《What Year Is It 》英语教学反思

《What Year Is It ?》英语教学反思

1. 本节课的教学目标基本达成。

大部分学生能用英语表达十二生肖，并掌握相关单词，能用What is your year ? My year is the year of the ____.与他人进行交流，谈论属相话题。了解十二生肖排序情况，能用1—12序数词表达生肖排序

学生们对本节课兴趣浓厚，能积极参与课堂活动，敢于开口，乐于并积极与小组成员配合，能在合作中中体会英语学习的乐趣。了解、认识了中国传统生肖文化。

学生认真观察，集中注意力，注意倾听。具有合作意识，学生的合作能力有提高，

学生能利用自身拥有的资源进行英语预习的习惯。学生积极运用所学英语进行表达和交流，发展自身综合运用语言的能力。

2. 教学方法和形式多样，降低了学习难度，增强了学习的趣味性，提高了学生的积极性。

3.教学环节环环相扣，复习为新知识的学习做准备，新授环节先学单词为接下来句型的学习扫清障碍，句型的学习先学会生肖年的表达，比较绕嘴，为属相话题的顺利进行做足准备。练习环节安排的三个练习第一个练习是对属相话题的巩固和拓展，第二个练习是加深对生肖排序的了解，也是对生肖表达句型的巩固。第三个练习综合运用了本课的知识。

4.教学节奏比以前加快了。

5.回归文本环节，采用了带任务阅读的形式，本来安排的很好。但把分角色朗读忘了，就欠缺了。

6.随意性太强，规范语言，不该说的坚决不说。

7.后两个联系没达到预想效果，主要是时间紧了，失去了控制，没达到语言操练的目的。

8.板书设计预想的彩色粉笔没用上。

9.准备仓促，课堂操作欠缺，尤其课件的使用。

第二篇：twist ending-the feature of O Henry`s short stories

本科生毕业论文

意外的结局--欧亨利短篇小说结局的特色

院 系 外国语学院

专 业 英语（教育方向）

班 级 学 号

学 生 姓 名

联 系 方 式

指 导 教 师 职 称 讲师

2011 年 05 月

独 创 性 声 明

本人郑重声明：所呈交的毕业论文（设计）是本人在指导老师指导下取得的研究成果。除了文中特别加以注释和致谢的地方外，论文（设计）中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写的研究成果。与本研究成果相关的所有人所做出的任何贡献均已在论文（设计）中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。

签名：

年 月 日

授权声明

本人完全了解许昌学院有关保留、使用本科生毕业论文（设计）的规定，即：有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交毕业论文（设计）的复印件和磁盘，允许毕业论文（设计）被查阅和借阅。本人授权许昌学院可以将毕业论文（设计）的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存、汇编论文（设计）。 本人论文（设计）中有原创性数据需要保密的部分为（如没有，请填写“无”）：

签名：

年 月 日

指导教师签名：

年 月 日

Twist Ending --- Ending Feature of O. Henry’s Short Stories

A Thesis Submitted

to School of Foreign Languages, Xuchang University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

By

Wan Weiwei

Supervisor：Xin Lei

May 18, 2011

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those who have given me their generous helps, commitment and enthusiasm, which have been the major driving force to complete the current paper.

I am particularly grateful to my supervisor, Xin Lei. Were it not for her effective guidance and careful revision throughout the writing, the thesis would not have turned out as it is. In the past several months, she gave me patient instructions and help in my study. Her rigorous attitude toward academic research as well as her kindness and generosity sets a good example for my future study and work.

I

摘要

欧亨利，原名威廉·西德尼·波特，是世界三大短篇小说巨匠之一，也是美国现代短篇小说的奠基人，声名远播。本文将以他的代表作为例，着重探讨欧亨利短篇小说结局的特征,旨在欣赏欧亨利小说令人意外的结局，进而更好地理解文章主题。 关键词：欧亨利；短篇小说；结局特色；意外的结局

II

Abstract

O. Henry, whose original name was William Sydney Porter, was one of the three greatest short story masters in the world and the founder of American modern short story. His fame had spread on all side. This thesis aims at researching the ending feature of O. Henry’s story, exemplified by his masterpieces. The aim is to appreciate twist ending in O. Henry’s short stories, and then readers could understand the themes better.

