Say Yes to Our Life

Yes Man is a film adapted from the autobiography of an English comedian,Danny Wallace,and Jim Carrey,a famous Hollywood comedian,starred as Carl in the film.It tells us a funny but thought-provoking story.

The leading role,Carl Allen,was a middle-aged man who had never been promoted and had no joy in his life.His wife had left him and married again,so he just lived alone and watched movies at home.He always said no to everything and held a

negative attitude toward life.However,one day he heard of a institution called “YES MAN” by accident.Out of curiosity and boredom,he attended a lecture and made a promise that he would say yes to

everything.Surprisingly,money,reputation,love,opportunities came to him,and his life became more passionate.But good days didn’t last long.As he said yes to

everything,his girlfriend Allison began to suspect his love to her and broke up with him.At the beginning,he didn’t know why,but the founder of the

institution,Terrence,told him the real meaning of saying yes to life.He realized his fault and apologized to Allison.At last,Allison forgave him and they lived a happy life together.

The plot is not very complicated,but Jim Carrey performed the role so vividly that we can easily be attracted and immersed in the movie.Actually,everyone is a Carl.We seem to be busy with our studies,careers and make preparation for the future,but have we ever given even a second to think about what we really want and how much we have gained and lost?We find various excuses to refuse friend’s invitation to meals,parties,trips,but do we really want to do this?It’s time to think about these. We were so positive to everything when we were kids,but as time went by,we grew up and became numb and negative.It is not because we don’t want to join others.We just be accustomed to saying no to everything,so that we have missed much beautiful scenery in our life.Saying YES is an attitude,which will help you to learn to give and receive,love and be loved.It will lead you to a new world and give you much surprises. At last, I want to give some classic lines of the movie to you and hope that these will encourage you.”Life. We are all living it.Or are we?Change is generated from

consciousness but where is consciousness generated from?From the external.And how do we control the external?With one word. And what is that word?Yes!The word is' yes'.Yes, yes, yes. Say it a million times.Say it a million more times. And the word you will have said two million times is ...Yes!I want you to invite 'Yes' into your life,Because it will r.s.v.p 'Yes'.When you say 'Yes' to things, you embrace the possible.You've gobbled up all of life's energies and you excrete the waste.“ Just say YES to our life!

第二篇：Task A-2 A New Flavor to Our Life

Task A-2 A New Flavor to Our Life

Lesson plan

Conductor: Gu Yukui

Date: 9 March , 2009

Class: Class 1 , Grade 2008

Purpose:

Students are encouraged to imitate the structure of the sample article and set free their imagination .

Objectives: Students will be able to

Polish their own writing.

Resources/ Materials:

1. Powerpoint: Task A-2: A New Flavor to Our Life

2. Course magazines Write to Learn

Activities and Procedures:

1. Introduce ss to the class procedure.

2. Ask them to discuss in pairs or groups about the ―new flavor‖ to their own life.

3. After discussion, ask some ss to share their experiences with the rest of the class.

4. Ask ss to read the sample article A New Flavor to Life in class.

5. Ask ss to discuss in groups about the language and main idea of the sample.

6. Meanwhile, ss are encouraged to challenge the sample.

7. Language work: How to use proper words?

8. Language work: Avoid Chinese influence.

9. Assignment: ask ss to write a story about the new flavor to their life.

For teachers’ reference

Task A-2

A New Flavor to Our Life

从本课开始，以后每一课都包含一篇出自英美作者之手的范文，教学中通过欣赏范文来启发学生的思路，让学生模拟范文的风格和写作手法写一篇同类话题的文章。

范文后面有一篇评析，旨在帮助学生把握文中语言和文采上的特点。老师们在教学中不应受此拘束，还可阐发自己的独到见解。然而，要注意的一点是，老师应当和学生一起欣赏范文，而不是像上精读课那样像模像样地去教范文，从而让学生潜移默化地体味到范文作者构思和表达上的独到之处，在创作意愿上与范文产生共鸣，在课堂上营造一种跃跃欲试的气氛。

本课所采用的范文如下。

Input reading:

A New Toy

I was eight years old when our neighbours across the hall got a television. It was very small and very expensive, but that didn‘t matter. It was wonderful. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. Some people, the lucky ones, stayed for a while and got to watch a whole program. That was in 1948.

Soon a lot of people got new television, but not us. My parents didn‘t like television. They didn‘t think it was good for children. Being a good, docile son, I didn‘t argue with them. But I did secretly watch television --- at my friends‘ homes.

