Unit Seven Stories in Our Lives
Ⅰ. Pre-listening Activities
Part 1
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Part 2
■Script
Finding your purpose in life can be a struggle. It can also be the key to happiness and to living a joyful life. Positive thinking is the most powerful tool to use on your journey. Have you ever noticed how your mood can affect your day? I know that if I start off with negative thoughts, the day usually follows suit with a series of undesirable events. If my mood is upbeat and filled with positive thoughts, then more positive things happen throughout the day. Like attracts like! This might seem like common sense, but I think we all tend to forget how important our own outlook on life truly is.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness consists of 101 true stories of how people have used positive thinking to find their purpose, happiness, passion and joy. This is now my favorite of the Chicken Soup collection! My Grandfather raised me to know how powerful the mind is. He always says, “He who rules himself is king”, and that statement is so true. If I think I am going to get sick, I do… If I think I am going to succeed, I do!It’s so simple and yet difficult to stay on track and not let other situations change your thought process. Reading these stories is powerful, uplifting and helpful.
Ⅱ. Listening Tasks
Task 1 Understanding News Reports
News Item One
1. A
2. D
News Item Two
1. C
2. B
News Item Three
1. A 2 C 3. D
■Script
News Item One
Questions 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.
The leaders of Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea are calling for African nations to have more power and influence at the United Nations.
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea say the continent should have at least one permanent seat on the powerful U.N. Security Council.
The two leaders spoke during a visit to Zimbabwe by Nguema as they prepare for the meeting of the African Union General Assembly later this month in Ethiopia.
They also spoke about peace, security and terrorism in Africa. And Nguema said African nations must work to become economically independent, just as they have become politically independent.
He said Africa should have two seats on the U.N. Security Council. But the continent should at least have one, he said, with the power to veto or cancel resolutions. “I think that is the revolution which Africa looks for,” he said.
1. According to the leaders of Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, how many permanent seats should the continent have on the U.N. Security Council?
2. Which of the following is not mentioned by the two leaders during the visit to
Zimbabwe?
News Item Two
Questions 1 and 2 will be based on the following news item.
U.S. official say that President Barack Obama is to send 250 additional military personnel to Syria to support local militias in the fight against Islamic state group. According to the officials, the main objective is to encourage more fighters in northeastern Syria.
This is a significant expans ion of troops by a president who’s been reluctant to send U.S. boots to Syria. 50 members of the special operation’s forces were sent last year to help in the fight against the Islamic state and now U.S. officials have confirmed that further 250 military personnel will be deployed. Mr. Obama is expected to make the announcement after talks in Hannover in Germany. The U.S. along with the coalition of allies began air campaign against IS in Syria in September 2014, but the strikes rely on troops on the ground, mostly Kurdish fighters, to help identify potential targets.
1. What is the America’s main objective for sending extra military personnel to Syria?
2. How many members of the special operation’s forces were sent to Syria from the U.S. last year?
News Item Three
Questions 1 to 3 will be based on the following news item.
A 21-year-old Somali refugee is critically injured after setting herself on fire on Nauru, a tiny South Pacific republic.
Australia operates a detention camp on the island.
Some people are criticizing Australia for its refugee policy. However, Australia has said refugee supporters are putting pressure on migrants to harm themselves for the attention it will bring.
The 21-year-old refugee Hodan Yasin has been taken to a hospital in the Australian city of Brisbane. She is in a critical condition after setting herself on fire Monday.
Burnings bring attention to Asylum-Seekers in Australian Camps.
Refugee advocates say the injured woman was distressed after she was sent back to the South Pacific island. Before this incident, she had received medical treatment in Australia for injuries from a road accident.
Last week, a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker died after he set himself on fire at the migrant center on Nauru.
It is one of two camps operated by Australia as part of a policy to stop asylum seekers from reaching its northern waters by boat. Even if detainees are found to be refugees, they are not permitted to resettle in Australia.
1. What happened to the 21-year-old Somali refugee on Monday?
2. Why was Hodan Yasin distressed according to the refugee advocates?
3. According to the news, who died at the migrant center on Nauru?
Task 2 Understanding Long Conversations
Conversation One
1. A
2. C
3. B
4. B
5. D
Conversation Two
1. B
2. C
3. A
4. A
■Script
Conversation One
W: Mike, I’m calling to invite you to dinner this Saturday. Are you free then?
M: Sure! And I’d love to come. Is this Saturday a special occasion?
W: Oh, you can say so. I’m moving out on Sunday, so I invite all my good friends to have a farewell dinner in my house.
M: You are moving out! I can’t believe it. It is so sudden!
W: Yes, it may sound a bit sudden. I bought a new apartment.
M: Congratulations! So, what is your new apartment like?
W: It is a newly built apartment, 3 blocks away from my present place. I live on the top floor—that is to say on the 16th.
M: That sounds great! But don’t you feel it is a bit too high?
W: That’s exactly why I love the apartment! There’s a roof garden for each top layer apartment.
The light condition is also very good there.
M: Oh, there is a garden! How amazing!
W: And the window view is also very nice! I can see the mountains and the forest far away! After
I settle down there I will surely invite you to come!
M: I’m looking forward to that! Oh,if you need someone to help you with the moving, I’ll be there!
W: No, I’ve already made my arrangement. Thanks anyway! But if you are free on Saturday afternoon, could you please come and help me with the cooking? My friends love your recipes, especially the recipe of cakes.
M: Sure! I’ll see you then!
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. When will the dinner take place?
2. Why did the woman invite all her good friends to have dinner in her house?
3. How many floors are there in the new apartment?
4. What did the woman ask the man to bring?
5. According to the conversation, which of the following things about the new apartment is not mentioned by them?
Conversation Two
W: Good evening, and welcome to this week’s “Business World”, the program for and about businesspeople. Tonight we have Mr. Steven Kane who has just taken over an established bicycle shop. Tell us, Mr. Kane, what made you want to run your own store?
