基础英语 4 课程教案

授课题目（教学章、节或主题）： 课时安排 8 学时
Unit 9 The Damned Human Race 授课时间
教学目的和要求（分掌握、熟悉、了解三个层次）：
1. 掌握 Master the key words, phrases and some useful sentence pattern in the text.
2．熟悉：Get familiar with Rules of word formation，grammatical points and understand
the structure of the text
3．了解：Know something about the whole text: The Damned Human Race
教学内容（包括基本内容、重点、难点）：
1．基本内容：Understand the whole text; Think about the meaning of thinking
2．重点：key words, phrases and some useful sentence pattern
humiliating, renounce, allegiance, calf, rabid, appease, brood, take revenge, consent,
indecent, prior, inflict, engage, atrocity, slaughter, sneer, straight, inquisition,
gory, plaid, specimen, microscopic, mighty
3．难点：Grammar
讲课进程和时间分配：
Step 1 Before Reading(20 minuets)
1. Warm-up activities;
2. Introductory Remarks;
3. Information related to the text;
Step 2 Global Reading (20 minutes)
1. Part Division of the text
2. Further Understanding
Step 3 Detailed Reading(140 minutes)
1. Language points;
2. Difficult sentences;
3. Questions about the text for discussion;
4. Grammar
Step 4 After Reading (90minutes)
1. Discussion;
2. Make a summary of the text
3. Exercises in the textbook
讨论、思考题、作业：
Homework: 1.Student’s book Page 117: Exercises II Vocabulary
2.Student’s book Page 122: Exercises 6
3. Retell the story
4. Give a brief description of the suffering from those human weakneses Mark Twain
describe?

参考资料（含参考书、文献等）：
Contemporary College English Intensive Reading: Teacher’s Book
Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary
On-line resource
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教学方式（请打√）：传统讲授□ 双语□ 讨论□ 示教□ 指导□ 其他□
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Unit 9 Text A The Damned Human Race

By Mark Twain
I Teaching Objectives
1. Learn new words and expressions, and be able to use them in actual situations
2. Grasp the main idea of the text, and be able to answer the related questions
3. Develop the students’ ability of listening and speaking
4. Cultivate proper habits in reading and writing
II Pre-class work
What do you know about Mark Twain? Can you name some books he wrote?
About the author:
Mark Twain (1835---1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clements in Florida, Missouri,
but lived as a child in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. He took the pen name
Mark Twain from the call of the pilots on the river steamers, which indicated that the water
was twelve feet deep, a safe depth for a steamer. During his early years, he worked as a
riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector. But then he turned to
writing, and became one of the greatest of American writers.

