全新版大学英语第二册第四册unit 6

Unit 6

Unit 6 The Pace of Life

Before Reading

An English Song– Dear Diary Dear Diary

Questions and Answers Questionnaire

Warm-up Questions

Background Information Richard Tomkins Technology

Stress in the Workplace

Global Reading

Part Division of the Text Further Understanding For Part 1 Scanning Blank-filling For Part 2 True or False For Part 3 Table-completion

For Part 4 Questions and Answers

Detailed Reading After Reading

Vocabulary

Useful Expressions Scanning

Sentence Translation Dictation Discussion

Talk about the Pictures Writing Practice

Proverbs and Quotations

Supplementary Reading

Culture Notes Reading

Comprehension Task

Before Reading

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1 English Song– Dear Diary Dear Diary

Dear Diary

The Moody Blues

Dear diary, what a day it's been. Dear diary, it's been just like a dream.

Woke up late. Wasn't where I should have been. For goodness sake what's happening to me. Write lightly, yours truly, dear diary.

It was cold outside my door. So many people by the score. Rushing around so senselessly.

They don't notice there's people like me. Write lightly, yours truly, dear diary.

They don't know what they're playing.

They've no way of knowing what the game is. Still they carry on doing what they can. Outside me, yours truly, dear diary.

It's over. Will tomorrow be the same? I know that they're really not to blame.

If they weren't so blind then surely they'd see. There's a much better way for them to be. Inside me, yours truly, dear diary.

Somebody exploded an H-bomb today. But it wasn't anyone I knew.

Questions and Answers

1. How does the singer treat his diary? Why?

(=He treats it as a friend, to whom he can pour out his inmost feelings.) 2. What does the singer think about how other people spend their time?

(=He thinks they spend their days in a rush, so much so that they have no time for

each other or for themselves.)

3. What can we infer about the singer’s attitude towards the pace of life today? (=It is unwise for people to spend days in a rush.)

2. Questionnaire

Questionnaire Purpose:

The purpose of this questionnaire is to increase your awareness of stress in your life.

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Directions:

Answer \

_____ 1. I have frequent arguments. _____ 2. I often get upset at work.

_____ 3. I often have neck and/or shoulder pains due to anxiety/stress. _____ 4. I often get upset when I stand in long lines.

_____ 5. I often get angry when I listen to the local, national, or world news or read the

newspaper.

_____ 6. I do not have a sufficient amount of money for my needs. _____ 7. I often get upset when driving.

_____ 8. At the end of a workday I often feel stress-related fatigue.

_____ 9. I have at least one constant source of stress/anxiety in my life (e.g., conflict with

boss, Neighbor, mother-in-law, etc.).

_____ 10. I often have stress-related headaches.

_____ 11. I do not practice stress management techniques. _____ 12. I rarely take time for myself.

_____ 13. I have difficulty in keeping my feelings of anger and hostility under control. _____ 14. I have difficulty in managing time wisely. _____ 15. I often have difficulty sleeping. _____ 16. I am generally in a hurry.

_____ 17. I usually feel that there is not enough time in the day to accomplish what I

need to do.

_____ 18. I often feel that I am being mistreated by friends or associates. _____ 19. I do not regularly perform physical activity. _____ 20. I rarely get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Scoring and Interpretation:

Answering \management techniques.

Add your \life.

Number of \6 - 20 High stress 3 - 5 Average stress 0 - 2 Low stress

3 Warm-up Questions

(Direction:) Read the following short passage and discuss the questions.

―Now psychologists look at our view of time another way. They go into several countries and measure the pace of life. They measure the accuracy of bank clocks and how fast city dwellers walk. They time transactions in banks and post offices. They see how long people take to answer questions.

