Unit 15 The Roots of Happiness: An

Empirical Analysis

• Pre-reading questions

• Background information

• Structure analysis

• Comprehension questions

• Language points of Text I

• Grammatical items

• Exercises

• Writing practice

Happy boy

Happy girl

Happy mother and child

Happy father and child

Happy young couple

Happy old couple

Happy family

Pre-reading questions

• 1. What is happiness? List some popular saying on the definition of happiness.

• 2. What do you think are the ingredients of happiness? Make a list of the determination of happiness.

I define happiness as• being able to do something for someone and not

expect something in return.• the feeling of what the continual effort in bettering

myself gives.• sitting quietly on my front porch, watching a

rainstorm dance by, observing all of nature joyously celebrating it's abundance.

• having the freedom, health and opportunity to do great things for myself and others.

• the fresh scent of a soft Spring rain, the kiss of morning sunshine, and the embrace of a crisp Autumn breeze.

• being at peace with myself and those around me and being able to give and receive love unconditionally.

• a true joy that springs from the heart and does not depend upon the circumstances.

• seeing the smiles on my children's faces and knowing that I am the one who put them there.

• comfortable shoes.• knowing who you are and being at peace with you

rself• not having your name show up in the obit. column.

（ obituary 讣告）

• “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

- Abraham Lincoln• Happiness and unhappiness are opposite sid

es of a judgment about your situation. If you judge your situation as bad for you, that's unhappiness. If you judge a situation as good for you, that's happiness.

• The experience of happiness is one of those general terms we use to say, "I feel good emotionally." People use different terms to describe what feels good for them. For someone it might be excitement, passion, exhilaration, fulfillment, freedom, feeling fully alive with inspiration and joy. For another it might be more peaceful, content, capable, hopeful, satisfied, and comfortable feeling. Whatever you call it, it just feels good.

• Our natural state of being is to be happy. When you remove all the uncomfortable emotions we humans can experience (and they are numerous), you're left with happiness. So it's easiest to define happiness by what it is not.

• Happiness is what you feel when you're NOT feeling....

• Self doubt• Depressed• Hateful• Fearful• Worried• Unsatisfied• Bored• Grief• Shame• Guilt• Discontent

• Anxious• Annoyed• Angry• Irritated• Stressed• Frustrated• Upset• Down• Sad• Envious• Jealous.

Pleasure vs. Happiness • Happiness is not pleasure although they can

appear similar. Pleasure is enjoyment of an outside stimuli. You might find pleasure in buying a new car, or in going on vacation, or having friends over for dinner, or having sex, or....the list is long on what you might enjoy experiencing. Pleasure requires an external stimuli for you to experience it. Happiness does not. Happiness is a belief about yourself and the outside world. You can be doing something you normally experience as pleasurable but not be happy! Pleasure is born from the external world, happiness is born from the internal workings of our own minds.

How to be Happy

• Happiness is different things to different people but there are common threads that run through the achievement of happiness for most people. These threads can be broken down into five ingredients. If you have all five of these you will be happy

5 Ingredients of Happiness

• 1. Gratitude

Happy people are grateful and appreciative of what they have, whatever that may be. They always find something good and positive in their circumstances. This attitude of gratitude is the foundation stone on which happiness is built.

• 2. Passion

Happy people are passionate people. It could be a passion for knowledge. It could be a passion for success. It could be a passion for helping others. It could be any passion at all, as long as it truly inspires the person to become more than they are now.

Passionate people

• 3. Challenge

Happy people have a challenge that they are pursuing. It could be a purely spiritual challenge such as finding enlightenment or it could be a commercial challenge such as building a successful business. It could be a sporting challenge such a winning a medal in the Olympics or it could be a career challenge.

• The unhappy person avoids challenges. They are waiting for someone or something to give them happiness. They believe that happiness is outside of them and that any form of challenge is work to be avoided.

• 4. Faith

Happy people have faith that they will achieve the destination that their challenge requires. They have faith that they have the mental and spiritual strength to take on their challenge and to grow in whatever way they need to grow in order to succeed.

