研究生应用英语补充阅读材料

ordeal

n.

严酷的考验

,

痛苦的经验

,

折磨

constitution

n.

体格

opt

v.

选择

worse off

劣等的，差的

bar examination

律师资格考试

Notes

1.

Alan

Loy

McGinnis

(1933

-

2005)

An

author,

Christian

psychotherapist,

and

founder and director of the Valley Counseling Center in Glendale, California, United

States. Today there are over 3 million copies of his books in print. His 1979 book

The

Friendship Factor

has sold over 1,000,000 copies and his 1985 book

Bringing Out the

Best in People

sold over 600,000 copies. His books have been translated into over 14

languages.

His

books

are

characterized

by

a

clear

writing

style

using

simple,

short

sentences. He was a family therapist, corporate consultant, and speaker to television,

radio, and corporate audiences

2.

Thomas

Carlyle

(1795

–

1881)

Scottish-born

British

historian

and

essayist

who

was leading figure in the Victorian era. Carlyle's collected works (1974) comprises 30

volumes. His famous work

The French Revolution

established his literary reputation

as a great writer.

3. Viktor Frankl

(1905- 1997) An Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a

Holocaust

survivor.

Frankl

was

the

founder

of

logotherapy,

which

is

a

form

of

Existential Analysis, the

book,

Man's

Search

for

Meaning

(published

under

a

different

title

in

1959:

From

Death-Camp to Existentialism

, and originally published in 1946 as

trotzdem Ja zum

Leben

sagen:

Ein

Psychologe

erlebt

das

Konzentrationslager

),

chronicles

his

experiences

as

a

concentration

camp

inmate

and

describes

his

psychotherapeutic

method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most sordid ones, and

thus

a

reason

to

continue

living.

Frankl

was

one

of

the

key

figures

in

existential

therapy and a prominent source of inspiration for humanistic psychologists.

Exercises

I. Reading comprehension

1.

What does the Edison’s story tell us?

A. Don’t cry for the spilled milk.

B. It is quite usual to meet setbacks in our life.

C. We can start a new life as long as what we have has been destroyed.

D.

The

most

important

life

meaning

is

that

our

attitude

has

great

influence

on

almost any situation no matter it is good or bad.

2. Why did the corporate president always recall the woman’s face for years?

A. He appreciated her for buying pots and pans from him.

B. She was very kind, so he missed her very much

C. He could not forget the woman’s face, for which was quite changeable.

woman’s

face

always

reminded

him

of

the

success

he

had

achieved

and

encouraged him mentally.

3. What does the word ―impotent‖ mean in Paragraph 11?

A. lack power or ability;

B. lack physical strength;

C. capable

D. powerful

4. Which of the following is

Not

true according to the article?

A. We can be successful if we play a movie everyday.

B. We can get success from failure.

C.

We

should

pay

attention

to

the

possible

instead

of

blaming

everything

on

circumstances.

D. Taking a rest properly is one of the good ways for dealing with setbacks.

5. The followings are all

Not

the implied meaning in ―

Count your blessings

‖

Except

_______

A. People will be happy if they content with their lot.

B. One can achieve success with right attitude.

C. One can be successful with a beloved wife.

D. Good health and ambition are the two preconditions for success.

6.

What

is

the

author’s

attitude

towards

what

Dr.

Vikto

r

Frankl

mentioned

his

opinions about the life in Nazi concentration camps?

A. Indifferent

B. Antagonistic

C. Supportive

D. Neutral

7. From the article, it can be learned that _______

A. People are easy to be pessimistic while facing failure.

B. Everyone can be successful as long as making efforts.

C. The most important thing in our life it to be optimistic.

D. The great principle of living is that almost any situation in our life is affected by

our attitude.

8.

The

followings

are

all

the

author

recommended

time-tested

opinions

for

people

who suffered setbacks

Except

_______

A. People can benefit from having a rest and helping others.

B. It is helpful to talk with your friends.

C. People can take actions to find ways instead of blaming everyone and everything

but not oneself.

D. Failure is the mother of success. People can find chances in failure.

ation

1. As a psychotherapist, I’ve studied what motivates optim

ists, analyzing the lives of

several

hundred

people

over

the

years.

While

many

suffered

crushing

setbacks,

all

learned techniques for defeating dejection and keeping their enthusiasm high during

difficult periods. I believe that if you, too, adopt these time-tested ideas, you will get

more from life.

2.

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises,

no

days,

no

hours

or

minutes.

All

the

things

you

collected,

whether

treasured

or

forgotten,

will

pass

to

someone

else.

Your

wealth,

fame

and

temporal

power

will

shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your

grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear. So, too, your

hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire. The wins and losses that once

seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived. It

won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Your gender, skin color, ethnicity

will be irrelevant. So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but

what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your significance. What will

matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of

integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged

others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence, but your

character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel

a

lasting

loss

when

you're

gone.

