 which accounts for my appearance 是限定性定语从句 ,which 代表了前面的整个句子 .