M: Well, I’ve always loved racing bikes and fixing them. W hen I was working full-time as a salesman for a big company, I seldom had time to enjoy my hobby.
I knew then that as soon as I had enough money to get my own business going,
I’d do it. I had my heart set on it, and I didn’t let anything stand in my way.
W hen I went down to the bank and got a business loan, I knew I’d love being my own boss. Now my time is my own. I open the store when I want and leave when
I want.
W: You mean you don’t keep regular hours?
M: Well, the sign on my store says the hours are a.m.10:00 to p.m.6:00, but if business is slower than usual, I can just lock up and take off early.
W: Have you hired any employees to work with you yet?
M: Yeah, a couple of friends of mine who love biking as much as I do. They help me out a few days a week. It’s great because... we play cards or just sit around and talk when there’re no customers.
W: Thank you, Mr. Kane. We wish you success in your new business.
Questions 1 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
1. What is the woman doing?
2. What did Mr. Kane do before he took over the bicycle shop?
3. Why did the man take over the bicycle shop?
4. What do we learn about the people working in the shop according to the
conversation?
Task 3 Understanding Passages
Passage One
Listening for general comprehension
1. his pocket
2. without measure
Listening for specific information
1. B
2. A
3. B
4. D
5. B
■Script
Listening for general comprehension
A woman finally decided to ask her boss for a raise in salary. All day she felt nervous. Late in the afternoon she gathered the courage to approach her employer. To her delight, the boss agreed to the raise.
The woman arrived home that evening to a beautiful table set with their best dishes. Candles were softly glowing, and her husband had come home early and prepared a festive meal. She wondered if someone from the office had told him, or...did he just somehow know that she would not get turned down?
She found him in the kitchen and told him the good news. They embraced and kissed, then sat down to the wonderful meal. Next to her plate the woman found a beautifully lettered note. It read, “Congratulations, darling! I knew you’d get the raise! These things will tell you how much I love you.”
Following the supper, her husband went into the kitchen to clean up. She noticed that a second card had fallen from his pocket. Picking it off the floor, she read: “Don’t worry about not getting the raise! You deserve it anyway! These things will tell you how much I love you.”
Someone has said that the measure of love is when you love without measure. What this man feels for his spouse is total acceptance and love, whether she succeeds or fails, he stands with her, no matter what life throws in their direction.
Listening for specific information
1. According to the passage, what did the woman finally decide to do?
2. What did her husband prepare in the evening?
3. Which of the following sentences is on the card that she first saw?
4. What did her husband do after supper?
5. According to the story and your understanding, what did the two cards mean to her?
Passage Two
Listening for general comprehension
1. He parked his car by the curb across the street from where his mother worked.
2. The boy’s mother was with him.
Listening for specific information
1. A
2. B
3. D
4. C
5. B
■Script
Listening for general comprehension
One afternoon, many years ago, I went to pick up my mother from work. I got there a little early so I parked the car by the curb, across the street from where she worked, and waited for her.
As I looked outside the car window to my right, there was a small garden where I saw a little boy. He was about two years old, and he ran freely on the grass as his mother watched from a short distance. The boy had a big smile on his face as if he had just been set free from some prison. The boy would then fall to the grass, get up, and without hesitation or looking back at his mother, run as fast as he could, again, still with a smile on his face, as if nothing had happened.
I’ve always believed that there is a little child w ith absolute courage in each of us. A child that has the ability to run freely or express himself fully and freely—without a care for anything external—without a care for what people would say if he or she experiences a fall. I believe that courageous part of us, that courageous child within us all, will always be with us for as long as we live.
We only need to allow it to emerge more fully. We only need to once again connect with the child within us—and give that child permission to run freely.
Listening for specific information
1. Who did the man plan to pick up that afternoon?
2. Where did he see the little boy?
3. According to his guessing, how old was the boy?
4. What happened to the boy when he ran freely on the grass?
5. What can you learn from the story?
Passage Three
Listening for general comprehension
1. Four
2. The expert wanted to teach the students a life principle
Listening for specific information
1. C
2. D
3. B
4. C
5. A
■Script
Listening for general comprehension
One day, an expert was speaking to a group of students. As he stood in front of the group, he said, “OK, time for a quiz.” He pulled out a wide-mouth jar and set it on the table. He also produced a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top, he asked, “Is this jar full?”
Everyone in the class yelled, “Yes.” The expert replied, “Really?” He pulled out a bucket of gravel, dumped some in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel down into spaces between the big rocks. He then asked, “Is this jar full?”
By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied. He brought out a bucket of sand and started dumping the sand in. It went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked, “Is this jar full?”
“No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good.” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One student said, “No matter how full your schedule is, if you try hard you can always fit more things in!”
“No,” the expert replied, “The truth is that if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the ‘big rocks’ in your life? Are they time with your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put big rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all.”
Listening for specific information
1. According to the passage, who was speaking to the group of students?
2. What did he put into the jar first?
3. How many times did he ask the students “Is this jar full”?
4. What was the student’s point of view of this illustration?
5. What was the expert’s point of view of this illustration?
Ⅴ. Learn English Through a Radio Program
1. the first of three volumes
2. has been held since 1949
3. truthful and frank
4. extraordinary opinions
5. present and looking on
6. at the age of 70
7. loses interest to 8. his famous characters
9. out of copyright 10. in its sixth printing
■Script
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Ⅵ. Learn English Through Movies
1. way
2. opportunity
3. season
4. except
5. personal
6. told
7. note
8. immediately
9. nationals 10. doors
■Script
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