Unit 13 Darkness at Noon.ppt

Unit 13
Darkness at Noon
Unit 13
Purposes
1. To get students have the right attitude towards the disabled.
2. To understand the purpose of writing.
3. To reinforce some basic linguistic knowledge by doing various types of exercises.
Three Days to See
Helen Keller
All of  us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
我们大家都读过一些令人激动的故事,这些故事里的主人公仅仅活在有限并且特定的时间内,有时长达一年,有时短到24小时。但我们总是有兴趣发现,那命中注定要死的是那些有选择自由的人,而不是那些活动范围被严格限定了的判了刑的犯人。
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?
这样的故事让我们思考,在相似的情况下,我们该怎么办,作为终有一死的人,在那最终的几个小时内安排什么事件,什么经历,什么交往?在回顾往事时,我们该找到什么快乐?什么悔恨?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years e. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry," but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
有时我想到,过好每一天是个非常好的习惯,似乎我们明天就会死去。这种态度鲜明地强调了生命的价值。我们应该以优雅、精力充沛、善知乐趣的方式过好每一天。而当岁月推移,在经常瞻观未来之时日、未来之年月中,这些又常常失去。当然,也有人愿按伊壁鸠鲁的信条“吃、喝和欢乐”去生活。(译注:伊壁鸠鲁是古希腊哲学家,他认为生活的主题目的是享乐,而最高的享受唯通过合理的生活,如自我控制才能得到。因为生活享受的目的被过分强调,而达此目的之手段被忽视,所以伊壁鸠鲁的信徒现今变为追求享乐的人。他们的信条是:“让我们吃喝,因为明天我们就死亡”),但绝大多数人还是被即将面临死亡的必然性所折磨。
In stories the doomed hero is usual