Lesson Three,Blackmail,Teaching Content,Part One Culture link Part Two Background information Part Three Detailed study of the text Part Four Rhetorical devices Part Five Exercises,Part One Culture link,Blackmail: n. v. the obtaining of money or advancement by threatening to make known unpleasant facts about a person or a group. blackmail sb 敲诈某人 blackmail sb into doing sth,In blackmail the threat might consist of physical injury to the threatened person or to someone loved by that person, or injury to a persons reputation. In some cases the victim is told that an illegal act he or she had previously committed will be exposed if the victim fails to comply with the demand.,Writing Style,This narrative article is excerpted from novel Hotel (1965). The author is skillful in using sarcasm and creating characters to make a strong impression on his readers. In this excerpt, conversations and conflicts are used to describe the main characters.,Part Two Background information,Arthur Hailey,The Final Diagnosis (1959) 最后的诊断 In High Places (1962) 高地 Hotel (1966) 大饭店 Airport (1968) 机场 Wheels (1971) 转轮 The Moneychangers (1975) 货币兑换机 Strong Medicine (1984) 烈药 Detective (1997) 侦探,Publications,About the novel Hotel,Setting: The story happened in a hotel named St. Gregory in New Orleans, Louisiana which is in the south of US. Main character of the novel: Warren Trent: Owner Peter McDermott, assistant general manager Christine Francis: secretary,Main characters in this part of the novel: Ogilvie: chief house officer the Duke of Croydon: newly appointed British ambassador to the United States the Duchess of Croydon: wife of the Duke,Plot : the owner of the Hotel was now at the brink of bankruptcy, but Peter McDermott is trying every means he could to save it. Several events happened during the week with the present text as part of it. A surprising ending: An old man, who was saved when he was in serious illness by Peter and his girl friend: Christine Francis, bought that hotel and makes Peter the new executive vice-president, with complete authority to run the hotel as he thinks fit.,About this article,Background: The Duke and Duchess hit and killed a mother and her daughter when coming home from a gambling place and they ran away. The house detective, Ogilvie , noticed the battered car, but he did not go to report the police, instead, he comes to the couples suite and had talked with them.,Question: Can you predict what will happen between them? Pay attention to how the author depicts the characters: Ogilvie, Duke and Duchess Different language and behavior may reflect different characteristics,Detailed study of the text Para. 1,1. The chief house officer, Ogilvie, who had declared he would appear at the Croydons suite an hour after his cryptic telephone call, actually took twice that time. (1) Chief house officer: hotels in the U.S. employ detectives to take care of hotel security, called “house dicks” (Slang: a detective), dignified name-house officer (2) suiteswi:t: a set of rooms in a hotel usually expensive. (3) cryptic: secret, mysterious,Ogilvie, the chief house officer, gave the Croydons a mysterious telephone call telling them he would pay them a visit an hour later, but actually he appeared at their suite two hours later. Ogilvie, actually took twice that time. (Why?) To create the impression that he was a busy and important man;,Para. 1,2. As a result the nerves of both the Duke and the Duchess were excessively frayed when the muted buzzer of the outer door eventually sounded. (1) The rank of nobleman in Britain: Duke; marquis, earl, viscount; baron. Duke, its rank is just below that of a prince. Duchess: wife or widow of a duke, or a woman with a rank equal that of a duke. (2) fray: a. to cause rope, cloth etc. to become thin or worn by rubbing E.g. His shirt is frayed at the neck / elbows. b. to cause a persons temper, nerves, etc to become worn out 烦躁，紧张 His nerves were frayed by the noises in the street.,Para. 1,Eventually, the Duke and Duchess were extremely nervous the door bell sounded.,3. Earlier she had dispatched her maid on an invented errandBedlington terriers. (1) dispatch: (fml.) to send away / off for a particular reason or in order to carry out a particular task (2) errand : a short journey made to get sth. Or to carry a message.,Para. 2,terrier: any of several types of small active dogs, originally used for hunting The Bedlington terrier is a breed of blue or liver-coloured,红褐色的 active, typically small dogs.,Para.2,Bedlington terrier,5. A wave of cigar smoke accompanied Ogilvie in.the Duchess looked pointedly at the half-burned cigar in the fat mans mouth. What can you say about Ogilvie? The Duchess looked pointedly, that is, directly and sharply at the cigar, trying to intimidate him with her superior social position.,Para. 3,6. Would you kindly put that out. A per