Unit 13 Book 1
I. Main idea
What is the story narrated in the text about?
This narrative essay narrates and describes an unusual and unforgettable phase of the writer’s life, during which she experienced deep depression, voluntarily received clinical treatment, conquered the illness in the end, and benefited a great deal from the experiences associated with her suffering.
II. Structural analysis
1. How are the events of the essay arranged?
The narration mostly follows a chronological order, but a few flashbacks are inserted in Paragraph 3 and 6.
2. Work out the structure of the text by completing the table. Paragraph(s) 1-3 4-10 Main idea It provides the background of the story, telling us about the writer and her family and her problem. The writer related her experiences with deep depression, including her attitude and reactions to it, focusing on her positive attitude and how she got better and finally recovered. 11 It describes the writer’s mood and feeling on a moon-lit, starry night, and stresses that her deep depression had been worth it, for suffering had painted color into her life, and that she was thankful.
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Unit 13 Book 1
Text I
The Light of Depression
Alice Johnson
1. Twice, I have seen my father cry. The first time, I was 12, and my sister, Jenny, was She
was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and needed further testing. When we arrived at the hospital, my dad walked around to her side of the car, gathered her into his arms and held her. None of us understood what was happening to my sister’s body, but when I heard my strong dad’s voice break with tears, I knew we were on a new and unexpected path. 2. Almost 10 years later, in the fall following my college graduation, I was the one my
father gathered into his arms. At 22, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital. At a time in my life when the world was supposed to be opening up to me, I found myself retreating. Apathetic, uncaring, tired, and with no particular vision for any future, I drifted into a world without hope. My family and I knew I needed help.
3. As a child, I had great passion for life. The simplest of pleasures brought unexplainable
joy. I seldom demonstrated a melancholic personality. In fact, my parents learned that birthdays, Christmas and any reason for celebration would find me in excitement. I loved life, and I loved being alive. When depression struck, I was dropped into a world where wearing my own skin was foreign and ill-fitting. 4. My mom says that one of the hardest days of her life was the day I checked into the
hospital. My personal belongings were rummaged through, and I headed down the long hallway to doctors and a treatment team that became my ―family‖ for the next month. Her drive home, leaving me behind, was heartbreaking. She was left to wonder and guess at why her daughter was in so much pain and why she couldn’t fix it this time.
5. I was numb, trying to see through a haze that had settled upon what once was vivid and
bright. All color had seeped from a life that used to hold such joy. Some people didn’t
understand my depression. They regarded it as a bad case of the Sunday evening blues believing that if I tried harder and stopped feeling sorry for myself, I would ―get better.‖ But I wasn’t just dealing with apathy toward routine. I couldn’t remedy being sick with a strenuous run, a good movie, or simply the passing of time. Depression transcended my circumstances and invaded my soul. It was more like a day terror —like waking up to a nightmare. Clinical depression painted my world black while screaming quietly that I was worthless. 6. I remember driving home from work the week before I checked into the hospital. My
co-workers hadn’t noticed any difference in my performance or behavior. I was great at keeping up appearances. I was good at performing. But that evening, I recall wishing I
weren’t alive, wishing my car would turn down an empty road and I could disappear. Upon arriving home, I headed straight for my room and slipped under my covers, hoping to sleep. I wanted to escape life because it hurt to breathe.
7. By the end of my first week at the hospital, I had made up my mind to leave. It wasn’t
working. I packed my bags, headed to the front desk, and announced that I was calling my
parents to come and pick me up. But my treatment team told me I needed to stay. Defeated and scared, I returned to my room, unpacked my bags and cried myself to sleep. It was time to
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Unit 13 Book 1
get honest with myself.
8. I was angry. Me, happy Alice, with so much going for her. Stripped of the world’s accolades, it didn’t matter what school I had attended, where I had vacationed, what awards I had won. It didn’t matter who I knew, didn’t know, or thought I knew. What mattered to those surrounding me was that I was honest about my feelings. They didn’t have to be pretty. I
didn’t have to look good. I could just be — and that was enough.
9. It was the kindness, sympathy, love and truth demonstrated in the hospital that began unlocking my wounds, hurts and distorted thinking. I was learning from the worn lives around me. Lives I would have once felt pity for or wanted to distance myself from. They were the ones who possessed strength and courage. They had suffered abuse, neglect, addiction and illnesses. They felt misplaced and forgotten; they were told they didn’t matter. I came from a family filled with love, but as I and others in my hospital ―family‖ shared our suffering, I found I needed their love.
