2024年3月14日发(作者：)

Unit 8 Reflections of a Chinese mother in the West

Teaching aims:

1. To talk about different approaches to children’s education

2. To further understand the text

3. To apply the phrases and patterns

4. To master the essay writing skill

Lead in

A documentary of BBC in 2015:

Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School (中国老师来了)

In the program, five teachers from China take over the education of 50

teenagers in a Hampshire school to see whether the high-ranking Chinese

education system can teach us a lesson. Will the harsh regime of long days and

strict discipline produce superior students? Or will the clash of two cultures create

chaos in the classroom? After four weeks, the Chinese and British systems will go

head to head with the whole year group sitting exams to see which teaching style

gets the best results.

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Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

, Amy Chua , an American lawyer ,

author, and professor at the Yale Law School (虎妈战歌， 蔡美儿)

• The complete subtitle of the book is: ―

This is a story about a mother, two

daughters, and two dogs.

• The book is a memoir about her parenting journey using strict child rearing

techniques, which she describes as being typical for Chinese immigrant parents.

• The book was an international bestseller in the US, Korea, Poland, Israel,

Germany, UK, and China, and has been translated into 30 languages.

The book also

received a huge backlash and media attention and ignited global debate about

different parenting techniques and cultural attitudes that foster such techniques.

Watch a video clip and answer the two questions.

Q1: Is your mother a Tiger Mother? What would your parents do if you

failed to meet their expectations? Yes.

• Assume strength rather than fragility;

• Be strict with me;

• Not permit me to do …;

• Physically punish me.

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Q2: Have you ever hated your parents when they forced you to do something

you disliked but which later proved to be worthy of your efforts?

Yes.

• Force me to learn the Chinese calligraphy;

• Physically punished me because of my lack of self-discipline;

• Be all for my good;

• Better appreciate traditional culture;

• Foster patience and persistence;

Be forever grateful for their guidance.

Language points:

1. tiptoe

• 1.踮着脚走;蹑手蹑脚地走

• She tiptoed quietly out of the room so as not to wake him up.

• 她蹑手蹑脚地从房间走出去, 以免吵醒他。

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• 2. tiptoe around sth. 转弯抹角地谈论

• I already know what everyone is saying about me; so, you know you don’t

have to tiptoe around that subject with me. …这个话题不用跟我绕圈子。

• …you don’t have to bush around the bush with me.

• …you don’t have to talk about the subject in a roundabout way

2. get away with : 躲避，躲过(错误的行为)所带来的责备等

• 卢克对他妈妈撒谎的话，是绝对逃脱不了惩罚。

• Luke never could get away with lying to his mother.

• Melville managed to get by on a small amount of money.

• 梅尔维尔仅靠一点点钱勉强度日。(过得去,尚可 )

• I said I would write

to

you, but as usual I never got

around

to

it.

• 设法找到足够的时间去做

• I spoke slowly but I can't get my meaning across.

• (使)被理解；（使）被接受

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3. to dispense with摒弃；不用（做）

年轻人应该学会节俭，摒弃一切不必要的奢侈品。

Young people should learn to be thrifty, dispense with all unnecessary

luxuries.

Many households have dispensed with their old-fashioned vinyl turntable.

很多家庭都将老式的黑胶唱机束之高阁了。

4. to insulate sb. / sth. from / against使免除（不愉快的经历）；使免受

纵观世界，巨富之人的生活都是被重重保护起来的，不受周围贫苦民众苦难生活的影

响。

All around the world, extremely wealthy people live a rather protected lifestyle

and are insulated from

the suffering lives of the poor all around them.

Their wealth had insulated them from reality. 财富将他们与现实隔离。

isolate, separate, segregate, insulate 这些动词均有“分开，分离，隔离”之意。

isolate： 侧重指完全分离、隔开，也指人或处于完全孤立的状态。

separate： 指一般意义上的分开或隔开。

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segregate： 指把一群人或物从整体或主体中分离出来。

insulate： 指隔开、分离，尤指用某种东西阻挡从里面逃出或从外面进入的东西。作

技术用词时，专指用某种绝缘体隔断通路。

词根：insul=island,表示"岛屿,sul有'单独'之意"

同根词 adj. insular岛屿的,心胸狭窄的

n. insulin胰岛素 peninsula半岛 te 隔离,孤立;使绝缘,使绝热

5. irrespective of 不受某事物影响；不问某事物

不分种族、信仰或肤色，法律适用于所有的人。

The laws apply to everyone irrespective of race, creed or color.

This service should be available to everybody, irrespective of whether they can

afford it.

这项服务应该面向所有人,不管他们是否负担得起。

6. The fact is that Chinese parents do things that seem provocative,

unimaginable, even illegal, to opinionated Westerners. (Para. 2, L1)

事实是，中国父母的做法，对固执己见的西方人来说，令人愤慨，难以想象，甚至是

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违法的。

The fact is that sb. do things that seem provocative/unimaginable/sad…,

even illegal, to sb.

用于表达“其他人对某人做事情的看法”。

事实是，职业医闹的做法，对辛劳的医生来说，令人愤慨，不够理智，甚至是违法的。

The fact is that hired hospital violators do things that seem provocative,

irrational, even illegal, to the hard-working physicians.

7. That’s why the solution to substandard performance is always to punish

and shame the child. (Para. 6, L4)

这就是为什么对表现欠佳的孩子，父母总是会施以惩罚和辱骂。

That’s why the solution to sth. is always to do sth..

用于表达“对某人/事的应对措施”。

全球变暖的主要原因是人为污染。 这就是对于全球变暖问题的解决方法，人们总是要

控制大气污染。

The main cause of global warming is man-made pollution. That is why the

solution to the problem of global warming is always to control air pollution.

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r area where Chinese and Westerners clash is that most

Westerners don’t believe offspring must show permanent gratitude to parents.

(Para. 8, L1)

中西方理念碰撞的另一领域是，西方人大多认为子女无须永远感激父母。

Another area where Chinese and Westerners clash is that most Westerners

/ Chinese believe sb. must / can do sth.

用于表达“中西方理念的差异”。

中西方理念碰撞的另一领域是，中国人大多认为养儿防老。

Another area where Chinese and Westerners clash is that most Chinese people

think that they can provide against old age by raising children.

Exercises:

Topics for writing:

Should girls ask boys out?

Should animals be used for research?

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