X Goals UNIT Listen for specific language to

X Goals: UNIT Listen for specific language to categorize. Learn to make inferences. Learn to make generalizations in a conversation. Lead-in GOALS Listen and Practice Communication Strategy Watch and Talk

I. LEAD-IN A. Online love affair is a quite familiar phenomenon both at home and abroad. Many young people have such experiences, but only very few of them can get true love. What happens to most is cheating or fake love. Can we believe in online romance? Why do so many of us turn to internet for love affair? Imagine you meet someone online who offers to be your girlfriend or boyfriend: what will you do to get to know him or her if you have some interest?

1. meeting him/her in person 2. making phone calls 3. going to his or her school/working place 4. asking for his/her ID card 5. only talking online 6. writing letters

B. There are many proverbs in English about relationships between people. Could you paraphrase them in your own words? Proverb Paraphrase 3. Love and a cough cannot be hid. Once you love a person, everything about him/her will be your concern. People who are different make ideal partners. When you are in love, everything you express is showing that. 4. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Individuals have different inclinations on what is beautiful. 5. Faults are thick where love is thin. If you don't love a person that much as before, many things he/she does are wrong in your eyes. 1. Love me, love my dog. 2. Opposites attract. CHECK

II. LISTEN AND PRACTICE COLLOCATIONS THE BEST JOB FOR YOUR TYPE STEVE JOBS – EXCERPT FROM STANFORD COMMENCEMENT SPEECH DREAM TEAMS TWO DIFFERENT LIVES MORE NEWLY-WEDS FIRST MET ONLINE

Collocations collocation 组合，搭配 compatible 能和谐相处 的，兼容的 underlying 根本的

Script CHECK A. Common combinations of words are called collocations. Listen to the sentences. Check(√) the words that you hear in combination with each vocabulary word. 1. (in)compatible: a. √ friends __ c. __conflicts e. √ personalities __ b. √ lifestyles __ d. __ interests f. ___issues √ 2. (un)predictable: √ a. __ situations √ b. __ reaction √ c. __ events d. __ preference e. __care √ f. __ people 3. underlying: √ a. __ problem c. __ communication e. √ situations __ √ b. __ lack of trust d. __ couples f. __ issues 4. thrive on: √ a. __ adventure b. __ language √ c. __ excitement √ d. __ uncertainty e. __ difficulty f. √ conflict __

X Negative Prefixes B. Many words can and check (√) True a negative Listen again be made negative using or False. prefix. There are two examples of these words in this vocabulary activity: incompatible and unpredictable. The False True prefix takes different forms depending on the sound at the beginning of the word. The most common negative √ 1. My roommates and I get along well □ □ prefix is un-, for example in unhappy. If the word begins because of our totally compatible with the sound /k/, however, the prefix is in-, for personalities and lifestyles. example in incorrect. Words that begin with /l/ take the 2. I hate prefix il-, for example, illegal. I like √ that begin □ □ negative unpredictable situations, and Words with vowels or with predictable have the prefix dis-, for to hang out a silent /h/ may people. example, dishonest. 3. A psychologist can help couples to learn □ □ √ • Put their underlying issues. about the students in pairs. • Tell them to list as many words with these prefixes 4. My sister, can think of. travel, thrives on √ □ □ as they who loves to adventure and excitement. • Have them write the words on the board. Examples might include disorganized, unconscious, inseparable, and illogical. Expansion Activity Script CHECK

The Best Job for Your Type predictability 墨守成规， 可预见性 slow-paced 慢节奏的

A. Listen to five people describe themselves and circle the correct answers. D 1. Carla does not like _____. A. taking adventures B. facing challenges C. doing practical work D. writing many documents 2. What do we know about Max? D A. He wants to leave school. B. He still has a long time to stay in school. C. He is a realistic guy. D. He has to find a job soon. CHECK Script

3. What does Lauren prefer to do as a future career? B A. Teaching kids in a day-care center. B. Teaching adults how to deal with kids. C. Teaching in a middle school. D. Teaching in a college. B 4. Rob is _____. A. satisfied with his present job B. having a slow-paced life C. likely to become a singer D. likely to become a composer A 5. Jenny doesn’t like the following professions except ______. A. planning making B. hosting C. acting D. HR representative CHECK Script

B. Listen again. Make an inference to match each person involving of ideal jobs. hands-on: to the listactive participation; applied, as X opposed to theoretical: He's a hands-on manager. have your head in the clouds: to not know what is really happening. Carla you because you are paying too much d 1. ___ around a. painter, musician, designer, attention to your own ideas: They've all gottheir heads in teacher, psychologist, vet the clouds. e 2. ___ Max b. entrepreneur, business executive, b 3. ___ Lauren a 4. ___ Rob c 5. ___ Jenny lawyer, judge c. event planner, actor, sales representative, business consultant d. engineer, police detective, carpenter, mechanic, pilot, driver e. professor, mathematician, scientist, computer programmer Language Notes Script CHECK

C. Pair work. Discuss these questions with a partner. 1. What is your personality type? Give examples of things you do that show your personality. 2. What is your partner's personality type? What do you think are the best jobs for your partner?