His masterpiece:
Innocents Abroad 1869
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885
Life on the Mississippi 1883
The Prince and the Pauper 1882
III Detailed Discussion of the Text
Paragraph 1
1. I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals”, and
contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating
to me.
-- I have been studying the characteristics of the so-called lower animals in comparison
with those of man. The result of this study makes me, as a man, feel terribly ashamed.
traits and dispositions: characteristics; features; nature; qualities; personalities
humiliating: making me feel ashamed; embarrassing; mortifying
Notice the tongue-in-cheek way the author expresses his ideas. He makes it sound as
if he were conducting and reporting on the result of a scientific investigation. In other
words, he is deliberately using a pompous style to achieve humor.
2. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the
Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals and to name it the Descent of Man from the
Higher Animals.
Because the result of my study forces me to give up (to abandon) my loyalty to (firm
belief in ) Darwin’s theory of evolution and to change the theory of the Ascent of Man
from the Lower Animals to the theory of the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.
to oblige sb to do sth: to force sb to do sth; to make it necessary for sb to do sth
to renounce: to abandon or give up; to reject or disown
allegiance: loyalty, esp. to a nation or a cause
Paragraph 2
1. That is to say, I have subjected every postulate that presented itself to the
crucial test of actual experiment.
In other words, I have put every theory or hypothesis there is to the decisive test of actual
experiment.
to subject sht/ sb to sth: to cause sb/sth to undergo or experience sth unpleasant or
difficult and often for a long time,e.g.
They were subjected to very cruel tortures.
The desertification subjected people living in that area to great hardships.
postulate: (fml) assumption; theory; hypothesis
that presented itself: that happens or exists, e.g.
when the opportunity presents itself you must seize it at once.
Paragraph 3
1. It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had
lost a good deal in the transition.
It also seemed to show that the earl came from the anaconda and had lost a lot of the
anaconda’s good qualities in the process.
to be descended from sb: to be related to sb who lived a long time ago
Paragraph 4
1. I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money
than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to
cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor saving in order to partially
appease that appetite.
I knew that many men who have more money than they can ever use have shown a mad
desire to get more, and they have not hesitated to cheat poor people and their few saving in
order to satisfy that desire.
rabid: uncontrollable (Note: it is related to rabies, which is an acute, infectious and often
fatal disease of dogs, also known as hydrophobia, transmitted by the bite of the infected
animal)
to have not scrupled to do sth: to have not hesitated to do sth because of trouble
conscience or embarrassment from moral considerations
to cheat sb out of sth: to trick or deceive sb in order to get an advantage, e.g.
to cheat sb out of his money or job or land,etc
Compare: to talk sb out of sth; to trick sb out of sth
the ignorant and helpless: the uneducated and powerless people; the poor laboring
people in general
to appease: to satisfy or relieve (hunger, thirst, desire, etc)
Paragraph 7
1. Cats are loose in their morals, but not consciously so. Man, in his descent from
the cat, has brought the cat’s looseness with him but had left the unconsciousness
behind—the saving grace which excuses the cat.
Cats are immoral, but they do not know it. They just can’t help it. Man has inherited cats’
looseness, but not their innocence, which is what excuses the cat for its low morals.
to be loose in morals: immoral
the saving grace: the redeeming quality; the quality that makes up for the generally
negative characteristics.
Paragraph 8
1. Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity--- these are strictly confined to man; he invented
them.
These are only man’s problems. They are limited to man. They only happen to man
2. No--- Man is the Animal that Blushes. He is the only one that does it--- or has
occasion to.
No, man is not the only animal that laughs, but it is true that man is the animal that
blushes. He is the only animal that does it or has the need to.
to have occasion to do sth: to have the need or necessity to do sth
Notice that Mark Twain is saying here that only man needs to blush because he
consciously does bad, immoral things.
Paragraph 9
1. Man--- when he is King John, with a nephew to render untroublesome, he uses a
red-hot iron;In the case of King John who wanted to get rid of his nephew he used a red-
hot iron to torture him.
King John: was the youngest son of Henry II. During his brother Richard I’s absence on
the third Crusade, John himself declared king and later held his brother in captivity.He was
believed to have murdered his nephew Arthur I of Brittany. This and many other cruel
things he did made him extremely unpopular, and finally a civil war resulted during which
he died, presumably poisoned.

to render sb untroublesome: to cause sb to become untroublesome; to prevent sb from

