Preview
What makes some people able to confront hardship when others despair and give up? What makes some people able to face difficult circumstances with strength —— and even enthusiasm —— when the chances of success are slim?
When we think of successful people, we imagine they are successful because of destiny or good fortune. Yet, the reality is quite different. Every person is faced with criticism, obstacles and failures in the course of their life. It's the inner will and strength to face and overcome these difficulties that makes the difference. It's this inner will that shapes successful artists, inventors and heroic leaders who motivate and inspire us even decades later. While opportunity is important, success always comes from a passion to succeed and as a result of careful preparation, consistent hard work and amazing determination. Do you happen to know someone who has overcome difficulties on the road to success? What will you do to overcome the obstacles in your pathway?
Pre-reading activities
1. Listen to a talk about steps to make your dreams come true. Fill in the blank in each sentence based on what you hear.
As long as you are committed to your goals and you are about your dreams, you will accomplish them.
To accomplish results in your life, you have to be 100 percent committed and you must be willing to your time and effort.
What are the three steps that you should follow to achieve success?
1)
2)
3)
2. Listen to the talk again and discuss the following questions.
Why do most people fail to achieve success in the end?
Can you think of any other helpful steps that can be taken to make your dream come true?
This unit tells students that every person can succeed as long as they stick to their dream. Text A tells why people should not give up, and Text B illustrates that adequate preparation and determination is the key to success. Through reading these two texts, students may realize that strong will, adequate preparation, and determination are very important to make their life a successful one. Text A is an example essay using several examples to illustrate the importance of a strong will in success. An example essay may use specific instances or actual cases to convince readers that a particular point is true. On the other hand, Text B is a narrative combined with a detailed description of Les Brown's persistence in preparing for his dream. When teachers familiarize students with the readings, they need to point out the two texts' respective writing styles and also think about how to involve students in class activities from two different perspectives: celebrities vs. themselves.
Pre-reading activities
1.
passionate, eventually
amazing, sacrifice
1) Map your goals out
2) Believe in yourself
3) Take action
Scrips:
Is it really possible to achieve anything you want in your life? The answer is a "yes". As long as you are committed to your goals and you are passionate about your dreams, you will eventually accomplish them. To accomplish amazing results in your life, you have to be 100 percent committed and you must be willing to sacrifice your time and effort. Here are three steps that you may follow to make your dreams come true.
Step 1 —— Map your goals out
Write down your goals and develop a detailed blueprint of how you are going to achieve them. Without goals, you are not going to stay focused on the direction you are heading; you will be distracted by your surroundings.
Step 2 —— Believe in yourself
You must believe that you can attain your goals and that your dreams will come true. If you don't believe in what you do, you will never achieve what you seek. This is common sense. Belief is what drives you. You need to have a firm belief before you can achieve something.
Step 3 —— Take action
Take massive and consistent action. Success is all about taking consistent action each day. Without taking action, nothing will come true. It is not that one day you wake up and you have a million dollars in your bank. Success will not come automatically. You have to work for it; you have to bring about the results.
Words in use
3.
whereby
pursuit
inhibit
maintain
patriotic
transcended
endeavors
dedication
prestige
nominate
Word building
4.
5.
resultant
tolerant
pollutants
inhabited
contestants
descendants
attendants
respectful
participants
neglectful
resourceful
boastful
Banked cloze
6.
F
G
H
J
E
A
N
I
K
M
Expressions in use
7.
removed from
failed in
in the pursuit of
deviated from
precludes...from
triumph over
work their way into
written off
Translation
9. 世界公民是指一個人承認自己是新興的全球社區的一份子，而且其行動對全球社區的價值打造和實踐活動有所貢獻。世界公民相信人類從本質上來說是一個整體，每個人都有改變事物的能力。在我們這樣一個相互依賴的世界中，世界公民意識鼓勵我們認識到對彼此的責任，並從對方身上學習。世界公民關心全球的教育、疾病、貧窮和環境問題。在當今，全球合作的力量在使一些萌發世界公民意識，讓他們擁有對全球社區的歸屬感。這種不斷發展的世界公民意識在很大程度上來講，要歸功於現代信息、通信和交通技術的力量。世界公民意識致力於給予人們力量，讓他們付諸行動。世界公民除了要從世界問題中學習知識和價值觀，還要擁有必需的技能，使他們擁有能力和自信，積極推動世界的發展。
10. Nowadays, many young people no longer choose 「stable」jobs. Instead, they prefer to start their own businesses and realize their self-value through their own wisdom and efforts. Young entrepreneurship is the source of national economic vitality in the future. The success of entrepreneurs not only creates fortune, increase job opportunities, improves people’s life, but it is also good for the country in the long term. Entrepreneurs are a driving force in upgrading China’s economy. Especially for the time being, our country is encouraging people to start their own business and make innovations and giving policy support for medium and small businesses. This further arouses young people’s enthusiasm to start their own business.
Understanding the text
2.
C
B
A
D
D
B
C
D
Words in use
4.
indulge
propelling
aggravated
dazzled
alleviating
renowned
eloquent
destined
scorned
applause
Expressions in use
5.
up
in
on
up
to/for
on
as
out
Sentence structure
6.
He always prefers to start early rather than leave everything to the last minute.
She prefers to be the boss, to be in charge and to organize others rather than be organized by someone whom she may not even rate very highly.
My brother preferred to take the whole blame himself rather than allow it to fall on the innocent.
7.
Try as he would
Search as they would
Try as we might
Collocation
Warm-up
1) repeated; 2) overwhelming; 3) immense
1) heroic; 2) sound; 3) substantial
1) attined; 2) fuled; 3) achieve
8.
sudden opportunity
immense obstacles
mazing determination
profound difficulties
overwhelming failures
poverty-striken
substantial hardships
repeated misfortunes
sheer persistence
dazzle audience
achieve fame
strong will
TED-Ed
The key to success: grit
by Angela Lee Duckworth