1. Lesson Four Text A Wisdom of Bear Wood Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Languages and Literature Pu Dong-mei

2. Contents 1. Teaching objectives 2. Background Knowledge 3. Structure of the text 4. Language points 5. Comprehension questions 6. Writing techniques

3. Teaching objectives Make an in-depth discussion on the ever-lasting theme: friendship. Master the writing method: narrative combined with comment Language points

4. Background Knowledge - About the author Michael Welzenbach (1954 – 2001) was a former freelance art critic for the Washington Post, as well as a poet and a novelist. He was born in Iowa, and came to the Washington area at an early age. As a child, he lived in Britain and Okinawa ( 冲绳岛 ), Japan, where his father worked for the US government. Michael lived a marvelously rich and varied life that took him all over the world. He cared passionately about beauty and about truth. He wrote some of the most stimulating criticism of art and music for the Washington Post.

5. About the author cont ’ d He wanted his works to make a difference, and they did. “ The Last Butterfly ” is Michael ‘ s 27th and final story for Reader ’ s Digest. He had congestive heart failure and liver failure resulting from hepatitis ( 肝炎 ) C and died on 18 Dec. 2001 at the home of a friend in Arlington.  A selection of books by Michael Welzenbach ◆ Vertigo: First Taste ◆ Conversation with a Clown

6. About the text  The theme of this story is concluded at the end of the text. It is about “ a wisdom tutored by nature itself, about the seen and unseen, about things that change and things that are changeless, and about the fact that no matter how seemingly different two souls may be, they possess the potential for that most precious, rare thing – an enduring and rewarding friendship. ”  The story is not very subtle to understand, while it is still a moving and beautiful story, for it is about the precious friendship between two seemingly different souls – a twelve-year-old American boy and an old English woman.

7. About the text cont ’ d  They become friends despite their great difference in age because first of all, they are both lonely: the boy is lonely because he is in a foreign country with his mother and father who worked for the US government; the woman is lonely because she has just lost her dear husband.  But their friendship has another important bond, that is, their common interest in nature and knowledge.  It is often said that true love is in the giving and not taking. So is friendship. The woman not only gives the boy tasty shortbread to eat, she also gives him a new vision of the beautiful nature, the key to the treasury of human knowledge, and above all, her care and love.  Although totally unaware, the boy has given the woman great consolation, too.