Oral Workshop Discussion Lesson13(TextB)- Lesson16(Additional) ;
lesson 13 Text B ;
Dear Doctor: ;
I am forty-seven years ld,male,and of average height and weight. ;
My health generally seems quite good except for one problem. ;
I wake up every morning feeling tired-- ;
so tired that I can hardly get out of bed. ;
All day at work I fight this tired feeling,just dragging myself around. ;
When I get home from work around 5.30,I have a good dinner with my family ;
and then sit down to read the newspaper. ;
But before I have finished reading the front page, ;
I fall asleep in my chair and often sleep until 8.30 or 9.00 p.m. ;
When I wake up from this nap,I feel wonderful. ;
I'm full of energy and ready to do a day's work. ;
But at that hour there is nothing to do but watch television, ;
which I do until after midnight. ;
Even at midnight I still do not feel sleepy, ;
but I know I ought to get a good night's rest, ;
so I take a sleeping pill and go to bed. ;
It's often two o'clock n the morning before the pill puts me to sleep. ;
Just a few hours after hat I have to drag myself out of bed again to go to work. ;
All day I feel too tired to work. ;
I just drag myself around until it's time to go home. ;
Do you think there might be something wrong with my blood? J.T.L. ;
When this letter appeared in the DEAR DOCTOR column of a newspaper, ;
the doctor's reply was printed below it. ;
Here is what the doctor answered: Dear Mr L.: ;
I don't think there is anything wrong with your blood. ;
The key to your problem is that long nap after dinner. ;
If you didn't sleep for hours during the early part of the evening, ;
you would be more ready to sleep at bedtime. ;
If you didn't nap after dinner,you would not want to stay up so late, ;
and you would not feel the need to take a sleeping pill. ;
The pill is still working in your system when you get up in the morning. ;
This helps account for the fact that you feel tired all day. ;
You should get out of the habit of sleeping during the evening. ;
Right after your evening meal, ;
engage in some sort of physical activity --a sport such as bowling,perhaps. ;
Or get together with friends for an evening of cards and conversation. ;
Then go to bed at your usual time or little earlier, ;
and you should be able to get a good night's rest without taking a pill. ;
If you can get into the habit of spending your evenings this way, ;
I am sure you will feel less tired during the day. ;
At first it may be hard for you to go to sleep without taking a pill. ;
If so,get up and watch television ;
or do some jobs around your house until you feel sleepy. ;
If you fall asleep and then wake up a few hours later, ;
get up but do not take a sleeping pill. ;
Read a while or listen to the radio, and make yourself a warm drink. ;
Eat a sandwich or a cookie.Then go back to bed. ;
Even if you get only a few hour's sleep that night, ;
you will feel better in the morning than you usually feel after taking a pill. ;
The next night you will be ready to sleep at an earlier hour. ;
The most important thing is to avoid taking that nap right after dinner ;
and to avoid taking pills. ;
Lesson 13 Additional Information ;
Yesterday's drizzle did not ;
dampen Beijingers' enthusiasm in events marking the ;
first national dental care day. ;
People of all ages crowded around medical xperts who answered questions about ;
dental care, and about tooth- brushes and toothpaste. ;
A girl in her 20's approached the consulting desk ;
set by the Oral Medical College ;
of the Beijing University of Medical Sciences at the Xidan crossroad. ;
She wanted to know if there was anything wrong with her teeth. ;
The girl dreamed about losing all her teeth,and, worse yet, ;
her teeth ached when she awoke every morning. ;
After examining her mouth,a consultant said her teeth looked all right. ;
Sometimes,however, tension makes peoples' teeth ache. Relax,she was told. ;
And if that does not help,get a thorough dental examination. ;
Young parents wanted to know how to keep their children's teeth healthy. ;
One by one,the doctors answered their questions ;
and outlined the best solutions for them. ;
More than 500 medical specialists from 18 districts ;
and suburban counties across the municipality ;
as well as over 200 teachers and students from the Oral Medical College ;
of the Beijing University of Medical Sciences ;
took part in the sidewalk consultations. ;
And about 47 consulting stations were set up in major streets ;
and the four big department stores at downtown Xidan, Wangfujing,Dongsi ;
and the Dong'an Market.In addition to offering suggestions, ;
the medical workers also brought with them some simple medical equipment ;
for fast dental checks and tooth-paste nd tooth-brushes for sale. ;
Posters and propaganda blackboards were also set up ;
in most primary and middle schools in Beijing. ;
"I never thought there ould be so much scientific knowledge on tooth brushing," ;
