Unit ten
Plain Talk About Handling Stress
I. Teaching Objectives
1. To understand the audio materials of this unit.
2. To grasp the key words, Phrases and structure.
3. To master the skills of writing and reading in this unit.
1) Understanding the skill of developing a passage of argumentation by using definition and
examples.
2) Understanding Idiomatic Expressions
II. Teaching Content
1. Lead-in activities
2. Text Organization
3. Skill learning in writing and reading
4. Language points ( key words, phrases and difficult sentences)
5. Grammar Focus (1. Use of “without” to express a condition 2. Adverbs modifying whole
sentences.)
6. Guided Practice (exercises, oral practice and group work)
7. After-class Assignments
III Teaching Process
1. Warm-up Questions / Activities
1.Do you often feel nervous or worried or exhausted in your daily life? Why?
2. How do you usually behave when you’re worried or nervous about something?
2. Text Organization
Part 1Paras (1-4) Introduction: What do we know about stress?
Part2Paras(5-6) How do we react to stress? (three stages of response to stress. )
.Part3(Para.7-18) How to handle stress? (suggestions to ease the tension of stress.)
3. Skill learning in writing and reading
1) Reading skill:
Understanding Idiomatic Expressions
It’s time for more practice on hypothesizing the meaning of idiomatic expressions. Don’t
forget that with idiomatic expressions, word formation clues can be misleading, but context clues
—examples, explanations, contrasts or parallel phrases—will be a big help in figuring out the
meanings.
2) Writing skill: This text is an argumentation ,The writer develops it by using definition and
examples.
4. Language Points
1. plain talk—a simple and direct discussion
If words, statements, etc. are plain, they are clear, honest easy to understand, and perhaps not
very polite.
Examples:
The eve of battle is the time for plain words.
Cf. stress and pressure
Stress is the tension and anxiety you feel because of difficulties in your life, while pressure is
an attempt to persuade or force you to do something by carrying out a series of actions or by
strongly expressing one’s opinions.
Examples:
Financial haredship places severe stress on married couples.
2. perhaps so=perhaps it surprises you
3. A major challenge…is to learn how to cope with stress so that it doesn’t become
overwhelming.—One big difficulty is to learn how to handle stress so that you don’t feel helpless
when you are under stress.
Something that is overwhelming makes you feel so helpless, surprised, embarrassed, etc. that you
cannot think clearly.
4. getting stuck in a traffic jam—being kept waiting in a long line of traffic
A traffic jam is a long line of cars, buses, trucks, and other vehicles that cannot move forward
because the road is blocked.
5. Increasingly, stress is unique and personal to each of us.—More and more we react
differently, from person to person, to stress.
6. take it easy—(infml) relax and do not do very much at all
Examples:
I’ve retired, and I’m going to take it easy for a while.
If you’ve got a weak heart, you’d better take it easy (=not be too active).
7. a recognized expert—a qualified or successful expert
Recognized means generally approved or accepted as having a particular quality or position.
Examples:
She is a recognized authority on artificial intelligence.
8. a non-specific response of the body to a demand—a reaction of the body to a demand which
is not clearly and precisely defined
9. If we feel overwhelmed by pressure to do too much, we may not be able to
Function at all.—If we are forced to do too much and feel completely helpless, we may be unable
to do anything at all.
10. prolong—vt. Make…last longer
Examples:
All the time people are seeking to prolong life.
Inflation may prove uncontrollable over a prolonged period of time.
11. go through—undergo, experience
Something that you go through, an event or a period of time, is especially one that is
unpleasant or difficult.
Examples:
He’s amazingly cheerful considering all that he’s going through.
12. a commuter in rush-hour traffic—a person who travels to and from work during rush hours
A rush hour or rush hours is the period of time in the morning and late afternoon when many
people are travelling to and from work, so that the roads are full of traffic and trains and buses are
crowded.
13. If car suddenly pulls out in front of him ,his initial alarm reaction may include fear of an
accident, anger at the driver who committed the action, and general frustration. –If another
car suddenly drives into his traffic lane in front of him, his first reaction may be a feeling of alarm,
or a mixed feeling of fear that an accident might happen, anger at the driver who has driven into
his lane without warning, and dissatisfaction which most people feel when unhappy.
When a vehicle or its driver pulls out from a place, the driver drives the vehicle out of the
place and into the road and then drives away. You can also say that the vehicle or the driver pulls
out when the driver drives the vehicle into another traffic lane, esp. in order to overtake.
Examples:
The bus pulled out into the line of traffic.
14. chemicals…which cause his face to flush, perspiration to form, his stomach to have a
sinking feeling, and his arms and legs to tighten—chemical substances…which make him flush,
sweat,fear that an accident may happen, and become tense and stiff
Stomach—n.courage, as in “He that hath no stomach (=courage) for this fight” (Shakespeae,
Henry IV)
A sinking feeling—an uncomfortable feeling that something bad has happened or is going to
happen
Examples:
I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have made a mistake.
