Model text appreciation of narratio.docx

1、Model text appreciation of narratio Model text appreciation of narratioModel text 1 The Road to Adulthood1. Text1. Like most little girls, I thought it would be very grown up to get my hair done in a beauty parlor instead of by my mother or older sister as it had been done for years. I also knew tha

2、t at a beauty parlor I could get my limp dull hair changed into shining curls, and I wanted curls more than anything. I was positive that blond waves were just what I needed to acquire the maturity of popularity so essential in the third grade.2. For a month I cried and badgered my family, promising

3、 everything if they would only let me get my hair done as I wished. Finally, after hearing enough of my whining, my mother gave in and made an appointment for me. I was sure I was on my way to becoming an adorable Shirley Temple.3. Things didnt turn out quite the way I imagined. To begin with I was

4、not taken to one of the fashionable beauty houses I had often seen on my way home from school, but rather to the oldest salon in town. Its outdated interior hosted only a few older women getting their thin hair inexpertly teased over their visibly pink scalps. I should have suspected then and there

5、that things would not be the way I dreamed, but still, naive, I waited for my transformation. I sat through my appointment nutmeat never questioning the mass of hair that fell to the floor nor the burning sensation as the rollers were pulled tight against my head. In fact it wasnt until I arrived ho

6、me that I was able to take a good look in the mirror to see what had happened. Looking back at me was not a reflection of a cute, curly top, but instead a mop of indescribable frizz: the classic example of the overworked permanent.4. Needless to say I overreacted and spent the remaining part of the

7、day washing and re-washing my hair to remove the tangled mess. When this did little to improve the situation, I cried hysterically for hours, my head well hidden beneath a pillow. It took a week until I would see anyone without a towel over my head and a month before I could look at someone without

8、feeling that they were making fun of me the minute I turned my back.5. When I think about how silly I behaved, I always laugh. Now it seems easy to accept such small disappointment, but if you had asked me then I would have assured you that nothing could possibly have been worse. In a way I feel tha

9、t such a fruitless journey to the hairdresser actually helped me a bit further along the road to adulthood since it was a perfect example of a disappointing obstacle that can be improved only by time and patience, and not by tantrums or senseless worrying.2. ThemeA seemingly frustrating obstacle on

10、my way to maturity ( such a fruitless journey to the hairdresser actually helped me a bit further along the road to adulthood- Para. 5)3. StructureIntroduction (Para. 1 -2): - the background reasons and preparations: my childish expectation and admiration and my fruitful effortsBody (Para. 3 - 4): T

11、he actual incident, and follow-up of one event of critical importanceConclusion (Para. 5): My later understanding of the episode and its relation to wider implications to the readers lives.4. Language points:1) The road to adulthood: on my way to maturity2) to get my hair done in a beauty parlor ins

12、tead of by my mother or older sister as it had been done for years. to get my hair done by some expert hairdresser in a beauty parlor instead of being done by my mother or older sister at home as that had been the case for many years.3) I wanted curls more than anything. curling hair style was what

13、I wanted best.4) the maturity of popularity so essential in the third grade. the popular maturity, which was so essential to the third graders.5) Finally, after hearing enough of my whining, Finally, when getting tired of my complaining, 6) Shirley Temple: an American child film star in the 20s and

14、30s last century7) Things didnt turn out quite the way I imagined.Things didnt turn out quite as what I had wished.8) salon (Fr.): parlor9) Its outdated interior hosted only a few older women getting their thin hair inexpertly teased over their visibly pink scalps.Inside the oldest salon there were

15、only a few older women. They were having their thin hair unskillfully done over their visibly pink scalps by the hairdressers there.10) but still, naive, I waited for my transformation.na?ve: (adverbial) as I was so na?vetransformation: a big change (for the better in appearance)11) I sat through my

16、 appointment nutmeat never questioning nutmeat: core; fig. sth. of most importancesit through : remain seated / indifferent / unresisting until the end of c.f. We just had to sit through the tedious lecture.The people of the world will never sit through the wrongdoings by the terrorists.12) Looking

