Changes in the Way We Live

Unit 1

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Outline

• Warm-up Activity• Cultural Knowledge• Key Words• Text Comprehension• Sentences & Structure• Exercises• Homework & Presentation

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Warm-up Activity• Please list the changes in people’s

values and belief, changes in people’s attitudes towards work and the changes in the family pattern.

• Why do so many migrant workers move to the cities?

• Why do city people buy apartments in the suburbs and enjoy traveling the remote countryside?

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Mr. Doherty Builds his Dream Life

• Write and live in a farm.

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Cultural KnowledgeE(lwyn) B(rooks) White (1899-1985):

Leading American essayist and literary stylist of his time. White was known for his crisp, graceful, relaxed style.

White's stories ranged from satire to children's fiction. While he often wrote from the perspective of slightly ironic onlooker.

He was also a sensitive spokesman for the freedom of the individual. Among his most enduring essays is ‘Once More to the Lake.’

A Subtreasury of American Humour, 1941 (ed. with Katherine Sergeant Angell)

The Elements of Style, 1959 (with W. Strunk, Jr.) Essays of E.B. White, 1977

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Cultural KnowledgeIvy League It refers to the eight long-established colleges and

universities in USA with prestigious academic and social reputations. Its members go as follows:

1)  Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; 2)  Columbia University in New York City; 3)  Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; 4) Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire; 5) Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; 6)  University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; 7)  Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey; 8)  Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

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Brown University

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Columbia University

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Cornell University

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Dartmouth College

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University of Pennsylvania

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Princeton University

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Yale University

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If you want to know more about these schools, you are welcomed to log on to their websites:

Brown University www.brown.edu

Columbia University www.columbia.edu

Cornell University www.cornell.edu

Dartmouth College www.dartmouth.edu

Harvard University www.harvard.edu

University of Pennsylvania www.upenn.edu

Princeton University www.princeton.edu

Yale University www.yale.edu

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Cultural KnowledgeSports Illustrated This is a popular US sports magazine

published each week by Time Inc (Incorporated), part of Time Warner. It first appeared in 1954, and is read mainly by men.

 

Individual Retirement Account (IRA)This is a US government program that

allows people to put part of their income into special bank accounts. No tax has to be paid on this money until they retire.

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Cultural KnowledgeInsurance

Insurance policy: A written contract or certificate of insurance.

Insurance provider: 1) the financial stability of the insurance company; 2) the price of policies; 3) details of coverage and service.

Most insurance falls into four main categories: 1)   property and casualty ( 意外伤害） ; 2)   life; 3)   health; 4)   old-age and unemployment.

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Key Words - supplement

• Abbr. sup., supp., suppl.

• N. Something added to complete a thing, or extend or strengthen the whole.

• Eg. 她服用维生素片剂以补充食谱中的营养 .

• A separate section inserted into a periodical, such as a newspaper.

• Eg. 我喜欢这期杂志因为它有彩色增刊 .

• V. To provide or form a supplement to. • Eg. 我教钢琴以补贴家用 .

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Key Words - spray• V. To discharge sprays of liquid.• Eg. 果农们在果树上喷砂了大量的农药． insecticide

• N. • 喷雾器 A sprayer ; device that spray liquid onto the surface of an object in ato

mized form using air pressure ; spray

• 喷涂 spray paint ; spray

• 喷漆 spray paint ; spray lacquer

• 喷发胶 A hair spray ; to spray hair spray on one's hair in order to fix a hair style .

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Key Words - pursue• V. To follow to overtake or capture Eg. 警察在高速公路上追赶被盗的车辆 .

• To strive to gain or accomplish: Eg. 她决定在获得学士学位之後继续深造 .

• To court: Eg. 我们班长天生丽质，被很多男生追求．

• N. 　 Pursuit Eg. 每个人都有自己追求幸福的权利．

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Key Words - digest• V. To convert (food) into simpler chemical compou

nds that can be absorbed and assimilated by the body.

Eg. 没有消化酶 (digestion enzymes ) 的帮助 , 人的胃就无法消化食物。

• To absorb or assimilate mentally. apprehend ; understand ; comprehend ; grasp ; follo

w ; get

• N. short condensed account; summary Eg. A digest of the week's news Reader 's Digest

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Key Words - generate

• To produce or bring sth into being. create ; produce ; bring about ; coin; give rise to; lead to; cause ; arouse ; create ; evoke…

Eg. 种族偏见一定会引起的仇恨． 我国已经能够利用潮汐来发电了。 　

• To engender (offspring); procreate; born generation

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Key Words - profit• An advantageous gain or return; benefit. Eg. 我曾为一个非赢利组织工作过 1 年。

• Financial gain Eg. The company's profit showed a gain of 10% last

year.

• make / gain a profit;• a fly 's head of profit ; • a petty profit; • net profit;• fat profit• ……

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Text ComprehensionPart Division of the Text

Parts Paras Main Ideas

1

2

3

1~3

4-7

8-11

The writer views his life in the country as a self-reliant and satisfying one.

