Tài liệu Reading upper intermediate part 6 pdf

The Good Heart 10 15 Understanding and evaluating ideas Task 1 In groups, discuss the following statements.. e ‘Man’s main goal on earth is to enjoy life.’ e ‘A good man is a man who do

Unit 6

Ralph let out his spare breath with a little gasp that was echoed by his audience Jack started to chip a piece of wood with his knife and

whispered something to Robert, who looked away

‘The fire is the most important thing on the island How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much

for us to make?’

He flung out an arm

‘Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can’t keep a fire going to

make smoke Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to — ought

to die before we let the fire out?’

There was a self-conscious giggling among the hunters Ralph turned

on them passionately

‘You hunters! You can laugh! But | tell you the smoke is more

important than the pig however often you kill one Do all of you see?’ He spread his arms wide and turned to the whole triangle

‘We've got to make smoke up there — or die.’

He paused, feeling for his next point

‘And another thing.’

Someone called out

‘Too many things.’

There came mutters of agreement Ralph overrode them

‘And another thing We nearly set the whole island on fire And we

waste time, rolling rocks, and making little cooking fires Now | say this

and make it a rule, because I'm chief We won't have a fire anywhere but

on the mountain Ever.’

There was a row immediately Boys stood up and shouted and Ralph

shouted back

‘Because if you want a fire to cook fish or crab, you can jolly well go up the mountain That way we'll be certain.’

Hands were reaching for the conch in the light of the setting sun He

held on and leapt on the trunk

‘All this | meant to say Now I’ve said it You voted me for chief Now

you do what | say.’

Task 4

Look through the extract again and write down everything that you

can find out about these characters:

Ralph

Piggy

the htthins

Simon

the hunters

Task 5

Ralph mentions five problems that have ariscn

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Complete this table:

Ralph mentions these five problems as examples of one general problem which the children are facing What do you think this general problem is?

Task 6

l What do you think these are meant to signify in the story?

the conch (look the word up in a good dictionary) the triangle

Which of these words best sums up the style of government that the children appear to have adopted?

L] democracy L]Ì anarchy [| dictatorship LJ] communism Why isn’t this style of government working very well?

Which style of government does Ralph seem to be advocating now?

Do you think the style of government Ralph 1s advocating will work? Give your reasons

Do you find yourself

LÌ admiring Ralph?

[_] deploring the way he goes about things?

[_] feeling sympathy for Ralph’s situation?

Try and explain why

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Task 7

Reconsider what you wrote down to descnbe the writer’s theme in

Task 3 Do you want to change it in any way?

Hold a class discussion about the theme Try to arrive at an agreed

statement

Task 8

When you read the passage did you

a read slowly, trying to understand every sentence?

b read quickly, following the story line as best you could?

concentrate on details that gave clues about the different

characters menuioned?

d underline (or mark in the margin) sentences that you thought

were important for understanding the theme?

try to puzzle out what ‘the conch’ and ‘the triangle’ signified?

f find yourself ‘on the side of’ Ralph or against him or just

neutral?

try to work out the author’s ‘stance’ towards Ralph?

h_ try to interpret how the other children that Ralph was

addressing were responding to him?

In groups, compare your reading strategies Were there any reading

strategies that worked particularly well? List them

2 Skills training

Responding to clues

Task 1

Read this account of how wniters provide clues to enable the reader

to interpret the theme

Writers of fiction rarely tell their readers directly what their theme is

Instead, they develop their writing in such a way as to enable readers to

work it out for themselves

The theme of Lord of the Flies might be described like this:

Golding explores how a group of people — in this case children —

organize themselves socially He is concerned with the nature of

‘laws’, how they come about and what happens when a Society

becomes lawless

In order to discover this theme the reader has to interpret the text The

Starting point is to ask ‘Why is the writer telling this story?’ and ‘What is

he really trying to say?’ The reader must then use clues in the text to

work out answers to these questions

In the text you have read there are a number of such clues For example, the text mentions ‘assembly’, ‘conch’ and ‘triangle’ in a way that invites the reader to interpret them One interpretation is to read ‘parliament’ for ‘assembly’ and to see the ‘conch’ and the ‘triangle’ as symbols of parliamentary conventions for ensuring that government business is conducted in an orderly fashion In this way, Golding signals to the reader the need to search beneath the text for his intended message

Task 2 This task is designed to help you explore further the clues that Golding provides to help us discover the theme

1 Ralph's talk can be seen as a kind of ‘parliamentary debate’ Look through the text and write down any details that could be used to support this interpretation

2 Golding very carefully describes the responses of the other children to each of Ralph's points

Complete this table Fill in the point Ralph makes to get the stated response Evaluate the response by saying whether it represents agreement, disagreement, arnusement, etc

‘There was a munmnur of

assent’ (L.34)

‘The murmur swelled

again and died away’

(L.42)

‘Clamour rose at once’

(L.45)

‘There were sniggers

here and there and swift

glances’ (L.55)

‘Laughter rose again’

(L.61)

‘There was a self-

conscious giggling among

the hunters’ (L.81)

‘There was a row

immediately’ (L.96)

Unit 6 47

These responses show the effects that Ralph's speech has on the

children How do they help us to understand Golding’s theme?

