Unit 3 A taste of English humour
Part One: Teaching Design (第一部分：教學(xué)設(shè)計(jì))
1. A sample lesson plan for reading
(NONVERBAL HUMOUR)
Aims
To help students develop their reading ability.
To help students learn about English humour.
Procedures
I. Warming up
Warming up by defining “Humour”
What is “Humour”? Does any one of you know anything about humour? Look at the sreen and read the definition of Humour from the Internet.
temper: a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling; "whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time"; "he was in a bad humor"
wit: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
humor: (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state; "the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile"
liquid body substance: the liquid parts of the body
humor: the quality of being funny; "I fail to see the humor in it"
humor: the trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous; "she didn't appreciate my humor"; "you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor"
humor: put into a good mood
Warming up watching and listening
Hi, everyone! We are going to learn about A taste of English humour today. Now watch the slides/ pictures and listen to the English humour poems.
Why worry?
There are only two things to worry about:
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about.
If you are sick, there are two things to worry about:
Either you will get well or you will die.
If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about.
If you die, there are only two things to worry about:
Either you will go to Heaven or Hell.
If you go to Heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
But if you go to Hell, you will be so damn busy
Shaking hands with friends, you wont have time to worry.
Whose job ...?
This is the story about four people named Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done,
and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that
because it was Everybodys job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it,
but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldnt do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
When Nobody did what Anybody could have done
II. Pre-reading
Telling the truth -Why do you like to laugh at?
I like to laugh at cartoons,for they’re lovely and fun.
I like to laugh at fairy tales. They are amusing and interesting.
Many years ago there lived an Emperor who was so exceedingly fond of fine new clothes that he spent vast sums of money on dress. To him clothes meant more than anything else in the world. He took no interest in his army, nor did he care to go to the theatre, or to drive about in his state coach, unless it was to display his new clothes. He had different robes for every single hour of the day.
III. Reading
1. Reading aloud to the recording
Now please listen and read aloud to the recording of the text NONVERBAL HUMOUR. Pay attention to the pronunciation of each word and the pauses between the thought groups. I will play the tape twice and you shall read aloud twice, too.
2. Reading and underlining
Next you are to read and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in the passage. Copy them to your notebook after class as homework.
Collocations from NONVERBAL HUMOUR
Slide on…, bump into…, round a corner, fall down…, in the road, see other people’s bad luck, at times, feel content with…, be worse off, astonish… with…, inspire…in sb., play a character, be born in poverty, become famous, use a particular form of acting, ancarry entertaining silent movie, a charming character, be well known throughout the world, play a poor and homeless person, wear large trousers, carry a walking stick, a social failure, be loved by…, overcome difficulties, be unkind to …, make…entertaining, a sad situation, a boiled shoe, make… funny, use nonverbal humour, in the middle of the nineteenth century, discover gold, in search of…, rush there, pan for gold, wash… from…, in a pan of water, pick up…, be fortunate enough, be cought on the edge of…, in a snowstorm, in a small wooden house, have nothing to eat, boil a pair of leather shoes, sit down at a table, a drinking cup, pick out…, cut off…, treat… as if…, eat every monthful with enjoyment, direct a movie, give… a special Oscar, one’s lifetime outstanding work, live one’s life in…,
3. Reading to identify the topic sentence of each paragrap
Skim the text and identify the topic sentence of each paragraph. You may find it either at the beginning, the middle or the end of the paragraph.
4. Reading and transferring information
Read the text again to complete the table.
NONVERBAL HUMOUR
What is nonverbal humour?
Who is Charlie Chaplin?
How does he make a sad situation entertaining?
What is the story of The Gold Rush?
Facts about Oscar
A brief life history of Charlie Chaplin
5. Reading and understanding difficult sentences
As you have read the text times, you can surely tell which sentences are difficult to understand. Now put your questions concerning the difficult points to me the teacher.
IV. Closing down
Closing down by doing exercises
To end the lesson you are to do the comprehending exercises No. 1and 2 on pages 18 and 19.
