Unit 2 Communication Problems
Some people say that winning means being rich, some say winning means being powerful, and other think winning means being happy. I think winning means doing what you should do and being good at it. Most of us can only live in this world for no more than 70 or 80 years. We shouldn’t think too much about what we can get form this world. Instead, we should think about what we can leave in this world. The one who can make more contributions to the world is a real winner. For example, cleaning the street is a humble job in many people’s eyes, but in my opinion, street cleaners can also be great winners. They make our city more beautiful. They give us a better environment and consequently a better life. But, on the contrary, some people make money at the cost of the environment. Some are even worse: they cheat or kill others in order to gain power or earn money. Winners or losers? It’s time to give it a second thought.
Unit 3 Born to Win
Some people say that winning means being rich, some say winning means being powerful, and other think winning means being happy. I think winning means doing what you should do and being good at it. Most of us can only live in this world for no more than 70 or 80 years. We shouldn’t think too much about what we can get form this world. Instead, we should think about what we can leave in this world. The one who can make more contributions to the world is a real winner. For example, cleaning the street is a humble job in many people’s eyes, but in my opinion, street cleaners can also be great winners. They make our city more beautiful. They give us a better environment and consequently a better life. But, on the contrary, some people make money at the cost of the environment. Some are even worse: they cheat or kill others in order to gain power or earn money. Winners or losers? It’s time to give it a second thought.
Unit 4 Psychology in Our Daily Life
Sample1
Psychology plays an important role in our daily life. Our feeling and attitudes color the way we behave. Confidence is a good example.
In reality, a great number of people complain that they are not able to do something or that their difficulties are too great to overcome. In some cases, this may be true. But in other cases, it means that these people allow themselves to get discouraged.
For example, a confident man can accomplish many things. If you have confidence, you believe you can do things well. You might not always do as well as you hope, but you will try harder the next time. A man who lacks self-confidence might not be able to complete simple tasks. Without confidence you are likely to be nervous, unsure of yourself and confused about what to do and how to do it. You may think you will fail, so as a result you will not try hard enough.
As the old saying goes, where is a will, there is a way. In other words, if you have
the will or the determination to do something, you will always find a way to do it. Having confidence is an important part of our life. Sample 2
In our daily life, we often have to buy things. Most of us cannot really distinguish good quality form bad quality. Obviously we can see if an apple is rotten, but we cannot always see if something is well made. What thoughts make us buy things? A women may decide to buy a particular style of dress because several of her friends choose that style. She wants to be like her friends. A man might decide to buy a particular coat because it is expensive. He thinks that since it is expensive it must be of good quality. A student who has a lot of money might decide to buy a jacket because it was designed by a well-known designer. Wearing a jacket with the designer’s name on it makes him feel important.
These are not the logical reasons for buy things, but they explain the motivation behind people’s actions or behavior. It means that psychology or our mental state plays an important role in many aspects of our daily life.
Unit5 Dreams
A Nightmare
I grew up in the country and life was hard at that time. I used to share a bed with my younger brother. We would often fight for space.
One night, I had a terrible dream. In the dream, our village was occupied by foreign invaders. The invaders were taking away property and children from households. They set houses on fire and killed anyone who did not obey them. I managed to hide in a pile of hay. I could hear my heart thumping when I saw some foreign soldiers coming toward our house. I couldn’t see them clearly because my eyes were covered with hay. I could hear them coming nearer and talking angrily. But I didn’t understand anything that they said. Just then, I realized that one of my arms was not fully covered. I wanted to hide it but I dared not move. Then one of the soldiers discovered me. I was almost scared to death. But still I didn’t move. Then I felt a severe pain on my left arm/ I was wounded by a soldier with a sword.
I woke up and realized that I had just had a nightmare. But my left arm was hurting. My brother’s leg had been pressing on my arm.
Unit6 Food3
Our Eating Habit
The survey shows that students usually spend little time eating. They eat three meals a day, with rice as their basic food (staple). Students from the North like pasta, for example, noodles, steamed bread, and dumplings. Most students like fresh fish, seafood and eggs. Only a few students say that they are keen on meat of all kinds. Most students eat their meals at the school cafeterias. They don’t cook at home, and some haven’t even tried cooking. Their parents or grandparents do the cooking in their families.
What is unusual is the fact that many students don’t eat vegetables. They think fruit can provide all the necessary nutrients their bodies need. With some students, milk is
gradually taking the place of water and other drinks. Besides, in many families, it is now the father who does most of the cooking. The role of the mother seems to have changed a lot.
Unit 7 Culture
Sample 1 Dining Customs in China
Every country has its own peculiar dining customs. The Chinese feel that the first rule of being a courteous guest is to be modest. When a person is invited to dinner, he will decline first because he is afraid it will give the host and hostess a lot of trouble preparing for it. As the host keeps on inviting him, he’ll then accept it. Usually the guest will bring some gifts to the host, such as fruit, flowers and wine. The host will immediately protest his doing so by saying, “You shouldn’t have bought the gifts. You are too polite and generous!”
