br-main 1. an english song -- dear diary 2. questionnaire 3. warm-up questions before reading listen...

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1. An English Song -- Dear Diary

2. Questionnaire

3. Warm-up Questions

Before Reading

Listen to the Song

Questions and Answers

4. Background Information

Richard Tomkins

Technology

Stress in the Workplace


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Listen to the Song

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

2. What does the singer think about how other people spend their time?

3. Can we infer what attitude the singer takes towards the pace of life today?

He treats it as a friend, to whom he can pour out his inmost feelings.

He thinks they spend their days in a rush, so much so that they have no time for each other or for themselves.

It is unwise for people to spend days in a rush.


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Questionnaire

Purpose:

Directions:

Scoring and Interpretation:

Number of "Yes" Answers Stress Category:


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Questionnaire

Purpose:

Directions:


Number of "Yes" Answers Stress Category:

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


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If you answer “yes” to any of the following stress index questions, just click the sentence.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9.

I have frequent arguments.I often get upset at work.I often have neck and/or shoulder pains due to anxiety/stress.I often get upset when I stand in long lines.I often get angry when I listen to the local, national, or world news or read the newspaper.I do not have a sufficient amount of money for my needs.I often get upset when driving.At the end of a workday, I often feel stress-related fatigue.I have at least one constant source of stress/anxiety in my life (e.g., conflict with boss, neighbor, mother-in-law, etc.).I often have stress-related headaches.10.


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If you answer “yes” to any of the following stress index questions, just click the sentence.

11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

18. 19.20. I rarely get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

I do not practice stress management techniques.I rarely take time for myself.I have difficulty in keeping my feelings of anger and hostility under control. I have difficulty in managing time wisely.I often have difficulty sleeping.I am generally in a hurry.I usually feel that there is not enough time in the day to accomplish what I need to do.I often feel that I am being mistreated by friends or associates.I do not regularly perform physical activity.


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Purpose:

Directions:


Number of "Yes" Answers Stress Category:Answering "yes" to any of the questions means that you need to use some form of stress management techniques. Add your "yes" answers and use the following scale to evaluate the level of stress in your life.

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Questionnaire


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Purpose:

Directions:


Number of "Yes" Answers Stress Category:6 - 20 High stress3 - 5 Average stress0 - 2 Low stress

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Questionnaire


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Warm-up Questions

Read the following short passage and discuss the questions.

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1. What do you think keep people in some countries so busy?2. What might be the acute / major problems facing people

today?

3. Compared with people’s life in ancient times, what have new technology, the information explosion and rising economy really brought to us?

1. Tension — Physical, mental, emotional2. Health problems — Physical, mental and emotional diseases 3. Ecological pollution / Rupture in ozone layer4. Disturbed family relations5. Violence and cruelty6. Corruption / Dishonesty / Immorality7. Drug-addiction8. Neglect of law & order and ethical, moral and social discipline9. Armaments / Nuclear weapons (Militarism)


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, consumer industries editor of the

, where he has been a member of the

editorial staff since 1983.

Richard Tomkins

Financial Times

Financial Times includes business and financial news and analysis. To know it better, log on the following website: http://news.ft.com/home/europe

Richard Tomkins

http://news.ft.com/home/europe




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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.II ■


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Stress in the Workplace

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1. Part Division of the Text

2. Further Understanding

For Part 1

For Part 2

Global Reading

Scanning

Blank Filling

For Part 3

For Part 4

True or False

Table Completion



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Part Division of the Text

Part Lines Main Ideas

1

2

1~47

48~83

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.


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Part Division of the Text

Part Lines Main Ideas

3

4

84~106

107~124

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.


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ScanningScan part one and find out three reasons why we feel so time-pressed today. And make a note of the transitional devices used there.

Technology1.

2.

3.

__________

Information explosion__________________

Rising prosperity______________

Transitional devices:

…apart, …a second reason…(Para. 7)_______________________________

There is another reason…(Para. 11) ______________________________

1.

2.


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Blank Filling

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?


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The motorcar brings more traffic problems than it promises to solve.The aircraft creates a high demand for time-consuming journeys that we never dreamed of.

1.