said a middle-aged man. ;
"National Dental Care day has taught me ;
how important it is to take care of my teeth and how to do it,"he said. ;
According to information from the ;
National Dental Diseases Prevention Group, ;
similar activities were conducted yesterday ;
in most of the country's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. ;
"A massive campaign to teach people how to care for their own teeth ;
is the best way for China to deal with dental diseases ;
in the face of a shortage of dental medical workers," ;
Chen Minzhang, Minister of public Health said on Tuesday ;
at a symposium on dental care in Beijing Stomatological ospital. ;
At present,almost half of ;
the population is suffering from dental caries (cavities.) ;
While the figure is even higher among children, ;
80 percent of urban children have dental caries ;
and 60 percent are so afflicted in rural areas. ;
In some cities,the rate with children may each as high as more than 90 percent. ;
The minister also pointed out ;
that dental care should be taught in primary and middle schools ;
and the vast rural areas ;
in order to raise the whole nation's dental care standards. ;
Lesson 14 ;
What Sports Do They Enjoy? Text A ;
Not all people like to work but everyone likes to play. ;
All over the world men and women and boys and girls enjoy sports. ;
Since the days of long ago, ;
adults and children have called their friends together to spend hours, ;
even days,playing games.Sports help people to live happily. ;
They help to keep people healthy and feeling good. ;
When they are playing games, people move a lot. ;
This is good for their health. ;
Having fun with their friends makes them happy. ;
Many people enjoy sports by watching others play. ;
In small towns, crowds meet to watch the bicycle races or the soccer game. ;
In the big cities, ;
thousands buy tickets to see an ice-skating show or a baseball game. ;
What games have you played?What are your favorite sports now? ;
You probably play the games that people in your town or city play. ;
Is the climate hot where you live? ;
Then swimming is probably one of your sports. ;
Boys and girls in Australia love to swim. ;
There are wonderful beaches there and the weather is good for swimming. ;
Or do you live in a cold climate? Then you would like to ski. ;
There are many skiers in Austria where there re big mountains and cold winters. ;
Does it rain often where you live? ;
Then kite flying would not be one of your sports. ;
It is one of the favorite sports of Thailand. ;
Surfing is an important sport in Hawaii. ;
The Pacific Ocean sends huge waves up on the beaches, ;
waves that are just right for surfing. ;
But you need to live near an ocean to ride the waves and enjoy surfing. ;
People in Switzerland love to climb the wonderful mountains of their country. ;
Mountain climbing and hiking are favorite sports here. ;
But there can be no mountain climbing where there are no mountains. ;
Sports change with the season. ;
People often do not play the same games in winter as in summer. ;
Sailing is fun in warm weather, ;
but when it gets cold it's time to change to other sports. ;
People talk about sports' seasons. ;
Baseball is only played for a few months of the year. ;
This is called "the baseball season". ;
Text B ;
Have you ever wondered ow some people can break bricks with their bare hands? ;
People who can do this kind of thing are experts in Karate. ;
They are called "Karatekas". ;
Let's try to find out how karatekas could do such things. ;
We wanted to learn if they were especially strong ;
and we got some surprising answers! ;
Believe it or not, Karatekas aren't stronger than ordinary people-- ;
they just have more courage! ;
A Karate expert strikes hard objects like bricks or plates ;
with the small bone in his wrist, opposite the thumb. ;
Speed is essence of this sport. ;
But the strange thing is that untrained men ;
can break hard objects in the same way just as well as Karatekas.Of course, ;
Karatekas practise a lot and they have a layer of hard skin round their wrists. ;
Though they have this advantage over ordinary people, ;
it's basically just a question of willpower--at least, ;
that's what you can tell your mother ;
after you've experimented on a few dinner plates! ;
Lesson14 Additional Information ;
The Football Match ;
This is John Roberts reporting from Cardiff. ;
The result of the match which finished at four this afternoon etween ;
France and Wales was a draw.Neither side scored. ;
The Dutch referee did not allow the one goal which France managed to kick. ;
The reason for this was that French player was unfortu- natetely off side. ;
So both teams went home disappointed. ;
This means that neither the French nor the Welsh team will reach first place ;
in this international competition. ;
However,I can say that the spectators were delighted with the game. ;
They particularly admired the French forwards, ;
