Unit 6 The Green Banana

1.About the author and text

This text is taken from Beyond Experience: An Experimental Approach to Cross-culture Education edited Donald Bechelder and Elizabeth G.Warner in 1974. When the second editon of the book was published in 1993, Bechelder explained his view on cross-culture education: If some the goals of education in modern times are too open up possibilities for discovery and expand learning and chance for mutual acceptance and recognition in a wider world, it may be important to offer students a perspective on their own immediate center of the world by enabling to participate sensitively as cross-culture sojourners to the center of someone else’s world.

2.Writing characteristics

Short story →plot: “I” in Brazilian village Setting: a village in Brazil

Protagonist: I, the villagers

On a mountain road in Brazil, the author’s car had a mechanical trouble, and it was far away from the

nearest garage. The local people assured him they could fix the car with green bananas. When someone fetched the green bananas, one of the local people told him that one particular tall, slender pinnacle of dark rock was the center of the world, which gave a great shock to the author. One moment later, one man fixed the car with the green bananas. The author was given another shock. He never paid attention to the green bananas, only regarding it as an unripe fruit. The encounter showed him the special genius of those people and the special potential of the green bananas.

He realized every place has a special meaning for the people living there; every place represents the center of the world. The cultures of the world are full of unexpected green bananas with special value and meaning.

Use of symbolism: The green bananas are first used as something to stop the leak of jeep temporarily and then as a symbol of treasures of civilization. The author believed that every nation has good things to offer to the rest of the world. We should reject ethnocentrism

(民族优越感)and adopt cultural relativism（文化相对主义）

3. Theme

⑴We should respect all civilizations in the world ⑵Wisdoms are to be discovered with an open mind to other cultures

⑶Each culture has hidden treasures to offer to the rest of the world

第二篇：A reading report on A good heart to lean on 善心可依读后感

泛读 读后感 11实用翻译创新1班 姚天天 114175336

A reading report on A good heart to lean on

Recently, I read an article called A good heart to lean on. It is a well-done article because the author, from the essay, let me see a sincere love of him toward his father. The author describes his changes during his growth. At first, he thinks it embarrassed to walk with his father. But when he grows up, he feels regretful to do things like this to his own father. Whatever he says or does to his father, the latter is so kind that he choose to ignore or forgive what his son has done, to his only son. And the author says that his father goes to work almost everyday without a day off, even when it is rainy or snowy. But he never complains or envy what others have. He does what his son does. Although he can not do as a young man does, but he tries his best. At first, I can’t understand. Why does an old man have to do this? But finally, I got it. That’s because he loves his job; he loves his son; he loves to live. He has a good heart to lean on! And actually he has influenced his son so deeply. The author later also knows the good quality of his father. He tries to do as his father did in the past. He tries not to complain his life and envy what others have. He is a good son and I believe he also has a good heart to lean on!