Japanese keep the fastest pace. Americans are a close second. Italians and Indonesians are at the bottom of the list. …

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…

Finally, we look at heart disease. That's tricky, because other factors are involved. Our heart's greatest enemy is tobacco. But heart disease also correlates with the pace we keep. Smokers who drive themselves are really asking for it.‖

1. What do you think keep people in some countries so busy? 2. What might be the acute/major problems facing people today?(Possible answers: 1. Tension—Physical, mental, emotional

2. Health problems—Physical, mental and emotional diseases 3. Ecological pollution/Rupture in ozone layer 4. Disturbed family relations 5. Violence and cruelty

6. Corruption / Dishonesty / Immorality 7. Drug-addiction

8. Neglect of law & order and ethical, moral and social discipline 9. Armaments/Nuclear weapons (Militarism)

3. Compared with people’s life in ancient times, what have new technology, the

information explosion and rising economy really brought to us?

4 Background Information

Richard Tomkins

Richard Tomkins, consumer industries editor of the Financial Times, where he has been a member of the editorial staff since 1983. (=Financial Times includes business and financial news and analysis. To know it better, log on the following website: http://news.ft.com/home/europe （ Technology

Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential condition of advanced, industrial civilization but also that the rate of technological change has developed its own momentum in recent centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increases geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems. These innovations tend to transform traditional cultural systems, frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus technology can be conceived as both a creative and a destructive process.

Stress in the Workplace

The problem of stress is not likely to go away. As the pace of change continues to increase, the demands upon us will also increase. We will have to make more decisions and make decisions faster; have to learn new skills, adapt to new situations, and cope with new threats. As a result we will find ourselves becoming more tired, making more mistakes, becoming more hostile, more anxious, more depressed, suffering more ill-health, and having more accidents.

If we are to survive in an ever-accelerating world, it is imperative that we learn to cope with the increasing pressures of change. If we do not, breakdowns and burnouts will become the norm.

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Global Reading

1. Part Division of the Text

Parts 1 2 3 4

Para（s） 1~11 12~18 19~23 24~28 Main Ideas The author gives three reasons why we feel so time-pressed today. Not every one is time-stressed, and in the case of Americans they have actually gained more free time in the past decade. The perception of time-famine has triggered a variety of reactions. The author pins down the crux (症结) of the problem and puts forward a remedy for the stress we feel. 2.Further Understanding

For Part 1 Scanning

(Directions:) Scan part one and find out three reasons why we feel so time-pressed today. And make a note of the transitional devices used there. 1. _____________________ 2. _____________________ 3. _____________________

(=1. Technology 2. Information explosion 3. Rising prosperity)

Transitional devices: 1. ___________ 2. ___________

(=1. …apart, …a second reason…(Para. 7) 2. There is another reason…(Para. 11) )

Blank-filling

(Directions:) Facts are valuable as evidence that enhances the persuasive force of an argumentative paper. In stating the first reason, the author lists a number of facts to try to convince the readers of the unfavorable effects technology has had on our lives. Now could you find some more supporting facts apart from the one given below, and put them down?

1) The motorcar brings more traffic problems than it promises to solve.

2) _________________________________________________________________ 3) _________________________________________________________________ 4) _________________________________________________________________ 5) _________________________________________________________________ 6) _________________________________________________________________

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1. n. pressure or worry resulting from mental or physical distress, difficult circumstances,

etc. (followed by on)

*Population growth and pollution place enormous stress on the world’s supply of usable water.

他的压力很大因为他的工作太多了。

(=He is under stress because he has too much work to do.) 2. vt. put stress, pressure, or strain on

*A person who is stressed typically has anxious thoughts and difficulty concentrating or remembering.

(=I must stress that what I say is confidential.) Collocation:

lay/put/place stress on/upon 着重于，把重点放在?上

11. (L. 43) prosperity: n. state of being economically successful; state of being successful

or rich

*War brings no prosperity to the great mass of ordinary citizens.

*Some people argue that globalization will bring the prosperity so far enjoyed only by wealthy industrialized nations to the developing countries.

oblige:

1. vt. 1) polite to do (someone) a favor

*Please oblige me by leaving me alone. 请给我一根火柴，好吗？

(=Could you oblige me with a match?)

