Guiding Questions：

1. Use three sentences to describe Onoda’s story.

On December 26, 1944, Onoda was deployed to the small island of Lubang in the Philippines, and his orders were to slow the United States’ progress as much as possible, to stand and fight at all costs, and to never surrender. In 1945, Japan surrendered, and the deadliest war in human history came to its dramatic conclusion, however, Onoda, was hiding in the jungle, unaware that the war was over and he continued to fight and pillage as he had before. In 1974, after devoting a sizable portion of his life in service to a nonexistent empire for 30 years, Onoda returned to Japan. Though gaining money and fame, he felt uncomfortable and meaningless.

2. What can we learn from the Rock Star Problems?

Our values determine the metrics by which we measure ourselves and everyone else. If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success.

3. Can you name some values that you hold dear?

Honesty Diligence responsibility Kind

4. Do you have any good/bad values stated in the book? How those values affect your life?

Yes. Staying positive. Just like when I behaved badly in the examination, I just said to myself"Take it easy, it will be better next time". But in fact, I ignored some knowledge points that I did not make clear. Denying negative emotions leads to experiencing deeper and more prolonged negative emotions and to emotional dysfunction. Constant positivity is a form of avoidance, not a valid solution to life’s problems.

Words and expressions

1. Their economy was floundering, their military overstretched across half of Asia, and the territories they had won throughout the Pacific were now toppling like dominoes to U.S. forces.

flounder: full of problems and may soon fail completely.

造句: It is a pity that his career was left to flounder.

2. Why do you feel lethargic and uninspired?

lethargic: have no energy and no interest in doing anything

造句: The hot weather was making us all lethargic.

3. Record contracts didn’t exactly fall out of the sky, especially for raucous, upstart metal bands.

raucous: sounding unpleasantly loud矾飞；impolite, noisy

造句: The atmosphere became increasingly raucous.

upstart: someone who behaves as if they were more important than they really are 自命不凡的

4. The point is to nail down some good values and metrics, and pleasure and success will naturally emerge as a result.

nail down: define something clearly, find out something exactly

造句: The police at last nailed down the traffic accident.

5. To deny that negativity is to perpetuate problems rather than solve them.

perpetuate: to retain风瘦；keep up

造句: We must not perpetuate the superstitious views of the past.

6. Thus to duck our problems is to lead a meaningless (even if supposedly pleasant) existence.

duck: to move quickly. 躲避塌忽，逃避哥蔚，迅速低頭

造句: She ducked before the strong opponent.

Reflection

Our suffering and fighting should mean something. So, if suffering is inevitable, if our problems in life are unavoidable, then the question we should be asking is not “How do I stop suffering?” but “Why am I suffering—for what purpose?”? Problems may be inevitable, but the meaning of each problem is not. We get to control what our problems mean based on how we choose to think about them, the standard by which we choose to measure them. Some values and metrics are better than others. Some lead to good problems that are easily and regularly solved. Others lead to bad problems that are not easily and regularly solved. If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success.