英文兒童文學 week 14－kiwiguo的部落格

1. Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales . Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories, called eventyr in Danish or "fairy-tales" in English, express themes that transcend age and nationality. Andersen's fairy tales have been translated into many languages and become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Some of his most famous fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes ", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", and many more.

(1)The Emperor's New Clothes: it is a short tale about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, no one dares to say that he doesn't see any suit of clothes until a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!"

A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothes themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same.Finally the weavers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor suspects the assertion is true, but continues the procession.

(2) The Little Mermaid: it is a fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul.

(3) The Nightingale: it is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about an emperor who prefers the tinkling of a bejeweled mechanical bird to the song of a real nightingale. When the Emperor is near death, the nightingale's song restores his health.

(4) The Snow Queen: it is an original fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. The story centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai.

(5) The Ugly Duckling: it is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story tells of a homely little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise of others), he matures into a beautiful swan, the most beautiful bird of all.

Q&A:

1. Who played the lead in the 1952 musical fantasy about Hans Christian Andersen's life? Danny Kaye

2. What peculiarity did Andersen have concerning his meals? He had a set rotation for where he ate every night.

3: Including recently discovered and unpublished stories, how many tales did Andersen write?212

4: At what age did Andersen begin attending grammar school? 17

5:What was Andersen's father's occupation? Shoemaker

6:What career did Andersen originally attempt to pursue?Actor

7:Which of these composers did Andersen become friends with during his travels? Mendelssohn

8:Which of these Andersen fairy tales is airing this year as a television series in Japan? The Snow Queen

9:Which fairy tale is believed to have been written for singer Jenny Lind? The Nightingale

10:Approximately how many languages have Andersen's works been translated into? 150

2. The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies , then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

3. Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic. period.

4. The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, like the impromptu, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form . For example, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.

* The Phantom of the Opera is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux .

* Les Misérables is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo.

5. play the lead 扮演主角

e.g. Who is playing the lead in the play?

6. How to take great notes

Don't write facts, write the conclusions!
Use color!
Review

7. 影本: xerox copy

複本: c.c --> carbon copy

8. The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO phonetic alphabet and also known as the ICAO radiotelephonic, phonetic or spelling alphabet and the ITU radiotelephonic or phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used radiotelephonic spelling alphabet .