• 5. Journey

Happy people are on a journey to their challenging destination. They have a purpose for getting up each day. They have a purpose for the things they do each day. They are doing the things required to follow their passion and they take joy from that fact.

• Happy people have all five ingredients; gratitude, passion, challenge, faith and journey. They may be Buddhist monks on the road to enlightenment following a path of poverty. They may be billionaire business owners following a path of commercial empire building. They may be musicians dedicating their life to mastery their instrument. They could be following any of an infinite number of paths but they all have the five ingredients of happiness.

Background information (1)• Happiness Quotes:• ALBERT CAMUS: • You will never be happy if you continue to

search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

• ALBERT SCHWEITZER: • Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness

is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Background information (2)• ALBERT SCHWEITZER:

• Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

• ALLAN K. CHALMERS:

• The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Background information (3)• AMY LOWELL: • Happiness: We rarely feel it.

I would buy it, beg it, steal it,Pay in coins of dripping bloodFor this one transcendent good.

• ANNE FRANK: • We all live with the objective of being

happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.

Background information (4)• ARISTOTLE: • Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient• BENJAMIN DISRAELI: • Action may not always bring happiness, but

there is no happiness without action.• BERTRAND RUSSELL: • The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is

accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live.

Background information (5)• BUDDHA:

• Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.

• HELEN KELLER:

• Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.

Background information (6)• HELEN KELLER:

• When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

• HENRY DAVID THOREAU:

• That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.

Background information (7)• MARK TWAIN: • Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.• MARK TWAIN: • Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.• MARK TWAIN: • Happiness is a Swedish sunset -- it is there for all, but

most of us look the other way and lose it.• MARTHA WASHINGTON: • The greatest part of our happiness depends on our

dispositions, not our circumstances.

Structure analysis of Text I (1)• The writer organizes the findings in a

logical order, according to the degree of importance. He starts with those factors that have little impact on happiness, goes on with those that are moderately important and ends with those very important factors.

Structure analysis of Text I (2)

• Paragraph 1

• This is an introductory paragraph.

• Paragraphs 2-18

• In this part, the author discusses the determinants of happiness.

• Paragraphs 19-22

• This is the concluding part.

Comprehension questions of Text I

• 1. What kind of society, according to the definitions of individualism and collectivism, do the Chinese live in? What is one of the key determinants of happiness for people living in such a society?

• 2. What is the relationship between work and happiness?

• 3. What plays a more decisive role in happiness, external circumstances or one’s interpretation of the external circumstances?

Comprehension questions of Text I • 4. Have a reality check based on what you

have read from the text. Work out a similar list of the determinants of happiness for contemporary Chinese, from the least important to somewhat important, then , the most important, is there any difference between your list and the list in the text? How true if you list and to what extent is the author’s list reliable? Is there any cultural difference in the understanding of happiness between two lists?

Language points of Text I (1)1.Empirical经验主义 : guided by or based on practical

experience of the world we see and feel, not by ideas out of books, e.g.

• Inquiry into the nature of things based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.

典型考题：• The old sailor had never studied navigation, but he ha

d a good ________ knowledge of it.

• A) experienced B) skillful

C) empirical D) Impractical

• Key: C

Language points of Text I (2)2. much of speculation: mostly a conjecture

without firm evidence• Speculation: the act of guessing without

knowing all the facts about something, or the guesses that you make, e.g.

• Their speculations are still far from the truth. • Former speculations about life on other

planets were mere guesses.

Language points of Text I (3)3. hypothesis: （ plural） hypotheses• [countable] an idea that is suggested as an explanatio

n for something, but that has not yet been proved to be true, e.g.

synonym theory

People have proposed all sorts of hypotheses to explain why dinosaurs have become extinct.

on the hypothesis that ( 基于…的假设或前提 ), e.g.

He based his holiday plans ~ his girlfriend was coming with him.

Language points of Text I (4)• prove/test/support etc a hypothesis

• We hope that further research will confirm our hypothesis.

• hypothesis about

• The authors reject the hypothesis about unemployment contributing to crime.

Language points of Text I (6)

4. abound: to exist in very large numbers or quantities, e.g.

These essays abound in wit

I have visited several places abounding with deer.