Key words: O. Henry; Short Stories ; Ending Feature; Twist Ending

III

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..I 摘要……………………………………………………………………………………………….II Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..III Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………...IV

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Chapter One Classification of the Ending……………………………………………..………....2

1.1 The Comic Ending…………………………………………………… ……...…........….....2

1.2 The Tragic Ending…………...……………………………………...……...…....................2

1.3 The Twist Ending……………...………………………………………...……….................3

Chapter Two The Ending Feature of O. Henry ’s Short Stories ……………………...………......4

2.1 Definition of the Twist Ending…………………………….....………………….................4

2.2 Function of the Twist Ending ………………………...……..…………………..................4

Chapter Three An Analysis on the Ending of O. Henry’s Short Stories..…………………... ....6

3.1 The Cop and the Anthem ……………...………………………………...………..... ...........6

3.2 The Last Leaf ………………………..……………………………………...………...........7

3.3 A Service of Love…………………………..………………………………...………..........8 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….10

Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………...11

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Introduction

O. Henry, whose original name was William Sydney Porter, was one of the three greatest short story masters in the world and the founder of American modern short story. As a master of short stories, O. Henry was called the American Guy De Maupassant. Both authors wrote twist endings, but O. Henry’s stories were much more playful and optimistic（Wu, 66）. Because of his rich experience of life and his own special style, his works were full of the beauty of human nature and the human interests. These short stories mainly showed his writing style that concentrated on caring about the common people, and describing the delicate feelings of them. O. Henry’s short stories, there were consensus that O. Henry’s works were generally branded with the twist ending.

This thesis aims at researching the ending feature of O. Henry’s short stories. O. Henry was famous for his twist ending, and many of his short stories fell into a formula. He combined humour and pathos with an ironic twist of plot. O. Henry’s style of humour, irony and twist ending were surprisingly reasonable. This was the famous O. Henry ending. His stories were exquisite layout, unique style. Though he portrayed the common people, the plots and depiction were attractive. Most of O. Henry’s stories were set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century. Although some critics were not so enthusiastic about his formulatic way of writing, the public loved his entertaining tales and uncomplicated characters. They gave O. Henry a high reputation in the history of American literature. So, O. Henry’s stories maintained a respectable place among the reading public, and had translated into nearly a hundred foreign languages.

This paper consists of three chapters to analyse ending feature of O. Henry’s short stories. The chapter one supplys the classification of ending. It includes three types: comic ending, tragic ending and twist ending. Through them we could understand his special article feature better. The chapter two discusses the ending feature of his short stories in detail. That is the twist ending, about its definition and function. The chapter three is the key part. It elaborates the twist ending, exemplified by The Cop and the Anthem, The Last Leaf, and A Service of Love.

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Chapter One Classification of the Ending

The ending of an article had long been considered as a conclusion or just a summary of the whole passage (Liu, 25-26). Many writers have followed this principle. In the ending they restate the main idea, summarize the main points, show a result, or put the most important point last. According to the endings of main characters in the articles, the ending could be divided into three types: comic ending, tragic ending and twist ending.

1.1 The Comic Ending

Most articles use the comic ending. Comic ending, is also called happy ending. It is popular for the reader. Because the characters reader likes finally acquire happiness. A comic ending requires that the main characters would be all right, even though other characters could die. But as long as the main character survive, it is still a happy ending. After the conclusion, it is found that the life of the good character would be filled with happiness and that any unpleasantness they encounters would be negligible. It is the obvious feature of the comic ending. Comic ending aims at supplying reader a bright future. And through it, the theme is sublimated. An example was the ending in Jane Eyre, which is a famous novel. Jane Eyre, she was a strong, brave and independent girl. Reader liked her very much and hoped her to have a happy ending. The novel told that Jane loved Mr. Rochester, and decided to get married with him. When she found he had a mad wife, she left him decisively. Because she could not be his mistress! But what was the ending? She couldn’t help missing him so she came back. The manor was buried and the mad Mrs. Rochester died. As reader’s intension, Jane and Mr. Rochestr got together at last. The comic ending, make reader feel a harmonious and delighted world.

1.2 The Tragic Ending

On the contrary, the tragic ending creates a sad scene and it make reader glum, such as the ending in Dream of the Read Chamber. Daiyu and Baoyu loved each other when they were young. Due to the feudal ethical code, Baoyu married another girl and then disappeared. Daiyu, the lonely and sentimental girl died desperately when Baoyu married. Aftertaste almost everybody sympathized with the poor lovers. At the beginning, reader poured love to them because of their pure love. Even though reader wanted their happy ending, from the previous

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文

parts reader could still predict their tragic destiny. Through the tragic ending, theme that the feudal ethical code and hierarchy were rotten and harmful was sublimated. The tragic ending is always full of tears, so reader could feel the theme deeply.

