新視野大學(xué)英語讀寫教程第二冊(cè)u(píng)nit5-a Weeping for My Smoking Daughter

Unit 5

Section A

Pre-reading Activities

First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions.

Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions with your own experiences.
1) Who are the characters in this story and what is their relationship to each other?
2) What are the effects of smoking?
3) What does “victory” mean in this story?

Weeping for My Smoking Daughter

My daughter smokes. While she is doing her homework, her feet on the bench in front of her and her calculator clicking out answers to her geometry problems, I am looking at the half-empty package of Camels tossed carelessly close at hand. I pick them up, take them into the kitchen, where the light is better, and study them — they're filtered, for which I am grateful. My heart feels terrible. I want to weep. In fact, I do weep a little, standing there by the stove holding one of the instruments, so white, so precisely rolled, that could cause my daughter's death. When she smoked Marlboros and Players I hardened myself against feeling so bad; nobody I knew ever smoked these brands.
She doesn't know this, but it was Camels that my father, her grandfather, smoked. But before he smoked cigarettes made by manufacturers — when he was very young and very poor, with glowing eyes — he smoked Prince Albert tobacco in cigarettes he rolled himself. I remember the bright-red tobacco tin, with a picture of Queen Victoria's partner, Prince Albert, dressed in a black dress coat and carrying a cane.
By the late forties and early fifties no one rolled his own anymore (and few women smoked) in my hometown of Eatonton, Georgia. The tobacco industry, coupled with Hollywood movies in which both male and female heroes smoked like chimneys, completely won over people like my father, who were hopelessly hooked by cigarettes. He never looked as fashionable as Prince Albert, though; he continued to look like a poor, overweight, hard working colored man with too large a family, black, with a very white cigarette stuck in his mouth.
I do not remember when he started to cough. Perhaps it was unnoticeable at first, a little coughing in the morning as he lit his first cigarette upon getting out of bed. By the time I was sixteen, my daughter's age, his breath was a wheeze, embarrassing to hear; he could not climb stairs without resting every third or fourth step. It was not unusual for him to cough for an hour.
My father died from "the poor man's friend", pneumonia, one hard winter when his lung illnesses had left him low. I doubt he had much lung left at all, after coughing for so many years. He had so little breath that, during his last years, he was always leaning on something. I remembered once, at a family reunion, when my daughter was two, that my father picked her up for a minute — long enough for me to photograph them — but the effort was obvious. Near the very end of his life, and largely because he had no more lungs, he quit smoking. He gained a couple of pounds, but by then he was so slim that no one noticed.
When I travel to Third World countries I see many people like my father and daughter. There are large advertisement signs directed at them both: the tough, confident or fashionable older man, the beautiful, "worldly" young woman, both dragging away. In these poor countries, as in American inner cities and on reservations, money that should be spent for food goes instead to the tobacco companies; over time, people starve themselves of both food and air, effectively weakening and hooking their children, eventually killing themselves. I read in the newspaper and in my gardening magazine that the ends of cigarettes are so poisonous that if a baby swallows one, it is likely to die, and that the boiled water from a bunch of them makes an effective insecticide.
There is a deep hurt that I feel as a mother. Some days it is a feeling of uselessness. I remember how carefully I ate when I was pregnant, how patiently I taught my daughter how to cross a street safely. For what, I sometimes wonder; so that she can struggle to breathe through most of her life feeling half her strength, and then die of self-poisoning, as her grandfather did?
There is a quotation from a battered women's shelter that I especially like: "Peace on earth begins at home." I believe everything does. I think of a quotation for people trying to stop smoking: "Every home is a no smoking zone." Smoking is a form of self-battering that also batters those who must sit by, occasionally joke or complain, and helplessly watch. I realize now that as a child I sat by, through the years, and literally watched my father kill himself: surely one such victory in my family, for the prosperous leaders who own the tobacco companies, is enough.
Words: 772

NEW WORDS

weep
v. 1. cry 哭泣，流（淚）
2. (of a wound) produce liquid （傷口）滲出液體

calculator
n. [C] a small electronic device for doing math 計(jì)算器

geometry
n. [U] the area of mathematics dealing with the relations and qualities of lines, points, surfaces and solids 幾何（學(xué)）

package
n. 1. [C] a box, etc. in which things are packed （包裝用的）盒
2. [C] an object or group of objects that have been put up together in paper or box （中小型的）包裹，包
vt. make (sth.) into or put (sth.) in a package, e.g., for selling 包裝，打包，捆扎

camel
n. [C] 駱駝

filter
vt. pass liquid, light, etc. through a special equipment 過濾
vi. (of a group) move gradually（人群）逐漸走出（走入）
n. [C] 過濾器

grateful
a. feeling or showing appreciation for sth. good done; thankful 感激的，感謝的

stove
n. [C] a device used for cooking 爐子，火爐

harden
v. 1. (cause sb. to) become strong; make sb. less conscious of sth. （使）變得堅(jiān)強(qiáng),（使）變得冷酷無情
2. (cause sth. to) become hard, strong, etc. （使）變硬,（使）硬化

brand
n. [C] particular make of goods or their trade mark （商品的）牌子, 商標(biāo)
vt. 1. mark sth. with or as if with a brand 打烙印于，以烙鐵打（標(biāo)記）
2. give sb. a bad name 給……抹黑，加污名于

manufacturer
n. [C] a person or firm that produces goods 制造者，制造商，制造廠

prince
n. [C] an important male member of a royal family, esp. a son or grandson of the king or queen 王子，親王，王孫

