Unit 12

Unit 12

Text I

Time to Take It Easy

Contents

Pre-reading questions Background information Structural analysis Comprehension questions Language points of Text I Exercises Grammatical items Integrated exercises Oral activities Writing practice Extra Reading

Pre-reading questions

1. What is the Chinese’s attitude towards work and leisure?

2. What is their attitude towards time? 3. What is your view on work and leisure? 4. Do you happen to know the Western

people’s attitude toward work and leisure? Please explain.

Some quotations

• 1. work while you work play while you play this is the way to be cheerful and gay

• 2. Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today. 今日事，今日毕

• 3. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 只会用功不玩耍，聪明孩子也变傻

• 4. Work smarter, not harder.更有技巧地工作，而不是更努力地工作。

• 5. Work has a bitter root but sweet fruit.--German proverb 工作虽苦 ,果实却甘 --德国谚语

• 6. Many hands make light work.众人拾柴火焰高 ; 人多好办事。• 7. Work makes the workman. 熟能生巧。

Structural analysis of text 1 (1)

Paras. 1-2 The first two paragraphs draw a picture of

sharp contrast between busy Americans (and Britons ) and easy–going continental Europeans,esp. in summer. Thus introducing the theme of the essay — how to view the work-leisure.

Paras. 3-4 These two paragraphs explain one of the

main differences between busy Britons and Americans and easygoing Europeans, which largely lies in their “work ethic” or “attitude to work”.

work ethic/ ethics refers to moral beliefs about how one should work.

Q: What is American work ethic?


Structural analysis of text 1(3)

Para 5 This paragraph indicates the need to re-

examine the American attitude to work.

Structural analysis of text 1(4)

Paras. 6-8 These three paragraphs explore the cause

underlying the American attitude to work. The author first points out the real problem is the Western attitude to time, then goes on to elaborate on it.

Q: How do Americans view time?


Paras 9-10 Oliver James’s view about time is

introduced, which is different from what is deep-rooted in Anglo-American culture.

James argues that working for the increase of wealth does not necessarily bring about happiness, when a society can meet all its citizens’ basic needs.


Paras 11-12 These two paragraphs further support

James’s view with the ideas of “ the work rebels” and Brain Dean.


Paras. 13-14 The concluding part: the author raises a

paradoxical problem in a jocular way (“they will have to work hard at learning to be lazy”) and, by quoting Professor Gini’s words, defines the true significance of “being lazy”.

Q: What does Professor Gini mean by saying “the gentle art of doing ‘nothing’”?

Comprehension questions (1)

1. How do American people feel about their hard work?

Americans are proud of their long and hard work, because they think it has made their nation the richest and most powerful one in the world.


What dose Al Gini mean when he says “…my future is shorter than my past… I’ve got to take time now because,like it or not, time will be taken away from me”?

Taking into account the preceding sentence "Even Americans are finding time to think about the issue" , we can see that Gini has spent most of his life working and there is not much left. So he has to take time to consider the issue seriously before it is too late.


According to Professor Gini, what is the Americans’ view about free time? And does he agree with them?

According to Professor Gini, Americans feel uncomfortable with the idea of doing nothing and they need to fill their free time with activities—- either shopping and sports or entertainment. Gini suggests that Americans should leam " the gentle art of doing ' nothing ' " , and give some time to contemplation, wonder and development of ideas.


How does the British psychologist Oliver James relate people’s happiness with the increase of wealth?

Oliver James points out that wealth does make people feel happy in some circumstances as indicated by the comparison between people from developing nations and those in developed ones. However, more wealth does not make people happier when a society can meet all its citizens' basic needs.


What do these “anti-work” campaigners believe in? Those anti-work campaigners believe that we should

"work to live, not live to work". How does Professor Gini define “ being lazy”? Gini's definition of "being lazy" is that one should

not get oneself fully occupied with job-related work; instead, one should give some time to what he/she likes to do.


What is the author’s purpose of writing this essay?

To present the viewpoint that people should take some time off from their work to do what they like to.

Language points of Text I (1)

1. take it easy :to rest; to become more relaxed It was wise to take it easy and go along comfortably. She does arithmetic every day of the week — she should take it

easy now and then. 2. shut down : to stop operation, esp. for a long period of time;

to close down The company has threatened to shut down the mine if the strike

is not resolved. If an accident occurs, the safety device automatically shuts

down the assembly line.


3. on average : usually; in most cases Women are still paid less than men — earning on average about three

quarters of men's pay. On average, Mary‘s mother has to ask her three times before she helps

with the dishes. 4. argument : an unfriendly disagreement, esp. one that is noisy I'm sorry I'm late — I got involved in an argument about fares with the

ticket collector. A heated argument developed between them over who should get custody

of the children. 5. govern : to control The price of the metal is governed by the demand for it. Very few societies believe that our lives are governed entirely by chance.


