Unit One The Middle Eastern Bazaar

Introduction

• This article is taken from the third book of Advanced Comprehension and Appreciation Pieces for Overseas Students which was published in 1962.

• This article is intended for students in the top class of secondary schools or in the first year of a university.

Can you name some of the Middle Eastern Countries?

The Middle East

Middle East Map

Background Information The Middle East

• countries

• the oil reserve

• population

• religion

The Middle Eastern Bazaar

Detailed Study• gothic

A style of building in Western Europe

between the 12th and 16th centuries, with pointed arches, arched roofs, tall thin pillars and stained glass window.

Gothic Architecture Milan Cathedral

Gothic Architecture• Westminster

Gothic Architecture Notre-Dame de Paris

Gothic Arch

Gothic Arch

Detailed Study• The one I am...brick and stone.• Gateway:an opening in a wall that can be closed b

y a gate.

• Aged: very old, having existed long.

• Paraphrase:the particular market now I still remember is a market where the entrance was made of very old bricks and stones. And the gateway is built in a gothic way.

Detailed Study• you pass from....dark cavern • Rhetorical device: antithesis: 对比修辞 • contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrange

ments of words, clauses, or sentences.

The heat is contrasted with cool, the glare with dark, open square with cavern.

Detailed Study• Glare: a very bright, unpleasant light

the glare of the sun

in the glare of the car's headlights.

Synonyms:

blaze,flame,flare,glow,glare,flash,glitter,

twinkle,light

Detailed Study• paraphrase:

In front of the gateway there is a big open

square. It is hot there and the brightness of the

sunlight is most disagreeable. but when you

enter the gateway, you come to a long, narrow,

dark street with some sort of a roof over it and

it is cool inside.

Detailed Study• as far as the eye can see to the HORIZON (= where the sky meets the land or s

ea) The bleak moorland stretched on all sides as f

ar as the eye could see.

Shadowy:difficult to see because there is not much light

Shadowy suggests shifting illumination and indistinct vision.

Detailed Study• Little donkeys...leaving the bazaar.• Thread one's way:• you move through a place carefully or slowly,

changing direction frequently as you move.• Slowly she threaded her way back through the

moving mass of bodies...• She came towards me, threading her way throu

gh the crowd.

Detailed Study• throng: a large crowd of people.

He was met by a throng of journalists and photographers.

throngs:a strong implication of movement and of pushing

crowd: a stronger implication of density

Detailed StudyThe roadway is about...conceivable kind are sold.narrowto become or make something narrower:His eyes narrowed for a moment.

goods of every conceivable kind: goods of every kind you can think of people of every conceivable age/nationalitybuildings of every conceivable shape

Paraphrase: The small shops lining the street try to expand their shop space by encroaching on the street, so the street becomes narrow every few yards

Detailed Study• din: loud, confused noise that continuesThe children were making an awful din. DIN is followed by three "of " phrases would-be: likely, possibleParaphrase: Owners of the stands cry their

goods loudly, boys riding donkeys and porters carrying luggage about vigorously to clear a way for themselves, customers argue and bargain. All these noises combine together and continue endlessly to make you dizzy.

Cloth-Market

Cloth-market

• Then as you penetrate...muted cloth-market.• Penetrate into/through: go into or through.

PENETRATE here is used vividly, it shows that

people have to pass through a big crowd in order

to go deeper in to the bazaar.

fade away:go slowly out of hearing, disappear

gradually

paraphrase: Then as you go deeper into the market, the noise of the entrance gradually disappear and you come to the silent cloth-market.

Detailed Study

Detailed Study• The earthen floor...sounds to echo.• Earthen: made of earth• deaden: to make a sound less loud

Synonym: DULL

earthen: n.+-en=adj

deaden: adj.=-en=v.

beaten hard by countless feet: flattened by treading;which becomes flat and hard because it is much traveled.

Detailed Study

• The shopkeepers speaks in slow...follow suit.measured: steady, slow and deliberatesepulchral: serious or sad and rather frightening.follow suitto do the same thing as someone else:When one airline reduces its prices, the rest soonfollow suit. paraphrase: The buyers overcome by the grave-like atmosphere speak in slow, measured tones.

Detailed Study

One of the peculiarities...persecution.

Peculiarity:a strange or unusual feature or habit which only belongs to one person or thing

He was strongly attracted by her peculiarities of dress and behaviour.

SYNONYM

quality,property,feature,characteristic,peculiarity

trait,attribute,character

Detailed Studyscatter: to cause to separate and go in different

directionsspread: to distribute over a surface in a layer.Closely knit: closely connected closely-knit family closely-knit classguild:an organization of people who do the same job or have the same interests. 　The seller do not scatter themselves but gather together to avoid competition, what is that competition?

