Unit 11 On Becoming a Better Student
Key to the Exercises
Text comprehension
I. Decide which of the following best states the purpose of the essay.
A
(The author lists the qualities of a good learner so as to give students some guidelines on how to "become a better student" instead of merely describing the qualities of a good learner. )
II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.
1. F (Refer to Paragraph
2. All the words and theories and techniques are of no use to students who yet have to open themselves with receptivity and to take it upon themselves to practice.)
2. F (Refer to Paragraph 4. Discovery is, according to Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, "looking at the same thing as everyone else but thinking something different," i.e., arriving at new understandings of things everyone sees.)
3. T (Refer to Paragraph 6. According to the author, most education discourages people from venturing far enough to take risks to make mistakes.)
4. F (Refer to Paragraph 7. Successful students do not expect to be spoon-fed, but take their own initiative.)
5. T (Refer to Paragraph 9. One should maintain his enthusiasm and learn not to push himself too hard in his pursuit of knowledge. Because patience is essential for success; besides, we need to develop other sides of our lives as well. As F. M. Alexander said, "Give up trying too hard, but never give up.")
III. Answer the following questions.
1. Refer to Paragraphs 2 and 3. According to the author, the genuine learning process rests with the students' own investigation, which is the best thing a teacher can guide his students to. She believes that learning is not so much the acquisition of information as it is an investigation.
2. Refer to Paragraph 5. Yes. According to the author, there is no shortcut in learning; persistence and discipline are required for a student to reach the very end and savor the full flavor of hard-won success.
3. Refer to Paragraph 6. It is a problem with the current educational approach that students are discouraged from venturing far enough to take risks to make mistakes. However, if people try different approaches and do things that have no precedence, they will surely make mistakes which, as the author argues, are the stepping stone of creative people.
4. It means one has to drop his prior knowledge so as to absorb new knowledge. If he refuses to do so, the old knowledge may hinder the assimilation of new knowledge. It also implies that one should learn to appreciate constructive criticism, for if he constantly fails to take criticism, he can never know where his weakness lies and grow out of it.
5. "Listen with your whole body" is to get yourself fully activated both cognitively and physically. That is to say, you have to be extremely attentive to what the teacher says instead of letting your mind wander and keeping your body inert.
IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences.
1. When they start school, children are curious and ready to try every means to explore the unknown. However, they end up losing the pioneering spirit after years of formal education.
2. "Advanced" learners are likely to make some mistakes. For example, they may become excessively satisfied with their progress or, on the contrary, put too much pressure on themselves to score further achievements.
Structural analysis of the text
The first two paragraphs are the introductory part, in which the writer attempts to explain what teaching and learning is meant to be. In the second part, Paragraphs 3 ?9, she discusses the various factors that make a good student. In the third part, she gives advice to the aspiring student.
The special devices the author uses to highlight her major points are some typographic devices -- the key words in bold to represent the most important qualities of a good student in the second part and the solid dark dot that introduces each of the nine tips in the third part.
Rhetorical features of the text
Here is an example: "We may even have expectations that they be endless repositories of skill and knowledge (Paragraph 1). The underlined part of the quoted sentence is an instance of the use of metaphorical language, an attempt to put across the idea that they have so much skill and knowledge that we can perpetually learn from them.
The author has cited four people in the text: Nobel Prize-winning physician Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (Paragraph 4); educator Neil Postman (Paragraph 6); Jim Spira, director of the Institute for Education Therapy in Berkeley, California (Paragraph 8); and F. M. Alexander of the Alexander technique (Paragraph 9). Citing the rightly chosen people certainly strengthens the writer's argument.
Vocabulary exercises
I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.
1. view again at another time from a different perspective
2. with immense pleasant surprise
3. be provided with ready answers and ideas
4. do pioneering work
5. Don't let the knowledge you have acquired be a hindrance to your learning of something new
II. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word taken from the box in its appropriate form.
1. precedence
2. stigma
3. proportional
4. strain
5. pertinent
6. injurious
7. relevance 8. therapy
III. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1. substantial
2. motivation
3. committed
4. restrictions
5. subtle
6. thrilling
7. complacently 8. unprecedented
IV. Fill in the blank in each sentence with an appropriate phrasal verb or collocation taken from the text.
1. goes out of the way
2. breaking through
3. consists of
4. hold on to
5. object to
6. live up to
7. gave up
8. based on
V. Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense it is used.
