Reading Biblical idioms in English

The Bible is often described as "the greatest book ever written The Bible is often described as "the greatest book ever written." This is because of its unending significance and influence on people throughout the ages. No other book in history has impacted peoples and cultures like the Bible.

Many basic concepts and principles of Western culture have come down from the Bible. Many common English phrases and expressions have their origin in the Bible well. Even though it was written more than 2,000 years ago, the Bible continues to influence people today. Let’s enjoy a story in it.

The Obstacle In Our Path In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it.

Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.

Fast reading Scan the Internet article on page 50 quickly and find the answers to the Knowledge questions（细节复述型问题）which elicit factual answers and recognition of information, words, phrases or sentences in the passage as answers.

1. What is an idiom? An idiom is a group of words or an expression whose meaning often cannot be understood by looking at the meanings of the separate words in it. 2. Which languages was the Bible first written in? In Hebrew. 3. Which idiom is often used to describe children? Apple of their parents’ eye.

Careful reading Listen to the recording and follow, then read it carefully and answer the following questions in Part C1. These questions interpret some information in the passage, so finish them and try to improve the students’ ability to find specific information.

1. Why does the Bible have a lot of idioms? Because the Bible was first written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek, and many idioms are used in both of them. Because the Bible was translated into English hundreds of years ago, many Hebrew or Greek idioms have become part of the English language.

2. What did ‘by and by’ originally mean in the Bible? Immediately. 3. What does ‘by and by’ mean today? Before long. 4. How many years ago was the Bible translated into English? Hundreds of years ago.

5. What does ‘feet of clay’ mean? There is a hidden weakness in somebody whom we admire or respect. 6. Which animals are featured in the idioms in the articles? Bird and clay. 7. Which foods are included in the idioms in the article? Apple and salt.

8. How is studying idioms useful in language learning? You can improve your comprehension and develop a high level of competence skills.

Apply these idioms into practical usage. 1. Sarah’s grandmother adores her; Sarah is ______________________________. 2. Wilson was disappointed when he learnt that the coach had ___________. the apple of her grandmother’s eye feet of clay 3. She knew it might take a long time for her teammates to change their minds, but she believed that the new plan would work _________. by and by

4. The people in my village are very honest and hard-working; they are ____________________ 5. When my brother came back home from his trip to Europe, we ___________________ for him. 6. She would not say who told her about the surprise party. She just said, ‘_________________.’ the salt of the earth killed the fatted calf A little bird told me

Some Biblical idioms in English an eye for an eye 以眼还眼 as one man 一致地　 The teaching staff speak as one man on  this issue. 在这个问题上全体教员意见一致。 clean hands 廉洁、清白 He retired from office with clean hands. 他退休时两袖清风。　

doubting Thomas  指那些不肯轻易相信别人的人 He’s a real doubting Thomas he simply  wouldn’t believe I’d won the car until he saw it with his own eyes. 他是一个真正的怀疑主义者--在没有亲眼看到之前他就是不相信我赢得了那辆车。

Reading strategy: understanding analogies When trying to understand idiom, it is often helpful to consider the use of analogy, which is a particular type of comparison. Although analogy can be very hard to guess, clues can often be found in the context.

You should first look at the idiom and create an image in your mind. Then look at the context to find out the context to find out the analogy and the message.

Usage of reading strategy What do the phrases in red mean? 1. I took my mother’s car without asking for permission. She is angry at me. I am in hot water now! (in trouble) 2. Don’t tell anyone else that I am looking for a new job. Please keep it under your hat. (not tell anybody the secret)

3. We were not expecting to see Joan 3. We were not expecting to see Joan. When she suddenly arrived out of the blue, we were all surprised. (suddenly; unexpected)

Guess these new words from the context. 1. swift (Line20) vague (Line12) loose (Line 12) straightforward (Line 14) 5. underline (Line 15) not closely related not clearly understood or expressed easy to understand very quick show clearly that something is important or true, emphasize

6. translated (L9) 7. mended one’s ways (Line31) 8. impure (Line 40) 9. oral (Line 46) 10. thorough (Line 50) stopped behaving badly spoken not pure, unclean complete, including everything that is possible or necessary changed from one language into another language

Part E on page 53 Wang Gong wrote a short passage about idiom from the Bible, but part of the page is smudged. Read the passage and help him fill the blanks with the words from the box below.

Answers: group (2) idioms (3) translated (4) Greek before long (6) underline (7) concept (8) weakness (9) bird (10) hidden

Discussion What do you think about English idioms that come from the Bible? Do you know the origins of any Chinese idioms? What are they? Do you think understanding idioms is an important part of language learning? Why or why not?

Language points: 1. (Lines 1-2) An idiom is a group of words or an expression whose meaning often cannot be understood by looking at the meanings of the separate words in it. 1) separate here is used as an adjective with the meaning ‘each or individual (word in the group of words or the expression)’ or ‘ not together’.

e.g. The twins share one room, but they sleep in separate beds. Germany is one nation, but it used to be two separate countries for more than 30 years after World War Ⅱ.

2) separate can also be used as a verb, which means ‘to become apart’ or ‘to be not together’. e.g. It is extremely hard to separate two fighting oxen. The mountain range separates the two countries.

Have a try: As we joined the big crowd I got _____ from my friends. A. separated B. spared C. lost D. missed Students should always remember theory and should not at all be _____ from practice. divided B. stopped C. separated D. operated

2. (Lines 5-6) …, and unless you recognize when an idiom is being used, you can easily misunderstand what you read or hear spoken. The word unless is a conjunction, which means ‘ if not’ or ‘except if’ and is used to introduce an adverbial clause of condition.

e.g. Unless I’m mistaken, she was at work yesterday. You won’t get paid for time off unless you have a doctor’s note. _______ invited, you should keep silent. A. When B. If C. Unless D. Since

3. (Lines 33-35) For instance, children are often referred to as the ‘apple of their parents’ eye’, meaning that their parents love them very much and are very proud of them. 1) The preposition as is something used with the phrase refer to, which means ‘to call somebody as’. e.g. He is referred to as the naughtiest student in his class.

2) refer to ‘refer to sb/sth’ means to mention or speak about sb/sth e.g. I promised not to refer to the matter again. ‘refer to sb/sth’ means to describe or be connected to sb/sth. This paragraph refers to the events of last year.

‘refer to sb/sth’ means to look at sth or ask a person for information ‘refer to sb/sth’ means to look at sth or ask a person for information. You may refer to your note if you want. Have a try: The incident ____ took place last Monday. A. referred B. referring C. referred to D. referring to

Homework: 1. Read the article again. 2. Note the important knowledge in the text. 3. Do Part A1 and A 2 on page 124 in Workbook so they will have more chances to use some useful words and phrases leant in this section.