Southern Trees - The End

Hey,

today we finished speaking about the text "Southern Trees". Here is what we said about the physical reactions of Billie Holiday and why we could say she was a hard worker:

Physical consequences:

- stomach ==> go to the bathroom to vomit / to throw up / to puke***
- head ==> long breath / pauses before the attack.
It is as if she were getting her revenge over the white audience.
- features ==> + voice: raucous / sharp.
Wailing: her features are deformed.
- legs ==> It is as if she didn't have legs, she felt faint/ fainted.
To tremble / To quiver/ to shake.

Fall - fell - fallen


A hard worker: she "worked like the devil on it" =
She worked as if her life depended on her song.
She worked doggedly, day and night.

- motivator, goal ?
==> take her revenge over the white audience.
==> convey an important message:

- concerned: black, maybe her father was a victim (cf. "it reminded me how Pop died")

Then we did a quick recap with a worksheet summing up all the main ideas in the text and some important vocabulary:

Question 1:
a) society
b) accompanist
c) devil
d) weird
e) naked
f) tear
g) Miami
h) entire

Part 1:
2)
a) right off (l.5) -> 2) immediately
b) spell out ( l.6) -> 4) make clear
c) lone (l.16) -> 1) unaccompanied
d) clap (l. 16) -> 5) applaud
e) catch on (l.17) -> 6) become popular
f) a while (l. 17) -> 3) a period of time


3)
a) like the devil (l.11): comme une folle / très dur
b) put / get across (l.12) : faire comprendre / faire passer


4)
a) True: "Allen, too, had heard how Pop died and of course was interested in my singing" (l.7)

b) True: "I worked like the devil on it because I was never sure I could put it accross [...] to a plush night-club audience the things that it meant to me" (l. 11)

c) False: "Then suddenly everyone was clapping" (l. 16)


5) (l. 19) "But I have to keep singing it, not only because people ask for it but because twenty years after Pop died the things that killed him are still happening in the South."


Part 2:
6) Various experiences

7)
a) I went to the lavatory.
b) I had rushed offstage...
c) There is not he slightest (moindre) noise in the room.
d) I did not feel like being disturbed...

8) In spite of the public request, Billie Holiday refused to sing the song for fear that it might create trouble as usual, since the club was in the South. However, as people insisted, she agreed to sing it. That night, her performance was powerful, convincing and intense. As a result, people were so moved that they went on clapping interminably.

HW: learn your lesson and get ready for a test after your mock exams + translate the following sentences. 

Files: download the worksheet here.