6. issue : an important subject that people are arguing about or discussing I advised the President that he must choose a few key issues on which to

concentrate. He raised the issue of taxation at the meeting. 7. like it or not: no matter whether you like it or not Like it or not, the Internet is becoming an indispensable part of our life. He should be made to realize, like it or not, that he is already a bit too old

for the job. 8. unstructured: not organized in a detailed way, and allowing people

freedom to do what they want Our aim was that these meetings be unstructured and informal.


9. ill-at ease : nervous; worried With two sons bedridden, Mrs. Smith was ill at ease. She was a bit ill at ease when she first met her boyfriend's

parents. 10. consume : to use Arguing about details consumed many hours of the

committee's valuable time. The human body consumes energy in the form of carbohydrates.

11. contemplation : the act of thinking deeply and seriously to understand something more fully She seems lost in contemplation.


12. view : opinion or belief about something She shared his view about it. I've always taken the view that no one should be blamed

for their parents' mistakes. 13. make a comparison : to compare two or more

situations, ideas, etc. , to show difference You could make a comparison between schools in China

and in America, but it wouldn't be fair. He tried to make a comparison between religion and

superstition.


14. meet one's needs : to satisfy one's needs In many parts of the world, there is not enough food to meet

everyone’s needs. 15.dedicate to : to give completely to .. ... ... The doctor dedicated much of his time and energy to finding

a cure for the disease. She is quite dedicated to her students. 16. get through : (1) to succeed in making someone understand what one is

trying to tell him The message finally got through to them. The boy is just stupid; I can't get through to him at all.


(2) to succeed in contacting someone on the telephone I was not able to get through to New York this morning.

The operator finally got me through to Shanghai. (3) to manage to live through a difficult time I can't imagine how the woman and her three children got

through the war. It's so cold this year. I don't know how they are going to get

through the winter. 17. work at :to study, write, to be engaged in doing

something I'm working at a short story these days. I want to work at perfecting my composition before I hand it

in.


18. carry on : to continue The struggle for liberation will carry on long after I am dead. It was almost too dark to see properly, but he carried on to the

end of the book. Cf: carry out: do sth. That needs to be organized and planned A survey is now being carried out nationwide. carry through:to complete or finish sth.successfully I am determined to carry this project through.

Exercises

II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1. F. The statement is true of Europeans, but not true of Americans. Americans keep themselves busy all the year round, not particularly in summer. Refer to Paragraph 2.

2. T. Refer to Paragraph. . 3. F. Among the developed nations, the people from the

richest are no more likely to be happier than those from the poorest. Refer to Paragraph 9.

4. T. Refer to Paragraphs 11 and 12. 5. F. It is not always the case. Refer to Paragraph 13.

Vocabulary exercises (1)

I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.

1. usually, ordinarily 2. whether one likes something or not (implication

usu. being the latter); obviously 3. nervous, worried 4. believing firmly in 5. to have a holiday from work


II. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1. to relax 2. argumentative 3. consumption 4. contemplative 5. encouraging


III. Choose the word that can replace the underlined part in each sentence without changing its original meaning.

1. A 2. B 3. C 4. B 5. D


IV Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word or phrase taken from the box in its appropriate form.

pretend easygoing attitude take it easy ill at ease shut down on average dedicate to carry on compare

1. In order to change _______ towards employing women, the government is bringing in new laws.

2. Our teacher is very _________ ; she doesn’t mind if we turn up late.

3. He is working very hard at the moment, so he tends to _____________ at the weekend.

attitude

easygoing

take it easy


4. Johnson had never been to a big party before and he was _________.

5. Lily _____ to be thrilled with her new life but I know she misses her old friends.

6. _______ , there are 1,000 visitors a day. 7. Many factories ___________ during the

depression.

ill at ease

pretends

On average

were shut down


V. Write in each space one word that has the same prefix as underlined in each given word.

1. universe 2. monologue 3. biannual 4. multinational 5. homograph 6. panorama

Translation exercises

1. 通常，我们每天摄入的卡路里中 18%来自糖。 (on average) On average, 18% of our daily calories come from sugar. 2. 由于罢工，福特汽车厂停工两个月。 (shut down) Ford Automobile Plant was shut down for two months as a

result of the strike. 3. 他已决定放弃经商，致力于慈善工作。 (dedicate to) He's decided to give up his business and dedicate himself to

charity. , 4. 农村的文化生活无法与大城市相比。 (compare) The cultural life in the country cannot compare with that of a

large city.

