▇ Comprehension questions (Para. 10)

Q: How did the author see the sweeping of the room? A: He saw it as his college entrance examination.

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Unit Four -- Being Creative

I.Teaching Objectives

1. To make clear the writer?s purpose to write the text and the ideas that the writer desire to convey in the text.

2. To grasp the key words, phrases and structure.

3. To master the skills of writing and reading in this unit.

II. Teaching Content

1. Get Started

2. Discovering the Main Ideas

3. Key Words and Expressions for Text A 4.Voicing Your Views

5. Guided Practice (exercises, oral practice and group work) 6. Summary

7. After-Class Assignments

III. Teaching Process 1. Get Started

Discussion

▇Sit in groups of threes or fours and discuss the following questions. 4) Do you see yourself as a creative person? Please illustrate your point.

5) Who do you think is the most creative person the world has ever seen? What do you know

about him or her?

6) Why do you think being creative is important for a person or a nation?

7) Are there any creative activities in your college or university? Give some examples.

▇ Answers for reference: 9) A possible answer:

a. Yes, I think I am a creative person. To begin with, I can very often come up with unusual solutions to problems that may baffle most of my classmates. I think I am blessed with the ability to see connections between two seemingly very different things. Besides, I?m never satisfied with just following the well-trodden paths. I?m always eager to try new things and have new experiences.

b. I wish I could say yes, but I?m afraid I?m not very creative. I like to “follow the herd” and it seldom occurs to me to challenge available answers or explanations. In fact, I feel very comfortable when there are clear instructions for me to follow when doing things. And if I am asked to do anything creative such as composing a poem or doing a painting, I truly have no idea where to start. I?m not satisfied with my “follow the herd” mentality, but I don?t know how to get rid of it.

10) Possible answers:

In my opinion, Thomas Edison is the most creative person the world has ever seen and one of

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the greatest inventors of all time. He obtained 1093 patents in the United States alone and laid the groundwork for many technological innovations of the 20th century. His major inventions include the phonograph, an early movie camera and the first practical long-lasting light bulb.

11) A possible answer:

I think being creative is important for a person or a nation because creativity is the essence of life and nature and the whole world is in the process of creation. If a person is not creative enough, he or she cannot solve problems or make any progress, and consequently he or she can hardly survive in this competitive world of ours. The same is true of a nation. If a nation is not creative, it cannot develop and may soon weaken. 12) A possible answer is as follows:

Yes, there are many creative activities in our university. For example, we have initiated a project on campus, called the Innovation Project, which aims to encourage students to be creative in the course of their learning and research. I?m involved in a mini-project on energy saving. We group members meet regularly to exchange information and ideas. It is required that each of us should come up with some inventive ideas about energy saving. We pool our ideas and will present our energy-saving plans to the departments concerned. The Innovation Project in our university has been going on smoothly and some of the resulting inventions have won national awards.

2. Discovering the Main Ideas

Exercise 1:Answer the following questions with the information contained in Text A.

18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) Did Steve Jobs ever go to college? Did he graduate?

What did Steve Jobs mean by talking about connecting the dots?

Why was Steve Jobs fired from Apple, a company he started with Woz?

Why did he say that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to him?

Why did the doctors start crying when they saw the tumor cells of Steve Jobs under a microscope?

Why did Steve Jobs talk about his cancer? What was Steve Jobs? wish for the graduates?

What is meant by the phrase “stay hungry, stay foolish” according to your interpretation?

▇ Answers for reference:

18) Yes, he did. But he dropped out of college after the first six months and then stayed around

for another 18 months going to the classes he was interested in. 19) No, he didn?t.

20) He meant that one should follow his curiosity and intuition. The seemingly “meaningless”

unconnected experiences might contribute to one?s later success.

21) The man hired to run Apple and Steve Jobs had different opinions about the future of the

company. The Board of Directors didn?t side with Steve. So, he was fired.

22) He found that he still loved what he did and decided to start over. He was freed from the

heaviness of being successful to enter one of the most creative periods of his life.

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23) Originally, the doctors believed that his cancer was incurable. After viewing the tumor cells

under a microscope, they found that this form of cancer was curable with surgery. They cried because they were happy for Steve Jobs.

24) He wanted to say that one?s time was limited. So, don?t waste time. Don?t be trapped by

dogma. One should have the courage to follow heart and intuition.

25) He quoted a sentence from The Whole Earth Catalogue and wished them “Stay hungry, stay

foolish”.

