Читать книгу English for Life Reader Grade 8 Home Language - Elaine Ridge - Страница 17

Pre-reading
1.	Look at the illustration. What do we mean when we talk about ‘the man in the moon’?
During reading
2.	During reading this poem, decide who ‘they’ are.

Message to the moon

Millicent L. Pettit

You’re not as dead as you look.

They’re after you.

They’ll strike oil on you.

They’ll build refineries on your forehead

and run freeways from your eyes to your mouth.

They’ll fill your pores with scrap iron

and your nostrils with smog.

Your chin will break out in a rash of billboards

and your cheeks will be pockmarked with trailer camps.

Try to look deader. Forget to wax.

Keep on waning. Get off your orbit.

Eclipse!

Don’t just sit there mooning.

billboard – large board for displaying advertisements along the road

eclipse – a time when the moon cannot be seen because it is in the earth’s shadow

mooning – idly dreaming

orbit – the path of the moon around the earth

smog – dirty air caused by smoke from factories or exhaust fumes from cars

trailer camps – caravan parks

waning – becoming smaller

wax – become larger

Post-reading
3.	What basic warning is given to the moon in this poem?
4.	Whose point of view does this poem reflect? (an advertiser, an environmentalist, a health fanatic, or a lawyer) Explain your answer.
5.	Pores are the tiny holes in our skin. What is the speaker referring to when he says to the moon, “They’ll fill your pores with scrap iron”?
6.	How does the moon stand a better chance against the “developments” mentioned in the poem if it forgets to wax and keeps on waning?
7.	What other advice is given to the moon? Explain the humour in each suggestion.
8.	Mention two ways in which the moon is personified and comment on the effectiveness of each.