Dream Teams Lithuania 立陶宛 explicitly 明确地，清晰地 chemistry 化学反应 （配合的默契程度） roster 名单 stubborn 固执的，顽固的 ego 自我，自我评价 A. Listen to the lecture and circle the correct answer.

1. Why do dream teams often fail? A A. Their members don’t cooperate. B. They lack talent and experience. C. They are expensive to put together. D. They do not have a good coach. 2. Which of the following is true about the U. S. hockey team at the 1980 Olympic Games? D A. Professional players and college players were well matched into a perfect team. B. It was unfairly matched up against a dream team from the Soviet Union. C. The coach tried but failed to put together a dream team. D. It won even though it was not a dream team. Script CHECK

3. Business and sports teams are alike in that they D both ______. A. are concerned mostly with money B. discourage individuals from showing their talent C. encourage winning at all costs D. are likely to fail unless they work together 4. We can infer that the lecturer’s attitude toward A dream teams is ______. A. negative B. positive C. neutral D. indifferent Script CHECK

X The 1992 U. S. Olympic basketball team that won B. Listen again and complete the chart. the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona Year Team was a phenomenon on and Performance off the court. It Reasons mattered not. Olympic dominated the Olympic U. S. that it Finished third competition, beating its eight opponents by an basketball ______, 2004 of 44 Not mentioned average______points. What wasby team beaten important was that the Dream Team, the first U. S. Olympic Lithuania team to include NBA stars, gave fans a glimpse of the Beat The coach didn’t 1980 basketball at its finest, and an entire world players best U. S. Olympic _____ the look for _____ responded. Since 1992, basketball has exploded inplayers the right hockey team Soviet Union ______, but popularity around the globe, rising to a place _______. where it truly challenges soccer’s status as the Bird and Magic, world’s most popular sport. co-captains 1992 U. S. Olympic the veteran Real dream reputations ____ Basketball ____, both team had _____ as team players. Culture Note Script CHECK

Two Different Lives smelly 有臭味的 neon-clad 奇装异服的 bookish 好读书的， 学究气的 A. Listen to the conversation and circle the correct answers.

1. What is the possible relationship between the two speakers? D A. Brother and sister. B. Husband wife. C. Boss and employee. D. Fellow students. B 2. The man will be _______this weekend. A. snowboarding in the mountains B. staying in the library C. taking some classes D. sitting around the lodge 3. According to the woman, most of the guys get answers A or notes from _______ A. the academic types B. their girlfriends C. the snowboarders D. the library 4. What does the woman imply? C A. She will get married in five years. B. The man will become a clown. CHECK Script C. She will live a better life in the future. D. She regrets that she didn’t have much fun during college.

Script CHECK B. Listen again and complete each person’s opinions. Man It may be smelly, but it’s _____. lots of fun Woman The snowboarders smell terrible. It’s sit around better to _____ snowboarding the lodge drinking hot chocolate _______. We may not read The boys just read from cover _______ and the front cover books everything _______ to cover back cover _______. There would If college life were as no attraction be ______ in easy as the boy thinks it for the majority of it is, none of us would college the students if college need to be here. serious is too ____. We will have much Few people can make graduation having fun more fun. a living by _____.

