1、,Unit 2 Optimism and Positive Thinking,Get Started,Listen and Respond,Optional Classroom Activities,Enhance YourLanguageAwareness,Read and Explore,Sit in groups of threes or fours and discuss the following questions.1. How do you feel about your present life? 2. Are you in a bad mood sometimes? If s
2、o, why? 3. Do you know how to keep yourself in a good mood? 4. How do you react to difficulties in life? Can you give an example? 5. Do you think optimism is the key to a happy and better life?,Study the following quotes about education and see if you accept the ideas expressed in the quotes.,Laught
3、er is the sun that drives winter from the human face. Victor Hugo,Interpretation: When we feel disappointed, sad, lonely or miserable, we tend to feel as if we were living in winter. But laughter is a good medicine and it can work miracles. If we make a conscious effort to laugh, we will soon find t
4、hat we are in a better mood. Here, Victor Hugo tells us, in a humorous way, the importance of being optimistic in times of adversity.,Click Picture,What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise (伪装). Oscar Wilde,Click Picture,Interpretation: Life is full of trials. When you are i
5、n difficulty or suffer a setback, dont despair. You can always find something good in what seems to be a bad thing. Once youve gone through the trials, you will find yourself stronger and in a better position to attain success.,Click Picture,Interpretation: The attitude of a person colours things ar
6、ound him or her. A pessimistic person is always focusing on the negative side of things. Even when there is a good opportunity, a pessimist will think about the possible dangers or risks involved in it. An optimist does recognize the difficulties, but he or she chooses to focus on the positive side.
7、,A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill,Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller,Click Picture,Interpretation: Optimism is essential for achiev
8、ement. If we see no hope and have no confidence in what we are doing, we can achieve nothing. It is hope and confidence that motivate us to reach our objectives.,Watch the following video clip “How to Practice Positive Thinking ” and then complete the tasks that follow:,click here,Fill in the missin
9、g words according to what you hear from the video clip.,A few simple attitude adjustments can make you happier and healthier. Heres how to harness the power of positivity. You will need: optimism, visualization, happy friends and a gratitude journal. Step 1: things to work out. Step 2：Instead of foc
10、using on the , try to find something positive in every negative situation. Step 3: Picture yourself succeeding at events. Step 4: yourself with happy people. Step 5: Write down 5 things youre for every single day.,Expect,negative,challenging,Surround,grateful,_,_,_,_,_,click here,2. Discuss the topi
11、c with your group members: How have you practiced positive thinking in your daily life? What do you think is the effect of positive thinking? (Open.),click here,optimist n. a person who thinks that whatever happens will be good 乐观主义者mood n. a state of the feelings at a particular time 心情，情绪；心境employ
12、ee n. (of) a person who is employed 常与of连用受雇者，雇员,optimism n. U a tendency to give more attention to the good side of a situation or to expect the best possible result 乐观；乐观主义bottom line n. the most important thing to consider 要点，关键,Choose the best answer to complete each of the following sentences a
13、ccording to the information contained in the listening passage.,1. According to the passage Michael was _.,A) curious person B) always an optimist in his life C) always a victim in his company D) an employee who liked complaining,2. If something bad happened or someone came to him complaining Michae
14、l would _.,A) choose to be a victim. B) be more likely to be in a bad mood C) choose to accept the bad thing or the complaining D) choose the positive side of life,3. In Michaels opinion _.,A) those people who like to complain will often affectour mood B) we should do some morning exercises to cheer
15、 usup C) how we live our life is decided by our attitude to life D) optimists have more chances of success thanpessimists,4. From Michael the speaker has learned that _.,A) each morning he must say something to himself B) everyone may have a chance of success C) every day we have a choice to live fu
