Oral Workshop: Discussion Lesson23-25(Text B) ;
Lesson 23 All For a Son ;
Text A ;
The desire for a son and heir is common to all mankind. ;
In our country, especially,to have as many male descendents as possible ;
has always been regarded as the greatest blessing in life. ;
The failure to produce male heir was ;
considered the most unfilial of all unfilial crimes. ;
A man was justified to cast away his wife ;
and take another if she failed to bear him son. ;
For the rich,the probl -em could be solved by aking a concubine or several concubines. ;
All traditional ideas die hard.The desire for a son is as strong s ever, ;
and the problem has been aggravated by our one-child family planning policy. ;
Hence the numerous tragedies and comedies e hear and read so often. ;
There are fathers who drop down in a faint ;
when they hear their wives have given birth o daughters. ;
There are"guerrilla" couples who roam from place to place ;
dodging family planning officials to give one birth after another ;
until they finally have a son. ;
But more often we hear f tragedies of wives being ill treated by their husbands ;
and by their parents- -in-law because they failed to give birth to sons. ;
Recently I saw a photograph in Yangcheng Evening ;
showing a woman with a baby in her arms appealing to passers -by in the street. ;
The caption says she is telling people of her plight of ;
being thrown out into the street with her baby girl by her husband's family, ;
all because she has given birth to a daughter instead of a son. ;
I remember some time ago reading about a man ;
pushing his three-year-old daughter down a well. ;
Fortunately the girl was saved by someone who happened to pass by. ;
The man only got a year and a half imprisonment for attempted murder. ;
To my mind,he was just s guilty as if the girl had really drowned. ;
By comparison,the story of Zhou Cheng Hu, ;
an ordinary farmer of Changning County in Sichuan Province ;
arouses more ridicule than indignation. ;
Zhou's parents had died when he was still young, ;
and he was the only son to carry on the family line. ;
He had married early when he was only twenty. ;
The first child was a girl,so he tried again, ;
and the second child born the following year was also a girl ;
Zhou was vexed but still not unduly worried, ;
but when the third birth turned out to be a girl too, ;
he could sit tight no more.He began to consult doctors, quacks,witches, ;
and fortune-tellers. One geomancer told him ;
that his ancestral graves were wrongly located, ;
so he dug up his mother's grave and had her remains reburied. ;
But that didn't seem to help him as he had a fourth daughter. ;
Now really desperate he disturbed the dead again ;
and had his father reburied this time. ;
But it seemed nothing could help,for the fifth was still a daughter. ;
In the meantime he had ncurred upon himself heavy fines ;
for violating family planning laws.Another geomancer ;
told him that the gods would help him if he had a temple archway built. ;
What would he not do as long as he could get a son? ;
So no expenses were spared and he did as the geomancer told him. ;
But the gods remained unmoved and gave him another girl. ;
As the newborn baby uttered her first cry upon entering this world, ;
her father began to wail most miserably. ;
He was now a bitterly disappointed and broken man. ;
He became a heavy drinker. ;
He habitually beat up his wife and daughters or no reasons at all. ;
He had nothing to live for. ;
He felt he could not look people in the face because he had no son. ;
When the whole village ad electric lights installed, ;
he had to go without because he had no money. ;
In fact,his debts ran to four figures and he ould see no way of repaying them ;
Then one day early this year,after loading himself heavy with drink. ;
Zhou Chenghu ended his wn miserable life at the age of forty. ;
Perhaps he was not as guilty as the man who tried to drown his own aughter, ;
but to leave his wife and six daughters to fend for themselves, ;
though no crime was certainly not excusable. ;
And all because he had no son! ;
Text B ;
After ignoring family planning policies and siring three girls, Zhang, ;
who lives in village in Henan Province, ;
finally got the son he was waiting for this year. ;
Despite the heavy fines exacted ;
for breaking the regulations on family planning,Zhang was overjoyed. ;
The honest and simple peasant does not hesitate when asked ;
why he so much desired son."Why? Who'll support me when I get old?" ;
Actually there are some homes for old folks in the village and nearby. ;
But though he supposes hey live well there, ;
Zhang still does not believe the old folks are happy. ;
"It's just so-so there. ;
Who knows what it'll be like over there when I get old. ;
It's better to have a son,"Zhang said. ;
And a son-in-law cannot be depended on to support him, says Zhang. ;