2) force (someone to do something) (usu. used in the passive voice)

*In certain countries the law obliges parents to send their children to school.

(=He felt obliged to leave after such an unpleasant argument.)

2. vi. polite to do (someone) a favor

*We are happy to oblige. *Will you oblige with a song? (=请唱支歌，好吗？)

Collocation:

oblige by 答应做…使满足 oblige with 以…使满足

abundance: n. quantity that is more than enough; plenty

* Most milk consists of an abundance of the major nutrients needed by the body for good health.

(=She had an abundance of very black hair.) Collocation:

an abundance of 大量的

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in abundance 富有

*By the mid-15th century paper was available in abundance. of abundance 富裕的

*a life of abundance 富裕的生活

CF: abundance, plenty & profusion

这三个词都是名词，都有“大量”之意。 abundance 指数量很多，超过需要。例如：

*At the feast there was food and drink in abundance. 在盛宴上有丰富的食品和饮料。 *Coal is found in abundance here. 这里发现大量的煤。 plenty 指数量很多，超过期望。例如：

*She had plenty of imagination. 她想象力丰富。

*The occasion was celebrated with plenty of festivities. 欢度那个节日举行了许多庆祝活动。

profusion指数量很大，并含有过多之一。例如：

*He made promises in profusion. 他作的许诺过多。

*Seldom have I seen food and drink served in such profusion. 我很少见过供应这样丰富的食物和饮料。

confusion: n. bewilderment or embarrassment

*There is still confusion about the number of casualties.

为了避免混淆，各队穿了不同颜色的衣服。

(=To avoid confusion, the teams wore different colors.)

forecast:

1. v. tell in advance; predict

*The means of forecasting natural disasters, such as floods, and hurricanes, have improved immensely as science and technology have advanced. *May it turn out as I forecasted?

2. n. a statement of future events, based on some kind of knowledge or judgement

*The newspaper’s forecast that the senator(议员) would be elected again was right.

(=Did you listen to the weather forecast on the radio?)

CF: forecast, foretell & predict

这几个词都是动词，均有“预言”、“预示”、“预告”之意。 forecast 指根据已知可能的发展进程或将来的情况作出大概的预测，尤适用于天气预报．例

如：

*Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market. 专家们预测证券市场行情看涨。 *The weatherman was unable to forecast the weather more than three days in advance.

气象员不能预报出三天以后的天气情况。

foretell 是普通用语，原带有迷信色彩，表示预言注定的命运，但现在这种色彩逐渐消失，

主语可以是人或物。例如：

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*He foretells events form the flights of birds. 他能从鸟的飞行来预测事件。 *Who can foretell what will happen? 谁能预言将会发生什么事呢？

predict 较为正式，语气比forecast强烈，指从已知事实推断或根据自然定律断定未来的事

情，其准确度不一，可以和foretell互换，但主语只能是人。例如：

*The Chaldeans could predict eclipses. （古代巴比伦的）迦勒底人能预言日、月食。 *Who can predict how the elections will turn out? 谁能预测选举的结果将会怎样？

volunteer:

1. n. person who offers to do sth. without being compelled or paid

*Some students served as volunteers to help the old and disabled in the community in their spare time.

*The charity agency will recruit(征募) volunteers to build affordable housing for the poor.

2. v. offer one’s services or help without payment

*He volunteered to do whatever he could for them.

*When World War Two broke out, he volunteered for the Martine Corps. （二战爆发时，他以志愿兵身份参加海军陆战队。）

perception: n. way of seeing or understanding sth.；ability to notice and understand things

(=His perception is very good.)

