In-class ReadingIn-class Reading

ComprehensionFill in the following blanks without books.The sources of happiness in later centuries. a. Happiness comes from living a virtuous life versus indulging pleasures b. Happiness comes from having the truthversus preserving illusions. c. Happiness comes from restraint versus getting rid of rage and misery d. Unhappy times of life: teen year, mid-life crisis, declining years of old age

 

virtuous lifevirtuous life

indulging pleasuresknowing the truth

preserving illusions

getting rid of rage and misery

restraint

Four traits that are typical of happy people.

a. Like themselves. b. Typically feel personal control. c. Usually optimistic d. Tend to be extroverted.

Organization of the text

1. “what attitudes, activities, and priorities engender a sense of well-being?”

什么样的人生态度，事务活动以及如何选择取舍能使人快乐呢？

Priority over sb/sth Get one’s priority right, wrong

Language points

2. “Although the scientific pursuit of happiness has recently mushroomed, speculations about happiness are age-old.”

尽管有关快乐的科学研究最近才迅速发展起来，但对快乐的思索却自古有之。

Speculation over/about/upon/on sth Speculate on Speculate in Speculative age-old ： having existed for a very long

time

3.“In later centuries, some sages have suggested that happiness comes from living a virtuous life and others, from indulging pleasures; some that it comes from knowing the truth, and others, from preserving illusions; some that it comes from restraint, and

others, from getting rid of rage and misery.” 在此后的几个世纪里，一些智者认为快乐源于高尚的人生，而

另一些则认为快乐来自尽情享受；一些智者认为快乐源于认知真理，而另一些则认为快乐来自一直存有的幻想；一些智者认为快乐源于自律，而另一些则认为快乐在于摆脱愤怒和痛苦。

Find out five elliptical clauses that begin with “some” or “and others” and complete them.

4. “Social scientists have exploded some myths about who’s happy and who’s not by identifying predictors of happiness and life satisfaction.”

社会科学家通过努力寻求什么与人生的快乐和满足有关，推翻了一些关于哪些人快乐，哪些人不快乐的错误观念。

Explode ： e.g. Terrorists have exploded bombs across the country. Bess decided that she had better leave before she

exploded. explode with/ into sth /in (rage, fury, jealousy,

laughter ect.) The population exploded to 40,000 during the tourist

season. explode a superstition

5. “Many people believe there are unhappy times of life—typically the stress-filled teen years, the ‘mid-life crisis’ years, or the declining years of old age.”

很多人认为人生有几个不快乐的阶段－－通常指的是压力重重的少年时期，“危机四伏的中年“时期以及日趋衰弱的老年时期。

Declining years : the last years of life when one becomes increasingly weak

E.g. He became very forgetful in his declining years.

6. “And teens, unlike adults, typically rebound from either gloom or joy within an hour’s time.”

青少年与成人不同，他们的愁闷或快乐不到一小时就完全过去了。

Rebound: v. rebound against/from/off/sth rebound on sb E.g. The ball rebounded from/off the wall into the

pond. The scheme rebounded on her in a way she

had not expected.

7. “ With each of these trait-happiness correlations, the causal arrows are uncertain.”

Some traits are correlated with happiness, but which of the two factors, the trait or happiness, is the cause or effect is uncertain.

对于上述每一种性格特征与快乐的相互关系中，哪个是“因”哪个是“果”还不确定。

8. “Depending on our outlooks and recent experiences, out happiness fluctuates around our happiness set point, which disposes some people to be ever cheerful and others gloomy.”

在人生观和近期经历的影响下，我们的快乐程度会围绕一个固有值上下浮动，这个固有的快乐值使一些人笑口常开，而使另一些人愁肠百结。 our happiness set point ： our inherited happiness level; set: fixed dispose…to..: make someone ready or willing to do something dispose of sb/sth e.g. All the furniture has been disposed of. She disposed of the champion in straight set. disposition (n.) a calm, irritable, cheerful, boastful disposition

9. “Although a bad marriage may be more depressing to woman than to a man, the myth that single women report greater happiness than married women can be ignored.”

Although an unsuccessful marriage may affect women more than men we can still ignore the myth that single women are happier than married women.

尽管一个失败的婚姻可能使女性比男性更沮丧，但认为单身女性比已婚女性更快乐的说法是完全站不住脚的。

10. Paraphrase some sentences and recite them.

There is no fool who is happy, and no wise man who is not.

Hell is other people. Well-married a person is winged,

ill-matched, shackled.

1) Work in groups and comp up with your own interpretations of “happiness”.

2) What can we do to seek happiness?

Discussion

Please translate some English sayings about happiness.

No joy without annoy. Content is happiness. No cross, no crown. Pain past is pleasure. Sweat are the user of adversity. Extreme joy begets sorrow.

·Laugh and grow (fat).

He who laughs last laughs best.