A son-in-law who lives with his wife's family s looked down on by the community. ;
He cannot be expected to replace a natural son. ;
A family nearby has four sons. ;
Life became very hard when the two older sons got married. ;
However,the third son says he would rather be a bachelor for life ;
than risk having to take in some day his wife's aged parents. ;
As China's family planning programme enters the 1990s, ;
traditional ideas on family life are posing he major barriers ;
to limiting China's population. ;
These ideas have formed over thousands of years. ;
The concept of"more sons,more happiness" still exists in some rural areas, ;
especially in poor and emote ones.For some families, ;
the presence of several sons gives parents a feeling of protection. ;
Families with no boys, or few boys,may feel intimidated by famili- es with many sons. ;
Another problem the country must face is early marriages. ;
A survey in a town in Zhecheng County shows young people marrying ;
earlier than the law prescribes.Some are engaged by the age of 15. ;
Parents dream of grandchildren, ;
and sometimes they encourage early marriages, ;
ignoring the government's call for "marriage at mature ages". ;
Changing these ideas is hard as tens of millions of peasants are illiterate. ;
Additional Information ;
Wang is a school teacher in Shimen in east Sichuan. ;
At 36 he was still a lonely bachelor ;
and was likely to remain one until one day towards the end of 1988 ;
he happened to read in the matrimonial column ;
of a magazine an advertisement which read:Yang,a woman of 31 ;
who is a family planning officer in a certain township in south Sichuan, ;
seeks a reliable and understanding man ;
for a spouse having been disappointed in her first love affair ;
by the man she has lost her heart to... ;
"Somehow this advertisement appealed to Wang greatly. ;
After much thought he plucked up his courage and wrote to this woman Yang. ;
It was the first love letter he had written in his life. ;
To his surprise and great joy he got a very warm response. ;
Things went so smoothly in fact that ;
very soon the woman appeared before him in flesh and blood, ;
with a divorce certificate in her hand ;
to prove that she was a free woman and was sincere in her desire to marry him. ;
Wang could hardly believe in his own luck, ;
and so with great haste he said goodbye to his bachelor life. ;
On the wedding night,however, ;
he got a great shock when he discovered that his bride ;
was already three months pregnant. ;
But he was a reasonable man, ;
and instead of blaming er he did his best to console her, ;
assuring her that nothing could alter his love for her. ;
And he was as good as his words, ;
so the newly-wed couple lived in harmony and bliss ;
until half a year later when Yang gave birth to a lovely plump son. ;
Wang cared for the mother and child as if he was the real father. ;
Then on the day of the full month of the baby, ;
Wang came home from school to find that his wife had prepared a small feast. ;
Overjoyed and touched by this show of affection, ;
he nevertheless admonished her ;
for overtiring herself hile secretly ;
congratulating himself ;
for having found such a considerate and loving wife. ;
Then,before he had finished eating and with the wine still warm in his heart. ;
Yang suddenly said to him:"Happily we got together,now let us gladly part!" ;
Wang could hardly believe his ears. "Please don't talk such nonsense!" ;
"I'm not talking nonsense.We have to divorce. ;
To be quite honest,I don't find it easy leaving you like this, ;
and I feel very sad having cheated you. You are a very good man. ;
But I was a happily married woman with a lovely daughter. ;
Our only regret was having no son.What were we to do? ;
I couldn't very well give a second birth, ;
especially as I am a family planning officer. ;
So my husband and I worked out this plan... ;
We agreed to divorce temporarily after having made sure I was pregnant again. ;
I had secretly gone to see a doctor ;
and he had given me hope that it was likely going to be a boy, ;
and so we went ahead with our plan. ;
After I put out the advertisement,I got many offers. ;
We picked on you for two reasons. ;
First,you are a teacher and therefore ;
are likely to be a reasonable man ;
and would not make things difficult for me. ;
Secondly,you are no longer so young and would not be ;
too choosy and therefore would readily take me... ;
Now you know all. Say whatever you like.Curse me, call me names... ;
All I ask is that you forgive me and let me go back to my former husband." ;
Wang was dumb-founded. ;
In vain he tried to plead and remonstrate, and begged her to stay ;
But Yang was adamant. "I still love my former husband. ;
Our divorce was not for real in the first place. ;
If you don't let me go,you can only keep my body, ;
but you can't keep my heart. ;
I had made it clear in my advertisement ;
