New Horizon College EnglishBook Ⅱ

Unit 7 Section A:

Lighten Your Load and Save Your Life

Contents

I. Background Information

II. Pre-reading Activities

III. Text Analysis– Structure

IV. Intensive reading

V. Writing skill

VI. Exercises

I. Background Information

1.Dr.Robert S. Eliot, the author of the book

2.The University of Nebraska: The university has four campuses. It's main is located in Lincoln, where colleges of arts and sciences, agriculture, education, architecture, engineering, and technology, business administration, home economics, journalism, and law are housed.

3.Benjamin Franklin, a famous American of the 1700’s best known for experiments with electricity and nature, using kites.

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II. Pre-reading ActivitiesListen to the short passage twice and answer questions

Q1. What causes stress? Reference key: Fear, uncertainty, doubt and lack of

control.Q2. What are the NICE factors? Why are they

important? Reference key: New, interesting, challenging

experiences are NICE factors./ To relax and take control.

Q3. How do we follow Ben Franklin’s example? Reference key: Writing down the major goals you

want to achieve in your life.

Script Health is one of our most precious gifts. We s

hould know how stress, out of control, can kill and then we are given some advice we can use to help us take charge of our reactions to life events. We know how it is possible to work so hard and long, that work seems like a drug which controls our lives.

Taking care of our health so that we can live our lives fully is a lesson we need to learn well early in life.

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III. Text Analysis-- Structure

Part I (Paras.1-7) The relation between stress and health discovered by Dr. Robert S. Eliot.

Part II (Paras. 8-11): The roots of stress.

Part III (Paras. 12-20) : The ways of lightening the load.

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IV. Intensive reading

Part 1 ( Para 1-7):Q1:According to Dr. Robert S. Eliot, what shoul

d you do if you don’t want to break your heart?

You should learn to take charge of your lives and recognize there are many things beyond your control.

Q2:For those who are called “hot reactors”, what may be the result of being tense?

Being tense may cause tremendous and rapid increases in their blood pressure.

Q3: What main factors, according to Eliot, cause harmful levels of stress?

Fear, uncertainty and doubt, together with the lack of control.

1.If you often feel angry and overwhelmed, like the stress in your life is spinning out of control, (Para. 1)

overwhelm v 1). cover (sth./sb.) completely or cause to feel

a sudden strong feeling They were overwhelmed by sadness when thei

r baby died. 婴儿死时他们悲痛欲绝。 2). defeat 胜过，击败 The policeman overwhelmed the robber by hol

ding his arm. 警察抓住抢劫者的胳膊制服了他。

spin v. 1).(cause to) move round and round quickly

（使）迅速地旋转 I feel faint and the room is spinning. 我感到晕晕乎乎的，觉得房间在旋转。 2). make (thread) by twisting 纺线，纺纱，纺织In the story of Sleeping Beauty, the princess found an old woman spinning. 在《睡美人》的故事中，公主发现有一个老妇在纺纱。

n. [C, U] the action of turning or spinning movement 旋转I hit something on the road, which sent the car into a spin. 我开车撞到了路上的什么东西，使得车子直打转。

2.He attributes some of the cause to stress. (para. 6)

attribute vt.~ sth. to sb. / sth: regard sth. as belonging to, caused by or produced by sb./sth. 把……归因于，把……归咎于We attribute our success to being in the right place at the right time. 我们把成功归因于天时地利。

n.[C] a quality regarded as a natural part of sb./sth. 特性，属性Patience is one of the most important attributes in a teacher. 耐心是教师最重要的品质之一。

Part 2 ( Para. 8-11):

Q: What kinds of people does the author mention to illustrate “the root of their stress is anger”?

One kind is professional women, the other kind is people who have no “compass in life”.

3.Perfectionists cannot delegate. (para 9) delegate vt. 1. 授权，委托权限

The job had to be delegated to an assistant. 那项工作只得交给一位助手去办理。2. 选派代表A group of four teachers were delegated to represent the school at the meeting. 由 4 名教师组成的小组已被派去代表学校参加会议。

n. [C] 代表Delegates have voted for this suggestion. 代表们已经投票赞同这项建议。

4.If you stir in your own juice with no safety outlet…(para 10)

stir v.1.move (sth.) in a round motion through a liquid or m

ixture 搅和，搅拌，拌匀Slowly add the flour, stirring until completely blended. 慢慢地加进面粉，搅拌到完全混合为止。

2. excite (a person or his feelings, etc.) 使激动，惹起，激起

The story stirred the boy‘s imagination. 那故事激起了男孩子的想像力。

stir

n. 1. [C] the action of stirring 搅和，搅拌Could you give the salad a quick stir? 你能把沙拉拌一下吗？

2. [U] excitement; fuss 激动；骚乱，动乱The news caused quite a stir in the village. 这条消息在村子里引起了很大的骚动。

Part 3 (Para 12-20)

Q1: What new factors does Eliot recommend in order to calm yourselves down?