*Aesthetics(美学) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the essence and perception of beauty and ugliness.

nurture: vt. care for and educate (a child); encourage the growth of (sth.);

nourish

*Parents want to know the best way to nurture and raise their child to adulthood. *The local government has taken measures to nurture the state-run factories. CF: nurture, feed & supply

这几个词都是动词，都有“供养”之意。

nurture 表示在幼儿、幼苗的成长过程中予以细心照料、保护。

feed 不仅表示喂养人、动物，实际上有时表示喂入嘴中，还表示给植物提供养分。广义上，它指为任何人或物提供所需外来养分。 supply 表示供给所需物品。

(Directions:) Fill in the blanks with the above words and change the form where necessary.

1. The farmer’s wife ______ cattle and sheep every morning. 2. The government ______ free books to schools. 3. These are the plants ______ in the greenhouse. 4. We want to ______ the new project, not destroy it. 5. He has a large family to ______.

6. He kept me well ______ with cups of coffee while I wrote the report.

(key: 1. feeds, 2. supplies, 3. nurtured, 4. nurture, 5. feed, 6. supplied

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distribution: n.

1) the way in which people, buildings, etc. are arranged over a large area *The study of animal distribution is called zoogeography.

*Enter a surname (last name) into the form below and you'll get a map of the United States showing the distribution of people with this surname.

2) the act of giving things to a large group of people or delivering goods to companies *Distribution of the goods is handled by local companies. *the distribution of mail Collocation:

normal distribution 正态分布

famine: n. (instance of) extreme scarcity of food in a region

*To eliminate famine and reduce malnutrition, attention needs to focus not only on food production but also on food distribution, consumption, and family planning. 世界上有些地区经常遭受饥荒。

(=Some parts of the world suffer regularly from famine.)

widespread: adj. found or distributed over a large area

*The landscape of the American West was dramatically altered during the 20th century as a result of the widespread construction of dams along major rivers. (=There was a widespread belief that the newspaper had not told the truth.)

provoke: vt. cause (sth.) to occur or arouse (a feeling, etc.)

*People’s concern over genetically modified food has provoked a global debate that

shows no sign of ending soon.

*They argued that NATO enlargement could provoke Russian hostility and lead to regional instability.

CF: provoke, arouse & awaken

这几个词都是名词，都有“引起”、“致使?反应”之意。 provoke 意思是“激怒”、“惹怒”、“致使”、“迫使”，尤指某事或话语使某人或某物生气、

发怒而使其采取行动。例如：

*If you provoke the dog, it will attack you. 如果你去招惹那条狗，它会咬你。

*His impudence provoked her into slapping his face. 他的鲁莽气得她打了他一耳光。 arouse 意思是“引起”、“唤醒”，动作的意味较弱，表示使某人从睡眠状态中醒来或鼓励某人由不积极状态变为积极状态。例如：

*My mother aroused me from sleep. 我母亲把我从睡梦中唤醒了。

*Of all the planets, Mars always arouses the greatest curiosity. 在所有的行星中，火星一直引起人们最大的好奇心。

awaken 常出现在被动语态中，意思是“被唤醒”，一般用在较正式的场合；它还常用在比

喻中，意思是“觉醒”。例如：

*He was awakened by the singing of birds in the trees. 他被林中鸟儿的鸣叫声惊醒了。

*The oppressed people are awakening everywhere. 各地的被压迫人民在觉醒。

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Collocation:

provoke sb. to do sth. 挑动某人做某事

a variety of: a lot of a particular type of things that are different from each other *The college library has a wide variety of books.

*China has a great variety of mineral resources.

streamline: vt. make (sth.) more efficient and effective

*Corporate mergers can result in job losses because management combines and streamlines departments within the newly merged companies. 他们把赛车改成流线型，以使它行驶的更快。

(=They streamlined the racing car so that it moved even faster.)

domestic: adj.

1) of the home, household or family

*The cat is a domestic animal in many countries.

*Police and hospital records indicate that the majority of victims of domestic violence are women.

2) of or inside a particular country

*GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. (=This is China’s domestic affairs.)

spring up: appear, develop, grow, etc. quickly or suddenly

*New buildings are springing up everywhere.

