Unit 3 University Life

1. Unit 3 University Life

2. New words and expressions for Reading One: • proctor: to supervise (an examination) • 监督（考试） • cumulative: increasing gradually as more of something is added or happens • Learning is a cumulative process.

3. proceed: [always +adverb/preposition] to move in a particular direction • proceed to/towards/into etc • Passengers for Miami should proceed to gate 25. • indoctrinate: If people are indoctrinated, they are taught a particular belief with the aim that they will reject other beliefs. • I wouldn’t say that she was trying to indoctrinate us. • = brainwash

4. bark: If you bark at someone, you shout at them aggressively in a loud, rough voice. • I didn’t mean to bark at you... • ‘Don’t just stand there, give me a hand,’ she barked at the shop assistant. • A policeman held his gun in both hands and barked an order.

5. aisle: a long passage between rows of seats in a church, plane, theatre etc, or between rows of shelves in a shop • sneaky: doing things in a secret and often dishonest or unfair way • It is a sneaky way of doing business. • nosebleed section: refers to a far-back, high-up section of a large auditorium or stadium.

6. surrender: to give up something or someone because you are forced to • Cathy was most reluctant to surrender her independence. • Marchers who had cameras were forced to surrender their film. • huff and puff: to breathe out in a noisy way, especially when you do something that involves a lot of physical effort • He was huffing and puffing by the time he got to the top.

7. slump: If your shoulders or head slump or are slumped, they bend forward because you are unhappy, tired, or unconscious. • Her shoulders slumped and her eyes filled with tears. • arrogance: [uncountable] when someone behaves in a rude way because they think they are very important • I couldn’t believe the arrogance of the man!

8. shove: [intransitive and transitive] to push someone or something in a rough or careless way, using your hands or shoulders • He shoved her towards the car. • Everyone was pushing and shoving to see the prince.

9. Check Your Comprehension • Answer the following questions with the information from the text. • 1. What would be the punishment for those who failed to turn in the blue books in time? They would receive an automatic “F” as a punishment.

10. Check Your Comprehension • 2. How did the students behave in the exam? They were all indoctrinated into the system except for one boy who postponed handing in the blue book. • 3. What did the boy beg the teacher’s assistant to do? What was the assistant’s response? He begged the assistant to take his blue book secretly but the assistant refused.

11. Check Your Comprehension • 4. Has the boy been a good student in this introductory course? No, he hasn’t. • 5. Why did the boy ask repeatedly if the teacher’s assistant knew him? Because if the teacher’s assistant didn’t know him, he could shove the book into the pile and run away and the assistant could never find out who he was.

12. Check Your Comprehension • 6. What’s your general impression about the teacher’s assistant? Strict, responsible and principled.

13. New words and expressions for Reading Two: • panicky: informal very nervous and anxious • By 10 o’clock she was starting to get a bit panicky. • hormone: A hormone is a chemical, usually occurring naturally in your body, that makes an organ of your body do something.

14. secrete: If part of a plant, animal, or human secretes a liquid, it produces it. • The sweat glands secrete water. • peripheral: Peripheral areas of land are ones which are on the edge of a larger area. • ...urban development in the outer peripheral areas of large towns. • peripheral vision: your ability to see things to the side of you when you look straight ahead

15. freak: informal someone who is extremely interested in a particular subject so that other people think they are strange or unusual a fitness freak a religious freak a computer freak • get the best of someone: to defeat someone 打败...…; 胜过...…

16. optimum: [only before noun] the best or most suitable for a particular purpose or in a particular situation optimum conditions for growth This design makes the optimum use of the available space. • keyed up: worried or excited keyed up with/about/at Travis was keyed up at the thought of seeing Rosie again.

17. intersperse: If you intersperse one group of things with another or among another, you put or include the second things between or among the first things. • Originally the intention was to intersperse the historical scenes with modern ones. • steer clear of: If you steer clear of someone or something, you deliberately avoid them. • I think a lot of people, women in particular, steer clear of these sensitive issues.

18. contagious: A feeling or attitude that is contagious spreads quickly among a group of people. • Antonio has a contagious enthusiasm for the beautiful aspect of food. • stump: If you are stumped by a question or problem, you cannot think of any solution or answer to it. • John is stumped by an unexpected question... • Well, maybe I stumped you on that one.

19. intuitive: If you have an intuitive idea or feeling about something, you feel that it is true although you have no evidence or proof of it. • A positive pregnancy test soon confirmed her intuitive feelings. • = instinctive

20. Check Your Comprehension B • Answer the following questions with the information from the text. • 1. What is test anxiety according to psychologist Dr. Ralph Trimble? Test anxiety is a psychological problem that many people may experience. They may feel so worried and panicky during an examination that they perform poorly.

21. Check Your Comprehension B • 2. What work did Dr. Trimble devote himself to for a number of years? He devoted himself to helping many students learn how to function better during exams and to bring up their grades. • 3. Why do students feel relieved in the workshops? Because they realized they were not the only ones who had done poorly on tests because of tension.

22. Check Your Comprehension B • 4. Is it good to be too relaxed for exams? Why or why not? No, it is not good. Because being too relaxed will result in little concern about the performance in an exam and lead to poor results. There is an optimal level of stress to be aimed at. • 5. If a student doesn’t start studying for an exam until two or three days before the exam, what should he do to prepare for the exam? In this situation, one should try to think of the possible questions to be asked and keep in mind what can reasonably be done in the time left.

23. Check Your Vocabulary B 1. As your sight narrows, you can only see things straight before you and are thus unable to see things at a wider range. 2. What you have to do is to stop it from overcoming and defeating you. 3. You cannot give your best performance unless you have a modest degree of concern.

