An Integrated English Course III
Unit 2
Text 1 Tyranny of the Urgent
Key to Exercises
Text comprehension
I. Decide which of the following is the biggest problem we may have in using our time.
C. Jumbled priorities are, according to Hummel, the biggest problem we have in time management. Hummel points out in the third paragraph that the real problem is not shortage of time but that of priorities. We have spent too much time dealing with urgent tasks that are hardly important in the long run while neglecting those that are truly important.
II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.
1. F. A day with thirty hours is almost as good as one with twenty-four in relieving us of the pressure because the problem is not the length of time but the way to spend our time. Even if we have a 30-hour day, we still cannot finish all the tasks required because there is simply no end to any type of work.
2. F. The passage of time will not help us to catch up because we may be charged with more important tasks, or simply more tasks, with the passage of time. A mother's work is never finished when her children grow up; nor is that of a manager when he mounts a higher position in his company.
3. F. Hard work does not wear us out. We can still feel a sense of achievement and joy upon accomplishing a difficult and important task. It is doubt and misgiving that make us weary when we look back and find so many tasks left undone that should have been finished.
4. T. Urgent things are those that call for immediate action and hold momentary appeals; they are not necessarily important in the long term. Important things rarely must be done today or tomorrow.
III. Answer the following questions.
1. No. We must ensure we are working hard on important things rather than those that are merely urgent.
2. Learning to prioritize. We shouldn't let the urgent crowd out the truly important things while merely doing those that are not really important.
3. Because urgent things call for instant attention and immediate action while important things hardly do so. If we crowd our schedule with too many urgent engagements, we will have less time to deal with truly important things.
4. The development of modem science and technology, especially that of the modem means of communication, is accused as an accomplice of the tyranny of the urgent. The telephone line has tied us to the fast-growing outside world to which we have to give instant response. So our life has been cursed with endless callings and intrusions, for which the development of modem technology is partially responsible.
5. No. The message the writer wants to convey is that we should not let urgent things crowd out important things. He does not mean we should leave urgent things unnoticed. IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences taken from the text.
1. He did not realize what an impact his words had on me. They often return to my mind and
reproach me with the grave problem of priorities.
2. But from a long-term perspective, they no longer seem to be important as they promised, and we suffer from a sense of loss when we recall those important tasks left undone.
Structural analysis of the text
The writer supports his argument by using a number of facts and examples in addition to reasoning.
Rhetorical features of the text
So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less (Paragraph 2 ); \those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done\
Vocabulary exercises
I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words. 1. a series of; a number of (tasks) that come one after the other 2. demanding more care, effort and attention 3. weighed on my mind; affected me 4. earnest call for instant attention 5. in view of
6. been dominated by
II. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word taken from the box in the proper form. 1. prominent 2:. rebuked 3. breach 4. priority 5. haunt 6. tyranny 7. imperious 8. misgiving
III. Fill in the blank in each sentence with an appropriate phrasal verb or collocation taken from the text.
1. crowded out 2. catch up 3. calls/called for 4. involved in 5. pushing aside 6. wish for IV. Fill in the blanks' with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1. tyrants 2. urgency 3. relieved 4. undoubtedly 5. irresistibly 6. deceive V. Explain the underlined phrasal verbs in your own words.
1. affects 2. catching up with 3, been involved in 4. doing 5. tell 6. rejected
Grammar exercises
I. Note how the coordinated structures are joined together in the following sentences.
Pay attention to the connectors and punctuation marks used in the coordinated structures. Note that the connectors and, but, or and nor are frequently followed by shortened sentences. II. Complete the following sentences using proper coordinators.
1. not only ... but also 2. Either or 3. and 4. or 5. so 6. and 7. neither ... nor 8. but
III. Combine the following sentences into a paragraph, using coordinators. Make other changes if necessary.
The recorded history of mankind is only 6,000 or 7,000 years, but within that short period of time many civilizations have risen and fallen. The people of the Nile Valley created a high culture, and so did the people of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, but both of these cultures disappeared. They were absorbed into the Greco-Roman culture that dominated the Mediterranean world, but this civilization also disintegrated in time.
IV. Punctuate the following sentences, using commas or stops. Make some changes if necessary. 1. The butterfly is a marvel. It begins as an ugly caterpillar and turns into a work of art. 2. The earthquake was devastating, Tall buildings crumbled and fell to the earth. 3. The child hid behind his mother, for he was afraid of the dog.
4. We have to help the children. Or, more precisely, we have to help them to help themselves. 5. Both John and I had many errands to do: yesterday. John had to go to the post office and bookstore. I had to go to the drugstore, the travel agency and the bank.
6. He's walking in the garden, the dog is playing at his feet, and the children are following him. V. Make sentences of your own after tile sentences given below, keeping the underlined parts in your sentences.
1. He considers Jane's opinion as valuable as any of ours.
Waves of red light are about twice as long as waves of blue light. 2. He taught himself to play the violin by practicing all night. I did not think she would do any good by coming over.
Translation exercises
I. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets. 1. Memories of his childhood haunted him.
2. More volunteers are needed to finish the exacting work. 3. Housing ranks first on my list of priorities. 4. Father rebuked his son for being lazy.
5. In his The Way to Wealth, Franklin gave readers many maxims on how to achieve earthly success.
6. His imperious manner was more than I could bear. 7. The fire devoured the forests.
8. The newspaper won't accept any deceptive advertisements. II. Translate the following passage into Chinese.
我们经常面临一大堆尚未完成的任务，因此我们希望一天有30个小时。但是，额外的时间不一定能使我们摆脱巨大的压力。我们不断地受到迫切任务的驱赶，我们的家不 再是避开工作的城堡了，因为电话声随时穿透墙壁来打扰我们。没完没了的迫切工作消耗我们的时间和精力。我的一个朋友说：“你的问题是你让急事挤走了重要的事。”的确，我们有时甚至忽视了真正重要的工作。我们成了“暴虐急事”的奴隶。因此，根据轻重缓急安排好事情很重要。
Exercises for integrated skills I. Dictation.