*Fast food restaurants are springing up all over the city.

divert: vt. turn (sb./sth.) aside from a course, direction, etc. into another

*The money that might be spent on cities has been diverted into other projects. 由于交通事故，车辆行人绕道而行。

(=Traffic is being diverted from the main road because of the accident.)

arise: vi. appear; become evident

*A financial crisis has arisen in the multinational corporation. (His illness arose from malnutrition.)

shortage: n. lack of sth. needed; deficiency

*There is a world shortage of fuel.

*The world is facing the prospect of water shortages caused by population growth, uneven(不平均) supplies of water, pollution, and other factors.

be doomed to: (sth.) be certain to happen, and you can do nothing to prevent it

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*The whole project was doomed to failure.

*His crippled(残废的) leg doomed him to long periods of unemployment. Pattern:

be doomed to sth. 注定要遭受?的 be doomed to do sth. 注定要遭受?的

*He is doomed to eke out a miserable life.

4 After Reading

1. Vocabulary

Useful Expressions

1. 吞噬 eat into

2. 困于交通堵塞 stuck in traffic jams

3. 越洋购物旅行 the transatlantic shopping expedition 4. 在大多数情况下 in most cases 5. 使?摆脱 free sb. from

6. 个人的穿着打扮 personal grooming 7. 处理软件故障 fix software glitches 8. 除去技术发展 technology apart

9. 信息爆炸 the information explosion 10. 感到时间紧迫 feel time-pressed

11. 从世界各个角落 from every corner of the world 12. 在整个世界学术界 in the whole world of scholarship 13. 在?的推动下 driven on by 14. 无休止的选择 endless choice 15. 适用于 apply to

16. 预测小组 forecasting group

17. 分配不均匀 be unevenly distributed 18. 抚养子女 nurture offspring 19. 做有报酬的工作 take paying jobs 20. 家务杂活 household chores 21. 越做越大的市场 a growth market 22. 家政服务 concierge services 23. 更充分的利用 make better use of 24. 工业革命 industrial revolution 25. 注定 be doomed to

Scanning

1. (Directions:) Scan the text, circle all phrases containing a hyphen, and then explain their meanings and how they are formed.

1. ever-increasing quantities of time (Para. 1) the quantities of time increasing all the

time

2. horse-drawn carriage (Para. 3) the carriage drawn by the horse

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3. time-consuming journeys (Para. 4) journeys consuming time

4. the laptop-on-the-beach syndrome (Para. 6) the syndrome caused by going to the

beach with a laptop

5. feel time-pressed (Para. 7) feel the press caused by the lack of time

6. ever-larger quantities of goods and services (Para. 11) the quantities of goods and

services that become larger and larger

7. be time-starved (Para. 12) be lack of time

8. the London-based Henley Center (Para. 14) the Henley Center with its

headquarter located in London

9. be self-imposed (Para. 14) be imposed by one’s own

10. hour-by-hour logs (Para. 15) logs written at different hours 11. the mid-1960s (Para. 16) the middle of the 1960s 12. empty-nesters (Para. 17) people without offsprings

13. pre-school children (Para. 17) children before entering the schools 14. on-line retailers (Para. 21) retailers shopping on line

15. work-life debate(Para. 22) debate on ―which to choose, work or life‖

16. long-hours culture (Para. 22) the tradition to increase the working hours

17. family-friendly working policies (Para. 22) the policies used in the working places to

treat employees in a friendly way like members in a family

18. the cell-phone (Para. 28) the mobile phone

2. (Directions:) make words with the following prefixes or patterns. 1. ever- (=ever-green, ever-lasting, ever-more…) 2. self- (=self-control, self-made, self-educated…) 3. pre- (=pre-history, pre-mature, pre-recorded…)

4. adj. + n + -ed ( blue-eyed, simple-mined, left-handed…)

5. adv. + v + -ed (well-informed, much-used, poorly-dressed…)

Sentence Translation

1. And as each invention arrives, it eats further into our time.

(=而每一项新发明问世，就进一步吞噬我们的光阴。)

2. Instantaneity rules. Pollsters use electronic devices during political speeches to

measure opinions on the wing, before they have been fully formed; fast-food restaurants add express lanes.

