Hello students. I’m proud of you for completing years 1 and 2 of our American English course. In order for you to become a strong intermediate American English learner, you need to be able to read, understand, and discuss abridged American English short stories. In this lesson, throughout Year 3 of your studies, you will read, listen to, and write about popular American English short stories. Please follow the directions below closely.
- Study the American English vocabulary below.
Words in This Story
chemical – adj. of or relating to chemistry
chemicals – n. elements found in nature or made by people; substances used in the science of chemistry
imperfection – n. a small flaw or bad part
visible – adj. able to be seen
birthmark – n. an unusual mark that is present on the skin from the time when someone is born
- Listen to the story.
- Watch the video and read along.
- Take the short story quiz.
Take quiz: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/birthmark-nathaniel-hawthorne/2865034/p1.html?isEmbedded=True
- Write a summary of the short story you just read and listened to in the comments section below. Click here to read an article that teaches you how to summarize a story. Remember to let us know who the characters of the story are, what they do, and what the story is about.
About the Author
Lesson 3.26.2. Year 2
American short story.
” The Birth Mark by Nathanial Hawthorne”.
As I understand after reading the above story that the relationship between nature and science is a complex one, Science is a human attempt and effort to understand the natural world, while nature is natural world itself. The story,” ‘Birthmark by Nathanial Hawthorne is centered around the conflict between science and nature. Aylmer is a scientist who cannot accept his wife Georgiana as nature made her wife beautiful but with a birthmark on her face, a mark that formed in the womb. Aylmer does not like her birthmark and wants to remove her mark to use his scientific skill. Aylmer excludes all signs of nature from his laboratory, even replacing natural sunshine with comical lamps, At the moment the birthmark disappears, but when he opens the curtain and sunlight falls on Georgiana. she wakes up to see her image in a mirror, the birthmark almost completely faded. she smiles but then informs Aylmer that she is dying. once the birthmark fades completely, Georgiana dies.
at the end of the,” Birthmark,” Aylmer both succeeds and fails. But I think that scientists must not overstep their boundaries and go against the Nature.
In the quiz of the story, The birthmark” I got 75%
Dear teacher,
Lesson 3.26.2. Year 2
American short story.
” The Birth Mark by Nathanial Hawthorne”.
As I understand after reading the above story that the relationship between nature and science is a complex one, Science is a human attempt and effort to understand the natural world, while nature is natural world itself. The story,” ‘Birthmark by Nathanial Hawthorne is centered around the conflict between science and nature. Aylmer is a scientist who cannot accept his wife Georgiana as nature made her wife beautiful but with a birthmark on her face, a mark that formed in the womb. Aylmer does not like her birthmark and wants to remove her mark to use his scientific skill. Aylmer excludes all signs of nature from his laboratory, even replacing natural sunshine with comical lamps, At the moment the birthmark disappears, but when he opens the curtain and sunlight falls on Georgiana. she wakes up to see her image in a mirror, the birthmark almost completely faded. she smiles but then informs Aylmer that she is dying. once the birthmark fades completely, Georgiana dies. He felt so sorry and never happy when she saw his wife death because of his experimental wrong formula and chemical reaction.
Thank you for lesson.