新世纪大学英语系列综合教程第四册 Zooming in: An Integrated English Course, Book 4
Unit Seven Lifestyles
Suggested Teaching Plan (4 periods) 1st -2nd periods
Learning Objectives of Unit Seven (3 mins)
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Share your idea of a simple lifestyle with your classmates
Master the usage of the key words and useful expressions in Text A and Text B Gain the effective methods of keeping a frugal life from the two texts Learn some basic translation skill.
1. Pre-reading Activities (15 mins) 1. Warm-up Activities
1.1 Activity 1: Quiz: Are you a compulsive shopper?
1. Whenever you go shopping, you end up buying things which you already have? A. Yes ( 0 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. No ( 2 score)
2. Is shopping a stress-buster for you? A. Yes ( 2 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. No ( 0 score)
3. Are you short of money due to your shopping binges? A. Most of the times. ( 0 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. Very rarely ( 2 score)
4. Do you often have fights with your near and dear ones because of your shopping bills?
A. Yes ( 0 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. No ( 2 score)
5. Do you think much before buying anything? A. Not at all ( 0 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. Very often ( 2 score)
6. Do you regret about your shopping later?
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A. Most of the times. ( 2 score) B. Sometimes ( 1 score) C. Very rarely ( 0 score) 7. How often do you go shopping? A. Two-three times a week. ( 0 score) B. Once in two weeks ( 1 score) C. Once a month ( 2 score)
Results
0-2 You are a compulsive shopper. You love shopping and do not need a reason to shop. You can shop anytime, when you have nothing to do. Your buying decisions can be very irrational.
3-11 You have a balanced shopping personality. At times, you are a compulsive shopper, else you are a thinking shopper.
12-14 You are a wise shopper. You shop only when needed. Your buying decisions are rational. You are not a compulsive shopper.
(Teacher presents the questions to students and asks them to write down their answers according to their own experience with an emphasis that there is no right or wrong answer. After answering all these 7 questions, tell them how to calculate their scores and analyze the result with the reference.)
1.2 Activity 2: Group Discussion
Look at the following pictures. Picture 1 and 2 represent a simple but comfortable life and picture 3, 4, and 5 represent a comfortable but luxurious life. What kind of life will you choose if they are both comfortable? Why?
1 2
3
4
2
5
Reasons of choosing a simple and comfortable lifestyle:
Simplicity doesn’t mean deprivng yourself of anything you desire. Simple living is a lifestyle characterized by minimizing the \is better\wealth and consumption.
Simple living is more healthy. Simle living can reduce stress.
Simple living can reduce our personal ecological footprint. Simple living can be one’s personal taste.
Reasons of choosing a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle: This lifestyle can be a symbol of one’s success. This lifestyle can satisfy one’s desire for anything. This lifestyle can urge one to pursuit more.
This lifestyle can be more changeable and uncertain. This lifestyle can stimulate more consumption.
(Teacher presents Students the pictures and asks them what kind life they prefer: simple or luxurious? Students first discuss in the group, then some representatives volunteer to share their ideas, and Teacher takes the points down on the computer to pool the ideas. In the end, Teacher gives the concluding remarks.)
2. Text A Stripping Down to Bare Happiness
2.1 Background Information (5 mins)
2.1.1 99 Ways to a Simple Lifestyle
by Albert J. Fritch
Brief introduction of the handbook:
Between the covers of this modestly mimeographed book are ninety-nine detailed essays that explore ways to conserve our natural resources—food, fossil fuel,
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water, wildlife, people, health, land, and everything else that's customarily devastated by modern man-by leading a more conscientious, less wasteful, do-it-yourself life. And if you're thinking such a book would have to cover a rather monumental mass of information on Heaven-knows-how-many subjects, you're absolutely right. That’s precisely what 99 Ways to a Simple Lifestyle does.