15. the body repairs damage caused by the stress—the body recovers from the discomforts
caused by the stress
16. his body doesn’t have time to make repairs—his body fails to recover between repeated
stresses
17. He may become so conditioned to expect potential problems when he drives that he
tightens up at the beginning of each commuting day. –He may become so much affected by
stress to believe that accidents will probably happen when he drives, that he is nervous and
worried every morning when he has to drive to work.
Be conditioned to—be influenced over a period of time so that one’s character or attitude
develops in a particular way
Examples:
The boy has been conditioned to see me as an enemy.
18. the body depletes its resources for fighting stress—the body has no more ability left to
recover from stress
Resource—n. an ability to solve problems and difficulties quickly and efficiently
Examples:
He can’t cope with difficult situations on his own—he has no inner resources (=he does not
have the ability to help himself).
19. minimize its impact—reduce the bad influence from distress as much as possible
20. help oneself—try to get oneself out of a difficulty one is in; (here) try to relieve one’s stress in
one’s own ways
21. ease the tension—relieve the stress
22. release the pressure through exercise or physical activity—relieve the tension by doing
bodily exercises or physical work
Cf. release and relieve
Release basically means “set…free”, which carries an implication of setting lose from
confinement or restraint to allow free movement, while relieve basically means “make…less
strong”, and implies a lifting of enough burden to make something definitely endurable.
Examples:
High-pressure gas can be released by pressing this button.
23. turn the frowns into smiles-do away with your distress and make you happy
24. see your problem in a different light—look at your problem from different angle
Light—n. a particular way of thinking about something
25. know one’s limits—know what is possible for oneself, know one’s maximum ability
Examples:
I’d like to play football, but I’m sixty and I know my limits.
26. You’re special. –You’re an important individual.
Special—a. more important or better than others
27. eat correctly—eat properly; take a correct diet
28. make time (for)—find time (for); have enough time free (for)
Examples:
He makes time for music, but not much else.
29. go somewhere where things are happening—go and take part in activities that are going on
30. feel sorry for oneself
If you are sorry for yourself or feel sorry for yourself you are (unreasonably) miserable or
feel pity for yourself, often because you think life is unfair or that people do not like you.
Examples:
He appeared to be permanently sorry for himself.
31. Get involved…, and you’ll find… --If you get involved…, you’ll find…
32. You’ll be on your way to making new friends…--You’ve already started and will certainly
succeed in making new friends…
33. Check off your tasks. –Make a list of your tasks and perform them one by one, and tick each
one off when it is done.
Check off—mark on a list so as to record that something has been done, examined, counted, etc.;
tick off
Examples:
The teacher checked the children’s names off as they entered.
34. A little give and take on both sides will reduce the strain…--A little tolerance and
compromise on both sides will relieve the tension…
A strain is a state of worry and tension caused by a situation that severely tests a person’s
mental or physical powers. It is sometimes used interchangeably with stress.
Examples:
With his divorce and his problems at work, he’s been under a lot of strain recently.
35. other physical consequences—other bodily discomforts
36. A quiet country scene painted mentally (or on canvas!) can let you escape from a stressful
situation.—A peaceful country scene formed in the mind (or even drawn in a picture!) can help
you relieve your stress.
37. they don’t eliminate the conditions that caused the stress in the first place—they don’t
remove the initial causes of the stress
In the first place is used when you are referring to what happened or what something was like
at the beginning of a situation or before a series of other events or changes.
Examples:
Nobody can remember what was agreed in the first place.
38. Medications, in fact, may be habit-forming and can also reduce your efficiency, thus
creating more stress than they take away. –As a matter of fact, use of medicine can be addictive,
and can also make you less efficient, thus causing more stress than the stress it helps relieve.
39. on sb.’s advice/on the advice of sb. –following sb.’s advice; according to sb.’s advice
Examples:
Claire went to Paris on Sarah’s advice.
40. Unfortunately many people try to relax at the same pace that they lead the rest of their
lives.—it’s a pity that many people are as much driven by time and efficiency when they try to
relax ax when they do other things in their lives.
Pace is the speed at which someone does something.
Examples:
He criticized the government’s snail-like pace in implementing a road safety propramme.
41. You’ll find satisfaction in just being, without striving. –You’ll feel happy and content if you
just do what you can without trying too hard.
42. If you don’t let stress get out of hand,…--If you manage to have control over stress,…
Get out of hand—get out of control
Examples:
The foot ball fans have got completely out of hand.
