What does being a housewife mean?

江苏南菁高级中学 王 蓉

Step 1 感知·阅读导航

话 题 导 入

这篇文章的作者是Lizzy Acker，她是《俄勒冈报》的记者。 在美国俄勒冈州，一位叫Katrina Holte的女性辞职回家做家庭主妇，过起了50年代的复古生活。 本文是对这一现象发表的评论，在阅读过程中要注意识别作者的态度、观点，以及原因。读完文章，你是否同意作者的观点？如果你是Katrina Holte的话，你会愿意放弃你的学业或者工作回家做家庭主妇吗？

全文约683词，建议用时11分钟。

阅读目标

1.梳理文章结构，识别作者的观点、态度及理由。

2.通过分析和推断，体会作者的写作目的。

3.分析段落关联，品味语篇连贯。

4.剖析社会中存在的男女不平等现象，并找到解决方法。

阅读扫障

1.cosplay /kɒspleɪ/ v.角色扮演

2.kudos /'kjuːdɒs/ n.荣誉；威信

3.vintage/'vɪntɪdʒ/adj.（尤指过去某个时期）最佳的；最典型的；经典的

4.literally /'lɪtərəli/ adv.按字面；字面上

5.vinyl /'vaɪnl/ n.黑胶唱片

6.smother/'smʌðə（r）/v.（用某物）厚厚地覆盖

7.captive /'kæptɪv/ n.囚徒；俘虏

8.illusion /ɪ'luːʒn/ n.幻想

9.Stockholm Syndrome 斯德哥尔摩综合征（又称为人质情节， 指人质对绑匪产生情感依赖的一种心理状态）

10.gross /ɡrəʊs/ adj.令人不快的；令人恶心的

A story posted by the New York Post Monday tells the tale of Katrina Holte, a woman who quit her job tocosplaya 1950s housewife.

Let me start by sayingkudosto Katrina for using her 2019 freedoms to follow her 1950s dreams.Everyone should be so lucky as to get to decide what they wear and how they spend their time.That's the future our foremothers fought for.

But as much fun as I am sure she is having living avintagelife, whichliterallyincludes watching shows like I Love Lucy and listening tovinylrecordings, I think it's important to remember that being a 1950s housewife was actually totally awful, and something our grandmothers and mothers fought against.

For example, once I called my grandma and asked her for her recipe for Cloud Biscuits.She used to make these delicious biscuits which we wouldsmotherin butter and homemade raspberry jam on Thanksgiving.

“Why would you want that?” she said.“Go to the store.Go to the freezer section.Buy some pre-made biscuits and put them in the oven.”

She straight-up refused to give me the recipe, because it was hard and took a long time to make.In her mind, it was a waste of time.

Getting off the phone, it occurred to me that spending every day of your life serving a husband and five children wasn't fun at all.And then there are the grandchildren who eventually come along demanding Cloud Biscuits, a whole new expanded set of people to feed.

She was basically acaptiveto those hungry mouths, cooking scratch meals three times a day.When she wasn't trapped in the kitchen,she had to keep the house clean, make sure she looked good enough to be socially acceptable,and make sure her kids and husband looked good enough to be socially acceptable.And she had no days off.

I know my grandma loves her kids and her grandkids, as well as her husband and the life she led, but man, it must have been a lot of thankless, mindless labor.

No wonder everyone went all-in on processed foods when they came around.Imagine the nice break something like a microwave dinner would give a woman working, unpaid, for her family every single day?

I also had another grandma.She was a scholar who helped found the Center for the Study of Women in Society at University of Oregon.She was a pioneering second-wave feminist who wrote books, gave lectures and traveled the world.

But, she did all of that after divorcing my grandpa, when most of her kids were out of the house.

Back then, in the 1950s and the 1960s,there were noillusionsabout women “having it all”.How could that even possibly happen? If you were taking care of a family and waiting on your husband, you would have no time to follow your dreams, unless you made that your dream.

A lot of women took that approach.We callitStockholm Syndromenow.

And of course， these women I am talking about are/were upper-middle-class white women.Romanticizing the 1950s is especially gross when you think about how women of color and poor women were treated back then, and the lack of education and choices available to them.

Because the women in this country demanded something approaching equality, Katrina has the chance to live out her fantasy.Not every woman in America is so lucky.

We still don't have pay equity and in many states, we still don't have autonomy over our own bodies.Poor women and women of color still lack the opportunities of their wealthy and white peers.

And while it's getting better, women are still expected to be responsible for the emotional labor of running a household and raising the children.

But at least we can get jobs.At least we don't have to sew our own clothes, wear a full face of makeup every day and spend hours making Cloud Biscuits some ungrateful kid will gobble up, barely remembering to say thank you.

Step 2 理解·文本解读

Ⅰ.Understand the main idea.