1.3 The Twist Ending

When it came to the latter times, many authors had tried another ways of composing the articles. They considered the ending as a way to elevate the artistic thought. The twist ending was the new type. Guy De Maupassant, was a famous French writer. He created it in his Necklace. But the most famous writer using the technique may be O. Henry. So the next chapter would discuss the twist ending in detail.

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Chapter Two The Ending Feature of O. Henry’s Short Stories

O. Henry and Guy De Maupassant both employed the twist ending, but the former used it more attractive and successful.

2.1 Definition of the Twist Ending

O. Henry deliberately designed the little tricks with words, for he was a master of language and not its slave. O. Henry may be the most famous writer for his successful ending technique—the twist ending. The typical feature of O. Henry’s stories was a twist of plot, which turned on an ironic or coincidental circumstance (Pu, 2007: 56-57). His ultimate achievement was to create the twist ending by the plot making and compact structure. He arranged a story moving in one direction, and just when the reader was going to be convinced of the general direction of the narrative, which he took for granted, the story was completely reversed.

The so-called twist ending (or sometimes the O.Henry ending) meant at the end of an article the mental status or the fate of the character had changed greatly, and also this change was based on certain reasons had mentioned in the previous article (Porter, 63). But the whole passage was suddenly endowed with a great charm, because the sudden change caused a long and deep consideration of the situation or problem the article had revealed. This kind of ending was often seen in the O. Henry’s articles and also the most successful ones were in O. Henry’s articles.

2.2 Function of the Twist Ending

In his stories, O. Henry tried to provid a true picture of American life. He couldn’t ignore the indispensable part of the reality: the common people’s belief in the American dream. They held tightly to the idea that America was a big arena where everybody could fight for success on the square and everybody could win victory as long as he had enough courage and competence. O. Henry was very familiar with common people’s life style. He drifted through several occupations: a bookkeeper, a drugstore clerk, a Texas ranger, an accountant, a draftsman, a bank teller and a newspaper columnist. He had experienced many failures and frustrations. He was even indicted on a charge of embezzling funds and was thrown into prison (Jonathan Freedman, 78-79). His experience made him understand the black and indifferent world clearly. He sympathized the low-class people. So in his works, except making satire on the society he always praised the little people. And from the twist ending, the theme was more distinct. When you read

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文 O. Henry’s short stories, you would had a feeling that half was relaxing, half in haste. For relaxing, because his stories were not heavy, just common life; for in haste, in that you were in hurry to know the truth. There was the charm of twist ending.

O. Henry, a great designer, was skillful enough to dye some color of pink in a tragedy, or kind of sadness in comedy. O. Henry’s stories were humorous encyclopedia of American life. This meant that this work was full of various humors, sometimes even with exaggeration. It fully disclosed the essence of American society: the weak were the prey of the strong, which was regarded as the law of the jungle universally. Right and wrong were confused, good and evil were disordered; Materialism and individualism dominated people’s mind. This writing technique made his work enjoy the fame of “Smile with Tears”. However, to illustrate the theme, O. Henry perfectly combined humour and twist ending.

In The Cop and the Anthem, Soapy unfortunately tried every means to make trouble in order to be arrested by the police to be sent to “the island”. He failed to cause the attention of the policemen because “they seemed to regard him as a king who could not do wrong.”,“On his bench in Madison Square, Soapy moves uneasily, when wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husband. When Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.” (O. Henry, 2001: 203). The examples could be found throughout the story. These sentences talked very delightly and casually to make the story appear to be a comedy. But meanwhile, readers could also feel the sadness and helplessness of the hero Soapy. Readers were seduced by humor language and stories plots step by step, but finally cannot help laughing, but with pitiful tears.

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文

Chapter Three An Analysis on the Ending of O. Henry’s Short

Stories

In almost every O. Henry’s short stories, it could find twist ending. Like The Furnished Room , a young couple cheated each other to find jobs so the other could have further study. The twist ending let reader feel the poor’s deep and moved love. Then the paper would analyse the twist ending on O. Henry’s three short stories.