Closing down by watching a silent movie by Charlie Chaplin
Do you like watching movies? Do you like humourous movies? Now let’s watch a silent humourous movie by Charlie Chaplin. It’s Charlie Chaplin's first film: Making a Living
Closing down by reading about Charlie Chaplin
To end the period we shall read an article about Charlie Chaplin. Now look at the screen and read it aloud with me.
Charlie Chaplin (April 16, 1889 - December 25, 1977)
Charlie Chaplin, who brought laughter to millions worldwide as the silent "Little Tramp" clown, had the type of deprived childhood that one would expect to find in a Dickens novel. Born in East Street, Walworth, London on 16 April, 1889, Charles Spencer Chaplin was the son of a music hall singer and his wife. Charlie Chaplin's parents divorced early in his life, with his father providing little to no support, either financial or otherwise, leaving his mother to support them as best she could. Chaplin's mother Hannah was the brightest spot in Charlie's childhood; formerly an actor on stage, she had lost her ability to perform, and managed to earn a subsistence living for herself, Charlie, and Charlie's older half-brother Sidney by sewing. She was an integral part of Charlie's young life, and he credited her with much of his success. Sadly, she slowly succumbed to mental illness, and by the time that Charlie was 7 years old, she was confined to an asylum; Charlie and Sidney were relegated to a workhouse (a government facility for orphaned and abandoned children) -- not for the last time. After 2 months, she was released, and the family was happily reunited, for a time. In later years, she was readmitted for an 8-month stretch later, during which time Charlie lived with his alcoholic father and stepmother, in a strained environment.
2．A sample lesson plan for Learning about Language
(The –ing form as the Predicative, Attributive & Object)
Aims
To help students learn about The –ing form as the Predicative, Attributive & Object)
To help students discover and learn to use some useful words and expressions.
To help students discover and learn to use some useful structures.
Procedures
I. Warming up
Warming up by discovering useful words and expressions
Turn to page 19 and do exercises No. 1, 2 , 3, 4 and 5. Check your answers against your classmates’.
II. Learning about The –ing form as the Attributive
What is attributive? It is something placed before the nouns to be modified: “red” is an attributive adjective in “a red apple”. “walking ” is also an attributive adjective in “a walking stick”.
The –ing form as the Attributive
The –ing form作定語(yǔ)時(shí)表示該動(dòng)作正在進(jìn)行。單個(gè)The –ing form作定語(yǔ)通常放在被修飾詞的前面. The –ing form短語(yǔ)作定語(yǔ)則放在被修飾詞之后。如:
The rising sun looks very beautiful. 冉冉升起的太陽(yáng)看上去很美。
若被修飾詞與The –ing form是被動(dòng)關(guān)系時(shí),須用The –ing form的被動(dòng)式(being done)作定語(yǔ)。如:
The song being broadcast is very popular with the young students. 正在播放的歌曲深受青年學(xué)生的歡迎。
注意The –ing form作定語(yǔ)與所修飾的名詞有邏輯上的主謂關(guān)系,或表示作用與用途。如:
Let sleeping dogs lie. 別招惹麻煩。(The –ing form相當(dāng)于定語(yǔ)從句 which are sleeping)
I think some sleeping pills may help you. 我想安眠藥可以助你入睡。(The –ing form表示用途,相當(dāng)于pills for sleeping)
III. Ready used materials for The –ing form as the Predicative, Attributive & Object
Which verbs can be followed by the -ing form?
One of the most important simple principles that grammarians tend to miss is the one that explains what verbs take the -ing form. The method of almost all books on English grammar is to give a list of such verbs. This implies that it is completely arbitrary whether a verb takes the -ing form or not, that God has closed his eyes and pricked off verbs here and there at random with a pin. Students are thus cut off from insight into a basic pattern of meaning, and confronted with a lifeless series of unconnected words which they have to learn by heart. They are pushed into a purely mechanical process that misses the essential truth that learning languages is learning about meanings and their logical connections to other meanings. It is significant of the impractical arbitrariness of these lists that there are almost no two of them that are the same, even where the most common of the verbs used with -ing are concerned.
