English book5 unit 7 Mental Depression.doc

Lesson 7 Mental Depression: The Recurring NightmareI. General Arrangements1. Class Hours 92. Teaching Content1) Comprehension: types of mental depression and causes2) Language points 3) Structural Analysis of the Text; 4) Topic Discussion 5) Exercises6) Homework: Dictation; Recitation; Writing and so on.3. Objective: By learning the text, the students are supposed to know at least two things: 1) Although the article deals with various forms of mental depression from a medical point of view, the recurring and widespread nightmare nevertheless reflects one of the many problems of American society. 2) Writing style: journalistic style.4. Methods to be applied 1) Questions and answers 2) Discussion: general idea and outline of the text (textual organization)II. The Important Points1. Language points: most everyone; work out; get a person “down”; take the edge off life; financial setback; out of the blue; accomplished people; social isolation; occupational underachiever; etc.2. Main idea of the text3. Structural analysis of the text4. Word study: experience, lift, provoke, perform5. Grammar: voiceIII. The Difficult Points1. The differences between undisguised forms and disguised forms of depression2. Various reasons for mental depression.3. The structural analysis of the text.IV. Detailed Study of the Text1. things dont work out: things are incapable of being done (problems are incapable of being solved). 2. your mental landscape is bleak: you are vacant-minded. Your mind is a blank. You cannot concentrate. You cannot think of anything. You cannot think.(cf. empty-minded: ignorant having nothing in the mind)bleak: bare / barren / desolate/ hopeless / joyless / unpromising3. few of us get through life without experiencing: almost everyone experiences it (suffers from it) at one time or another in his life.get through: pass4. midwinter doldrums are an annual event for some: some people experience (suffer) depression in midwinter every year5. The ordinary everyday blues areself-curing: The everyday depression does not last long and the symptoms can automatically disappear (it does not need medical treatment)-It can cure itself.6. take the edge off (life): dull the intensity, force, or pleasure of sth or soften or reduce ones appetite. Here: make life less interesting (uninteresting), weaken the enjoyment of life.7. incapacitate: make incapable of unfit (for/from), paralyzeHeavy housework burden incapacitate the mother for work (from working)outside.8. weather: come through, get through successfully, survive, withdrawweather a storm, weather all kinds of difficulties, weather a crisis9. social isolation: feeling of inability to fit in with others.10. loss of a senseinstitution: You feel you have nothing to hold on to. You feel you have lost contact with the mainstay (the main body) of society, sth. you can depend on or lean on, sth. larger and stronger than the individual, such as a school., company, or even the law.11. get overHis daughter works fast to get her lesson over. (finish)It is hard to get over that mountain. (pass over)A student returns to his class after he gets over illness.(recover from)It is no easy job to get over the death of a family member.(accept or forget sorrow or surprise)12. out of the blue, out of a clear sky, out of a clear blue sky (more or less clichd ) : without any warning, by surprise, unexpectedly.13. totally incapacitate the victims: make them completely incapable of working (or living a satisfying life).Incapacitate: 1) make incapable or unfit: His poor health incapacitated him for work/from working. 2) disqualify: be incapacitated from voting 被剥夺选举权14. rival n.: a person who competes with another.v. : be a rival of e.g. Basketball cannot rival football (soccer) in excitement. rivalry n.15. foster: care for, help the growth or development of, nurture, breed, feedfoster father birth father16. prone to: liable to , subject to, vulnerable to, inclined e.g.She is prone to exaggerate.I am prone to colds.be prone to accident/error/anger/idleness/superstition (and other generally undesirable things)17. believe in : 1) believe sb.-believe what sb. says is truebelieve in sb.-have trust in him2) believe in physical exercise- be sure of the value of.3) believe in Christianity (God, ghost) be sure of the existence of.18. occupational underachiever: person who does not achieve much in his occupation, who achieves less than his potential would allow him to, who is unable to work to his full abilitye.g. underdeveloped countries19. the acutely suicidal patient: person who has a strong and eager desire to commit suicide or do things harmful to his own interests, who suddenly wants to commit suicideacutely: extremely, for sth. unpleasant (acutely unhappy, acutely boring, etc.)20. complain of: denoting the substance of the complaint complain of a headache, a cold, ill-treatment).complain about: for more general statement e.g. She is always complaining about the neighbor. English people always complain about plain to: The customer complain to the manager of the discourtesy of