who were always fast and often threatened the Welsh defence. ;
Once it looked as though the Welsh goalkeeper was in serious trouble. ;
He dived to his right to save a shot from the French centre forward ;
and crashed his head against the goal post. ;
A doctor examined him but he soon began to play again. ;
Of course the large, friendly crowd applauded him. ;
Wales will certainly welcome another visit from this splendid team. ;
Lesson 15 ;
Remembering My Grandparents Text A ;
When memory began for me,my grandfather was past sixty-- ;
a great tall man with thick hair becoming gray. ;
He had black eyes and a straight nose which ended in a slightly flattened tip ;
Once he explained seriously to me that he got that ;
flattened tip as a small child when he fell down and stepped on his nose. ;
The little marks of laughter at the corners of his eyes ;
were the product of a kindly and humorous nature. ;
The years of work which had bent his shoulders ;
had never dulled his humour nor his love of a joke. ;
Everywhere he went, "Gramp" made friends easily. ;
At the end of half an hour you felt you had known him all your life. ;
I soon learned that he hated to give orders,but that when he had to, ;
he tried to make his orders sound like suggestions. ;
One July morning,as he was leaving to go to the cornfield,he said: ;
"Edwin,you can pick up the potatoes in the field today if you want to do that. ;
Then he drove away with his horses. ;
The day passed,and I did not have any desire to pick up potatoes. ;
Evening came and the potatoes were still in the field. ;
Grampa,dusty and tired,led the horses to get their drink. ;
"How many bags of potatoes were there?" Gramp inquired. ;
"I don't know." "How many potatoes did you pick up?" "I didn't pick any." ;
"Not any!Why not?" "You said I could pick them up if I wanted to. ;
You didn't say I had to." ;
In the next few minutes I learned a lesson I would not forget: ;
when Gramp said I could if I wanted to,he meant that I should want to. ;
Gram hated cruelty and injustice. ;
The injustices of history,even those of a thousand years before, ;
angered her as much as the injustices of her own day. ;
She also had a deep love of beauty.When she was almost seventy-five, ;
and had gone to live with one of her daughters, ;
she spent a delightful morning washing dishes because, ;
as she said,the beautiful patterns on the dishes gave her pleasure. ;
The bird,the flowers,the clouds-- ;
all that was beautiful around her--pleased her. ;
She was like the father of the French painter,Millet, ;
who used to gather grass and show it to his son,saying, ;
"See how beautiful this is!"In a pioneer society ;
it is the harder qual-ities of mind and character that are of value. ;
The softer virtues are considered unnecessary. ;
Men and women struggling daily to earn a living are unable, ;
even for a moment,to forget the business of preserving their lives. ;
Only unusual people,like my grandparents, ;
manage to keep the softer qualities in a world of daily struggle. ;
Such were the two people with whom I spent the months from June to September ;
in the wonderful days of summer and youth. ;
Text B ;
He always rose early to enjoy at least ;
two hours of solitude in the house and garden ;
before the rest of the family came down. ;
In winter he spent most of the time reading and writing. ;
In summer he liked to get out of doors to work in the kitchen garden ;
or to take the dog for a walk in the neighbouring woods and fields. ;
Whatever the weather,there was plenty to occupy him. ;
Although he was a creature of habit, ;
there seemed to be an infinite variety in his pursuits. ;
He wrote book reviews regularly for two of the national weeklies. ;
He worked conscientiously on his special subject, Indian History, ;
and was thus one of the world authorities on it; ;
he collected modern abstract paintings ;
and so had a circle of friends amongst artists and sculptors; ;
there was hardly anything he did not know about traditional jazz ;
and he often entertained both British and American jazz musicians. ;
He was a superb cook and knew a lot about French and German food. ;
His family adored him and in a sense he was spoiled by them. ;
At first glance you would have taken him for a retired army officer-- ;
his bearing was erect,his hair was cut short, ;
he was fussy about his clothes,which were lways neat,clean and conventional. ;
He liked to keep fit, ;
and this was reflected n his clear,steady blue eyes and healthy suntanned complexion. ;
He hardly ever watched TV, ;
but enjoyed a good film and an occasional evening at the theatre. ;
Lesson 15 Additional Information ;
The elderly who find great rewards and satisfactions in their later lives ;
are a small minority in this country. ;
But they do exist. They are the "aged elite". ;
What is most striking about these people is their capacity for growth. ;
When Arthur Rubinstein was eighty, ;
someone told him that he was playing the piano better than ever. ;
