Unit Eight

Section A. There’s a Lot More to Life than a Job

I.  Warming-up questions: money; responsibility; self-realization; love; improve the quality of life; career success; life-long education

Open-ended questions :

(1) What’s the meaning of life in your opinion?

(2) What activates our behaviors and motivates us to work?

(3) Which is more important, a good job or a good life? Give the reasons.

II. A few words about the text:

The essay focuses on how to increase our understanding of life. Indeed, everyone wants to have a good job to be financially comfortable. But there is a lot more to life than a job. According to the author, educational institutions face a difficult choice. Most young students want to learn what is needed for career success. However, a great amount of knowledge in many different fields can lead to better lives.

So educators must prepare to educate the students both for life and for career. It is also important for the students to realize that quality of life is not entirely determined by a balance sheet. Actually, there is a lot more to quality of life than simply having a job.

III.       Key words& Expressions:

1. survey report

2. informal polls

3. major objective

4. be well off

5. at a low

6. way up

7. sales representative

8. the quality of life

9. balance sheet

10.educational institutions

11.Social Security

12.deduction from their pay

13.read of

14.accumulated wisdom

15.moral sense

16.distinguish right from wrong

17.career education

18. realize the shortsightedness

IV. Language Points

1.      If only I knew then what I know now. (L.3)

if only + subject + were / had been/would/could/were to be 但愿， 真希望， 要是……就好了 e.g. He failed in the exam again. If only he had worked harder.

他考试又失败了。要是他努力些就好了。If only we were to graduate tomorrow.

要是我们明天毕业就好了。

   …if it(whatever it may be) won’t compute and you can’t drink it, smoke it or spend it, then “it” holds little value. (L.6)

Here the verb compute is an intransitive verb. It is used in active form to express passive meaning. Similar verbs are: read; write; wash; clean; draw; burn; cook; translate, etc.

e.g. The cloth washes well. 这种布料好洗。The poem reads smoothly.

这首诗读起来很流畅。The book translates well. 这本书很好翻译。

the students’ major objective “is to be financially well off”. (L. 11)

objective ---n. purpose, aim

adj. impartial (opposite word)---subjective

e.g. The objective of the new organization was to provide financial aid to the poor.

新组织的目的是为穷人提供经济援助。

No one can argue he has wholly objective view of the situation and makes an objective decision. 谁都不敢说他对什么事情都持客观态度。well off---in a good position, esp. financially

e.g. We are well off for materials.

我们的资料丰富。He is better off than before. 他比以前富裕。

Interest in teaching, social service and the humanities is at a low, along with ethnic and women’s studies. (L.14)

at a low---at a low level or figure

处于低水平或数量。 e.g. Several industrial shares have been at an all-time low. 一些工业股票已经跌倒历史最低点。Their spirits were at a bit of a low because they lost the game. 因为输了那场比赛，他们情绪有些低落。

along with---together with

e.g. Many fresh vegetables are on sale along with some canned food.

许多种新鲜蔬菜和一些罐头食品在降价出售。The dog is running along with its master.

这只狗跟着主人一起跑。

In a time of increasing specialization, a time when 90 percent of all the scientists who have ever lived are currently alive, more than ever, we need to know what is truly important in life. (L.30)

specialization----specializing; limiting all or most of your study or work to one subject or activity

e.g. There is too much , too early specialization of subjects in our college.

我们学院里分科太细，太早。

specialize in---major in

e.g. After she qualified as a lawyer, she decided to specialize in business law.

在取得律师资格后，他决定专功商法。 What does this company specialize in? It specializes in selling imported home computers.

这家公司专门经销什么？它专营进口家用电脑。

alive---living (opposite word: dead)

只作表语和名词的后置定语。 e.g. That fish is still alive.

Who is the greatest man alive?

谁是当今活在世上最伟大的人？ Cf: living---alive now 即可作定语，也可以作表语。e.g. No man living could do better.

当今世上没有人能做得更好了。 Every living creature is affected by pollution. 活着的生物都受到污染的影响。

V. Difficult sentences

1 today’s college beginners are “more consumeristic and less idealistic” than at any time in the seventeen years of the poll. (L. 9)

2. And we are better for our understanding of these other contributions----be they scientific or artistic. (L. 46)

3. …only to drive their employer out of business.(L. 50)

4 Let’s hope our educators answer students’ cries for career education, … (L.63)

Section B What Youngsters Expect in Life

I. Additional key words and phrases

1.       economic expansion

2.       domestic manager

3.       professional athlete

4.       media personality

5.       a large proportion of

6.       constructive vision

7.       destructive forces of resistance

8.       rural military gangs

9.       Information Age

10.   take backward steps

II. Difficult sentences

1.       … while nearly 90% are committed to having both a career and a marriage based on equality.(L.18)

2.       If these people do not acquire some constructive vision of purpose for themselves, they are likely to be very destructive forces of resistance in society throughout their lives. (L.27)

3.       So this is a very pregnant moment, …(L.35)

4.       …in the absence of plausible alternative explanations for…(L.43)

5.       …the gloomier prospects implicit in the projections of those trends, …(L.44)

Section C What Life is like When Out of Work

New words and phrases: ambulance; indispensable; clinical; victim; temporary; rear-view mirror;

1.      lay off---dismiss temporarily

2.      bug off--- (American slang) run away, go away

3.      hang on ---depend on