When contrasting the -ing form with the infinitive, the basic point to remember is that
-ing can always mean, among other things, a verb-noun, an
'action-thing'.
The fact that -ing can always mean a 'thing' gives us the following practical principle:
If you can say I (etc.) - verb - it (e.g. I like it), you can use I - verb -ing (e.g. I like eating).
Avoid it. Avoid stepping on the grass if you can.
Do you mind it? Do you mind shutting the window?
He couldn't risk it. He couldn't risk hurting the children.
This is a principle virtually without exceptions. But naturally there are many verbs that in practice are never used with -ing simply because nobody ever wants to express that 'action' meaning of -ing with them. The process is always self-regulating, so to speak - one says whatever makes sense. We can look at some examples of the use of -ing with verbs that appear on few, if any, of most grammarians' lists.
They have added mistreating prisoners to the list of charges.
I can't really afford living like this.
The council no longer allows smoking in public buildings.
aim - (It is hard to think of a sensible example of -ing being used with this verb. Can you?)
The club arranges dancing for the pensioners.
The chairman claimed breaking the strike as a great triumph.
I don't count making money as a virtue.
The investigators discovered cheating on a huge scale.
We must encourage planting earlier in the season.
I thank travelling for teaching me much about the human condition.
The principle applies equally to phrasal verbs, both the 'prepositional' type and the 'adverbial particle' type.
She insisted on helping me.
Bill's putting off writing till tomorrow. (Or: ...putting writing off..)
The managing director picked out idling on the job as the main cause of the declining profits.
turn up - (Another example of a verb I am unable to think of any sensible use for with -ing.)
(Notice that in the second and third sentences above, an it used instead of the -ing form would come between putting and off and between picked and out.)
There are uses of -ing which appear to contradict the it-substitution principle. Two examples of them involve expressions that both have the sense of continue: carry on and go on. One can say Carry on talking, but not *Carry on it. That, however, is merely because unemphasized pronouns are never used at the end of phrasal verb phrases (e.g. in a dictionary one looks it up, not *looks up it). With go on one cannot even say *go it on. This again can be explained simply. One does not *go a thing, while with the sense of continue one does not say *go on it for the same reason that one does not say *Carry on it.
IV. Closing down
Closing down by discovering
To end the period you are going to skim the text and the previous texts to find out all the examples containing –ing forms used as the predicative, attributive and object.
Closing down by exercises
In the last few minutes you are to do exercises 1, 2, 3 and 4 on page 21. Check your answers against those of your groupmates’
3． A sample lesson plan for Using Language
(Jokes about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson)
Aims
To help students read the paragraph of Jokes about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
To help students to use the language by reading, listening, speaking and writing.
Procedures
I. Warming up
Warming up by reading school jokes
There are lots of jokes in English about school life. Read these two to see whether you will laugh or not.
Why must we learn this? 為什么要學(xué)這個(gè)呀？
One day our professor was discussing a particularly complicated concept. A pre-med student rudely interrupted to ask, "Why do we have to learn this pointless information"
"To save lives." the professor responded quickly and continued the lecture.
A few minutes later, the same student spoke up again. "So how does physics save lives?" he persisted.
"It keeps the ignoramuses like you out of medical school," replied the professor.
I will do anything to pass 說(shuō)啥也要考個(gè)及格
A student comes to a young professor's office hours. She glances down the hall, closes his door, kneels pleadingly.
"I would do anything to pass this exam." She leans closer to him, flips back her hair, gazes meaningfully into his eyes. "I mean..." she whispers, "...I would do...anything."
He returns her gaze. "Anything?"
"Anything."
His voice softens. "Anything??"
"Absolutely anything."
His voice turns to a whisper. "Would you...study?"
II. Guided reading
1． Reading and translating
Read the paragraph on page 22 and translate it into Chinese sentence by sentence.
2. Reading and underlining
Next you are to read the paragph and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in it. Copy them to your notebook after class as homework.