Steve Jobs—Excerpt from Stanford Commencement Speech commencement 毕业 典礼 relent 变宽 厚，变 温和 naively 天真地 intuition 直觉 serif 衬线 typeface 字体 typography 排印，印刷样 式 font 字形 gut 勇气 karma 因缘 , 因果报应

A. Listen to the speech and circle the correct answers. D 1. Steve Jobs’s speech is mainly about______. A. his educational background B. his parents and their education C. the usefulness an American business magnate X Steven Paul Jobs isof calligraphy to his career D. the connections between his life experiences and inventor. He is well-known for being the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple. 2. According to Steve Jobs, deciding to drop out of college B has helped him ______. A. learn about designing computers with nice graphics B. refocus on what is important and interesting to him C. understand the cost of education D. become successful Culture Note Script CHECK

3. According to Steve Jobs, people must examine their past C in order to understand______. A. their mistakes B. what to do in the future C. how past events connect to influence the present D. whether their past decisions were good 4. Those listening to the story about Steve’s parents may D infer that they______. A. could not pay for his college B. supported him while in school C. did not want him to go to college D. allowed him to make his own decisions Script CHECK

B. Listen again and check (√) True or False True 1. The beginning of Steve Jobs’s speech is mainly about his birth and adoption. 2. The story about Steve’s adoption helps the listener understand Steve’s background. 3. The example of Steve’s interest in calligraphy shows how past events influence the present and future. 4. Stating that dropping out of college was the best decision he ever made indicates that Steve Jobs did not value education. 5. Steve Jobs’s calligraphy course at college enabled him to become a famous calligrapher. False □ √ □ □ □ √ □ √ □ Script CHECK

More Newly-weds First Met Online newly-weds 新婚夫妇 gregarious 爱交际的，不喜 独处的

Listen to the following passage and fill in the blanks. For blanks numbered from 1 to 7, write down the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from 8 to 10, you can either use the exact words you have just heard or write down the main points in your own words. Matt Bromeland Helen Mc. Clure were married in September, 2007. They were “introduced” online in (1) February _______, 2005. “I knew more about her in those first few moments than you would ever know about somebody the grocery store that you meet at (2) _______ or … somebody that your aunt, you know, matches you up with. ” met in person And that was before they (3) ______. When they actually saw each other, several weeks later … “I thought we’d get together and have coffee for 30 minutes or 45 minutes. ” “We talked for four hours. It was a very long CHECK coffee. ”

Matt and Helen were matched through E-Harmony, whenever an (4) online dating service “People (5) ____ I tell ________. them, they are expect like, ‘Oh that’s interesting. ’” “Because they (6) ______ us to say something like, you know, we met at a school. I get that a lot. ‘I know, did you guys meet at a school? ’” growing number Like a (7) _______ of newly-weds who met online, they say more traditional ways of meeting potential mates weren’t working for them. meeting people I wasn’t being very successful in (8) ________ through, you know, friends’ friends, and things like that. That wasn’t really working. And I felt like I maybe needed some guidance (9) _____ as to, you know, who might be a good match for me. ” comfortable gregarious as I am, I mean I was “Even as outgoing andwith never (10) _______ trying to go up some stranger. CHECK and

III. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Qualifying Generalizations A. Pair work. Complete the sentences by underlining the words or phrases that express softer generalization. Listen and check your answers. Then practice with a partner. Skill Focus Making and Qualifying Generalizations are statements about large groups of people. Not all generalizations are true for everyone. Therefore, we often qualify, or soften them, with words like in general, generally speaking, on the whole, for the most part, a number of , most of, may, might, could, most, many, some, possibly, probably, sometimes, tend to, and others. Stronger generalizations use words and phrases like everyone, all, the (vast) majority, exactly, there is no question, undoubtedly, and always.

1. I don’t like my working environment. (All of / Most of ) the people I work with are crazy. 2. Male bosses (tend to be / are) more laid-back than female bosses. 3. (Generally speaking, / There is no question that) artistic types don’t thrive in office environments. 4. Introverted people are, (for the most part/ without a doubt), good at working independently. 5. (The vast majority of / A number of) introverted people value predictability. 6. Companies (often/ always) hire people based on personality type. 7. (In all cases/Quite frequently), a mixed personality type in an office leads to incompatibility issues. √ √ √ √ CHECK

8. (It is possible/There is no question) that team leaders √ √ are (frequently/always) extroverts. 9. (On the whole, /We all know that) women are more intuitive than men. 10. (Exactly/Approximately) two thirds of Americans are unhappy in their jobs, (in general/undoubtedly) because they don’t like their co-workers. √ √ CHECK

B. Role-play. For each of the topics below, roleplay a conversation in which one person makes a generalization, and the other person agrees or disagrees with it. Use proper words or phrases to make your generalization softer or stronger. ● students in this class/ at this school ● young people ● teachers at this school ● senior citizens ● women ● men

IV. WATCH AND TALK eccentric 古怪的，怪异的 laid-back 不在乎的，自在的

Part A A Predict and watch. Julia and Mark are on a date. We can hear their thoughts. Look at the photos. What is each person thinking? Check (√) your guesses. Then watch Part A. __ I wish that Mark would say something. __ I wish I could think of √ something to say. __ I wish I weren’t so nervous. √ __ I wish I weren’t on this date. __ She looks great tonight. √ __ I hope she doesn’t order anything too expensive. Script CHECK

