So What’s So Bad About Being So-So?

1. 21st Century College English: Book 3 Unit 7: Text A So What’s So Bad About Being So-So?

2. Unit 7: Text A • Lead-in Activities • Text Organization • Reading and Writing Skills • Language Points • Guided Practice • Assignment So What’s So Bad about Being So-So?

3. Lead-in Activities Questions for Discussion • Do you have any hobbies? What’s your attitude toward hobbies? • What do you think is the most important thing that contributes to a happy life? • Which one is more important, doing something for fun or doing something perfectly?

4. Text Organization The structure of Text A I. Author’s point of view with her personal experience Paras. 1~4 II. Examples to illustrate how people have to train themselves to be professional Paras. 5~9 III. The terrible result of taking a serious attitude towards recreation Para. 10 III. The author’s viewpoint Paras. 11~12

5. Text Organization I. Author’s point of view with her personal experience (From one specific example to the general thesis) A specific example of the author’s poor piano-playing. Paras. 1~2 A general statement: The author is not ashamed of her incompetence in her hobbies; instead she enjoys doing them badly. Para. 3 The general thesis: Enjoying hobbies is no longer a mark of class. In the competitive world today we have to be “experts” even in our hobbies. Para. 4

6. Text Organization II. Examples to illustrate how people have to train themselves to be professional First Example Para. 5 Second Example Para. 6 Third Example Para. 7 Fourth Example Para. 8 Fifth Example Para. 9

7. Text Organization If you tone up your body by pulling on your gym shoes and jogging around, you are hopelessly committed to embarrassing yourself as you are not a serious runner. First Example Para. 5

8. Text Organization “Dancing” means squeezing into tights and leg warmers, then sweating through six hours of warm-ups, five hours of ballet and four hours of jazz classes. Second Example Para. 6

9. Text Organization A child who doesn’t know the difference between a goal kick and a head shot would be looked down upon by his friends and be deprived of the right of joining a soccer team. Para. 7 Third Example Para. 7

10. Text Organization A girl of nine is worrying about getting into the best tennis school as she is afraid that her technique is not up to the standards though she practices five or six hours a week. Para. 8 Fourth Example Para. 8

11. Text Organization Any lower level of accomplishment would embarrass the woman in thestudy a foreign language. Fifth Example Para. 9

12. Text Organization The terrible result of taking a serious attitude towards recreation Many people avoid activities they might enjoy because they lack the time or the energy to tackle them “seriously”. Some people work so hard at their hobbies that they develop psychological problems.

13. Text Organization • It’s time we put a stop to all this. Keep enthusiasm independent of success and enjoy “the joy of creative fooling around”. • The author follows this philosophy herself. She indicates her interest in learning how to play golf and playing it only for fun. The author’s viewpoint

14. Reading andWritingSkills 1) The specific-to-general structure (take Text A for example) The author starts with a specific example (her bad piano-playing); She then moves to a more general statement about herself; And this leads to her general thesis. 2) Understanding idiomatic expressions To hypothesizing the meaning of idiomatic expressions with the context clues ― examples, explanations, contrasts or parallel phrases.

15. Language Points Text A: So What’s So Bad about Being So-So? By Lisa Wilson Strick

16. Language Points So What’s So Bad about Being So-So? by Lisa Wilson Strick 1 The other afternoon I was playing the piano when my seven-year-old walked in. He stopped and listened for a while, then said: “You don’t play that thing very well, do you, Mom?” 2 No, I don’t. My performance would make any serious music student weep, but I don’t care. I’ve enjoyed playing the piano badly for years.

17. Language Points 3I also enjoy singing badly and drawing badly. I’m not ashamed of my incompetence in these areas. I do one or two other things well and that should be enough for anybody. But it gets boring doing the same things over and over. Every now and then it’s fun to try something new. 4 Unfortunately, doing things badly has gone out of style. It used to be a mark of class if a lady or a gentleman sang a little, painted a little, played the violin a little. You didn’t have to be good at it; the point was to be fortunate enough to have the leisure time for such pursuits. But in today’s competitive world we have to be “experts” even in our hobbies.

18. Language Points 5 You can’t tone up your body by pulling on your gym shoes and jogging around the block a couple of times anymore. Why? Because you’ll be laughed off the street by the “serious runners” — the ones who run twenty miles or more a week in their sixty-dollar running suits and fancy shoes. The shoes are really a big deal. If you say you’re thinking about taking up almost any sport, the first thing the “serious” types will ask is what you plan to do about shoes. Leather or canvas? What type of soles? Which brand? This is not the time to mention that the gym shoes you wore in high school are still in pretty good shape. As far as sports enthusiasts are concerned, if you don’t have the latest shoes you are hopelessly committed to embarrassing yourself.

