Lesson 12

1. Lesson 12 The Needs That Drive Us All

2. Contents I. Pre-task Warm-up Background Information II. Task-cycle The Structure of the Text Detailed study of the Text III. Post-task

3. Pre-task Warm-up Question for Discussion: • What do you think are/are not the basic needs of human beings? • Please choose from the following list or add more to the list: food & clothing; love; friendship; wealth; fun; self-fulfillment; power; safety; independence; respect; freedom; courage • What can you associate with power? • How do you understand power? How could one get power? How would one use it? • Is power a good thing or a bad thing in your opinion? • Do you want to be powerful?

4. Pre-task • Background Information • About the Author: William Glasser is an internationally recognized psychiatrist who is best known as the author of Reality Therapy, a method of psychotherapy he created in 1965, which is now taught all over the world. After writing the counseling book, Reality Therapy, in 1965, he added education with Schools Without Failure in 1969, greatly expanded the understanding of motivation and behavior with Choice Theory in 1998, and finally helped people improve their own mental health or happiness, with Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health in 2003.

5. Background Information • Introduction to the Text • n Lesson Eight, the author expressed the view that certain behaviors cannot be excused simply because "We are human". In this text however, the author attempts to define the word "human" itself. He is concerned with human psychology rather than ethics. According to him, human beings are driven by five basic needs, some of which are shared by other animals, and others are uniquely human. The article is obviously addressed to young students and its purpose is to increase their self-awareness of their humanness so as to better deal with their problems.

6. Task-cycle • Theme of the Text: • Out of his ignorance and lack of the concern for the integrity of the nature, man is tampering with nature by abusing chemicals, causing irrecoverable harms on environment and people.

7. Structure of the Text • Part I (paras.1-2) Human beings have five basic needs. • Part II (paras.3-10) Desire for power is a genuine human motivation. • Part III (paras.11-14) Fun is a basic human need

8. Task-cycle • Detailed study of the text • 1. As creatures have evolved from simple to complex ... (1) • According to Darwin's theory of evolution, plants and animals develop gradually from simpler to more complicated forms by natural selection. This is the process by which only plants and animals that are naturally suitable for life in their environment will continue to live, while all others will die. In this theory Darwin suggested that humans developed from a type of ape.

9. Detailed study of the text • 2. All five needs are built into our genetic structure as instructions for how we must attempt to live our lives. (1) • Humans are born with the five needs/All five needs are inborn as part of our nature and direct us as we go through our lives. • build in/into: to cause to be part of sth which cannot be separated or removed from it; to make.., inherent, e.g. • We don't want to build in too much furniture, just a bookcase and two wardrobes. • I hope you'll build some entertainment into the schedule for the training.

10. Detailed study of the text • 3. .... if we are to fulfill our biological destiny. (1) • our biological destiny: what we have to experience as humans: to go through childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age, to produce offspring and die • 4. .... unlike the other four needs that are shared to some extent by many higher animals, the way we continually struggle for power in every aspect of our lives seems uniquely human. (1) • ... unlike the other four needs which many higher animals also have. the need for power seems exclusively a human need. This is shown in how eagerly we seek power in very aspect of our lives.

11. Detailed study of the text • 5. Simple survival needs like hunger, thirst, and sexual desire are relatively clear-cut, and we quickly learn what particular discomfort is attached to the denial of these basic needs. (3) • It is relatively easy to define simple survival needs that satisfy hunger, thirst and sexual desire because we can easily find what particular discomfort we feel when these basic needs are denied. • attach to sb/sth: to be connected with sb/sth; to connect sth to sth, e. g. • Love is freely given, with no strings attached. • Responsibility is attached to this job.

12. Detailed study of the text • 6. When we attempt to satisfy the non-essential psychological needs, such as belonging, fun, freedom, and especially power, we run into more difficulty.(3) • The higher, or psychological, needs are not so clear-cut and not so easy to satisfy. • run into: to begin to experience (difficulty); get into (a difficult or unpleasant situation), e.g. • After successive crop failures, Farmer Jones ran into debt. • The peace talks ran into a deadlock when both sides rejected any compromise.

13. Detailed study of the text • 7. Even politicians try to appear humble, emphasizing how much they wish to serve and how little they want to tell us what to do. (3) • Even politicians try to cover up their desire for power by saying that they are running for an office because they want to do things for their community and that they really hate to govern people. • 8. But regardless of cultural prejudices, power itself is neither good net bad.(4) • When we don't take into consideration the prejudices against power in certain cultures, power is really not a bad thing. Power itself is neutral, neither good nor bad. • regardless of: without worrying about or taking account of, e.g. • The law says that all citizens have the right to education regardless of age, sex, race and religious belief.

14. Detailed study of the text • 9. They preach the virtues of humility because the more people they can persuade to be humble, the more easily they can both preserve and add to the power that they have. (5) • They advocate humility praising it as an admirable quality because they know 1Re more people they make humble, the more easily they can keep and strengthen tile power they have seized. • add to: to increase, e.g. • The storm added to the difficulty of the sailors. • Their grandchildren add to the joy in their old age.