By 1955, television weren‘t so expensive and they were much larger. My parents still thought television wasn‘t good for us, but my sisters insisted. They said we were the only people in the neighbourhood who didn‘t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but my sisters couldn‘t. Their friends laughed at them, and my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy.

One day, my youngest sister came from school and started to cry. She said she was never going back to school and that life without a television wasn‘t worth living. She cried and sobbed. My parents‘ usual arguments only made her more inconsolable. Nothing they said made her feel any better. Well, what could they do?

The next morning, without telling us, my parents went out and got a new TV. That afternoon an antenna was put on the roof. Suzanne came home from school and ran into the house.

―Where is it? Where is it?‖ she cried. ―I knew it‘s here.‖ She was breathless, and her eyes were shiny with excitement.

―It‘s in the living room,‖ my mother said as my sister ran off to look at, to admire, this beautiful thing called a television.

Later, I asked her, ―How did you know the TV was here?‖

―The antenna. Now our house looks like everyone else‘s.‖

She has a wonderful smile on her face.

When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV two hours a night. Oh, yes. And we couldn‘t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn‘t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives, like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, they said. And we were not going to read books because watching TV was easier, they said. And TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said. They said lots of things like that –– once a day at least. I disagreed with them. I thought they were old-fashioned, thinking too much of old ways and ideas.

Today, people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV. It has an enormous, a very powerful, influence on our lives. On the average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn‘t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV‘s influence and that we have the power to change what we don‘t like.

Recently, I read an article in the newspaper about the people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers off the coast of Maine. These people don‘t have electricity, and they decided, once again, that they liked it that way. Only a handful of people live there during the long winter, and they live without electricity –– by choice. Electricity, they think, would make things too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn‘t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying home and watching television.

评析：本文作者按照时间顺序，围绕自己的亲身经历讲述了电视机从刚刚问世到走进寻常百姓家的演变过程，既反映了电视这个现代社会的“新玩具”对人们生活方式的影响，又突出了新老两代人对电视的不同看法和态度。从文体上看，本文属于夹叙夹议型，主体为叙述，最后部分辅以议论作为其思想内容的升华。本文语言简单质朴，与叙事的主人翁的年龄身份非常吻合。从线索上看，可以说文章既有一条明线，即“我家”拥有电视机的前后经过；同时，还有一条贯穿全文的暗线，即老一代与新一代对于电视的不同看法，这也为文章最后的议论部分做好了铺垫。

第一段简单讲述了“我”记忆中身边第一次出现电视机的情形。直接描述非常少，只是环绕small、expensive和wonderful三个形容词，却写出了很漂亮的一行字。然后通过较多的侧面描述，用当时整个楼里的居民争相跑到五楼一饱眼福的情景烘托出人们对这个“新玩具”的无比好奇与想往。段末点出年代，使全段叙述显得利落有致。

第二段开头先用Soon a lot of people got new television, but not us制造一个小悬念，接着解释原来是父母对电视有所顾忌，从而将新老两代人对电视的不同看法自然地引入文章。作者描写自己是个听话的孩子，用了docile一词，建议同学们记下来。

第三段第二行中 but my sisters insisted简短明快地道出了两代人对电视的分歧开始升

级，接下来通过妹妹们的争辩理由显示电视已经深深进入了人们的生活。结尾的一句中my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy 写得很有特色，wretched 强调一种可怜、无助的感觉，后面接其上义词unhappy，更强化了所渲染的气氛。

如果说前面几段都是略写，那么第四至十段则是对父母终于买回了电视那次经历的详写。作者的描写活龙活现，又是设问，又是对话，既有made her more inconsolable这样的抽象描写，也有her eyes were shiny with excitement 这样的形象勾勒，还有to look at, to admire 这样的递进表述（admire 意为 to look at something and think how beautiful or expressive it is）。尤其是把电视天线（antenna）作为一个“包袱”抖出来，使得满篇趣味盎然。

最后三段转向对电视这一事物的反思。第十一段还是和作者对往事的回忆糅合在一起，第十二段开头“Today”则将读者拉回到现在。在文体上，也从记叙逐渐过渡到议论。文中议论的语气很值得模仿，建议大声朗读最后两段，体会其中各种议论手段的精到布局。

在最后三段的写作风格上，我们可以学习作者驾驭自如的排比-递进手法，如第十一段中一连三句结尾都为they said，接着递进一句They said lots of things like that –– once a day at least. 又如第十二段中This is an unanswerable question indeed后面用了一个冒号，接下去就是一番递进式的发挥：It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn‘t.

