Unit Two Tyranny of the Urgent

Learning Objectives By the end of this unit, you are supposed to understand the main idea, structure of the text and the author’s writing style master the key language points and grammatical structures in the text understand the importance of the wise way of dealing with work and life. Try to know how to avoid being the “tyranny of the urgent”

Teaching Procedure Pre-reading Questions Text I. Tyranny of the Urgent ● Passage understanding ● Structure analysis ● Main idea of the passage ● Language points ● sentence studies ● vocabulary studies Text II. Time

Pre-reading questions Do you often feel pressed by time? Do you hate meeting deadlines? Yes? It gives me a sense of high pressure in face of some occasions. No? It’s a kind of supervision which would make me remember the time.

Do you think the busier you are, the more accomplished your life will be? Yes? Busier life would make everyday more colorful and meaningful. No? Any reasons?

Do you sometimes want to have more hours a day? What kind of people, do you think, want to have to more hours a day? Why?

Main idea of the text This is a well-organized argumentative essay, and the structure of the whole text is clear-cut: Raises the argument that the prolongation of time cannot really help relieve people of the pressure. Justifies the argument by claiming that the pressure in our life originates from the mishandled problem of priorities. Concludes that we are slaves to the tyranny of the urgent.

Language Appreciation The rhetoric questions in the first few paragraphs deserve our attention The widespread usage of the parallel structures Metaphor, citation, personification

Structure analysis Part 1 (paras.1-2) Introduction: the author explains why people wish for a thirty-hour day and why even this extra time may not help people much. Part 2 (paras.3-5) The author explains the problem of priorities and explores the cause of “tyranny of the urgent”. Part 3 (para.6) Conclusion: the author arrives at the conclusion that we have become slaves to the “tyranny of the urgent”.

Text I Tyranny of the Urgent 1 Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief.Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. 2 But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four-hour allotment? A mother’s work is never finished, and neither is that of any manager, student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience brings more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less. Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four-hour allotment?

3 When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities. Hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task; the resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month or year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense demands have driven us onto a reef frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “we have left undone those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities.We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task; the resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. we have left undone those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

4 Several years ago an experienced cotton- mill manager said to me, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out of the important.” he didn’t realize how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities. 5 We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. The urgent task calls for instant action – endless demands, pressure every hour and day.The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. The urgent task calls for instant action – endless demands, pressure every hour and day.

6 A man’s home is no longer his castle; it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with imperious demands. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the “tyranny of the urgent.”But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside.

Key sentences Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. (para.1) Paraphrase: Letters left unanswered, friend which are unvisited, articles remained unwritten, and books which are unread obsessed when we stop to make a judgment. Parallel structure used here.

Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four allotment? (para.2) Paraphrase: We would soon be just as distressed as we are now, when we have 24 hours a day. Rhetoric question used here, why? Metaphor used here? 24-hour allotment

When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities.(para.3) Paraphrase: When we stop to make a judgment, we find that our puzzle is more complex than the lack of time; it is fundamentally the problem of selecting the more important and more urgent activities from the trivial ones. Repetition used here to link the former and this paragraph.

We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task; the resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. (para.3) Paraphrase: We all know what the result will be, when working for long with full speed, and we devote ourselves wholeheartedly to important arrangement, which will bring us great weariness. This kind of weariness is matched by a sense of accomplishment and happiness. Be involved in

We have left undone those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done. (para.3) Paraphrase: For those things have to deal with, we left them undone, while for those things we should not deal with, we have made them. Contrast used here.

The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. The urgent task calls for instant action – endless demands, pressure every hour and day. (para.5) Paraphrase The problem is that the important arrangement scarcely needs to be finished today, or even this week. The urgent arrangement demands immediate action – incessant requirements, pressure can be sensed every hour and every day.

But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. (para.6) Paraphrase But considering time’s perspective, their fake salience gets weaken; with a sense of loss we remember the important task which was put away formerly. In the light of =in view of,consider