21st Century College English: Book 2

1. 21st Century College English: Book 2 Unit 4: Part B

2. Unit Four: Part B • Review of Text A • Text B • Listening Practice • Assignment

3. Revision of Text A 1.Dictation 2.Assignment Checkup •ClozeEx. VIII • TranslationEx. X

4. Dictation Dictation! You are going to hear 5 sentences. Each will be read three times. Write down the sentences according to the dictation. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Check-up

5. Dictation • Key to Dictation: • 1. Our society places so much emphasis on “making it” that we assume that any failure is bad. • 2. We talk about seeing both sides of a question as if every question had only two sides. • Success is also bad when it’s achieved at the cost of the total quality of an experience. • 4. Even a failure that seems total can prompt fresh thinking, a change of direction. • 5. Though we may envy the assurance that comes with success, most of us are attracted by courage in defeat.

6. Cloze VIII. Choose the best word from each pair to complete the passage below. 《读写教程 II》:Ex. VIII, p. 92

7. Cloze It’s natural for parents to want their children to achieve great things in life, but not at the expense of the child’s happiness and personal development. How can you tell if your child is prone/bound to the kind of “achievement orientation” that leads to frustration and failure at last/in the long run? There are some signs that parents can watch after/for, and some steps a parent can take to promote/preclude the most destructive effects. Is your daughter obsessed/complex with winning, instead of being able to enjoy a game even although/though she loses? Encourage her to take part of/in activities that have no clear goal, as if/such as going for walks or just daydreaming.

8. Cloze Do all of your son’s “when-I-grow-up’s” involve distinguishing/promising himself in a glamorous career? By pointing out the positive/probable aspects of the simple life, you can let him know that real success isn’t measured in achievements. And don’t forget the beneficial/glamorous effects that frequent contact with nature has on/for children. Even if/Ever since you can’t afford to take your kids on camping holidays, you can make time for a day in the park or at the beach. It’s great therapy/contribution for the whole family.

9. Translation X. Translate the following sentences into English. 《读写教程 II》:Ex. X, p. 93

10. Translation 1. 庇护孩子不让他们知道自己已经失败对于他们的成长是 绝对无益的。 shield children from the knowledge development anything but beneficial Shielding children from the knowledge that they have failed is anything but beneficial to their development.

11. Translation 2. 爱默生认为在失败与成功之间并无天壤之别。 a world of difference between success and failure Emerson does not think there is a world of difference between success and failure.

12. Translation 3. 一个成熟的人是一个善于把失败变成成功的人。 be good at doing turn … into A mature man is one who is good at turning failure into success.

13. Translation 4. 她醉心于自己在溜冰方面的成功，从未对现实世界的挑 战作好准备。 success in prepare oneself for be obsessed with She was obsessed with becoming a success in ice skating that she never prepared herself for the challenges of the real world.

14. Translation 5. 当他得知自己的公司已经破产(go bankrupt)时，神经完 全崩溃了。 to suffer a complete nervous breakdown learn He suffered a complete nervous breakdown when he learned that his company had gone bankrupt.

15. Translation 6.史密斯先生在谈到他的成功时，往往夸大其辞 (exaggeration)。 be very prone to when talking about When talking about his success, Mr. Smith is very prone to exaggeration.

16. Translation 7. 这家公司开始只卖收音机，但现在已扩大营业范围，销 售电脑了。 start by selling branch out into The company started by selling radios but now has branched out into selling computers as well.

17. Translation 8. 事实上，失败并不是可怕的东西。一旦我们学会运用它， 它就能对我们的成长和发展作出积极的贡献。 nothing to be afraid of make a positive contribution learn how to use it In fact, failure is nothing to be afraid of. Once we learn how to use it, it can make a positive contribution to our growth and development.

18. Text B • Reading Skill • Understanding Idiomatic Expressions • Intensive Study • Difficult Sentences • Key words and phrases • Text-related Information • Comprehension Check

19. Reading Skill Reading between the Lines Reading between the lines means drawing inferences about the author’s ideas from what is written and from what is not written. Although it’s tricky — rather like detective work! — you may discover the author’s real meaning by using context clues, common sense and our knowledge of the world — by connecting ideas and drawing conclusions — by forming and testing ideas about what the author was trying to say.