Language points of Text I (5)5. Commercial: n. an advertisement which is

broadcast on TV or radio, e.g.

I work for a commercial radio station.

The TV serial was interrupted by too many commercials.

commerce n. commercial adj.

agriculture – agricultural

industry - industrial

Language points of Text I (7)6. highlight: to make a problem or

subject easy to notice so that people pay attention to it, e.g.

His performance highlighted the whole evening party.

He has just had his hair highlighted.

Your resume should highlight your skills and achievements.

Language points of Text I (8)

7. determinant: formal something that strongly influences what you do or how you behave

determinant of, e.g.

Social class is a major determinant of consumer spending patterns.

Language points of Text I (9)8. influential: having a lot of influence and

therefore changing the way people think and behave, e.g.

His father is one of the influential of the locality.Broad is one of the influential enterprises in

Changsha.a highly influential art magazineinfluential in• Dewey was influential in shaping economic

policy.

Language points of Text I (10)• 9. voracious consumption : the state of using in

large amounts• Voracious : eating or wanting large quantities of

food; extremely eager to gain knowledge • Marie is a voracious reader. She is eager to read

all sorts of magazines and books. • He has a voracious appetite.• come our short: to end up lacking in money

Language points of Text I (11)

10. affluent: having plenty of money, e.g.

He was born to an affluent family.

Michael Jackson was affluent in worldly goods.

11. gender: sex; sexual classification, e.g.

The male and female genders are equal.

French words differ in gender.

Language points of Text I (12)

12. hassle: [uncountable and countable] spoken something that is annoying, because it causes problems or is difficult to do, e.g.

It was a real hassle to apply for the insurance money.• hassle v. to annoy someone, especially by asking

them many times to do something, e.g.

I never enjoy conversing with him – we even hassle back and forth over the telephone.

Stop hassling me! I said I'll call them tomorrow.

Language points of Text I (13)

13. balance… out: to become equal 14. negligible : too slight or unimportant to ha

ve any effect, e.g. The damage to my car is ~.His knowledge of geography is ~.C. f. neglected: 被忽视的，未被好好照管的 neglectful: 怠慢的，漫不经心的 be ~ of negligent: 不留心的，不在意的 be ~of/in

Language points of Text I (14)15. stereotype: [countable]• a belief or idea of what a particular type of person or

thing is like. Stereotypes are often unfair or untrue• stereotype of• women who don't fit the stereotype of the good

mother• stereotype about• stereotypes about the elderly• stereotypical adjective the stereotypical

Californian - tall, fit, and tanned• stereotypically adverb

Language points of Text I (15)16. tranquil: pleasantly calm, quiet, and

peaceful, e.g.lead a tranquil lifeThere was a tranquil expression on her face.• tranquilly adv.• tranquility British English tranquility

American English noun• [uncountable] the tranquility of the Tuscan

countryside

Language points of Text I (16)17. pastoral: typical of the simple peaceful life

in the country, e.g.

The picture shows a charming pastoral scene of cows drinking from a stream.

18. facet: any of the many parts of a subject to be considered; aspect, e.g.

One needs to consider the various facets of the problem.

Language points of Text I (17)19. spectrum: • a complete range of opinions, people, situations etc,

going from one extreme to its opposite• spectrum of• the ethnic spectrum of America• across the spectrum• The bill drew support from across the political

spectrum.• broad/wide/full etc spectrum a broad spectrum of

environmental groups• The two articles here represent opposite ends of the

spectrum .

Language points of Text I (18)20. religiosity: the state of being excessively

religious.

21. foster: to help an idea to develop over a period of time, e.g.

I’m trying to foster an interest in classic music in my children.

Do you believe that love can be fostered.

Language points of Text I (19)

22. conjecture: a guess, opinion, or judgment based on incomplete or uncertain information, e.g.

Her conjecture that the election would be a landslide proved to be true.

It was just as what I have conjectured (v.).

Language points of Text I (20)

23. place a priority on: to deal with… first and give it preferential treatment

24. disparity: a difference between two or more things, especially an unfair one, e.g.

There was great disparity between the amount of work that I do and what I get paid for it.

