Unit 2
Working with Words and Expressions:
1. Listed in the box below are some of the words you have learned in the text. Complete the following sentences with them. Change the form where necessary.
1) ill-fitting
2) stain
3) devoured
4) rotting
5) cracked
6) chronic
7) dripping
8) sore
9) enslaved
10) corrective
2. Listed in the box below are some expressions that you have learned in the text. Complete the sentences with each of them. Change the form where necessary.
1) Wears away / eats away
2) come off
3) help out
4) eats away
5) going-up
6) at best
7) off and on
Increasing Your Word Power:
1. Word Clusters: make your own sentences using the word cluster in italicized type in your text book
2. Words or phrases with Multiple Meanings
Devour
1) devour:
2) devour: v. read something quickly and eagerly
3) devour: v. destroy someone or something
4) devour: v. use up all of something
5) devour: v. be filled with a strong feeling that seems to control someone
Come off
1) come off: become unfastened or disconnected (from)
2) come off: fall off (something)
3) come off: take place, happen
4) come off: succeed, have the intended effect
5) come off: stop taking (a drug) that one has been taking regularly
Cloze:
1) smell
2) marriage
3) chronic
4) smelly
5) unemployment
6) mattress
7) cornbread
8) malnutrition
9) cracked
10) luxuries
11) insects
12) diapers
13) future
14) alcohol
15) bars
Translation:
What is poverty Read the story of a single mother of three, and you’ll understand what it means.
She was married once, but later her husband lost his job and life became increasingly difficult. After giving birth to the last baby, her marriage came to an end.
In order to save her children from suffering, she summoned up her courage and went to ask for help.
She got seventy-eight dollars a month for the four of them. After the rent, most of the rest went for food.
There was no money left to get the refrigerator fixed and the milk went sour; no money for hot water, and even in winter she had to do washing in icy cold water. She had chronic anemia caused from poor diet, a bad case of worms, and needed a corrective operation, but there was no money for iron pills, or better food, or worm medicine, to say nothing of having an operation. She had no money for grannies; no money for paper handkerchiefs and her children were seen with runny noses all the time. She tried her best to use only the minimum electricity. She stayed up all night on cold nights, because she had to watch the fire, for fear that one spark on
the newspaper covering the walls would cause a fire and the sleeping children would die in flames.
She saw no bright future. Sooner or later, the boys would end up behind the bars of their prison or turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs and find themselves enslaved. And what awaited the daughter was, at best, a life like that of the mother.
Indeed, poverty is an acid that drips on pride until all pride is worn away. Poverty is a chisel that chips on honor until honor is worn away.
Writing:
Sample Essay:
My Reflections After Reading “What Is Poverty”
In defining poverty, Jo Goodwin Parker creates a vivid picture of the miserable life poverty-stricken people live. I was very much touched by her harsh, direct and angry tone. Her definition of poverty has set me thinking a lot.
First of all, what Parker says about poverty in the United States reminds me of what my Grandfather once said about his miserable life in China in the 1940’s. Indeed, poor people everywhere suffer in more or less the same way. I do have great sympathy with them and sincerely hope that the world will say goodbye to poverty soon.
Secondly, I have come see more clearly that we must cherish what we have today. Indeed, the decent and comfortable life we young people enjoy today comes from the hard work of many generations. However, we tend to take today’s happy life for granted, and sometimes we even complain about the slightest discomfort in life. This is a harmful attitude because it makes us forget the past. We should remember that what we have now was never even dreamed of by the older generation. Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.
Lastly, we should have right attitude towards poverty. In the face of poverty, it’s no use complaining or just making emotional appeals for help. Instead, we must rely on our courage, talent, and persistence and get rid of poverty with our own effort. Diligence and hard work is the only way out. We may be poor materially but we should not make ourselves poor spiritually.