that I had lost my heart to my first love!" In the end the good, ;
honest Wang had to agree to divorce her and let her go. ;
Left alone again, Wang thought not only of the injury done to himself, ;
but the deceit and trickery on the part of the couple to dodge the law ;
and the woman was supposed to be some sort of officer of the law too. ;
Could such a monstrous hing be allowed? ;
Was the force of feudal ideas so much stronger than the force of law? ;
We may well ask the same questions. ;
Lesson 24 Want to Kill Yourself? ;
Text A ;
I wonder whether smoking is as harmful as doctors make us believe it to be? ;
Some of the things they say are really hair-raising, ;
and even if only half of what they say is true,then it is,if not suicidal, ;
at least a self- inflicted chronic disease. ;
This afternoon our League branch organized a discussion ;
on the harmful effects f smoking and what effective measures should be taken to ;
prevent young people from smoking. ;
According to our form master,50% of our class smoke, ;
or have smoked at one time or another.If that is true, ;
then all the boys must be smokers, ;
because we make up about 50% of our class--I can hardly believe that. ;
I,for one,certainly don't smoke,though I must admit ;
I did once take a few puffs just out of curiosity, ;
but you can't call that smoking.The discussion was quite a lively one. ;
The girls,of course, all spoke in one voice against smoking ;
but for the most part they had nothing original to offer ;
besides repeating what we can read in the papers ;
and popular science magazines.At first the boys listened in glum silence ;
and I could see boredom and disdain on their faces. ;
Then the cross-fire between Fatty and Liu Dandan livened the meeting up. ;
Dandan has always been something of an actress and in her theatrical manner ;
she went on and on describing how bad a cigarette tastes. ;
Fatty couldn't contain imself any longer and muttered under his breath, ;
"Heavens,you must be a ery experienced smoker!" ;
Everybody burst out laughing and Dandan spluttered with rage. ;
The girls rallied round her and began to attack Fatty. ;
Of course we could have none of that and the classroom was soon in uproar. ;
"All right you boys and girls,that is quite enough.Show some sense. ;
Our form master's firm oice had quite a sobering effect ;
and order was restored again. ;
"Those who do smoke, please put up your hands." ;
Taken by surprise, nobody made any move. ;
"Come on.There is nothing to fear. This is not for punishment. ;
I only want statistics. I only want information ;
so that we can really find out something about smoking." ;
We looked at each other. ;
First Fatty,then about alf a dozen boys raised their hands. ;
Then our form master proceeded to ask each of them why they smoked ;
and whether they liked moking.Did they ever try to give it up? Why not? ;
And so on and so on. ;
Soon he didn't have to sk any questions as we all volunteered information ;
and the discussion became very lively and the atmosphere relaxed. ;
Some interesting facts came out. ;
Family and surround- ings play a very important part in influencing smokers. ;
All those who smoke come from smoking families or are surrounded ;
by smoking friends and relatives.Films and TV lays also play a part. ;
In the past only villains smoked and drank. ;
Now heroes also smoke and drink,and heroes now are mostly young people ;
with the "spirit of the 80s"fighting feudalism and conservatism. ;
As to those who smoked nd have given up, ;
they did so because they didn't enjoy smoking and found it too expensive. ;
Very few people think about health dangers. ;
All those who still smoke admit that they ;
don't derive any great leasure out of smoking. ;
Smoking has not become hardened habit with them ;
and they could give it p easily if they really wanted to. ;
They just haven't felt any urgent need to do it. ;
A very interesting and rewarding discussion. ;
Those smokers who haven't given much thought to their smoking will, ;
I'm sure,give more thought to it now. ;
Text B ;
Few people like changing their habits,good or bad,and, ;
whether it is smoking, drinking or over-eating, ;
they continue 'enjoying' them to the end,often the bitter end. ;
On every packet of cigarettes and in every advertisement, ;
Americans are warned against the dangers of smoking: ;
"Warning:The Surgeon General Has Determined ;
That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health". ;
In spite of this, millions of them start smoking or go on smoking. ;
Why?One reason may be that people watch their 'heroes' on TV drinking alcohol, ;
smoking cigarettes and fighting their way from adventure to adventure, ;
'heroes' who seem to fear nothing, ;
neither killing other people nor killing themselves with alcohol and cigarettes ;
If they are not afraid f the effects of smoking and ;
drinking alcohol why should John Smith, ;