▲cane
n. [C] a long stick used esp. by old, ill or blind people to help them walk 手杖

movie
n. [C] film 電影

hopeless
a. 1. without hope of a good result 毫無希望的，絕望的
2. lacking ability; very bad 無能的，糟糕的

hopelessly
ad. 沒有希望地

hook
vt. catch sth. by hook 鉤住
n. [C] a device used for catching or holding things 鉤子，鉤狀物

noticeable
a. easily seen or noticed 易見的，明顯的

unnoticeable
a. not able to see or notice 不引人注意的，不明顯的

sixteen
num. 十六，十六個(gè)

■wheeze
n. [C] noisy breath esp. with a whistling sound in the chest 喘息聲，氣喘聲

◆pneumonia
n. [U] 肺炎

lung
n. [C] either of two parts located in the chest with which people and some animals breathe 肺

▲reunion
n. 1. [C] reuniting or being reunited 再聯(lián)合，重聚，團(tuán)聚
2. [C] a social gathering of people who were once friends, etc. 聚會(huì)，聯(lián)誼活動(dòng)

largely
ad. to a great degree; mainly 一大部分，大半

slim
a. 1. not fat 苗條的，纖細(xì)的
2. not thick 薄的
3. (of hope, etc.)very small; slight 微小的，渺茫的

advertisement
n. 1. [C] a public notice offering or asking for goods, services, etc. 廣告，啟事（提供或征求商品、服務(wù)）
2. [U] the action of advertisement 廣告活動(dòng)，宣傳

drag
vi. 1. (slang) smoke 抽煙
2. move slowly and with effort 緩慢而費(fèi)力地行進(jìn)
vt. pull (sb./sth.) along with effort and difficulty 拖，用力拉
n. [C] a person or thing that makes progress difficult 障礙物，累贅

starve
v. (cause a person or an animal to) suffer seriously or die from hunger（使）挨餓，（使）餓死

weaken
v. (cause sb./sth. to) become weak or weaker 使弱，變?nèi)?/p>

poisonous
a. 1. causing death or illness if taken into the body 有毒的
2. full of spite 惡毒的，有惡意的

swallow
vt. 1. cause or allow (esp. food or drink) to go down the throat 吞，咽
2. believe sth. too easily 輕信，輕易接受
vi. use the muscles of the throat as if doing this, esp. in fear 做吞咽動(dòng)作
n. [C] the action of swallowing 吞，吞咽

bunch
n. 1. [C] a number of things (usu. of the same kind) growing, tied or grouped together 串，束，把
2. [C] a group of people 群，伙
vi. form into a bunch 集中，擠在一起
vt. form sth. into a bunch 使成一束（或一群等）

insect
n. [C] 蟲，昆蟲

insecticide
n. [C, U] sth. used for killing insects 殺蟲劑，殺蟲藥

useless
a. not serving a useful role; not producing good results 無用的，無效果的

uselessness
n. [U] being not useful 無用，無價(jià)值

pregnant
a. having a baby or young animal developing 懷孕的，妊娠的

poison
vt. give some poisonous things to; kill or harm sb. with poisonous things 使中毒，毒殺，毒害
n. [C, U] poisonous matter 毒物，毒藥

self-poisoning
a. killing oneself with poison 自我毒害

▲batter
v. hit sb./sth. hard and often 接連重?fù)?/p>

zone
n. [C] an area or region with a particular quality or use （具有某種特征或目的的）區(qū)，區(qū)域，地域

helpless
a. 1. without help 無助的，無保護(hù)的
2. unable to act without help; needing the help of others 不能自立的，靠別人幫助的
helplessly
ad. 無助地，無能力地

PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS

close at hand
near; close by 近在手邊，在附近

pick up
take hold of and lift sth. 拿起，舉起

be grateful for
feel or show appreciation for sth. good done to one; be thankful for 對(duì)……感激，對(duì)……致謝

be dressed in
wear 穿著

couple with
link or associate sb./sth. with sb./sth. 把……和……聯(lián)系在一起

die from
die because of reasons other than illnesses or feelings 由于（除疾病、感情以外的原因）而死亡

lean on
rest on sth. for support 倚，靠

Third World countries
the developing countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia 第三世界國家

direct at
intend that a particular person or group should notice (what one says or does) 旨在引起注意，針對(duì)

starve of
(cause sb. to) suffer or long for sth. greatly needed or wanted （使）因缺乏而受困苦，渴望，（使）喪失

struggle to do
experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do sth. 奮斗，掙扎

die of
die because of some illnesses or feelings 因（疾病、情感等）而死

PROPER NAMES

Marlboro
萬寶路（香煙品牌）

Prince Albert
阿爾伯特親王（維多利亞女王的丈夫）

Queen Victoria
維多利亞女王（1819-1901）

Eatonton
伊騰頓

Georgia
佐治亞州（美國州名）

Hollywood
好萊塢（美國加利福尼亞州西南部港市洛杉磯的一部分，在北郊，美國電影業(yè)中心）