1. Passage 2
If I were a Boy Again

2. 2. What do you expect of one’s childhood?
Questions for you to think and talk about:
1. What would you do if you could possibly live your middle school life again?
2. What do you expect of one’s childhood?

3. The organization of the text
Part I
(Para. 1-2)
Part V
(Para. 8-9)
I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well.
I would practice perseverance.
I would school myself into a habit of attention.
I would look on the cheerful side.
I would school myself to say “No” oftener.
I would cultivate courage.
I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory.
Part II
(Para. 3-4)
Part VI
(Para. 10)
I would try to make others happy.
Part III
(Para. 5)
Part VII
(Para. 11)
Part IV
(Para. 6-7)
Part VIII
(Para. 12)
Please say something about the topic sentence given of each part.

4. I would practice perseverance oftener, and …
try to achieve a particular aim in spite of difficulties
e.g. The only way to improve is through hard work and dogged perseverance.
Text 1

5. “There are only two creatures who can surmount the pyramids — the eagle and the snail.”
to get to the top of sth
Text

6. I would school myself into a habit of attention.
(old-fashioned) to train myself to have a type of behavior
Text 1

7. I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory.
the deliberate development of a particular quality
Text

8. I would cultivate courage.
make myself brave through purposeful training
Text

9. The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.
to be more than
Text

10. … life is very much like a mirror …
Text

11. … a young boy can stand erect.
to be brave and strong enough not to give in to anything evil
It is not easy for an individual to stand erect against the evil practices common in life.
Text

12. ask sb for sth firmly
… I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends …
polite behavior
Text

13. Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy.
only aim
Text

14. Para 1 If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance oftener, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness.

15. Para 2 Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results
Para 2 Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “who can surmount the pyramids — the eagle and the snail.”

16. Para 3 If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.
Para The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say “I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so”, and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

17. Para If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

18. Para 6 If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage
Para If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” says a wise author.

19. Para We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate evils that may never appear. “The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.

20. Para 8 If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side
Para If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.

21. Para Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. “Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut from love.”
Para If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say “No” oftener. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.

22. Para If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smaller courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

23. Para Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy.
(511 words)

24. 课件作者：
赵亚军
作者单位：
西安交通大学