高等学校研究生英语系列教材_综合教程(下)主编熊海虹共75页

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Starting out—Task 2
Here are some suggestions from experts that will enable you to retain (or take back) much of your independence and improve your quality of life.
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Starting out—Task 3
Dear John,
I used to live a life just like yours. I can see myself in you when I finished my college and started my first job. I found a job as junior reporter for Chicago Daily so I moved from Houston to Chicago. I was working 18 hours a day in a place where I knew few people. My health finally broke down from too much work and poor diet. I stayed in hospital for two weeks. My parents came to Chicago and took care of me. After I was out of hospital, I quitted my job and moved back to Houston, where I found a job in a local newspaper. I visited my parents often and I had time to hang around with my friends whom I had known for years as well as those I newly made. I felt happy finally.

Starting out—Task 3
Task 3
Read the letter from John Doe and, with your partner, discuss how you could help him.
Dear Abby, I feel like I almost can’t breathe now. I work a ridiculous amount of hours and I don’t have time to relax. My parents live 1,400 miles away and I am here all by myself. I have no time to make friends. Sometimes I feel I don’t even have a life. What should I do? Kind regards, John
Starting out—Task 2
Task 2
Your best friend has recently been in low spirits ever since she was diagnosed with COPD (慢性阻塞性肺病). She stays in bed most of the time and misses a lot of classes. She has nothing to do, and moreover wants to do nothing. How would you encourage her to cope with the disease with a positive attitude?
Now, this doesn’t mean that feeling bored ______________ every once _______________ will kill you. We’re talking about chronic in a while boredom, as in being bored all the time.

Yours, Abby
Starting out
Listen to the passage “Bored to Death” and fill out the blanks.
We’ve all been bored from time to time. Sometimes, when we’re really at loose ends, we might even say we’re “bored to death” or “_s_o__b_o_r_e_d__I__c_o_u_l_d__d_ie__!” We don’t really mean it, of course.
So my suggestion is to take some time off your work and go back to visit your parents and friends. Consider changing a job which requires fewer hours so that you may have time to make friends. You may also try to take classes on a subject you are interested in or pursue a hobby. You are sure to find life worth living.
But according to one study, it may be true. That is, it __s_e_e_m_s__ p_o_s_s_i_b_le__l_it_e_r_a_l_ly_ to be bored to death. Researchers in England looked at surveys done in the mid 1980s–several thousand questionnaires filled out by _L_o_n_d_o_n__c_iv_i_l_s_e_r_v_a_n_t_s____ about their jobs.