B. Second watching. Watch Part A again and circle the correct answer. 1. Which description best describes the situation in Part A? A. It’s two friends walking. B. It’s a business lunch. C. It’s a first date. 2. At the beginning of Part A, how do Julia and Mark feel? A. They’re nervous. B. They’re tired from work. C. They are calm. 3. What is Mark’s job? A. Helping Martina in the café. B. Analyzing financial information. C. Collecting money. 4. In Mark’s opinion, how is Julia’s work different from his? A. Julia’s work is more creative. B. Julia’s work is either right or wrong. C. His work is difficult. √ √ Script CHECK

C. Third watching. Watch Part A again. Fill in the blanks with the missing words. might be 1. If we just talked, like we normally do, we ____ less nervous. for the most part 2. It’s been pretty busy, but _______ I really like it. to help out 3. I don’t know how you have the energy _____ at the arts center as well. On the whole 4. ______ , everything I do has a right or wrong way to do it. Script we met. 5. I’m so glad _______ we’re so different CHECK 6. It’s strange because _______. Generally speaking 7. ________ , we seem incompatible. have a tendency 8. I ________ to be kind of eccentric and laid back. I am starving 9. Eyes on your menu, ______. In general 10. _____ , do you think opposites attract?

D. After watching. Think of a close and caring relationship that you have or had. How would you compare yourself to the other person? Fill in the chart below with some adjectives that describe your personality and some adjectives that describe the other person’s personality. Then answer the question below. Some adjectives from Part A are listed to help you. Adjectives: different, predictable, incompatible, eccentric, laid-back, sweet, beautiful, artistic Your Personality The Other Person’s Personality Are/Were you similar to each other or are/were you opposites? Why? ______________________________________________

Part B A. Predict and watch. Chaz interviews people about their relationships. Look at the photos. Check (√) what you think are reasons that the people give for being compatible. Then, watch Part B to check your predictions.

1. __ Two people love to watch television together. √ 2. __ Two people like to play sports. 3. __ Two people like having serious discussions with each other. √ 4. __ One couple has the same sense of humor. 5. __ One woman’s best friend knows how to make √ her feel better when she’s sad. 6. __ One woman likes her best friend because he is loud and has a big appetite. Script CHECK

B. Second watching. Watch Part B again and write T for True or F for False next to each statement. T 1. ___ The two men are roommates. F 2. ___ The two men both like playing football. T 3. ___ Chaz is doing research on compatibility T 4. ___ Chaz thinks that the man and the woman are a couple. F 5. ___ The man and the woman have very different personalities; one is very restrained and the other is very emotional. T 6. ___ The man makes the woman laugh a lot. 7. ___ The last woman whom Chaz interviews has T a dog for a best friend. Script CHECK

C. Third watching. Watch Part B again. Fill in the blanks with the missing words. 1. Excuse me, guys. Can I ask you a couple of questions _________? each other know 2. How do you guys ________ ? like 3. so it both likesomething We gives us sports, _____ playing soccer, ___________ to do together. to find out a little bit 4. I’m trying __________ about compatibility. think that you are similar 5. How do you guys ___________ ? have a tendency 6. Well, let’s see … well, we both ________ to get very emotional. me laugh made 7. One time, he _______ so hard at a party that had to leave I _____the room. not feeling great to I’m _______ , and 8. He always knows whenmake me knows exactly how ______ feel better. CHECK Script

D. After watching. In Part B, the people interviewed had different reasons for being compatible. Think about the person to whom you are the closest. Why are you compatible? Write a short paragraph about your relationship with that person. Give reasons why you are compatible. Support your reasons with as many examples and details as you can. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

THE END

Chaz: Who are you compatible with? Let’s find out what some folks have to say. Excuse me, guys. Can I ask you a couple of questions? Guy 1: Sure. Chaz: How do you guys know each other? Guy 2: We're roommates. Chaz: What is it that makes you two compatible as roommates? Guy 2: Well, we're both pretty active. Guy 1: Yeah, and neither one of us is sitting around the house all day. Guy 2: We both like sports, like playing soccer, so it gives us something to do together. Chaz: Great. Thanks a lot, guys. Guy 2: Sure. Chaz: [to viewers] Here’s a good couple. Chaz: Excuse me. Hi. Is it OK if I sit down? NEXT