用英语发议论时，冒号和破折号用得比汉语多，用法也有差别，如冒号有时用于引出对论点的阐述和发挥，破折号则可用来点出一个要素，如最后一段中的they live without electricity –– by choice

[教学构思] 尽管第一课的任务要求学生写了500词以上的文章，我们不可能一开始就对每个任务设这么高的词量下限。毕竟那个任务的话题好写，要求学生写长点有益于激励他们的信心。

接下去的任务在构思上就有一定的难度了，因此，从本课起，A段与B段的各个写作任务的词量下限都放宽到300-400（当然，上限不拘）。作业要求如下：

Suggested writing task:

Write a composition of at least 300 words to describe your own experiences of the change in your life due to the advent of a household appliance — maybe also a TV, or a computer, or something else. Try to imitate the style of the article we have just read and use the newly learned words and phrases.

学生佳作选展：

从往届学生的表现看，他们普遍喜欢写本任务的话题。往事重温，借物抒情，人人都写得十分投入。共有十几种科技产品进入了不同学生的作文，看来小作者们都愿意谈谈一种科技产品普及到自己身边的时候，给生活带来的新滋味。滋味有甜有酸，都被描写得有声有色。

往届有特色的作文非常多，下面点评其中两篇。

（1） The accompanist of life

广外大01级 张凤美

Life is colorful, life is dull, but that is life! We go forward with the same rhythmic tread day after day: we do need a sincere accompanist.

The accompanist of my life in childhood was a tape-recorder, which is still playing in my heart.

I come from a beautiful village. The unsophisticated and hard-working villagers and the beautiful landscapes always impress visitors. With the development of our country, we have been walking into a new stage of life since 1980s. But I felt it was too quiet, sometimes terribly quiet when I was small.

In my bedroom, an old tape-recorder is lying quietly, recollecting his past days. He has retired from playing music for us, but he used to be a marvelous company. I was about 12 years old when I was attracted by music deeply. At that time, lots of people had got TV sets, and the number of tape-recorders was increasing at a high speed. Terrible hush had gone. As I was walking along the road alone, I could enjoy myself by listening to the sweet music coming from the recorders. But to my sorrow, such sweet music couldn‘t be appreciated at my house. One day, when my father was out, I said to my elder brother,

―Can we have a tape-recorder? Just like our neighbors.‖

My brother looked at me, with a reluctant smile, and said,

―I feel bad when I hear other boys singing songs together. Some asked me why I didn‘t sing with them, and I had to give an answer against my mind. In fact, I do like music, especially pop music, it makes me feel active. But, but…….‖

No sooner had my father come back than we stopped talking.

One evening, my family were watching TV. The programs were not entertaining at all. Suddenly, my father stood up, went towards the TV set, and turned it off without saying a word. He was to walk into his bedroom to go to bed, only leaving hushed air at night. My brother winked at me, I got his meaning immediately. I said to my father with a beating heart,

―Dad, shall we buy a recorder? Then we can listen to music if there are no good programs.‖ As I said that, my mother, my sisters and my brother all looked at me. My father did not say a word at first. It was an embarrassing moment. I felt nervous and just looked outside. ―How can I say such words?‖ I said to myself. ―I should have known that we are different from others, because my parents have to support a big family…‖

―Ok,‖ my father said.

To my surprise, such a pleasant word came from my father!

―Yea!‖ All of my brothers and sisters cheered with singing and dancing. That night, I found the moon was bright, high in the sky spangled with stars. Two days later, a new recorder came to our life.

My parents listened to traditional music, and we children preferred pop music. Music often filled the house and we lived in a pleasant atmosphere. I liked music better and better, not only

listened but also sang after the tape. When I was happy, the recorder shared the rejoicing with me; when I was in low spirit, the recorder drove the sadness away. He became my close friend. He was also a kind of magical medicine, which made my parents look younger and happier.

Life can be colorful if you are living with an accompanist. No matter what it is, you will always feel in the bright sunshine.

Time flies like an arrow. The old tape-recorder was replaced by a video-recorder –– another accompanist. He stayed at an unnoticed corner, looking back on his wonderful old days.