How is it that hard work and greater efficiency do not necessarily result in a sense of achievement? / Social scientists drew a crucial distinction between two words often used as synonyms: / efficient and effective. / Efficient\
degree of economy with which it is carded out, / while \/ for which the activity is carried out.
It is noted that by using a minimum amount of energy and time, / we can be very efficient in performing a certain task. / Yet our work is actually effective only when it contributes to our goals. / True effectiveness is not a matter of doing things right / but of doing the right things, / and we shouldn't let the apparent success of being more efficient / mask the mistake of performing an activity that is not important.
II. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE word you think appropriate. 1. however 2. out 3. defined 4. difficult 5. First
6. for 7. yourself 8. which/that 9. to 10. involves 11. accomplish 12. are 13. to 14. don't 15. hour
Listening exercises TRANSCRIPT
All Stressed Out and No Place to Go (H = Host ES = Elizabeth Sander J = Judy)
H: Good morning, and welcome to \of the Day.\Do you often find that you're trying to accomplish more in a day than is humanly possible? Do you have trouble falling asleep at night because you can't stop thinking about yesterday's activities or planning tomorrow's? Do you find yourself spending too much time at work without enough time for leisure activities? Today our topic is stress and how to manage it. Call us with your questions. With us to help answer some of the questions you may have is Dr. Elizabeth Sander, a medical doctor and writer of a best-selling book on stress management. Good morning, Dr. Sander and thank you for joining us today.
ES: Thank you for having me.
H: Dr. Sander, before we take our first call, perhaps you could just tell us what exactly we mean by \
ES: Actually, stress can be either a physical or psychological response, or both, to the demands that we' re placing on ourselves. An increased level of stress affects us physically by producing certain changes in the body such as increased heart or breathing rate, dilation of the pupils, or our blood pressure and sugar level can go up. These are normally responses that are designed to help us, for example, when we're in danger, but which under other circumstances, for example, when we have a deadline to meet for a project at work, don't really benefit us. Psychologically, we respond to these demands by becoming nervous, irritable, depressed, or even angry.
H: Yes, it seems these days we're constantly listening to each other complaining about being stressed out. Let's take a call from Judy in Fallbrook.
J: Yes, hello, thank you for taking my call. This is a great topic. You know, I have so many friends who are always complaining about being stressed out. And it seems that I'm just as busy as they are if not more so. Maybe I'm really stressed and just don't realize it. Are there certain warning signs that I can be on the lookout for, that will tell me I've reached a dangerous level of stress?
ES: That's a great question and yes, many people are at dangerous levels of stress without realizing it or they just don't want to admit it because they're afraid that they would have to change
something in their life. Some of the most common warning signs are fatigue, listlessness, sleeping problems --- either you can't fall asleep at night or you wake up throughout the night; you may have a loss of appetite or sudden stomach disorders, and heart palpitations are quite common. So one of the key issues is to help people realize that they are experiencing some of these problems associated with too much stress.
J: Well, as I said, many of my friends are aware of their situation, but it seems they never do anything about it. Are there ways that they can make their life less stressful?
ES: Of course. There are steps that we can take to lower the amount of stress in our lives, but un fortunately many people are so caught up in the cycle of activity and stress that they don't stop to take these important steps. The most important step is that we become aware of potentially stressful situations and avoid them. We can also simply reduce our workload and organize the work that we do have in a better way. Another important step is to get the proper rest and exercise. One of the worst things that can happen is to allow the stress to build up. Finally, one of the most effective steps we can take is to find a balance between work and play. Besides the above-mentioned steps, techniques such as visualization or mediation also help many people who can't seem to make adjustments in their lives to lessen the amount of activity they're involved in. Having a more positive outlook or mentally planning your day's activities so that they will be less stressful are also helpful.
J: Yeah, that's definitely true. Thank you. That information is really helpful.
H: OK. We're going to take a short break and when we return we'll hear more from Dr. Elizabeth Sander on the topic of stress.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- key to listening exercises
B. Listen to the recording carefully and answer the following two questions. 1. How do our bodies respond physically when we are stressed out? ~ increased heart or breathing rate ~ dilation of the pupils ~ high blood pressure ~ high sugar level
2. How do our bodies respond psychologically when we are stressed out? ~ being nervous ~ being irritable ~ being depressed ~ being angry
C. Listen to the recording carefully. Take notes below by listing the signals of high stress and methods of stress management. 1. Signals of high stress: ~ fatigue ~ listlessness
~ sleeping problems
~ stomach disorders or loss of appetite ~ heart palpitations
2. Methods of stress management:
~ becoming aware of potentially stressful situations and avoiding them
~ getting the proper rest and exercise ~ finding balance between work and play ~ visualizing and meditating ~ having a more positive outlook
~ planning day's activities in order to lower stress
Text II Time
Key to questions for discussion
1. Time is eternity and men waste eternity by wasting time.
2. It means that we believe that time contains life, death, and us, who are just like fishes in the sea busy living and seeking happiness.
3. Generally speaking, the fulfillment of expectations depends on ourselves as well as the external circumstances. We need to work hard so as to realize our dreams, but sometimes we have to wait for the opportunities to come. There are times when we depend more on time to bring us opportunities, and there are others when we are better master of our own fate.
4. The writer believes that time is within us rather than outside us. It is not that we live in time but that time is defined by our existence. Time is nothing in itself; it depends on our consciousness. 5. Open for discussion.