Unit 2 KING LEAR

Reading

取自莎士比亚四大悲剧之一——《李尔王》。该剧首演于 1606年。统治英国的李尔王想把国土分给三个女儿。他试探三个女儿的孝心，大女和次女极尽阿谀之辞骗得了李尔王的信任，各得到二分之一的国土。

故事简介

而幼女却因直言不讳而惹怒父亲，一无所有，幸被法兰西国王娶为王后。李尔退位后遭到两个女儿的冷眼和遗弃，她们甚至密谋要除掉他。幸亏忠臣相救，李尔才幸免于难。后来小女儿挂帅领兵为父复国。这时，另两个女儿之间已出现矛盾，她们尔虞我诈

要除去对方，但面对法军，她们又联合起来。此战英军获胜，囚禁了李尔与其小女儿，但却招来朝野上下一致不满。李尔的小女儿被害死，他的另两个女儿也没有得到好下场。李尔抱住小女儿尸体痛哭，自己也伤心而死。“阅读”部分节取的是该剧的第一幕，其中李尔王与女儿的对白堪称莎翁作品中最为经典的篇章之一。

1.What had Lear expected to happen

in his old age?

2.Why has Lear called for the King of

France and the Duke of Burgundy?

Read the play quickly with the

following questions:

3.What has Lear decided to do with

his kingdom?

4.What is he going to do when he

retires ?

5.Why does Lear become angry with

Kent?

6.How does he punish Kent?

1 Why does King Lear want to give a

way his kingdom?

Comprehending

Because Lear is old and tired and

wants to retire.

2 How is he going to decide who to give the best part of his kingdom to?

He is going to ask his three daughters

to tell him how much they love him and

divide up the kingdom according to

their answers.

Cordelia.

3 At the beginning of the play, of

which daughter is King Lear most

fond?

4 Which daughters are already

married and which is not?

Regan and Goneril are married and

Cordelia is not.

The Duke of Burgundy and the

King of France.

5 What are the names of the men

who want to marry King Lear's

youngest daughter?

Kent tries to defend Cordelia but Le

ar sends him away from the kingdo

m (He banishes him).

6 Who tries to defend Cordelia? What happens to him when he speaks out?

While-reading

Read the play and complete theplot

diagram.

A plot diagram Description

Setting

Conflict

King Lear has 3 daughters. He is old and wants to divide his kingdom among his daughters. He is going to do this through a “love test”.

Flattery vs honesty;Words vs action

A plot diagram Description

Rising action His first two daughters flatter him with nice words, but the youngest daughter insists on telling the truth.

Climax Hearing the truth,the king gets very angry.he gives all his land to the first two daughters and leaves nothing to the youngest one.

Read the play again, and complete the

following main points.

MAIN POINTS: King Lear gave away his land to his daughters according to how much they ________him.

1 .King Lear wants to ______ and decides to ______ his land to three daughters.

loved

retire give

2. He wants to know ____ ________ they love him.

3. Goneril and Regan make the king _________by saying they love him very much. They ______ the land.

how much

happyget

4. Cordelia makes the king angry by being _________ and not _________ him. She gets ________.

5. Kent, the servant, makes the king _________ by defending Cordelia and begging the king to listen to the _______.

honest flattering

nothing

angrytruth

Characters

Relationship to King Lear

Words to describe personality

King Lear

Goneril

Regan

daughter

daughter

hot-headed, hard-hot-headed, hard-hearted, foolish, bad-hearted, foolish, bad-temperedtempered

deceitful, corrupt, greedy, cunning deceitful, corrupt, greedy, cunning

Cordelia

Duke of Albany

Duke of Cornwall

Duke of Kent

daughter

son-in-law

son-in-law

friend

honest, truthful, loving, innocent

(not known yet)

(not known yet)

loyal respectful, honest, truthful

Learning about language

1.Before I travelled abroad I ____

_ _____ all my furniture and put it in s

torage.

packed up

1 Complete the following sentences with

the correct form of phrasal verbs from

the play.

2.He _____ _____ at the meeting to tell

them he did not like their decision.

3.She _____ ___ her sister's children as

well as her own.

4.Don't say no until you have _____

me_____.

spoke out

cared for

heard

out

5.They won't _____ ____ the keys until

we pay the rent.

6.He _____ _____ all his money and

went to live alone on an island.

hand over

gave away

1.I am always _____________ in the morning until I've had my coffee.2.He won't help you, he's too ____________.

2 Complete the following sentences

with compound adjectives from the

unit so far.

bad-tempered

hard-hearted

3.The _____-_______ boy ran into the

road and pushed the child out of the

way of a speeding car.

4.The_____-_____ son was the tallest

of the brothers.

5.You're so ___-______, you never

stop to think before you act.

warm-hearted

third-born

hot headed

More compound adjectives to learn:

warm-blooded; cold-blooded; warm-

hearted; man-made; mid-field;

mouth-to-mouth;

eight-year-old; one-way; part-time;

post-impressionist; simple-minded;

so-called; so-so; sun-blind;

well-done; well-behaved; well-bred;

well-chosen; well-fed; well-informed;

well-known; well-made; well-off;

well-paid;

well-to-do; well-written;

good-looking; worn-out, ...

1 I have decided to retire and hand

over the heavy load of responsibility to

you three.

2 I have divided the kingdom into three

parts, and will allocate one part to

each of you.

Avoid repetition with similar meaning:

burden

distribute

3 I beg you, speak.

4 Here is a map of my kingdom with all

the boundaries drawn on it.

5 I forecast that such actions will cause

great conflict throughout your

kingdom.

pray

frontiers

friction

1 Complete with phrases from

the box P.60

1 __________ with you? You look

really angry about something.

2 A: What are you doing?

B: _______________________.

What's up

Mind your own business

3 _____________ the whole school, I

would like to thank you for coming to

talk to us.

4 You are _________________ , the

most annoying person I have ever met.

On behalf of

beyond question

5 She ___________ for herself as the

smartest girl in the class.

6 I ____________________ all your

jokes. Can't

you be serious for a little while?

7 I have grown very ________ little

Timmy since he came to stay with us.

made a nam

have had enough of

fond of

8 It was very generous of him to

_________ his old car when he

bought a new one.

give away