New Horizon College English §Book 2
Unit 7 Section A
Lighten Your Load and
Save Your Life
Background
information
Text structure analysis
Summary of the passage
Grammar & Language points
Difficult sentences & translation
Writing
After-reading discussion
I. Background Information
Dr. Robert S. Eliot
Dr. Robert S. Eliot, the author of the
book: From Stress to Strength: How to
Lighten Your Load and Save Your Life.
I. Background information
Benjamin (Ben) Franklin
Benjamin (Ben)
Franklin, a very famous
American of the 1700’s
best known for his
experiments with
electricity and nature,
using kites, which led to
his innovation of
lightening rod(避雷针).
I. Backgroud Information:
Quotable Ben Franklin
 Eat to live, and not live to eat.
 Three may keep a secret, if two
of them are dead.
 Early to bed and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy,
and wise.
 If you would not be forgotten as you are dead
and rotten, either write things worthy of
reading, or do things worth the writing.
I. Background Information:
Famous saying from Franklin:
The worst wheel of a cart makes the most
noise.
 There are three faithful friends—an
old wife, an old dog, and ready
money.
 Glass, china, and reputation,
are easily crack'd, and never
well mended.
 A country man between two
lawyers, is like a fish between
two cats.
II. Text analysis --- main idea
What is the main idea of the text?
Stress exerts great impact upon people both
physically and psychologically. According to
the research done by Dr. Robert S. Eliot excess
stress may cause tremendous and rapid
increases in blood pressure and then bring
damage to the heart. In fact these problems
may be attributed to such FUD factors as fear,
uncertainty, doubt and lack of control. To cope
with stress, we should take charge of our life,
lighten the load and learn to fit in with the life.
II. Text Analysis --- structure
How is the text organized?
The passage is broadly put into four parts.
Part I (paras 1-3):
A brief
introduction
to the stress in life
Part
II (Paras.
4-6)
How
the stress
threatens one’s life:
Part
III (Paras.
7-11)
By
quotations
fromin
Robert
Major
causes
of the stress
life: S. Eliot,
Part
III citing
(Paras.
12-20)
theTo
author
exchanges
his opinion
with the
the
make
his
idea
more
convincing,
Measures to cope with the stress in life:
To help
the
reader
gain
a better
insight
into
readers
in
a form
conversation
— If you
author
adopts
theof
findings
of researchers
to
often
feelofangry
and
overwhelmed,
then
you
Byroot
quoting
directly
from Eliot’s
book
and
the
— stress
anger,
the author
adopts
explain
howstress
excess
affects
one’s
heart
may
betypical
hurtingexamples,
your heart…If
you don’t
giving
the author
putswant
forthto
through
a sort as
of chain
of causes and effects
such
methods
question-asking,
several
suggestions
some
break
your
heart, youand
need
to…effective
as
well as to
exemplification.
exemplification,
and
cause-and-effect.
measures
cope
with
the problem of stress.
III. Summary
You should learn to take charge of your life
and recognize many things are beyond your
hot reactors”, being
control. For those who are “___
cause tremendous and rapid increases
tense may _____
in blood pressure. Studies show excess
__
_____ alarm or
stress chemicals can
___ literally burst heart muscle
and causing
fibers, creating
_______ many short circuits ____
The main factors causing
crazy heart rhythms. ____
levels of stress are fear, __________
uncertainty and
harmful _____
doubt, together with the lack of control. For
professional women and people
___________
III. Summary
no direction in life, _____
some authorities
who have
_______
believe anger is the
___ root of their stress. The NICE
challenging
factors—new, interesting, __________
order to calm
experiences—are recommended in
_________
Like Ben Franklin, you have __
to
yourself down. _____
set your priorities. In order to face all the
over which you have _____
little control,
problems _____
you can’t fight or flee. You have to learn how to
flow.
IV. Grammar & Language points
spin out of control: get out of control (L1)
This type of expression describes the behavior
spin:
turn
round out
andof
round
quickly
beyond
control:
control
or a minor event which goes together with the
 under
I feel faint
andthe
theopposite
room is spinning.
control:
major event in the clause. of “out of control”
我感觉晕晕乎乎的，觉得房子也在旋转。

He lost position through situation beyond his
 The man sat in the front row, his hands on the
control.

It took
months
for
the
bring
his
table.
 The
airplane
spun
out
ofteacher
control to
and
crashed.
他因无法控制局势而丢了乌纱帽。
class
under control.
那男子坐在前排是，手放在桌子上。
飞机旋转着失去了控制，坠毁了。
这个老师用了几个月的时间才把他教的班级调教好。
He fell to the ground, blood streaming from his
nose.
The fire fighters finally brought the big fire
under control.
他跌倒在地，血从鼻子里流了出来。
 消防队员终于控制住了火势。

IV. Grammar & Language points
So says Dr. Robert S. Eliot, …


(L5)
“So” refers to what is talked about in Para 2.
When the subject is too long and it bears noew
information of the whole sentence, “so” is used
at beginning of the sentence to keep the
sentence in balance, to achieve end-weight
(that is: leave the complext structure towards
the end of the sentence) and end-focus (that is:
leave the new information towards the end of
the sentence),
So goes the story.
故事如此云云。
IV. Grammar & Language points
hot reactor: people who are hot temptered
(L8)
Here， “reactor” is. used in its figurative sense.
More examples:

The heart beats like a bag of worms instead of
a pump. (=irregularly and without much power)

Others are angry because they have no
compass in life. (L32)
有些人生气是因为他们在生活中没有自己的方向/目标。

Stop where you are on your trail and say …(4344)
在你人生道路上停下来，对自己说：‘我要把指南针拿出来，
弄明白自己究竟想要干什么’。
IV. Grammar & Language points
among other things
(L11)
among other things: used to say that you are only
mentioning one or two thongs out of a much
larger group.