3.1 The Cop and the Anthem

An another example for his twist ending, The Cop and the Anthem. This was a really funny story. The main character, Soapy was prepared for the coming winter—to get into the prison, because the prison could supply his free bed and meals which would gave his a “warm winter”. So he did many funny things in order to be arrested by policemen. When every trial failed, he was moved by the anthem of the church. Soapy had realized how foolish he was and decided to live a new life, but the fact deprived his right. Not until the anthem was finished, was he “hopefully” arrested for doing nothing.

O. Henry’s twist ending not only lied in the ending, but in every scene of the story. In The Cop and the Anthem, the “modest and pleasing, refined and elegant” lady finally turned out to be streetwalker. The well-dressed man finally turned out to be a thief. The so-called well-dressed “gentleman” existed everywhere in the world, but most of their dirty behaviors were disguised just under the noble veil. We saw from here that a person always did another things to cover his or her real attainment (Zhang, 13-14). As commentary on the follies, frailties, ambitious, and attainments of human nature, they could hardly be called trenchant, but their exposure in such a variety of forms was another testament of O. Henry’s artistry.

Increasing industrialization and mechanization of the country, now in full swing after the war, soon produced extremes of wealth and poverty. The spirit of reliance that Emerson had preached became perverted into admiration for driving ambition, a lust for money and power. Disillusionment and frustration were widely felt. What had been expected to be a “Golden Age” turned out to be a “Gilded ” one. It was not the common people’s world.

A “guilty” person was regarded “innocence”; a person who wanted to be good was

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文

arrested in prison. Two ridiculous circumstances indicated the very essence of the capitalist society. It was inevitable that the protagonist who lived in that society had the woeful ending. The clever plot arrangements, fully showed the theme of the novel. The ending kept us thinking about the whole society and Soapy. What made the story so successful was the ending. The sudden twist not only gave the readers a sudden fall, but also let us think a lot (Wang, 2001: 11).

3.2 The Last Leaf

The Last Leaf was also O. Henry’s masterpiece. A young girl, named Sue, decided that she would die when the last leaf dropped from a dying vine outside her window, as lingering pneumonia slowly took her life away. Her neighbor, Mr. Behrman, was an elderly artist frustrated by his inability to paint what was in his heart. In an attempt to save the young girl, he created the masterpiece he had been struggling to paint. The ending revealed that Mr. Behrman, the kind old artist died at previous night by pneumonia, since he was painting the leaf on an outdoor vine in the storming night—in his efforts to restore Sue’s will to live. The last leaf not only enlightened the girl’s courage for better life, but also moved every reader to tears. It was a beautiful and moving story. This excellent short story was my favourite adaptation of O. Henry’s short stories.

His novel’s plots developed fast. At the end of the article, suddenly people’s psychology changed unexpectedly but reasonably, in line with the reality of life. Though the touching ending made us absorbed in sadness, and the readers could still find gleams of hope and desire out of despair. Those glittering human virtues, told us that life was supreme and thus upgraded the theme. The end of the novel suddenly reversed but reasonably. The author didnot positively describe Behrman’s drawing the ivy leaf, at the end with Hugh’s words told the truth. Let us read it again:

And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a

very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her,

pillows and all. “I have something to tell you, white mouse,” she said. “Mr.

Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. He was ill only two days. The

janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with

pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn’t imagine

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文

where he had been on such a dreadful night. And then they found a lantern, still

lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered

brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colours mixed on it, and—look out the

window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn’t you wonder why it never

fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it’s Behrman’s

masterpiece—he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.” (O. Henry, 2001:

205-206).

A mystery was unveiled and the story reached its climax. The climax implicated the ending, the novel abruptly stopped here. The author always went in lightly, neither ups and downs nor shortens, everything in reason, then told a story to readers slowly and quietly. But the end exposed hints, which made readers suddenly comprehend. Because before it we couldn’t see any clues that old painter painted leaf. We couldn’t help thinking if the last leaf fell down, weather her life would end or not. But it was surprising! The ivy leaf—an edge tinted with the yellow leaf, still long branched in the cane. What was the leaf? What was the strength that made it miraculously never fall? He saved a life and created a miracle. The twist ending revealed the art of potential miracle. The final piece of ivy leaf was fully reflected this twist ending. That also resulted in an unique artistic charm. Aftertaste we could see old Behrman was the real protagonist and the spirit of the novel throughout（Wang, 2004: 98-100 ）.