15. Detailed study of the text • 10. While it is easy to understand that people who strive for power may become dominant and have a better chance to survive, most of us have difficulty accepting that this need is written in our genes. (6) • Though people admit that those who strive for power are likely to gain advantages over others, most of us can't willingly accept the view that power is a human need, and that it is something we have inherited from our ancestors, and not something we may acquire later on. (In other words, most people refuse to admit that, in one way or another, they have the desire for power, because they think power is bad. )

16. Detailed study of the text • 11. That their teachings have been largely accepted when what they advocate is so obviously self-serving is a tribute to how effective they have been in getting their message across. (6) • It is surprising that what they propagate should be accepted by many, for obviously their propaganda serves their own interests, helping to maintain their power, This clearly shows how effective their propaganda machine is. (Note the sarcastic tone of the author. ) • self-serving: (disapproving) interested only in gaining an advantage for yourself • a tribute to sth/sb: something that shows the good effects or influence of sth/sb, e.g. Our graduates' performance is a tribute to the high-quality education of our university. • get sth across/get across (to sb)/: to succeed in communicating sth; to be communicated or understood

17. Detailed study of the text • 12. Successful politicians are masters of this approach and the same expertise is not unknown in business, higher education and even religion. (6) • Successful politicians are very skillful in using this technique of sharing a little power with the people and this approach is also used by businessmen, leaders in higher education and even in religion. • master: a person who is skilled at sth, e.g. masters of disguise • unknown adj: never happening or existing

18. Detailed study of the text • 13. Families band together for power, but if they succeed in becoming very powerful, they tend in almost all cases to fight among themselves for the lion's share of what they have. (7) • Family members are united when they are striving for power, but when they gain what they have striven for, they are likely to fight among themselves because they all want to get the largest or best part.

19. Detailed study of the text • 14. Most of us cannot get through a day without complaint: To be satisfied with how others have treated us for a week would seem like an eternity. (7) • Most of us can find something to complain about daily. Any feeling of satisfaction with how we are treated won't last as long as a week. • seem like an eternity: (infml) to be a period that seems to be very long or to never end

20. Detailed study of the text • 15. We are intensely competitive. If we think that we have any chance at all to move beyond bare survival, we are almost all ambitious. (8) • We all try hard to be better than others. All humans want and are determined to succeed in one way or anther if they believe that they can manage more than merely to keep alive (surely human progress is a tribute to this ambition--our need for power).

21. Detailed study of the text • 16. Among us, even the humble compote for who can be the humblest of all.(8) • Competition is a characteristic of human society, involving all walks of life. Even those who have a low opinion of themselves strive to be the humblest of all. (The sentence concludes the discussion of how human need for power is demonstrated. The remark seems to be ironical, mocking at those politicians who try to appear humble. )

22. Detailed study of the text • 17. You can decide for yourself whether power is used more for good than for evil, but simply as a genetic need it has no morality. (9) • Whatever opinion you have about power--whether you think it is generally used for good, power is simply a property we are born with, so power itself does not involve any moral principle.

23. Detailed study of the text • 18. Our needs push us to strive for fulfillment; whether in our attempt to satisfy them we do right or wrong is up to each of us to decide. (9) • Our innate needs drive us to work hard to have them satisfied; but in the process of achieving our goals, it is entirely in our hands whether we do right or wrong. (And this of course is a matter of morality. ) • right or wrong n.: what is morally good or bad

24. Detailed study of the text • 19. If students do not feel that they have any power in their academic classes, they will not work in school. (9) • If students don't strive for academic success/don't have any urge to compete in their classes, they will not achieve anything/they are not suitable for school/they won't succeed in school. • 20. There is no greater work incentive than to be able to see that your effort has a power payoff. (9) • To be able to see that your effort will be rewarded with some sort of power is the best incentive for work.

25. Detailed study of the text • 21. It seems that there has to be a counterforce to power; unbridled power would be destructive to the survival of the species. (10) • It seems necessary to }lave an opposing force to restrict power so as to prevent abuse/ misuse. Power without control and supervision would threaten the life of the species on earth. (For example, as Rachel Carson points out in "The Silent Spring", man's power to temper with nature has resulted in serious "contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and lethal materials. ")

26. Detailed study of the text • 22. Therefore, almost everything said about power could also be reworded into the vocabulary of freedom. (10) • Therefore, what has been said about power could also be said about freedom, though in different terms. (For example, unbridled freedom would be harmful, even destructive to society, and it seems that there has to be a counterforce to freedom, too. ) • Note the expression "not in sb's vocabulary" • The word "failure" is not in my vocabulary. (= I will keep trying to do something, however difficult it is. )

27. Detailed study of the text • 23. It's the part of the job that you don't have to do, but doing it may be the best part of the job. (11) • It is not something you have to do absolutely in your life, but doing it may make life far more enjoyable.

28. Detailed study of the text • 24. It can balance a lot of misery, and it is like a catalyst that makes anything we do better and worth doing again and again. (11) • If in our misery we still keep our innate desire for fun alive, we would be able to face our misery, and if we make an enjoyable job out of a boring task. we would do it better and think it worth doing again and again.

29. Detailed study of the text • 25. Lower animals, whose behavior is essentially built-in and who do not have much ability to learn, are not involved with fun. (12) • Because their behavior is basically predetermined by their genes, lower animals do not have to make choices, do not have much ability to learn, and therefore they do not have the need for fun. • 26. My guess is that we will survive in direct proportion to how much we can learn. (13) • In my opinion, the greater our ability to learn, the better our chance to survive.

30. Detailed study of the text • 27. Anytime we can introduce power, freedom or belonging into a situation, we find it more interesting. (14) • Whenever we are motivated by power, freedom or belonging, we do a job with more interest. • (Note how the concluding remarks echo the opening sentence. "All living creatures are driven by the basic need to stay alive and reproduce st) that the species will continue."

31. Post Task • Group discussion • 1. Lord Acton once said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do you agree? What should we do about it if it is true? Can we kill the desire for power? Can we give people all the power they want? What is your solution? • 2. The author here seems to be justifying human obsession with power, fun etc. How do you understand the author’s real purpose for writing this article?