Even though he had died, my husband’s way of expressing love through his handclasp had been passed down to our son, which was a lasting comfort to me.

Optional Classroom Activities

Rhetorical devices such as simile (明喻) and metaphor (隐喻) are used in both Text A and Text B. Listed below are some examples. Discuss with your partner how and why the writers use such rhetorical devices. The explanation of the first one is provided.

1) Harmless puppy loves that are as brief as soap bubbles. (Para. 3, Text A)

Simile: “Soap bubbles” is used to emphasize the brief period of time that puppy loves last.

2) Love was a magnificent building I built on the foundation of friendship. It took time to blossom. (Para. 7, Text A)

Metaphor: “Magnificent building” is used to imply that love should be developed in the same way as we build or construct a building and that, like a building, love should be based on something. “To blossom” is also a metaphor, which implies that love can be as beautiful as a flower but it takes time to have it develop or grow.

3) Our parents’ generation was fed lavishly with ideals. (Para. 8, Text A)

Metaphor: Here “(be) fed (with)” is used metaphorically, meaning that, people of her parents’ generation were taught to pursue love and relationships strictly according to the “ideals” of the time, these ideals nourishing their mental needs much as food does the body.

4) I am sorry to learn about the kind of emotional baggage school kids are carrying in what are purely unemotional relationships. (Para. 10, Text A)

Metaphor: “Baggage” is used to indicate the heavy burden that school children have to shoulder when they pursue “purely unemotional relationships.”

5) What about giving ourselves, and others, time and space to forge relationships? (Para. 12, Text A)

Metaphor: “To forge” implies that relationships are like iron and require plenty of tempering before they become as solid and strong as steel.

6) For seven-and-a-half months, my grief for my husband had been frozen within me like an icy presence that would not yield. (Para. 12, Text B)

Simile: “Frozen” and “icy presence” are used to imply that during the seven-and-a-half months after her husband died, the author had managed to bury the grief for her husband deep down in her heart as if it had turned into something like ice.

7) Then, this last Sunday of February, I was undone by the simple presence of emery boards. (Para. 12, Text B)

Metaphor: “Was undone” emphasizes the sudden release or outbreak of her grief, as if a knot came loose or untied unexpectedly.

Enhance Your Language Awareness Words in Action

Working with Words and Expressions

1 In the boxes below are some of the words you have learned in this unit. Complete the following sentences with them. Change the form where necessary.

Text A acquire affection curl defy given haste interact preserve restraint Text B clip fascinate grief manipulate minimum presence yield

1) I don’t like my straight hair so I’m going to have it curled .

2) This price is her minimum ; she refuses to lower it any further.

3) I often clip recipes out of newspapers and magazines but never use them when I cook.

4) She yielded to temptation and had another chocolate even though she was going on a diet.

5) Given the fact that she loves children, I am sure teaching is the right career for her.

6) They try to preserve their interesting old customs against the impacts of the modern world.

7) Philip was fascinated to see how the old woman wove (编织) cloth with such simple tools.

8) Among all his relatives, he has an especially deep affection for his aunt who cares for him most.

9) Teaching is not a one-way activity; teachers and students should interact with each other in class.

10) After his wife died, he remarried with much haste , which caused a lot of gossip (闲话) among his acquaintances.

11) Without your love and support, he would have been weighed down (颓丧) with grief after his daughter died of a car crash.

12) I have never seen a house like that — its untidiness defies description; I think she ought to learn how to keep a house.

13) These days more and more pregnant (怀孕的) women want the presence of their husbands at the birth of their children.

14) It is quite possible for a student to master English grammar and acquire a large vocabulary without the help of a teacher.

15) She watched him manipulate all the handles and gears [(汽车上的)排挡] in his automobile until she thought she could run it herself.

16) Lack of money and lack of machinery are the two major restraints on the growth of this factory; that’s why it remains the same as it was ten years ago.

2 In the boxes below are some of the expressions you have learned in this unit. Do you know how to use them in the proper context? Now check for yourself by doing the blank-filling exercise. Change the form where necessary.

Text A state of affairs build … on give and take hold on in short let … loose on Text B fit into in the course of in vain reach for

1) Don’t let the little boy loose on the garden; he’ll pull up all the flowers.

2) The refrigerator I bought last week is too large to fit into our new kitchen.

3) When the flood broke out, the little girl clung to a tree and managed to hold on .