点评：这篇作文可以说是一气呵成的，写文章的学生来自农村，写的就是自家的生活，用一台收录机串起了少年时代的甘甜与艰辛。是本课的范文激起了她的文思，而范文的写作风格也在她的心中共鸣，于是，一个个明快、生动的英语句子就像一股细细的清泉，在这位并非来自大城市重点中学的同学的笔下，汨汨地淌流出来。

本文的一个优点就是脉络较分明，叙中有议，不是像范文中那样把长篇议论摆到文章的后部，从而形成了自己的特色。作者把心爱的收录机比喻为生活旋律的伴奏者，全文以议起笔，第二段由议转叙，两段之间由accompanist一词相承；文章的最后两段中，accompanist又重复出现，使全文主题得以呼应。文中越是重要的情节，越是以一个独句段来挑明，显得洒脱，例如第八段：

No sooner had my father come back than we stopped talking.

又如第十三段

To my surprise, such a pleasant word came from my father!

笔随心动，不要刻意去雕饰。叙事抒情，句子不一定要太长，太复杂，海明威就是驾驭短句的高手。用词不求深僻，而求明达，偶尔用几个恰到好处的词汇，如本文第三段中用的hush (而不是silence)，第四段的recollecting his past days，第九段的hushed air（hushed 意为quiet because people are listening, or waiting to hear something），第十四段的spangled with stars，文章末尾的looking back on his wonderful old days等等，就表现出一定功力。

本文的弱点在于叙事的线条比较粗，情节不像范文中那么细腻、热闹并巧藏悬念。这只是一个好的起步，得益于好的话题引起了内心的共鸣。以后要驾驭自己感受不深的话题，要形成自己的写作风格，还有很长的路要走。不过这条路也不神秘，就是平时多读好的文章，细细品味文中独到的文笔，时常在心中吟哦，这个功夫叫做潜移默化。

（2） Our first telephone

广外大01级 莫 雁

The telephone set was invented in the late 19th century. Though it came to the world at such an early time, it hadn‘t been brought into Chinese ordinary families until the spring breeze of the reform blew over the land of China.

In recent 10 years, telephone became very popular with more and more families who could afford it. People could speak to their relatives living far away without going on a long journey. And merchants could deal with more transactions within the same time. The time my family bought a telephone was 12 years ago, when I was 8.

That was a Sunday morning of sunshine and gentle wind. I was doing my homework when my father came in with a medium-sized box in his arms. Gathering around him, my mother and I asked him with one voice, curiously, ―what‘ s that?‖

―A telephone set. Come and have a look.‖

That night, we all got excited of the new comer and studied its usage until midnight. Next day, we informed our neighbours, friends and relatives of the phone number, awaiting their calls.

We were in great expectation of answering a call. To our disappointment, however, not even a ring of the phone bell was ever heard.

The fact was that we didn‘t realize that telephone had not been a common communicative means at that time. Without a phone how could those who knew our number call us?

Anyway, we finally got a call.

One night, the telephone suddenly rang, which astonished us indeed. Looking at each other blankly, we just couldn‘t believe our ears—did it really happen?

The bell was going on.

Who was going to answer the call?

A cunning smile crept over my father‘s face, ―Who bought the telephone? Who brought it back home? Who installed it? Again who is the master of this house?‖

A long silence was the response to this series of questions. Father wore a satisfactory smile, walking quickly to the phone. ―Hello!‖ he answered loudly with a joyful voice. Soon things changed. Father‘s smile disappeared. Then he put down the receiver. No expression could be seen on his face. ―What‘ s going on?‖ mother was puzzled. Guess what the answer was—

―Wrong number!‖

点评：与上篇习作的抒情色彩相比，这篇文章的格调则十分轻松，就像是女生宿舍里在开“卧谈会”，一位室友不经意地唠嗑起一段有意思的往事。仔细品味，则会看到作者在构思上颇费了一番苦心。

作者的手法是先议后叙，前两段从总体着手，议论电话在我国普及的漫长道路，为后面的情节做好铺垫，到第二段的末尾一句，很自然地就把话题收到了对自家的叙事上来。

作者的另一擅长是一边叙述情节一边塑造人物— 爸爸在家里总是十分自信的，而且还十分占强。这从他对家人的谈吐中时时体现出来。同时，作者没忘了描写妈妈和自己的“恭顺”。你往第三段的末尾看：“Gathering around him, my mother and I asked him with one voice, curiously, ?what‘ s that?‘”，再往倒数第二段的开头看，“A long silence was the response to this series of questions.”，爸爸的自信自大，明明是妻子和孩子的一味迎合给宠出来的嘛。

