高二2019-2020学年度第33-38期总第787-791期

Combat mental health（P13）

Lead in

What’s the hottest topic nowadays?
 
What typical health problems do you know?
What do you think can be helpful for people with mental health problems?

Reading

Skim the text and think about:
What is the text mainly about?
How to split it into three main parts.

A common word in the text is “course”.
But what kind of course it is? Can you find some words or phrases related to the “course” in the text?
 
According to these hints, the text can be divided into three parts.
Paragraph 1-6: Introducing the course through the story of Brielle Weiner
Paragraph 7-12: The birth of this kind of course and its functions
Paragraph 13-15: Other similar practices in universities

Read the text again and find out the best answer to the following questions.
1. What is special about Weiner’s new introduction?
A. It describes her family in great detail.
B. It is humorous with many clever jokes.
C. It shows her as an outgoing person.
D. It tells an inspiring story about her growth.
 
2. Pawelski’s course aims to ____.
A. teach professional psychological concepts
B. help students find ways to be happier
C. find out why US students feel so depressed
D. explore the pursuit of individuality

A tip:
Locate the key words in the question and find similar expressions in the article.
Question 1:
Key words: special/ new introduction
Paragraph 2: different/ new introductory anecdote
What’s the anecdote actually about?
Paragraph 3: Her grandmother forced her to grow as a person. (growth)

Question 2
Key word: course/ aim
Paragraph 6: The course focuses on the practice of positive psychology (心理), the scientific study of what works well in life and how to cultivate more of it.

These words indicate the course is helpful and will trigger certain positive effects.

Another hint:
Paragraph 8: Perhaps, teach students to be happier? (find ways)

Language points

Words and phrases
Perfect
His demeanor has always been that of a perfect gentleman.
Brielle Weiner had perfected the introduction she gave in every new class.
“Perfect” in this text was used as a verb which means “to make something as good as possible”.
e.g. He went to Italy to perfect his singing voice.他去意大利提高自己的歌唱技巧。
Empower=em+power
The suffix “em-” means “enable” (表示“使成某种状态”，“致使”)
v. make someone stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.
Its intention may be to empower people, but its effect is often to disempower them.
它的本意也许是授权，结果往往却恰恰相反。
Stern found the experience empowering.(adj. 赋能的).

At one’s best
In one‘s prime, most positive, or most adept condition or state. 处于最佳状态，表现最佳
Her new introductory anecdote showed her at her best.
He was at his best about five years ago, but his performance has really started to decline lately.

Long sentence
Weiner spoke(main clause)about how caring for her 95-year-oldgrandmother, who came to live with their family eight years ago(Attributive clause), had forced her to grow as a person(Object clause: in this clause the subject is the long phrase “how caring…”.).

Grammar
The longer they stay calm, the more points the app rewards them with.
The +the comparative form…, the + the comparative form…
Attention:
stay calm longer
reward them with more points
reward sb with sth. (“with” cannot be omitted in this sentence)
e.g.
The more expensive the salt is, the faster it can be sold.
盐越昂贵，它可能卖的越快。
The more air there is inside the tyre, the greater the pressure there is in it.
轮胎里空气越多，里面的压力就越大。

Homework
You may feel bored, exhausted or upset during the coronavirus outbreak or encounter the problems shown in the pictures. Write an article to tell us how you dealt with these problems?