20090902 -- Do Hard Things (2)

Do Hard Things

How it all started
In summer of 2005, the 16-year-old twins were bored with their high school debate team. They wanted a bigger challenge - one that would move them into the "real world." Their dad, Gregg, a well-known figure in the American homeschool movement, delivered one. He put them on an intense reading program. He handed them a stack of books that include bestsellers The Tipping Point and The World is Flat. As they read, they learned that teens in countries like China and India were accomplishing far more than those in the U.S.

The brothers concluded that their culture was teaching them to be selfish and immature. So they began writing their thoughts about the teenage years on a blog. To support their ideas, they included historical facts, biblical ideas and contemporary examples. Through the blog, they soon realized that othe teens were feeling the same way. Teens were thinking big but lacked opportunities to act big. The Harris boys had struck a chord in the hearts of many people, and their blog drew more and more readers.


stack n. 一堆/一疊
=> a pile of something
eg: There's a stack of Chinese books on my desk.

im- 否定
immature adj. 不成熟的/幼稚的
eg: These sixth grades are too immature to handle the topics in this textbook.
eg: Even though Rick is 40 years old, he is still so immature.
eg: No one can tolerate his immature behavior except his wife.

immature adj. 還未發育好的
=> childish
eg: immature eggs 還未孵化好的蛋

contemporary adj. 現代的/當代的
eg: In Mr. Lerner's class, we study both classic and contemporary literature.
eg: Our professor's lecture on the contemporary novel is very popular
in our school.

contemporary n. 同時代的人
=> belong to the present time
eg: Famous inventors Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were contemporaries.


strike v. 打/敲
strike struck struck

chord n. 琴/弦

strike a chord 引起共鳴/打動人心弦
eg: The movie Pearl Hartor struck a chord with my grandfather because he was in the navy at that time.
eg: Her performance struck a chord with the audience.

bible n. 聖經
biblical adj. 聖經的

//== Chat room ==//

counter-反
countercultural adj. 反文化/對抗文化
counteract v. 阻礙/阻撓

clockwise adj. 順時針的
counterclockwise adj. 順時針的

counterintuitive adj. 反直覺的