Detailed Study

• persecution: to treat someone cruelly or unfairly over a period of time, especially because of their religious or political beliefs 　

The Puritans took the Mayflower and left England to escape religious persecution

• Where does the injustice and persecution come from? Can you make a guess?

Detailed STudy

Paraphrase:

in order to avoid price competition in Middle Eastern bazaar, shopkeepers selling the same kind of goods come together in the same area instead of scattering in different places, as a result, the buyers could easily find them and the sellers could form a closely connected association against injustice and persecution.

• Each open-fronted shop...for storage.• open-fronted shop: the goods are displayed at

the front of the shop, without any window or doorway blocking the view.

• a trestle table:table supported on trestles

Detailed Study

Detailed Study

• display: to show or exhibit, to make visible

SYNONYM:

show,exhibit,display,manifest,demonstrate

each openfronted shop havinghaving a trestle table for display and

shelves for storage .

Absolute Construction

Detailed Study• Bargaining is the order of the day

the order of the day

If a particular way of behaving or doing something is the order of the day, it is very common.

Cooperation and mutual help between factories has become the order of the day.

Detailed Study

• Veiled women...beating the price down.

veiled women: According to Koran, it is a very evil temptation for women to wear clothes that could exhibit their beauty and curves. All the decorations they wear are for their husbands. Wearing veil and robes is a sign of purity and chastity

Veiled Women

Detailed Study

• price: to ask the price of sth

• Narrow down: to reduce the number of possibilities or choices:

• Beat down: beat sb/sth down (to sth) persuade (the seller) to reduce (the price of sth) He wanted 800 for the car but I beat him down (to 60

0).

Detailed Study

• It is a point of honour...the last moment• a point of honor sth that is very important to your honour• Another similar collocation is a point of consc

ience : a matter of conscience (=something that you m

ust make a moral judgment about) .• What it is she really likes and wants it is is i

nserted here to emphasize what on earth she really likes and wants.

Detailed Study• Paraphrase:

The customer will not let the shopkeeper guess what she is interested in and really wants to buy until she has made up her mind. it is a matter of honor, otherwise, she would feel ashamed.

Detailed Study

• The sell, on the other hand... the customer.• protesting=insisting affirming strongly.• make a point of doing sth

You do sth deliberately because you think it is very important and necessary.

I always make a point of checking that all the windows are shut before I go out.

I always make a point of being early.

Detailed Study

• paraphrase:

The seller thinks it is necessary for him to declare that the price he is asking makes it impossible for him to gain any profit.

He is selling the thing as less than its cost because he respects the customer.

Detailed Study

• One of the most...copper-smiths' market.

picturesque: striking, vivid.

smith :someone whose job is to make and repair metal objects

Copper-smith black-smith gold-smith

silver-smith tin-smith

Copper-smiths'market

Copper-smiths'market

Detailed Study• As you approach it...on your ears.• tinkling: a succession of light, ringing sounds• banging:hitting violently, making a loud noise.• clashing:making a loud, broken,confused noise.

tinkling banging clashing =onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia

combination of sounds in a word that imitates or

suggests what the word refers to eg. hiss, cuckoo,

thud （ hiss cuckoo thud﹑ ﹑ ）

Detailed Study It grows louder...lamps and braziers.• Round :go round (sth) we rounded the corner at high speed. • dancing flashes: quick bright lights moving up and d

own.• catch the light of: reflect the light of.• Paraphrase: as you go nearer, the noise becomes lou

der and clearer. When you go around a corner, it seems as if in front of you there is a fairyland with bright lights from the lamps and braziers moving up and down when they are reflected by the polished copper.

• rhetorical device: metaphor personification.

Detailed Study In each shop sit....hammer himself.• hammer: hit or beat (sth) with a hammer or as if with

a hammer

I could hear him hammering (away) in the house next door.

Away:used after verbs to say that sth is done continuously or with a lot of energy:

She was still writing away furiously when the bell went.

instruct: SYNONYM

teach,instruct,educate,coach,train,tutor

Take a hand in sth: play a part in sth participate

Detailed Study

• Paraphrase:

There are some apprentices sitting in each shop. They are boys and youths, some of them are so young that you can not believe that they can work there. They strike the copper utensils which are of different shapes and sizes with hammers in their hands. The shop-owner gives instructions and sometimes takes part in the hammering.

Detailed Study In the background...the bellows.• In the background: at the back of the room• big, bellows, big, blows, big, burning, bright• rhetorical device: alliteration• live: burning, glowing• red: red light• to: along with.• Paraphrase: At the back of the room, a little boy ties

a big leather bellows to his big toe with a string and thus fans a big charcoal fire. The burning coals rhythmically glow bright and dim according to the repeated movements of the bellows.

