1、英语短篇小说教程英语短篇小说教程Short Stories in English:A Reading Course虞建华 编写Unit FiveThe Story and the PlotReading:“The Taste”by Roald Dahl The Story and The Plot:E.M.Forster,a famous English writer,vividly explains the difference between story and plot,saying that“The king died and then the queen died”is a stor
2、y;while“The king died and then the queen died of grief”is a plot.The Story and The Plot:lA story is a narrative following a series of happenings in time order.lA plot,also a narrative,has the emphasis falling on causality(因果关系).lTime sequence characterizes both the story and the plot,while the sense
3、 of causality overshadows the plot alone.lThe story,then,is the hypothetical“raw material”of events which we reconstruct from the finished blueprint of the plot.The Story and The Plot:A story provides an answer to“What then?”(ordering);lA plot provides an answer to“Why so?”(causality).The Plot:Plot
4、is an artificial rather than a natural ordering of events.Its function is to simplify life by imposing order thereon.It would not be possible to recite all incidents,all events,all thoughts passing through the minds of one or more characters during a period.The demands of plot stipulate that the aut
5、hor select from this welter of events and reflection those items that have a certain unity,that point to a certain end.(Hugh Holman&William Hrmon,A Handbook to Literature)Plotting:*Thus,plotting is the process of converting story into plot,of changing chronological arrangement of incidents into a ca
6、usal and inevitable arrangement.*Plotting is done through the authors method of selection,deletion,concentration and reorganization of the materials for a desired purpose.The plotting of a story usually contains:the beginning(called exposition),the development(called complication),the heightening(ca
7、lled climax);the ending(called resolution).The conflicts may occur:lbetween opposing forces;lbetween the protagonist and antagonist;lbetween different points of view;lbetween two moral choices.A conflict can either be:lexternal(physical confrontation);orlinternal(moral,psychological,or spiritual str
8、uggle);very often,external conflicts are merely projections of internal conflicts.The open ending:In some stories nothing is ever resolved at the end.This kind of non-solution is called an open ending.In an open ending,readers are not told what the protagonist will do or what will happen next.This u
9、ncertainty,on one hand,mirrors the complexity of life in which neat resolution rarely occurs;on the other hand,it leaves more room for readers imagination.The Story :Roald Dahl The TasteReading Tips:You may have heard stories like this:someone can have a look and a taste of some tea and tell what ki
10、nd of tea it is and where it is produced.Others can sip and smell the wine to know the producer and the vintage（酒的年份）.This is a short story of such a person who was believed to be an expert with this kind of unusual talent.The story follows the established plot pattern:the exposition is simple and c
11、lear;the complication is slow and detailed;the climax is sudden and explosive,and the resolution is short and to-the-point.You will find quite a lot of special terminology about wine,wine making and wine makers in the text,but you can ignore them and go on with the story without being much affected.
12、Questions for Discussion:lCan you explain the writers plotting-which part is the exposition,or complication,or climax,or resolution of this short story?lThe narrator seems to be rather suspicious of Pratts motive.Can you find the places in the story where he shows his suspicion and underline them?lC
13、an you say a few words about each of the three members of the Schofield family?Write down your impression on a piece of paper and read out what you have written to the class.lThe ending of the story is unexpected but significant.What does it reveal to you about the two characters,the humble maid and the wealthy and“highly cultured”Richard Pratt?