26) Most students would most probably accept the following points:

i. Be eager to learn and remain intellectually curious all your life. ii. Be open to new ideas and thoughts and never be trapped by dogma or

conventions.

iii. Never feel satisfied with what you have learned or achieved. iv. Always feel hungry for knowledge and success and never rest on your laurels. v. Remain humble and modest no matter how successful you may be. vi. Always be wise enough to know what you really are and have the courage to

follow your curiosity and intuition.

vii. Never assume that you?re the smartest guy in the world and be always ready to

learn from others.

Exercise 2:Text A can be divided into three parts. Now write down the paragraph number(s) of each part and then give the main idea of each in one or two sentences.

Part Paragraph(s) Main Idea

One Two

1 2-18

Steve Jobs starts the commencement address by talking about

his educational background.

He tells three stories from his life. The first story, which is about connecting the dots, tells the graduates to follow their curiosity and intuition. The second story, which is about love and loss, encourages the graduates to find out what they love and keeploving what they do. The third story, which is about death, tells the graduates not to waste their time but to have the courage to follow heart and intuition instead of worrying about others? opinion.

Steve Jobs ends his speech by quoting the sentence “Stay hungry, stay foolish” from TheWhole Earth Catalogue.

Three

19-20

3. Key Words and Expressions for Text A

truth be told （用于表明后面说出的是真相或真诚的话）说实话； 说真的； 老实说； 说句真心话

e.g.1. Look, truth be told, I don?t want to move and live in the country.

2. Truth be told, lions are only on their paws for about 4-5 hours a day. 事实上，狮子每天用爪子站立的时间只有4-5个小时。

3. Truth be told, I can?t really remember what I did do in those six months. 说实话，我真的不记得那六个月里我做过什么。 drop out

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1. [(of)] stop attending or taking part [常与of连用]不参加，退出；退学 e.g. 1) My mother dropped out of school when she was only 10.

2) She dropped out after 20 kilometers with stomach trouble. 20 公里后她因胃痛而退出了比赛。

2. To withdraw from established society, especially because of disillusion with conventional values拒绝接受传统规范;摈弃社会习俗

e.g. 1) She encourages people to keep their jobs rather than dropping out to live in a commune.

她鼓励人们坚持工作而不是离经叛道地去过公社生活。

2) She longed to drop out of the race and make an independent life for herself. 她真想脱离这个圈子去过自由的生活。

adopt vt.

1. take (sb. else?s child) into one?s family for ever and take on the full responsibilities in law of a parent 承继，收养

e.g.1) Because she was not economically independent, she was forced to have her baby adopted.

2) Many childless couples adopt children. 许多无子女的夫妇收养孩子。

2. to start to deal with or think about something in a particular way 采取，采纳，采用 e.g.1) Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the complete withdrawal of troops.

议会采纳了要求全部撤军的决议。

2) Pupils should be helped to adopt a positive approach to the environment. 应帮助学生对环境采取积极的态度。

figure out come to understand or discover by thinking 理解，想出

e.g. 1. I cannot figure out why the teacher always asks me to answer his questions in class.

2. I can?t figure out what he was hinting at. 我想不出他在暗示什么。

drop in visit unexpectedly or informally 顺道拜访，（未事先通知而）造访 e.g. 1. Why don?t you drop in for a drink one evening?

2. She spent most of the day dropping in on friends in Edinburgh. 她一天的大部分时间都用来拜访在爱丁堡的朋友了。 3. It?s improper to drop in on him so casually. 这样冒冒失失去找他可不好。

call on, see, visit, drop in

这些动词或词组均含有“拜访，访问”之意。

call on: 社交上的正式用语，指无目的、礼节性的短暂拜访，访问者与被访问者之间一

般只有社交或公务关系。

see: 常用词，含义广泛，既可指接受他人来访，又可指去访问他人。 visit: 正式用词，强调出于工作需要的访问，也指亲戚朋友间的看望。

drop in: 多指在计划之外或事先未打招呼的偶然、顺便访问。也可指参观。

stumble into sth. become involved in sth. by chance偶然卷入，无意中卷入 e.g.1. Jane stumbled into acting after she graduated from a medical college.

2. In a moment he stumbled into a trap, set by bear-catcher. 不一会儿他绊跌到捕熊人设的陷阱里。

3. Not seeing the brick in the path, Carl tripped and stumbled into the wall.

space vt. [usu. pass.] place apart; arrange with spaces between [一般用被动语态]（用间隔）分隔开

e.g. 1. You must space out the posts three meters apart according to the requirement.

2. Women once again are having fewer children and spacing them further apart. 女人再次减少了生孩子的数量，而且生育之间相隔的时间也更长了。

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