For instance, you can sit down with this volume and learn—within a single reading—how to: keep a furnace operating properly, avoid aerosol sprays, build a yurt, consume less meat, plant fruit trees, make and repair furniture, care for a garden, ride a bicycle, live communally, buy a flushless toilet, cut hot water costs, eat wild foods, select and make and mend clothing, camp and backpack, stop smoking cigarettes, purchase a car, refurbish an old home, make compost, dehumidify rooms in the summer, save water, bake bread, avoid unnecessary auto travel, use natural pesticides, repair a leaking faucet, watch your weight, choose gasoline, exercise without equipment, join a craft co-op, fight utility companies, take care of your feet, and do 68 other equally liberating things.
In other words, what we have here is the proverbial primer to low-impact lifestyles. Obviously, the book cannot cover each topic in all-inclusive depth . . . but the basic facts are thoroughly explained and—in many cases— illustrated to make it easy for the reader to build a sound base for pursuing a different kind of \the kind that's good for everybody.
2.1.2 Consumerism is the equating of personal happiness with the purchasing of material possessions and consumption. In economics, consumerism can also refer to economic policies that place an emphasis on consumption, and, in an abstract sense, the belief that the free choice of consumers should dictate the economic structure of a society.
2.1.3 Voluntary simplicity (or simple living) is a lifestyle in which individuals consciously choose to minimize the “more-is-better” pursuit of wealth and consumption. Adherents choose simple living for a variety of reasons, including spirituality, health, increase in “quality time” for family and friends, stress reduction, conservation, social justice or anti-consumerism, while others choose to live more simply for reasons of personal taste or personal economy.
2.2 Global Understanding of Text A (40 mins)
2.2.1 Comprehensive Questions
1.What are the changes Sara and her husband have made in their lifestyle?
2. Why did Sara and Michael decide to “strip down to bear happiness”?
3. How did the couple “strip down” their lives?
4. How did the couple feel about their new lifestyle?
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5. What is the “yearning feeling” that Sara mentions in Para10?
6. How was the author affected by her interview with the couple?
2.2.2 Read the following statements and see if they are true or false. If it is true, find the original sentences from the text; if it is false, correct it.
1. By throwing away all the expensive things, Michael and Sara get to know what they really need. ( )
2. It is implied in Paragraph 7 that some families usually keep expensive but mostly
unnecessary medicines, cosmetics, and clothes, which are not the basic items in their daily life. ( )
3. In Paragraph 8, the author implies that dishwashers, clothes dryers, humidifiers,
hairdryers, and electric curlers are so expensive that ordinary families cannot afford them. ( )
4. Michael and Sara do not own a TV set, because they consider it harmful for their
children to be exposed to violence and sex in the TV programs. ( )
5. Sara and Michael think the modern life in a commuter age is actually rather
costly and people cannot gain happiness from this lifestyle. ( )
2.2.3 Discuss with your partner(s) the following topics or questions, on the basis of your understanding of the information in this part and your personal experiences and feelings.
1. In the end of Paragraph 11, the author told us that she was “surprised at my socially sanctioned irrational behavior in others”. Name some of such socially sanctioned irrational behaviors. Do you have such behaviors?
2. In Paragraph 12, the author wrote about her experience of failing to resist the temptation of the inexpensive hand towel and sandals. Have you had similar experiences? What do such experiences indicate?
3. In the last paragraph, the author wrote: “it is sometimes hard to find the resolve and the courage to dismount (from the shopping merry-go-round).” Do you agree with her? What does the ending of the text imply?
4. Make your comments on Sara and Michael’s simplification lifestyle.
2.2.4 The Division of the Text
(Teacher tells Students that the whole text falls into 3 parts and asks them to summarize the main idea of each part.)
The text tells a story of a couple who resisted the trend of the modern society and seeked for a simple, happy and satisfying lifestyle. From para 1 to para 5, the author tells us the reason why the couple decided to change their lifestyle, their major decisions, their present living conditions and their major goal. From para 6 to para 10, the author tells us their ways of keeping the present simple but satisfying lifestyle. From para 11 to the last para, the author tells us the influnce of the couple on her and her helplessness in such a consumerism society. The structure of the text can be seen
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