(=即时行为主宰着一切。人们发表政治演说时，听众尚未形成看法，民意调查人员就利用电子装置进行当场测定；快餐店增设了快速通道。)

3. In so many households the TV just stays on, like a noisy light bulb, while the life

of the family passes back and forth in its shimmering glow.

(=在许多家庭里，电视机就一直开着，如同一个发出噪声的灯泡，人们在其微弱的闪光里来回忙碌着。)

4. A sense of well-being comes with this saturation of parallel pathways in the brain.

We choose mania over boredom every time. \

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for slower,‖ points out the historian Stephen Kern.

(=随着脑海中充斥着的这种多路并进状态而来的是一种幸福感。我们总是宁要狂热地工作也不要无聊乏味地生活。―人类从未，也永远不会选择放慢速度，‖ 历史学家斯蒂芬 · 克恩说。)

5. 如今，这些大脑休想容纳下一天中产生的新信息中的小小一部分。

(=Today, those heads could not hope to accommodate more than a tiny fraction of the information generated in a single day.)

6. 除不平等外，时间不够用的感觉也普遍存在，并引起了各种反应。

(=Inequalities apart, the perception of the time famine is widespread, and has provoked a variety of reactions.)

7. 你比过去更常听到人们早早退休，放弃压力大的工作去从事工作时间短的工作。

(=You hear more about people taking early retirement or giving up high pressure jobs in favour of occupations with shorter working hours.)

8. 更有效的解决方式或许在于去理解这一问题，而不是回避这一问题。

(=A more successful remedy may lie in understanding the problem rather than evading it.)

Dictation

Students Offer Insight into Exam-time Stress

______ (1) week means different things to different students. For some students, exams are no sweat (不费力地). First-year business student Joe Tirpak said, \exams stress me out because I'm ______ (2) I'm as ______ (3) as I can be.\

For others, ______(4) is the key to ______(5) their exam jitters(神经过敏). Second-year marine science student Zac Duval said, \helped me know how to ______ (6) my time and be well-prepared.\

Then there's the ______(7) of students on ______(8) who acquire that sweaty, wild-eyed look from spending ______(9) hours hunched (弓起背部) over a book under a hot desk lamp. First-year sports management student Steve McMenamin said he's usually one of those ______ (10) students. \my porch(走廊) studying,\

The problem of stress is not a new one.

(=1. Finals 2. confident 3. well-prepared 4. experience 5. getting over 6. schedule 7. majority 8. campus 9. sleepless 10. stressed-out

Discussion

(Directions:) Read the short passage and discuss the following questions in small groups.

Suffering by Desire

Few of us would like to agree that we desire to suffer. Yet, it is clear that if we had no desires, there would be little or no suffering (excluding the suffering due to unfulfilled true needs).

Whenever we desire something, and circumstances make it difficult or impossible to

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fulfill that desire, we get frustrated and suffer. That is called stress.

What motivates us to desire?

We are motivated to desire by the elusion (逃避) or the delusion (错觉) that the grass is greener on the other side of our dream.

As the old sages say: By Greed, Fear, Anger, Envy, and Ignorance.

We all want to improve the Quality of our Life, that means for most of us: More material wealth, more security, keeping up with the Joneses, and whatever we ―think‖ will help us. Unfortunately, our thinking is not always clear. What we think will improve our life, may turn out worse than we had it before, because we did not ―think‖ through the implications of having our wish fulfilled. The consequences of our actions usually come and hit us when we don't expect it. Again, we suffer due to our own ignorance, and inability to plan ahead and to foresee what will happen.