At the meeting they discussed, among other
things, recent events in Middle East.
他们讨论了中东最近发生的事情和其他一些事情。
She is very keen on sports. Among other things,
She played tennis twice a week.
她非常喜欢体育运动。除了其他活动，她每星期还打两次网
球。
IV. Grammar & Language Points
blow one’s top： (L31)
(slang): lose one’s temper; explde with anger
 My father will blow his top when he sees what
happened to the car.
我爸爸要看到车子这个样子了，一定会大发雷霆。
 When he told her how much it cost, she blew
her top.
当他告诉她东西的价钱时，她大发脾气。
IV. Grammar & Language Points
…if you stir in your own juice with no
safety outlet： (L34)

…if you
suffer
fromteam
your own
feelings
of anger
 When
their
favorite
met its
Waterloo
and
but the
findhope
no proper
means
to the
set finals,
free your
lost
of getting
into
the
Stir：
anger …fans were stirring in their own juice as
devoted
1. move in a round motion through a liquid 搅拌
if it were the end of the world.

spoon
to轻轻地动
stir
the sauce.
2. Use
move
stir a
inslightly
one’s own
juice:
suffer from unpleasant

Not
a breath
of
air stirred.
feelings
受煎熬；生闷气；
自己跟自己过不去
3.
make
active;
excite
使激动
 用调羹来搅拌调料。
当自己最喜爱的球队兵败麦城
从而无望打入决赛时，这些
铁杆球迷在痛苦中煎熬，仿佛天都要塌下来了。
 一点儿风都没有（空气丝纹不动）。
The story stirred the boy’s imagination.
For example:
故事撩拨起男孩的想象力。

The news stirred the anger of the people.
消息激起了人们的愤怒。
IV. Grammar & Language Points
blow apart: break into pieces by an explosion
(L37)
 They are likely to blow apart with some heart
problems. (=break down physically)
他们可能因心脏病而垮下来。

The company, which once achieved a roaring
success, is now about to blow apart with the
lack of money and efficient management.
这家公司曾经获得巨大成功，可是由于缺乏资金和有效管理，
现在行将跨塌(破产)。
 That jerry-built cabin will blow apart in a strong
wind.
那间草草建起的小屋一阵强风就会吹散架。
IV. Grammar & Language Points
priority :
(L50)
1) sth that needs attention, consideration,
service, etc. before others
2) the state or right of coming before others
•Set
Her
priority
is to定优先做的事情
finish college.
one’s
priority:
她的首要任务就是完成大学学业。
Whatever you do, priorities should be set
because it is unwise to try to attend to big and
• The badly wounded take priority for medical
small matters all at once.
attention over those only slightly hurt.
无论做什么事情都应该有个轻重缓急，因为眉毛胡子一把抓
重伤员较之轻伤员优先治疗。
是不明智的。
V. Difficult Sentences & Translation
They have to be all things to all people and do it
all perfectly. … (L28-29)
They feel forced to play all the roles their
lives demand of them and, therefore, do all
of these different things to the extent of
being perfect.
to be all things: 样样都行
译：她们觉得要让人人感到她们无所不能，而且要把样样事
As is opposite to the reality, some parents
情都做得完美无缺。她们认为：“我应该(这样)，我必
expect
their children to be all
things, thus
须(这样)，我不得不(这样)。”
追求完美永无止境。
（对意义的增补）
urging
them to learn this and that after class.

一些家长不切合实际地希望自己的孩子十全十美，因此逼迫他
们在课余时间学这学那。
V. writing
----structure analysis
Paragraph writing: cause and effect
When you explain in writing the reasons
why something happens, you are having a
cause and effect writing. Read the following
passage and tell the cause and effect.
A typical example is:
V. Writing—Structure Writing
Samples
(结果) Do you know why winter is colder
than summer? (原因1) One reason is
that there are fewer hours of sunlight in
winter.
(原因2) But there is another reason.
Winter sunlight is cooler. It is the same
sun, and it shines just as bright as in the
summertime, and yet the earth gets less
heat from it.
(先果后因，多因一果)
V. Writing—Structure Writing
Commonly used words and expressions for effect:
The effect is evident/obvious…
It will exert a profound influence…
It may cause a sweeping change…
It leaves some serious consequences…
It may give rise to a host of problems…
The immediate result it produces is...
Your Task
Develop one of the following topic
sentences by supporting it with cause or
effect.
1. Now there’s a large gap between rich and
poor in China.
2. If people eat too much sugar, the effect is
obvious.
Sample
Now there’s a large gap between rich and poor
in China. The cause lies in three aspects. First
the gap is the result of the economic reform.
Some become millionaires by working hard and
seizing the opportunities. Meanwhile the slow
development in agriculture and the closedown of
many state-owned enterprises hinder the
farmers and workers from greatly raising their
living standards. Second, the current distribution
of income is not scientific enough, thus widening
the income difference. Third, while most make
money honestly, there are some dishonest
businessmen and government agents who have
accumulated large fortunes through illegal ways.
VII. After-reading discussion
Topics for after-reading discussion:

List Your “Six Things” in Your Life
Ben Franklin wrote down six things in his life
that he wanted to achieve most. Then what
are your “six things”? Decide what things you
can/can’t control. What will you do with the
out-of-control problems?