可是，女儿的这番刻意描述却是为了幽老爸一默— 爸爸摆足了谱儿去接那个几天来第一次打进家来的电话，马上变得“No expression could be seen on his face”，这时作者卖足了关子，开始抖包袱：“Guess what the answer was—?Wrong number!‘”哈哈，一幅那一时代的民间风貌图，通过一个个英语音节，就淋漓尽致地展现开来。

畅“写”欲言

广外大01级 彭永嘉

写是展示一个人思维活动的重要手段与技能，但要

成功将自己所感所思清晰准确地通过纸、笔表现出来，

绝不是一件简单的事情，何况是用英语这门我们暂时还

不精通的外语来写，难度就更大了。通过上作文课，自

己对英语写作有了一点感想。

老师开课伊始就提出了写长法以及write to learn的概念，鼓励大家尽可能写长文章。一开始我颇感费解，后来渐渐开始明白：在初期阶段，写作上的主要困难莫非“无内容可写”和“难以下笔”两个方面，一开始若不具备畅“写”欲言的能力，又怎能为将来精写细写打下基础呢？同时。“write to learn”亦是对以前“learn to write”的逆转，清楚地告诉我们写作的主旨非为写，实则是为学。 在常写长写的同时，搜集积累知识丰富自身，既提高了写作能力，又促使我们有兴趣继续学，形成良性循环。

在学习的过程中，我发现写作实在是一项系统性的工作。首先要确定话题，然后收集素材，筛选资料，安排文章结构，再通过遣词造句将心中的思路完整地表现出来。有时候我发现自己想用英语表达一个具体意思，但又找不到准确的词语，只好找意义相近的词替代，这就是词汇量不足的表现。也许，只要在平时留意积累相关义项的词汇，批量联想记忆，才会使自己的表达有更大的余地，文采也更好。另外，有时段落结构显得无序，信马由缰，难以概括出核心意思，这就要求自己在写作时留心段与段、句与句之间的关系，合理、有序地排列组合起一篇文章；这里面好象还涉及到东、西文化思维差异的问题，在读一些外文长篇大论时，常会迷失方向，不知所云。反过来，自己写的文章又“中”味十足，不地道。我想中、西方看待问题的方法，角度及思考表达的顺序，在习惯上很不一样，这就要求我们多看，多学，揣摩英文的特有思维方式，使文章的谋篇布局更符合规矩。

写作的路很长，学习的路更无止境，我们惟有继续努力。

让词汇闪光

初学写作，文采上质朴一点好，漂亮的词藻不要用得太多，以避堆砌之嫌。最好是在恰到好处的地方，准确地用上一、两个别的同学可能想不到用的词，这些词就会像珍珠一样在读者的眼中闪光。

对照汉语译文品味一下，下面句子中用黑体标出的词是不是挺闪光呢？

I looked at the huge sum of money, with ambivalent feelings. 我瞅着巨款，心情很矛盾。 Their behavior has occasioned us a lot of trouble. 他们的行为给我们惹了许多麻烦。 His impatience found a vent. 他的不耐烦得到了一个发泄的机会。

At a nominal price, the President‘s son-in-law got the stocks. 象征性地给个价，总统的女婿就把股票拿到了手。

Those dark clouds spell rain. 那些乌云意味着下雨。

There was something furtive about his behavior and I immediately felt suspicious. 他有点偷偷摸摸的样子，我马上起了疑心。

点到为止 ： All they have to do is _____

英语有个强调结构 It is…that…, 大家都会用。但是，这个结构不能用来强调动词。另有一种强调动词的结构，就是先来一个主语从句，里面一定要出现do，后面接系动词be,再来一个动词不定式做表语，这个动词不定式要省略to。

例：All they have to do is press a button. (不是to press a button)

为什么要省略to呢？因为这个动词不定式所表述的行为就是前面的do的具体化，这样的句型就是为了突出这个具体的行为动词的。

英语中常用这个句型，下面再举几个例子：

The first thing I will do is go traveling.

All I want to do is help the poor.

语中来，必须重组为主谓结构。

例1：那个小孩眼睛大。

That boy eyes big. Χ

That boy, eyes are big. Χ

That boy has big eyes. ?

例2：她数学不及格。

She mathematics failed. Χ

Her mathematics failed. Χ

She failed in mathematics. ?

She failed mathematics. ?

例3：这所房子我不知道他什么时候卖。

This house I don‘t know when he is going to sell. Χ

I don‘t know when he is going to sell this house. ?