1. Synonym: demonstrate (reveal, manifest)
2. Antonym: flexible
3. Antonym: interesting (extraordinary, outstanding)
4. Synonym: abandon (yield, renounce)
5. Synonym: lead
6. Antonym: dissatisfaction (discontentment)
7. Antonym: mild (gentle)
8. Synonym: harry (pester, harass)
VI. Explain the underlined phrasal verbs in your own words.
1. submitted
2. take care of
3. attentive to
4. written in honor of
5. accept
6. so involved
7. enthralled
8. began considering
Grammar exercises
I. Complete the following sentences using the appropriate form of the verbs given.
1. Being
(An -ing participle can be used as subject when the action is being considered in a general sense.)
2. to spend, to make
3. Hearing/To hear
4. To complete
5. to be
6. to be
7. to sit, to hear, howling
8. Teasing
9. Playing
10. Learning
II. Complete the following sentences using the infinitive or -ing participle.
(Answers may vary.)
III. Rewrite the underlined parts of the following sentences with the infinitive, -ing participle or -ed participle.
1. sitting at the back
2. for you to do as you are told
3. to swim/to have swum across the Channel (An infinitive clause is used when the modified noun phrase contains such words as first, last, next, only, most.)
4. to hear that he had already left the company
5. To open the window
6. to trifle with
7. Being a qualified plumber, Paul had no difficulty in finding the leak.
8. ever written
9. Left to himself, he usually gets the job done quickly.
10. Hoping to find the will, she searched everywhere.
IV. Complete the following sentences with the -ing participle of verbs. Add a preposition if necessary.
1. to his working, living
2. having
3. to stealing
4. from doing
5. for playing
6. for doing
7. being talked
8. on becoming, from putting, for making
V. Put in the correct prepositions or adverbs.
1. up, for
2. out
3. to
4. out, of
5. up, against
6. round, to
7. in, with
8. on
VI. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the italicized parts in your sentences.
1. e.g. He is not so much ill as depressed.
I haven't got so much time as I thought.
2. e.g. We'll start at the point where we left off.
He entered a shop where he obtained some refreshments.
Translation exercises
I. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1. 我们甚至希望老师才识卓绝，取之不竭，用之不尽。
2. 这些看似枯燥的品质(我们更愿意羡慕别人拥有它们)，给我们带来的是圆满完成某事后的满足感，或成功面对挑战的兴奋。
3. 在铺好的坦途和我们通常会为自己建造的坚固房屋之外，有潜伏的恶魔、不确定的落脚之处——当然也有从未感受过的快乐。
4. 继续深入可能意味着停滞不前，意味着更加耐心地向前走，或者意味着往我们人生中青涩和尚不成熟的其他领域投入更多的时间。
II. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words and phrases given in brackets.
1. He felt heavily weighted with such high expectations from his parents.
2. He interpreted the incident in a favorable light.
3. I detest him, for he often goes out of his way to backbite others.
4. Many religious teachings urge people to transcend the mundane success.
5. Personal initiative is one of the essential elements in promoting your career.
6. I don't think it is a good method of teaching to spoon-feed students.
7. I will spare no efforts to accomplish the task by the end of next month, for I don't want to suffer from the stigma of having broken my promise.
8. I've got much information pertinent to the new policies in education.
III. Translate the following passage into Chinese.
好学生显示出许多优秀的品质，在这些品质中极为重要的有好奇心、自制力和主动性。他们对各种各样的事物有着盎然的兴趣，总是观察外部世界，从眼前发生的事情中学到东西。伴随其好奇心的是“研究精神”，因为他们把学习过程看作是一种研究。他们在角度新颖的观察和辛勤钻研的基础上，形成一种新的理解。他们清楚地知道一分耕耘一分收获，并且相信，没有不懈的努力，难以尝到学习的美味果实，任何巨大的成就都来自于无数小的积累。他们总是乐于迎接困难的挑战，主动探索各种可能性，通过实践寻求自己的答案，而不是等
待老师给他们现成货, 因为他们从来拒绝填鸭式教育。当然，有抱负的上进学生应该充分注意一些要点。比如他们应该上课认真投入，避免迟到，并重视建设性的批评。
Exercises for integrated skills
I. Dictation script
A study of art history might be a good way / to learn more about a culture / than is possible to learn in general history classes. / Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics, and war. / But art history focuses on much more than this / because art reflects not only the political values of a people, / but also religious beliefs, emotions, and psychology. / In addition, / information about the daily activities of our ancestors / -- or of people very different from our own -- / can be provided by art. / In short, / art expresses the essential qualities of a time and a place, / and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding / than can be found in most history books.
II. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE word you think appropriate.
(1) used (2) first
(3) have (4) going
(5) with (6) offended
(7) Rather (8) sign
(9) being (10) address
(11) rule (12) would
Cultural Background
Positive Student-teacher Relationship
●Mutually respectful and supportive
●Open communication, as well as emotional and academic support that exists
between students and teachers
●With empathy, warmth, and genuineness
Text I
On Becoming a Better Student
(abridged)
Donna Farhi Schuster
Global Reading
I. Text Analysis
In student-teacher relationship, most students would question what teachers’ responsibilities are while neglecting their own merits in this reciprocal relationship. They might think they have the right to expect their teachers to be perfect, yet they do not understand that all the things they wish to get from their teachers are to be attained with their own efforts as a reward rather than a sure gift; otherwise such things can not be genuinely possessed by them. This essay in the beginning raises such an unequal situation between students and teachers, and continues to provide several key
requirements good students should follow in the eyes of a teacher, including curiosity, discipline, risk-taking, initiative and enthusiasm. The essay ends with more tips for aspiring students. Only through efforts from both sides can students fully develop themselves in the days of schooling.
II. Structural Analysis
1)In terms of organization, the article clearly falls into three main parts:
The first part (Paragraphs 1-2) states what the writer expects from her students — learn how to learn by themselves.
The second part (Paragraphs 3-9) is the body of the essay. The writer discusses the qualities good students have.
The third part (Paragraph 10) provides more tips for aspiring students from the author.
2)In order to give prominence to the key points, the author uses the typographic device
— the main points in the second part are in bold and a solid dark dot is added in front of every tip in the third part.
III.Rhetorical Features
●Metaphor
e.g. “We may even have expectations that they be endless repositories of skill and know ledge …” (Paragraph 1)
“Repository” is of metaphorical use to convey that they have so much skill and knowledge that we can perpetually learn from them.
●Citation
The author has cited four people in the text: Nobel Prize-winning physician Albert Szent-Gyorgi (Paragraph 4), educator Neil Postman (Paragraph 6), director of the Institute for Education Therapy in Berkeley, California Jim Spira and F. M. Alexander of the Alexander Technique (Paragraph 9). Citing the rightly chosen people will certainly strengt hen the writer’s argument.
必修一 Unit 1 Friendship ANNE’S BEST FRIEND Do you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her best friend. Anne lived in Amsterdam in Netherlands during Would WarⅡ.Her family was Jewish so they had to hide or they would be caught by the German Nazi .She and her family hid away for nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her diary. She said ,”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do ,but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty .”Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942. Thursday 15th June 1944 Dear Kitty, I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That’s changed since I was here. …For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by myself. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn’t dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didn’t go downstairs until the windo w had to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the thundering clouds held me entirely in their power; it was the first time in a year and a half that I’d seen the night face to face…. …Sadly…I am only able to look at nature through dirty curtains han ging before very dusty windows. it’s no pleasure looking through these any longer because nature is one thing that really must be experienced. Your, Anne 安妮最好的朋友 你想不想有一位无话不谈能推心置腹的朋友或者你会不会担心你的朋友会嘲笑你，会不理解你目前的困境呢安妮弗兰克想要的是第一种类型的朋友，所以她把的日记当作自己最好的朋友。 在第二次世界大战期间，安妮住在荷兰的阿姆斯特丹。她一家人都是犹太人，所以他们不得不躲藏起来，否则就会被德国的纳粹分子抓去。她和她的家人躲藏了将近25个月之后才被发现。在那段时期，她的日记成了她唯一忠实的朋友。她说：“我不愿像大多数人那样在日记中记流水账。我要把我的日记当作自己的朋友，我把我的这个朋友叫做基蒂。”现在，来看看安妮自1942年7月起躲进藏身处后的那种心情吧。 1944年6月15日，星期四 亲爱的基蒂： 我不知道这是不是因为我太久不能出门的缘故，我变得对一切与大自然有关的事物都无比狂热。我记得非常清楚，以前，湛蓝的天空、鸟儿的歌唱、月光和鲜花，从未令我心迷神
U n i t3A H a n g i n g 课文翻译
Unit 3 A Hanging A HANGING George Orwell 1. It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot for drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two. Detailed Reading 2. One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. Six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tightly to his sides. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening. 3. Eight o'clock struck and a bugle call floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail, who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. "For God's sake hurry up, Francis," he said irritably. "The man ought to have been dead by this time. Aren't you ready yet?" 4. Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and gold spectacles, waved his black hand. "Yes sir, yes sir," he bubbled. "All is satisfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed." 5. "Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their breakfast till this job's over." 6. We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like, followed behind.
