اللغة الأنجليزية -unit 17 للصف الثالث الثانوى 2016

Unit 17

Steinbeck : The Pearl 

Reading

A story of greed

Kino, a Mexican pearl diver, and his wife Juana live a happy life until, one morning,  their son Coyotito is stung by a scorpion. They take him to the local doctor, but he will not treat the boy because the family is too poor to pay. Juana treats the boy herself. That same day, Kino goes diving and finds an enormous pearl, which means he is now a wealthy man. However, when other people hear about the pearl, they plan to steal it. When the doctor hears about Kino’s pearl, he offers  to treat Coyotito, even though Juana’s treatment has already cured him. That night, someone tries to steal the pearl, so the next day Kino goes into town to sell it. The merchants say the pearl is not very valuable because it is too big. Kino knows this is a trick and so he decides to go to another town to sell the pearl. Juana tries to persuade Kino to throw it away because she believes it is evil and fears that it will destroy the family, but Kino refuses. He wants it to pay for his son’s education. On their way to the other town the family are followed by thieves who want the pearl.  Juana and Coyotito hide in a mountain cave, but Coyotito cries out. When the thieves hear this noise, they fire their guns at what they think is a wild animal, Kino attacks the thieves, but by now it is too late – Coyotito is dead. Deciding that the pearl is evil. Kino and Juana return to their home town and throw it into the sea

Tape Script

 Presenter: Good afternoon. The subject of todav’s programme is the American writer, John Steinbeck, whose book The Grapes of Wrath was one of the most famous novels of the twentieth century. To tell us more about John Steinbeck, we have in the studio an expert on literature, Dr Helen Carter. Dr Carter, welcome.

Dr Carter: Hello.

Presenter: I wonder if you could start by telling us something about John Steinbeck’s childhood and early life

Dr Carter: Certainly. John was born in California in 1902. His ancestors were from Europe: from Germany on his father’s side and Ireland on his mother’s. The name Steinbeck is German.

Presenter: What did his parents do? Were they a poor family?

Dr Carter: No, they weren’t. His father was a civil servant and his mother was a teacher. It was his mother who taught John to read and encouraged him to become a writer.

Presenter: What about his education?  Did he go to university?

Dr Carter: Yes, he did. After High School, he went to Stanford University to study English, but he left in 1925 without a degree and went to live in New York to try to become a writer.

Presenter: Did he succeed?

Dr Carter: Unfortunately not. His first three novels were not a success. He had to continue working in badly paid jobs. It was not until 1939 that he became famous, when The Grapes of Wrath won an influential prize.

Presenter: Can you explain why this novel was so successful?

Dr Carter: Well, it’s a great story. But it was also a novel in which Steinbeck wrote about the lives of poor working Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s. I think Steinbeck was respected for telling the truth about his country and for forcing people to think about the problems of the country’s poor.

Presenter: So did Steinbeck then become a celebrity?

Dr Carter: No, not at all. He was a very private person who hated publicity.

Presenter: Did he write any other important novels?

Dr Carter: Well, during the Second World War, he worked as a war correspondent for a New York newspaper, but he continued to write. In 1942, he wrote The Moon is Down, about the war in Europe, and in 1947, he wrote The Pearl, a short novel about a Mexican diver. Then in 1952, he wrote East of Eden, which Steinbeck himself thought was his best novel.

Presenter:  And did he continue to write?

Dr Carter: Yes, he did, and then in 1962 he won the Nobel prize for literature. He died in 1968.

Presenter:   Thank you so much, Dr Carter. That’s all we have time for today.

Dr Carter: Thank you

Language Notes