17、back at me was not a reflection of a cute, curly top, but instead a mop of indescribable frizz: the classic example of the overworked permanent.Looking back at me: the figure in the mirror that was looking back at me the classic example: the typical examplethe overworked permanent: permanent = perma

18、nent wave13) When this did little to improve the situation, When this did little help to the messy situation, 14) the minute I turned my back. as soon as I turned my back.Cf. the moment / the second + (clause)My daughter phoned me the moment she reached Beijing.The country burst into cheers the minu

19、te they heart the final decision via the TV live transmission.15) but if you had asked me then I would have assured you that nothing could possibly have been worse. (subjunctive mood)Model text 2 The Perfect Picture1. Text1. It was early in the spring about 15 years ago - a day of pale sunlight and

20、trees just beginning to bud. I was a young police reporter, driving to a scene I didnt want to see. A man, the police dispatchers broadcast said, had accidentally backed his pickup truck over his baby granddaughter in the driveway of the family home. It was a fatality.2. As I parked among police car

21、s and TV-news cruisers, I saw a stocky, white-haired man in cotton work clothes standing near a pickup. Cameras were trained on him, and reporters were sticking microphones in his face. Looking totally bewildered, he was trying to answer their questions. Mostly he was only moving his lips, blinking

22、and choking up.3. After a while the reporters gave up on him and followed the police into the small white house. I can still see in my minds eye that devastated old man looking down at the place in the driveway where the child had been. Beside the house was a freshly spaded flower bed, and nearby a

23、pile of dark, rich earth.4. “I was just backing up there to spread that good dirt,”he said to me, though I had not asked him anything. “I didnt even know she was outdoors.” He stretched his hand toward the flower bed, then let it flop to his side. He lapsed back into his thoughts, and I, like a good

24、 reporter, went into the house to find someone who could provide a recent photo of the toddler.5. A few minutes later, with all the details in my notebook and a three-by-five studio portrait of the cherubic child tucked in my jacket pocket, I went toward the kitchen where the police had said the bod

25、y was.6. I had brought a camera in with me - the big, bulky Speed Graphic which used to be the newspaper reporters trademark. Everybody had drifted back out of the house together - family, police, reporters and photographer. Entering the kitchen, I came upon this scene.7. On a Formica-topped table,

26、backlighted by a frilly curtained window, lay the tiny body, wrapped in a clear white sheet. Somehow the grandfather had managed to stay away from the crowd. He was sitting on a chair beside the table, in profile to me and unaware of my presence, looking uncomprehendingly at the swaddled corpse.8. T

27、he house was very quiet. A clock ticked. As I watched the grandfather slowly leaned forward, curved his arms like parentheses around the head and feet of the little form, then pressed his face to the shroud and remained motionless.9. In that hushed moment I recognized the makings of a prize-winning

28、news photograph. I appraised the light, adjusted the lens setting and distance, locked a bulb in the flashgun, raised the camera and composed the scene in the viewfinder.10. Every element of the picture was perfect: the grandfather in his plain work clothes, his white hair backlighted by sunshine, t

29、he childs form wrapped in the sheet, the atmosphere of the simple home suggested by black iron trivets and Worlds Fair souvenir plates on the walls flanking the window. Outside, the police could be seen inspecting the fatal rear wheel of the pickup while the childs mother and father leaned in each o

30、thers arms.11. I dont know how many seconds I stood there, unable to snap that shutter. I was keenly aware of the powerful story-telling value that photo would have, and my professional conscience told me to take it. Yet I couldnt make my hand fire that flashbulb and intrude on the poor mans island

31、of grief.12. At length I lowered the camera and crept away, shaken with doubt about my suitability for the journalistic profession. Of course I never told the city editor or any fellow reporters about that missed opportunity for a perfect news picture.13. Every day, on the newscasts and in the paper

32、s, we see pictures of people in extreme conditions of grief and despair. Human suffering has become a spectator sport. And sometimes, as Im watching news film, I remember that day.14. I still feel right about what I did.2. ThemeA missed chance for a perfect news picture3. StructureParagraph 1 background informationParagraphs 2-6 preparatory narrative for the critical sceneParagraphs 7-10 the per