L5-U2-P1-1 Listening : Psychology of Love 1
Psychology of Love 1
One of the most important human emotions is love.
However, there are many different kinds of love.
Romantic love is certainly one of the most interesting kinds of love.
It can be beautiful, wonderful, and heartbreaking, sometimes all at the same time.
Romantic love can make our lives full and meaningful, but it can also be an escape from loneliness and suffering.
Besides romantic love, another kind of love ...is between parents and children.
If romantic love has a purpose, neither psychology nor biology has discovered it.
However, throughout history, philosophers have offered opinions about it.
The Greek philosopher, Plato, said love makes us complete.
He relates a comic story in which humans originally had 4 arms, 4 legs and 2 faces.
Then, when they angered the Gods, they were cut in half.
Since then every person has been searching for their soulmate, the other half of his or her self.
If romantic love has a purpose, neither psychology nor biology has discovered it.However, throughout history, philosophers have offered opinions about it.
Another philosopher believed that love is an illusion.
In his view, people fall in love because they believe the other person can make them happy.
But in fact, this is just an illusion designed to make us have children.
Once we have children, we are right back to where we were, still searching for happiness.
For nature this is a success, because we have children to maintain our species.
But it leaves us still searching for something more.
According to this philosopher, what is the real purpose of love? -It's designed to maintain species.
Once we have children, we are right back to where we were, still searching for happiness. For nature this is a success, because we have children to maintain our species.
If something is an illusion, it isn't what it seems to be.
Once we have children, we are right back to where we were, still searching for happiness.
Some people say love can be adisguise for our sexual desires or a biological trick to make us have children.
Other kinds of love include the love between a parent and child.
In Buddhism, romantic love is seen as an attempt to satisfy our desires.
These desires are a defect, something we need to overcome.
The way to free ourselves from suffering is to remove desires.
Once free of desires we can reach a state of peace and wisdom.
This state of being is called nirvana.
According Buddhism, how can we free ourselves from suffering? - overcome our desires.
If romantic love has a purpose, neither psychology nor biology has discovered it.
Another philosopher believed that love is an illusion.
Once free of desires we can reach a state of peace and wisdom.
Since then every person has been searching for their soulmate, the other half of his or her self.
Romantic love can make our lives full and meaningful, but it can also be an escape from loneliness and suffering.
In Buddhism, romantic love is seen as an attempt to satisfy our desires. These desires are a defect, something we need to overcome.
If romantic love has a purpose, neither psychology nor biology has discovered it.
Another philosopher believed that love is an illusion.
The way to free ourselves from suffering is to remove desires.
Since then every person has been searching for their soulmate, the other half of his or her self.
Romantic love can make our lives full and meaningful, but it can also be an escape from loneliness and suffering.
L5-U2-P1-2 Listening : Psychology of Love 2
Psychology of Love 2
In one of China's greatest classical novels, Dream of the Red Chamber, love is presented as a state of foolishness.
A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman who tricks and makes a fool of him.
This results in conflicting emotions of love and hate which tear him apart.
To cure him, a priest gives him a magic mirror.
The priest tells him to look into the reverse side of the mirror, but never to look in the front side.
What does the beautiful woman do to the young man? -She makes a fool of him.
What side of the mirror is he supposed to look into? - the reverse side
When the young man looks into the mirror, he doesn't like what he sees, so he looks into the forbidden side, the front side.
There he sees the lovely image of his love, who invites him into the mirror to be with her.
He does this several times until he is finally dragged away in chains.
He dies while looking into the mirror.
Perhaps the point of the story is that all such attachments should be avoided.
Why does the young man look into the forbidden side of the mirror? -He doesn't like what he sees in the mirror.
What finally happens to the young man? -He is dragged away in chains and dies.
To cure him, a priest gives him a magic mirror.
He enters the mirror to be with his love and satisfy his desires.
The way to free ourselves from suffering is to remove desires.
Once free of desires we can reach a state of peace and wisdom.
A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman who tricks and makes a fool of him.
Perhaps the point of the story is that all such attachments should be avoided.
A famous French writer, Simone de Beauvoir has another point of view.
For her, love is the desire to integrate with another, like in a great friendship.
However, it is important that lovers not become too dependent on the other person.
Becoming dependent on another person can lead to boredom or power games.
Lovers should support each other in discovering themselves and developing their potentials.
In this way, romantic love can enrich the world.
Becoming dependent on another person can lead to boredom or power games. Lovers should support each other in discovering themselves and developing their potentials.
According to this writer, lovers should avoid ...becoming too dependent on the other person.
Falling in love can be exciting and frightening.