19. Language Points 6 The runners aren’t nearly so snobbish as the dancers, however. In case you didn’t know, “going dancing” no longer means putting on a pretty dress and doing a few turns around the dance floor with your favorite man on Saturday night. “Dancing” means squeezing into tights and leg warmers, then sweating through six hours of warm-ups, five hours of ballet and four hours of jazz classes. Every week. Never tell anyone that you “like to dance” unless this is the sort of activity you enjoy.

20. Language Points 7 Have you noticed what this is doing to our children? “We don’t want that nerd on our soccer team,” I overheard a ten-year-old complain the other day. “He doesn’t know a goal kick from a head shot.” As it happens, the “nerd” that the boy was talking about was my son, who did not — like some of his friends — start soccer instruction at age three. I’m sorry, Son, I guess I blew it. In my day, when we played baseball, we expected to give a little instruction to the younger kids who didn’t know how to play. It didn’t matter if they were terrible; we weren’t out to slaughter the other team. Sometimes we didn’t even keep score. To us, sports were just a way of having a good time.

21. Language Points 8 I don’t think kids have as much fun as they used to. Competition keeps getting in the way. The daughter of a neighbor is a nervous wreck worrying about getting into the best tennis school. “I was a late starter,” she told me, “and I only get to practice five or six hours a week, so my technique may not be up to their standards.” The child is nine. She doesn’t want to be a tennis player when she grows up; she wants to be a nurse. I asked what she likes to do for fun in her free time. She seemed to think it was an odd question. “Well, I don’t actually have a lot of free time,” she said. “Homework and tennis and piano lessons kind of eat it all up. I have piano lessons three times a week now, so I have a good shot at getting into the all-state orchestra.”

22. Language Points 9 Ambition, drive and the desire to excel are all great within limits, but I don’t know where the limits are anymore. I know a woman who’s been complaining for years that she hasn’t got the time to study a foreign language. I’ve pointed out that an evening course in French or Italian would take only a couple of hours a week, but she keeps putting it off. I suspectthat what she hasn’t got the time for is to become completely fluent within one year — and that any lower level of accomplishment would embarrass her. Instead she spends her evenings watching TV and tidying up her closets — occupations at which no particular expertise is expected.

23. Language Points 10 I know lots of other people, too, who avoid activities they might enjoy because they lack the time or the energy to tackle them “seriously.” It strikes me as so silly. We are talking about recreation. I have nothing against self-improvement. But when I hear a teenager muttering “practice makes perfect” as he grimly makes his four-hundred-and-twenty-seventh try at hooking the basketball into the net left-handed, I wonder if some of us aren’t improving ourselves right into the insane asylum.

24. Language Points 11 I think it’s time we put a stop to all this. For sanity’s sake, each of us should vow to take up something new this week — and to make sure we never master it completely. Sing along with grand opera. Make peculiar-looking objects out of clay. I can tell you from experience that a homemade cake still tastes pretty good even if it doesn’t look perfect. The point is to enjoy being a beginner again; to rediscover the joy of creative fooling around. If you find it difficult, ask any two-year-old to teach you. Two-year-olds have a gift for tackling the impossible with enthusiasm; repeated failure hardly discourages them at all.

25. Language Points 12 As for me, I’m getting a little out of shape, so I’m looking into golf. A lot of people I know enjoy it, and it doesn’t look too hard. Given a couple of lessons, I should be stumbling gracelessly around the golf course and playing badly in no time at all.

26. the other afternoon — on the afternoon a few days ago Also: the other day (para.7), the other morning, etc. Examples: • I met a friend from my hometown the other day and we had lunch together. • Have you forgotten what happened the other week?

27. My performance would make any serious music student weep ... serious — a. deeply interested; devoted Example: • If you’re serious about becoming an actress, you need proper training. Translate: • A serious learner tends to think independently. Key: 认真的学者趋向于独立思考。 More to learn

28. My performance would make any serious music student weep ... weep — v. to shed (tears) as an expression of emotion Cf. cry — Cry and weep both involve the shedding of tears; cry more strongly implies accompanying sound e.g. The baby cried all night, causing another sleepless night for the family. Cf. sob — Sob describes a mixture of broken speech and weeping marked by convulsive (痉挛性的) breathing or gasping e.g. She kept sobbing, as if her heart would break. Example: • The criminal wept bitter tears of regret at the trial.

29. every now and then (every) now and then — sometimes but not very often or regularly Examples: • Now and then my new method appears to work. • I still see her for lunch every now and then, but not as often as I used to. Make a sentence with the phrase: • ?

30. out of style — unfashionable; out of fashion Example: • A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period. — Coco Chanel (1883–1971), French couturiere (女服设计师).

