1. Information
a. American dream (以物質財富來衡量成功)
→ The Joy Luck Club
The Joy Luck Club (1989) is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club, playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured somewhat like a mahjong game, with four parts divided into four sections to create sixteen chapters. The three mothers and four daughters (one mother, Suyuan Woo, dies before the novel opens) share stories about their lives in the form of vignettes. Each part is preceded by a parable relating to the game.
→ Horizons Lointains (Far and Away)
Far and Away is a 1992 romantic adventure drama film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman. Cruise and Kidman play Irish immigrants seeking their fortune in 1890s America, eventually taking part in the Land Run of 1893.
This was Cyril Cusack' s final film before his death the following year.
b. Obama' s speech on America Dream
part of speech
BETTENDORF, Iowa (CNN) -- It's wonderful to be here today. I feel right at home in Bettendorf, which is just a stone's throw from my home state of Illinois. But the truth is, we share more than the banks of a great river.
If you spend time in Washington, you hear a lot about the divisions in our country. About how we're becoming more separated by geography and ideology; race and religion; wealth and opportunity. And we've had plenty of politicians who try to take advantage of these divisions - pitting Americans against one another, or targeting different messages to different audiences.
But as I've traveled around Iowa and the rest of the country these last nine months, I haven't been struck by our differences - I've been impressed by the values and hopes that we share. In big cities and small towns; among men and women; young and old; black, white, and brown - Americans share a faith in simple dreams. A job with wages that can support a family. Health care that we can count on and afford. A retirement that is dignified and secure. Education and opportunity for our kids. Common hopes. American dreams.
c. Midsummer Night's Dream
Act 5, Scene 1
More strange than true: I never may believe
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 1835
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, 1840
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 1845
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy; 1850
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend 1835
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, 1840
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 1845
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
Such tricks hath strong imagination,
That if it would but apprehend some joy,
It comprehends some bringer of that joy; 1850
Or in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
d. motif and symbols
motif → the recurring structure
symbols →objects, characters to represent abstract ideas or concepts
theme → the main subject of something such as a book, speech, art exhibition, or discussion
e. "To Kill a Mockingbird"
“Remember
it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever
heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss
Maudie about it. “Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t
do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their
hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
SparkNotes :
These lines from Chapter 10 are
the source of the novel’s title and introduce one of the key metaphors
of the book: the idea of “mockingbirds” as good, innocent people
who are destroyed by evil. Boo Radley, for instance, is like a mockingbird—just
as mockingbirds do not harm people but only “sing their hearts out
for us,” Boo does not harm anyone; instead, he leaves Jem and Scout
presents, covers Scout with a blanket during the fire, and eventually
saves the children from Bob Ewell. Despite the pureness of his heart,
however, Boo has been damaged by an abusive father. The connection between
songbirds and innocents is made explicitly several times in the
book: in Chapter 25, Mr. Underwood likens
Tom Robinson’s death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds by
hunters and children”; in Chapter 30, Scout
tells Atticus that hurting Boo Radley would be “sort of like shootin’
a mockingbird.” The moral imperative to protect the vulnerable governs
Atticus’s decision to take Tom’s case, just as it leads Jem to protect
the roly-poly bug from Scout’s hand.
2. extra information
a. list of systems of the human body
The main systems of the human body are as follows:
1. Cardiovascular/ Circulatory system:
Circulates blood around the body via the heart, arteries and veins, delivering oxygen and nutrients to organs and cells and carrying their waste products away
2. Digestive system/ Excretory system:
Mechanical and chemical processes that provide nutrients via the mouth, esophagus, stomach and intestines. Eliminates waste from the body.
3. Endocrine system:
Provides chemical communications within the body using hormones.
4. Integumentary system/ Exocrine system:
Skin, hair, nails, sweat and other exocrine glands.
5. Lymphatic system/ Immune system:
The system comprising a network of lymphatic vessels that carry a clear fluid called lymph. Defends the body against disease-causing agents.
6. Muscular system/ Skeletal:
Enables the body to move using muscles. Bones supporting the body and its organs.
7. Nervous system:
Collects and processes information from the senses via nerves and the brain and tells the muscles to contract to cause physical actions.
8. Renal system/ Urinary system:
The system where the kidneys filter blood.
9. Reproductive system:
The sex organs required for the production of offspring.
10. Respiratory system:
The lungs and the trachea that bring air into the body.
3. prefix, root and suffix
ann : year eg. anniversary, annual feeanniversary (n.) happening once a year
annual fee (n.) Any fee that is charged on an annual (yearly) basis.
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