Maybe we lose ourselves and maybe we find ourselves.
Will you dare to find out?
For her, love is the desire to integrate with another, like in a great friendship.
Maybe we lose ourselves and maybe we find ourselves.
Becoming dependent on another person can lead to boredom or power games.
Lovers should support each other in discovering themselves and developing their potentials.
L5-U2-P1-3 Vocabulary : Describing Situations
Describing Situations
Forbidden or prohibited: to be against the rules or not allowed.
Smoking is prohibited on many airplanes.
Athletes are forbidden from taking certain kinds of drugs.
If something is allowed, it isn't forbidden or prohibited.
Access to that part of the factory is forbiddend for security reasons.
Tourists are forbidden from taking pictures inside the museum.
They were forbidden from going to that website because of its content.
Weapons of any kind are prohibited inside the stadium.
Access to that part of the factory is prohibited for security reason.
Risky: to be a bit dangerous or unsafe.
A risky investment maybe not be a good idea for people who worry too much.
If you make a risky investment, you may lose a lot of money.
What level of risk are you willing to take?
Meeting someone on the Internet can be very risky, so be careful.
Investing in that company is cery risky because it has many strong competitors.
Starting a new company can be very risky because most new companies fail within 5 years.
Ridiculous: to be foolish or not make any sense.
Their proposal is ridiculous because it requires too much time and money.
Without enough quality practice, it's ridiculous to expect much progress.
He is lazy and the quality of his work is poor, so it's ridiculous for him to expect a bonus.
At first, we though his proposal was ridiculous, but then we realized that it made sense.
Innovative: to come up with a new idea or way of doing things.
Innovative people are usually clever and creative.
To innovate means to come up with a new way of doing something.
Innovative thinking can lead to the development of new products and services.
He isn't innovative because he resists change and always wants to do things the same way.
Agreeing to her innovative ideas was difficult at first, but it turned out to be the right decision.
She left the company because she didn't think it was innovative enough.
His innovative proposals made several of the engineers very uncomfortable, but they finally agreed.
If they want to be innovative, they should change the way they have been doing things.
Conservative:to be conservative is to avoid taking risks.
Conservative investors try to make safe investments.
A conservative investor wants to minimize risks.
A conservative approach to management may discourage innovation.
If you don't want to take a risk, you should take a conservative approach to investing.
She wants to escape from her parents because they are too conservative.
Her parents are very conservative, so they don't approve of her wearing so much makeup.
A conservative approach to management may discourage innovation.
To avoid taking risks is to be conservative.
To come up with new way of doing things is to innovate.
To be foolish or not make any sense is to be ridiculous.
To be against the rules or not allowed is to be forbidden or prohibited.
Athletes are forbidden from taking certain kinds of drugs.
A risky investment maybe not be a good idea for people who worry too much.
Smoking is prohibited on many airplanes.
To innovate means to come up with a new way of doing something.
She wants to escape from her parents because they are too conservative.
Some parts of the factory are forbidden to visitors unless they have special permission.
Their proposal is ridiculous because it requires too much time and money.
L5-U2-P1-4 Vocabulary : Interacting with Others
Interacting with Others
To disguise: to change something's appearance so that it can't be recognized.
He wasn't good at disguising himself so weknew who he was right away.
She wore a disguise so I wasn't sure who she was.
She disguised het true intensions so nobody knew what she was planning to do.
He fooled everyone into believing in his plan, but it was all a disguise.
She didn't want anyone to recognize her, so she wore a disguise.
I don't trust him because he is so good at disguising his real plan.
To clarify: to explain or make something clear.
We weren't sure what he meant until he clarified his ideas.
Everyone was confused until she clarified what she meant.
We can't agree to your proposal unless you clarify a few points.
There are still many details that need to be clarified.
His attempt to clarify things only added to confusion.
To confuse: to make things difficult to understand; the opposite of to clarify.
Everyone was confused because her presentation was so disorganized.
He confuses people because he keeps changing his ideas.
The instructions were confusing, so nobody knew what to do.
A good leader can make decisions even when the situation is confusing.
Her comments during the meeting weren't very constructive because they were so confusing.
After the explposion, people were confused and unsure about where to go.
To ignore: to try not to notice or deal with something; to act as if something isn't there.
We tried to ignore her, but she finally stood up and told everyone to shut up.
People don't respect or like her, so they ignore her in the office.
He is an ignorant old fool, so should just ignore him.
We are ignorant because we are ignoring the facts.
We can no longer ignore the fact that our company needs to be reorganized.
We can't ignore the fact that we are losing money.
To confirm: to indicate that something is correct or completed as expected.
