Unit 9
How to Grow Old
Consolidation Activities
I. Text Comprehension
1. Decide which of the following best states the author’s purpose
A.To explore the reasons why people usually fear death in old age.
B.To supply some medical information about health and genetic influence on one’s longevity.
C.be about toTo offer suggestions on how to keep open-minded and make some psychological adjustments in the process of growing old.
Key [ C ]
2. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.
1). With a few exceptions, most of the author’s ancestors lived to a great age. [ T ]
2). The author is very particular about his diet and careful in his lifestyle. [ F ]
3). If you left your grown-up children alone, they would become very callous because of your indifference. [ F ]
4). It is obvious that those who do not have strong impersonal interests will unduly concern themselves with their children and grandchildren to fill the void in their lives. [ T ]
5). With the decay of vitality and increase of weariness, the fear of death in the old people is inevitable and justifiable. [ F ]
II. Writing Strategies
In the last paragraph the author compares one’s life to a river with its different phases. Now try to describe how this metaphor works for the theme of the essay. The metaphor is used to illustrate particular characteristics of an individual human existence in three different phases:
1)  When people are young, they are more vigorous and energetic (“rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls”), but less experienced (“small,” “contained within its banks”).
2)  When they reach their middle age, they have got more experience and wisdom (“Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede ...”) and their pace of life becomes more gentle but steady (“... the waters flow more quietly ...”).
3)  As their sense of fulfillment increases in old age, their sense of individuality decreases, and their lives become increasingly blended with the universal life  (“become merged in the sea,” “lose their individual being”).
III. Language Work
1. Explain the underlined part(s) in each sentence in your own words.
1). Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors
  with reference to/relating to
2). Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off.
  ancestors who lived a long time ago; specifically
3). She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad.
  tell
4). I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence!
  bid farewell to/were separated from; a miserable life
5). I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health, though in actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.
  for the reason that; healthful
6). Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age.
  we should prevent from happening/we should watch out for
7). ... you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous.
  heartless/indifferent
8). In the young there is a justification for this feeling.
  good reason
9). And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome.
  tiredness
10). The best way to overcome it ... is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.
what distinguishes your own self from others gradually disappears or becomes less and l    ess distinct; becomes increasingly one with/becomes increasingly blended with
2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1). Many people oppose the death penalty because of the possibility of miscarriages (miscarry) of justice.
2). There is something wrong with anyone who is so habitually (habit) rude.
3). There’s no need to be unduly (undue) pessimistic about the situation.
4). Some poisonous gases can enter the body by absorption (absorb) through the skin.
5). He takes plenty of vigorous (vigor) exercise.
6). According to the instructions, these vitamin pills will restore lost vitality (vital).
7). She was staring out over the lake, lost in contemplation (contemplative).
8). I couldn’t have managed at college if I hadn’t had an allowance (allow) from my parents.

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