1. What is your attitude toward desire? 2. What motivates us to desire?

3. Put forward your opinion about heat of cars and houses purchase among young people.

Talk about the Pictures

Writing Practice

1. A brief introduction

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, and a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. Here are some tips for deleting wordiness and achieving conciseness of your writing.

1. Delete all-purpose nouns such as ―case‖, ―fact‖, ―field‖, ―instance‖;

2. Revise roundabout expressions such as ―the question as to whether‖,

―there is no doubt but that‖, ―this is a matter that‖, ―at the same time that‖;

3. Cut redundant expression – expression that repeat the meaning of

another;

4. Remove deadwood – needless words, phrases, and sentences that impede

the smooth flow of language – to create a straightforward style;

5. Put statements in positive form. Use the word ―not‖ as a means of denial

or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion;

6. Avoid the passive voice which often ―hides‖ the real subject of the

sentence and creates unnecessary wordiness;

7. Avoid a succession of loose sentences, especially the sentences

consisting of two co-ordinate clauses, the second introduced by a conjunction or relative.

2. An example Railroad travel in Spain is a nightmare which tourists should know about before embarking on a voyage. Each compartment holds eight people, which

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usually results in a conglomeration of soldiers, tourists, famers, and villagers. Within minutes after the train pulls out of the station, the compartments become saturated with the mixed odor of wine, various foods, and sweat. Chicken and dogs casually stroll the narrow passageways. Drunkards and perverts roam through te cars shouting obscenities and pinching the oversized rear ends of standing or passing females. Travelers suffer silently, passing the dreary hours by playing tic-tac-toe and poker.

3. Homework

(Directions:) For this part, you are required to write a composition entitled

Technology: Blessing Or Curse in no less than 120 words. Try to follow the 7 tips to make your composition concise and impressive.

Technology: Blessing Or Curse

We live in a technologically advanced world, where more and more electronic gadgets are going wireless. We have mobile phones, wireless computers and even mobile television. Is technological development more of a blessing or a curse to mankind?

It is obvious to know how much technology has helped us in our daily lives. Last time, people had to walk miles just to go to school or work. Thanks to the advancement of technology, people now can either take buses or drive cars to reach their destination.If you look around, technology is almost everywhere! We can send email to our friends rather than the old fashioned letters which take so long to reach the receivers. We can easily message to our parents to reassure them of our safety or search for information needed for our school projects with just a click on the button.

Despite the benefits, there are many problems caused by technology. People nowadays have relied on technology too much. Teenagers complain when they could not use a computer for a day. Parents complain when the computers crash and that they did not save the file they were working on.

In conclusion, technology is more of a blessing than a curse. It gives us choices which we do not have before and has improved the human living conditions. Technology may bring us harm but that should not deter us from improving it.

Proverbs and Quotations

1. The greater wealth is contentment with a little. 人生最大的财富是知足。

2. Too much curiosity lost paradise. 太多好奇心，逐出天堂门。

3. Better a little fire to warm us, than a great fire to burn us. 宁要小火烘烤，不要大火烧焦。/凡事过则比伤。

4. We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet

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Unit 6

parallel: adj. having the same distance between each other at every point *Draw a pair of parallel lines. 希尔路和米尔路两路平行。

(=Hill Road is parallel to Mill Road.)

opt: vi. decide to do sth.; choose *John opted for early retirement. 他不参加健康保险计划。

(=He opted out of the health insurance plan.)

\

like an Olympic endurance event: the everydayathon,\Walljasper in the Utne Reader.

Translate the sentence into Chinese.

(=“程度已经如此严重，我的生活排满了各种各样的活动，感觉就像是在进行奥运会耐

力项目比赛：每日马拉松赛，”杰伊·沃加斯泼在《优涅读者》杂志上坦言。)

endurance: n. state or power of enduring

*Running a marathon is a test of human endurance. 疼痛难以忍受。

(=The pain was bad beyond endurance.)

confess: vi. acknowledge; admit

*I've got something to confess — I ate the pie.

