16) overwhelming
Translation
1. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words and expressions given in brackets.
▆ Answers for reference:
1) In either friendship or love / In both friendship and love, you should never expect to
take / receive the maximum while you give the minimum.
2) I built all my hopes on his promise(s), only to find that he was not a man of sincerity
at all.
3) We took Mother to all the best hospitals we could find, but all our efforts were in vain;
she failed to survive the disease.
4) Valentine’s Day is an annual holiday celebrated on February 14, a perfect day to express
love to the object of your / one’s affection.
5) In the information era, communications with far-away friends via e-mail can be almost
/ virtually simultaneous.
6) Love needs to be nurtured, and the “eternal / everlasting love” that we all dream to
have is not forged until we learn to appreciate and tolerate the other.
2. Translate the following paragraph into English, using the words and expressions in the box below.
▆ Answers for reference:
After dinner, we all sat around the hearth. Aunt Susan was still in the grief of losing Uncle Robert. In her soft voice she told us about their past years. Uncle Robert joined the army shortly after they were engaged. Given the critical situation at the time when lots of army men didn’t return alive, you can imagine how much horrified Aunt Susan was every day, and how much overjoyed she was to see Uncle Robert back safe and sound from the European battlefield. Then they got married and brought up five children. For all those years, their affection for each other grew stronger in the course of overcoming difficulties and hardships in life. I was fascinated by Aunt Susan’s story, which was totally different from my ideal of love. They practiced, in their daily life, giving and sharing instead of pursuing passion and romance, or making complaints. Amazingly, such love lasted through their whole life.
Theme-Related Writing
Do either one of the following two tasks after class.
1. Based on Text A, write a passage about the different ways different generations handle male-female relationships. The following hints may be of some help. 1) “our” parents’ generation (details mainly found in Para. 8); 2) “my” generation (details mainly found in Paras. 3–7);
3) the younger generation (details mainly found in Paras. 9–11).
2. Study the following data on love and marriage based on a survey with girl students. Write a passage on the topic “What do girl students look for in love and life?”
▆ Sample Essay One:
Male-female relations are indispensable to adults all through their lives. But different generations handle them differently. Our parents’ generation lived in an era of constraints, restraints, respect, admiration, and plenty of romance. They kept a distance from people of the opposite gender in order to preserve the holiness of love and relationships.
My generation, on the other hand, began with countless crushes for the opposite sex just because of their superficial charm. Harmless as they were, the love was as brief as soap bubbles. As we grew up, we came to the stage of developing real relationships, believing that love demanded a lot of give and not so much of take.
By comparison, the younger generation is more open-minded and less restricted in handling the matter of love and relationships. They jump on the bandwagon of love with so much haste that it is difficult for them to distinguish between physical attraction and mental compatibilities.
In short, the younger generation focuses more on physical beauty, closeness and passion, and they tend to seek what they want from the relationships. The other two generations give priority to inner charm, intimacy, emotion and sharing in dealing with relationships. (196 words)
▆ Sample Essay Two:
What Do Girl Students Look for in Love and Life?
In order to know about girl students’ opinion about love and life, a survey with girl students was conducted in 2005 in two universities — Chongqing University of Technology and Business and East China Normal University. The survey sought answers to two questions: What do you look for first in a boyfriend? What’s the most important thing for a happy life?
About one third of the students chose personality as the top factor in choosing a boyfriend, followed by 27 percent focusing on abilities. Next came common interests and goals, favoured by 17 percent, with only 14 percent of students claiming appearance to be uppermost in their minds. Fewer still, 11 percent, rated economic status as the first consideration.
As to their views about a happy life, nearly seventy percent of the girls attached the greatest importance to marriage and family. “Career” was given top priority by just under 20 percent, while even fewer, around 9 percent, believed that money was the key to a happy life.
Based on the survey, we may conclude that nowadays, girl students generally hold a rational attitude towards love and life. Admittedly, the improved material conditions of life explain why girls take economic status and money rather lightly. But contrary to the popular view that girls are more concerned about self-development in the workplace and social status, they still regard marriage and family life as central to a happy life. (235 words)
Unit Three Friendship
Enhance Your Language Awareness
Words in Action
Working with Words and Expressions
5. In the box below are some of the words you have learned in this unit. Complete the following sentences with them. Change the form where necessary. ▆ Answers:
a) bound b) unfolded c) possessing d) has surpassed e) appointed f) virtues
g) had corresponded h) gazed i) keen j) grasped k) grounded l) sensible m) commitments n) regulating
6. In the box below are some of the words you have learned in this unit. Do you know how to use them in the proper context? Now check for yourself by doing the blank-filling exercise. Change the form where necessary.
▆ Answers:
17) distinguish between 18) checked up on 19) torn down
20) make a fortune 21) all of a sudden 22) lost track of
23) Casting an eye over 24) broke up
25) take pleasure in 26) described as 27) turned up 28) in so far as 29) is under arrest
30) pass on 31) as to
▆ Increasing Your Word Power
The preposition “as” is often used together with some verbs to describe the fact that sb./sth. has a particular function, role or job. Translate the following into Chinese, paying attention to the “verb… as” 1. collocation.
▆ Answers:
1) accept…as 2) respect… as 3) define…as 4) describe… as 5) picture… as 6) regard … as 7) see…as 8) view … as
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)
接受……为 尊重……为 把……定义为 把……描述成 把……想象成 把……看作 把……看作 把……看作
Now complete the following sentences by using the “verb + as” collocation.
him both as a father and as a writer myself as a swan dancing on the lake
the challenge as an opportunity to test his courage me as one of their family members it as a joke
Mark as being in his late teens, tall and friendly to everyone as the greatest painter of his time
love as a way of life, it as a way to feel
2. Did you notice the suffix “-al” or “-ial” in the words “trial” and “arrival” in this unit? The suffix “–al” or “-ial” can be added to verbs to form nouns. Put down the noun forms of the following verbs in the space provided.
▆ Answers: 1) arrive 3) approve 5) bury 7) dispose 9) refuse 11) survive → arrival → approval → burial → disposal → refusal → survival 2) 4) 6) 8) 10) 12) try betray dismiss propose → → → → trial betrayal dismissal proposal removal withdrawal remove → withdraw → Now fill in the blanks in the following sentences by choosing the proper words with the suffix “–al” or “–ial” from the above table.
1) 2) 3) 4)
refusal arrivals removal dismissal