Rich and poor live side by side but in conditions of extraordinary disparity.

Language points of Text I (21)

25. devastating: completely destructive, e.g.

A smoldering cigarette can kindle a devastating bushfire.

The area is subject to devastating seasonal winds.

26. quadriplegic: a person who is permanently unable to move any part of their body below their work.

Language points of Text I (22)

27. extraversion (also spelled as extroversion) : the state of being outgoing and socially confident.

28. glean: to find out facts and information slowly and with difficulty, e.g.

From what people said, I managed to glean that he wasn’t coming.

Language points of Text I (23)

29. insurmountable: too large, difficult, etc. to be dealt with, e.g.

The problem is not insurmountable.

surmount v.

Grammatical Items • as…as ; not as …as ; not so …as • The negative form of “as…as” is “not as…as”

or “not so …as.” But “so” may not be used (1) after the contracted form such as “isn’t,” “don’t” (2) when there are other lexical items in between the negative word and “as…as” construction. E.g. : Sue does not act as quickly as Sue. However, when adverbs with negative meanings are used directly before the comparative construction, “so” is usually acceptable.

Translation Exercises (1)• 1. 张教授的发言强调英语学习中坚实基

础的重要性。（ highlight ）• The speech made by Professor Zhang highli

ghted the importance of the solid foundation in learning English .

• 2. 人们认为，抽烟和肺癌之间有着相互联系。（ correlation ）

• It is believed that there is a correlation between smoking and lung cancer.

Translation Exercises (2)• 3. 应该承认，他有着我们都没有的勇气

和毅力。（ admittedly ）• Admittedly, he has courage and stamina wh

ich we lack

• 4. 我们应该努力如实地来观察事物。（ in … perspective ）

• We should try to see things in their true perspective.

Translation Exercises (3)• 5. 我信任他，因为他总是言行一致。

（ consistent with ）• I trust him, because what he says is always

consistent with what he does

• 6. 尽管他们两人年龄悬殊，但是却非常融洽。（ disparity ）

• Both of them are in perfect harmony despite the great disparity in age.

Translation Exercises (4)• 7. 不管是什么年龄，什么性别，什么肤

色，每个人都有幸福的权利。（ regardless of ）

• Everyone has the right to happiness regardless of their age, sex, or color

• 8. 与纽约相比，这个海边城镇是很小的。（ relative to ）

• Relative to the city of New York, the town on the sea is very small.

Writing practice (1) • Happiness

• Dr Wayne W.Dyer (affectionately called the "father of motivation" by his fans) wrote:” There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way ." There is no use saying "some day when I achieve these goals, when I get this car, build this house and have this business ... then I will be really happy." Life just doesn’t work that way .

Writing practice (2)

• If you wait for certain things to happen and depend on external circumstances of life to make you happy ,you will always feel unfulfilled . There will always be something missing .Long term happiness is based on honesty, self-esteem, productive work and contributions to other people’s happiness. Happiness is not an end ; it is a process.

Writing practice (3)• Long term happiness is a process of

moving towards worthwhile goals and contributing towards the welfare and happiness to others . It means continuously creating values for others through your own honest , productive work . It means doing what you love and loving what you do . It means achieving your goals and then challenging yourself to bigger and better things.

Writing practice (4)

• It means always striving for more, learning and growing . Work honestly and productively and contribute real values to other. In the long run, that’s all what it is all about.

Passage dictationFirst Sign of AIDSThe virus causing AIDS enters the blood and

quickly penetrates certain white cells in the body.

At first there is often little or no trace of the virus at all.

This situation usually lasts for six or twelve weeks.

During this time the person is free of symptomsand antibody tests are negative.

Passage dictationThe first thing that happens after infection

is that many people develop a flu-like illness.

This may be severe enough to look like glandular fever

with swollen glands in the neck and armpits,

tiredness, fever and night sweats.

Some of those white cells are dying,

virus is being released,

Passage dictationand for the first time the body is working hard to

make correct antibodies.At this stage the blood test will usually become

positive.Most people do not realize what is happening.although when they later develop AIDS they

look backand remember it clearly.Most people have produced antibodies in about

twelve weeks.

Thanks for your attention