why use"beat" to describ STORM? ??

[lucyarliwu]

Hi all the teachers and friends,

Would you like to help me those following questions?
Thanks in advance!

Lucy ( a eager beaver! )


Question one:
Here is one line as follow, and i feel strange why author used "beat":

"We started home, trying to beat the storm. The lightning was near
now."


Question two:
What does "heresy" mean in this sentence?

"For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my
fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain."


Question three:
Can we say cruelty by using " a knot of"? And how to understand
"borne by stream of love" here?

"There is inside me (and with sadness I have seen it in others) a knot of
cruelty borne by the stream of love. And at times I was mean to
Doodle. ?

 

[RonBee]

Commentary.

Question one:
Here is one line as follow, and i feel strange why author used "beat":

"We started home, trying to beat the storm. The lightning was near
now."

It means they were trying to get to shelter before it started raining.

(Instead of "I feel strange why author used beat" say, "I wonder why the author used beat."

I can't answer your other questions without more--probably considerably more context. The phrases are quite unusual.

TTYL

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[lucyarliwu]

Thanks Ron for the answer for the first question

ok, now I wonder if i should copy the whole article here to make the rest questions more clear?!
Tell me if you want please.


lucy from China

 

[RonBee]

Thanks Ron for the answer for the first question

ok, now I wonder if i should copy the whole article here to make the rest questions more clear?!
Tell me if you want please.


lucy from China

The preceding paragraph might be enough. If you have a link to that article (presuming that it is on the Web) that would probably be helpful.

8)

 

[Tdol]

Hi all the teachers and friends,

Would you like to help me those following questions?
Thanks in advance!

Lucy ( a eager beaver! )


Question one:
Here is one line as follow, and i feel strange why author used "beat":

"We started home, trying to beat the storm. The lightning was near
now."


Question two:
What does "heresy" mean in this sentence?

"For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my
fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain."


Question three:
Can we say cruelty by using " a knot of"? And how to understand
"borne by stream of love" here?

"There is inside me (and with sadness I have seen it in others) a knot of
cruelty borne by the stream of love. And at times I was mean to
Doodle. ?

Beat does mean to get to shelter before the storm.
Knot refers to a feeling of tightness inside the body. I have no idea what the author means about the heresy of the rain.

 

[lucyarliwu]

Thanks Ron and thanks TDOL for your nice help !

Here's the link of the story, which is really touching for me!
Now I'd love to share with you all!


http://reading.englishclub.com/ss_scarletibis.htm



Lucy ( a eager beaver ) ^_^

 

[RonBee]

Thanks Ron and thanks TDOL for your nice help !

Here's the link of the story, which is really touching for me!
Now I'd love to share with you all!


http://reading.englishclub.com/ss_scarletibis.htm



Lucy ( a eager beaver ) ^_^

Re:
"There is inside me (and with sadness I have seen it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love."

The clue is in the following sentence: "And at times I was mean to Doodle." (That is further illustrated by the sentences that follow.)

He says that he loved his brother, but at times his "cruel streak" showed itself, and he was mean to his brother.

This illustrates how important context can be in understanding something. In this case, the context that explains the key passage comes afterward, not before.

(BTW, it should be an eager beaver.)



8)

 

[RonBee]

Re:
"For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying, sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of the rain."

That sentence will be a mystery to anybody who hasn't read the whole story, and even though I have read the whole thing I am not sure what he means by the heresy of the rain. Nonetheless, it's rather moving.

8)

 

[lucyarliwu]

Thanks Ron!

I 'm more clear now towards the article after reading your explanations of my confused sentences.
Ya, you are right, I canot just pick out some particular words without considering the whole context, which only enables me more confused and never find out the answer!

BTW, thanks for the reminding of my mistake of undefinite article "a" .
hehe.....


Lucy ( an eager beaver )

 

[RonBee]

8)

 

[John D]

Hi lucyarliwu,

Your first example was answered, I will try with the heresy one.

I have not read the passage yet, maybe the following will help.

Heresy is a denial of popular beliefs.
It is a common perception that rain is needed for life to exist, it seems, in this instance, that the falling rain would cause life to cease.

Now for "knot of cruelty".

Look at a beautifully polished wooden table top. The grain will seem to flow endlessly from one end to the other, along that seemingly perfect surface, your eye and mind will be purposely looking for an imperfection. If there will be at least one small knot or one flaw or one open grain, you will be satisfied. That particular imperfection will affirm your belief the wood is genuine. It is a beatiful piece of wood because it has an imperfection and you say to youself....."It is real."