______________________________________________________________________________________________The washing machine, contrary to our expectations, multiplies the hours spent on washing and ironing.______________________________________________________________________________________________

Blank Filling

Technology produces the new burden of dealing with faxes, e-mails and voicemails.______________________________________________________________________________________________Technology eats further into our time by forcing us to handle software glitches on computers and filling our heads with useless information from the Internet.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Instead of making our lives easier, technology goes so far as to cram extra work into our leisure time.______________________________________________________________________________________________


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True or False

1. It is convenient to say we are all lacking in time. F

It is too general to say we are all lacking in time.

( )

2. About 50 percent of people will tell you they never have enough time to get things done. F

About 50 percent of unemployed or retired people will tell you they never have enough time to get things done.

( )


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True or False

3. In the U.K., working hours have risen only slightly in the last 10 years. T( )

4. The gains of free time were unevenly distributed only because different groups of people gained different amount of free time. F

There is also a gender issue here.

( )


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Fill in the chart with a variety of reactions provoked by the perception of the time famine and the trouble with all these reactions. Pay attention to the transitional devices, too.

An attempt to gain the largest possible amount of satisfaction from the smallest possible investment of time

Trying to buy time

Reaction 1

Reaction 2

The growth of the work-life debateReaction 3

Table Completion


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Fill in the chart with a variety of reactions provoked by the perception of the time famine and the trouble with all these reactions. Pay attention to the transitional devices, too.

Liberating time is useless if the hours gained are immediately diverted to other purposes.

1. One is …(Para. 19)2. …also…(Para. 21)3. A third reaction…(Para. 22)

Trouble

Transitional Devices

Table Completion


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GR_part4_1.1

1. What is the crux of the problem the author points out?

The author points out the time stress we feel arises not from a shortage of time, but from the too many things we try to do.

2. What is remedy for the stress according to the author’s opinion?

A possible remedy is that we should understand the problem and realize that it is not more time we need, it is fewer desires.



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1. Vocabulary

2. Dictation

3. Discussion

4. Talk about the Pictures

5. Writing Practice

After Reading

Useful Expressions

Scanning

6. Proverbs and Quotations


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After-1.useful-1

Useful Expressions

1. 吞噬

2. 困于交通堵塞

3. 越洋购物旅行

4. 在大多数情况下

5. 使…摆脱

eat into

stuck in traffic jams

the transatlantic shopping expedition

in most cases

free sb. from


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After-1.useful-2

6. 个人的穿着打扮

7. 处理软件故障

8. 除去技术发展

9. 信息爆炸

10. 从世界各个角落

personal grooming

fix software glitches

technology apart

the information explosion

from every corner of the world

Useful Expressions


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After-1.useful-3

11. 在整个世界学术界

12.在…的推动下

13. 适用于

14. 预测小组

15. 分配不均匀

in the whole world of scholarship

driven on by

apply to

forecasting group

be unevenly distributed

Useful Expressions


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After-1.useful-4

16. 抚养子女

17. 做有报酬的工作

18. 家务杂活

19. 越做越大的市场

20. 家政服务

nurture offspring

take paying jobs

household chores

a growth market

concierge services

Useful Expressions

21. 更充分地利用 make better use of

22. 工业革命 industrial revolution

23. 注定 be doomed to


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After-1.scanning.1

1. 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)

2) horse-drawn carriage (Para. 3)

3) time-consuming journeys (Para. 4)

4) the laptop-on-the-beach syndrome (Para. 6)

5) feel time-pressed (Para. 7)

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

the quantities of time increasing all the time

the carriage drawn by the horse

journeys consuming time

the syndrome caused by going to the beach with a laptop

the quantities of goods and services that become larger and larger

feel the press caused by the lack of time

Scanning


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After-1.scanning.2

7) be time-starved (Para. 12)

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

9) be self-imposed (Para. 14)

10) hour-by-hour logs (Para. 15)

11) the mid-1960s (Para. 16)

12) empty-nesters (Para. 17)

be lacking in time

the Henley Center with its headquarter located in London

be imposed by one’s own

logs written at different hours

the middle of the 1960s

Scanning

people without offsprings


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After-1.scanning.3

Scanning

13) pre-school children (Para. 17)

14) on-line retailers (Para. 21)

15) work-life debate (Para. 22)

16) long-hours culture (Para. 22)

17) family-friendly working policies (Para. 22)