What

will

matter

is

not

your

memories,

but

the

memories

of

those

who

loved

you.

What

will

matter

is

how

long

you

will

be

remembered, by whom and for what.

Living

a

life

that

matters

doesn't

happen

by

accident.

It's

not

a

matter

of

circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.

for Oral Discussion

It is inevitable to face failure in our life: failing in examinations, making mistakes in

working, divorcing, etc. Some people are totally discouraged, and some even commit

suicide. How will you face all the failures in your life?

Text B

Philosophy of Life

Two Truths to Live By

By Alexander M. Schindler

Hold fast, and let go: understand this paradox, and you stand at the very gate of

wisdom.

The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a

paradox: it enjoins us to cling to its many gifts

even while it ordains their eventual

relinquishment. The

rabbis of old put it this way: ―A man come to this world with his

fist clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open.‖

Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wondrous, and full of a beauty that

breaks through every pore of God’s own earth. We know

that this

is so, but

all too

often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what

was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.

We remember a beauty that faded, a love that waned. But we remember with far

greater

pain

that

we

did

not

see

that

beauty

when

if

flowered,

that

we

failed

to

respond with love when it was tendered.

A recent experience re- taught me this truth. I was hospitalized following a severe

heart

attack

and

had

been

in

intensive

care

for

several

days.

It

was

not

a

pleasant

place.

One

morning,

I

had

to

have

some

additional

test.

The

required

machines

were

located in a building at the opposite end of the hospital, so I had to be wheeled across

the courtyard on a gurney.

As

we

emerged

from

our

unit,

the

sunlight

hi

t

me.

That’s

all

there

was

to

my

experience. Just the light of the sun. And yet how beautiful it was

—

how warming,

how sparkling, how brilliant!

I looked to see whether anyone else relished the Sun’s golden glow, but everyone

was hurrying to and fro, most with eyes fixed on the ground. Then I remembered how

often

I, too,

had been indifferent

to

the grandeur of each day, too

preoccupied with

pretty and sometimes even mean concerns to respond to the splendor of it all.

The

insight

gleaned

from

that

experience

is

really

as

commonplace

as

was

the

experience itself: life’s gifts are precious

—

but we are too heedless of them.

Here then is the first pole of life’s paradoxical demands on us: Never too busy for

the wonder and the awe of life. Be reverent before each dawning day. Embrace each

hour. Seize golden minute.

Hold fast to life… but not so fast that you cannot let go. This is the second side of

life’s coin, the opposite pole of its paradox: we must accept our losses, and learn how

to let go.

This is not an easy lesson to learn, especially when we are young and think that

the

world

is

our

to

command,

that

whatever

we

desire

with

the

full

force

of

our

passionate being can, nay, will, be ours. But then life moves along to confront us with

realities, and slowly but surely this second truth dawns upon us.

At every stage of life we sustain losses

—

and grow in the process. We begin our

independent lives only when we emerge form the womb and lose its protective shelter.

We

enter

a

progression

of

schools;

then

we

leave

our

mothers

and

fathers

and

our

childhood homes. We get married and have children and then have to let them go. We

confront

the

death

of

our

parents

and

our

spouses.

We

face

the

gradual

or

not

so

gradual waning of our own strength. And ultimately, as the parable of the open and

closed

hand

suggests,

we

must

confront

the

inevitability

of

our

own

demise,

losing

ourselves as it were, all that we were or dreamed to be.

But why should we be reconciled to life’s contradictory demands? Why fashion

things of beauty when beauty is evanescent? Why give our heart in love when those

we love will ultimately be torn from our grasp?

In order to resolve this paradox, we must seek a wider perspective, viewing our

lives as though our lies are finite; our deeds on earth weave a timeless pattern.

Life is never just being. It is a becoming, a relentless flowing on. Our parents live

on

through

us,

and

we

will

live

on

through

our

children.

The

institutions

we

build

endure, and we will endure through them. The beauty we fashion cannot be dimmed

by death. Our flesh may perish, our hands will wither, but that which they create in

beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come.

Don’t spend and waste your lives accumulating objects that will only turn to dust

and ashes. Pursue not

so much the material

as

the ideal,

for ideals

alone

invest life

with meaning and are of enduring worth.

Add love to a house and you have a home. Add righteousness to a city and you

have

a

community.

Add

truth

to

a

pile

of

red

bricks

and

you

have

a

school.

Add

religion

to

the

humblest

of

edifices

and

you

have

a

sanctuary.

Add

justice

to

the

far-flung round of human endeavor and you have civilization. Put them all together,

exalt

them

above

their

present

imperfections,

add

to

them

the

vision

of

humankind

redeemed,

forever

free

of

need

and

strife

and

you

have

a

future

lighted

with

the

radiant colors of hope.

（

881 words

）

New words

enjoin

v.

命令，吩咐：权威性地且强调性地发布施令

ordain

v.

注定

,

规定

relinquishment

n.

作罢

rabbis

n.

犹太学者