Chaz: I’m trying to find out a little bit about compatibility. Now, you guys are a couple, right? Girl: We're engaged. Chaz: Congratulations. How do you guys think that you are similar? Girl: Well, Let's see… well, we both have a tendency to get very emotional. Guy: And we have the same sense of humor. Girl: Yes. We both find the same things funny. No one makes me laugh like he does. [laugh] One time, he made me laugh so hard at a party that I had to leave the room. Chaz: Sounds like a perfect match! You guys, have fun on the honeymoon. Chaz: So he’s your best friend. Woman: Oh, yeah. He's definitely my best friend. I mean, you know, he's there for me, like any good NEXT

friend. And sure, he can be a little loud sometimes, needy, and oh my gosh, his appetite! But, you know, he always knows when I'm not feeling great, and knows exactly how to make me feel better. And that's exactly how a best friend should be! Right, Eliot? Chaz: I'm assuming the feeling is mutual. Chaz: Well, we just heard different examples of compatibility. Now, the roommates used a fact as an example of how they’re compatible: they’re both active; they like playing sports, like soccer. Now, the young woman, she used an anecdote, or short memory, to show she and her boyfriend both have the same sense of humor. So how about you, who are you compatible with and why? BACK

Mark: So… this restaurant is supposed to be really nice. Julia: Oh yeah, that's what I've heard. Mark: (VO) I wish I weren’t so nervous. Why am I so nervous? Julia: (VO) I wish I could think of something to say. I could always use the weather line. Mark: So … nice weather. Julia: Yeah … Mark: (VO) If we just talked, like we normally do, we might be less nervous. Julia: So, how’s work been going these days? Mark: Oh, it’s fine, you know. It’s been pretty busy, but for the most part I really like it. Julia: That’s good. With your work taking so much of your time and focus I don’t know how you have the energy to help out at the arts center as well. Mark: Oh, yeah well, for the most part, the people aren’t so bad. You know, I really admire what you do. NEXT

Julia: Really? Mark: Yeah. On the whole, everything I do has a right or wrong way to do it. It’s all about analyzing financial traits. But you get to create! There is no right or wrong. … Plus, you create some really beautiful work. I wish I had more time to do something artistic. If I weren’t so busy I might … Oh, here we are. Julia: (VO) This is better. We’re calmer. Julia: Thanks. Mark: (VO) This is better. My palms stopped sweating. Mark: (VO) She looks really great tonight. Julia: (VO) He’s staring at me. Julia: What? Mark: Hm? Oh nothing. I was just looking at the menu. Everything looks delicious. How about a toast? To your upcoming show and future success. NEXT

Julia: That’s really sweet. You know, Mark, I'm so glad we met. It's strange because we're so different. Mark: Well, you're an artist. You use your imagination. And I’m an analyst. I’m a bit more predictable. Generally speaking, we seem incompatible. Julia: I have a tendency to be kind of eccentric and laid -back. I guess what they say is true. Mark: What's that? Julia: Opposites attract. Waiter: Excuse me, are you ready to order? Mark: Oh, I haven't even looked at the menu yet. Julia: Oh really? I thought everything looked delicious. (to waiter) We're gonna need a few minutes. Waiter: Sure. No problem. Julia: Eyes on your menu, I'm starving. Chaz: Did you notice Mark making generalizations? He made two about his work — he really enjoys it, for the NEXT

most part, and on the whole, everything he does for his job has a right way and wrong way. He even generalized about himself and Julia, saying, “Generally speaking, we seem incompatible. ” In general, do you think opposites attract? BACK

I want to share a story with you that has to do with connecting the dots. I never graduated from college. I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his Wife, except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my adoptive parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him? " They said, "Of course. " My biological mother later found out that my mother had never NEXT

graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. NEXT

I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster and every label was written in beautiful hand calligraphy. I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. Ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on NEXT

that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. BACK

Man: I wish we had less to study this weekend. It’s supposed to snow in the mountains again and I’d rather be snowboarding than stuck in the library all day. I should have taken fewer classes this semester. Woman: Yeah! I don’t really feel like studying either. But I don’t think I can stand a whole weekend mingling with smelly, loud, neon-clad snowboarders. Man: You are too critical of our kind! We may be smelly, but we have lots of fun. You and your academic types just sit around the lodge drinking hot chocolate. Generally speaking, that is! Woman: Yeah right! Where do the majority of you guys go for answers or notes from classes you’ve missed? Is it not to us, the academic types? Man: That’s not always true! We are just as bookish as you are, but we may not read everything from cover to cover. NEXT

