台州市书生中学洗衣妇--外貌描写学案-2024届高考英语作文复习专项

【名师导读】该文节选自20世纪美国“短篇小说大师 ”I saac Bashevis Singer 的 短篇小说 《洗衣妇》，讲述了一位年近八旬、瘦小的老妇人，不愿增加儿子和社会的负担，一不乞讨，二不进孤老院，顽强地靠为他人洗衣维持生活。经她洗熨过的衣物又干净又平整，一旦收了活儿，即使是大病一场的她也要完成自己的职责，冒着大雪严寒也要让洗熨好的衣物尽快物归原主。这位尽职的洗衣妇体现了人类坚韧不拔的意志以及优秀品质。该文主题意义明确、小人物折射大道理。洗衣老妇人依靠自己的双手劳动，诚信、乐观、顽强地生活；她的敬业心和责任感给即使看起来最卑下的工作也带来尊严，人品值得敬重与学习。 【经典节选】 The Washwoman [ 1] She was a small woman, old and wrinkled. When she started washing for us, she was already past seventy. Most Jewish women of her age were sickly and weak. All the old women in our street had bent backs and leaned on sticks when they walked. But this washwoman, small and thin as she was, possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant forebears. Mother would count out to her a bundle of laundry that had accumulated over several weeks. She would then lift the bundle, put it on her narrow shoulders, and carry it the long way home. [2] She would bring the laundry back about two weeks later. My mother had never been so pleased with any washwoman. Yet she charged no more than the others. She was a real find. Mother always had her money ready, because it was too far for the old woman to come a second time. [3] Laundering was not easy in those days. The old woman had no running water where she lived but had to bring in the water from the pump. And the drying! It could not be done outside because thieves would steal the laundry. So it had to be carried up to the attic and hung on clotheslines. Only God knows what the old woman had to endure each time she did a wash! [4] She could have begged at the church door or entered a home for the penniless and aged. Be there was in her a certain pride and love of labor with which many members of the labor force have been blessed. The old woman did not want to become a burden, and so she bore her burden. [5] The woman had a son who was rich. He was ashamed of his mother, and never came to see her. Nor did he ever give her money: The old woman told this without bitterness. When the s