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Lesson 2 Happiness Is More Than Just an ‘A’

• Reading Selection

• Vocabulary for Production

• Vocabulary for Recognition

• Idiomatic Expressions

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The following letter was written to a young friend by a Chinese-American college student, Jason Coe, while enrolled2

at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reading Selection

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Dear Sunny: You asked me to advise you about enrolling in college after you graduate from high school.

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Well, my advice is this: you are only a freshman3 in high school.

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Have fun and take part in all the extracurricular4 activities you have time for.

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Enjoy high school instead of worrying about your GPA*, college applications, or SAT* score.

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Certainly, school is important, but good grades don’t mean everything.

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Every year at UC Berkeley, someone attempts suicide5.

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The story is always the same: a student unhappy with his / her academic performance or inability to gain6 entrance to a certain program would rather die than be imperfect7.

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I can guess what goes through these students’ minds when they make such a drastic8 and fatal9 decision because I have considered suicide myself.

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When I was 7 years old, my report card* showed all A’s except for one B+.

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My father asked why I had that one B+ instead of an A, and I felt like I had let him down.

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That minor10 glitch* in my near-perfection made me feel terrible.

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I was scared of losing my parents’ love if I did not do well in school.

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And when my grades fell short of what I expected, my life spiraled11.

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After that, I never did particularly12 well in school, just good enough to get by.

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I felt that I would rather do nothing and get bad grades than work hard and fail to get high grades, because that would be the ultimate13 failure.

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That would have meant that I just wasn’t good enough, and I couldn’t live with that.

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I reached the point in my senior14 year when I stopped attending school altogether and stayed in bed for several weeks.

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I was so depressed that there was no middle ground: I was either perfect or hopeless.

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Only after I nearly dropped out of high school did I realize that my parents loved me regardless of how well I did in school.

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They told me that all their hard work would be pointless15 if I was unhappy.

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This harrowing* experience was a lesson for us all.

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Now that I am in college, it is getting easier for me to accept my shortcomings16.

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I don’t lose hope when a paper comes back with a grade B.

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And I’m slowly learning to accept who I am, as opposed to what I think people want me to be.

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My younger sister has the same problem dealing with her imperfect academic record.

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Though she is incredibly17 intelligent and capable, she is considering dropping out of high school.

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I always try to emphasize to her that greatness is not predicated* on her grades.

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While she may be on a path different from that of academically “perfect” students, her qualities are just as good, if not better.

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Even if a person’s potential is sky-high18, he or she will never achieve the full potential if he or she is unhappy.

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Yes, Sunny, happiness is more than just an “A.”

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Being happy is liking who you are and being content with yourself. Enjoyyour life!

Sincerely, Jason

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Vocabulary for Production

1. lottery 　 n. [C] 彩券Harry buys a lottery ticket every week, but so

far he has never been lucky enough to have the winning number.

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2. enroll 　 vt. vi. （使）入學；參加；登記（名字等enrolled adj. 入學的enrollment n. 入學；登記

The college is small and only enrolls about five hundred students each semester.

Karen has enrolled in summer school and plans to learn French.

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3. freshman 　 n. [C] （大學等的）一年級新生Clancy has just started his college career; he

is afreshman at the University of Chicago.

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4. extracurricular 　 adj. 課外的In addition to studying hard, Cindy is active

inextracurricular activities, such as sports and music.

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5. suicide 　 n. [U,C]　自殺It is tragic that some young people commit suicide because they do not feel that they are good enough in school.

The number of suicides goes up when the economy goes down.

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suicidal 　 adj. 有自殺傾向的

If anyone you know seems suicidal, you’d better do all you can to help them get

professional help.

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6. gain 　 vt. 得到；贏得Yvonne has gained a lot of useful job

experience by working part-time while going to school.

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7. imperfect 　 adj. 不完美的；有瑕疵的imperfectly adv. 不完美地imperfection n. 不完美；瑕疵

All those products on sale are slightly imperfect.

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8. drastic 　 adj. 極端的；激烈的Sharon was not doing well in school and

realized that she would have to take drastic action to improve her grades.

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9. fatal 　 adj. 致命的fatally adv. 致命地fatality n. 死亡；死亡事故

Connie could never forget the fatal accident in which her parents had died.

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10. minor 　 adj. 較小的；不重要的Despite the three-day weekend, traffic moved smoothly on the freeway and drivers

encountered only minor delays.

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11. spiral 　 vi. （情況、關係）惡化； ( 物價 ) 急劇上升或下降

The price of vegetables has spiraled out of control because of the unusual number of destructive typhoons this year.

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spiral　　　 　 adj. 螺旋（形）的The two-story house is very small, so the

owner installed a spiral staircase to save space.

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12. particularly 　 adv. 特別；尤其Janice does well in all her schoolwork,

particularly in chemistry and algebra. 　

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13. ultimate 　 adj. 根本的；最終的Education has many purposes, but the

ultimate goal is to prepare the student to lead a fulfilling life. 　

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14. senior 　 adj. 高年級的；年長的Senior citizens in many developed countries

are increasingly living longer and healthier lives.

senior 　 n. 高年級生Joanne is a senior this year and is looking

forward to graduating from school and getting a job.

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15. pointless 　 adj. 無意義的 Because of her foot injury, Gladys thought it was pointless to try to run the marathon.

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16. shortcoming 　 n. [C] 缺點；短處 Ivan’s greatest shortcoming is that he easily loses his temper.

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17. incredibly 　 adv. 極為；難以置信地 Tim has been incredibly lucky in his life;

everything just seems to go his way.

incredible 　 adj. 不可置信的It was incredible that so little damage was

caused despite the severity of the typhoon.

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18. sky-high 　 adj. 非常高的Many students can no longer afford to pay

the sky-high tuition fees that Ivy League universities charge.

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Vocabulary for Recognition

1. GPA英解　 grade point average, a way of assessing

a student’s academic performance中解　 n. [C] 平均分數

2. SAT 英解　 Scholastic Aptitude Test, a test to

determine a student’s ability to do college work

中解　 n. [C] 學業性向測驗

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3. report card英解　 a record of a student’s grades中解　 n. [C] 成績單

4. glitch英解　 a slight problem or imperfection中解　 n. [C] 小差錯；小缺點

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5. harrowing英解　 extremely upsetting because of

suffering中解　 adj. 痛苦的

6. predicate英解　 to make necessary as a consequence中解　 vt. 使取決於

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Idiomatic Expressions

1. take part in 參加Gary is progressing rapidly in English

because he takes part in all the speaking and listening activities in his English class.

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2. gain entrance to 　獲得……的入學許可；進入Morris is studying very hard so that he can

gain entrance to a top university after he graduates from high school.

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3. fall short 　不符合標準或要求Don’t feel that you have failed just because you fall short of your or somebody else’s

expectations; just make up your mind to do better next time.

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4. get by 　過得去The family is very poor and the father

makes just enough money to get by.

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5. drop out 　退學Rory has not been doing well in school and is considering dropping out.

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6. as opposed to 　而不是Chinese people, as opposed to Americans,

eat with chopsticks.

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7. be on a path (to) 　朝著……前進Kathleen is now taking mainly science

courses and is on a path to becoming a medical doctor.