20. Reading Skill Reading between the Lines XIII. As you read the text the first time, use context clues, common sense and your knowledge of the world to speculate about the possible answers to the questions between the paragraphs, and note your ideas in pencil (in Chinese or English) in the margins. Keep checking and modifying your ideas as you read further. 《读写教程 II》:Ex. XIII, p. 95

21. Reading Skill Para. 1 Question 1 Is the author proud of her office? Question 2 Why does she have a soda fountain in her office? Yes. Because it was part of a crucial moment in her career.

22. Reading Skill Para. 2 Question 3 What went wrong with the author’s economic circumstances? Probably the dry-cleaning business was a failure.

23. Reading Skill Para. 3 Question 4 Why does the author mention her lack of training and education? To emphasize that she is an “ordinary person” without any special advantages to secure her later success; the underlying message is that “anyone” can become successful.

24. Reading Skill Para. 4 Question 5 Why does the author describe the baby stroller? Question 6 What kind of childhood did the author have? Probably she wants to illustrate how poor and determined she was. It was unstable and full of hardships.

25. Reading Skill Para. 5 ~ 6 Question 7 Why did the author work only in the afternoon? Because she had to take care of her children during the day.

26. Reading Skill Para. 7 ~ 9 Question 8 How did the author feel about Mr. Ahlman? She seemed to be a bit afraid of him.

27. Reading Skill Para. 10 ~ 12 Question 9 What does she mean by asking, “Was my English teacher wrong?” She means she was losing confidence in her abilities.

28. Reading Skill Para. 13 ~ 15 Question 10 Why did Ruben grin? Question 11 What did Mrs. Ahlman say to the four merchants? Because he was happy to get permission to be generous with the author. She told them they should buy ads from the author.

29. Reading Skill Para. 16 Question 12 Why had Ruben promised Vivian not to buy any more advertising? Question 13 Why should the author have been talking to Mrs. Ahlman from the beginning? Question 14 Is the author proud of her advertising business? Probably she felt he was spending too much money. Because she had so much influence on her husband’s decisions. Yes.

30. Reading Skill Para. 17 Question 15 Why did the author’s husband buy the soda fountain and install it in her office? Because it was part of a crucial moment in her career.

31. Text B Failure? No! Just Temporary Setbacks Dottie Walters 1If you could come to my office in California to visit with me today, you would see that one side of the room is occupied by a beautiful old-fashioned soda fountain with nine leather-covered seats. Unusual? Yes. But if that soda fountain could speak, it would tell you a story about the day I almost lost hope and gave up.

32. Text B 2It was a recession period after World War II and jobs were scarce. My husband had purchased a small dry cleaning business with borrowed money. We had two darling babies, a tract house, a car and all the usual monthly payments. Then the bottom fell out. There was no money for the house payments or anything else.

33. Text B 3I felt that I had no special talent, no training, no college education. I didn’t think much of myself. But I remembered someone in my past who had thought I had a little ability — my high school English teacher. She had inspired me to take a course in journalism and named me advertising manager and feature editor of the school paper. I thought, “Now if I could write a ‘shoppers Column’ for the small weekly newspaper in our rural town, maybe I could earn that house payment.

34. Text B 4I had no car and no one to look after my two children. So I took them with me to the newspaper office, pushing them before me in an old broken-down baby stroller with a big pillow tied in the back. The wheel kept coming off, but I hit it back on with the heel of my shoe and kept going. I was determined that my children would not lose their home as I often had as a child. 5 But at the newspaper office, there were no jobs available. Recession. So I got an idea. I asked if I might buy advertising space at wholesale and sell it at retail as a “shoppers Column.” They agreed.

35. Text B 6 The newspaper column idea worked. I made enough money for the house payment and to buy an old used car. Then I hired a high school girl to look after my children from three to five each afternoon. When the clock struck three, I grabbed my advertising samples and flew out of the door to drive to my appointments. 7 But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads.

36. Text B 8  “Why?” I asked. They said they had noticed that Ruben Ahlman, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and the owner of a big drugstore, didn’t advertise with me. His store was the most popular in town. They respected his judgment. “There must be something wrong with your advertising,” they explained. 9 My heart sank. Those four ads would have been enough for the monthly house payment. Then I thought, I’ll try to speak with Mr. Ahlman one more time. Everyone loves and respects him. Surely he’ll listen. Every time I’d tried to approach him in the past, he had refused to see me. But I knew that if he advertised with me, the other merchants in town would follow his lead.