sitting at home in his armchair watching all this,be afraid? ;
The simple warning on the cigarette packet does not influence his ;
"hero's" either.But even stronger warnings,like ;
showing pictures of smokers who have lost a leg or died of cancer, ;
seem to have no effect on people's smoking habits. ;
Knowing and believing seem to be two different things. ;
The young girl smoking a cigarette in the advertisement ;
runs the risk of dying f cancer in a few years. ;
The smoker sitting next to you may have a heart attack next week. ;
But don't worry!The chance of dying in an accident is just as great. ;
Particularly if enough eople agree with one advertiser that ;
driving a car at 212m. p.h and smoking interesting cigarettes ;
is all that life is really about. ;
Additional Information ;
(A) World 'No Tobacco' Day ;
People in all parts of he world are observing "No Tobacco Day". ;
It is the day when the World Health Organization appeals to ;
people to stop using tobacco products. ;
The W-H-O hopes if people stop smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco for one day, ;
they will stop permanently. ;
The day includes special observances and awards ;
ceremonies in one- hundred-sixty-six countries. ;
The target group for this year's "No Tobacco Day" is women. ;
Organizers want to make sure women know the dangers of smoking. ;
Health experts have warned for years that smoking can lead to heart disease, ;
cancer and other problems. ;
The Wold Health Organization says diseases linked to smoking kill at least ;
two-million five- hundred-thousand persons each year. ;
Still,many people find it difficult to stop smoking.One reason is nicotine, ;
a substance found in cigarettes.Nicotine is drug. ;
The effects of nicotine are similar to the effects of cocaine and heroin. ;
"No Tobacco Day" is aimed at smokers and those who earn money from tobacco sales. ;
So businesses are asked to stop selling tobacco products for twenty-four hours. ;
Newspapers are asked not to publish advertisements for cigarettes. ;
Two important developments have been observed in recent years. ;
In industrial countries. ;
the number of smokers has been falling about one percent a year. ;
But in developing countries,the number has been rising two percent a year. ;
This is the result of increased efforts by tobacco companies to sell their products ;
in developing countries. ;
the World Health Organization has approved ;
plans to help reach its goal of a 'smoke -free'world. ;
One urges governments to offertobacco farmers the chance ;
to earn money by growing other crops. ;
Another involves impro -ved public informatio -n campaigns about the angers of smoking. ;
(B) ;
MIRIAM:Yeah,when, when did you start smoking? ;
STEVE:Well,I started when I was,er, about sixteen,and I really started ;
because I...well,I think my family smoked nd that really made me want to, ;
er...really;somehow it was like growing up. ;
MIRIAM:Yeah. ;
STEVE:And,of course, my friends around me were smoking and when we, ;
when we left school we'd go over the park and have a ..., ;
and have a quick cigarette.And er, I mean, ;
I do remember when I first started that ;
I didn't really draw cigarettes at all because ;
I didn't really know how to do it and I didn't think it was very pleasant; ;
and it's only as time goes by you get more and more involved in that, ;
erm,in that process until finally you've... ;
you realise that you,you can't give up. ;
And,in fact,when I first started I used to ;
pretend that I was so hooked that I couldn't give up, ;
because it was like being a child-it was like being a, being a grown-up. ;
You know,grown-ups say they can't give up smoking, ;
they wish they couldn't smoke and I used to pretend to say that. ;
And of course,by the time it really happens it's too late. ;
It doesn't mean the same thing any more. ;
You actually want to give up but you can't. ;
MIRIAM:I've smoked since I was eighteen and I started, ;
er...as you did, sort of...sort of socially. ;
And it wasn't a lot of fun to start with. ;
STEVE:Right. ;
MIRIAM:It was quite embarrassing, sometimes,you know ;
You get smoke in your eyes and your eyes would water ;
and it's a dead give -away that you've only just started. STEVE:Mmm. ;
MIRIAM:Er.And I didn't care for the taste all that much but everybody... ;
people smoked... I mean I started smoking a long time ago ;
before anything was known about cancer and, ;
er...it was just the thing to do.And as, as you said,it was a..., ;
it was being grown- up.It was drawing that line,you know: I am,now grown up. ;
ANNE:I should think I started at nine...I started. ;
No,I really started my first year at university. ;
Everybody else smoked.It was just the thing to do. ;
And now not so many people smoke,it's... ;
it seems to me that it was an awful waste of time and money. ;
But my father smoked and my mother didn't ;
so it was always a split thing in the house. ;