making trouble for him (King John’s throne had been stolen from his nephew. Therefore
he thought his nephew posed a threat to him.)
2. …in the first Richard’s time he shuts up a multitude of Jew Families in a tower
and sets fire to it;
the first Richard: Richard first, King of England , otherwise known as the Lion-Hearted.
to set fire to: to make sth start burning
Notice that it does not mean the same as “to make/light a fire” or “to build a fire”.
3. The cat is moderate--- unhumanly moderate,… she doesn’t dig out its eyes, …
or drive splinters under its nails--- man-fashion; when she is done playing with it, she
makes a sudden meal of it and puts it out of its trouble.
unhumanly moderate: reasonable, not so violent, not so excessive or extreme, unlike
human beings( Unhumanly is not to be mixed up with inhuman. It is actually a word
coined by the writer.)
man-fashion: like man; as man does
to be dong doing sth: to finish doing sth
to make a meal of: to eat it up
to put sb out of his trouble: to end sb’s trouble
Paragraph 11
1. There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful
owner…
Not a single pieces of land is in the hands of its original owner. Every piece of land has
been stolen.
Mark Twain is referring to the fact that the world has been, in the course of history,
divided and re-divided countless times through war.
Paragraph 12
1. Man is the only Slave. And he is the only animal who enslaves. He has always
been a slave in one form or another, and has always held other slaves in bondage
under him in one way or another.
Mark Twain is referring to the idea that in the history of human civilization, our society
has always been based on some kind of exploitation of man by man. No one is free.
Everyone is a slave of one form or another and at the same time enslaved those under him.
to hold sb in bondage: to keep sb in the state of being a slave
Paragraph 13
1. … and in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands
and—works for “the universal brotherhood of man”---with his mouth.
…and when they are not fighting each other, they will start talking about peace and
universal brotherhood, but without any sincerity. Man, according to Mark Twain, is not
only cruel and warlike, but also hypocritical.
to work for… with his mouth: to pay lip service to …; to give empty promises to…
the universal brotherhood: the idea that all living human beings are brothers and sisters
to each other 四海之内皆兄弟的思想；博爱
Note that the word man= humankind （men and women）。The world brotherhood
also includes women in this sense.

Paragraph 14
1. Man is the Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only
animal that has the True Religion--- several of them.
Man claims to be the only animal capable of religious belief. Religion of course is
considered here something much more important and noble than animal instincts because
it emphasizes the spiritual and moral life of human beings. But Mark Twain sneers at this
because the different religious in the world have resulted in endless religious suppressions,
persecutions and wars.
2. He was at it in the time of the Caesar’s, he was at it in Mohammed’s time, he was
at it in the time of the inquisition, he was at it in France a couple of centuries, he was
at it in England in Mary’s day, he had been at it ever since he first saw the light
to be at sth: to be engaged in a certain activity
The Caesars: in the times of Caesars, the early Christians were cruelly persecuted by the
Romans.
Mohammed: in Mohammed’s time, the Muslims were cruelly persecuted.
Inquisition: it means that “inquiry” or “investigation”. Specifically, it refers to the former
tribunal in the Roman Catholic Church directed at the suppression of heresy.
(Queen) Mary: in Mary’s day, the Protestants were persecuted.
to see the light: to come into existence, to be born.
Paragraph 17
1. And so I find that we have descended and degenerated, from some far ancestor---
some microscopic atom wandering at its pleasure between the mighty horizons of a
drop of water perhaps… down the long highway of perfect innocence, till…
And so I find that without knowing it, we have descended and deteriorated from our
ancestor---some tiny atom which moved about freely and happily in the huge world of a
drop of water perhaps… perfectly innocence during this long process of change… until we
have fallen to the bottom, to the lowest stage of our development and become human
beings.
to do sth at one’s own pleasure: to do sth when you want to
microscopic: extremely small, only seen under a microscope
mighty: awesomely huge
the long highway of perfect innocence: the long process of our change from one insect
into another, one animal into another and one reptile into another, all completely innocent,
until we become human beings and lose all our innocence.
IV Organization of the text
This slightly abridged essay is organized like a paper to report results of a scientific
experiment. It has a thesis statement at the beginning and a brief summing-up at the end.
The main body is arranged according to the various straits and disposition of human
beings as contrasted to the “higher animals”. However in the second part of the body the
author begins to use a polemic tone. He seems to be arguing with people who believe in
man’s superiority because they can reason, have moral principles and religion, and love
their neighbors and country.
V Conclusion of the text
It is wrong to think that Mark Twain is pessimistic or cynical. He is neither. Behind all
the bitterness is a warm and human heart. Mark Twain does not really believe that human
beings are incurably cruel, greedy and wicked. Otherwise he would not have bothered to
write those essays. He writes about ugly human traits and dispositions precisely because
he thinks human beings are capable of mending their ways if they can open their eyes to
their own weaknesses and understand the conditions that give rise to them and nurture
them. In other words, his policy is to frighten in order to enlighten.