Life in the country is good yet sometimes very hard.

After quitting his job, the writer’s income was reduced, but he and his family can manage to get by.

4 12-15A tolerance for solitude and a lot of energy have made it possible for the family to enjoy their life in the country.

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Text Comprehension

Part 1

Para 1 Where does the author’s contentment come from?

Para 2 What kind of life is a self-reliant ?Para 3 What kind of life is satisfying ?

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American ideals: civil liberties, balance of powers, environ

mental protection, cultural diversity, equal economic opportunity and spiritual freedom

Key words: self-made success, value of

manual work; individuality, nature

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Sentences & Structure• I’m not in E. B. White’s class as a writer or

in my neighbors’ league as a farmer, but I am getting by.

• Our hens keep us in eggs, with… Our bees provides us with honey…and we cut enough wood to just about make it through the heating season.

• In the summer we canoe on… In the winter we ski and skate. We love the smell of the earth warning and… We watch for hawks in the sky and deer in the cornfields.

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Text ComprehensionPart 2

Para 4 Please describe the tough farm life by the words listed below:

30 below, hauling firewood up the river

95 above, cultivate corn; weed strawberries; kill chickens;

recently, retile the back roof

soon, make some long-overdue improvements

later this month, spray the orchard; paint the barn; plant the garden; clean the hen house

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Text ComprehensionPart 2

Para 5 What does the writer do in between the chores?

What does his wife do?

FreelancerDemanding scheduleHousehold routine

There is, as the old saying goes, not rest for the wicked, on the place like this—and not for the virtuous either.

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Text Comprehension

Part 2Para 6 A specific example of their hard but

happy life.

Para 7 What are the two floods the spring brings?

The river overflowed, covering our lands for weeks.

The growing season swamp us under wave after wave of produce. -- metaphor

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Text Comprehension

Part 3Para 8 The second year on the farm I

quit my job and start to freelance.

At that point the timing was terrible.Will there ever be a better time?Decidedly/definitely/undoubtedly/absolutely

NO.

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Text ComprehensionPart 3

Para 9 Achievements in writing life.

There have been a few anxious moments since then, but on balance things have gone much better than we had any right to expect.

On balance: on the whole, in a word. • keep one’s balance / lose one’s balance• strike a balance 力求折中• in the balance 不确定，成败或安危未定 imbalance

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Text ComprehensionPart 3

Para 10 Our usual expenses: How do we managed our life.

Generate enough income.Handle mortgage payments and family expenses. What are the expenses we have to cover?

Aside from / except for / in addition to /apart fromSet aside / put aside / reserve / save

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Text Comprehension

Part 3

Para 11 Their entertainment life. – without lowering our standards of living.

Dine outAttend the opera and balletCombine vacations with story assignments

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Text ComprehensionPart 4

Para 12-13 What are the special quality required for life on a farm?

a tolerance for solitude. a lot of energy.

On such a tight budget.• sit tight / hold tight / sleep tight • a tight fit / a tight race / a tight smile / a tight market /

a tight schedule

Federal /household /municipal /national budget

cut/reduce a budgetexceed a budgetbalance a budget

draw up a budget submit a budget

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Text Comprehension

Part 4

Para 14 What will the future be?

Maybe quite a while; maybe not… – leave with a feeling of sorrow but also

with a sense of pride. – made a profit.

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Text Comprehension

Part 4

Para 15 Restate their purpose to come to the farm life.

We come here to improve the quality of our lives.

Useful Expressions

1. 过得去 get by

2. 寻觅心灵的满足 find contentment

3. 自力更生的生活 4. 艰苦的生活 a tough life

5. 日常的家务 household routine

a self-reliant life

6. 正如老话说的那样 as the old saying goes

7. 温馨快乐每一分钟 Love / enjoy every minute of sth.

8. 过冬 get through the winter

9. 常青藤联合会学校 Ivy League schools

10. 带着……的祝福 with sb.’s blessings

Useful Expressions

11. 总的来说 on balance

12. 担任全职工作 be employed full time

13. 贷款按揭 mortgage payments

14. 至于…… When it comes to …

15. 除……以外 apart from …

Useful Expressions

16. 外出吃饭dine out

17. 生活水准 /水平standard of living / living standard

18. 弥补收入差额 make up the difference in income

19. 听歌剧看芭蕾演出attend the opera and ballet

20. 耐得住寂寞a tolerance for solitude

Useful Expressions

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• In hot water ?

• in deep water?

• keep its head above water?

• it is /the/ water over the dam?

• hold water?

• throwing cold water?

Words and Their Stories

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Homework & Presentation 1

• P 20. Structure 1. 2• P 22. Translation

• Every Group please get ready for a duty report on the changes of our moral values.

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Homework & Presentation 2

• Preview of Unit 2• P 14 Vocabulary 1. 2.

• Give an introduction on the civil rights movement.

• Give an introduction on the ‘underground railroad’.

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•Thank You!