10. Getting help and getting rid of the junk cluttering my mind were part of getting better. Hope came gradually, and with small steps slowly returned feeling and clarity. I was changing. My thinking was being altered. I was given a truer sense of who I was: a young woman who needed to be loved for herself, not for what she could offer — not for how she could make you feel. Being honest in the hidden places of my heart. Taking personal responsibility. And slowly, the desire to live, the courage to want to live, began to return. Once truth reveals deception, the lie can no longer deceive unless we choose to let it. 11. A year and a half after my release from the hospital, I drove along a country road. The
moon was bright. The stars brighter. Snow gave a fresh milky coat to the trees, and the night air was full and dark. I felt so alive. I hadn’t believed there would ever be something good enough or rich enough to make up for the pain and darkness I had known. My pain had been deep. But on this quiet stretch of road, I knew it had all been worth it. I knew that life was different because of my experience. Suffering had painted color into my life, and I could be thankful.
Paragraphs 1-3 Questions
1. The writer stresses at the very beginning that when her sister was suffering from juvenile diabetes, her father cried bitterly for the first time. When do you think her father cried for the second time? (Paragraph 2)
It is not difficult to infer that the writer’s father cried for the second time when the writer was diagnosed with clinical depression.
2. Would you describe the writer’s personality as a child before she was seized with depression? (Paragraph 3)
As a child, the writer had a great passion for life and enjoyed being alive. The simplest of pleasures brought her great joy. She seldom demonstrated a melancholic personality. Any reason for celebration would find her in great excitement.
Words and Expressions 1. diagnose: v.
1) find out the nature of an illness by observing its symptoms
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Unit 13 Book 1
e.g. The illness was diagnosed as measles.
2) find out what the cause of a fault is, after doing tests, examinations, etc.
e.g. The book diagnoses our present economic ills, explaining what is wrong with the economy. Derivation: diagnosis: n. Collocations:
diagnose sb. as (having) sth.
e.g. Joe struggled in school before he was diagnosed as dyslexic. diagnose sth. as sth.
e.g. The illness was diagnosed as mumps. diagnose sb.with sth.
e.g. She was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Translation:
The doctor has diagnosed the illness as heart disease. 医生把此病诊断为心脏病。
We should diagnose key technical challenge and problem in the project. 我们应解决项目中的关键问题和技术难题。
2. find oneself doing sth.: do a particular thing, or realize that this is happening, esp. when one did not expect or intend it; do sth. without intending to do so
e.g. After wandering around, we found ourselves coming back to the hotel. When he left, Karen found herself heaving a huge sigh of relief. Translation:
我醒来却发现自己躺在地板上。
When I woke up, I found myself lying on the floor.
我发现自己竟然身不由己地又参与了一次无聊的争论。 I found myself being drawn into another boring argument.
3. drift: v.
1) move slowly on water or in the air
e.g. The rubber raft drifted out to sea.
2) move, change, or do sth. without any plan or purpose
e.g. Jenny spent the year drifting around Europe.
3) gradually change from being in one condition, situation, etc., into another without realizing it e.g. She was just drifting into sleep when the alarm went off. Collocations: drift out/towards drift around/along drift into drift away Derivation:
drift: n. Translation:
成千上万只灯笼慢慢漂向大海。
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Thousands of lanterns slowly drift out to sea. 让过去随着河水流逝吧。
Let the past drift away with the water.
4. demonstrate: v.
1) show sth. clearly by giving proof or evidence
e.g. The study demonstrates the link between poverty and malnutrition. 2) show or be an example of sth.
e.g. They'll be demonstrating how to handle modern, high performance cars. Derivations: demonstration: n. demonstrative: adj.
5. melancholic: adj. characterized by or causing or expressing sadness
e.g. With a melancholic nature, she often suffers from depression.
That doctoral candidate possessed a melancholic personality, which is perhaps why he failed to finish. Derivation:
melancholy: n.
Sentences
1. … I knew we were on a new and unexpected path. (Paragraph 1)
Paraphrase:... I realized that her illness was going to change her life and ours in a direction we had not expected.
Translation: ……我知道我们踏上了一条新的无法预知的路。
2. At a time in my life when the world was supposed to be opening up to me, I found myself retreating. Apathetic, uncaring, tired, and with no particular vision for any future, I drifted into a world without hope. (Paragraph 2)
Paraphrase: At an age when I expected the world should be opening its arms to welcome me, I found myself drifting away. Uninterested in anything, tired of life and having lost any purpose in life, I was unconsciously developing a mental illness in which I experienced deep hopelessness and worthlessness.
Translation: 曾几何时，世界向我敞开怀抱，可我却退缩了。冷漠、麻木、疲惫，看不见未来，我漂浮在一个没有希望的世界。
3...., I was dropped into a world where wearing my own skin was foreign and ill-fitting. (Paragraph 3)
Paraphrase: ..., I suffered from a terrible illness in which I was even suspicious of my own identity.
Translation: ……，我落到了一个世界，在这里坚持自我却显得与周围格格不入。
Paragraphs 4-10 Questions:
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