18) the cell-phone (Para. 28)

children before entering the schools

retailers shopping on line

debate on “which to choose, work or life”

the tradition to increase the working hours

the policies used in the working places to treat employees in a friendly way like members in a family

the mobile phone


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After-1.scanning.4

2. Make words with the following prefixes or patterns.

1) ever-

2) self-

3) pre-

4) adj. + n. + -ed

5) adv. + v. + -ed

ever-green, ever-lasting, ever-more…

self-control, self-made, self-educated…

pre-history, pre-mature, pre-recorded…

blue-eyed, simple-minded, left-handed…

well-informed, much-used, poorly-dressed…

Scanning


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After-2_dication.1

Dictation

Students Offer Insight into Exam-time Stress

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, "I don't let exams stress me

out because I'm I'm as as I can be."

For others, is the key to their exam jitters(

神经过敏 ). Second-year marine science student Zac Duval said

, "Having a year of experience has helped me know how to

my time and be well-prepared."

Finals_____

confident________ well-prepared___________

experience_________ getting over__________

schedule________

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After-2_dictaion.2

Dictation

Then there's the of students on who acquire th

at sweaty, wild-eyed look from spending 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 students. "I'm thinking I'll be spending a lot

of time on my porch ( 走廊 ) studying," he said.

The problem of stress is not a new one.

majority______ campus_______

sleepless________

stressed-out___________


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After-3_discussion.1

Read the short passage and discuss the following questions in small groups.

II ■

Discussion


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After-3_discussion.2

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.

Discussion


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After-4_pictures.1

Talk about the Pictures


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After-4_pictures.2


Click the picture to return!


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After-4_pictures.3




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After-4_pictures.4




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After-4_pictures.5




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After-5_1

Writing Practice

1. Look at the caricature, and A. describe the picture according to a certain order. B. think about the possible morals.

2. Write a composition of about 200 words, titled “Health or Wealth?”, based on the following Chinese outline. 1) 提出两种对健康和财富取舍的不同观点。 2) 列举出支持这两种观点的理由。 3) 你的观点。

Model


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After-5_2

Writing Practice


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After-6_1

Proverbs and Quotations

1. The greater wealth is contentment with a little.

2. Too much curiosity lost paradise.

3. Better a little fire to warm us, than a great fire to burn us.

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

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet

人生最大的财富是知足。

太多好奇心，逐出天堂门。

宁要小火烘烤，不要大火烧焦。

只要我们能善用时间，就永远不愁时间不够用。 -- 德国诗人 J. W. 歌德


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5. We must deal with pleasure as we do with honey, only touch them with the tip of the finger, and not with the whole hand for fear of surfeit. -- Saint Bede, British bishop

6. Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify it, simplify it. -- Henry David Thoreau, American writer

After-6_2

Proverbs and Quotations

我们应该像吃蜂蜜那样对待享受，只用指尖蘸，而不是用整只手去抓，以免吃得太多。 -- 英国主教圣比德

我们的生活都被琐事浪费掉了，简单点，简单点。 -- 美国作家 H. D. 梭罗


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Old Father Time Becomes a Terror

Once upon a time, technology, we thought, would make

our lives easier. Machines were expected to do our work for

us, leaving us with ever-increasing quantities of time to

waste away on idleness and pleasure.

But instead of liberating us, technology has enslaved us.

Innovations are occurring at a bewildering rate: as many

now arrive in a year as once arrived in a millennium. And as

each invention arrives, it eats further into our time.

SentenceSentence WordWord


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The motorcar, for example, promised unimaginable levels of personal mobility. But now, traffic in cities moves more slowly than it did in the days of the horse-drawn carriage, and we waste our lives stuck in traffic jams.

The aircraft promised new horizons, too. The trouble is, it delivered them. Its very existence created a demand for time-consuming journeys that we would never previously have dreamed of undertaking -- the transatlantic shopping expedition, for example, or the trip to a convention on the other side of the world.


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In most cases, technology has not saved time, but enabled us to do more things. In the home, washing machines promised to free women from having to toil over the laundry. In reality, they encouraged us to change our clothes daily instead of weekly, creating seven times as much washing and ironing. Similarly, the weekly bath has been replaced by the daily shower, multiplying the hours spent on personal grooming. Meanwhile, technology has not only allowed work to spread into our leisure time -- the laptop-on-the-beach syndrome -- but added the new burden of dealing with faxes, e-mails and voicemails. It has also provided us with the opportunity to spend hours fixing software glitches on our personal computers or filling our heads with useless information from the Internet.