When the guest sits down and starts chatting, the host offers something such as tea, candy, and fruit. The guest always says, “No, no, please don’t bother, I am not thirsty,” or “I’ll help myself to them.”
When the dinner is ready, the guests are invited to sit down first. They sit in the chairs that are facing the south, which are considered to be honored seats. After everybody is seated, the host asks the guests to start eating first because they will not eat before the host says so. The guests often avoid being eager to eat out of politeness. They usually don’t empty the dishes to show that the host has prepared more food than enough out of their hospitality. On the other hand, the host and hostess usually prepare a lot of food to feed their guests.
When the dinner is over, guests will offer to help with the cleaning, but of course, the host and hostess will not let them do so. Instead, they will ask the guests to watch TV, drink tea, and sometimes to join a card game or Mahjong game. After some time, the guests will leave, and it is customary for the host to see the guests off. The host tries to see them off to the farthest feasible point while the guests try to discourage them from doing so. The guests will usually invite the host to their home in order to return the favor.
Sample 2Dining Customs in China
If you are a guest in China and you’re going to have dinner with the Chinese, you should learn many things about the dining customs in China.
Before the dinner begins, the guests and the host all sit at the table. Usually the hostess is busy preparing dishes and the host will chat with the guests. The dinner will begin when everybody is present.
When the dinner begins, the host says to the guests, “Please help yourselves!” the guests usually say, “Ok! Ok!” The host starts the dinner first and the others follow. The host or hostess will bring food to the bowls of their guests to encourage them to eat as much as they can. The guests will say “No, no, you don’t have to bother” or “I’ll help myself” at the beginning and will let the host or hostess do so later on. At a Chinese table a guest should not eat too quickly to finish eating very soon. The Chinese like to talk with each other during the dinner. If someone eats without speaking to anyone else, he is considered unfriendly or impolite. So the atmosphere at
the dinner table is always pleasantly noisy.
At the end of the dinner, if someone wants to leave the table, he should apologize to others for not being able to accompany them to the end and at the same time ask them to eat slowly.
These are a few dinning customs in China.
Unit 8 Money
1) Money in a Student’s Life
In students’ life, there are two main things. One is studying, and the other is daily life.
In our studies, money is very important and necessary. We must pay the tuition fee to go to college. If we want to join in some activities, we have to pay some fees, for example, one yuan for an hour of computer use. We also need money to buy reference books. In daily life we spend money on food, clothes and other necessary articles. Sometimes we also spend money on tapes, films, etc. when we spend money we’ll pause and think: “is it necessary to spend money on it?” At university, we don’t live with our parents, we have to budget our money by ourselves. We need to know in what cases we must spend it and in what cases we mustn’t.
There are some students among us who think that earning a lot of money is more important than studying. That’s a one-sided view. Knowledge is priceless. Money in students’ life is not the primary thing we care about. Sample 2
Money is important for everybody, so it is for us students. If we don’t have money, we wouldn’t be able to study at the university in the first place.
Almost everything depends on money. For us, we have to buy food, clothes, books, CDs, stamps, etc. We also have to pay for the different courses we are taking besides tuition, because some of the fees are not covered by the tuition. We have to budget our money; otherwise, we’ll have no money left at the end of the month or the semester. Many parents give their children money once for a whole semester, not on a monthly basis, so budgeting is essential. Many students borrow money from their classmates, but are unable to pay it back. Some of the students work part-time in order to relieve the financial burden of their families since their families is not wealthy. But I think this will affect their studies. So it’s better for us to save money so that we can study well.
2) Money and Happiness
Money is very important in our lives. Many people think that when you have money you can be happy. That means if a person is poor, he can never be happy.
In my opinion, money is important for food, clothing, sheltere and transportation. Without money, we could have done nothing. But htat does not mean that only the rich are happy. Rich people are too busy earning money so they can not enjou life. They are constantly worrying about losing money all the time, so he won’t be happy either.
The rally happy person is one who has enough money so that he can do whatever he wants. He is not crazy for money and is content with life.
Sample 2
Money is very important. Without money we would have no house to live in, no clothes to wear, no food to feed ourselves. If one has no money, one has to work hard to earn money. All one thinks about is how to make money. That makes a person nervous and tired. Certainly, it doesn't make you feel happy. But if we care too much about money, we’ll become slaves of money. After all, money is not everything. Money can’t buy friendship, respect, knowledge, etc. If a wealthy person is selfish and has no mercy on others he will have no friends and will be lonely and will never be happy about his life. Happiness means not only comfortable living conditions but also mental satisfaction. I think, only those who don’t have to worry about money and can spend money on others easily are really happy people. Thomas Edison was one of them.
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