中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Unit Seven
Stripping Down to Bare Happiness
Unit three Knowledge and Knowledge Transfer
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Learning objectives
Warm-up
Listen and respond
Text A
Exercises
Book Four
Learning objectives
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 A. Grasp the main idea and structure of the text.
 B. Master the key language points and grammatical
structure in the text.
 C. Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and
writing activities related to the theme of the unit.
Book Four
Warm-up
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Read the whole text, then list all the
househoding appliances and furnitures,
class them into different groups.
Book Four
Listen and respond
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Book Four
Text A The Rainbow of Knowledge
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Background information
Text organization
Text analysis
The rainbow of
knowledge
Summary
Book Four
Background information
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
About the author
Linda Weltner is a US freelance writer and also a popular public
speaker on family life. She received her BA degree from Wellesley
College, and then attended the University of Michigan in 1960 and
Harvard Divinity School in 1977. She is a columnist for The Boston
Globe and author of children’s books. She wrote the weekly column,
“Ever So Humble”, in the At Home section of The Boston Globe for
nineteen years. She was awarded the Best Columnist Award by the New
England Women’s Press Association, and given the Gold Award from
National Mature Media Awards 2000 for best feature in a magazine.
She co-authored the book The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes:
Family Strategies for Raising a Healthy Child with her daughter, Laura
Plunkett.
Book Four
3. Text Organization: P. 13
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 Part One
 Part Two
 Part Three
Paras 1-5
Paras 6-10
Paras 11-13
After reading each part, we’ll sum up the main idea.
 The main idea of Part One:
 The writer’s friend Sara believe that they can live a simple
but happy life with less money, by changing their way of
living into a environmental-friendly lifestyle.
Book Four
Part Two: Main Idea
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
The main idea of Part Two:
In this part, the writer lists several efficient ways of Sara to
keep a healthy and simple life, by giving up the desire of
possessing more things than you need.
 The main idea of Part Three:
 The writer greatly appreciate the concept of “voluntary
simplicity”, however,the writer found out that she, like
many other Americans, is hard to get rid of the impulse of
owning something expensive yet unneccessary.
Book Four
Abstract
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
After being fed up with their previous lifestyle, the author’s
friend Sara and her husband decide to quit from a wasteful
and busy way into a simple,yet enviormental friendly one.
They gave up all the expensive clutter and unneccessary
appliances, only want to strip down to bare happiness.The
author was deeply moved by their lifestyle. However, she
found it hard to get rid of the impulse of purchasing those
unwanted and unneccessary things.
 作者的朋友萨拉和她的丈夫厌倦了之前的生活方式，他们
决定告别过去那种浪费忙碌的生活转而过简单质朴又环保
的日子。他们不再使用那些昂贵又不必要的生活用具，只
想返璞归真。
 作者极度羡慕这种方式，然而自己却很难抗拒购买那些无
用又不必要的用品的冲动。
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
“What we’re talking about is simplification, not deprivation,” explains
Sara, a friend of mine. “It isn’t that you can’t do all the things you like, but
you change. You don’t like them anymore. Some of the old habits seem so
wasteful and unsatisfying that you really lose your taste for them. So you
still have everything you want—only on less money.”
When I first met them, Sara and Michael were a two-career couple with a home
of their own, and a large boat bought with a large loan. They began to take an
interest in the concept of “voluntary simplicity” with the birth of their daughter
whom they wanted to raise all by themselves. Neither one of them, it turned out,
was willing to restrict what they considered their “real life” into the brief time
before work and the tired hours afterwards.
A lot of people think that as they have children and things get more expensive,
the only answer is to work harder in order to earn more money. It’s not the only
answer,” insists Michael.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程




