Lesson 7 Mental Depression: The Recurring NightmareI. General Arrangements1. Class Hours 92. Teaching Content1) Comprehension: types of mental depression and causes2) Language points 3) Structural Analysis of the Text; 4) Topic Discussion 5) Exercises6) Homework: Dictation; Recitation; Writing and so on.3. Objective: By learning the text, the students are supposed to know at least two things: 1) Although the article deals with various forms of mental depression from a medical point of view, the recurring and widespread nightmare nevertheless reflects one of the many problems of American society. 2) Writing style: journalistic style.4. Methods to be applied1) Questions and answers 2) Discussion: general idea and outline of the text (textual organization)II. The Important Points1. Language points: most everyone; work out; get a person “down”; take the edge off life; financial setback; out of the blue; accomplished people; social isolation; occupational underachiever; etc.2. Main idea of the text3. Structural analysis of the text4. Word study: experience, lift, provoke, perform5. Grammar: voiceIII. The Difficult Points1. The differences between undisguised forms and disguised forms of depression2. Various reasons for mental depression.3. The structural analysis of the text.IV. Detailed Study of the Text1. things dont work out: things are incapable of being done (problems are incapable of being solved). 2. your mental landscape is bleak: you are vacant-minded. Your mind is a blank. You cannot concentrate. You cannot think of anything. You cannot think.(cf. empty-minded: ignorant having nothing in the mind)bleak: bare / barren / desolate/ hopeless / joyless / unpromising3. few of us get through life without experiencing: almost everyone experiences it (suffers from it) at one time or another in his life.get through: pass4. midwinter doldrums are an annual event for some: some people experience (suffer) depression in midwinter every year5. The ordinary everyday blues areself-curing: The everyday depression does not last long and the symptoms can automatically disappear (it does not need medical treatment)-It can cure itself.6. take the edge off (life): dull the intensity, force, or pleasure of sth or soften or reduce ones appetite. Here: make life less interesting (uninteresting), weaken the enjoyment of life.7. incapacitate: make incapable of unfit (for/from), paralyzeHeavy housework burden incapacitate the mother for work (from working)outside.8. weather: come through, get through successfully, survive, withdrawweather a storm, weather all kinds of difficulties, weather a crisis9. social isolation: feeling of inability to fit in with others.10. loss of a senseinstitution: You feel you have nothing to hold on to. You feel you have lost contact with the mainstay (the main body) of society, sth. you can depend on or lean on, sth. larger and stronger than the individual, such as a school., company, or even the law.11. get overHis daughter works fast to get her lesson over. (finish)It is hard to get over that mountain. (pass over)A student returns to his class after he gets over illness.(recover from)It is no easy job to get over the death of a family member.(accept or forget sorrow or surprise)12. out of the blue, out of a clear sky, out of a clear blue sky (more or less clichd ) : without any warning, by surprise, unexpectedly.13. totally incapacitate the victims: make them completely incapable of working (or living a satisfying life).Incapacitate: 1) make incapable or unfit: His poor health incapacitated him for work/from working.2) disqualify: be incapacitated from voting 被剥夺选举权14. rival n.: a person who competes with another.v. : be a rival of e.g. Basketball cannot rival football (soccer) in excitement.rivalry n.15. foster: care for, help the growth or development of, nurture, breed, feedfoster father birth father16. prone to: liable to , subject to, vulnerable to, inclined e.g.She is prone to exaggerate.I am prone to colds.be prone to accident/error/anger/idleness/superstition (and other generally undesirable things)17. believe in : 1) believe sb.-believe what sb. says is truebelieve in sb.-have trust in him2) believe in physical exercise- be sure of the value of.3) believe in Christianity (God, ghost) be sure of the existence of.18. occupational underachiever: person who does not achieve much in his occupation, who achieves less than his potential would allow him to, who is unable to work to his full abilitye.g. underdeveloped countries19. the acutely suicidal patient: person who has a strong and eager desire to commit suicide or do things harmful to his own interests, who suddenly wants to commit suicideacutely: extremely, for sth. unpleasant (acutely unhappy, acutely boring, etc.)20. complain of: denoting the substan