3 Ralph says, ‘We have lots of assemblies Everybody enjoys

speaking and being together We decide things But they don’t

get done.’

What, then, seems to be the major problem with the social

organization the children have developed?

Why do you think things ‘don’t get done’?

4 At the end of his speech Ralph says, ‘Now I say this and make it a

rule, because [’m chief.’

In terms of Golding’s theme what might be a more appropriate

term for ‘chief’?

What type of government does Ralph seem to be practising?

Do you think Ralph will succeed? What evidence can you find to

support your opinion?

Task 3

Now respond to the theme by answering one of the following

e Imagine that you are Ralph How would you set about solving the

kinds of problems that the children are creating?

e What kind of social organization is required to ensure that there is

no breakdown in law and order?

The Good Heart

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15

Understanding and evaluating ideas

Task 1

In groups, discuss the following statements Each person should say whether he/she agrees or disagrees with the views expressed, and explain the reasons why

e ‘Man’s main goal on earth is to enjoy life.’

e ‘A good man is a man who does what he wants to do without harming others.’

e ‘It is more important to help others than to help yourself.’

e ‘Anger can be a creative emotion and Is necessary in order to achieve positive change.’

e ‘Strong attachment to people, possessions or ideas is dangerous and can lead to evil.’

Task 2

As a group write a paragraph summarizing your views about what human beings should seek to achieve on earth

Begin your paragraph ‘Each person should .’

Task 3 Read the passage The Good Heart below As you read, note down the main points that the passage makes about having ‘a good heart’

The Good Heart When the great Buddhist teacher Atisha was living in Tibet, many people used to come to see him Whenever Atisha met anyone he would enquire, ‘Do you have a good heart?’ Usually when we meet someone we ask ‘How are you?’, but Atisha asked a more profound question He recognized that anyone who has a good heart is a good person When Atisha advised anyone he would say, ‘Try to cultivate a good heart’ Whether we commit positive or negative actions depends upon the nature of our heart or mind A bad or negative mind will lead us to commit negative actions and, equally, a good or wholesome mind will lead us to perform positive actions The result of negative actions will be many problems, the result of good actions will be happiness Through the force of having a good heart we will obtain temporary happiness The ultimate happiness of Enlightenment is also achieved through the force

of the good heart

Even happiness in our family relationships depends upon our having a good heart A family’s love and compassion is based on the good hearts

of its members For example, for a couple, having a good relationship depends upon their having good hearts If the hearts of both the husband

