Lesson12 The Needs That Drive Us All

Pre-reading discussions:

1)Read the text and listen to the recording. Try to understand as much as possible

with the help of the notes, glossary, dictionaries and reference books. 2) What kinds of needs do you want to satisfy yourself?3) Can you classify them? What are they?4) If your needs cannot be satisfied, what will you feel? What will you do?

Background knowledge:

A marriage licence (spelled license in American English) is a document issued, either by a church or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a licence varies between countries and has changed over time. Marriage licences began to be issued in the Middle Ages, to permit a marriage which would otherwise be illegal (for instance, if the necessary period of notice for the marriage had not been given).

Today, they are a legal requirement in some jurisdictions and may also serve as the record of the marriage itself, if signed by the couple and witnessed.In other jurisdictions, a licence is not required. In some jurisdictions, a "pardon" can be obtained, for marrying without a licence and in some jurisdictions, common-law marriages and marriage by cohabitation and representation are also recognised. These do not require a marriage licence.

Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses."

Warming-up expressions

associate; catalyst; coerce; dedication; downtrodden; frivolous; incentive; manipulate; monotonous; reproduce; spontaneous; tribute; unbridled.

Text analysis

Part I (Para. 1-2)  The author decided to camp in the Central Park .Part II (Para. 3-6) The first or two hours and his feeling

and the fear Central Park inspired Part (Para. 7-12) Central Park Ⅲhistory and another scarePart (Para. 13-25) My sleep over in Ⅳthe wood

Introduction to the text

In this text the author attempts to define the word “human” itself. He is concerned with human psychology rather than ethics. According to him, human beings are driven by five basic needs, some of which are shared by other animals, and others are uniquely human. The article is obviously addressed to young students and its purpose is to increase their self-awareness of their humanness so as to better deal with their problems.

languge points

1.All five needs are built into our genetic structure as instructions for how we must attempt to live our lives. Humans are born with the five needs/All five needs are inborn as part of our nature and direct us as we go through our lives.

build in/into: to cause to be part of sth which cannot be separated or removed from it; to make... inherent, e. g.

We don't want to build in too much furniture, just a bookcase and two wardrobes.

I hope you'll build some entertainment into the schedule for the training.

2. our biological destiny: what we have to experience as humans; to go through childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, to produce offspring and die

3.When we attempt to satisfy the non-essential psychological needs, such as belonging, fun, freedom, and especially power, we run into more difficulty. The higher, or psychological, needs are not so clear-cut and not so easy to satisfy.run into: to begin to experience (difficulty); get into (a difficult or unpleasant situation), e. g.After successive crop failures. Farmer Jones ran into debt.

4.Even politicians try to appear humble, emphasizing how much they wish to serve and how little they want to tell us what to do. Even politicians try to cover up their desire for power by saying that they are running for an office because they want to do things for their community and that they really hate to govern people.

5. They preach the virtues of humility because the more people they can persuade to be humble, the more easily they can both preserve and add to the power that they have. They advocate humility praising it as an admirable quality because they know the morepeople they make humble, the more easily they can keep and strengthen the power they have seized.add to: to increase, e. g.The storm added to the difficulty of the sailors.

6. Successful politicians are masters of this approach and the same expertise is not unknown in business, higher education and even religion. Successful politicians are very skillful in using this technique of sharing a little power with the people and this approach is also used by businessmen, leaders in higher education and even in religion. master: a person who is skilled at sth, e. g. masters of disguiseunknown adj: never happening or existing

7. If you look around in any society, you cannot fail to see the all-pervasive effect of this need. You can find without fail that this need for power is affecting all sections of any society. (In the rest of paragraph, the writer goes on to show this pervasiveness of the human need for power.)

8. Families band together for power, but if they succeed in becoming very powerful, they tend in almost all eases to fight among themselves for the lion's share of what they have. Family members are united when they are striving for power, but when they gain what they have striven for, they are likely to fight among themselves because they all want to get the largest or best part.

9. Rather than go over what seems so obvious. Just ask yourself one question...

rather than: instead of

go over: to examine or check sth. carefully

10. Who do you know who is so completely satisfied with his life that he can go a week without complaining that someone has gotten in the way of what he wanted to do? Nobody feels content because they think they have achieved what they want to gain in life.People are constantly complaining that they are prevented from achieving their goals. Actually you can hardly find a person who doesn't make such complaints before a week goes by.get in the way of sb ： to prevent sb from doing sth

11. Most of us cannot get through a day without complaint: To be satisfied with how others have treated us for a week would seem like an eternity. Most of us can find something to complain about daily. Any feeling of satisfaction with how we are treated won't last a» long as a week.seem like an eternity: (infml) to be a period that seems to be very long or to never end, e. g.After what seemed to be an eternity, a man came out to tell us that the interview had been canceled

Post-reading discussions

1. What do you think of William Glasser’s classification of needs?

2. To you, which one is the most important?

3. If you have to abandon one or two of them, which will you choose?