Unit 13 Book 1
1. Why was the day the writer checked into the hospital considered to be one of the hardest days of her mother’s life?(Paragraph 4)
Leaving her daughter behind at the hospital, the author's mother was seized with extreme sadness, feeling heart-broken. She wondered why her daughter was experiencing so much pain and couldn’t get over it this time.
2. What is the main idea of Paragraph 6? Illustrate or exemplify it. (Paragraph 6)
Paragraph 6 proves how deep the writer's depression had been before she was admitted into the hospital. While driving home from work before she was ill, she wished that she weren’t alive. When she arrived home, she had hoped to sleep and escape life because it hurt to breathe. 3. Which part in Paragraph 9 is a sentence fragment? Why is it separated from the previous sentence? (Paragraph 9)
\I would have once felt pity for or wanted to distance myself from\is a sentence fragment. It is separated from the foregoing sentence for emphasis.
4. What do you know about other patients from whose worn lives the writer was learning? (Paragraphs 9-10)
They were the ones who possessed strength and courage and had suffered abuse, neglect, addiction and illnesses. They felt misplaced and forgotten. They shared their suffering with the writer. Also, they helped the writer get a truer sense of who she was, see through deception and realize and grasp the truth.
Words and Expressions
6. rummage: vt. turn things over or disarrange them while searching for sth. else
e.g. When I entered her house, she was rummaging through the contents of a drawer for something.
Mother was rummaging around in the attic for an old family album. Collocations:
rummage in/through Derivation: rummage: n.
7. numb: adj. without the power to feel or move; (fig) emotionally incapable of thinking e.g. My fingers were so numb that I could hardly write. She was completely numb with terror. Derivation: numb: v. Translation:
His mind has been numbed. 他已麻木不仁。
I don't feel so cold now; but heavy and numb.
我现在感到不那么冷了，只是觉得困乏，浑身僵硬。
8. haze: n. thin mist; (fig) mental confusion or uncertainty
e.g. Things were covered with a haze on that early spring morning.
She did not speak clearly about it, because her mind was in a complete haze.
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Collocations: a haze of in a haze Derivation: haze: vt.
9. settle (up) on/over sth.: come to rest on sth.; stay on sth. for some time e.g. The bird settled on a branch.
Clouds have settled over the mountaintops. A tense silence has settled over the waiting crowd.
10. apathy: n. the feeling of not being interested in sth., and not willing to make any effort to change or improve things; lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern e.g. The campaign failed because of public apathy. She heard the story with apathy. 她无动于衷地听了这个故事。 Derivation: apathetic: adj. Antonym: sympathy
11. routine: n. a fixed and regular way of doing things; the usual order in which you do things e.g. She found it difficult to establish a new routine after retirement. John’s departure had upset their daily routine. Collocation:
get into a routine: develop a fixed order of doing things Derivation:
routine: adj.
12. remedy: vt. put right; deal with a problem or improve a bad situation; provide a remedy for sth. undesirable; rectify
e.g. To remedy the environment, the water must be chemically treated.
We must remedy injustices.
If I made a mistake, I will try to remedy it. Derivation: remedy: n.
e.g. The mistake is beyond/past remedy. (The mistake cannot be put right.) Synonym: put right
13. transcend: vt. (fml) go beyond the usual limits of sth.; go beyond the range (of human experience, belief, powers of description, etc.); be much better or greater than sb./sth.
e.g. One never can see the thing in itself, because the mind does not transcend phenomena. 一个人永远不可能认识事物自身的本质，因为思想无法超越现象。
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Such matters transcend man’s knowledge.
She far transcends the others in beauty and intelligence. Synonym: surpass
14. invade: vt.
1) enter a country or territory with armed forces in order to attack, damage, or occupy it e.g. The Romans invaded Britain 2000 years ago.
2) (fig) enter sth. in large numbers, esp. to cause damage e.g. Every summer the town is invaded by tourists.
3) get involved in something in an unwanted and annoying way e.g. What right does he have to invade my privacy? Synonyms: crowd into intrude on Derivations: invasion: n. invader: n.
15. strip sb. of sth.: take away (honor, property, etc.) from sb. e.g. The general was stripped of his rank and title. Synonym:
deprive sb. of sth.
16. distort: vt.
1) change sth. so that it is strange or unclear e.g. Tall buildings can distort radio signals.