Unit 7 49

and wife are negative suffering will result Thus, in order to attain

happiness — from insignificant temporary happiness to the ultimate

happiness of Buddhahood — we must try to develop a good heart

We should carefully investigate how to generate a good heart First of all,

we must be able to distinguish between good and bad states of mind

Then we should try to eliminate our negative states of mind and increase

our positive ones Any kind of mind which disturbs our inner peace is

called a negative or bad mind Negative thoughts such as resentment,

jealousy, anger, greed, wishing to harm others, holding wrong views and

bad attitudes, wrong discernment and faithlessness disturb our mind and

cause us problems These thoughts destroy our happiness and cause us

misery

It is easy to see how a negative mind causes one to experience suffering

For instance, a person may have a very positive mind but then develops

anger After having a calm mind, if anger suddenly arises, that person no

longer has a happy or peaceful mind No matter how much delicious food

is served to such an angry person, they cannot enjoy it The angry mind

in effect steals one’s happiness and peace Everyone who develops anger

or hatred experiences unhappiness The result of anger is the creation of

problems Bad actions such as quarrelling, fighting and killing are caused

by anger Because of these negative actions much suffering is

experienced

A jealous or envious mind also creates problems The more we have a

jealous mind, the more we are unhappy and cannot find any peace

Likewise, the more attachment we have the more problems we

experience At the moment most of our problems arise because of

attachment A thief, for example, may be sent to prison for the whole of

his life because of his attachment He first became attached to someone

else’s possessions and then, motivated by attachment, stole and perhaps

killed in order to obtain them The result of his attachment is

imprisonment and unbearable suffering Also, in terms of family and

personal relationships, intense attachment can lead to problems such as

over-possessiveness

The Buddhist master Vasubandhu used many examples to show how

attachment creates suffering His first example was that flies have a very

strong attachment to pleasing odours Yet when they try to land on food,

humans kill them Moths are attached to beautiful forms such as light

When they see light, they regard it as a very pleasant place Moths

develop strong attachment and desire to be inside an attractive light

such as a candle-flame They try to enter into the light and finally die

Another example of the disadvantages of strong desire is the attachment

which fish have to food Fishermen put a small piece of food on top of a

hook When fish see or smell that food, they bite the hook As a result

they die Some wild animals are attached to beautiful sounds Hunters

used to play the mouth organ or flute to make animals approach them

Then the hunters would kill the animals

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According to Vasubandhu, some living beings die from attachment to visual form or sound, taste smell or touch But human beings have strong attachment to all of these five sense objects As these examples demonstrate, the negative mind of attachment is the source of many problems Although we all have negative minds such as attachment, as human beings we have the precious opportunity to practise methods to stop negative minds from arising and to prevent the resultant suffering What, then, constitute good or positive minds? Good minds include beneficial intentions towards others, compassion, loving-kindness, generosity, moral discipline, tolerance, patience, and the joyful desire to practise Dharma A mind which wishes to gain concentration, a mind which wishes to realize emptiness or to gain the renunciation of samsara and a mind which wishes to attain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings are all positive minds These thoughts are classified as good thoughts because they give happiness to oneself and also produce happiness for others These positive minds have great power to solve or reduce our probiems

The more we cultivate a good heart, the fewer will be our negative thoughts Our difficulties will also become fewer Tne more we develop a good heart the greater will be our happiness Sometimes it is inspiring to consider the lives of realized yogis of the past These yogis developed happiness through the force of the good heart By training their minds the yogis achieved high mental development When the yogis encountered adverse circumstances they transformed these into the spiritual path Unlike worldly people who experience suffering when they meet difficulties, the ancient yogis spent their lives from joy to joy As the great Buddhist yogi Shantideva said, ‘| never become discouraged because | am travelling the path to Enlightenment which leads from joy

to joy.’ If we try to develop a good heart we will naturally find some inner peace Without cultivating a good heart we wili never find pure peace If

we do not have internal peace, even world peace cannot bring peace to our own mind It is our duty to find our own internal mental peace Pure happiness and the development of mental peace cannot be achieved solely by concentrating on material things In order to obtain or achieve material rewards we must exert great effort While we are exerting this effort we experience more suffering than happiness And, after achieving material goals, we find that they cannot satisfy our inner needs Therefore we need spiritual or Dharma practices

Especially during a degenerate age when there is much fighting and many dangers, we need to devote a large amount of energy to Dharma practice But even during this degenerate time we are fortunate in having the opportunity to make our mind happy by training in Dharma

Unit 7 51

Task 4

As a group write a summary of the main points in the passage

The Good Heart

Task 5

Rewrite cach of the following statements so that they form an

accurate description of the points made in the passage

1 Suffering causes people to have bad hearts

2 Human beings suffer a lot of problems because of their

attachment to each other

3 You must first become happy and then you can produce happiness

for others

4 Inner peace can only be achieved after much suffering

Task 6

What do you think training in Dharma involves?

Task 7

Which of the following words and phrases from The Good Heart is it

important to understand in order to appreciate the main ideas of the

passage?

wholesome mind positive mind

wrong discernment — samsara

Try to explain or paraphrase the words or phrases you have selected

from the above

Explain why you think it is particularly important to understand them

List any other words or phrases in the passage which you think it is

vital to understand in order to fully appreciate the passage

Task 8

Choose one of the following to write:

e acriticism of the passage in which you point out its strengths and

weaknesses

e a pamphlet (about 250 words) in which you try to persuade people

to follow the Buddhist principle of the ‘good heart’

e a short passage in which you describe the main principles of the

religion, philosophy or way of life that you believe in

Task 9

In groups, talk about how you read the passage The Good Heart in order to make notes about it Did you:

LJ a read every word slowly and carefully and look up words you didn’t know in the dictionary?

L_] b_ read the passage very quickly and skip any section that you found boring?

L_] ¢ look for key sentences, note down important points as you read them and then organize your notes when you had finished reading the passage?

L_] d_ skim through the passage quickly to get an idea of what it is about, work out a framework for your ideas and then read the passage again looking for the main points to note down in your framework?

What problems did you have when trying to make notes about the main points?

Did you solve the problems and if so, how?

How would you approach a similar task in future?

Did you evaluate the ideas as you read or did you give all your attention to just understanding what the passage was saying?

2 Skills training

Understanding and evaluating ideas

Task 1 When you are trying to understand the ideas expressed in a passage,

it is important to relate different sentences because it 1s their combination that describes the idea the writer is expressing

Writers might use any of the following strategies to express, clarify and intensify their ideas

a The statement of an idea followed by an example to clarify the idea

statement of idea example

‘It is easy to see how a ‘For instance, a person may have a negative mind causes very positive mind but then develops one to experience anger The result of anger is the suffering ’ creation of problems.’