A pioneer in gender equality and fairness 兩性平等與公平的先驅(qū)

薛海燕

Step 1? ?感知·閱讀導(dǎo)航

[話題導(dǎo)入]

這是一篇人物傳記（biographical essay），介紹了澳大利亞女權(quán)主義者和政治活動家Zelda DAprano的生平。她不顧自己可能面臨的后果和別人的眼光，通過自己的各種努力來為女性爭取權(quán)益。她在第一份工作的工廠中親眼見證了女性所遭遇的不公對待，此后成為女權(quán)主義者，甚至用鏈條把自己鎖在市聯(lián)邦大廈門口以呼吁同工同酬，因此遭到她所就職的澳大利亞肉類行業(yè)職工工會解雇。盡管她因爭取女性權(quán)益一再遭到解雇，但她堅定的女權(quán)主義者形象影響了許多人，她還參與創(chuàng)建了女性行動委員會、女性解放中心等機(jī)構(gòu)，這在很大程度上改變了澳大利亞的女權(quán)主義組織不足的局面，影響了包括作者在內(nèi)的廣大女性。Zelda DAprano在晚年還不遺余力地幫助、培養(yǎng)年輕一代的女權(quán)主義者。她堅強(qiáng)樂觀、不屈不撓的精神遺產(chǎn)將不斷鼓舞后來者去完成她未竟的事業(yè)。

本文語言平實卻感人，從作者真摯的感情中我們可窺見主人公的巨大社會影響力。全文603詞，建議用時10分鐘。

[閱讀目標(biāo)]

1.了解Zelda DAprano的生平事跡以及她對作者和社會產(chǎn)生的巨大影響，并分析其性格特點;

2.了解文章框架結(jié)構(gòu)，掌握人物傳記的一般寫作方式;

3.體會文章夾敘夾議的語言風(fēng)格。

Zelda DAprano was an unstoppable force1. Its through my work as a director of the Victorian Womens Trust that I got to know her， and she has been a personal hero of mine ever since. I feel lucky for every conversation we had together.

As a staunch2 feminist， labour unionist， and pay justice advocate， Zelda had an everlasting impact on the womens movements and labour movements within Australia. She also spent the time in her later years helping and nurturing young feminists. I， and many others， are beneficiaries3 of that kindness， and we find ourselves grieving4 an immense（巨大的） loss.

She left school at 14 to join the workforce， and it was in this factory work that she began to witness first?hand the inequality between male and female workers. Every time she took a job， she would point out the injustice of this disparity5 to her employers and would be swiftly dismissed. She didnt care about personal consequences; she cared about fairness.

The legislation Zelda fought for has been all but eroded（逐漸消失）. The Equal Pay Act of 1972 has been aggressively watered down to become the “Fair Work Act” and no longer even mentions “pay equality”， “gender discrimination” or “equal pay”. We allowed ourselves to be the frogs in the hot water. Zelda noticed， and Im heartbroken she couldnt stay long enough to see us fix it. But fix it we will.

When Zelda was chained to the doors of parliament（國會）， a police officer began to criticize her. “Arent you embarrassed？ Its just you on your own，” he said. Without hesitation， she replied，“No. Because soon there will be three， then there will be five， and then there will be...” She was right. Ten days after her protest（抗議）， Alva Geikie and Thelma Solomon joined her. From that action， the three women founded the Womens Action Committee and the Womens Liberation Centre， from which the Womens Liberation Movement in Melbourne was born. This changed the landscape of feminist organizing in Australia forever.

In her 1995 biography， Zelda described

wanting to get more women involved in activism， because “we had passed the stage of caring about a ‘lady?like image; because

women had been polite for too long...and were still being ignored”. She didnt care about what people thought of her; she cared about fairness.

The Womens Action Committee organized the very first pro?choice rally（公眾集會） in 1975， with an impressive turnout of over 500 women. It was reported by the media as “a horde of angry barefoot women” taking to the streets. Zelda assured me they were definitely wearing shoes. She really did walk the walk6， throughout her entire life.

In 2015， the Victorian Trades Hall Council introduced the Zelda DAprano Award for union activism. In a bittersweet7 coinci?

dence， the nominations（提名） for the 2018 award opened on the very day she passed away. The flag at Trades Hall was lowered to half mast in her honor.

The legacy of Zelda DAprano cannot be contained within memorial writings， and it cannot die. It lives within the hearts of feminists—young and old—who， inspired by her spirit， will continue to fight for equality and fairness. It lives in the fire in our bellies. It lives in the smirk8 we wear when we are doubted. Even through the heartache of loss， it lives.

海詞積累

1.an unstoppable force 難以阻擋的力量

e.g.If you put those two things together， you have an almost unstoppable force.

2.staunch adj. 堅定的;忠實的

e.g.Hes a staunch supporter of controls on government spending.

3.beneficiary n. 受益者

e.g.I am the beneficiary of your generosity.

4.grieve v. 悲痛

e.g.Hes grieving over his dead wife and son.

5.disparity n. （尤指因不公正對待引起的）不同;差異

e.g.The wide disparity between rich and poor still exists.

6.walk the walk 言出必行;說到做到

e.g.A good boss should walk the walk.

7.bittersweet adj. 苦樂參半的

e.g.Bittersweet memories of childhood flooded back.

8.smirk n. 得意的笑;傻笑

e.g.He had a self?satisfied smirk on his face.

Step 2 實踐·文本解讀

目標(biāo)呈現(xiàn)

Ⅰ.Understand the structure.

【點石成金】人物傳記寫作要求邏輯結(jié)構(gòu)清晰：開篇簡要介紹人物身份及成就（影響），正文部分通過人物經(jīng)歷體現(xiàn)人物品質(zhì)，結(jié)尾簡要評價人物的影響。

Ⅱ.Analyze the qualities.

What qualities does Zelda DAprano possess？ Find the proof.

Step 3 運用·讀寫整合

Ⅰ.The opening paragraph

Why does the author share her feelings and attitude towards Zelda in the opening paragraph？

【點石成金】設(shè)置懸念可在引入主題時吸引讀者。

Ⅱ.The body

1.Find out the comments in the body part.

【點石成金】在敘述中融入評論可使文章見解更深刻。

2.How do you understand the sentence “She really did walk the walk， throughout her entire life”？

Ⅲ.The concluding paragraph

The legacy of Zelda DAprano cannot be contained within memorial writings， and it can?not die. It lives within the hearts of feminists—young and old—who， inspired by her spirit， will continue to fight for equality and fairness. It lives in the fire in our bellies. It lives in the smirk we wear when we are doubted. Even through the heartache of loss， it lives.

Figures of speech：

Purpose：

Step 4 提升·素養(yǎng)建構(gòu)

Ⅰ.Writing techniques

How to write a good biographical essay？

·Use a hook to attract readers and introduce the topic in the opening paragraph.

·Give a general introduction.

·Use personal experiences or major events to show qualities.

·Combine narration with comments to make the essay more insightful.

·Apply some figures of speech to make a powerful ending.

Ⅱ.Imitative writing

Write a biographical essay of a Chinese celebrity in the following structure.

【點石成金】仿寫活動是人物傳記類文本閱讀課的有效拓展方式之一。學(xué)生在閱讀已給文本的過程中了解人物事跡及其優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)，同時學(xué)習(xí)文本框架結(jié)構(gòu)，體會文本的語言特點和寫作技巧。寫感興趣的人物的傳記能激發(fā)學(xué)生興趣，使學(xué)生將已學(xué)技能運用到寫作過程中，并在寫作過程中進(jìn)一步體會所寫人物的優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)。