We weren't sure if he was going to accept our offer until he called and confirmed it.
We can't start the project without a written confirmation that we agree on the details.
We can't afford to make a mistake, so we need to confirm the facts.
Can you confirm that the payment has been received?
He denied that he was at the meeting, but we have confirmed that he was there.
We won't sign the contract until we receive confirmation that they have made the first payment.
Please confirm or deny that you were at the meeting.
What do people do if they don't want to be recognized? -She didn't want anyone to recognize her so she wore a disguise.
To explain or make something clear means to clarify.
To act as if something isn't there is to ignore.
To indicate that something is correct or completed as expected is to confirm.
He wasn't good at disguising himself so we knew who he was right away.
We can't start the project without a written confirmation that we agree on the details.
There are still many details that need to be clarified.
After the explosion, people were confused and unsure about whre to go.
Please confirm or deny that you were at the meeting.
We tried to ignore her, but she finally stood up and told everyone to shut up.
He wasn't good at disguising himself so weknew who he was right away.
He wasn't good at disguising himself so we knew who he was right away.
Everyone was confused because her presentation was so disorganized.
She wore a disguise so I wasn't sure who she was.
Everyone was confused because her presentation was so disorganized.
People don't respect or like her, so they ignore her in the office.
We weren't sure if he was going to accept our offer until he called and confirmed it.
He was confused about what he was supposed to do, so he didn't do a very good job.
L5-U2-P1-5 Dialogue : The Teenage Years
The Teenage Years
A: What's so funny? What are you writing about?
B: I'm writing about something I saw earlier this morning.
A: Really? Do you keep a journal?
B: Yes, I do. Every weekend I write about things that happened during the week.
What does he write about in his journal? - things that happened during the week
A: How long you've been doing it?
B: I've been doing it fairly regularly since high school.
A: Are you going to turn it into a book?
B: I don't know. Maybe I will someday, but for now it's just for me.
Are you going to turn it into a book? I don't know. Maybe I will someday, but for now it's just for me.
A: So what was so interesting about what you saw this morning?
B: I was in the same coffee shop I usually go to and a group of teenagers came in. I couldn't help watching them and trying to hear some of their conversation.
A: That must have been interesting.
B: Yes, it was. The more I watched them, the more I realized how glad I am that I don't have to go through that stage of life again.
(1) So what was so interesting about what you saw this morning?
(2) I was in the same coffee shop I usually go to and a group of teenagers came in.
(3) I couldn't help watching them and trying to hear some of their conversation.
(4) That must have been interesting.
A: So it brought back some memorizes?
B: Yes, it did. It was so clear how uncomfortable some of them were, yet they were pretending to have a good time. At least, that's how it seemed to me.
A: Why do you think they were pretending?
B: It was just the way they smiled and laughed. It seemed unnatural and overdone, as if they were bad actors.
It seemed to him that some of them were pretending to have a good time.
B: A couple of the boys were really awkward around the girls, and two of the girls were wearing too much makeup. I had to stop myself laughing.
A: Yes, I can imagine it. I can remember wanting to be popular when I was in high school. Now that you mention it, it wasn't a great time, though I had some fun too.
B: I guess it wasn't so bad at the time, except when I was preparing for my university entrance examinations.
A: Yes, that was awful. My parents put tons of pressure on me, so I thought I was going to go crazy.
(1) A couple of the boys were really awkward around the girls, and two of the girls were wearing too much makeup. I had to stop myself laughing.
(2) Yes, I can imagine it. I can remember wanting to be popular when I was in high school.
(3) Now that you mention it, it wasn't a great time, though I had some fun too.
(4) I guess it wasn't so bad at the time, except when I was preparing for my university entrance examinations.
He is surprised to hear that his friend is keeping a journal.
That must have been interesting.
Why do you think they were pretending?
This kind of journal is a collection of observations rather than personal experiences.
In his opinion, the way they interacted with each other was a bit unnatural and exaggerated.
A: What about girls? Did you have any girlfriends?
B: There was one girl I had a crush on, but I thought she was interested in somebody else. I didn't find out until much later that she was interested in me too. It was a lost opportunity, one of many.
A: Really? You should become a writer or make a movie. You have a great imagination.
B: To be honest, it's much easier to image things than actually do things.
A: You can say that again.
Whats was one of his lost opportunities? -He didn't realize that the girl he had a crush on was interested in him.
I can remember wanting to be popular when I was in high school.
I didn't find out until much later that she was interested in me too.
I'm writing about something I saw earlier this morning.
My parents put tons of pressure on me, so I thought I was going to go crazy.
There was one girl I had a crush on, but I thought she was interested in somebody else.
