UNIT 13

The light of depression

Contents

• Oral activities

• Listening activities

• Language points

• Text analysis

Having a discussion Have a discussion in a group of four or five students on the increasing occurrence of psychological problems among students in universities and even middle schools as well. Try to find out the causes and suggest some remedies.

Oral activities

For a lot of people, / the word “failure” carries with it / a feeling of coming to an end, / but for the successful leader, / failure is a beginning, / a seed of hope. / Leaders don’t allow themselves / to be held prisoner by the fear of failure. / They don’t even use the word ”failure,”. / instead they rely on words like “false start, / never failure.”/ The lesson understood by captains of industry / is that failure equals learning. / While we can’t say that they exactly welcome failure, / they are uniform in their ability to profit from it. / They use the healthy energy coming from failure / to reach higher goals. / Almost every “false step” is regarded as an opportunity / and not as the end of the world.

Listening activitiesDictation

For your reference:

— Freshmen tend to be depressed and aimless.

1) You could probably list some psychological problems among college students as follows:

— Some college students are likely to have examination anxiety, and when they fail in the exam, they easily get frustrated.

— Some find it hard to experience the heavy academic burden.

— Some have trouble in establishing harmonious interpersonal relationship.

— Some are so dependent on the Internet.

2) You may list some possible causes as follows:

— Being the only child in their family and long spoiled by their family, they are less able to bear pressure.

— The great pressure comes from the competitive world, especially from the employment pressure.— Some find difficulty in shifting in their roles as students from high school to collage.

3) You may list some possible resolutions as follows:

— They should learn to face up to their problems and be strong.

— Schools should give regular lectures or courses on psychological therapy, or establish a psychological therapy center.

— The whole society should attach great importance to the problem and try to establish a healthy network among school, family and individual.

Language Points

Detailed reading

apathetic: adj.

apathy: n. the feeling of not being interested in sth., and not willing to make any effort to change or improve things; lack of interest, enthusiasm or concerne.g. The campaign failed because of public apathy.

She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。

Antonym:

sympathy

Derivation:

• Internal Medicine 内科cardiac failure 心力衰竭

• diabetes 糖尿病 • hepatitis 肝炎 • hypertension 高血压 • carcinoma 癌• influenza 流感 • malnutrition 营养不良

measles 麻疹

Parkinson’s disease 帕金森综合症psychosis 精神病

• Surgery 外科 • pneumonia 肺炎• tumour 肿瘤

diagnose: v.1) find out the nature of an illness by observing its

symptoms

e.g.The illness was diagnosed as measles.

Derivation:

diagnosis: n.

e.g.The book diagnoses our present economic ills, explaining what is wrong with the economy.

2) find out what the cause of a fault is, after doing tests, examinations, etc.

Collocations:

diagnose sb. as (having) sth.

e.g. Joe struggled in school before he was diagnosed as dyslexic.

diagnose sth. as sth.

e.g. The illness was diagnosed as mumps.

diagnose sb.with sth.

e.g. She was diagnosed with liver cancer.

The doctor has diagnosed the illness as heart disease.

Translation:

医生把此病诊断为心脏病。

We should diagnose key technical challenge and problem in the project.

我们应解决项目中的关键问题和技术难题。

distorted: adj.distortion: n.

distort: vt. 1) change sth. so that it is strange or unclear

e.g. Tall buildings can distort radio signals.

e.g. His account was badly distorted by the press.

e.g.an expensive subsidy which distorts the market

2) report sth. in a way that is not completely true or correct

3) change a situation from the way it would naturally be

Derivations:

drift: v.1) move slowly on water or in the air

e.g. The rubber raft drifted out to sea.

e.g. Jenny spent the year drifting around Europe.

e.g. She was just drifting into sleep when the alarm went off.

2) move, change, or do sth. without any plan or purpose

3) gradually change from being in one condition, situation, etc., into another without realizing it

Collocations:drift out/towardsdrift around/alongdrift intodrift away

Derivation: drift: n.

成千上万只灯笼慢慢漂向大海。

Translation:

Thousands of lanterns slowly drift out to sea.

让过去随着河水流逝吧。

Let the past drift away with the water.

His mind has been numbed.

numb: adj. without the power to feel or move; (fig) emotionally incapable of thinking

e.g. My fingers were so numb that I could hardly write.She was completely numb with terror.

Derivation:

numb: v.Translation:

他已麻木不仁。I don’t feel so cold now; but heavy and numb.

我现在感到不那么冷了，只是觉得困乏，浑身僵硬。

put right

remedy: vt. put right; deal with a problem or improve a bad situation; provide a remedy for sth. undesirable; rectify

e.g. To remedy the environment, the water must be chemically treated.We must remedy injustices.If I made a mistake, I will try to remedy it.

Synonym:

Derivation:remedy: n.

e.g. The mistake is beyond/past remedy. (The mistake cannot be put right.)

transcend: vt. (fml) go beyond the usual limits of sth.; go beyond the range (of human experience, belief, powers of description, etc.); be much better or greater than sb./sth.

e.g. One never can see the thing in itself, because the mind does not transcend phenomena.一个人永远不可能认识事物自身的本质，因为思想无法超越现象。Such matters transcend man’s knowledge.She far transcends the others in beauty and intelligence.

surpassSynonym:

Text Analysis

Main idea

What is the story narrated in the text about? This narrative essay narrates and describes an unusual and unforgettable phase of the writer’s life, during which she experienced , voluntarily received , the illness in the end, and from the experiences associated with her suffering.

deep depression__________________

clinical treatment____________________ conquered____________

benefited a great deal _________________________

Structural analysis

1. How are the events of the essay arranged?

The narration mostly follows a chronological order, but a few flashbacks are inserted in Paragraph 3 and 6.

2. Work out the structure of the text by completing the table.

Paragraph(s)

Main idea

1-3

4-10

It provides the background of the story, telling us about the writer and her family and her problem.

The writer related her experiences with deep depression, including her attitude and reactions to it, focusing on her positive attitude and how she got better and finally recovered.

Paragraph(s)

Main idea

11It describes the writer’s mood and feeling on a moon-lit, starry night, and stresses that her deep depression had been worth it, for suffering had painted color into her life, and that she was thankful.