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Technology apart, the Internet points the way to a second

reason why we feel so time-pressed: the information

explosion.

A couple of centuries ago, nearly all

the world’s accumulated learning could

be contained in the heads of a few

philosophers. Today, those heads could

not hope to accommodate more than a

tiny fraction of the information

generated in a single day.


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News, facts and opinions pour in from every corner of the world. The television set offers 150 channels. There are millions of Internet sites. Magazines, books and CD-ROMs proliferate. “In the whole world of scholarship, there were only a handful of scientific journals in the 18th century, and the publication of a book was an event,” says Edward Wilson, honorary curator in entomology at Harvard University’s museum of comparative zoology. “Now, I find myself subscribing to 60 or 70 journals or magazines just to keep me up with what amounts to a minute proportion of the expanding frontiers of scholarship.”


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There is another reason for our increased time stress levels, too: rising prosperity. As ever-larger quantities of goods and services are produced, they have to be consumed. Driven on by advertising, we do our best to oblige: we buy more, travel more and play more, but we struggle to keep up. So we suffer from what Wilson calls discontent with super abundance -- the confusion of endless choice. Of course, not everyone is overstressed. “It’s a convenient shorthand to say we’re all time-starved, but we have to remember that it only applies to, say, half the population,” says Michael Willmott, director of the Future Foundation, a London research company.


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“You’ve got people retiring early, you’ve got the unemployed, you’ve got other people maybe only peripherally involved in the economy who don’t have this situation at all. If you’re unemployed, your problem is that you’ve got too much time, not too little.” Paul Edwards, chairman of the London-based Henley Centre forecasting group, points out that the feeling of

pressures can also be exaggerated, or self-imposed. “Everyone talks about it so much that about 50 percent of unemployed or retired people will tell you they never have enough time to get things done,” he says.


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“It’s almost got to the point where there’s stress envy. If yo

u’re not stressed, you’re not succeeding. Everyone wants t

o have a little bit of this stress to show they’re an important

person.”

There is another aspect to all of this too. Hour-by-hour lo

gs kept by thousands of volunteers over the decades have

shown that, in the U.K., working hours have risen only sligh

tly in the last 10 years, and in the U.S., they have actually f

allen -- even for those in professional and executive jobs, w

here the perceptions of stress are highest.


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In the U.S., John Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, and Geoffrey Godbey, professor of leisure studies at Penn State University found that, since the mid-1960s, the average American had gained five hours a week in free time -- that is, time left after working, sleeping, commuting, caring for children and doing the chores. The gains, however, were unevenly distributed. The people who benefited the most were singles and empty-nesters. Those who gained the least -- less than an hour --were working couples with pre-school children, perhaps reflecting the trend for parents to spend more time nurturing their offspring.


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There is, of course, a gender issue here, too. Advances in

household appliances may have encouraged women to take

paying jobs: but as we have already noted, technology did

not end household chores. As

a result, we see appalling

inequalities in the distribution

of free time between the

sexes. According to the Henley

Centre, working fathers in the

U. K. average 48 hours of free

time a week. Working mothers

get 14.


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Inequalities apart, the perception of the time famine is widespread, and has provoked a variety of reactions. One is an attempt to gain the largest possible amount of satisfaction from the smallest possible investment of time. People today want fast food, sound bytes and instant gratification. And they become upset when time is wasted.

“People talk about quality time. They want perfect moments,” says the Henley Centre’s Edwards. “If you take your kids to a movie and McDonald’s and it’s not perfect, you’ve wasted an afternoon, and it’s a sense that you’ve lost something precious. If you lose some money you can earn some more, but if you waste time you can never get it back.”


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People are also trying to buy time. Anything that helps streamline our lives is a growth market. One example is what Americans call concierge services -- domestic help, childcare, gardening and decorating. And on-line retailers are seeing big increases in sales -- though not, as yet, profits. A third reaction to time famine has been the growth of the work-life debate. You hear more about people taking early retirement or giving up high pressure jobs in favour of occupations with shorter working hours. And bodies such as Britain’s National Work-Life Forum have sprung up, urging employers to end the long-hours culture among managers and to adopt family-friendly working policies.