Woman: You mean you just read the front cover and back cover! Most of you don’t even know where the library is, much less how to use it. If college life were as easy as you think it is, none of us would need to be here. Man: And if college had to be as serious as you make it to be, there would be no attraction in it for the majority of the students. Woman: Yes, I guess if it hadn’t been for your kind, the world wouldn’t turn. Man: Laugh all you want, because when we graduate I will have had much more fun than you and your friends put together. Woman: Well, sometimes I do wish I had more fun in the last four years. But very few people can make a living by having fun. Let’s just meet in five years and we’ll see who’ll laugh then. BACK

Ever since 1992—when the Olympic Games started letting professional basketball players compete—the United States has assembled “dream teams”. You know: Let’s put together a team with all the biggest stars of basketball, who could just happen to play pro ball in the U. S. Who could beat them? Well, obviously, lots of people can. The most important lesson about team performance is that the basic theory of the dream team is wrong. You cannot assemble a group of stars and then sit back to watch them conquer the world. Take the 2004 U. S. Olympic basketball team, one of these so-called dream teams of NBA stars. It finished third after being knocked out by Lithuania. By contrast, the 1980 hockey team that beat the Soviet Union at the Olympics was built explicitly on anti-dreamteam principles. Coach Herb Brooks, who died in 2003, based his picks on personal chemistry. In the movie version of the event, Miracle, Brooks’s assistant looks at the roster and objects that many of the country’s greatest college NEXT

players were left out (professionals were not eligible to play then). To which Brooks responds with this essential antidream-team philosophy: “I’m not lookin’ for the best players, Craig. I’m lookin’ for the right players. ” In business, dream teams are often put together to save companies going through hard times. This strategy is attractive, but it fits better into a fantasy game than into the real world. Business superstars are typically strongwilled, stubborn, and competitive. They do not usually play well with others. A company that’s already in trouble doesn’t need any fighting among its high-level executives. That’s why a dream team will probably fail where a less-flashy “dream team” might succeed. As one company’s CEO put it, “Give us people who are dedicated to making the team work, as opposed to a bunch of talented people with big egos, and we’ll win every time. ” NEXT

Let’s face it: There was only one Dream Team, and that was the 1992 U. S. Olympic basketball team— Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing. And remember that Bird and Magic, the veteran co-captains, both had reputations as team players. Your chances of replicating that kind of combination are almost zero. Realistically—in business, sports, whatever— we’re doing very well if we can put together a few talented people who will work honestly for something greater than themselves. BACK

1. I’m Carla. I’m an office manager, but I hate predictability. I need variety. I like the problem-solving side to my job, but wish I had a job where I could take more risks. I hate paperwork. I’m a hands-on person. Yesterday, I repaired the air conditioner instead of working on the schedule! 2. I’m Max. I’m about to finish college, but I wish I weren’t. People say I have my head in the clouds, but I’d stay in school forever if I could! Since I have to work, I’d like a job where I could work independently, with theories and ideas. 3. Hello, my name’s Lauren. I work in a day-care center. For the most part, I like being in charge of children, but I wish I’d taken a job where I could be in charge of adults. I tend to be future-oriented. Ten years from now, maybe I’ll be teaching adults how to work with kids. I’m confident that with my strong communication skills, I NEXT could do it.

4. I’m Rob. I work at a busy restaurant, but I wish I’d never taken this job. If I hadn’t, I’d have written a lot more music, which is what I love to do. I wish I had a slow-paced job somewhere beautiful, where I could use my creative talents. 5. I’m Jenny. I’m a project manager at a computer company. I do scheduling, which I generally hate. The only thing I’d like to plan is the company party—I love being the center of attention, and I know how to have fun! I wish they’d hired me in human resources, where I could use my great people skills. BACK

1. I have compatible friends, but not roommates. My roommates and I have conflicts because of our totally incompatible personalities and lifestyles. If we had compatible interests, we would get along better. 2. I like predictable situations, and I hate unpredictable events. Some people might think I’m boring. That’s a predictable reaction! But I don’t care. I prefer to hang out with other predictable people like me. 3. The underlying problem for most couples is poor communication. But there can be other underlying situations too, such as lack of trust. A psychologist can help couples to learn about their underlying issues. 4. My sister, who loves to travel, thrives on adventure and excitement. She worked in China for two years. Sometimes it was difficult since she didn’t know the language. Fortunately, she also thrives on uncertainty and conflict. BACK