Studying for the final exam

Here are the blog posts that you need to study for the exam:

1. About Podcasts
2. Scout and Atticus
3. The Beginning of "Forrest Gump"
4. The End of "Forrest Gump"

Please send me e-mail to ask questions about anything that you don't understand.

The end of "Forrest Gump"

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Please study these dialogues from the end of "Forrest Gump."

(Talking about his ping-pong playing)

Gump: I was so good that some years later, the Army decided I should be on the All-American ping-pong team. We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in, like, a million years or something like that. Somebody said world peace was in our hands, but all I did was play ping-pong. When I got home, I was a national celebrity, famouser even than Captain Kangaroo.
Dick Cavett: Here he is, Forrest Gump. Right here. Forrest Gump, John Lennon.
Lennon: Welcome home!
Cavett: You had quite a trip. Can you tell us, um . . . What was China like?
Gump: In the land of China, people hardly got nothin’ at all.
Lennon: No possessions?
Gump: And in China, they never go to church.
Lennon: No religion, too?
Cavett: Hard to imagine.
Lennon: Well, it’s easy if you try, Dick.
Gump: Some years later, that nice young man from England was on his way home to see his little boy and was signing some autographs. For no particular reason at all, somebody shot him.

(Gump visit's his mother after he hears that she is sick.)

Gump: Where’s Mama?
Woman: She’s upstairs.
Mama: Hi, Forrest!
Doctor: I’ll see you tomorrow.
Mama: All right.
Doctor: Sure got you straightened out, didn’t we, boy?
Gump: What’s the matter, Mama?
Mama: I’m dying, Forrest. Come on in. Sit down over here.
Gump: Why are you dying, Mama?
Mama: It’s my time. It’s just my time. Now, don’t you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. Something we’re all destined to do. I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your mama. I did the best I could.
Gump: You did good, Mama.
Mama: Well, I happen to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Gump: What’s my destiny, Mama?
Mama: You’re going to have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re going to get.
Gump: Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Mama: I will miss you, Forrest.
Gump: She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that’s all I have to say about that.

(At Jenny's grave)

Gump: Jenny, I don’t know if Mama was right or if it’s Lieutenant Dan. I don’t know if we each have a . . . destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze. But I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. But I miss you, Jenny. If there’s anything you need, I won’t be far away.

Songs to study in class

In our last class, we saw John Lennon and Forest Gump speaking with each other on a TV talk show. The conversation was very similar to the lyrics of John Lennon's song "Imagine." You can find the lyrics to this song here. In our next class I would like to listen to this song with you and study the lyrics.

There is another song I would like to introduce to you. It's called "If I Had a Hammer." I mentioned it in class in regard to a question about the meaning of "would" in the sentence "He would like to thank Mr. Cunningham." You can find the lyrics to this song here. Actually, I should have introduced this song to you during our last class but I forgot. Sorry.

Retest (or "Make-up Test")

As I said today in class, I will test you on Scout and Atticus on December 15.  For those of you who took the first test on Scout and Atticus this will be a "retest" (though I may change some of the questions).  For those of you who were absent that day, this will be a make-up test.

The beginning of "Forrest Gump"

Click here to listen to the audio while you read this blog entry. (The audio player should open in another window.)
Download the audio (right click)
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Please study this dialogue from the beginning of "Forrest Gump."

F: Do you want a chocolate?
My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.

F: Those must be comfortable shoes.
I'll bet you could walk all day in shoes like that and not feel a thing.
I wish I had shoes like that.
L: My feet hurt.
F: Mama always said there's an awful lot you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. Where they're going. Where they've been. I've worn lot's of shoes.

M: What are y'all staring at? Haven't you ever seen a little boy with braces on his legs before?
Don't ever let anybody tell you they're better than you, Forrest.
If God intended everybody to be the same, he'd have given us all braces on our legs.
F: Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

F: You know, it's funny how you remember some things but some things you can't.
M: You do your very best now, Forrest.
F: I sure will, Mama!
F: I remember the bus ride on the first day of school very well.

B: You can't sit here.
F: You know it's funny what a young man recollects, 'cause I don't remember being born. I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic, but I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the wide world.
J: You can sit here if you want.
F: I had never see anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.
J: Well, are you going to sit down or aren't you?

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By the way, I will return your tests today and we will begin a new movie -- "Forrest Gump."

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