Collocations from the paragraph on page 22
Go camp, in a mountainous area, lie in the open air, under the stars, look up at the stars, think of…, try a third time, in one’s beds
3. Doing the exercise
Now you are going to do the exercise No. 1 on page 22.
III.Guided Speaking
Think of funny stories in English and telll them to your group mates.
________________________________________
The Student and the Pharmacist 學(xué)生和藥劑師
A somewhat advanced society has figured how to package basic knowledge in pill form. A student, needing some learning, goes to the pharmacy and asks what kind of knowledge pills are available.
The pharmacist says, "Here's a pill for English literature." The student takes the pill and swallows it and has new knowledge about English literature!
"What else do you have?" asks the student. "Well, I have pills for art history, biology, and world history," replies the pharmacist.
The student asks for these, and swallows them and has new knowledge about those subjects. Then the student asks, "Do you have a pill for math?"
The pharmacist says, "Wait just a moment," and goes back into the storeroom and brings back a whopper of a pill and plunks it on the counter.
"I have to take that huge pill for math?" inquires the student. The pharmacist replied, "Well, you know... math always was a little hard to swallow."
Out of the mouths of babes 出自孩子之口
My two and a half year old grandson lives with his mother. Her roommate also has a two and a half year old child, a daughter. A few days ago they were playing together and my grandson noting that his playmate's stomach was exposed ,took his forefinger and poked her belly button. She thought that this was great and they both had a laugh about it.
Sometime later his playmate raised her arms inviting my grandson to poke her belly button again. As he moved his forefinger toward her for a repeat performance, she suddenly lowered her arms, backed away and said, "No! I have a headache."
IV.Guided Writing-Learn to write jokes
There are two main parts to the structure of a joke. The first prepares you for the laugh by telling a story which creates a sense of expectation. The second part of the joke, the punch line, provokes laughter by telling an unexpected and different story, yet one which is still compatible with the first, as in this example: "My wife just ran off with my best friend. Boy, do I miss him." and "I had a mud pack facial done, and for three days my face looked much better. Then the mud fell off." Notice the assumption that is made in both these examples. In the first, you assume the person telling the story is angry with his wife, so the punch line surprises you because he's feeling something different and unexpected. Again, in the second example, you'd most likely assume the mud had been removed, leaving the face looking better, so the punch line takes you by surprise.
So, to write jokes you need to practice reading statements and writing down the asumptions you make about them. You must be able to interpret the statement (first story line) in at least two different ways in order to provide the second, different story i.e. the punch line. And what to write about? Anything that interests you. Anything you have strong opinions about.
Now write down your own jokes, in English.
IV. Closing down by acting
To end this period, we are going to act the film by Charlie Chaplin The Great Dictator.
The Great Dictator 大獨(dú)裁者
Schulz: Speak - it is our only hope.
The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin's character): Hope... I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business - I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.
We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful.
But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.
Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...
Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers - don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.
The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."
Part Two: Teaching Resources (第二部分：教學(xué)資源)
1．A text structure analysis of NONVERBAL HUMOUR
I. Type of writing and summary of the idea
Type of writing This is a piece of describtive writing.
Main idea of the passage
Charlie Chaplin astonishes us with the deep feelings he can inspire in us for a character he is playing.
Topic sentence of 1st paragraph Some humour can be cruel.
Topic sentence of 2nd paragraph Charlie Chaplin is such an actor as to astonish us with the deep feelings.
Topic sentence of 3rd paragraph How did Charlie Chaplin make a sad situation entertaining?
Topic sentence of 4th paragraph The film of The Gold Rush is set in California.
Topic sentence of 5th paragraph Charlie Chaplin produced, directed, and wrote the movies he starred in.
II. A tree diagram of the text THEME PARKS -FUN AND MORE THAN FUN
III. A retold passage of the text
A possible version:
Sliding on a banana skin. Bumping into someone. Falling down a hole. These are some of the funny things we like to see other people doing. We feel content with ourselves because these other people are worse off than we are. And this feeling is so called “humour”.