Love flows along a course, like the grain in wood, or like a river, it is never still, sometimes it is deep, sometimes shallow sometimes swift, sometimes slow. For love to be real it must have imperfections and faults, for this is one rule of nature that helps us to distinguish which is real and which is not. This person's love contains a blemish, to affirm their true love they must hurt the person, or thing, they love. The ability to do this confirms that their love and feelings are real.

Hope this helps.

John D.

 

[RonBee]

Thanks Ron!

I 'm more clear now towards the article after reading your explanations of my confused sentences.
Ya, you are right, I canot just pick out some particular words without considering the whole context, which only enables me more confused and never find out the answer!

BTW, thanks for the reminding of my mistake of undefinite article "a" .
hehe.....


Lucy ( an eager beaver )

Just a couple of corrections.

• 1. Say: more clear about
  2. Say: makes X more confused

You are right, of course, about how important context is. In fact, words and even sentences don't really mean anything outside of context.

8)

 

[lucyarliwu]

Thanks John D

It's really a big surprise to read your excellent reply to my questions raised by me long time ago.

Since i havenot come here this forum for a long time, your unexpecting explanations both on 'heresy' and 'knot of cruelty' tossed me into a long-time trance, I was moved and stunned by your beautiful understanding especial on 'imperfected love' which is indeed a real love full of all kinds of emotions and interacted along its developing course.

I like your metarphore of love into a polished wooden table top by flowing of grains on it.....it's such a clear vision for me, just playing in my brain continuously....

I have to say you really help me a lot,not only on the meaning of the article, but your outstanding idea also strikes me a lot on the perception of the love....thanks sincerely!


Lucy with appreciation

 

[lucyarliwu]

Hi Ron!

Thanks for your sharp findings of my mistakes, hehe....
I have met a phenomenon recently that I lost all my enthusiasm and joyness on English studying all of a sudden just after I devoted almost all my time and engergy on it for some time continuingly and repeatedly without a break, then the following is I have to stop for a while until I found my zea back again on it, so can you explain this bizarre matter in the course of studying???


Lucy ( an eager beaver again )
hehe...

 

[Tdol]

Learning isn't always consistent progress- there are plateaus when it appears nothing's happening. Furthermore, you can have enough of a good thing- a break often does good. ;-)

 

[lucyarliwu]

Learning isn't always consistent progress- there are plateaus when it appears nothing's happening. Furthermore, you can have enough of a good thing- a break often does good. ;-)

Hi Tdol!

Oh, thanks for your confirmation of my studying performance in English.
It's really inspiring to get your support! So may I quote a famous saying according to my present situation:
"One must draw back in order to leap better"??

What do you think of this proverb? Do I use it properly?


Lucy ( is told that: Wonders will never cease, so I believe I can study English well as my second native language one day )

 

[Tdol]

To be honest, I haven't heard it before, but it makes perfect sense. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

Hi Ron!

Thanks for your sharp findings of my mistakes, hehe....
I have met a phenomenon recently that I lost all my enthusiasm and joyness on English studying all of a sudden just after I devoted almost all my time and engergy on it for some time continuingly and repeatedly without a break, then the following is I have to stop for a while until I found my zea back again on it, so can you explain this bizarre matter in the course of studying???


Lucy ( an eager beaver again )
hehe...

Well, I wouldn't call it bizarre. In this country (USA) we have a term for that kind of thing. We call it burnout. Perhaps a person just gets weary from overdoing it. As TDOL suggested, it is good to take a break every once in a while.

 

[lucyarliwu]

Thanks Tdol!
But it's still a surprise that you haven't heard this proverb before, hmm.....anyway, do you often cite some famous sayings in your article to show some arguments or topic? Do you think it's pursuasive by doing this to proof some points in essays?


Thanks Ron!
So happy to get your reply again!
Ok, so how do you think I should avoid "burnout" in my studying and adjust to the best attitude properly and quickly to retrieve its initial situation for English studying crazily but not with "burnout"?


Lucy in China

 

[RonBee]

Thanks Tdol!
But it's still a surprise that you haven't heard this proverb before, hmm.....anyway, do you often cite some famous sayings in your article to show some arguments or topic? Do you think it's pursuasive by doing this to proof some points in essays?


Thanks Ron!
So happy to get your reply again!
Ok, so how do you think I should avoid "burnout" in my studying and adjust to the best attitude properly and quickly to retrieve its initial situation for English studying crazily but not with "burnout"?


Lucy in China

I recommend that you pace yourself. Don't study to the point of exhaustion. Take a pizza break every once in a while. :wink:

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