43.deplete vt. use up or exhaust
phrases: deplete sb.’ fortune/funds , a man with depleted hair
synonym: use up
44.insomnia n. inability to sleep; sleeplessness
phrases: a persistent insomnia , have insomnia , conquer insomnia
45. relieve v. to cause a lessening or alleviation of
phrases: relieve all his symptoms ,
relieve the tension
synonym: diminish soften sooth unburden moderate lighten
e.g.: Knowing the truth relieved the anxious parents.
46. irritate v. to make anger. phrases: be irritated against sb. , be so irritated that…/ irritate
greatly/very much
synonym: aggravate annoy
e.g.: His letter irritated me a little.
47. tense adj. 1) stretched tightly; taut 的 2) with muscles tight in
anticipation of what may
happen faces tense with anxiety
phrases: be tense with expectancy , get tensed up,
in the tense days that preceded the vote
synonym: edgy nervous uneasy disturbed anxious excited impatient
antonym: relaxed quiet
48. efficiency n. state or quality of being capable
phrases: a worker with high efficiency ,
be second to none in efficiency
antonym: inefficiency
49. relax v. to become less tight or anxious; calm down; (of the rules) become less
strict
phrases: make or become less active or worried , make(effort or control) less severe ,
relax one’s muscles
synonym: calm down feel at home let go slow down take it easy
5. Grammar focus
1. Use of “without” to express a condition
Without can be used in place of an if-clause to express a condition either open or hypothetical,
meaning that the absence of someone or something prevents something else from existing or
happening.
Examples:
Without the people the party is powerless.
Breakfast is not the same without a cup of coffee and the morning paper.
We could not have succeeded without your help.
Without their protection, he would be murdered.
2. Adverbs modifying whole sentences.
A group of adverbs in English can be used to modify whole sentences. They can be divided
into two classes: one class conveys the speaker’s comment on the form of what he is saying ,
which includes adverbs like “frankly”, “briefly”, “honestly”, “generally”, “personally”,
“roughly”, etc. ;the other comments on the content of the communication, including adverbs such
as “certainly”, “definitely”, “possibly”, “presumably”, “supposedly”, “reportedly” , “amazingly”,
“amusingly”, “hopefully”, and “reasonably”.
Examples:
Briefly, there is nothing more I can do about it .
Personally, I don’t approve of her.
Really, the public does not have much choice in the matter.
6. Guided Practice (exercises, oral practice and group work)
1) Summary
A). Ask several students to retell the text by using their own words.
B). Talk about the main idea of the text.
2) exercises: vocabulary and word-building
3) group the students in 2-4, discussing the topic How I Cope with Stress
7. After-class Assignments
1.Recite the paragraph on page 297.and,
2. finish the exercises of vocabulary and structure
Text B
Energy Walks
Language Points:
1. candy bar—a rectangular piece of candy
A bar is a piece of metal or something else made into a regular, usu. rectangular shape.
Examples:
gold bars
2. I bumped into one of my students at a candy machine—I met a student of mine by chance at
an automatic candy-selling machine
3. feel on top of the world—(infml) feel extremely happy
4. moderately fast-paced but not exhausting—at a fairly fast pace but not too tiring
5. They are a more effective (and less fattening) pick-me-up than a candy bar,…
--Brisk walks are a more effective way to boost your energy, but they don’t put on your weight as
candy bars do,…
A pick-me-up is a drink you have in order to make you feel healthier or more energetic.
6. I later repeated the procedure with people who walked on an exercise machine in a
bare-walled room, to ensure that the mood shift was not due simply to a stroll through the
attractive campus surroundings.—I later performed the same experiment on people who walked
on an exercise machine in a room with no wall decorations, to make sure that the mood change
was not all due to the beautiful scenery on campus where they walk.
7. the mood change did not occur because people expected walking would lift their spirits—it
was the walk itself that was responsible—it was not because people expected walking would
cheer them up that the mood change occurred—it was because the walk itself that caused the
mood change
Note that in the sentence the negative focus is placed on the because-clause so that the main
clause is understood positively. Compare the following sentences:
I didn’t leave home, because I was afraid of my father (=Because I was afraid of my father, I
didn’t leave home).
I didn’t leave home because I was afraid of my father (=I left home, but it wasn’t because of
my father that I did so).
In intonation, the first sentence allots a separate tone unit to each clause, and so places the
because-clause outside the scope of negation. (This interpretation can also be singled out by a
comma in writing.) But the second sentence extends a single tone unit over both.
8. I compared walking to the effects of eating a sugar snack—I considered the likeness
between walking and the effects of eating a candy bar
9. a stubborn weight problem—a problem of being overweight difficult to cure
10. light up=light up a cigarette
11. Keep your posture erect but otherwise relaxed,…--Keep your body straight but keep
yourself relaxed with all the other parts,…