16、lly D) its not easy to be an optimist,Listen to the recording again and fill in each of the blanks according to what you have heard.,learn from,victim,good mood,positive,a bad day,1. If an employee was having , Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the side of the situation.2. Each m
17、orning when Michael woke up he would remind himself to be in a and choose the positive side of life; if something bad happened, he would choose to it and not to be a of it.,_,_,_,_,_,3. In Michaels opinion, life is all about . Every situation in life is a choice. You choose how you situations; you c
18、hoose how people will your mood; you choose how you . The bottom line is: Its your choice how you live your life. 4. The author decided to follow Michaels example and believed that if he chose to be an optimist he might , and might have more .,choices,react to,affect,feel,feel better,enjoy life more
19、,chances of success,_,_,_,_,_,_,_,Exercise 1: Answer the following questions with the information contained in Text A.,1. According to Rich DeVos, what is the relationship between optimism and success? 2. Why should each of us choose between optimism and pessimism to shape our outlook and our expect
20、ations? 3. What is the authors choice? Why does he make such a choice? 4. What does the authors experience in the service station tell us? 5. Whats the meaning of the sentence “Optimism doesnt need to be naive”(Para. 9)?,Exercise 2: Text A can be divided into three parts. Now write down the paragrap
21、h numbers of each part and then give the main idea of each in one or two sentences.,1-3,4-7,8-10,It is necessary to choose optimism to shape our outlook and expectations.,The author suggests that we direct our attention to positive and constructive thinking rather than to negativism.,The author illu
22、strates the effect of negativism through his own experience.,Some psychologists believe that ones state of mind has great influence over ones social and intellectual performance, and the quality of life depends much on ones attitude towards life. If this is the case, then can we consciously make our
23、 emotions work for us in a constructive way? The following passage provides a positive answer: by simply choosing optimism, we can lead a better life.,Choose OptimismRich DevosIf you expect something to turn out bad, it probably will. Pessimism is seldom disappointed. But the same principle also wor
24、ks in reverse. If you expect good things to happen, they usually do! There seems to be a natural cause-and-effect relationship between optimism and success. 2 Optimism and pessimism are with powerful forces, and each of us must choose which we want, so as to shape our outlook and our expectations. T
25、here is enough good and bad in everyones life ample sorrow and happiness, sufficient joy and pain to find a rational basis for either optimism or pessimism. We can choose to laugh or cry, bless or curse. Its our decision: from which perspective do we want to view life? Will we look up in hope or dow
26、n in despair?,1,4 An optimistic attitude is not a luxury; its a necessity. The way you look at life will determine how you feel, how you perform, and how well you will get along with other people. Conversely, negative thoughts, attitudes, and expectations themselves; they become a self-fulfilling pr
27、ophecy. Pessimism creates a sad and hopeless place where no one wants to live in.,3 I believe in the upward look. I choose to highlight the positive and slip right over the negative. I am an optimist by choice as much as by nature. Sure, I know that sorrow exists. I am in my 70s now, and Ive lived t
28、hrough more than one crisis. But when all is said and done, I find that the good in life is far greater and more important than the bad.,feed on,6 By the time I left the service station, I was feeling a little uneasy. About a block away, I pulled over to the side of the road to look at my face in th
29、e mirror. How did I feel? Did I look that bad? Was everything all right? By the time I got home, I was beginning to feel a little sick. Did I have a bad liver? Had I picked up some rare disease?,5 Years ago, I drove into a service station to get some gas. It was a beautiful day, and I was feeling gr
30、eat. As I walked into the station to pay for the gas, the attendant said to me, “How do you feel?” That seemed like an question, but I felt fine,and told him so. “You dont look well,” he replied. This took me completely by surprise. A little less confidently, I told him that I had never felt better.