Unit 3 A Hanging A HANGING George Orwell 1. It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot for drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two. Detailed Reading 2. One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. Six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tightly to his sides. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening. 3. Eight o'clock struck and a bugle call floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail, who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. "For God's sake hurry up, Francis," he said irritably. "The man ought to have been dead by this time. Aren't you ready yet" 4. Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and gold spectacles, waved his black hand. "Yes sir, yes sir," he bubbled. "All is satisfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed." 5. "Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their breakfast till this job's over." 6. We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like, followed behind. 7. It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the
高一英语必修一课文原文及译文 必修一 Unit1 Anne’s Best Friend Do you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts? Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through? Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her diary her best friend. Anne lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during World War Ⅱ. Her family was Jewish so nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her diary. She said, ”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.” Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942. Thursday 15th June, 1944 Dear Kitty, I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for
Unit 5 Athletes Athletes Should Be Role Models I love Charles Barkley like a brother, and except for the times when we're hanging and pushing each other under the boards in games between my team, the Utah Jazz, and his, the Phoenix Suns, we're great friends. We don't necessarily like the same things: Charles loves golf so much he would play at halftime if he could, but I think a golf course is a waste of good pasture-land. One of the reasons we get along so well, though, is that we both say what's on our minds without worrying about what other people are going to think—which means we disagree from time to time. Here's an example of what I mean: I disagree with what Charles says in his Nike commercial, the one in which he insists, "I am not a role model." Charles, you can deny being a role model all you want, but I don't think it's your decision to make. We don't choose to be role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one. I don't think we can accept all the glory and the money that comes with being a famous athlete and not accept the responsibility of being a role model, of knowing that kids and even some adults are watching us and looking for us to set an example. I mean, why do we get endorsements in the first place Because there are people who will follow our lead and buy a certain sneaker or cereal because we use it. I love being a role model, and I try to be a positive one. That doesn't mean I always succeed. I'm no saint. I make mistakes, and sometimes I do childish things. And I don't always wake up in a great, role-model mood. There are days when I don't want to pose for a picture with every fan I run into, when I don't feel like picking up babies and giving them hugs and kisses (no matter how cute they are), those are the days I just try to avoid the public. But you don't have to be perfect to be a good role model and people shouldn't expect perfection. If I were deciding whether a basketball player was a positive role model, I would want to know: Does he influence people's lives in a positive way away from the court How much has he given of himself, in time or in money, to help people who look up to him Does he display the values—like honesty and determination—that are part of being a good person I wouldn't ask whether he lives his life exactly the way I would live it or whether he handles every situation just the way I would handle it.
The glass castle 1 I never believed in Santa Claus. 2 None of us kids did. Mom and Dad refused to let us. They couldn't afford expensive presents, and they didn't want us to think we weren't as good as other kids who, on Christmas morning, found all sorts of fancy toys under the tree that were supposedly left by Santa Claus. So they told us all about how other kids were deceived by their parents, how the toys the grown-ups claimed were made by little elves wearing bell caps in their workshop at the North Pole actually had labels on them saying MADE IN JAPAN. 3 "Try not to look down on those other children," Mom said. "It's not their fault that they've been brainwashed into believing silly myths." 4 We celebrated Christmas, but usually about a week after December 25, when you could find perfectly good bows and wrapping paper that people had thrown away and Christmas trees discarded on the roadside that still had most of their needles and even some silver tinsel hanging on them. Mom and Dad would give us a bag of marbles or a doll or a slingshot that had been marked way down in an after-Christmas sale. 5 Dad lost his job at the gypsum mine after getting in an argument with the foreman, and when Christmas came that year, we had no money at all. On Christmas Eve, Dad took each of us kids out into the desert night one by one. I had a blanket wrapped around me, and when it was my turn, I offered to share it with Dad, but he said no thanks. The cold never bothered him. I was five that year and I sat next to Dad and we looked up at the sky. Dad loved to talk about the stars. He explained to us how they rotated through the night sky as the earth turned. He taught us to identify the constellations and how to navigate by the North Star. Those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness. Rich city folks, he'd say, lived
