2012
瀹夊窘鐪佹硹鍘夸笁涓珮浜岃嫳璇妗堬細
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Unit 4 Pygmalion
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2
锛堟柊
浜烘暀鐗堥�変慨鍏級
Get to know
some necessary background knowledge:
Background: About Pygmalion
In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a gifted a sculptor from Cyprus,
who showed no interest in the local women at all, for he found them immoral and
frivolous.
Instead
Pygmalion
concentrated
on
his
art
until
one
day
he
ran
across
a
large,
flawless
piece
of
ivory
and
decided
to
carve
a
beautiful
woman
from
it.
When
he
finished
the
statue,
Pygmalion
found
the
image
of
his
ideal
woman
so
lovely
that
he
dressed
the
figure
and
covered
her
in
jewels.
He
gave
t
he
statue
a
name:
Galatea, which meant sleeping love. He found himself falling in love with his
ideal woman, so he went to the temple of Aphrodite(the goddess of love, beauty
and fertility) to ask for forgiveness for all the years he had shunned her and
beg for a wife who would be as perfect as his statue.
Aphrodite was curious, so she visited the studio of the sculptor while he
was away and was charmed by his creation. Galatea was the image of herself.
Flattered, Aphrodite brought the statue to life. When
Pygmalion returned to his
home, he found Galatea alive, and humbled himself at her feet. Pygmalion and
Galatea got married and Pygmalion never forgo
t to thank Aphrodite for th
e gift
she had given him. He and Galatea brought gifts to her temple throughout their
life, and Aphrodite blessed them with happiness and love in return.
Based
on
the
classical
myth
mentioned
above,
Bernard
Shaw鈥檚
Pygmalion
plays
on t
he complex business of human relationships in a social world. Phonetics
Professor
Henry
Higgins
tutors
Cockney
E
liza
Doolittle,
not
only
in
the
refinements
of
speech,
but
also
in
the
refinements
of
her
manners.
The
end
result
produces
a
very
ladylike
Miss
Doolittle,
so
the
lessons
learned
become
much
more
far-reaching.
Introduction:
The
reading
text
is
a
shortened
version
of
the
p
lay
Pygmalion
written
by
George
Bernard Shaw. The play is based on a Greek myth. Although there鈥檚 no character
called Pygmalion in the play, it is based on the same theme.
In
the
Greek
myth
there
is
a
sculp
tor
called
Pygmalion,
who
does
not
like
women.