• Extensive Reading

•Unit Four

•Home, Sweet ( and Sour) Home

•

Lead-in•Enjoy the song: Home, Sweet Home

•What’s your feeling after hearing the song?

Pre-reading activitiesBackground information

Compared to many countries,

Australia is a new nation with

only 200 years of written history.

In 1940,thousands of Australian

•servicemen and women were sent to the battlefield of the World War .Though some of them werⅡe lucky enough to go back home, their homeland suffered a lot.

Japanese aggressors tried their best to

destroy Australia because they thought

Australia might be the base of America

and England. So the Second World War

brought home to people Australian’s

vulnerability.

• Such a small population (7.3 million) in such a vast land (7.6 million kilometers ). The Japanese invasion scare of 1941-1942 bred a sharp sense of insecurity. Also, by 1945, Australia had lost a larger percentage of her young men in the war than any other participating country.

Step 3: While-reading activitiesFast reading

• True or False

• 1.After the second World War, almost all the Australian had optimistic view toward their future.

• False.(L4) there was not often a glowing optimism about the future.

• 2.In order to solve the problem of food shortage, the government abounded regulations and rationing.

• True.

• 3. Joseph Chifley’s way to overcome temporary scarcity would surely be accepted by most Australians now.

• False.(L29)

• 4. In 1940, Australians had to import beef and cigarettes from other countries.

• False. (L57) A thousand items available in

• shops in 1940 could not be bought at the end of 1945.

• 5. Most farmers were in debt because they indulged themselves in drinking and gambling.

• False.(L69) Because of drought and scarcity of labor.

• 6. There was no electric light, refrigerator and washing machines in both cities and farms in 1945.

• False.(L78) “ from a city to a typical farm was to reenter the 19th century”.

• 7. Women wore nylon socks and drip-dry synthetic shirts in 1945.

• False.(L103)

• 8. Nurses and airmen back from the war felt relieved to see familiar sights.

• True. Felt relieved=reassured.(L113)

• 9. During that time, self-service supermarket was unnecessary in big cities like Sydney for most families lives in walking distance of a grocer’s shop.

• True.

• 10. For religious reasons new couples couldn’t travel more than 100 miles for a honeymoon.

• False. (L140) Because aircraft tickets were expensive and civilian passengers were unlikely to be allotted a seat.

• Detail reading• Read the first two paragraphs and answer these questions.

• 1.What was the returned servicemen and women’s attitude toward their future?

• 2. What’s the main difference of the problems the Australians faced immediately after World war Ⅰand World War Ⅱ?

• 3. Why didn’t the Australian people show any signs of dissatisfaction at regulation and rationing?

•1.What was the returned servicemen and women’s attitude toward their future?

•They thought the future is uncertain , but most of them were full of determination.

•2. What’s the main difference of the problems the Australians faced immediately after World war Ⅰand World War Ⅱ?

• After World warⅠ,the Australian society’s main problem was unemployment, while after World War Ⅱ the main problem was to find worker.

•3. Why didn’t the Australian people show any signs of dissatisfaction at regulation and rationing?

• They believed it was in the nation’s interests.

• Group Work A• Read from paragraph 3 to paragraph

13. Four students work together to find out the contrasts between the daily living in the extract and daily living today.

• Invite your group leader to report your work.

• 1. Telegrams today are almost non-existent and are no longer delivered on bicycles.

• 2. Telephones today are often cordless and no manual telephone system exist.

• 3. In developed countries and in most rural areas of China, farms have electricity.

• 4. Fifty years ago there was no television or portable radios, no washing machines, no sliced bread and almost no prepackaged food.

• 5. Today, sporting equipment is readily available and “big-time” sport always accessible, especially on TV.

•Group Work B• In this extract, the author also mentions

• several social taboos. Find these taboos and comment on why they existed then

• and what the situation might be today.

• Exchange your opinions with your group

• members and work together to make a

• conclusion.

• Gambling, except at racecourses was forbidden whereas today in Australia,gambling is available everywhere.

• Alcohol consumption was strictly regulated whereas today alcohol can be purchased anywhere, almost anytime by a person legally old enough to do so.

• Finally, formal religion was taken more seriously. Strong division existed between Christian groups and divorce was seen as evil.

•Pair Work• Discuss the following two questions with

your partner.

• 1. Why were the returned servicemen and women cautious about the future? Why does the author say they were doubly rewarded in the last paragraph?

• 2. How to understand the title? Why doesn’t the author change the title into Home, sour (and sweet) Home?

1. They did not expect that the

circumstances should be so bad after the war. They did not dare to entertain high

hopes about the future, either. They were

just ready to accept the reality and try their best to improve the situation. Changes

afterwards assured them that they were

lucky because high employment

opportunities due to the policy of the

government offered them jobs.

What’s more, they had many years of

peace to get the economy recovered,

while the soldiers returning from France

in 1919, besides suffering high

unemployment, were thrown into

another war within twenty years.

• 2. It convey the fact that homecoming has ①disappointments as well as joys.

• Disappointments:

• 1) There was shortage of food and daily necessities.

• 2) They do not have a free choice of their life style. Most of them had to accept regulations and rationing.

• 3) Big-time sport was a delightful but past remembrance.

• Joys: At least, the war had come to an end, and they were finally home.

• ②the author claim the quality of postwar life was much better than before. Though food and clothes were scarce and life was dull, people had more safety, comparing with people today. Drug problems and violent crimes which cause a lot of trouble for our modern world were almost non-existent. The atom bomb was not yet a threat to peace.

• Step 4: Post-reading activities

•Consolidation• Class work

• Suppose you were an Australian, recall your life immediately after World War Ⅱ and write a composition within 100 words.

• Homework

1.Finish the exercise on page87

• 2. Preview the new lesson.