A Father and a Son

江苏江阴市南菁高级中学 李现宝

Step 1感知·阅读导航

话题导入

这是一篇由美国作家Bob Greene所写的夹叙夹议的杂文。作者以一个旁观者的身份，讲述了一对黑人父子在周六的早晨以乘坐机场免费往返接送车为乐的故事。故事通过对父子的描写，展现出了一个对儿子充满着关爱，给予儿子恰当教育和适时陪伴的父亲的形象。同时，这与漠然、冰冷的环境和周围忙忙碌碌、毫无表情的乘客形成了鲜明的对比。这引发了作者对当今美国社会中存在的教育问题的思考和担忧。但作者在眼前快乐的父子身上找到了答案，即父母的关爱和陪伴，与财富、种族和社会地位都无关，这也就是Bob Greene想通过此文向读者传递的信息。全文549词，建议用时8分钟。

阅读立意

阅读时应达到以下三个目标：

1.通过对故事和作者观点的阅读和理解，深刻体会那对父子真正的快乐，及思考作者提出的社会问题的解决方法；

2.品读文本语言，分析作者的写作技巧，即通过对比的方式，凸显父子之间的快乐、幸福、爱和相互的陪伴；

3.批判性思维的运用。

词汇预热

1.terminal n.（火车、公共汽车、轮船客运或货物运输的）集散站；终点站

2.sterile adj.刻板的；无个性的；缺乏新意的

3.impersonal adj.没有人情味的；冷漠的;冷淡的

4.distinction n.差别；区别；对比

5.crane v.伸长（脖子）看；探头看

6.shuttle n.（定期往返于两地之间的）短程穿梭航班（班车/火车）

7.mock-exasperated假装恼怒或者不耐烦的

Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning,I caught one of those trains that take travelers from the mainterminalto their boarding gates.Free,sterileandimpersonal,the trains run back and forth all day long.Not many people consider them fun,but on this Saturday I heard laughter.

At the front of the first car—looking out the window at the track that lay ahead—were a man and his son.

We had just stopped to let off passengers,and the doors were closing again. “Here we go!Hold on to me tight!”the father said.The boy,about five years old,made sounds of sheer delight.

I know we're supposed to avoid making racial distinctions these days,so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most people on the train were white,dressed for business trips or vacations—and that the father and the son were black,dressed in clothes that were just about as inexpensive as you can buy.

“Look out there! ” the father said to his son.“See that pilot?I bet he's walking to his plane.”The soncraned his neck to look.

As I got off,I remembered something I'd wanted to buy in the terminal.I was early for my flight,so I decided to go back.

I did—and just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate,I saw that the man and his son had returned too.I realized then that they hadn't been heading for a flight,but had just been riding theshuttle.

“I want to ride some more!”

“More?” the father said,mock-exasperatedbut clearly pleased.“You're not tired?”

“This is fun!”his son said.

“All right,” the father replied,and when a door opened we all got on.

There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or Disneyland,and the children turn out rotten.There are parents who live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools,yet something goes wrong.Rich and poor,black and white,so much goes wrong so often.

“Where are all these people going,Daddy?”the son asked.

“All over the world,”came the reply.The other people in the airport were leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their journeys.The father and the son,though,were just riding this shuttle together,making it exciting,sharing each other's company.

So many troubles in this country—crime,the murderous soullessness that seems to be taking over the lives of many young people,the lowering of educational standards,the increase in vile（可恶的）obscenities（淫秽的语言）in public,and the disappearance of simple civility.So many questions about what to do.Here was a father who cared about spending the day with his son and who had come up with this plan on a Saturday morning.

The answer is so simple：parents who care enough to spend time,and to pay attention and to try their best.It doesn't cost a cent,yet it is the most valuable thing in the world.

The train picked up speed,and the father pointed something out,and the boy laughed again.

Step 2 实践·文本解读

立意呈现

I.Grasp the main idea

What does the writer try to tell us in the story?

A.Many parents do not know how to educate their children nowadays.

B.Racial discrimination is very common in America.

C.What children really need is parents'company,care and love.

D.There are so many problems in America remaining to be solved now.