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As Godbey points out, the stress we feel arises not from a shortage of time, but from the surfeit of things we try to cram into it. “It’s the kid in the candy store,” he says. “There’s just so many good things to do. The array of choices is stunning. Our free time is increasing, but not as fast as our sense of the necessary.”


The trouble with all these reactions is that liberating time -- whether by making better use of it, buying it from others or reducing the amount spent at work -- is futile if the hours gained are immediately diverted to other purposes.


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A more successful remedy may lie in understanding the problem rather than evading it. Before the industrial revolution, people lived in small communities with limited communications. Within the confines of their village, they could reasonably expect to know everything that was to be known, see everything that was to be seen, and do everything that was to be done. Today, being curious by nature, we are still trying to do the same. But the global village is a world of limitless possibilities, and we can never achieve our aim. It is not more time we need: it is fewer desires. We need to switch off the cell-phone and leave the children to play by themselves. We need to buy less, read less and travel less. We need to set boundaries for ourselves, or be doomed to mounting despair.


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each invention arrives, it eats further into our time.CloseClose

quantities of: a large amount of The key to staying healthy and strong when backpacking ( 挑运 ) is to eat large quantities of energy-rich foods.

In cold weather most animals must eat large quantities of food to obtain the energy needed to carry on normal body activities.

在寒冷的冬天，大部分动物必须通过吃大量的食物来获得维持正常生命活动的能量。

Collocation:

a large quantity of 大量的


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eat into: gradually reduce the amount of (sth. valuable); damage or destroy Acid eats into the metal, damaging its surface.

Collocation:

eat out of 吃光…

His extravagances ate into his inheritances.


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The aircraft promised new horizons, too. The trouble is, it delivered them. Its very existence created a demand for time-consuming journeys that we would never previously have dreamed of undertaking -- the transatlantic shopping expedition, for example, or the trip to a convention on the other side of the world.


The motorcar, for example, promised unimaginable levels of personal mobility. But now, traffic in cities moves more slowly than it did in the days of the horse-drawn carriage, and we waste our lives stuck in traffic jams.

1. What do “deliver” and “them” here refer to?

2. What does “trouble” imply?

“Deliver” means to provide or to bring, “them” here refers to “horizons”.

It implies the unfavorable effect of the invention of aircraft, that is, people, driven on by new horizons, would like to spend more time on time-consuming journeys.

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He became that country’s ruler both in name and reality.

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in reality: in actual fact; really

Some famous private schools are theoretically open to the public, but in reality are attended by those who can afford the fees.

Collocation:

accept reality 承认事实

deny reality 否认事实

face reality 面对事实


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CloseCloseNextNext

Fear multiplies the difficulties of life.

In a few minutes people in the square multiplied into thousands.

multiply: v.

2)

add a number to itself a particular number of times

Multiplying large quantities in one’s head has become a lost art since the arrival of the calculator.

我们可以将高乘以宽以求出面积。We could multiply the height by the width to determine the area.

1)

increase in number or quantity


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CloseClose

multiply, increase & add这几个词都是动词，都有“增加”、“增大”之意。

multiply 常指自然生殖或同类事物的不断重复而造成的增加，也可以指大幅度或成倍的增加。例如：

Rabbits multiply rapidly. 兔子繁殖很快。

The volume of trade between the two countries has been increasing each year.

两国间的贸易额每年都在递增。

increase 是最普通的用语，表示通过增加数量或自然增大而在数目、规模、分量、程度等方面的增长，常含有递进性或按比例增加之意。例如：

CF:

NextNext


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add 主要指通过添加而导致在数量、大小、重要性方面的增加。 add 常与介词 to 连用。例如：

That was adding fuel to the fire.

这正是火上加油。

The facts added together to build up an indisputable theory.

这些事实综合起来，构成了一个无可争辩的理由。


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1. Paraphrase “the expanding frontiers of scholarship”.

2. What is the purpose for the author to quote this sentence?

the ever-advancing development in the new field of academy

The purpose is to give us a more vivid picture about the information explosion.

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pour in: go into a place quickly and in large numbers

Messages of congratulation came pouring in.