Charlie Chaplin is a humourous actor. He astonishes us with humourous feelings he inspired in us. Born in poverty, he became famous by using a particular form of acting in entertaining silent movies. He was a charming character, being well known throughout the world. He played a poor and homeless person, wearing large trousers, carrying a walking stick. Be a social failure, he was, in the movies, loved by all the people. By overcoming difficulties, by being kind to people unkind to him, by making a sad situation entertaining, by eating a boiled shoe, Charlie Chaplin make us happy and excited. His use of nonverbal humour excellent in the film The Gold Runed in the middle of the nineteenth century in ,California where gold was dicovered. In search of gold people rushed there, panning for gold, washing gold from water in a pan of water, hoping to ipick up gold.
Such is Charlie Chaplin who produced, directed, and wrote movies that he starred in. He was given a special Oscar in 1972 for his lifetime outstanding work of bringing humour to us all.
2．Background information on theme parks
I. Six ways to improve your nonverbal communications
1. Eye contact:
Eye contact, an important channel of interpersonal communication, helps regulate the flow of communication. And it signals interest in others. Furthermore, eye contact with audiences increases the speaker's credibility. Teachers who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.
2. Facial expressions:
Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits:
Happiness
Friendliness
Warmth
Liking
Affiliation
Thus, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and students will react favorably and learn more.
3. Gestures:
If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as boring, stiff and unanimated. A lively and animated teaching style captures students' attention, makes the material more interesting, facilitates learning and provides a bit of entertainment. Head nods, a form of gestures, communicate positive reinforcement to students and indicate that you are listening.
4. Posture and body orientation:
You communicate numerous messages by the way you walk, talk, stand and sit. Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward communicates to students that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Furthermore, interpersonal closeness results when you and your students face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided; it communicates disinterest to your class.
5. Proximity:
Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with students. You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading students' space. Some of these are:
Rocking
Leg swinging
Tapping
Gaze aversion
Typically, in large college classes space invasion is not a problem. In fact, there is usually too much distance. To counteract this, move around the classroom to increase interaction with your students. Increasing proximity enables you to make better eye contact and increases the opportunities for students to speak.
6. Paralinguistics:
This facet of nonverbal communication includes such vocal elements as:
Tone
Pitch
Rhythm
Timbre
Loudness
Inflection
For maximum teaching effectiveness, learn to vary these six elements of your voice. One of the major criticisms is of instructors who speak in a monotone. Listeners perceive these instructors as boring and dull. Students report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to teachers who have not learned to modulate their voices.
7. Humor:
Humor is often overlooked as a teaching tool, and it is too often not encouraged in college classrooms. Laughter releases stress and tension for both instructor and student. You should develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage students to do the same. It fosters a friendly classroom environment that facilitates learning. (Lou Holtz wrote that when his players felt successful he always observed the presence of good humor in the locker room.)
Obviously, adequate knowledge of the subject matter is crucial to your success; however, it's not the only crucial element. Creating a climate that facilitates learning and retention demands good nonverbal and verbal skills. To improve your nonverbal skills, record your speaking on video tape. Then ask a colleague in communications to suggest refinements.
II. Biography of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was born Charles Spencer Chaplin in London, England on 16 April 1889. His parents, Charles Chaplin, Sr and Hannah Hill were music hall entertainers but separated shortly after Charlie was born, leaving Hannah to provide for her children. In 1896 when Hannah was no longer able to care for her children, Charlie and his brother Sydney were admitted to Lambeth Workhouse and later, Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children.
Charlie had already debuted in the music hall in 1894, when he had sung a song after his mother was taken hoarse.