必修一Unit1 Anne’s Best Friend Do you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts? Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through? Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her diary her best friend. Anne lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during World War Ⅱ. Her family was Jewish so nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her diary. She said, ”I don’t want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.”Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942. Thursday 15th June, 1944 Dear Kitty, I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky, the song of the birds, moonlight and flowers could never have kept me spellbound. That’s changed since I was here. …For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by my self. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn’t dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didn’t go downstairs until the window bad to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the
Unit 6 A French Fourth Charles Trueheart 1Along about this time every year, as Independence Day approaches, I pull an old American flag out of a bottom drawer where it is folded away －folded in a square, I admit, not the regulation triangle. I’ve had it a long time and have always flown it outside on July 4. Here in Paris it hangs from a fourth-floor balcony visible from the street. I’ve never seen anyone look up, but in my mind’s eye an American tourist may notice it and smile, and a French passerby may be reminded of the date and the occasion that prompt its appearance. I hope so. 2For my expatriated family, too, the flag is meaningful, in part because we don’t do anything else to celebrate the Fourth. People don’t have barbecues in Paris apartments, and most other Americans I know who have settled here suppress such outward signs of their heritage －or they go back home for the summer to refuel. 3Our children think the flag-hanging is a cool thing, and I like it because it gives us a few moments of family Q&A about our citizenship. My wife and I have been away from the United States for nine years, and our children are eleven and nine, so American history is mostly something they have learned －or haven’t learned －from their parents. July 4 is one of the times when the American in me feels a twinge of unease about the great lacunae in our children’s understanding of who they are and is prompted to try to fill the gaps. It’s als o a time, one among many, when my thoughts turn more generally to the costs and benefits of raising children in a foreign culture. 4Louise and Henry speak French fluently; they are taught in French at school, and most of their friends are French. They move from language to language, seldom mixing them up, without effort or even awareness. This is a wonderful thing, of course. And our physical separation from our native land is not much of an issue. My wife and I are grateful every day for all that our children are not exposed to. American school shootings are a good object lesson for our children in the follies of the society we hold at a distance. 5Naturally, we also want to remind them of reasons to take pride in being American and to try to convey to them what that means. It is a difficult thing to do from afar, and the distance seems more than just a matter of miles. I sometimes think that the stories we tell them must seem like Aesop’s (or La Fontaine’s) fables, myths with no fixed place in space or time. Still, connections can be made, lessons learned. 6Last summer we spent a week with my brother and his family, who live in Concord, Massachusetts, and we took the children to the North Bridge to give them a glimpse of the American Revolution. We happened to run across a reenactment of the skirmish that launched the war, with everyone dressed up in three-cornered hats and cotton bonnets. This probably only confirmed to our
“Hiroshima! Everybody off!” That must be what the man in the Japanese stationmaster's uniform shouted, as the fastest train in the world slipped to a stop in Hiroshima Station. I did not understand what he was saying. First of all, because he was shouting in Japanese. And secondly, because I had a lump in my throat and a lot of sad thoughts on my mind that had little to do with anything a Nippon railways official might say. The very act of stepping on this soil, in breathing this air of Hiroshima, was for me a far greater adventure than any trip or any reportorial assignment I'd previously taken. Was I not at the scene of t h e c r i m e? The Japanese crowd did not appear to have the same preoccupations that I had. From the sidewalk outside the station, things seemed much the same as in other Japanese cities. Little girls and elderly ladies in kimonos rubbed shoulders with teenagers and women in western dress. Serious looking men spoke to one another as if they were oblivious of the crowds about them, and bobbed up and down re-heatedly in little bows, as they exchanged the ritual formula of gratitude and respect: "Tomo aligato gozayimas." Others were using little red telephones that hung on the facades of grocery stores and tobacco shops. "Hi! Hi!" said the cab driver, whose door popped open at the very sight of a traveler. "Hi", or something that sounds very much like it, means "yes". "Can you take me to City Hall?" He grinned at me in the rear-view mirror and repeated "Hi!" "Hi! ’ We set off at top speed through the narrow streets of Hiroshima. The tall buildings of the martyred city flashed by as we lurched from side to side in response to the driver's sharp twists of t h e w h e e l. Just as I was beginning to find the ride long, the taxi screeched to a halt, and the driver got out and went over to a policeman to ask the way. As in Tokyo, taxi drivers in Hiroshima often know little of their city, but to avoid loss of face before foreigners,