2) report sth. in a way that is not completely true or correct e.g. His account was badly distorted by the press.
3) change a situation from the way it would naturally be e.g. an expensive subsidy which distorts the market Derivations: distorted: adj. distortion: n.
17. distance oneself from sb./sth.: not approve of sb./sth.; not become involved with sb./sth.; stay away far enough from sb./sth. to be safe
e.g. She needs to distance herself from some of her more extreme supporters. You need to distance yourself from the situation for a little while first Derivation: distance: n.
18. abuse: n. wrong or bad use or treatment of sb./sth.; unjust or corrupt practice
e.g. Drug abuse and child abuse, as well as abuse of privilege and authority, are common problems
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in modern society.
Many children suffer racial abuse at school. Derivation: abuse: vt.
Exercise: Choose the best answer to complete the following sentence.
It has been revealed that some government leaders ______ their authority and position to get illegal profits for themselves.
A. employ B. take C. abuse D. overlook ( C)
19. addiction: n. condition of drinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs, etc. habitually, and being unable to stop doing so without suffering
e.g. Another cause of hopelessness is addiction to drugs. Collocation: addiction to Derivations:
addict: vi.
addict: n. someone who is very interested in something and spends a lot of time doing it addictive: adj. addicted: adj.
20. alter: vt. change or make sb./sth. change; become different; change in character, position, size, shape, etc.
e.g. Her face had not altered much over the years. The city centre has altered beyond recognition.
Sentences
1. 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. (Paragraph 5)
Paraphrase: I was unable to feel anything, trying to understand what had changed my promising life completely. I had gradually lost interest in a life that used to bring such happiness and pleasure.
Translation: 我已经麻木，试图去看透笼罩在那些曾经生动、明快事物上的阴霾。所有的色彩已经从那曾经充满快乐的生命中渗尽了。
2. 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. (Paragraph 5)
Paraphrase: Yet I wasn’t just coping with my lack of interest in daily activities. I couldn’t hope to recover from my mental illness by taking vigorous exercise, watching a good movie, or simply doing something to pass the time. Depression caused not only physical weakness but it went deep into my mind, affecting the way I felt and thought.
3. Clinical depression painted my world black while screaming quietly that I was
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Unit 13 Book 1
worthless. (Paragraph 5)
Paraphrase: Clinical depression deprived me of any hope and made me feel that I was a totally useless person.
Translation: 临床忧郁症将我的世界涂得漆黑一片，它无声地呐喊着我的卑微。
4. I wanted to escape life because it hurt to breathe. (Paragraph 6)
Paraphrase: I wanted to stay away from other people, and even to commit suicide, because even just existing seemed too painful to bear.
Translation: 我想逃离生命因为呼吸就是痛苦。
5. Stripped of the world's accolades, it didn’t matter what school I had attended, … (Paragraph 8)
Paraphrase: Deprived of what a normal life could offer in terms of praise and recognition, it was no longer of any importance what school I had attended, …
6. 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. (Paragraph 9)
Paraphrase: In the hospital I experienced kindness, compassion, love and knowledge about the illness. All this enabled me to begin to discover the causes of my illness, my emotional pain and irrational thinking. I was learning from other patients around me to find ways to deal with my own problem.
Translation: 在医院里，那些友善、同情、爱和真诚开始解释我的伤痛和扭曲的思想。我开始从身边那些病友身上学习。
7. Getting help and getting rid of the junk cluttering my mind were part of getting better. (Paragraph 10)
Paraphrase: Enjoying help and doing away with the symptoms of a nervous breakdown were part of my recovery.
Translation: 寻求帮助和除去那些堵塞我思想的垃圾成为恢复的一部分。
8. Once truth reveals deception, the lie can no longer deceive unless we choose to let it. (Paragraph 10)
Paraphrase: As soon as truth unveils something deceptive, the falsehood will produce no more effect unless we still allow it.
Translation: 一旦事实拆穿假象，谎言将无法蒙蔽，除非我们选择如此。
Paragraph 11 Questions
1. What symbolic meaning is conveyed by the bright night described at the end of the text? The exceptionally bright night with the bright moon and brighter stars symbolizes a cheerful life the writer is enjoying and a very bright future that she could look forward to. 2. Why does the writer say that she could be thankful?
Because her deep depression had been worth it and she benefited a lot from it. The writer had
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