1903-1906
Performs in Sherlock Holmes, as the newspaper boy Billy
1906-1907
The Casey Circus
1907-1910
Works with the Karno Pantomime Troupe
1910-1912
First tour of USA/Canada with Karno Troupe
1912-1913
Second tour of USA/Canada with Karno Troupe
May 1913
Accepts offer from Adam Kessel (who has interests in the Keystone Film Company) for $125/week
29 December 1913
Signs contract with Keystone
Jan/Feb 1914
Charlie Chaplin's first film: Making a Living
1914
Keystone films
Nov 1914
Signs with Essanay for $1,250/week to make 14 films during 1915
1915
Essanay films
27 Feb 1916
Signs with Mutual Film Corporation for $10,000/week plus $150,000 bonus
1916-1917
Mutual films
17 June 1917
Signs with First National Exhibitor's Circuit for $1,075,000/year
2． Words and expressions from Unit 3 A taste of English humour
verbal a. verbal skill 運(yùn)用語(yǔ)言的能力 I wrote a memorandum to confirm our verbal agreement. 我寫(xiě)了份備忘錄以確認(rèn)我們的口頭協(xié)議。This is a verbal translation of the prose. 這是那篇散文的逐字直譯。verbal forms 動(dòng)詞的形態(tài)
mime n. A mime is the representation of action, character or mood using only gestures and movements rather than words, or the actor in such a performance, specifically a mimic. To mime is also the term given to a singer who performs to a pre-recorded song and only pretends to sing live. It is usually limited to performances by Pop music artists.
In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, a mime is a farcical drama characterized by mimicry and ludicrous representations of characters, or the script for such a performance.
farce n. A farce is a comedy written for the stage, or a film, which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely and extravagant - yet often possible - situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include puns and sexual innuendo, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases even further towards the end of the play, often involving an elaborate chase scene. Broad physical humor, and deliberate absurdity or nonsense, are also commonly employed in farce.
poverty n. Poverty is any of a wide range of circumstances associated with need, hardship and lack of resources. For some, poverty is a subjective and comparative term; for others, it is moral and evaluative; and for others, scientifically established. The principal uses of the term include:
Descriptions of material need, including deprivation of essential goods and services, multiple deprivation, and patterns of deprivation over time.
Economic circumstances, describing a lack of wealth (usually understood as capital, money, material goods, or resources especially natural resources). The meaning of "sufficient" varies widely across the different political and economic areas of the world. In the European Union, poverty is also described in terms of "economic distance", or inequality.
Social relationships, including social exclusion, dependency, and the ability to live what is understood in a society as a "normal" life: for instance, to be capable of raising a healthy family, and especially educating children and participating in society.
A person living in the condition of poverty is said to be poor.
tramp n. A tramp is an itinerant who travels from place to place, traditionally tramping, that is, walking. While they may do odd jobs from time to time, tramps aren't looking for regular work and support themselves by other means i.e. begging or theft. This is in contrast to hobos who travel from place to place (often by stealing rides on freight trains) looking for work, or schnorrers, who travel from city to city begging. Both the terms tramp and hobo (and the distinction between them) were in common use between the 1880s and the 1940s, and were not limited to the Great Depression. Schnorrer is a Yiddish term. Like hobo and bum, tramp is somewhat archaic in American English usage, having been subsumed by the more euphemistic homeless person.
failure n. Failure in general refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. It may be viewed as the opposite of success.
Oscar n. The Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the world. The Awards are granted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional honorary organization which as of 2003 had a voting membership of 5,816. Actors (with a membership of 1,311) make up the largest voting bloc. The most recent awards were the 77th Academy Awards.
fortune n. Fortune or fortune can refer to: Luck; Fortune magazine; The fortune Unix/Linux command; The name of a character from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a member of Dead Cell.
The goddess of fortune is Fortuna (or Tyche).
sense n. & v. She has no sense of time. 她沒(méi)有時(shí)間觀念。Your brother has a good sense of humor. 你兄弟很有幽默感。He is free from any sense of responsibility. 他絲毫沒(méi)有責(zé)任感。He had the good sense to withdraw from the election contest. 他很明智,退出了競(jìng)選。
The word here is used in its figurative sense. 此詞在這兒取的是它的比喻意義。Anyone in his right senses wouldn't do that. 神智清醒的人都不會(huì)去干那種事。What's the sense of arguing with him? 同他爭(zhēng)論有什么用處呢? I sensed that I had made a serious mistake. 我意識(shí)到自己犯了個(gè)嚴(yán)重的錯(cuò)誤。