Ⅱ.Understand the story and analyze the main characters.

Part 1：Introduction （Para.1～2）

Introduction

When（1）___________

Where（2）___________

Who（3）___________

What（4）___________

Part 2：Plots(comparison)（Para.3～14）

Part 3：Feelings （Para.15～17）

1.Comments/Suggestions on what a child needs badly

2.What can you learn about the father from the underlined sentences?

(1)“Here we go!Hold on to me tight! ” the father said.The boy,about five years old,made sounds of sheer delight.

(2)“Look out there!” the father said to his son.“See that pilot?I bet he's walking to his plane.”The son craned his neck to look.

(3)“More?” the father said,mock-exasperated but clearly pleased.“You're not tired?”

“This is fun!”his son said.

“All right,” the father replied.

【点石成金】作者通过对比的方式，让读者更加清晰和深刻地认识到了目前美国社会中普遍存在的问题。同时，作者通过文中父亲充满关爱的陪伴，告诉读者父母的关爱和陪伴是解决问题的最好方法。文章通过对父子之间对话的描写，凸显了一个体贴、有耐心、富有启发力，懂得陪伴和关爱的好父亲形象。

故事主题贯穿始终，不断强化；结构清晰完整，首尾呼应；思想层层深入，步步升华。

Step 3 运用·读写整合

Read this letter from a child and write a letter to his father,offering him some suggestions.(use the story above as an example)

Dear Dad,you're doing it all wrong

Dear Dad,

You're doing it all wrong.

Eleven years ago,the doctors handed you a little newborn baby.You were 26 years old,and you walked out of the hospital entirely responsible for a brand-new human being.A whole person.As if that were a totally wise thing to let you do.It scared you.They eventually handed you two more little people.It was supposed to get a little easier each time.

It didn't.

You never got less afraid.You never got more certain about how to be a dad.So you decided to make it up along the way.You can stop feeling bad about that—it's what everybody else is doing,too.The problem is,you improvised by listening to the voices in the world around you,instead of listening to the voice coming from the world within you.You can forgive yourself for that,too.The voices around you are loud and persuasive.

They told you achievement matters most.So you stressed about school districts and kindergarten homework and guitar performances.You secretly kept scores in your head at first grade soccer game.You thought scoring goals was the goal of life.

They told you good parents give their kids great experiences.So you turned yourself into an event planner and an amateur driver.You signed them up for camps,modeled extracrricular activities,and went to every possible program and event.You went to Legoland because you thought you had to.And then you wondered why the kids were tired and bad-tempered and unhappy.

They gave you technology and told you to give it to your kids.So you threw technology at the kids,because you didn't trust it would be enough to throw a ball with them.Yet,notice how they melt down when a device is taken away from them—they want more because it leaves them hungry for the thing they truly need.

…

Yours,

Son

【尝试写作】

Dear XXX,

After reading your son's letter you shared with me,

Yours,

XXX

【点石成金】《父与子》故事的引用，进一步加深了对文本和主旨的理解。在解决问题的过程中，进一步巩固了感知、理解和思考的内容，把所学知识运用到生活中具体问题的解决中，活学活用。

Step 4 提升·素养建构

批判性思维

1.What problems mentioned in the passage does America have?

2.What's wrong with the parents?

3.What kind of parents can you guess the children will be in the future?

4.If your parents were just like the other parents,who can't spare time to accompany you,what would you do?

拓展链接

Father and Son是英国民谣摇滚歌手Cat Stevens（凯特·斯蒂文斯）的经典温情之作，收录在个人第四张专辑Tea For The Tillerman（1970年）中。

歌曲意在表达年轻一辈跟老一辈因观念差距所衍生的代沟以及描绘父子之间难以割舍的亲情。歌曲曾被用于新西兰电信广告Keep in Touch中，讲述了父亲和孩子相处的整个过程，从儿时的蹒跚学步，到成年后把酒言欢，到最后只剩儿子一人的形单影只，这提醒人们出门在外，记得和家人保持联络。

歌曲还被用做2017年的美国电影Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2（《银河护卫队2》）插曲。