Unit 9 What Is Happiness
Text comprehension
I. A
II. 1. T; 2. F; 3. F; 4. T; 5. F.
III.
1. He means that one is given the right to pursue happiness, but does not know what it is.
2. Because he believes that commercial advertising not only fails to satisfy our desires, but more importantly it creates them, and it creates them faster than any man’s budget can satisfy them. Such insatiability makes people unhappy.
3. Because he thinks that the products and pursuits advertised on the front pages of women’s magazines are dreamlike and can’t be fulfilled.
4. He set two extremes according to Thoreau, the low level and the high level. The former refers to possession for its own sake or in competition with the rest of the neighborhood, while the latter refers to active discipline of heightening one’s perception of what is enduring in nature. To find balance is to save time and effort on the low levels and spend on the high.
5. The inherent right is not happiness itself, but lies in the pursuit of happiness, in the pursuit of what is life-engaging and life-revealing, i.e. in the idea of becoming.
IV.
1. Jonathan Swift seemed to share this view when he criticized this idea of happiness as the state of being completely controlled by deception.
2. The active exercise or training to improve one’s understanding of what is of lasting value would have been Thoreau’s idea of the high levels, i.e. spiritual happiness.
Structural analysis of the text
Part 1 <par. 1, 2>:The author points out that when we are not sure what happiness is, we tend to be misled by the idea that we can buy our way to it.
Part 2 <par. 3, 4, 5, 6>:The author offers a number of examples to show how this misconception of happiness gives rise to the "happiness-market〞 in a highly commercialized society <the United States>.
Part 3 <par. 7, 8, 9>: The author suggests striking a balance between what Thoreau called the low levels and the high levels.
Part 4 <par. 10>: The author gives his understanding of happiness, in the light of the Founding Fathers’ belief that it is "in the idea of becoming〞.
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Vocabulary
I.Phrase
vaguely
1. un-American: not typical of the attitudes, ways of life, etc., that are approved of or considered normal in the US
2. commercialism: the activities or attitudes of people who think that making a profit is more
important than anything else; emphasis on the maximizing of profit 商业主义
3. for that matter: it is also true that … <The phrase "for that matter〞 is used to emphasize that sth., though mentioned second, is also true, important, or relevant as what has been mentioned earlier.> 就此而论,在这方面,同样
4. face: aspect 
5. in nature: essentially
II.
1. perpetual; 2. functions; 3. inherent; 4. cited; 5. approaching; 6. flawless; 7. vaguely; 8.
disciplining.
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III.Word derivation
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1. A deer suddenly ran across the road, with a hunting dog in hotpursuit<pursue>.
2. I’m sure many businessmen use some kind ofdeception<deceive> at times, to achieve their objectives.
3. The project has been a success, thanks to thededication<dedicate> of all of our staff.
4. His firstcommercial<commercialism> venture was opening a small corner shop.
5. The concert ended with the singers and audience singingpatriotic<patriotism> songs.
6. It was so convincing that I had to remind myself that they werefictional<fiction> charact
ers, not real people.
7. Not many people are able to indicate theirdisapproval<disapprove> without causing offence.
8. The homeless andstarving<starvation> refugees of the war were flocking to the cities.
1.pursuev.追捕,追求；继续从事
pursuern.追赶者,追求者
pursuitn.追求,追赶
e.g.我知道她的追求者很多.
I know she has many pursuers.
我们为追求幸福生活而努力工作.
We work hard in pursuit of a happy life.
2.deceivev.欺骗
deceptionn.,诡计,欺诈
deceptivea.迷惑的,虚伪的,诈欺的
deceptivenessn.迷惑
e.g.他骗我买了一个假冒产品.
He deceived me into paying for the fake product.
他靠欺骗拿钱.
He gets the money by deception.
3.dedicatev.献出；致力于
dedicateda.专注的；献身的
dedicationn.奉献
e.g.她毕生致力于教授英语.
She dedicated her life to teaching English.
我们尊敬他是因为他以无私奉献的精神廉正地为民众服务.
We respect him because he serves the public with dedication and integrity.
4merciala.商业的
commercializev.使商业化
commercialismn.商业主义,营利主义
e.g.商业电视是有效的广告宣传工具.
Commercial television is an effective medium for advertising.
教育近几年更加商业化了.
Education has become much more commercialized in recent years.