Text Analysis

1.Theme

The natural disaster, the volcanic eruption destroyed Pompeii more than 2,000 years ago, but now the buried city is returned to us almost intact.

2.Structure

1)Part 1 (Paras. 1-7): A brief account of Pompeii before and after the eruption of AD 79.

2)Part 2 (Paras.8-20): A recount of what happened on the day of the eruption.

3.Questions

1)What was Pompeii like before it was destroyed? How do you account for its prosperity?

2)When exactly did the terrible event take place? How does the author describe the city and the people before the eruption? What were they doing?

3)Did the people of Pompeii know what was happening when they heard the terrible explosion from Mount Vesuvius? What did they think it was?

4)The deadly shower of stones and ash went into the second day. It never stopped, but the author said that it did not matter to Pompeii whether it continued another day or another year. Why did he say that?

4.Further Discussion

●Why do people write about such terrible natural disasters? Aren’t these gruesome stories better forgotten?

●How do you explain the strong interest people show in the terrible mass sufferings of other human beings?

●Are there any useful purposes to be served in recalling these stories? If yes, what might they be?

●Can we learn from these past events and finally learn to conquer nature?

●Many people believe that human beings need to have a sense of humanity toward nature. Do you share this feeling?

●Writing Device: Onomatopoeia

You can almost hear the clatter of horses’ hoofs on the narrow street... (Para. 6)

Example:

The shutters clattered in the wind.

The train clattered out of the station.

Other examples are:

murmur, crash, pitter-patter.

The stream is murmuring through the woods.

The door crashed open.

Heavy rain drops began pitter-pattering on the tent.

● Sentence Paraphrase

1. … Pompeii was a prosperous city of 25,000 people. (Para. 3)

It is redundant to say “a city with a population of 23,000 people”, for the word “population” means “the number of people living in a particular area, country, etc.”

2. Nearby was the Bay of Naples, an arm of the blue Mediterranean. (Para. 3)

3. Rising behind the city was the 4,000-foot Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered slop where the shepherds of Pompeii took their goats to graze.(Para. 3)

4. … a terrible rain of fire and ash. (Para. 4)

a rain of sth: a large number of things that fall from the sky at the same time.

Please translate the following phrases into Chinese.

●a rain of bullets

●a rain of petals

●a shower of leaves

●a shower of insults

●a storm of abuse

●a storm of cheers

5. Mount Vesuvius, which had slept quietly for centuries, erupted with savage violence. (Para. 4)

6. … For three days the sun did not break through the clouds of volcanic ash that filled the sky. (Para. 4)

7. Beneath the protecting shroud of ash, the city lay intact.(Para. 5)

The city remained as it had been before the eruption. It had been protected by the thick layer of ash that buried the city deep.

8. In the wine shops, the wine jars were in place, and on one counter could be seen a stain where a customer had thrown down his wine glass and fled.(Para. 5)

In the wine shops, the wine containers were in their right place, and people could see a (wine) stain a customer had left on one counter when he hastily put his glass down and fled.

9. To go to Pompeii today is to take a trip backward in time. (Para. 6)

When you go to Pompeii today it is like going back 1,700 years in history because you would find the city as it actually was the day of the eruption.

10. The old city comes to life around you. (Para. 6)

The city is no longer dead city. You can imagine what was going on around you.

11. Such was Pompeii on its last day. (Para. 7)

That was what Pompeii was like the day it was destroyed in the volcanic eruption.

12. The sound of explosion died away, but it still reverberated in everyone’s ears. (Para. 13)

Even when the loud sound stopped, people did not recover from the shock.

13. … the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Apollo, the Temple of Isis. (Para. 14)

one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt whose worship spread to Greece and Rome

14. All was confusion. (Para. 14)

There was total chaos everywhere. / The whole city had been thrown into chaos.

15. Poisonous gas came drifting from the crater... (Para. 17)

cf. “Poison gas” is the name given to poisonous gas which is specially manufactured to kill one’s enemies.

16. Rushing throngs, blinded by the darkness and the smoke, rushed up one street and down the next, trampling the fallen in a crazy fruitless dash toward safety. (Para. 17)

People panicked. They rushed into the streets to escape the falling buildings. It was dark and the air was full of smoke so they could not see where they were going. They rushed up one street and down the next in a hopeless attempt to reach safety. In their blind rush they ran over the bodies of people who had fallen down.

17. ... And Pompeiians died by the hundreds. (Para. 18)

e.g.to rent a house by the year

to hire a boat by the hour

to sell eggs by the dozen

to be paid by the hour

to go in by twos and threes

18. All over Pompeii, people lay down on beds of pumice stones, overwhelmed by the gas… (Para. 18)

Everywhere people lay on flat piles of pumice stones which covered the ground.

19. ... Pompeii was a city of the dead. (Para. 20)

… all the people who stayed on in Pompeii had died. / … no one was still alive in Pompeii.