Task 1

Section A Discussion

▇ Sit in groups of threes or fours and discuss the following questions.

1. Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? Think of concrete examples or situations in which your strengths and weaknesses are demonstrated.

2. Can you describe your best friend’s personality? Do you think he/she would agree with you?

3. “Babies are born with a blank slate (白板). It is the environment that shapes their personality.” What do you think of this statement?

4. What personality traits (性格) do you dislike most? Why?

5. Is there any aspect of your personality that you would like to develop or change?

 ⊙Like father, like son.

                                                                                 — Chinese Proverb

Task 2 ：

Interpretation:

“Like father, like son.” (有其父必有其子) is a common quote that is used not only by Chinese but also by many other races and cultures in the world. It could be used either as a compliment or as a criticism of the son (and the father implicitly). The underlying assumption of this quote is that whatever traits demonstrated by the son are inherited from the father. Therefore, those who believe in this are proponents that nature has an overpowering influence on one’s character.

  Confucius

⊙When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary (完全相反的) character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves. 

— Confucius

Interpretation:

This quote from Confucius is a reminder to us that we should first look into ourselves before we criticize others. The original in Chinese is“见贤思齐焉，见不贤而内省也。”(《论语》第17章）

About Confucius (551 BC–479 BC):  a Chinese philosopher whose ideas encouraged justice and peace, and who taught social and moral principles which had a great influence on Chinese society and on the way that Chinese people think. Among his well-known works is Analects of Confucius (《论语》). People in the US and UK sometimes jokingly say “Confucius says” to introduce a piece of wise advice, pretending that their words were originally said by Confucius. 

 Abraham Lincoln

⊙Nearly all men can stand adversity (困境), but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

                                            — Abraham Lincoln

Interpretation:

Lincoln’s quote is an indication of how power, wealth and status could affect our behavior and actions. It addresses the belief that power tends to corrupt (腐败), implying that only a man of strong character can resist this tendency.

About Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865): a US politician in the Republican Party who was the President of the United States from 1861 to 1865. He won political support in the Northern US states because of his speeches against slavery, but this made him unpopular in the Southern states, where slaves did most of the farm work. The American Civil War started soon after he became President, when the Southern states decided to leave the US. In 1863, he announced the Emancipation Proclamation, by which all slaves in the US became free people. He also gave a famous speech known as the Gettysburg Address in 1863. A few days after the war ended, he was shot and killed in a theater by an actor called John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln was considered to be one of the most important US presidents, and was sometimes called “Honest Abe” because everyone admired his honesty. His picture appears on the US five-dollar bill and on the one-cent coin.