31、 Without hesitation, he continued to tell me how bad I looked and that my skin appeared yellow.,odd,7 The next time I went into that gas station, feeling fine again, I figured out what had happened. The place had recently been painted a bright but disgusting yellow, and the light reflecting off the
32、walls made everyone inside look as though they had hepatitis! I wondered how,many other folks had reacted the way I did. I had let one short conversation with a total stranger change my attitude for an entire day. He told me I looked sick, and before long, I was actually feeling sick. That single ne
33、gative observation had a profound effect on the way I felt and acted.,8 The only thing more powerful than negativism is a positive affirmation, a word of optimism and hope. One of the things I am most thankful for is the fact that I have grown up in a nation with a grand tradition of optimism. When
34、a whole culture adopts an upward look, incredible things can be accomplished. When the world is seen as a hopeful, positive place, people are given the power to attempt and to achieve.,9 Optimism doesnt need to be naive. You can be an optimist and still recognize that problems exist and that some of
35、 them are not dealt with easily. But what a difference optimism makes in the attitude of the problem solver! For example, through the years Ive heard some people say that the money spent on our space program has been wasted. “Instead of spending $455 million to put a man on the moon,” they say, “why
36、 not spend that money here on earth on the poverty problem?” But when you ask them exactly how they would spend that money to solve the poverty problem, most of them dont have an answer. “Give me a solution,” I tell them, “and Ill raise you the money.” Think in positive terms about how to address th
37、e issue rather than criticizing money spent on another program, such as Americas space program, which has resulted in many positive discoveries that have benefited mankind.,10 Optimism draws our attention away from negativism and * it positive, constructive thinking. When youre an optimist, youre mo
38、re concerned with problem-solving than with useless fault-finding. In fact, without optimism, issues as big and ongoing as poverty have no hope of solution. It takes a dreamer someone with hopelessly optimistic ideas, great persistence, and unlimited confidence to tackle a problem that big. Its your
39、 choice.,channels,into,If you were in the following situation, how would you look on the positive side of the situation? Discuss the topic in groups and share your views with the whole class. The tips in the box may be of some help. (Open.),Situation: I had been dreaming of becoming a student at a f
40、amous university such as Peking University or Tsinghua University, but my dream was never realized because of my poor performance at the entrance examination, so I have had to go to a university that does not come up to my earlier expectations.,1. I was now more determined than ever to prove to my s
41、tudents that there was something to celebrate every day and to work a daily dose of good news into our learning environment. ( Para.6),2) Paraphrase the sentence.,Now I was much sure that I should show to my students that every day we always had something good to celebrate and we could always add or
42、 include some good news to the classroom.,1) Translate this sentence into Chinese.,于是我比以往更加坚定地要向学生证明：每天都有值得赞美庆祝的事，我还要每天都往我们的学习氛围里注入一些好的消息。,2. My fears that they might be too hardened by life and cynical were quickly allayed. ( Para.9),2) Paraphrase the sentence.,My worries were soon eased when I fou
43、nd that my adult students had not been left cold and unfeeling by their experience of the world but were as willing as my high school students to share good news with one another.,1) Translate this sentence into Chinese.,我原本担心他们可能会因为生活而变得太过冷酷无情、愤世嫉俗，但我的担心很快消除了。,3. they said they liked the idea so mu
44、ch that theyd started opening their regular meetings in much the same way. (Para. 9),2) Make a sentence with the italicized structure.,My hometown had changed so much that I could hardly recognize it.,1) Translate this sentence into Chinese.,他们说太喜欢这个主意了，他们用几乎相同的方式来做例会的开场白。,4. I originally had no ide
45、a that it would have such a lasting impact on all of us. ( Para. 10),2) Make a sentence with the italicized structure.,I originally had no idea that studying a foreign language would have so many benefits.,1) Translate this sentence into Chinese.,我一开始根本没想到这会对我们所有人产生如此长远的影响。,Q1,How did the author sta
46、rt his class? Why?,Q2,Whom was the author teaching?,Q3,For how many years did the author start his class in this way?,Paras.1-2,Did the author often get positive responses from his students?,Para.3,Q2,What homework assignment did he usually ask his students to do when he taught either of these two s
47、ubjects?,Q3,Did his students like the homework?,Q3,What agreement was reached after a long class discussion about the students comment on the assignment?,Paras.4-5,Q2,Did the students understand the author immediately when he asked them to celebrate the day?,Q3,Why did the author ask his students to
48、 share good news in their own lives?,Para. 6,Did the students like the new way to start class?,Q3,Why did the author add the three more choices?,Paras.7-8,Q2,Did the author expect the lasting impact of celebrating the day originally?,Q3,What did his final exam consist of?,Paras. 9-11,When did the author realize the impact of celebrating the day?,Q3,Why does the author say that his little ritual of celebration at the beginning of each class had had an enormous and everlasting influence on many lives, including his own?,