24. 4. “… But if they consider it to be anxiety and feel unable to cope with it properly, that will make them react not normally, but in a crazy way”. 5. Several students working in the workshops as volunteer leaders used to be test anxiety sufferers who were very nervous and performed poorly in tests.

25. Check your vocabulary B • Meaning: Tunnel-like vision is a condition in which you are unable to see things that are not straight in front of you. • Use: People with tunnel-like vision can hardly have an overall views on anything. • Meaning: Essential things that people need. • Use: Every time he is about to set out to travel, he examines his supplies carefully.

26. Check your vocabulary B • Meaning: To suddenly get involved in a situation. • Use: Plunged into such a big occasion, he was speechless for quite a few minutes. • Meaning: To cause people to suffer from mental pain or anxiety. • Use: He tortured his girlfriend with his endless skepticism.

27. Check your vocabulary B • Meaning: Something as easy as ABC is of little difficulty. • Use: To climb over the mountain is as easy as ABC for him.

28. New words and expressions for Reading Three: • squirm: If you squirm, you move your body from side to side, usually because you are nervous or uncomfortable. He had squirmed and wriggled and screeched when his father had washed his face... He gave a feeble shrug and tried to squirm free... He squirmed out of the straps of his backpack. = wriggle

29. scapegoat: If you say that someone is made a scapegoat for something bad that has happened, you mean that people blame them and may punish them for it although it may not be their fault. I don’t deserve to be made the scapegoat for a couple of bad results. • elaborate: Elaborate plans, systems, and procedures are complicated because they have been planned in very great detail, sometimes too much detail. ...elaborate efforts at the highest level to conceal the problem. ...an elaborate management training scheme for graduates. = complicated

30. adolescence: [uncountable] the time, usually between the ages of 12 and 18, when a young person is developing into an adult Some people become very self-conscious （忸怩的）in adolescence. • parochial school: a private school which is run by or connected with a church • endorse: If you endorse someone or something, you say publicly that you support or approve of them. I can endorse their opinion wholeheartedly.

31. shovel: to lift and move earth, stones etc with a shovel shovel the driveway/sidewalk etc American English (= shovel snow from a road or path) Everyone was out shovelling their sidewalks. He has to get out and shovel snow...

32. burger: A burger is a flat round mass of minced meat or vegetables, which is fried and often eaten in a bread roll. • tripe: You refer to something that someone has said or written as tripe when you think that it is silly and worthless. (INFORMAL) I’ve never heard such a load of tripe in all my life. = rubbish

33. Check Your Comprehension B • The older generation valued studies a lot and seldom held part-time jobs except for those whose families were poor. • The younger generation, poor or rich, places studies in a much less important position and devotes much more time to taking part-time jobs.

34. New words and expressions for Reading Four • flaw: A flaw in someone’s character is an undesirable quality that they have. The only flaw in his character seems to be a short temper. = defect, failing • bout: A bout of something that is unpleasant is a short time during which it occurs a great deal. The latest bout of violence has claimed twenty-four lives... A half-hour daily walk can be more beneficial than one hard bout of exercise a week. = spell

35. flip side: The flip side of a situation consists of the less obvious or less pleasant aspects of it. The trade deficit is the flip side of a rapidly expanding economy. • feed off: to use something to increase, become stronger, or succeed — sometimes used to show disapproval • fad diets that feed off our desire to be thin

36. Lysol: A trademark used for a liquid antiseptic and disinfectant. • nudge: If you nudge someone or something into a place or position, you gently push them there. Edna Swinson nudged him into the sitting room...

37. come to a head: also bring something to a head if a problem or difficult situation comes to a head, or something brings it to a head, it suddenly becomes worse and has to be dealt with quickly 到了紧要关头 Things came to a head in the summer of 1997. It finally came to a head one night when he went to a party.

38. fateful: [usually before noun] having an important, especially bad, effect on future events fateful day/night/year etc The goalkeeper on that fateful day in 1954 was Fred Martin. When his rent was raised, he made the fateful decision to move north.

39. inexplicably: If something is inexplicable, you cannot explain why it happens or why it is true. For some inexplicable reason, the investors decided to pull out. She suddenly and inexplicably announced her retirement...

40. infuriate: If something or someone infuriates you, they make you extremely angry. Jimmy’s presence had infuriated Hugh... It infuriates us to have to deal with this particular mayor. = madden

41. fume: If you fume over something, you express annoyance and anger about it. fume at/over/about She sat in the car, silently fuming about what he’d said. • expletive: An expletive is a rude word or expression such as `Damn!’ which you say when you are annoyed, excited, or in pain. = swear word

42. empathy: Empathy is the ability to share another person’s feelings and emotions as if they were your own. Having begun my life in a children’s home I have great empathy with the little ones. She had great empathy with people. • miffed: If you are miffed, you are slightly annoyed and hurt because of something which someone has said or done to you. (INFORMAL) I was a bit miffed about that...

43. have a fit: [口]大发脾气 • dresser: A dresser is a chest of drawers, usually with a mirror on the top. (Am English; In Britain, use dressing table) 梳妆台；化妆台

44. Check Your Comprehension B • The situation reached a climax one October evening, which later became the transitional point of our relationship. • As she entered the room, Kim found one of my shoes under her bed (and I was not sure how this happened). All of a sudden, she flew into a rage. • … finally, both of us tried to beat each other to get to the door first, slam it and rush out of the room

45. Check your vocabulary A

46. Speed Up Your ReadingWrite down the main idea of the text here. By pointing out the misconception that the longer we study, the better we’ll learn, this article teaches us that in order to learn effectively, we must first understand our optimum length of studying based on the recognition of how our minds function.