its people, and occasionally converting one of them. (2)
He chose to live among the wealthy, lazy and dishonest citizens of Corinth, spent much of his time ridiculing them and occasionally persuaded one of them into adopting his belief.
He was not the first to inhabit such a thing. (3)
He was not the first man who had lived in such a storage jar.
But he was the first who ever did so by choice, out of principle. (3) But he was the first to do so because he wanted to.
Diogenes took his old cask and began to roll it up and down. “When you are all so busy,” he said, “ I feel I ought to do something!” (9)
When the Corinthians were busy preparing for the coming war, Diogenes rolled his cask up and down to ridicule their silly behavior.
… his air of destiny.（14）
… the air of someone who has the power to determine the course of events in future. 带着世界主宰者的气派
UNIT 12
All are important and must be reasonably satisfied if we are to fulfill our biological destiny. (1) All of them are important and must be fulfilled if we are going to experience lives as humans.
I italicize the need for power because,… the way we continually struggle for power in every aspect of our lives seems uniquely human.
I italicize the need for power because the need for power seems exclusively a human need. This is shown in how eagerly we seek power in every aspect of our lives.
In fact, if it were not for the need for power, our whole economy would crumble because almost all that is bought and sold, except for bare necessities, is for the sake of power. (4) collapse, lose effectiveness for the purpose of
In fact, it is our need for power that has pushed the development of our whole economy because all what we buy and sell is to serve our purpose to gain power.
That their teachings have been largely accepted when what they advocate is so obviously self-serving is a tribute to how effective they have been in getting their message across. (6) interested in gaining an advantage for yourself
to be a clear sign of the good qualities that sb. or sth. has (证明)
It is surprising that what they propagate should be accepted by many, for obviously their propaganda serves their own interests, helping to maintain their power. This clearly shows how effective their propaganda machine is.
Lower animals, whose behavior is essentially built-in and who do not have much ability to learn, are not involved with fun.
Because their behavior is basically predetermined by their genes, lower animals do not have to make choices, do not have much ability to learn, and therefore they do not have the need for fun.
My guess is that we will survive in direct proportion to how much we can learn. (13) according to a particular relationship in size, amount, etc.
In my opinion, the greater our ability to learn, the better our chance to survive.
A monotonous task is always boring unless we can find a way to learn while doing something repetitive, or make the thing we are doing competitive or social, as Tom Sawyer did when he was painting the fence.
The task which lacks variety is always boring unless we can find a way to learn while we are doing something again and again, or we can make the thing we are doing full of competition or involving the interaction with other people, as Tom Sawyer did when he was painting the fence.
All five needs are built into our genetic structure as instructions for how we must attempt to live our lives.
All five needs are inborn as part of our nature and direct us as we go through our lives.
Simple survival needs like hunger, thirst, and sexual desire are relatively clear-cut, and we quickly learn what particular discomfort is attached to the denial of these basic needs. (3)
It is relatively easy to define simple survival needs that satisfy hunger, thirst and sexual desire because we can easily find what particular discomfort we feel when these basic needs are denied.
The need for power is particularly difficult to satisfy because in many cultures the mores of the culture condemn those who openly strive for it. (3)
In many cultures openly trying to gain power is regarded as running counter to the code of conduct of culture, and those who do so are strongly disapproved of, so it is especially difficult for one to meet his/her need for power.
They preach the virtues of humility because the more people they can persuade to be humble, the more easily they can both preserve and add to the power that they have.（6）
They advocate modesty praising it as an admirable quality because they know the more people they make humble, the more easily they can keep and strengthen the power they have seized.
While it is easy to understand that people who strive for power may become dominant and have a better chance to survive, most of us have difficulty accepting that this need is written in our genes.（6）
Although people admit that those who strive for power are likely to have advantages over others, most of us can’t willingly accept the view that power is a human need or is something we have
inherited from our ancestors.
Who do you know who is so completely satisfied with his life that he can go a week without
complaining that someone has gotten in the way of what he wanted to do? (7) prevent sb. from doing sth
People are constantly complaining that they are prevented from achieving their goal. Actually you can hardly find a person who doesn't make such complaints before a week goes by.
Most of us cannot get through a day without complaint: To be satisfied with how others have treated us for a week would seem like an eternity. (7)
to be a period that seems to be very long or never to end
Most of us can find something to complain about daily. Any feeling of satisfaction with how we are treated won’t last as long as a week.
If we think that we have any chance at all to move beyond bare survival, we are almost all ambitious. (8)
All humans want and are determined to succeed in one way or another if they believe that they can manage more than merely to keep alive.
There is no greater work incentive than to be able to see that your effort has a power payoff. (9) To be able to see that your effort will be rewarded with some sort of power is the best incentive for work.
And as much as a child may love her parents, she also wants the freedom to branch out on her own. (10)
(as) much as = although, used to mean that although one thing is true, something else is also true.
add to the range of one’s interests or activities
Although a child may love her parents very much, she also wants her parents to let her develop the way she wants.
It can balance a lot of misery, and it is like a catalyst that makes anything we do better and worh doing again and again. (11)
If in the misery we still keep our desire for fun alive, we would be able to face our misery; and if we make an enjoyable job out of a boring task, we would do it better and think it worth doing again and again.
Anytime we can introduce power, freedom or belonging into a situation, we find it more interesting. And as we do, we also find ourselves learning along the way. (14)
Whenever we are motivated by power, freedom or belonging, we do a job with more interests. And as we tackle one task after another with interests, we keep learning and progressing all our lives.