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Unit 8 Coping with an Educational Unit 8 Coping with an Educational

ProblemProblem

Text A Fable of the Lazy Teenager

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Discussion questionsHow important is a good education

and in what way can it improve a person’s life?

(find a good job, train your mind to think logically, be able to understand the world around you, develop sense of discipline, etc.)

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Describe the Chinese educational system (teaching methods, hours of study, students’ motivation, emphasis on memorizing or analysis, etc)

In what respects do you agree/disagree with these methods?

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“The U.S. is a magnet for talent.  China is a magnet for capital. In the U.S., our challenge is to open our labor markets to more foreign workers, while in China, it seems the challenge is to open capital markets to more foreign investment - because foreign investment creates the domestic jobs that will help keep educated Chinese men and women from leaving the country.”

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“ 美国是一块吸引人才的磁铁 , 中国是一块吸引资本的磁石。在美国 ,我们的挑战是将劳工市场向更多的外国工人开放；在中国 , 挑战似乎是将资本市场向更多的外国投资开放。而要迎接挑战，两国只有一个选择，增加和强化教育。”

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"The countries that create the best public school systems - and hold their students accountable for success - will gain a huge advantage in the global economy. In New York, I've seen how Chinese families place tremendous value on educational success - and that's a family value that we need more of in America.”

-- by Mayor of NY city, Bloomberg’s, on Dec.12, 07 in Fudan

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Failure is the mother of success, as the Chinese saying goes. However, some people argue that laziness is the grandmother of success. They believe that the lazy people, seeking ways to do things more easily and more comfortably, are more apt to be inventive. What is your opinion about this?

Discussion Questions

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What is a fable?short tales not based on facts and

intended to give moral guidancetell the titles of some fables you

knowDo fables state the moral lessons

directly or let the reader deduce?

The bear and fox by Aesop

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UCLA

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UCLA artwork

Powell library

Campus

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U.C.L.A.: (University of California at Los Angeles) the largest of the 8 branches of the

Uni. of Californiaestablished in 1919

now has about 35,000 studentsknown esp. for its film studies

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UCLA is ranked 25th among "National Universities" by U.S. News and World Report.

UCLA placed 13th in the world in 2007, as per the Top 500 World Universities.

It ranked 11th in the nation in terms of quality of scientific research leading towards a Nobel Prize.

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UCLA has more applicants than any other university in the United States.

Out of 50,732 applicants for Fall 2007, 11,860 (23.38%) were admitted.

Students come to UCLA from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

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UCLA’s athletic teams, the Bruins, have won 121 national championships including 100 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) team championships as of 2007—more than any other university in the world.

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The Wealth of Nations (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776)

An important work of economic and social theory by Adam Smith.

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the most seminal 有重大影响的 text in the field of free-market capitalism

broken down into five books between two volumes

has clear, straightforward stylewritten for the average educated individ

ual of the 18th century rather than for specialists and mathematicians

the book thus remains relatively accessible, even for the modern reader

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The Wealth of Nations

In it Adam Smith analyzed the relationship between work and the production of a nation’s wealth.

His conclusion was that the best economic situation results from encouraging free enterprise ( an economic system in which there is open competition in business and trade and no government control).

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Main IdeaTeenagers’ idleness and ignorance

will seriously affect themselves and society in general.

Or Education is key to success, while lack of it leads to serious consequences for both individual and society as a whole.

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Structure

two parts: the author’s concern (idleness and ignorance among a great many US teenagers) and his proposed remedy (offers a fable trying to teach a lesson)

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Text Analysisbegin with an anecdotethe main part a fable, which conveys the

message that education is vital to both the individual and society

ends surprisingly and abruptly without presenting any conclusions, leaving more room for readers to contemplate on the disturbing problems American is facing

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Exposition 3,6,8Unit 3 doesn’t reveal the main topic until

the third paragraph. Its main part provides three solutions.

Unit 6 starts by posing a question to which the author then gives a positive answer. Its main part provide three examples.