Many football fans poured into the stadium to have a look at their favorite football players.

Collocation:

pour down 沿…流下

pour from 从…流下

pour into 流进



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CloseClose

comparative: adj. involving comparison or comparing

Some sociologists have carried out large-scale historical-comparative studies.

Ethology is a science concerned with the comparative study of animal behavior.


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CloseClose

amount to: be equal to; add up to

In 1959 the combined value of U.S. imports and exports amounted to less than 9 percent of the country’s gross domestic products.

这就等于要把整件事重做一遍。

This amounts to doing the whole thing over again.


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minute: adj. very small in size or amount

A minute examination revealed small flecks ( 斑点 ) of blood on the coat.

The kitchen is minute, with barely room for two people to turn around.

minute, small & little 这几个词都是形容词，都有“小的”之意。

minute 意思是“很小的”、“细微的”，在本组词中算是“最小的”。small 指大小、重量、数量、规模、力量、重要性等方面“小的”、“少的”。little 没有真正的比较级和最高级，它经常暗示所谈及的人、物小得可爱。而 small 就没有这种含义，它多表示比较，是相对而言的。

CF:

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Fill in the blanks with the following words.

1. He is a man, only one point five meters tall.

2. His writing is .

3. What a nice garden!

4. There is a bird in the tree.

5. There are particles of gold dust on the ground.

6. You made one or two mistakes.

small____minute_____

little____

minute_____little___

small____

minute, small & little


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To open up the space frontier, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)( （美国）国家航空和宇宙航行局 ) will try to lower the cost of access to Earth orbit.

the frontiers of medicine

frontier: n.

2)

border between two countries

1)

(usu. pl) extreme limit of an area of knowledge or a particular activity


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瑞典的边界与挪威、芬兰相连。

Sweden has frontiers with Norway and Finland.

Mount Qomolangma, the highest mountain in the world, with a height of 8,848 m (29,035 ft), rises in the Himalayas on the frontier of Nepal (尼泊尔 ) and China.


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1. What does “super abundance” refer to?

2. What can we infer from the sentence?

It refers to the a quantity of goods and services.

The quantity of goods and services is too much, it is endless, and what’s more, it increases our time stress levels.


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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。

stress:

2.

vt. put stress, pressure, or strain on

1.

n. pressure or worry resulting from mental or physical distress, difficult circumstances, etc. (followed by on)

He is under stress because he has too much work to do.

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


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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.

prosperity: n. state of being economically successful; state of being successful or rich


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Please oblige me by leaving me alone.

请给我一根火柴，好吗？

oblige:

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

1.

vt. 1) do (someone) a favor

Could you oblige me with a match?

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

He felt obliged to leave after such an unpleasant argument.

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

Collocation:

oblige by 答应做…使满足

oblige with 以…使满足

We are happy to oblige.

请唱支歌，好吗？

Will you oblige with a song?


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

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

She had an abundance of very black hair.

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Collocation:an abundance of 大量的in abundance 富有

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

a life of abundance 富裕的生活

abundance, plenty & profusion这三个词都是名词，都有“大量”之意。

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abundance 常指数量很多，超过需要。例如：

At the feast there was food and drink in abundance.宴会上有大量的食物和饮料。

plenty 指数量很多，超过期望。例如：

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，并含有过多之意。例如：

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。


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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。

confusion: n. bewilderment or embarrassment

To avoid confusion, the teams wore different colors.


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The means of forecasting natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, have improved immensely as science and technology have advanced.

forecast:

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

1.

v. tell in advance; predict

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?

May it turn out as I forecasted?

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：

CF:

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Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.

He foretells events form the flights of birds.

The weatherman was unable to forecast the weather more than three days in advance.

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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专家们预测证券市场行情看涨。

气象员不能预报出三天以后的天气情况。

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？


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Who can predict how the elections will turn out?

谁能预测选举的结果将会怎样？

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：


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1. What does “stress envy” mean?

2. Why does the author mention the “stress envy”?

3. Translate the sentence into Chinese.

If you are not stressed, that shows you are not very successful.

To make his argument comprehensive and more convincing, the author revealed the fact that not everyone is overstressed though 50 percent of unemployed or retired people tell you they never have enough time to get things done.

这几乎到了羡慕压力的程度。


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

volunteer:

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

1.