a shop assistant.21. initiative : ability to think and act without being told or urged; enterprise1) act / do sth. on ones own initiative: He helped his comrades on his own initiative.2) have the initiative: be in the position to make the first move, e.g. in war3) take the initiative (in doing sth.): win initiative22. a “lump” in the throat: you feel your throat is choked with something. The quotation marks indicate the phrase is used in its literal meaning, as opposed to its idiomatic sense. As an idiom, to have “a lump in ones throat” means “feel like sobbing as a result of strong emotions such as excitement, grief, pride”.23. result from-causeresult in -effectV. Answers to Questions (I. Comprehension P125)1. Depression is a feeling familiar to almost everyone: Nothing seems satisfying, things dont work out, you cant get yourself to do anything and your mental landscape is bleak.2. Weather, insufficient sleep, too much work and too little time to get it done, etc. 3. Stressful life events-loss of a job or a spouse, serious financial setback. A serious illness or injury, the end of a love affair.4. Usually they dont.5. Not all of them are, but most of them.6. It depends. For some people, there is noting serious. But for others, they can be terribly incapacitating.7. social tensions of the times-erosion of trust, diminished personal impact, too high expectations for success, etc.8. 1) emotional-dull, tired, empty, sad, numb feeling2) behavioral-irritability, excessive complaining, impaired memory, inability to concentrate, etc.3) physical-loss of appetite, weight loss, constipation, insomnia, etc.9. No not always, because some are disguised.10. Organic diseasesB. 1. an introduction2. the three major classes of mental depressions: the ordinary, brief, self-curing; he longer, more serious depression suffered by millions of Am. people; the severe and incapacitating depression suffered by over-sensitive people3. of the seriousness of depression affecting society4. the social causes of depression5. the three main characteristics of undisguised form of depression6. how to recognize the symptoms of disguised form of depression7. the causes of depression: external causes, internal caused, organic diseasesP.127. C. Translate1. It was a tremendous letdown to be told that we failed (had failed). We were told., which was a2. The ship weathered the hurricane with no casualties.(and nobody was hurt, with nobody hurt)3. Too rigid parental control fosters rebellion (rebellious mood, emotion) in children.4. The manager wants him to do excessively heavy work.1. Dont worry. Everything will work out (turn out) all right (well, smoothly).2. When I counted the books, I found that, all told (altogether), there were 50 books on the shelf.3. Excessive argument (too heated argument) only fosters dissent and division (disagreement and disunion, discord and split).4. It was a terrible letdown for children when the party was cancelled (called off).5. Mary is prone to giggling at the most inappropriate (improper, unsuitable, unfitting) moments.VI. Dictation1. incapacitate exogenous chronic erosion2. All told, depression is clearly the mental illness of the 70s, rivaling schizophrenia as the nations number one mental health problem.In addition to stressful events that cause depression and unknown internal, probably biochemical causes, depression can result from organic diseases.3. get over take the edge off out of the blueVII. Word StudyP128 A. Translate1. Many years of experience in teaching a foreign language qualifies her for the job.(With many years of experience in foreign language teaching, she was qualified/eligible for the post)2. I had a lot of interesting experiences during my year in Africa.3. He experienced hardships when he was only a child.4. It takes two men to life the large stone (big rock). (Two men are needed)5. When the fog lifted, I could see for several li.(miles)6. The coachs praise gave the whole team a lift. (lifted the spirits of all team members)7. His words provoked laughter amid the audience.(Not: provoke sb. to laughter, nor: provokeinto doing sth. because the action that is provoked is always unpleasant or against ones will)8. He started a fight without provocation.9. His speech was provocative and caused (aroused) a lot of angry comment.10. Those who perform deeds of merits (win merits) shall be rewarded.11. He likes to watch a magician performing tricks (magics).12. You mustnt interfere with an officer in his performance of duty. Cf. interfere with: meddle with. Please do not interfere with me. interfere in: break in upon other persons affairsP128 B. Word study revision1. Dont persist in thinking the worst of others.2. Lets hire (ask) a guide to conduct us through the museum.(show us around the museum)3. He is always the first to bear hardships and the last to enjoy comforts.4. I dont wonder at their turning the proposal down.(I dont wonder that)5. The enemies were obliged to lay down their arms.P129 VI. GrammarA.12. The wife was led (to) a miserable life byor A miserable life was led to the wife byNote: “ to lead sb. a c