I don't know, I really. ;
I think it probably just was a social habit more than anything else. ;
JOHN:Like most people,I started smoking at school, foolishly. ;
Er,I was offered cigarettes by other,er, ;
children and in those days, ;
I suppose smoking was the equivalent of drug taking today; ;
er,that it was considered,erm,... erm,... ;
fashionable and sophisticated and adult to smoke. ;
Lesson 25 Don't They Feel Ashamed of Themselves? ;
Text A ;
We were at the terminus and as a bus had just left, ;
there were only the two of us. ;
"We're sure to get good seats,"I thought to myself confidently. ;
But soon there was a crowd ;
and nobody seemed to have the least intention of forming a ine. ;
In fact everybody was trying to crane forward ;
and soon they were almost standing in the middle of the road ;
so as to be in the best strategic position. ;
I realized I had been over-optimistic about getting seats. ;
So I said to Granny: "You get on in your own good time,Granny ;
I'll get on first to find a seat for you." ;
She was terrified at the idea:"Oh no,you don't! ;
Never mind about the seat.The important thing is to get on the bus. ;
I'll never manage it by myself." ;
Looking at all the young men around us, I realized Granny was right. ;
All the young men had intent faces just like oldiers ready to go into action. ;
And when a bus did finally arrive, everybody rushed forward to meet it ;
so as to be just in front of one of the doors, ;
and people ran along with the bus,keeping as near to a door as possible ;
until finally the bus came to a halt and the oors opened. ;
The mad scramble that followed defies description. ;
It was almost a free-for-all:people fought,jostled, ;
pushed and elbowed their way forward, ;
accompanied by shouts and curses all around. ;
I had great difficulty n pushing Granny into the bus. ;
I was really afraid that her old bones might crack. ;
Had a lot of difficulties in getting on myself too. ;
People behind me pushed,people beside me elbowed, ;
and people in front of e seemed to have formed a block of solid wall. ;
Actually there was plenty of room in the bus. ;
After all the seats had been taken, ;
people who got on just stood near the doorway and refused to move in, ;
blocking the way for all those behind who had not yet got on. ;
After what seemed to me to be an eternity of pushing and shouting, ;
all the passengers managed to get on and the doors finally closed. ;
I looked around, hoping somebody would have ;
the decency to give up his seat to Granny. ;
But they all seemed to he glued to their seats, ;
those "elegantly" dressed young men and ladies,looking happy and smug, ;
apparently proud of the fact that they were smart enough ;
be ahead of everybody else. ;
After the bus started, Granny began to wobble n her feet ;
and I had to hold her tight to prevent her from falling. ;
"Will someone be kind enough to give the old ady a seat?" ;
The conductress called ut several times, meeting no response. ;
Some seemed to have suddenly dozed off, ;
and others seemed to be captivated by something ;
very interesting outside the bus window. ;
In the end it was a middle-aged lady who stood up and gave Granny her seat. ;
After thanking the lady,I helped Granny sit down and looked at those ;
"elegant"young people again, ;
trying to detect some traces of shame on their faces.But I found none. ;
Text B ;
Vietnam? Isn't that a shame?(Laughs softly.) ;
I saw a film on Vietnam,it showed the actual fighting. ;
It looked ridiculous, just a bunch of kids. ;
It was actually embarrassing to watch that, ;
people were actually shooting and shouting. I saw Vietnam. ;
I looked at a map once.I'm concerned with Vietnam if my brother has to go, ;
otherwise,no.My interest in life is me.It's a shame. ;
I wish I could pick up a newspaper and read it. ;
What I hear about things is heard from other people. ;
I hope I'll make it. I think it's marriage, to someone who is successful. ;
Highland Park,a couple of kids. ;
I'm not too crazy about children, though. ;
You're sitting in a room,and all of a sudden five kids' ll come in and they'll ;
go to another girl in the room.Same with dogs. ;
I'm worried about the next couple of years. ;
Here I'm putting all this time and feeling into this relationship ith Steven, ;
and to have it not work out,it would be terrible.I don't know what I'd do. ;
I'd probably find someone else and be just as happy. ;
We have to have war, there's been wars through all the ages, ;
apparently everyone gets enjoyment out of it. ;
If we removed this part from man,it would be boring. ;
Otherwise things would be sort of dull. ;
I love my building, I just love it.If I'm on a bus going to my mother's, ;
I look at these people nd get a nauseous feeling. ;
On Michigan Avenue,I respect them more.Home ives me a sick feeling. ;
It's a shame Blacks don't like me ;
and children don't like me and dogs don't run up to me. ;