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

He volunteered to do whatever he could for them.

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

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二战爆发时，他以志愿兵身份参加海军陆战队。

When World War Two broke out, he volunteered for the Marine Corps.


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

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

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His perception is very good.


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1. What does “the gains” refer to?


但增加的时间分配得并不均匀。

“The gains” refers to the five hours a week Americans had gained as their free time.


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Parents want to know the best way to nurture and raise their child to adulthood.

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

The local government has taken measures to nurture the state-run factories.

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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。

CF:

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Fill in the blanks with the following words and change the form where necessary.

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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.

feeds____supplies_____

nurtured______nurture_____

feed____

supplied_____

nurture, feed & supply


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get 14.

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1. What does “appalling” mean?

2. What can we learn from the sentence?

The advances in household appliances haven’t set women free from household chores.

“Appalling” means “amazing, surprising”.


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get 14.


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get 14.

The study of animal distribution is called zoogeography.

distribution: n.

2) the act of giving things to a large group of people or delivering goods to companies

the way in which people, buildings, etc. are arranged over a large area

Distribution of the goods is handled by local companies.

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.

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the distribution of mail

Collocation:normal distribution 正态分布

1)


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1. Paraphrase the sentence.

2. Give a few examples of this reaction.People today want fast food, sound bytes and instant gratification. And they become upset when time is wasted.

One reaction is trying to obtain the largest possible quantities of content by consuming time as little as possible.


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To eliminate famine and reduce malnutrition, attention needs to focus not only on food production but also on food distribution, consumption, and family planning.

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

世界上有些地区经常遭受饥荒。

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Some parts of the world suffer regularly from famine.


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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.

widespread: adj. found or distributed over a large area

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There was a widespread belief that the newspaper had not told the truth.


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People’s concern over genetically modified food has provoked a global debate that shows no sign of ending soon.

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

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

provoke, arouse & awaken这几个词都是动词，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：

CF:

If you provoke the dog, it will attack you.

His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.

如果你去招惹那条狗，它会咬你。

他的鲁莽气得她打了他一耳光。 NextNext


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My mother aroused me from sleep.

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：

Of all the planets, Mars always arouses the greatest curiosity.

He was awakened by the singing of birds in the trees.

在所有的行星中，火星一直引起人们最大的好奇心。

他被林中鸟儿的鸣叫声惊醒了。

我母亲把我从睡梦中唤醒了。

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：

The oppressed people are awakening everywhere.

各地被压迫的人民在觉醒。Collocation:

provoke sb. to do sth.

挑动某人做某事


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The college library has a wide variety of books.

a variety of: a lot of a particular type of (things that are different from each other)

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China has a great variety of mineral resources.


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2. Why is it “a growth market”?

Because people are trying to buy time and you can definitely gain profits to help them “save” time.

任何能帮助我们提高生活效率的事物都有越做越大的市场。


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Corporate mergers can result in job losses because management combines and streamlines departments within the newly merged companies.

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

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他们把赛车改成流线型，以使它行驶得更快。

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


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The cat is a domestic animal in many countries.

domestic: adj.

2) of or inside a particular country

1)

of the home, household or family

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product.

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

This is China’s domestic affairs.


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New buildings are springing up everywhere.

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

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Fast food restaurants are springing up all over the city.


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The trouble with all these reactions is that liberating time --whether by making better use of it, buying it from others or reducing the amount spent at work -- is futile if the hours gained are immediately diverted to other purposes. As Godbey points out, the stress we feel arises not from a shortage of time, but from the surfeit of things we try to cram into it. “It’s the kid in the candy store,” he says. “There’s just so many good things to do. The array of choices is stunning. Our free time is increasing, but not as fast as our sense of the necessary.”

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Paraphrase the part of the sentence after “point out”.

We are not lacking in time. Actually it is our ever-increasing desires that make us feel time-starved.


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The money that might be spent on cities has been diverted into other projects.

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

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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.


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A financial crisis has arisen in the multinational corporation.

arise: vi. appear; become evident

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His illness arose from malnutrition.


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There is a world shortage of fuel.

shortage: n. lack of sth. needed; deficiency

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


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The whole project was doomed to failure.

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

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他因身体不好而注定失业。

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.

He was doomed to unemployment by his ill health.

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