The NICE factors– new, interesting, challenging experiences.

Q2: What does the example of Ben Franklin show?

The example shows that you can’t fulfill all your great ambitions, so you have to set your priorities.

Q3: From Eliot’s viewpoint, how do we face all the problems and difficulties in our daily lives

We can’t complain or escape. We have to learn how to deal with them.

5.Eliot recommends taking charge of your life. (para 13)

recommend vt 1. suggest; advise

建议，劝告The doctor recommended that she should stop smoking as soon as possible. 医生建议她尽快戒烟。

2. praise sb. as suitable for a purpose or for a post 推荐，举荐The headmaster agreed to recommend the teachers' suggestions to the government. 校长同意把教师的建议向政府推荐

6.…being stimulated intellectually and remaining even-tempered ---he won't good at that. (Para 15)

stimulate vt. make sb./sth. more active

刺激，激励，激发

Praise always stimulates him to further efforts. 表扬总是激励他更进一步努力。The book was trying to stimulate discussion of the problem of global warming. 这书试图激起人们对全球变暖问题的讨论。

temper

n.1. 情绪He is in a bad temper. 他心情不好。Ask her when she‘s in a better temper. 等她心情好一点的时候再问她。2. 性情，脾气I admire people with an even temper. 我羡慕那些性情平和的人。

even-tempered 性情平和的 mild-tempered 温和的hot- / quick- / short-tempered 脾气急躁的sweet-tempered性情温柔的moody-tempered 喜怒无常的good-tempered 好脾气的bad- / ill-tempered 坏脾气的

　 7.….and set your priorities… (para 16) priority n

① [C] the thing that is (regarded as) more important than others 优先处理的事You must decide what your priorities are. 你必须确定先做什么。

② [U] the state or right of coming before others in position or time 居先，优先（权）Official business takes priority over personal requests.

公事应放在私事之上。I have priority over you in my demand. 我的要求比你的优先。

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V. Writing skill

--a paragraph of cause-and-effect

Task: Write a paragraph showing a cause-and-effect relation.

a. Topic:

My friend has become a workaholic

b. Topic:

Driven out of the store

a. Topic: My friend has become a workaholic

Cause: My friend has a strong need to prove himself good enough.

Effect: He works a day of 26 hours.

b. Topic: Driven out of the store Cause: One day my friend and I went

downtown to shop in our old-fashioned and not ironed clothes. We went to one of the large upper-scale stores.

Effect: Some children stared, pointed, and laughed; adults gave us a long, doubting looks. Clerks followed our track to watch our every move.

Sample writingMy friend has become a workaholic

My friend Jack has become a workaholic. I think that he has too strong a need to prove himself. According to him, good enough is never good enough. While others want only to finisn a few things, he aims to finish all of them by himself. Also, he feels guilty if he spends his time with his family and friends, playing with the dog or going fishing. As a result, he wishes that he could have a day of 26 hours or even more. He has become a workaholic whether he likes it or not.

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VI. Exercises

1.Combine the sentences with the structure the more…, the more…

2.Rewrite each of the sentences, applying the principle of end weight.

3.Story summary.

1.Combine the sentences with structure the more…, the more…

Model:

People get hot, physiologically, with mental stress. They are likely to blow apart with some heart problem.

The hotter people get, physiologically, with mental stress, the more likely they are to blow apart with some heart problem

More practice

(1)I often practice. I play well.

The more often I practice, the better I play.

(2) We got up high in the air. It became colder it became.

The higher we got up in the air, the colder it became.

2.Rewrite each of the sentences, applying the principle of end weight

Model: Dr. Robert S. Eliot, author of a new book t

itled From Stress to Strength: How to Lighten Your Load and Save Your Life, says so.

So says Dr. Dobert S. Eliot, author of a new book titled From Stress to Strength: How to Lighten Your Load and Save Your Life.

More practice

(1) So the echo-sounding device, now in general use in ships, was born.

So was born the echo-sounding device, now in general use in ships.

(2) A period of revolutionary change from one to the other lies between the old and new economic program.

Between the old and the new economic program lies a period of revolutionary change from one to the other.

3.Story summary

cloze

The End