INTENSIVE READING I 1

Unit 10 Going Home

I. Teaching Aims and Requirements

1. Learn the target words and expressions in the text

2. learn the English song “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” and tell

the story as related in the song.

3. Analyze the structure of the text.

4. Study and practice the key language points in the text.

5. Analyze the main characters and the writing skills of the author.

6. Retell the story.

7. Do the exercises in the textbook.

II. Introduction

1. Introductory Remarks

Have you ever heard the American pop song Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak

Tree? And do you like it? This song, very popular in the States in the mid-nineteen

seventies, was born out of the story Going Home. And many of you may have seen

the Japanese film Yellow Handkerchiefs which also borrowed the plot from the

story. There is certainly something in this story that appeals to artists as well as us

readers.

2. Outline of the Text

There were a group of young people and a quiet, ill-dressed old con named Vingo

among the passengers traveling from New York to Florida by bus. The young people

wondered about the old man. Then, Vingo told his unusual experience to one of the

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girls beside him. He had been no link with his wife since he was put into prison, but

he wrote to her before release and wanted to know whether his wife still wanted

him. He suggested that she should hang out a yellow handkerchief on the tree in

front of the house if she wanted him to return. His stay caused even more interest

to them. The passengers on the bus eagerly watched and happily found there were

many handkerchiefs on the old oak tree.

III. Procedure and Approach

1. Ask the students to go over the new words and expressions before class. Dictate

the target words to the class and ask the students to make sentences with them.

2. Introduce the story by:

i. Playing the tape of the song “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree”.

ii. Giving some information related to the text.

Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree 这首歌曲源自一个民间广为流传的爱情故

事。美国新闻记者 Pete Hamill(即本文作者)重新整理并创作了这个故事，于 1971 年发表在

New York Post 杂志上。

这个爱情故事不仅被改编成音乐作品，而且还被改编成电影。由电影明星高仓键和千惠子主

演的日本影片《幸福的黄手帕》也同样以这个故事为蓝本。

3. Analyze the structure of the text.

This text is a narrative or a story. It tells us:

When? In spring.

Where? On the way from New York to Fort Lauderdale.

Who? Vingo and six young people.

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What? Vingo going home after he was released from prison.

In the order of time, this text can be divided into 3 parts.

Part 1: (Lines 1-21)The first day of the bus trip. The young people met Vingo on the

bus.

Part 2: (Lines 22-50)The second day of the bus trip. The young people learned the

story of Vingo.

Part 3: (Lines 51-62)The second day of the bus trip. All of the young people shouted

with joy when they saw the approaching oak tree covered with hundreds of yellow

handkerchiefs. Vingo got off the bus to go home.

IV. Key Language Points

1. dream of 2. pull into 3. come through 4. take back

5. be caught up in 6. take over 7. make one’s way

8. the emphatic use of “do”

V. Detailed Study of the Text

1. dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides

dream of: imagine

-I’ve never dreamed of getting your letter from Europe.

_I had dreamed of becoming a police officer when I was a child.

2. He kept chewing the inside of his lip a lot, frozen into complete silence: He kept

biting the inside part of his lip, sat there completely speechless as if frozen up.

Freeze: become unfriendly in manner

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-After their quarrel, they sat in frozen silence.

-She gave me a freezing look.

3. Deep into the night, outside Washington, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson’s:

Late at night the bus stooped at another Howard Johnson’s restaurant outside

Washington.

Pull into: (of a vehicle) arrive at (a station); move in towards

-The train pulled into the station on the stroke of 12.

-Let’s pull into the parking lot and have a rest.

4. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder about him: He

sat fixed in his seat, and the young people around him began to think about him.

①Wonder about: feel curious about; be doubtful about

-John says he didn’t do it, but I am still wondering about that.

②rooted: fixed

-The boy stood rooted to the spot.

-He had a deeply rooted belief in free trade.

5. He thanked her and retreated again into his silence: He thanked her for the

wine and went back to silence again.

Retreat into/to: yield; move back to

-The soldiers were ordered to retreat to safer positions.

-At last we forced the enemy to retreat into the mountains from the town.

6. black coffee: coffee without milk; white coffee: coffee with milk

7. She’s a wonderful woman, really something: She is a wonderful woman, a really

good, remarkable woman.

Something: a thing or a person of some value or importance

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-He considers himself to be something, but actually he is nothing.

_He thinks he is something, since he was elected chairman of the committee.

8. When I was sure the parole was coming through: When I was certain that the

conditional release from prison was to be approved by the authorities

come through

i. arrive as expected

-Has the train come through?

ii. appear; show clearly

-We are waiting for the results of the entrance exam to come through.

9. She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of

Brunswick: she told other boys and girls, and soon they all learnt Vingo’s experience,

they were all interested in the coming of Brunswick.

Be caught up in: be completely absorbed in

-I was caught up in conversation with a friend when someone knocked at the door.

-He was caught up in the story he was reading that he forgot it was time for supper.

10. Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over windows

seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree: Now they

were only 20 miles away from the town, and the young people all sat by the window,

waiting for the coming of the big oak tree.

Take over: win control of (usually something)接管；接收

-The military leaders have taken over the country.

-On December 20, 1999, the People’s Republic of China took over the sovereignty of

Macau.

-After graduation, John took over his father’s business.

11. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if fortifying himself against still

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another disappointment: Vingo ceased looking, making his face tense and

expressionless, plucking up his courage and getting himself mentally prepared for

another disappointment.

Fortify against: strenthen (sth. or oneself) so as to be able to deal with (sth. such

as an attack)

-Have some hot ginger soup to fortify yourself against cold.

12. As the young people shouted, the old con slowly rose from his seat and made his

way to the front of the bus to go home: While the young people were shouting, the

old prisoner stood up from his seat and walked to the front part of the bus to go

home.

Make one’s way to/through/across/along: go forward with difficulty

-They made their way through the crowd.

-I made my way to the center of the town.

13. “Do” used in a sentence for emphasis:

-I still like to think that it really did happen, somewhere, sometime.

More examples:

-Please do come this afternoon.

-Mary said she did see Jane in the bookstore yesterday.

VI. Analyze the Main Characters in the Story

①the young people: active, talkative, happy, considerate

②Vingo: sad, worried, nervous, silent

③Vingo’s wife: wonderful, strong-willed, kind-hearted, capable

VII. Analyze the Writing Skills

1. detailed and vivid description of the appearance of Vingo

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2. keeping the reader in suspense until the very end

3. happy ending

4. in rhetoric

①When describing the young people, the author use quite a lot of present

participles to indicate young people’s liveliness and joyfulness.

-dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides(Line 3)

-waiting for the approach of the great oak tree(Lines 52-53)

-screaming and shouting and crying, doing small dances of joy(Lines 56-57)

②While describing Vingo, the author uses past participles to indicate his sadness,

nervousness, and his control of feelings.

-dressed in a plain, ill-fitting suit(Line 6)

-frozen into complete silence(Line 8)

-He sat rooted in his seat(Line 10)

-Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree(Line 58)

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