"I think so," he agreed."Now I take chances I never took before. ;
I used to be so much more careful. No wrong notes.Not too bold ideas. ;
Now I let go and enjoy myself and to hell with everything except the music!" ;
Another reason for the success of the aged elite ;
are the traits they have formed earlier in their lives. ;
A sixty-eight-year --old woman,three times married and widowed,says, ;
"it's not just what you do when you're past sixty-five. ;
It's what you did all your life that matters. ;
If you've lived a full life,developed your mind, ;
you'll be able to use it past sixty-five. ;
Let the young people put that in their soup and eat it." ;
Along with frankness comes humor. ;
A sense of humor, of course, ;
is not something that suddenly arrives at age sixty-five. ;
It is an aid people use all their lives to cope with tension. ;
"Humor." says Dr James Birren, noted psychologist," ;
also leads you to join with other people." ;
The ability to associate with others is another trait of the aged elite. ;
"There are two ways to deal with stress,"says Birren. ;
"You either reach out or withdraw. The reachers ;
seek out other people to share their problems instead of pulling away." ;
Growing,active, humorous, sharing-- ;
these are all qualities that describe the aged elite. ;
Lesson 16 ;
How to Improve Your Study Habits Text A ;
Maybe you are an average student with an average intellect. ;
You pass most of your subjects. ;
You occasionally get good grades,but they are usually just average. ;
You are more interested in hiking than in history, ;
and in sports than in scholarship. ;
The fact is that you don't study very much. ;
You probably think you will never be a top student. ;
This is not necessarily so, however. ;
Anyone can become a better scholar if he or she wants to. ;
It is true that you may not be enthusiast- ic about everything that you study, ;
but by using your time properly ;
you may improve you grade without additional work. Here's how: ;
1.Plan your time carefully. When you plan a trip, ;
one of the first things you must do is to make a list of things to take. ;
If you don't you are almost certain to leave something important at home. ;
When you plan your week,you should make a list of things that you have to do. ;
Otherwise,you may forget to leave enough ime to complete an important task. ;
After making the list,you should make a schedule of your time. ;
First fill in committed time--eating sleeping,dressing, school,meeting,etc. ;
Then decide on a good,regular time for studying. ;
Be sure to set aside enough time ;
to complete the work that you are normally assigned each week. ;
Of course,studying shouldn't occupy all of your free time. ;
Don't forget to set aside enough time for entertainment, hobbies, ;
and maybe just relaxation. ;
A weekly schedule may not solve all your problems, ;
but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time. ;
2.Find a good place to study. ;
Look around the house for a good study area. ;
Keep this space, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, ;
free of everything but study materials. No games,radios,or television! ;
If you can't find such a place at home,find a library where you can study. ;
When you sit down to work,concentrate on the subject! ;
And don't go to the place you have chosen unless you are ready to study. ;
3.Scan before you read. ;
This means looking a passage over quickly ;
but thoroughly before you begin to read it more carefully. ;
Scanning a passage lets you preview the material ;
and get a general idea of the content. ;
This will actually allow you to skip less mportant material when you begin to read ;
Scanning will help you double your reading speed ;
and improve your comprehension. ;
4.Make good use of your time in class. ;
Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teacher says. ;
Sit where you can see and hear well. ;
Really listening in class means less work later. ;
Taking notes will help you remember what the teacher says. ;
When the teacher gets off the subject,stop taking notes. ;
5.Study regularly. When you get home from class,go over your notes. ;
Review the important points that your teacher mentioned in class. ;
Read any related material in your textbook. ;
If you know what your teacher is going to discuss the next day, ;
scan and read that material,too. ;
This will help you understand the next class. ;
If you do these things regularly, ;
the material will become more meaningful, ;
and you will remember it longer. ;
6.Develop a good attitude about tests. ;
The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. ;
The world won't end if you don't pass a test,so don't get overly worried. ;
Tests do more than just provide grades; ;
they let you know what you need to study more, ;
and they help make your new knowledge permanent. ;
There are other techniques that might help you with your studying. ;
