Three 10–14 In order to get happiness, people are trying to substitute material things for love or tenderness, and they fail to distinguish what they want from what they really need in life.
Four 15–30 The way to get satisfaction is to offer with an open heart to others what you have to give: devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
Task Two Reading Between the Lines
Read the following sentences carefully and discuss in pairs what the author intends to say by the italicised parts.
1) The night before, he had been entertained by a local acappella group that had come to the house to perform, and he relayed the story excitedly, as if the Ink Spots themselves had dropped by for a visit. (Para.5) What Morrie really cared about was spiritual gratification. Even the performance of the local acappella group, whose performance was by no means professional, could give him as much excitement and gratification as the famous Ink Spots would have.
2) He would listen to opera sometimes at night, closing his eyes, riding along with the magnificent voices as they dipped and soared. (Para. 5)
Sometimes at night he would indulge himself in listening to opera, feeling intoxicated and gratified. Though he was not rich in material things and was suffering from an incurable disease, he spent each day happily.
3) The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what?s really important anymore. (Para. 8)
As the average person has been brainwashed into believing that material things alone could bring happiness, he or she has lost the ability to think about and decide what is really important in life.
4) And then they wanted to tell you about it. ?Guess what I got? Guess what I got?? (Para. 9)
The repetition of ―Guess what I got?‖ shows the speaker’s uncontrollable excitement and gratification at gobbling up something new.
5) Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone. (Para. 23)
If you want to be accepted equally and respectably by people both at the top and at the bottom, you must be open-hearted instead of showing off your social status. In other words, you must be yourself, feel free in expressing your real thoughts, opinions, and feelings, be candid and ready to offer others what you have to give.
Checking Your Vocabulary
Word Detective
1 Put down the right word from Text B in the space provided according to the given definition. The first letter of each word is already given.
Example: incredibly: extremely; in a way that is hard to believe
1) diminish: cause to become or seem smaller
2) temporary: lasting only for a limited time
3) inform: give information or knowledge to
4) truthful: (of a person) who habitually tells the truth
5) rewarding: (of an experience or action) worth doing or having
6) scale: a set of numbers or standards for measuring or comparing
7) cultivate: improve or develop (esp. the mind, a feeling, etc.) by careful attention, training, or study
2 Fill in each blank with a word or phrase from Text B. Both the explanation and the number of the paragraph in which the target
word or phrase appears are given in brackets. Be sure to use the proper form.
Example: He suddenly became wealthy, which changed his whole mode of life.
(a way of behaving, living, operating, etc.: Para. 2)
1) Sometimes you may fail even though you’ve tried hard — it’s a fact of life . (sth. that exists and that cannot easily be changed: Para. 1)
2) My shoes wear out easily since I like jogging at dusk every day. (be reduced to a useless state by long use: Para. 2)
3) He never speaks to me other than to ask for something. (except: Para. 6)
4) I’m not sure what her job is, but it has something to do with marketing. (have some connection with: Para. 7)
5) The famous actor keeps fit by working out for an hour every day. (exercise to improve physical fitness: Para. 7)
6) The salary they’re offering is very attractive , but I still don’t want the job. (causing interest or pleasure: Para. 7)