节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-01-11
难易度:Medium
关键字:persist, miserable, needy, estimate, pastor
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Studio Classroom.
My name is Gabe.
And my name is Carolyn.
And yesterday we started a lesson discussing the serious topic of depression.
This is a mental illness that affects millions of people every day.
So of course it is important for us to learn about it and to be able to
recognize it.
In our lesson today we'll read about how you can tell the difference between
being depressed and just being sad.
We'll also discuss what you can do if someone you know is suffering from
depression.
To begin, open up your magazine to the second day of the article, Depression
Part 1: Naming the Darkness.
And then we'll learn some new words with Michelle in the Language Lab.
So let's begin.
(Music).
Depression Part 1: Naming the Darkness.
When your mood is dark, how do you know whether you're depressed or just sad?
Think about how long the feelings have lasted.
If they have persisted for weeks or months, get help.
One other sign that helped me identify my depression was that I didn't know why
I was so sad.
Even when nothing bad had happened, I still felt miserable.
What can I do?
No one should face depression alone.
If you're depressed, find someone - a friend, parent, teacher or pastor - and
tell them your feelings.
Consider seeing a doctor or psychologist, and if you ever want to kill yourself,
get help immediately.
(Chinese).
All right. Well, our lesson today begins with a question:
How do you know whether you're depressed or just sad?
This is a good grammar pattern to know as well.
How do you know whether you're something or just something else?
For example: How do you know whether you're stressed or just busy?
Or: How do you know whether you're overworked or just need more sleep?
Those are great examples.
As you can see, this sentence pattern is used to compare two things that are
similar but the first one you mention is more serious than the second one.
If we look at the sentence from the article, the first adjective in this pattern
is depressed, and the second is just sad.
Depressed is a much stronger and more serious emotion or condition than sad, so
it should come first in this pattern.
The word "just" tells us that the second adjective "sad" is not as important as
the first one.
So how do you know whether you're depressed or just sad?
Good question.
The author recommends that you think about how long the feelings have lasted.
If they persisted for a long time, then it may be depression, and a person
should get help.
Another way she was able to identify her depression was that she didn't know why
she felt sad and miserable.
Even when nothing bad happened, she still felt that way.
That is a major way to tell the difference between being depressed and just
being sad - not knowing why.
And there is another good grammar pattern to talk about: Even when something, I
still something else.
That's right. You could use it this way:
Even when I have a cold, I still need to finish my homework.
Or: Even when it's raining, I still need to take my dog for a walk.
Great. So this pattern is used to show that when one thing is true, you still
have to do something else and you don't really like it.
Another example would be:
Even when I'm on vacation, I still need to study.
Oh, man. I don't like to think about that.
Well, moving on in the article to the next section: What can I do?
We find out that no one should face depression alone.
And this is very true.
It's also true that we should learn more about the word "no one" with Steve and
Ken in the Information Cloud.
Let's see what they have to say.
"No one should face depression alone," advises the author of today's lesson.
And we will add that no one should spell "no one" as one word.
That's a really good point, Steve.
We all know words like nobody, anyone and everyone are spelled as one word, but
"no one" is the exception.
It's, in fact, a phrase or two separate words.
That's right.
We've mentioned before that English is a constantly evolving language.
And over the years, phrases like nobody, somebody and someone have evolved into
compound words.
But "no one" has remained in its two-word form to this day.
Well, it would be pretty confusing if the two words were merged into one.
The new word, N-O-O-N-E, would appear like the word "noon" with an E at the end.
Definitely not a good word.
Now there is one version you may come across, especially in British publications
and literature, and that's "no-one" spelled with a hyphen in the middle.
Some people argue that the hyphenated version eliminates ambiguity.
Like in this sentence, no one person can overcome her power, the "no one" is not
talking about nobody but "no" one person.
But you've got to admit, such ambiguity is pretty rare.
Yes, it is.
So unless there's a major evolution in the English language that changes the
spelling of no one, we should, for the time being, write "no one" as two words.
(Chinese).
Thank you, gentlemen.
Now no one will worry about using "no one" incorrectly.
That's right.
And no one should face depression alone.
If you face something, that means you deal with it or try to solve a problem.
And if someone is facing depression, they should find someone they trust, like a
friend, a parent,
teacher or pastor, someone like this and tell them how they're feeling.
A person could also go to a doctor or a psychologist if they are uncomfortable
talking to other people.
If you look at your magazine, you'll notice a special kind of dash surrounding
those names that breaks the sentence into different parts.
When we come across something like this, you know what that means.
That's right! It's time to learn more about this grammar point with Liz.
Right! To the Grammar Gym.
Hi there, friends.
Thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym.
My name is Liz.
In today's lesson the writer states:
If you're depressed, find someone - a friend, parent, teacher or pastor - and
tell them your feelings.
That's today's Grammar Tip sentence.
Notice the two lines before and after the phrase: a friend, parent, teacher or
pastor.
These lines are called emdashes.
They're there to show that examples are being listed.
So today's sentence just means if you're depressed, find someone such as a
friend, parent, teacher or pastor, and tell them your feelings.
But if you're writing, instead of saying "such as," you can use emdashes instead
to let people know that you're listing some examples.
For example:
Find something long and skinny - a pencil, a pen, or even a straw - and practice
doing this easy magic trick.
Or: Amy came home and grabbed a few things - clothes, snacks, and her water
bottle - and rushed to the gym.
So practice writing with emdashes.
Think of a sentence with a list of examples and try using emdashes.
And if you need to see some more example sentences, they're available in today's
Grammar Tip section in your Studio Classroom magazine.
That's it for today.
This is Liz from the Grammar Gym.
See younext time.