Unit 4
Preview
We all have experienced betrayal or hurt. Some choose to carry grudges, nurse old wounds or relive past humiliations. Pride and il--vanity builds a wall; we even shut the door for an explanation. Meet with 11 someone older and wise on Tuesdays, and we'll come to know the art of life, that holding on to the anger consumes the happiness, while letting go of hatred invites more love into life. So put aside the anger, let relief wash over us, and move forward with our life by simply accepting an apology.
Part I Text Reading
Warm-up
I. Being a mentor
If you want to break out or do something extraordinary that you would not do on your own initiative, you'd better have a mentor, an experienced and trusted friend and a prudent advisor. More specifically, what do you think make a good mentor?
Step One
The role of the mentor is multifaceted. Work in pairs to decide on the specific personality traits that make a good mentor, and explain your choices.
A mentor must be:
aged / an effective listener / sincere and committed / punctual / emotionally involved / trustworthy / arrogant/ a responsible role model / loyal / honest / knowledgeable / persuasive / a good talker / independent / self-esteemed/ (or others )
Step Two
·Try to be a mentor, and give your advice to help others out of the following dilemmas:
·Staying home or going abroad for further development?
·Quitting the current job to start a business or staying on it for promotion?
·Being tolerant to those irritations or taking revenge?
·Making up for the mistakes or letting the past be the past?
·Making money at all cost now or seeking fun before it is too late?
II. Are you forgiving?
Tick the boxes you agree with in the following questionnaire.
1. If you do something straight away, do you forgive yourself?
Yes No Sometimes I 'Never
2. Is it important to forgive yourself and others when mistakes are made?
Yes' No I Sometimes I I Not sure I
3. How do you feel when you have forgiven someone for something?
10K I I Not sure I I Very happy I Excited I Proud of myself
4. Are you reluctant to forgive?
I Yes' I No I 'Sometimes I 'Never
5. If you answered Yes in above question, this is because you . (You may tick as
many boxes as you want)
are only thinking of negative things I I
don't value yourself or others enough
have not been shown how to forgive
III. Are you a person who hangs on to painful memories, or are you able to forget and forgive?
·Think of a particular person who has been unpleasant to you in some way.
·Imagine any uncomfortable feelings you once had about him/her.
·Think of something likeable or worthwhile about him/her.
·Think of yourself forgiving him/her.
Text
The (Twelve->) Twelfth Tuesday We Talk about forgiveness1
Mitch Albom
[1] "Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others."
[2] This was a few days after the "Nightline" interview2. The sky was rainy and dark (<->black), and Morrie was beneath a blanket. I (sit->)sat at the far end of his chair, holding his bare feet. They were callused (hardened) and curled, and his toenails were yellow. I had a small jar of lotion, and I squeezed some into my hands and began to massage his ankles (n. 脚踝).
[3] It was another of the things I had watched his helpers (nurses) do for months, and now, in an attempt to (in order to) hold on to (grasp/ catch) what I could of him (尽可能挽留这一逝去的生命), I had volunteered to do it myself.3 The disease had left (made) Morrie without the ability4 even to wiggle (摆动) his toes, yet he could still feel pain, and massages helped relieve (reduce/ to ease the) it (pain). Also, of course, Morrie liked being held and touched. And at this point, anything
I could do to make him happy, I was going to do.5
[4] "Mitch," he said, returning to the subject of forgiveness. "There is no point (meaning/ significance) in keeping vengeance (复仇, 报仇) or stubbornness. These things"—he sighed (叹气)--these things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?"
[5] The importance of forgiving was my question (=topic). I had seen those movies where the patriarch (族长) of the family is on his death bed and he calls for his estranged (疏远的) son so that he can make peace before he goes (=dies). I wondered (1.n.奇迹; 2.vt. want to know想知道) if (whether) Morrie had any of that (desire) inside him, a sudden need to say "I'm sorry" before he died.
[6] Morrie nodded. "Do you see that sculpture?" He tilted (=lean倾斜的) his head toward a bust that sat high on a shelf against the far wall of his office. I had never really noticed it before. Cast in bronze (铜丛生/一
咎领班/工头)
[7] "That's me," "A friend of mine sculpted that maybe (perhaps/probably/ approximately) thirty years ago. His name was Norman. We used to spend so much time together. We went swimming. We took rides (=drives) to New York. He had (invited) me over to his house in Cambridge (剑桥), and he sculpted that bust of me down in his basement. It took several weeks to do it, but he really wanted to get it right6 (vividly)."