Detailed Study• Here you can find...strictly functional• intricate:something that has many small parts or details.

intricate patterns and motifs. ≠ simple

Strictly: Synonym: ABSOLUTELY

functional:practical and useful; with little or no decoration: Bathrooms don't have to be purely functional.

Paraphrase:

Here you can find beautiful pots and bowls with fine and complicated and traditional designs. You can also get simple household utensils for daily use, which are pleasant to look at but do not have any decorations on them and are strictly designed to serve useful purposes.

Detailed Study• Elsewhere...and yet harmonious.• profusion: plenty, great amount.• rich: deep, strong, beautiful.• bold: strongly marked, clearly formed.• • paraphrase: You have a whole variety of carpets wit

h vivid color, woven in different ways, having designs typical of different regions. some of the designs are clear-cut, well-marked and simple;while others are very complicated, showing all the details yet having the different parts combined in a pleasing and satisfactory arrangements.

Carpet Market

Carpet Market

Spice Market

The Food Market

The Dye Market

Detailed Study

• In the maze...which honey-comb this bazaar.• maze: a set of intricate windings.• in the maze-like streets.• A hell of a life:a hell-like life• A giant of a french officer: a guant-like french officer• honey-comb:n.→ v.• to fill with holes, cells, or cavities.• paraphrase: The streets that pierce the bazaar from a

ll directions and lead toward all directions cut the bazaar into small sections like the honeycomb.

Detailed Study

• every here and there...desert lie beside them• every here and there: every now and again.• Glimpse : a quick look at sth• Give a glimpse of sth: show sth for a very sh

ort time• disdainful :showing that you do not respect so

meone or something, because you think that they are not important or good enough 　

• SYNONYM:scornful, contemptuous

Detailed Study

• Mosque:n.a building in which Muslims worship

caravanserai:

hotel with a large open central area, used in the past in Eastern countries by groups of people and animals travelling together

Caravanserai

Mosque

Detailed Study

• paraphrase: No matter where you go, through each doorway, you may catch sight of a courtyard full of sunlight, perhaps in front of a mosque or a desert inn. there camels lie and chew their hay leisurely, as if they turn their noses up at the human matters.

• Rhetorical device: personification• the camels are considered very arrogant, hence

disdainfully chewing their hay, showing no interest in the activities going on around them.

Linseed and Linseed oil• Linseed Linseed oil

Detailed Study

Detaied Study• In this cavern are three massive stone wheel

s, each with a huge pole through its center as an axle.

• vast:suggests immensity of extent.• hugh:suggests immensity of bulk.

1:a____mass of earth2:a____expanse of the sky

3:a____leather bellows4:_____knowledge

Detailed Study

• Paraphrase: In the cavern-like room there are three enormous stone wheels and at the center of each wheel there is a pole as an axle around which the wheel moves.

Detailed Study• The pressing of...their stone wheels.• ramshackle: shaky, unsteady.• tower:to be very tall or large, usually in an impressive way:• We turned the corner and there was the cathedral, towering in

front of us.• dwarf: If one thing dwarfs another, it makes it seem small by

comparison:• The new skyscraper will dwarf all those near it.• apparatus: the machines, tools, and equipment needed for doi

ng something, especially something technical or scientific:• breathing apparatus an x-ray apparatus • dental apparatus laboratory apparatus

Detailed Study• dizzy height:so high that it makes people • have a kind of whirling sensation.•

sleepless pillow

reassuring hand

thoughtful silence

transferred epithet

Detailed Study• Ancient girders...used petrol can.• creak:if something creaks, especially somethi

ng wooden, it makes a high noise when it moves or when you put weight on it

• groan: sound like that caused by the movement of wood or metal parts heavily loaded.

• Rhetorical device: personification• ooze:flow slowly out of something through a s

mall opening

Detailed Study

• paraphrase: The whole apparatus is put into motion. when moving, the old and backward beams give harsh sound like that of an unoiled door-hinge and the deep sad sound one utters when in pain. The ropes are drawn tight, drops of oil flow slowly along a stone tunnel into a used petrol can and gradually grow into a thin line.

Detailed Study• Quickly the trickle...sighs of the camels.• glisten: to shine brightly, sparkle.• its creaks: "its"stands for the overhead apparatus or t

he beam • blend: to mix, to intermingle• paraphrase: More and more oil is extracted out of th

e linseed pulp and quickly there is a steady and large flow of oil. During the time, all kinds of sounds mix together, the beam creaks while it is pressed downward and stretched tight; the stone-wheels squeak and rumble as they crush the linseed into pulp; and the camels sometimes add to the noise grunts and sighs when they are doing their job.

Thank You !