deprivation [depri'veiʃən]
n. 剥夺,剥夺官职,免职
the disadvantage that results from losing something
E.g: But if we’re too social, those activities might make us more
susceptible to sleep deprivation.
 Tr: 不过，如果太热衷社交，我们就容易睡眠不足。
 loan [ləun]
 n. 贷款,借出,债权人
vt. /vi. 借,供应货款,借给
 the temporary provision of money (usually at interest)
 loan for a second house：就是我们说的“二套房贷款”
 与此相对，购买首套住房的业主可以享受favorable first-home loans（首
套房优惠贷款），也就是大概八折的preferential interest rate（优惠利
率）。
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Neither one of them, it turned out, was willing to restrict what they considered
their “real life” into the brief time before work and the tired hours afterwards.
Paraphrase:
It proved that Sara and her husband would like to enjoy their happy home life
instead of working tiredly, with only serval happy hours before and after work
insist [in'sist]
vi. 坚持;坚决要求,定要
vt. 坚持;坚决要求,定要
be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge
区别： insist，persist，persevere，adhere，cling
这些动词均有“坚持”之意。
insist通常用于对意见、主张等的坚持。
persist用于褒义指坚持继续做某事，但更常用于贬义，指不听劝告，顽固
坚持。
persevere含褒义，强调坚持不懈的努力。
adhere与to连用，指坚持意见、计划或承诺等，含坚持不懈之意。
cling和to连用，指对信仰、意见、习惯等的坚持。
Eg He insisted that she fasten her safety belt.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
The couple’s decision was to trade two full-time careers for two half-time
careers, and to curtail consumption. They decided to spend their money only on
things that contributed to their major goal, the construction of a world where
family and friendship, work and play, were all of a piece, a world, moreover,
which did not make wasteful use of the earth’s resources.
 Today, they live in the same suburban community in a handsome, energyefficient home they designed themselves. Small by most standards, it is easy to
clean, furnish, maintain and heat. The first floor, one large room, has a kitchen
area along one wall, a birch table and chairs for dining, a living room defined by a
comfortable couch and a wood stove, and a corner work area.
Upstairs is their bedroom, an office that serves them both, and a bathroom. It
is bright and light and in harmony with its surroundings. Soon there will be a
solar greenhouse outside the front door.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 trade [treid]
 n. 贸易,商业,交易,生意,职业,顾客,信风
vi. 交易,买卖,经商,对换
 turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase
 trade in an old car for a new one
 区别：business，commerce，trade，bargain，deal
 这些名词均含“贸易，交易”之意。
business指包括售货、购货、换货在内的综合商业活动，方式可以是批发或零售。
commerce多指大规模的买卖或易货关系。
trade普通用词，含义广。既可指某种具体的商业又可指广泛的贸易。
bargain多指买卖双方通过谈判、协商就商品质量、数量、价格等项达成协议所成的
生意。
deal口语用词，指买卖双方经过交涉达成协议成交。





curtail [kə:'teil]
vt. 缩减,剥夺,简略
place restrictions on
curtail drinking in schoo
he government hopes to curtail public spending.
政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 What is their major goal in their life?
 To construct a world where family and friendship, work and
play, were all of a piece.
 Paraphrase:
 Sara and Michel want to enjoy their family life and social life,
meanwhile, balancing their work and play without spending too
much money.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程

How can a couple with two part-time freelance jobs afford to
build their own home, own a car, and share a small boat with
another couple — all without a loan? How can they maintain a
high standard of living that provides “everything” they want?
What is it they have given up that they do not miss?
For one thing, they have given up all the expensive clutter —
medicine cabinets full of cosmetics and over-the-counter drugs
they will never use; kitchen cabinets crowded with items they
would eventually throw away. The one clothes closet Sara shares
with Michael easily contains the basic items in their wardrobes,
many of them well-made classic styles from L.L. Bean “I’m
constantly giving things away,” Sara explains.
By sifting and
discarding, by keeping track of what they have, Sara and Michael
have a clear idea of what they really need.
Book Four
paraphrase
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 Small by most standards
 It is small, judging by most standards
 从很多标准而言，房子确实小了点
 in harmony with
 与…一致,与…协调
 he hopes to promote the concept, of living in
harmony with the ocean and the nature.
 他希望推出这一概念，让人类与海洋和自然和
谐共处。
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 freelance ['fri:lɑ:ns]
 a. 自由活动,自由职业的
 work independently and on temporary contracts rather than for a
long-term employer ，working for oneself
 We have three people work on a freelance basis.
我们有三个无固定职业的人为我们工作。
 In this paragraph, the writer used three questions with the words
“how” and “what”, what’s the purpose of the question?
 By raising three questions, the writer introduced the simple living
ways of Sara and her husband in the next paragraph.

Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
They do not have a dishwasher. The number of hand-thrown pottery dishes
they own would not fill one. They do not own a clothes dryer; the wet
clothes, drying indoors in winter, eliminate the need for a humidifier.
Sara’s dark hair is short. She does not need a hairdryer, electric curlers,
or a curling iron. Their front yard is wooded. They do not need a
power mower or electric clippers.
They do not own a TV, and so
they and their child are not constantly saturated with images of new
toys, new things, and new temptations.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程






Keep track of
记录…掌握…的线索
I've been keeping track of our phone bills
我一直都留着我们的电话账单
by keeping track of what they have
They will list what they have on a piece of paper.
 They do not own a TV, and so they and their child are not constantly saturated with
images of new toys, new things, and new temptations.
 Paraphrase:
 They do not have a TV, therefore, they and their children would not addicted to new
toys and things they do not need.
 Saturate
 vt. 使饱和,使渗透,浸透,使充满,
a. 浸透的,饱度高的,深颜色的
 cause (a chemical compound, vapour, solution, magnetic material) to unite with the
greatest possible amount of another substance
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 They have exchanged the expenses of work in a commuter age — the extra car,
the cost of gasoline, professional wardrobes, lunches and frequent dinners out,
and babysitting fees — for the time to pay attention to the quality of their lives.
They have given up paper products, processed foods, expensive hobbies, firstrun movies, restaurants, and paying for the services of others. In return, they
enjoy home cooking, mid-week family picnics, library books, participation in
community arts programs, thrift shops, and do-it-yourself projects.
“That yearning feeling that’s so much a part of this culture goes on forever,” says
Sara. “But it doesn’t matter if you’re making $15,000 or $50,000. There’ll
always be the things you wish you could afford. Money really wasn’t the reason
we changed. We did it for our own personal satisfaction, and for anyone
thinking of simplifying life, there is only one basic rule: If it isn’t satisfying,
don’t do it.”
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 They have exchanged the expenses of work in a commuter age — the
extra car, the cost of gasoline, professional wardrobes, lunches and
frequent dinners out, and babysitting fees — for the time to pay
attention to the quality of their lives.
 They have exchange···for···
 the extra car, the cost of gasoline, professional wardrobes, lunches and
frequent dinners out, and babysitting fees—all these refer to the
expenses of work in a commuter age
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程

Sara and Michael lent me their copy of 99 Ways to a Simple Lifestyle, a
handbook of practical suggestions that can be applied to anyone’s living
situation.
 I read it carefully, giving myself high marks in some areas, surprised at
my socially sanctioned irrational behavior in others.
That night, accompanying my daughter on a shopping trip, I came across
an inexpensive hand towel that matched our kitchen wallpaper, and a pair
of “bargain” sandals too handsome to resist.
When I stood in the parking lot, $11 poorer, no happier on leaving the
store than I had been entering it, I felt like a child, helpless in the face of
my own impulse.
It is a world of illusion, this shopping merry-go-round we ride, but with
all the action and excitement, it is sometimes hard to find the resolve and
the courage to dismount.
Book Four
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 surprised at my socially sanctioned irrational behavior in others.
 I was surprised at my irrational and unwise actions which permitted and
accepted by most people
 Sanction ['sæŋkʃən]
 n. 核准,处罚,约束力
vt. 制定制裁规则,认可,核准,同意
 formal and explicit approval
 a mechanism of social control for enforcing a society's standards
 We intend to apply economic sanctions.
我们打算实施经济制裁。
 When I stood in the parking lot, $11 poorer, no happier on leaving the store
than I had been entering it, I felt like a child, helpless in the face of my own
impulse.
 What implied here?
 When i finished shopping,spending $11 on unneccessary things, I found myself
no happier than we entered it. I can not stand the resistance of buying
something useless, which is so frustrating.
Book Four
Summary of Text A
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
 Sara, the author’s friend, decide to change her way of living into a simple
yet environmental-friendly style after they had a baby-girl. They gave up
their big house, electric and user-friendly appliances, instead, their attitude
towards life is enjoy the bare happiness without wasting the resources.
 The author, though, deeply affected by their concept of simplification of
living, can not resist the impulse to purchase something expensive and
unwanted, like others.
Book Four
Exercises
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程
Writing:
Write an article on this topic: what is the life style you are in favor of?
Write it with 200 words, any genre is permitted. Explain what is your favorite life style,
and why?
Words:
 1.With the _______of Mary, all the girl students are eager to go to the party.
 A.exhibition B.exception C.except D.reception
 2.Although the traffic is not busy, he likes to drive at a _______ speed.

A.spare B.fast C.moderate D.moral
 3.All the memories of his childhood had _______ from his mind by the time he was
65.

A.faded B.illustrated C.confined D.concerned
 4.This river is so big that it is impossible to build a _______ under it without
modern technology.

A.canal B.tunnel C.channel D.cable
 5.The _______ is nearly dead , so I can not start the car again.

A. bean B.beam C.bake D.battery
 6.When making modern cameras , people began to _______ plastics for metal.
Book Four

A. surround B.substance C.stretch D.substitute
中国地质大学江城学院精品课程