5. 国家的独立庆典继续进行着，好象什么也没发生一样。

(carry on) The country's independence celebrations carried on

as if nothing had happened. 6. 该报告使读者能够对两种车子进行直接的比较。

(make a comparison) The report allows the readers to make a direct

comparison between the two types of car.



7. 现有的煤的储存量应该能够满足来年的需要。(meet)

The existing (present) stocks of coal should meet our needs for the coming year.

8. 他呆在那儿，沉思了几小时，思索着宇宙的秘密。 (contemplate)

He remained there for hours deep in thought, contemplating the mysteries of the universe.

Grammar exercises (1)

I. Put the verbs in, the brackets into the simple present or present progressive tense.

1. is hearing 2. is attending, is starting 3. are you staying, am leaving, am going 4. don't think, is enjoying, keeps, is enjoying, enjoys,

know, wants, is expecting/expects 5. think, take, expects, are they doing, are putting,

seem, smoke, slows 6. are you looking, am looking, look, puts


II. Compare the italicized parts in each group and tell the difference.

1. a. The speaker is complaining. b. The speaker gives a fact. 2. a. (I) am considering b. (I) have the opinion 3. a. It suggests a permanent nature. b. It suggests a temporary behavior. It often means they are

pretending to be friendly. 4. a. is taking care of b. have no objection to 5. a and b are almost the same. 6. a. (I) am waiting for b. (I) believe


IV. Fill in the blanks with the or my. 1. the 2. the 3. my 4. the 5. the 6. my 7. the 8. the

Exercises for Integrated skills (1)

I. Dictation. A foreigner's first impression of the US / is likely to be that

everyone is in a rush — / of ten under pressure. /City people appear always to be hurrying / to get where they are going. ; / Racing through daytime meals / is part of the pace of life in this country. / Working time is considered precious. /Others in public eating places / are waiting for you to finish / so they too can be served/and get back to work / within the time allowed. / Each person hurries / to make room for the next person. / If you don't, / waiters will hurry you.


You also find/that people will push past you. /You will miss smiles, / brief conversations with strangers. / Don't take it personally. / This is because people value time highly, / and they resent someone else "wasting" it.


II. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE word you think appropriate.

1. out 2. divided 3. minutes 4. or 5. world 6. on 7. Time

8. As 9. a 10. communicate 11. or 12. which 13. streets 14. or

Oral activities

What is your definition of success? Group discussion: how do you balance your

study and leisure? Debate: Work to live or live to work?

Writing practice

1.The ways to tackle the study-related pressure

2. My view on Chinese people’s work ethics 3. The key to success

U.S. workers are happy and stress is over-stressed

Unhappy with your job? You may be surprised to find that you are in the minority of U.S. workers, who typically express a high level of satisfaction with their jobs. With Labor Day serving as a natural time to assess the state of the American worker, the American Enterprise Institute has released a compilation of hundreds of poll questions that have been asked about how workers view their jobs since the 1930s.

Highlights of recently conducted polls show:

Work satisfaction is high. Only small proportions (usually less than 10 percent) tell pollsters they are very dissatisfied with their jobs. There has been little change in these responses over the past quarter century. (Gallup/Harris/Roper/National Opinion Research Center)

Solid majorities of workers tell pollsters they would take the same job again "without hesitation." (Univ. of Michigan/Harris)

Huge majorities (85 percent/Gallup, 2004) say they have a strong sense of loyalty to the company they work for. This has changed little in the last decade. Smaller, but still robust majorities say the company they work for has a strong sense of loyalty to them (67 percent).

As for the work load, most workers tell the pollsters they are satisfied. In Gallup's latest question, 86 percent of workers are satisfied with the amount of work required of them and 19 percent are dissatisfied. As for vacation time, 79 percent are satisfied with the amount they have, and 17 percent dissatisfied (2004).

Stress is over-stressed. Twenty-seven percent of workers are completely satisfied with "the amount of on the job stress," and 37 percent are somewhat satisfied (2004).

Workers are happiest with their coworkers. (Gallup/Roper/NBC,WSJ) They are least happy with the amount of money they earn.

As for today's economy, in most polls, around 20 percent of workers fear being laid off "in the near future." Around 80 percent do not. More than 80 percent of workers are not worried that their hours or, separately, wages, will be cut (Gallup, 2004). About 90 percent are not worried that their company will move jobs overseas (Gallup, 2004).

A third say it's a good time to find a quality job, and 63 percent a bad time (Gallup, 2004). Twenty-six percent say their employer has laid off someone in the past six months.

Today, a quarter of workers say their job "never" requires them to be in an office; 40 percent say it "always" does.

Thank you!

That is the end of Unit 12.Good –bye!

Documents

Unit 12