CHAPTER 9 reading notes

 Bacchus - Dosso Dossi

1. Essence Daily （每日精华）

【1】句型

eg.

Analysts reckon the big companies are a prop to the regime, too. They not only pay taxes, but can manufacture things that are hard for it to obtain because of international sanctions. The wealthy are presumably happy to have increased opportunities, even if they can be withdrawn at the regime’s whim.

es.

Analysts reckon AAA are a prop to the BBB, too. They not only ......., but can manufacture ........ The wealthy are presumably happy to......

il.

Analysts reckon the regimes are a prop to corruption and degeneration, too. They not only take taxes, but can manipulate the mass through the media. The officials are presumably happy to have increased opportunities to obtain more wealth, even if at the cost of millions of lives at their whim.

【2】

As sexy and heroic as my plan sounded, not all of the values driving me
to this nomadic lifestyle were healthy ones

这个句子是第八章里面的，但是我今天才能用上电脑联网，这里分析一下，因为看完非常喜欢这个句子。

第一，喜欢它的意思：

我们的计划太过丰满，而驱动我们前行的价值观并不总是完美的。

第二，喜欢这个句型：

As AAA as BBB sounded, not all of the values ........ were healthy ones

来造个句子：

As wonderful and splendid as the total lunar eclipse looks, not all of the things in our life making us sorrow and happy are perfect ones.

2. Q&A  (导读问题与答案）

【1】 

    Have you thought about death or dying? How did you feel when you were thinking about them?

   Yes. I have weathered one car accident and two couples died that day. Then I felt nothing serious and pretty lucky.

 【2】

     How knowing “then you die” would affect the way we live? What is the sunny side of death?

    Every time I feel good or bad, I know all of the days will gone. So never care it too much. Death terrifies us as well as encourages us to live better.

 【3】

    Did you have a transformational moment growing up? Something you would consider a wake-up call?

 Maybe some moments as a bit of transformation but not so large for a wake-up call. These years I find more and more things out of my expectations and consider and think and still have no results. I do not know if something calls.

3. Some thoughts while reading  

    （阅读过程中的思考）

The author says we should deem the pain as the sign of being alive. We know being alive is the premise of pain, but not all pains are unavoidable. Some people are lucky, for they have wake-up call and transfer into the ones they want to be. Most do not live as what they want and keep living in that way.

I was unaware of the effects of the accident five years ago. I did not know the meaning, the mission, the consequence. I just went to hospital and lived a few days. My parents and brother and uncles came to see me. I thought nothing big, till now, probably.

Death may bring some calls for someone, but not me. I am still ordinary, like who I am.

4. Words expected to remember 

     (必记单词）

mock = laugh at

Running away? He mocked.

revere = honor

He is revered as a hero.

lethal = fatal

The weapon is lethal.

 我在Quizlet学习chapter 9: 

https://quizlet.com/264526813/chapter-9-flash-cards/

5. Sentences adapted 

     (摘抄笔记）

【1】

Avoiding what was painful and uncomfortable, I had essentially been avoiding being alive at all. That summer, I gave up the weed and the cigarettes and the video games. I gave up my silly rock star fantasies and dropped out of music school and signed up for college courses. I started going to the gym and lost a bunch of weight. I made new friends. I got my first girlfriend. For the first time in my life I actually studied for classes, gaining me the startling realization that I could make good grades if only I gave a shit. The next summer, I challenged myself to read fifty nonfiction books in fifty days, and then did it.

【2】I take another microstep, then another. Two feet now. My forward leg vibrates as I put the weight of my body on it. I shuffle on. Against the magnet. Against my mind. Against all my better instincts for survival. One foot now. I’m now looking straight down the cliff face. I feel a sudden urge to cry. My body instinctively crouches, protecting itself against something imagined and inexplicable. The wind comes in hailstorms. The thoughts come in right hooks.

【3】

All I hear is the wind.

Is this it ?

My body shudders, the fear becoming euphoric and blinding. I focus my mind and clear my thoughts in a kind of meditation. Nothing makes you present and mindful like being mere inches away from your own death. I straighten up and look out again, and find myself smiling. I remind myself that it’s all right to die.