Only a handful have been mentioned here. ;
You will probably discover many others after you have tried these. ;
Text B ;
Some kind of planning is essential. ;
For one thing it reveals whether you really have enough to say on the topic ;
you have chosen while there is still time to change to another topic. ;
It is also important ;
because it stimulates your ideas and helps to fix them in your mind. ;
Without some notes to help you, ;
you may find that you begin writing with several ideas in your head ;
but you forget some of them as you are writing. ;
When you have chosen your topic, ;
and perhaps have a general idea of your theme, ;
make quick short notes of all the ideas that come into your head. ;
Remember that these should be notes--words r phrases--not sentences, ;
which would slow you down. ;
As you do this you will find that new ideas will come to you, ;
for one idea leads to another. ;
This should not take more than ten minutes, ;
for in an examination you have no time to waste. ;
If you have not yet decided on your main theme,you can do so now, ;
and then on the main idea of each paragraph. ;
You may have to rearrange your ideas, ;
to decide which paragraphs they will fit into, ;
and which ideas will be left out altogether. ;
It is for you to decide how detailed your plan should be. ;
If you are good at writing,and have had plenty of practice, ;
probably only a few brief notes will be necessary,but if you are not, ;
then you may require a more detailed plan. ;
But remember that even the best writers need to make some notes ;
if they are going to produce a well-organized piece of writing. ;
You will of course be given marks for the arrangement of your ideas. ;
With your plan in front of you, ;
you should be able to write your composition. ;
There should be no need to write a rough version first, ;
then correct it and make a final copy. This is a waste of time. ;
Lesson16 Additional Information ;
There is a lot of misunderstanding about studying. ;
Most students have not een taught the ;
principles behind really effective working. ;
Above is a graph showing the amount a person learns against ;
the number of hours he works in a day. ;
If he doesn't do any work,he learns nothing (point 0). ;
If he does an hour's work he learns a certain amount (point 1). ;
If he does two hours' work he learns about twice as much (point 2). ;
If he does more work he'll learn still more (point 3). ;
Now,if he tried to do 23 and 1/2 hours' work in 24, ;
he'll be so exhausted that he'll hardly remember anything: ;
what he learns will be very little (point 4). ;
If he did less work he'd learn more (point 5). ;
Now whatever the exact shape of this curve,it must have a crest. ;
Point X is the very maximum anyone can learn in the day. ;
And this represents the optimum,the best,amount of work to do. ;
It is the best possible compromise between ;
adequate time at the books and fatigue. ;
Fatigue is an absolutely real thing; ;
one can't escape it or try to ignore it. ;
If you try to,if you press yourself to work past the optimum ;
(and any fool can prop his eyelids up and do 14 hours a day), ;
you can only get on this downward slope and achieve less than the best-- ;
and then get exhausted and lose your power of concentration. ;
The skill in being a student consists in getting one's daily study ;
as near the optimum point as possible. I cannot tell you what the optimum is. ;
It differs with the type of work,it differs from person to person, ;
and even is the same person it varies from week to week. ;
You must try to find your own. ;
Every day you study,bear this principle of the optimum in mind. ;
When you feel yourself getting fatigued, ;
if you find yourself repeatedly reading over ;
the same paragraph and not taking it in, ;
that's a pretty good sign you've reached the crest for the day and should stop. ;
Most ordinary students find their optimum at about five hours a day. ;
Yours may be a little more or a little less-- ;
but if you get in five hours' good work a day,you will be doing well. ;
Now,what are you doing with yourself when you aren't working? ;
Before examinations ;
some students do nothing at all except sit in a chair and worry. ;
Here is another misunderstanding. ;
People too easily think of the mind as if it worked like the body,it does not ;
If one wanted to conserve physical energy ;
to cut the maximum amount of firewood, ;
one would flat on a bed and rest when one wasn't chopping. ;
But the mind cannot rest. ;
Even in sleep you dream,even if you forget your dreams. ;
The mind is always turning. ;
It gets its relaxation only by variety. ;
That is what makes mental rest. ;
When you've finished your optimum hour age you must stop. ;
You must not then sit around in the chair thinking abut the work- ;
that only tires without any learning. ;
You must get out and do something. ;
It doesn't matter what-anything ;
so long as you are actively doing something else but work. ;