3.3 A Service of Love

A Service of Love, like the The Gift of the Magi, told about a couple, Joe and Delia. They left for London to pursue advanced study about art. But the poor life situation compelled them to find works so that they could afford the daily life. Delia found a job to be a tutor. So every week she brought Joe money and they would have a rich dinner. Someday Joe told Delia that a businessman bought his painting with high price. Until one-day Delia’s hand was burned with a smoothing-iron, did they find out the reality. She told his husband she was cheated him. She was not some tutor but worked in a laundry for two weeks as a weaver and today she scalded his hand. At that time, Joe also said that there was never a businessman brought his paintings. He worked and his workplace was beside her factory! They cheated each other so that one of them could win the opportunity to realize his or her dream. The twist ending appeared again.

O. Henry input the comment to an inside view, which was conveyed by the conversation

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文 between Joe and Delia: “When one loves one’s art no service seen—just when one loves” (Zhang, 58-59). The theme was straightly revealed from the beginning and restated by to the end. O. Henry praised for the pure love between Joe and Delia. They both sacrificed their time and chanced to earn enough money to support their spouse. The author arranged the entire plot just to get the readers to wait, to cause an suspense, the pleasurable excitement and anticipation of the outcome. And then the author gave the answer to the question. O. Henry ended the story artfully, and with deft touches he elicited the reader’s admiration and sympathy for his young couple. They showed love for each other more than compensates for shortage of money and material possessions. Though confronted with cruel reality and dull daily routine, Delia and Joe could never change their eagerness toward love. To them the most valuable material possession was so slight and insignificant before the spiritual possession of love romance. That was sparkling with fragrant charm. The characters that rarely could see were the author cherished things, the beautiful humanity. And by the twist ending, people felt it deeply.

This kind of twist ending eulogized of the love between ordinary people. The art was also a kind hearted, hardworking and perseverance. After all, in the world of O. Henry, American society still had charm, not become vicious. By and large, through the portrayal the panorama of people either of upper class or lower class, O. Henry’s eulogized the specious and precious human virtues. The virtues of the character was reflected from the twist ending.

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许昌学院本科生毕业论文

Conclusion

As one of the three greatest short-story masters in the world, O. Henry enjoyed equivalent literary status with Chekhov in Russia and Maupassant in France.

In his legendary life, he spread most parts of the America, from the village to the metropolis, nearly experienced all of the joyful and the misery in the world, witnessed people’s living condition at various social levels, and extremely paid attention to the lower civilian’s living condition. It could be said that, these life circumstances had embodied O. Henry’s character and spirits as a writer.

In his works we appreciated his unique language features, such as humour, irony. They made the stories attractive. But the significant feature of O. Henry’s works was the twist ending. As a critist said “He still emerges, by his huge achivements and the immense popularity of his particular method, as an astonoshingly persistent influence on the short story of almost every decade since his day” (Pu, 2007: 56-57). This was a world where the fittest survived, the lower class still had its code of ethics. The poor and humble pretended to be the noble and derived pleasure. His twist ending gave a lively revelation of the American society that time. In O. Henry’s works, the events of some short stories were arranged in the specfic order of occurrence, which made the ending unpredictable and strange. As soon as the highlight came, the story ended without any redundant explanations. Twist ending also created “smile with tears”. O. Henry, a great designer, was skillful enough to dye some color of pink in a tragedy, or kind of sadness in comedy.

After all, O. Henry used the twist ending to praised the low class people and encouraged them to pursue good life though the condition was hard. Twist ending fully showed the author’s writing purposes.

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Work Cited

2000:78-79 [4] 朴丽莉.“浅析欧·亨利的幽默写作风格”. 中国西部科技. （8）2007: 56-57

[5] 刘蕾蕾. “欧·亨利The Gift of the Magi一文中的修辞格”. 河北理工大学学报. （4）2005: 25-26

[6 王琳. “论欧·亨利短篇小说的叙述艺术”. . （7）2004: 11

[7] 张明洋. “欧亨利短篇小说的主题思想和语言特点”. . （3）2002：58-59

[8] 王秋艳. “《最后一片藤叶》中的道德建构”. （5） 2001: 98-100

[9] 吴彩亚. “从《项链》浅析意外的结局”. （4）1998: 66

[10] 张丽红. “从欧美的社会对比来看《警察与赞美诗》”. （8）2006: 13-14

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