Unit Two

1. Unit Two Hiroshima---the “liveliest” City in Japan

2. Outline • Part One Lead-in • Part Two Background Information • Part Three Writing Workshop • Part Four Structural Analysis • Part Five Questions for Detailed Studies of the Text • Part Six Assignment

3. Part One Lead-in • Warming-up exercise: A. The following are pictures related to our text, please point out the words or phrases in the text that best describes them.

4. B.Pre-reading Questions • 1.Can you guess the writer’s occupation and his nationality? • 2.What do you think was the aim of his visit?

5. Part II Background Information • 1)Hiroshima, city on southwestern Honshû Island（本州）, Japan, capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, at the head of Hiroshima Bay. The city was founded in 1594 on six islands in the Ôta River delta. Hiroshima grew rapidly as a castle town and commercial city, and after 1868 it was developed into a military center. By the beginning of world war II, it was the 7th largest city inJapan, with a population of 350,000. During World War II, the Second Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima. The city also had large depots of military supplies, and was a key center for shipping.[7]

6. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively. After six months of intense fire-bombing of 67 other Japanese cities, followed by an ultimatum which was ignored by the Shōwa regime, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on Monday,[1] August 6, 1945, [2] followed on August 9 by the detonation of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb over Nagasaki. These are to date the only attacks with nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.[3]

7. The Bombing of Hiroshima • At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, by order of President Truman, the first Atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy was exploded over a point near the centre of Hiroshima, destroying almost everything with a radius of 830-1,450 meters. The damage beyond this area was considerable, and over 71,000 people were killed instantly. Many more later died of injuries and the effects of radiation. Casualties numbered nearly 130,000. Survivors are still dying of leukaemia, pernicious anaemia and other diseases induced by radiation. Almost 68% of the buildings were completely destroyed and another 7% severely damaged. • The Japanese dedicated post-war Hiroshima to peace. A destroyed area named "Peace City" has been set aside as a memorial. A peace Park was build. A special hospital built here treats people suffering from exposure to radiation and conducts research into its effects. • Every August 6 since 1947, thousands participate in interfaith services in the Peace Memorial Park built on the site where the bomb exploded. In 1949 the Japanese dedicated Hiroshima as an international shrine of peace. After the war, the city was largely rebuilt, and commercial activities were resumed. Machinery, automobiles, food processing, and the brewing of sake are the main industries. The surrounding area, although mountainous, has fertile valleys where silk, rice, and wheat are produced. Population (1990) 1,085,705.

8. 3)The Manhanttan Project: The United States, in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada, with their respective secret projects Tube Alloys and Chalk River Laboratories,[11][12] designed and built the first atomic bombs under what was called the Manhattan Project. The scientific research was directed by American physicistJ. Robert Oppenheimer. The Hiroshima bomb, a gun-type bomb called "Little Boy", was made with uranium-235, a rare isotope of uranium. The atomic bomb was first tested at Trinity Site, on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The test weapon, "the gadget," and the Nagasaki bomb, "Fat Man," were both implosion-type devices made primarily of plutonium-239, a synthetic element.[13]

9. 4)The Potsdam ultimatum • On July 26, Truman and other allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration outlining terms of surrender for Japan. It was presented as an ultimatum and stated that without a surrender, the Allies would attack Japan, resulting in "the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland". The atomic bomb was not mentioned in the communique. On July 28, Japanese papers reported that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese government. That afternoon, Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki declared at a press conference that the Potsdam Declaration was no more than a rehash (yakinaoshi) of the Cairo Declaration and that the government intended to ignore it (mokusatsu lit. "kill by silence").[17] The statement was taken by both Japanese and foreign papers as a clear rejection of the declaration. Emperor Hirohito, who was waiting for a Soviet reply to noncommittal Japanese peace feelers, made no move to change the government position.[18] On July 31, he made clear to his advisor Kōichi Kido that the Imperial Regalia of Japan had to be defended at all costs.[19]

10. In early July, on his way to Potsdam, Truman had re-examined the decision to use the bomb. In the end, Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. His stated intention in ordering the bombings was to bring about a quick resolution of the war by inflicting destruction and instilling fear of further destruction in sufficient strength to cause Japan to surrender.

11. Part III Writing Workshop • One of the basic and most frequently adopted way of writing. Simply defined, narration is the telling of a story. Narration is concerned with action, with life in motion, with a meaningful series of action.A narrative writing usually tells the time, the background of an event, or the cause and result of it.In a narrative writing, the actions or the incidents, events are generally presented in order of their occurrence, following the natural time sequence of the happenings, It is called to be in Chronological order.But it can also start in the middle or at some other point in the action and move backward to the earlier happenings. This is called flashback.

12. There are three basic components of a narration: • a. Plot: the whole story, the frame of the writing, which consists of a series of events, with the development of the actions, or accidents. There are usu. one or several climaxes, the highest point of the story, with suspensions, conflicts, to arouse the interest of the audience. After the climax is reached, the story quickly moves to a conclusion.b. Characters: the leading character is called the hero or protagonist.c. Background: the time and place of the storyThe plot / action usually dominates narration, however, some narratives focus on character or theme or atmosphere.

13. Part IV General Structure • 1-2 beginning (setting, general impression) • 3-7 taxi ride • 8-27 meeting the mayor • 28-38 interviewing patients in the atomic ward • 39 the theme

14. Part V Questions for Detailed Analysis • 1.What does the title mean? • 2. Is Hiroshima the liveliest city in Japan? • 3. What do ‘little old Japan’, ‘the kimono’ and ‘the miniskirt’ symbolize? • 4.From P9-P17, a rhetorical device is used. What is it? Explain the effect it achieved. 5. Do you notice any difference in tone between the first half of the story( the narrator’s arrival and the meeting the mayor) and the second( the interview with the patient in the atomic ward)? What does this difference suggest? And why the story is told in such a way?

15. Part VI Assignment • ：Think about the following questions, do some research on them and write up a short essay about them. (Preparing for free discussion after the detailed analysis of the text) • 1. Why did President Truman decide to drop the atomic bombs on Japanese soil? • 2. Was it necessary to do so?