37. Text B 10 As I walked into Mr. Ahlman’s drugstore, he was there at the prescription counter. I smiled my best smile and said, “Everyone respects your opinion, Mr. Ahlman. Would you just look at my work for a moment so that I can tell the other merchants what you think?” 11 Without saying a word he firmly shook his head “no”. 12 Suddenly all of my enthusiasm left me. I made it as far as the beautiful old soda fountain at the front of the drugstore, feeling that I didn’t have the strength to drive home. I didn’t want to sit at the soda fountain without buying something, so I ordered a Coke. I wondered desperately what to do. Would my babies lose their home as I had so many times when I was growing up? Was my English teacher wrong? My eyes filled with tears.

38. Text B 13 A soft voice beside me said, “What’s the matter, dear?” I looked up into the sympathetic face of a lovely gray-haired lady. I poured out my story to her, ending it with, “But Mr. Ahlman, who everyone respects so much, refuses to look at my work.” 14 “Let me see that Shoppers Column,” she said. She took my marked issue of the newspaper in her hands and carefully read my column all the way through. Then she stood up, looked back at the prescription counter and in a commanding voice, said, ”Ruben Ahlman, come here!” The lady was Mrs. Ahlman!

39. Text B 15 She told Ruben to buy some advertising from me. His mouth turned up in a big grin. Then she asked me for the names of the four merchants who had turned me down. She went to the phone and called each one. She gave me a hug and told me they were waiting for me.

40. Text B 16 Ruben and Vivian Ahlman became our dear friends, as well as steady advertising customers. I learned that Ruben was a darling man who bought from everyone. He had promised Vivian not to buy any more advertising, and in turning me down he was just trying to keep his word to her. If I had only asked others in town, I might have learned that I should have been talking to Mrs. Ahlman from the beginning. That conversation at the soda fountain was the turning point. My advertising business thrived and grew into four offices, with 285 employees serving 4,000 businesses.

41. Text B 17 Later when Mr. Ahlman modernized the old drug store and removed the soda fountain, my husband bought it and installed it in my office. If you were here, we’d sit at the soda fountain together. I’d pour you a Coke and remind you to never give up, to remember that help is always closer than we know. 18 Then I would tell you that if you can’t communicate with a key person, search for more information. Try another path. Look for someone who can communicate for you. And, finally, I would offer you the sparkling, refreshing words of Bill Marriott of the Marriott Hotels: “Failure? I’ve never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.”

42. If you could come to my office in California to visit with me today, … — (AmE) talk socially with sb. on a short visit

43. Then the bottom fell out. • e.g. • The bottom fell out of his world when his wife died. • (= Life lost its meaning for him when his wife died.) • The bottom has fallen out of the market. • (= Trade has fallen to a very low level.) Paraphrase the sentence: ? Then a financial collapse occurred.

44. I was determined that my children would not lose their home as I often had as a child. Paraphrase the sentence: ? — I made up my mind to earn money to make the monthly payment for the house so that my children would not suffer as I had often suffered when I was a child from not having our own house.

45. Text-related information Recession In economics, recession is a downward trend in the business cycle characterized by a decline in production and employment, which in turn causes the incomes and spending of families to decline. Even though not all families and businesses experience actual decline in income, their expectations about the future become less certain during a recession and cause them to delay making larger purchases or investments.

46. advertising space — (part of) a page in a publication (as a newspaper) set aside for advertising

47. But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads. prospect n. — a possible or likely customer or client • e.g. • He called on seven prospects but failed to make a sale. More to learn

48. But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads. work on sb. —attempt to influence sb • e.g. • Can you work on the manager? • He might accept our suggestions if someone works on him properly. More to learn

49. But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads. Paraphrase the colored part: ? — every possible buyer of advertising space whom I had tried to persuade

50. approach vt. — speak or write to (sb.), esp. for the first time in order to ask him to do sth. or find out his opinion • e.g. • We’ve just approached the bank for a loan. • I’m going to approach my uncle to see if he will give me a job.