31. a mark of class — a symbol of a person’s social position; a characteristic feature which indicates that a person is cultured and civilized Examples: • His shirt was ironed and that was a mark of class. • Wearing a pair of sun glasses in the house is hardly a mark of class.

32. pursuit — n. something that one spends time doing, esp. an activity that one enjoys doing when not working Examples: • Games like chess are rather intellectual pursuits. • She said she didn't have much opportunity for leisure pursuits, but that when she had the time, she liked painting.

33. You can’t tone up your body by pulling on your gym shoes and jogging around the block a couple of times anymore. tone up — (cause to) become stronger Examples: • I lift weights at the gym everyday to tone up my body. • Swimming is the best way to tone up your muscles. More to learn

34. You can’t tone up your body by pulling on your gym shoes and jogging around the block a couple of times anymore. pull on/off — put (clothing, etc.) on/off by pulling Examples: • Help me pull on these boots — they are very tight. • He began to pull off his shirt.

35. you’ll be laughed off the street by the “serious runners” Translate the sentence: ? Key: 你会受到那些“认真的跑步者”的嘲笑而不敢上街

36. a bigdeal big deal — often said in a belittling tone or scornfully Example: • So you’ll be the boss of two persons. Big deal! 了不起！你就要当两个人的老板了。

37. take up (an activity, subject, etc.) — become interested in it and spend time doing it, either as a hobby or as a career Examples: • I thought I’d take up fishing. • He decided to take up a career.

38. in pretty good shape be in (good, bad, etc.) shape — be in (good, bad, etc.) condition Examples: • The house was in absolutely good shape. • She runs 3 miles every day to keep herself in shape.

39. As far as sports enthusiasts are concerned as far as(sb.) be concerned — in sb.’s opinion Example: • As far as the students are concerned, college life should not be only a period of lessons and tests. More to do

40. As far as sports enthusiasts are concerned IX. Complete the following sentences, using “as far as … be concerned”. (Ex. IX, p. 208) • 1. ___________________ (就我和你母亲而言), your choice of career is your own business. • You have nothing to worry about ___________________(就词汇而言), but you need to improve your communication skills if you want to pass the exam.  As far as your mother and I are concerned  as far as vocabulary is concerned More to do

41. As far as sports enthusiasts are concerned IX. Complete the following sentences, using “as far as … be concerned”. (Ex. IX, p. 208) • 3. The restaurant next door has good food, but the place across the street is much better ___________________ (就服务而言). • ___________________ (就新的发展计划而言), I feel it needs more discussion. as far as service is concerned  As far as the new development plan is concerned More to do

42. As far as sports enthusiasts are concerned IX. Complete the following sentences, using “as far as … be concerned”. (Ex. IX, p. 208) • 5. ___________________ (就新的发展计划而言), I feel it needs more discussion. • I don‘t enjoy going to the movies. ___________________ (在我看来), it's just a waste of time. as far as salary is concerned  As far as I’m concerned

43. commit (sb./sth.) to — put (sb./sth.) in (a state or place) Examples: • The names were committed to memory. • Signing this form commits you to buying the goods. • The man was committed to prison for fraud (诈骗).

44. snobbish — a. 势利的，谄上欺下的 Example: • Americans living in Latin American countries are often more snobbish than the Latins themselves. The typical American has quite a bit of money by Latin American standards, and he rarely sees a countryman who doesn’t. — Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939), U.S. journalist.

45. in case — In case is used when you are giving a piece of information in order to introduce the reason why you are giving it. Examples: • In case you didn’t know, there are three basic wines: red, white and rose. • Mary, in case you’ve forgotten, hasn’t forgiven you.

46. He doesn’t know a goal kick from a head shot. Paraphrase the sentence: ? Key: — He is unable to tell the difference between a goal kick and a head shot. Or: He knows nothing about soccer.

47. as it happens (happened) — by chance; although not planned Example: • As it happens, I know someone who might be able to give you some advice. Translate: 碰巧我有几分钟的空。 Key: As it happened, I had a few minutes to spare.

48. blew it — (infml) do clumsily or badly; mishandle; ruin Note: Blow it is often used when you are given an opportunity but you fail to take advantage of it by doing or saying something wrong. Examples: • It was your last chance and you blew it! • I guess I blew it when I turned down the job offer, didn’t I?

49. be out to do/for sth. — want or intend to do/to achieve sth. Examples: • You might feel that they’re out to use your house as a free hotel. • Mark my words — he’s only out for one thing and that’s her money.

50. get in the way — to obstruct or delay the progress of Examples: • She won’t let anything get in the way of her ambitions. • May nothing stand in the way of your future happiness together.