Unhappy, hope, happy, be cautious.

The only way on earth to multiply happiness is to divide it.

就没有苦恼的喜悦。 知足常乐。 不经历风雨，怎么见彩虹 . 过去的痛苦即是快乐。 苦尽甘来 . 乐极生悲 .

心宽体胖 . 笑到最后的人才笑得最好。 不幸之时，应抱希望；幸福之时，却受谨

慎。 世界上唯一成倍增加幸福的办法是将其分

摊。

Enrich your word power

“in-”, “im-”, “ex-” introvert ----- extrovert import ----- export internal ---- external implicit ---- explicit inhale---- exhale intrinsic ----- extrinsic interior-----exterior Include ----- exclude

“out-” 1. has the same meaning as adverb “out” outcast outgoing (s) (at/from the)outset

outbreak outdoor (s) outdated outstanding 2. going beyond, being greater, doing better outdo outnumber outweigh outgrow outrun

outfight outlive

Do ex. On P196

“em-” , “en-” (+ n. /+ adj.) cause to be, provide with, put into or

onto embody enable embody entitle

empower enrich enforce encourage enlarge

engender

Do Ex. On P197

explode 1) burst into small pieces with a loud noise and cause a

lot of damage; E.g. Steam pressure exploded the boiler.

2) express strong feelings suddenly and violently E.g. When I told Ian that Maggie had refused to come, he

simply exploded. 3) increase suddenly and rapidly in number or intensity E.g. The population exploded to 40,000 during tourist

season. 4) prove that something that is believed by many people

is actually wrong or not true

spiritual, adj. relating to people’s thoughts and beliefs, rather than to their bodies and physical surroundings

She lived entirely by ～ values, in a world of poetry and imagination.

material, n., adj., materialism, n. spiritualism, n.

rebound, v., recover in value, amount, strength, etc.

prefix re- is put before some verbs to show “again”:

rewrite, recollect, recall, re-count, reconstruct;

compromise, v., settle a dispute by mutual concession

In the end we ～ ed and put off the decision.

com + promise: Prefix com- means between,

together.

mythical, adj., imaginary, not real ～ heroes ～ wealth Notice the differences between these synonyms:

mysterious, mystic, mythical, mythological; mysterious, full of, suggesting, covered in, mystery; mystic, hidden meaning or spiritual power; causing

feelings of awe and wonder mythical, of myth; existing only in myth; imaginary,

not real mythological, of mythology or myth; unreal

reflection 1) an image seen in a mirror or shiny surface E.g.She stared at her reflection in the bedroom mirror.

2) The process by which light and heat are sent back from a surface

E.g.The reflection of the lights in the rain made driving difficult.

3) sth. That shows the effects of, or is a sign of, a particular condition situation, etc.

E.g.His unhappiness is a reflection of his mistaken marriage.

4) serious thought or consideration E.g.On reflection, he says, he very much regrets the

comments.

Explode expose reveal

Explode: prove that something that is believed by many people is actually wrong or not true; burst into small pieces with a loud noise and cause a lot of damage; increase a lot over short period of time

Expose: show something that is usually covered or hidden

Reveal: make known something that was previously secret or unknown

Conform confirm confide Conform: act or be in accord or agreement The building does not conform to safety

regulations. Confirm: show that something is definitely

true; tell someone that a possible arrangement, date, or situation is now definite

We have confirmed the report. Confide: tell someone one trusts about

personal things Can I confide in her honesty? 

Be subject to be subjected to

Be subject to: be possible or likely to be affected (changes that originate within)

Be subjected to : suffer from something bad or unpleasant (a passive, referring to changes or effects caused by outside world)

E.g. Prices are SUBJECT to change without notice. E.g. People in Chernobyl were subjected to radiation

Alternative alternate

Alternative/alternate: (adj.) different from something else and able to be used instead

Alternate: (adj.) happening on one day, etc. and not the next, and continues in this pattern; (v.) occur in a successive manner

Alternative: (n.) the choice between two mutually exclusive possibilities

alternative 选择 adj. There was no alternative route open to her.

n.If you don't like the school lunch, you have the alternative of bringing your own.

alternate 交替的 adj According to the weather forecast, there will be a week of alternate rain and sunshine.

They saw each other on alternate Sundays. vi. 交替 , 轮流 [(+with/between)] For the

next few days he alternated between hope and fear.

Preserve reserve retain

Preserve: save someone or something from being harmed or destroyed

Reserve: arrange for a place in a hotel, restaurant, plane, etc. to be kept for you; keep something for a particular person, purpose, or situation

Retain: remember information

Entitle empower authorize

Entitle: give someone the right to do or have something

Empower: give someone more control over their own life or situation

Authorize: give official permission for something

Undertake undergo

Undertake: agree to be responsible for a job or project and start to do it; promise to do something

Undergo: experience something, especially something that is unpleasant but necessary