Unit 8 begins with an anecdote. Its main part is a fable.

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Language Study

good-natured (L12):having an easygoing and cheerful disposition 和蔼的 , 温厚的

eg. too good-natured to resent a little criticism the good-natured policeman on our bl

ock

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Language Study

* I was introduced to the young gentleman who was to be my roommate, and found him to be intelligent, cheerful of spirit, unselfish, full of generous impulses, patient, considerate, and wonderfully good-natured.

- from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

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Synonyms: [amiable, complaisant, easy, good-humored, good-tempered, lenient, mild, obliging]Antonym: [ill-natured]

Language Study

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ignorant (of): knowing little or nothing; rude; ill mannered

eg. I am completely ignorant of biochemistry.

To say you were ignorant of the rules is no excuse.

His ignorant behavior at the dinner table caused much embarrassment.

n. ignorance

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Language Studyslice (L16): 1) a thin flat piece cut fro

m sth. (usu. ~ of)eg. a slice of bread 2) part of sth. (followed by of)eg. The boss promised that everyone

would get a slice of the profits.

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Language Study

human capital (L24): people’s knowledge and skills, as opposed to financial capital in Line 85

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accumulate (L25): collect, gather (esp. over a period of time)

I have accumulated far two many books over the last years.

My vacation days are accumulating. A thick layer of dust had accumulated in the

room. If you don't sort out the papers on your desk

on a regular basis they just keep on accumulating.

As people accumulate more wealth, they tend to spend a greater proportion of their incomes.

n. accumulation

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Language Study

function (L26): operate; work; run; act

eg. The table functions as a desk.The old radio doesn't function any m

ore. She functioned in Congress for two t

erms.

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Language Studydrive home (L29): make clear by specia

l emphasis and try to convince somebody of sth. 把 ... 讲透彻

eg. drive home a point/an argument The TV pictures brought home to us

all the plight of the refugees. I drove home to him that he must be

here by 10.

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Language Study

There came three months of mental worry, hard rolling, remorse, and physical pain to drive home the lesson of insufficient experience.

     - from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad

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Language Study

dramatize (L30): to present or represent in a dramatic manner 生动地表达

eg. These events dramatize the lack of social responsibility among today's youth.

It is a perfect example of how the media is a bunch of wimps 软弱者 – they over react and over dramatize everything.

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better off (L50): richer than before; in comfortable economic circumstance

eg. She was much better off after she got a second job.

In many western countries the better-off people live in the suburbs, while the poor live in the inner city.

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scare: make sb. feel frightened; startleeg. It scares him when you talk about c

ancer.The noise scared me.scare sb. /sth. away/off eg. Their loud voices scared away the

birds that were feeding in the garden.If you charge as much as that, you'll sc

are customers off.a. scary

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Language Study

manual (L77):doing or requiring physical work

eg: manual labor/laborers/workers/a five-speed manual transmission 五档手动变速装置

Synonyms: hand-operated, not automatic; human, physical

Antonyms: automatic, machine-operated; mental, intellectual

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adequate (L78): enough; satisfactory or good enough

eg. The amount of food they are being given isn’t adequate for growing children.

The teaching standard at the school is adequate but could be improved.

The cutting edge science research project can not be completed without adequate funding.

syn. sufficient, enough /ant. inadequate

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Language Study-8

befriend (82): to act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance; become friends witheg. The grandparents want to befriend the child. They befriended me when I first arrived in Boston as a student.

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Language Study-13

* “This is how we rose from the ashes after you defeated us in a war about a hundred years ago.”(L85)

During World War II, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, were destroyed by atomic bombs dropped by the United States military on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively. The surrender of Japan followed on August 15.

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faculty (L95): one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind, such as memory, reason, speech

eg. the faculty of sight/mindHe is still in full possession of his facultie

s at the age of 93.In the dark he had to depend on touch an

d on his faculties of smell and hearing.have faculty for doing sth.

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Post-text activity

Talk to your partners and imagine what will happen in the year 2050.