Unit 14 The Confidence Game

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Unit 14 The Confidence Game

• By Pat Carr

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Unit Overview

• In this unit you will  
• Read about the right sportsmanship Learn to guess
  meanings of words from word-formation
• Take a test in fast reading
• Read the story of a girl who fought to success
• Read more materials about the importance of
  self-confidence

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• About the author
• Pat Carr was born in Dublin 1949,one of
  a family of four children. He developed a
  religious outlook during childhood and this
  stayed with him during adulthood, providing him
  with great support during what he terms an
  unbalanced emotional development which led him to
  have recourse to the services of psychiatry for
  over 30 years.

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Language notes

• 1. My confidence started to disappear the day
  Angela Brady showed up at the pool for workout.
• (???,????????????????????,??????????)
• Show up means to arrive as expected or
  arranged.
• 2 .....and now I was actually in the running to
  compete at the Nationals.
• (???,??????????????)
• In the running means having some hope of
  winning.
• 3. I stroked harder, but I could still feel
  someone closing in on me. I soon felt a light
  touch on my foot.
• (??????,?????????????,?????????????)
• Close in on means to surround gradually and
  usually from all sides, especially in a
  threatening way.

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• 4. In swim workouts, it's one of the rules that
  when a teammate taps your foot you move to the
  right to let that swimmer go ahead of you.
• (??????????,???????????,??????,?????)
• Note that the that-clause after the word rule
  is in the subjunctive mood.
• 5. How do you psych yourself up for a race?
• (??????????????
• Psych somebody up means to make (especially
  oneself) keen and ready.

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• 1.Discuss sportswomanship in Angela and Tobi's
  story.
• According to their coach,
  sportswomanship refers to the fact that one
  athlete accepts a better athlete in a spirit of
  friendly competition. As Toby realized that
  Angela had some advantages over her, she began to
  behave unsatisfactorily. She came to the training
  late and even cheated in the training, so the
  coach wanted to warn her that when one athlete
  performed better than her, what she should do was
  to learn from her rather than be jealous.
• 2. What is meant by the confidence game?
• In the text, confidence game refers to
  how one makes oneself ready for something. In
  Tobi's opinion, she played confidence game when
  she was to take part in a race. Before the race
  really started, Tobi thought about all the good
  things she had done in the previous race and
  regarded herself as the best swimmer. This was a
  way for Tobi to give encouragement to herself and
  to help her get rid of nervousness before race.
  This game proved to be very effective when Angela
  learned to play it with the help of Tobi.

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• 3. If someone does better than you in your class,
  how would you act towards him or her?
• Learn from him or her and try to improve
  myself.

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• About Naumburg Competition
• Established in 1926, the Naumburg
  International Competitions have been described by
  the New York Times as "in its quite way the most
  prestigious of them all." The competitions are
  organized by the Walter W.Naumburg Foundation,
  which was funded by Mr. Walter Naumburg.
  Mr.Naumburg's desire was to assist the young
  gifted musician in America. It was his firm
  belief that such competitions were not only for
  the benefit of new stars, but very much for those
  talented young artists who would become prime
  movers in the development of the highest
  standards of musical excellence throughout
  America. The competition is held every year and
  involves different musical instruments such as
  cello, violin, piano.

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Language notes

• 1. I walked up Amsterdam Avenue because I didn't
  want to see anybody, didn't want to run into
  anybody, didn't want anyone to ask what I was
  doing.
• (??????????,???????????,???????,?????????????)
  
• Run into means to meet someone by chance.
• 2. I even talked Miss Delay into giving my lesson
  at night.
• (?????????????????)
• Talk somebody into doing something means to
  persuade somebody to do something.
• 3. I was nuts.
• (??????)
• Here nuts is used as an adjective and is
  often used informally. In this sentence it means
  mad or crazy.

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• 4. I was completely obsessed with getting back
  into shape, with doing well in this competition.
  
• (????????????,??????????)
• Be obsessed with means to completely fill the
  mind of somebody so that no attention is given to
  other matters.
• 5. "Nadja, you've dedicated yourself to this
  thing. Ready or not, do your best."
• ("???,????????????????, ??????,?????????")
• Dedicate oneself to something means to give
  oneself completely to a particular cause,
  purpose, or action or to devote oneself to
  something.
• 6. She said I was so tense, I was beyond shaking.
  
• (??????,?????????)
• This sentence means that I was so nervous and
  attentive that I couldn't shake.

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• 1. What does self-confidence have to do with
  Nadja's success?
• It was just through self-confidence that
  Nadja made her success. Nadja knew that she
  played the Tchaikovsky very well, but she chose
  to play the Prokofiev, which she had never played
  onstage before, in the semifinals, because she
  wanted to save the Tchaikovsky for the finals.
  Till this time, we know that Nadja was confident
  about her performance. Therefore, we may see that
  self-confidence plays a very important role in
  making success.
• 2. Besides self-confidence, what personal
  qualities contributed to Nadja's success ?
• Of course, only self-confidence is not
  sufficient to make one successful. Besides
  self-confidence in Nadja, we may perceive another
  good quality of her, that is perseverance. In
  order to win in the competition, Nadja trained
  very tenaciously. She even lived like a hermit
  she ate very badly. It was just her spirit of
  perseverance that led her to success.