Vocabulary Idioms & Phrases Reading~ Paragraphs 5-8 Post-reading

Listen to paragraphs 5-8. Skip

Now, answer the following questions.

What did the main characters want to do? Hades wanted to keep Persephone. Demeter wanted her daughter back. And Persephone wanted to stay with Demeter.

How did the main characters solve their problems? Hades let Persephone stay with her mother for the most part of the year except winter.

What happened to the main characters at the end of the story? Hades was happy to have Persephone to be his queen. Persephone stayed with Hades in the underworld for several months a year. And Demeter made the earth come back to life only when Persephone was with her.

Reading

Soon her mother, Demeter, noticed she was gone, and raised a cry of alarm. Demeter searched and searched for Persephone, but she couldn’t find her anywhere. 原句 = → cry out in alarm raise/give/set up/utter a cry 大聲叫喊 Hearing the good/bad news, she gave a cry of joy/despair. 原句 = → Demeter searched everywhere, but there was no sign of Persephone.

Demeter loved her daughter more than anything in the world, and she couldn’t bear to be without her. 原句 = → she couldn’t bear/stand being without her. → Demeter couldn’t bear that she had to live without Persephone.

She asked the other gods if they had seen her daughter. Apollo, the god of the sun, told her (that) he had seen Hades carry Persephone off to the underworld in his chariot. 原句 = → “Have you seen my daughter?” If 名詞子句為由 Yes/No 問句改成的間 接問句。 間接引句 中, 主詞動詞的位置與一般直 述句同。

Demeter became very sad. She no longer went to the great feasts with the other gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. no longer = not...any longer 不再 … I can no longer trust him. → I cannot trust him any longer. Mount Olympus : The highest mountain in Greece （ 2,917 meters high ）

She no longer laughed or drank sweet nectar from golden cups beside her friends and sisters. She no longer cared for her beautiful earth or the bright yellow grains that were her treasure. the bright yellow grains [that were her treasure] 關係代名詞 that 引導的形容詞子句，修 飾先行詞。

She went off by herself to weep for her daughter. Soon the earth became cold and bare. The golden corn died. The people everywhere became hungry, because they had no grain or fruit to eat. 原句 = → She went away alone to cry for not finding her daughter. 原句 = → there was no grain or fruit for them to eat 不定詞 to eat 的受詞即為 have 的受詞。 I need a pen to write with.

When Zeus, the ruler of all the gods, saw what had happened, he told Demeter that she could get Persephone back from the underworld.

He also told Hades that he would have to let Persephone go, so that the earth could be warm and fruitful again. let...go = release 使自由，放走 … The police let the man go/released the man when they found he was innocent. so that = so as that; in order that 以便 … I am leaving for the theater early so that I may get a good seat.

However, Hades loved Persephone and didn’t want to let her go. In order to keep Persephone, he gave her a magical fruit, a fruit red on the outside like an apple but full of small fruit-covered seeds on the inside. fruit-covered seeds → seeds which were covered with fruit N + V-en → Adj 複合形容詞 a thunder-struck face a hunger-weakened man hand-made shoes a heart-broken man

Because Persephone ate part of the fruit, she had to stay in the underworld with Hades for part of the year. During these months, the earth gets cold, winter comes, and the plants retreat into the earth just like Persephone. get/become + Adj/N 變成 … 狀態 Things are getting worse and worse. He got angry at the news.

When Persephone returns from Hades, spring comes and flowers bloom, and Demeter makes the earth bright with her happiness. This, the Greeks thought, is why the earth is cold during the winter and warm in the rest of the year. 原句 = → The Greeks thought/believed that this is why the earth is cold.... Back

Reading for the Main Idea Check (  ) the main idea of the reading. The story in the reading tells us _____. □ why there are seasonal changes on earth □ that the four seasons are important in our everyday lives □ how Greek gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus

Topics for Discussion

Discussion 1 : Do you know any Chinese myths? Share them with your classmates.

Reference answer : Once, when I watched two stars in the sky, my grandmother told me A Chinese myth about the cowherd and the girl weaver. She said: Once upon a time, on the east bank of the Heavenly River lived a girl weaver, daughter of the Emperor of Heaven. She worked

Reference answer : hard year in year out, weaving colorful clothes for gods and goddesses. Because she lived alone, the emperor took pity on her and arranged for her to marry the cowherd from the west bank. After she married, she stopped weaving, and the emperor became so angry

Reference answer : that he forced her to return to the east side of the river. After that, she was only allowed to join her husband once a year.

Discussion 2: Why do you think myths are still being told in modern society?

Reference answer : I think myths are still being told in modern society for two reasons: First, many myths are interesting stories full of imagination. Second, people always like to know about interesting things. Moreover, every myth teaches us a moral lesson. That’s why myths have been passed down from generation to generation. Back