基督教会的成员们向牧师忏悔那些他们曾经做过的错事，以便能洗刷他们的罪恶。

(=Members of some Christian churches confess to their priest about the things they have done wrong so that their guilt can be removed.)

If you make haste, you probably make it in the technology-driven world.

Sociologists have also found that increasing wealth and increasing education bring a sense of tension about time. We believe that we possess too little of it.

Paraphrase the sentence.

(=If you save time and do things quickly, you are likely to succeed in the technology-driven world. According to sociologists, the increasing wealth and increasing education make us feel so time-pressed that we always think we have too little time to get things done. )

possess: vt. have or own (sth.)

*Ruth possesses great knowledge in her field and a pleasing personality. 他是位极有天赋的作家，具有用通俗的语言表达复杂概念的才能。

(=He is an extremely gifted writer who possesses the talent of turning difficult concepts into words that everyone can understand.)

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Unit 6

no wonder: it is not surprising that

*No wonder you have got a headache, given the amount you drank last night. “她没得到那份工作。”“难怪她有点举止失常。”

(=\

run the risk of: be in a situation in which sth. bad could happen *If you tell him the truth, you run the risk of hurting his feelings. 信任他你冒了极大的风险。

(=You’re running a big risk in trusting him.)

temporal: adj. of or denoting time

*We need both spatial and temporal dimensions to make sense of the universe we perceive.

越来越多的人依靠时间界限而非传统的空间界限来区分家庭与工作。

(=A growing number of people rely on temporal boundaries to make the distinction between home and work instead of the traditional use of space.)

crash down: fall noisily, heavily and often dangerously

*A portion of a bridge supporting a water pipe crashed down on a passing commuter train.

我还没来得及喘一口气，另一个巨浪重重地打在我身上。

(=Before I could gasp for air, another huge wave crashed down on me. )

suspend: vt. cause to stop for a period; render temporarily ineffective

*The ferry service has been suspended for the day because of bad weather. 建筑物的屋顶上用绳子悬挂着一个木平台，建筑工人在上面干活。

(=The builders worked on wooden platforms, suspended by ropes from the roof of the building.)

3. Comprehension Task

1. Dialogue

People hold different attitudes towards living at breakneck speed in the technology-driven world. Now you are required to get a partner and make up a dialogue between Woolf, who believes that we should break the busy habit and pay more attention to our quality of life, and Anderson, who maintains that the leisure time at the beach on the sunny day brings him distress and sense of guilty instead of joy. The dialogue should cover the following aspects:

(1) current situation of people’s pace of life;

(2) the reasons why Woolf thinks it necessary to stop living mechanically and

unconsciously and take time to relax;

(3) the reasons why Anderson prefers a busy life to the leisure time; (4) conflicts between Woolf and Anderson; (5) the settlement of the conflicts

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Unit 6

2. Listening and discussion Fill in the blanks.

Listen to the passage carefully and fill in the blanks.

1. It has been said that the Americans are slaves to ___________ and many of them

have a rather acute sense of ___________. (=nothing but the clock; the shortness of each lifetime)

2. A foreigner's first impression of the U.S. is likely to be that ___________,

___________. (=everyone is in a rush; often under pressure)

3. It’s no wonder to see others in public eating-places waiting for you to finish so they

can ___________ within the time allowed. (=be served and get back to work)

4. Americans value time highly and they resent ___________. (=someone else wasting

it beyond a certain appropriate point)

Retell the story

Listen to the passage again and retell the story in class.

Discussion

Form groups of 4 students in each and have a discussion based on the following questions.

1. Do you agree with Americans on the statement ―If you not moving ahead, you are

falling behind‖? Why or why not?

2. Can you list evidences to show that Americans save time carefully?

3. Do you think the time-conscious Americans should slow down their pace of life?

Why?

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