1.What's the type of writing?

2.How many parts can this article be divided into? What's the main idea of each part?

（1）Para.1～3_______________________________________________________________________

（2）Para.4～12_____________________________________________________________________

（3）Para.13～18_____________________________________________________________________

（4）Para.19_______________________________________________________________________

Ⅱ.Sort out the author's opinion and supporting details.

1.What happened to Katrina Holte? Try to express it in your own words.

2.What's the author's attitude towards Katrina's behavior? What words show us the author's attitude?

3.What is the author's opinion about being a 1950s housewife? What's the evidence for her opinion in the text?

4.What might women's life in the 1950s and the 1960s be like based on the two grandmothers' life?

5.What does the author want to show by citing the examples of the two grandmothers?

6.What problems facing women are mentioned in the passage?

Ⅲ.Analyze the author's writing purpose and form your own opinion.

1.Why does the author write this article? Who might be the reader of the article?

2.What do you think of the author's writing? If you are asked to add something to make the article more thorough, what kind of contents do you want to add?

3.Do you support the author's opinion? Why?

【点石成金】通过设计不同层次的问题，引导学生思维由低阶向高阶发展。 展示型问题引导学生梳理文章框架和大意。 参阅型问题引导学生透过表层关注本质，识别作者的观点、以及寻找支持性细节。 评估型问题则引导学生关注作者的写作意图，训练学生推断、评价和质疑的能力，深化对主题意义的认识。

Step 3 运用·读写整合

Ⅰ.Supposing you were a supporter of Katrina Holte's behavior, what would you write down?

Ⅱ.What are the present problems facing Chinese females nowadays? What can we do to solve these problems? (Try to illustrate from different perspectives.)

【点石成金】此环节有两个输出任务。 第一个任务，通过角色带入，让学生提出不同的观点及论证理由，对原文内容进行补充；第二个任务旨在引导学生迁移创新，在学完本文之后关注中国社会存在的男女不平等现象，并提出解决措施。 通过这两个任务，学生能学会多角度、多层面分析问题，解决问题，并提升其思维品质。

Step 4 提升·素养建构

视野拓展

文学作品中女权主义的思想

不少文学作品中体现了女权主义的思想，诸如Gone with the Wind（飘）、Pride and Prejudice（傲慢与偏见）、Jane Eyre（简·爱）、Little Women（小妇人）、The Woman Warrior（女勇士）等。

《小妇人》 的作者路易莎·梅·奥尔科特是美国文学史上最突出的作家之一，她的观点与想法具有明显的女性主导倾向。通过《小妇人》，奥尔科特成功地展现了她的女性观：强调妇女的独立和与男性同等的地位。

小说中有不少涉及爱情、金钱、婚姻和育儿的一些观点，富有哲理，发人深省，下面我们一起来欣赏：

Work is wholesome, and there is plenty for everyone.It keeps us from ennui and mischief， is good for health and spirits， and gives us a sense of power and independence better than money or fashion.工作是有益健康的，每个人都可以做很多工作。 工作能让我们远离无聊和恶作剧，对身心大有裨益，给我们一种力量感和独立感，胜过金钱和时尚。

My dear girls， I am ambitious for you, but not to have you make a dash in the world—marry rich men merely because they are rich，or have splendid houses, which are not homes because love is wanting.Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for.I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace.我亲爱的女儿们，我对你们充满期待，但是我并不想你们在世界中跑得太快——仅仅因为金钱或豪华的大房子而嫁个有钱的男人。 这些豪华的大房子不能称之为家，因为其中缺少爱情。 钱是必需和珍贵的东西，如果好好使用，则是高贵的东西。 但我绝不想让你们把金钱视作生活第一或唯一珍贵的东西去付诸努力。如果你开心、被爱且满足，我宁愿你做个穷人家的妻子，而不愿你做个王座上的女王，却失去了自尊和安宁。

He does not let business wean him from the little cares and duties that affect us all, and I try not to let domestic worries destroy my interest in his pursuits.Each do our part alone in many things, but at home we work together, always.他不会让工作抽离他对我们的关心和责任， 我试着不要让家里的烦恼摧毁我对他的追求的兴趣。 我们在很多事情上各司其职，但在家里我们总是共同合作。

Don't neglect husband for children, don't shut him out of the nursery, but teach him how to help in it.His place is there as well as yours, and the children need him.Let him feel that he has a part to do, and he will do it gladly and faithfully, and it will be better for you all.不要因为孩子而忽略丈夫，也不要在照顾孩子方面把他拒之门外，而是要教他如何帮忙。他在照顾孩子方面的位置和你一样，况且孩子需要他。让他感觉到他有要做的一部分，他会高兴且忠诚地去履行它，这样对你们都有益。