Have youhad a crushon someone? Has the image of someone lingered in your mind? If your answer is yes, love is creeping into your heart, and here are questions for you to debate with yourself-How does love differ from like?Also, how to remain affection in a relationship?
“How do you know whether you love someone or just really, really like them?” asked Karen Tay, the amateur writer shared in her blog. It seems that Karen was stuck with this same problem that most of us have in spite of the fact that she has had plenty experiences of dating with guys. Meanwhile, she used the savor of tea as a metaphor to express how the answers of this question might be varieddepends onindividualpreferences. Finally she turned to her parents who have the longest relationship she has ever met for clearing these different degrees of fondness.

During the conversations, when Karen’s Dad shared his personal views through authenticlessons rather than old school teaching, there were times he had to pause to hold back his emotions for smoothing his voice as recalling some specific occasions. Briefly, afterdialoguing with her father, Karen concluded that love is a decision you make to sacrifice for someone. Apart from that, love itself involvesa certain degree of

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*amateur[`AmJ:tSur]adj. 業餘的

blog[blaq]n. 網誌

*savor [`sevK]n.滋味

*metaphor[`mEtJfK]n.暗喻;隱喻

varied [`vErId]adj.各種各樣的;形形色色的

*authentic[O`HEntIk]adj.真正的;真品的

occasion[J`kejJn]n.場合;時刻

have a crush on 暗戀

apart from that 除此之外

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trustto ensure the relationship. Although like is a crucial foundation of love, the commitmentyou made out of love will not be taken away while the passion of like towards your spouse is likely to fade away by time. Additionally, how to make sure that we are in love, not just having like plus illusion? Check your heart for this following question-areyou willing to look after your boy/girl friend in the rest of your life if s/he isparalyzed?
Besides realizing true love is a compromise, in reality we still have obstacles to overcomeforhaving fair communication with the other half. Wonderfully, the author of the Five Languages, Dr. Gary Chapman, an experienced counselor, in his book revealed the secret to love that lasts.

Dr. Chapman has successfully warmed up the marriages that were at the edge of freezing pointby helping couples discover their love languages out of these five categories-“words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.” Plus, language is the device one uses to express oneself. Thus, if you do not first realize the way your spouse show love, it is unlikely that your spouse would understand your heart, let alone seeing how much you love him/her. Ultimately, for showing love and reverence, the best way is to communicate in the same language with your objectives.

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*crucial[`kruSJl]adj.至關重要的;關鍵性的

compromise[`kJmprJ:mZIz]n.妥協;折衷;
互讓;和解

fair[fEr]adj. 相當好的;不錯的

*affirmation[:AfK`meSJn]n.斷言;肯定

*ultimately [`VltJmItlI]adv.最終;最後

freezing point 冰點

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Graphic Organizer

I. True or False:Mark T for a true statement and F for a false statement.

1.Karen asked what love is because she was dumped by a boy.

2.Karen’s parents were teachers.

3.Love is doing something you do not like for the one whom you love.

4.Dr. Gary Chapman is a professor.

5.The five languages are Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Portuguese.

II. Multiple Choice:Choose the best answer based on the reading.

1.What did Karen do to earn a living?
(A) She earned a living by writing books.
(B) There is no clear indication in the passage.
(C) She was a student then.
(D) She made a living by posting papers on the Net.

2.What does the underlined word “individual” in paragraph 2 mean?
(A) Personal.
(B) Same.
(C) Professional.
(D) Joyful.

3.What does the underlined word “paralyzed” in paragraph 3 mean?
(A) A person who has had a car accident.
(B) A person who cannot talk suddenly.
(C) One who would attempt suicide if she/he is rejected by others.
(D) One who could no longer move and has to be in bed.

4.Which of the following statements is true?

(A) Karen once left home for boys, but she returned to her parents.

(B) Karen’s parents were divorced and remarried again.

(C) Dr. Chapman does not like iced tea or coffee.

(D) A counselor is one whom people turn to for finding solutions of problems.

5.What can we infer from this passage?

(A) True love is that you do not do things you like.

(B) People have to speak at least five languages of other nations so as to love someone.

(C) Genuine love means we have to say sweet words to, spent much time with, buy gifts for, serve, and hug people all the time.

(D) Love means you do not change your mind of loving someone when you are angry at him/her.

III. Match the Words:Fill in the blanks using the following words.

ultimatelycompromisemetaphoraffection

variouscrushcommitmentcrucial

doesn’t keep long. is hard to remain. is easy to say but when it comes to, we are all learning to hold on what we believe. Here is a song I used to sing in my teenhood on the purpose of obtaining the meaning of love and learning how to love one another through the lyrics: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” As years went by, I have been through some points in relationships; now that the expression of the song is not a to me anymore and I have comprehended the meaning of genuine and profound love through this song.

主題閱讀文章中譯:

是喜歡還是愛?

你有暗戀的人嗎?是否有某人的身影流連在你的腦海裡呢?如果你的答案是肯定的,那麼愛已悄悄爬上你的心頭了,那接下來有兩個問題值得你思索─愛和喜歡有何不同呢?又如何在一段關係中維持愛慕彼此之情?
凱倫,一個業餘的作家在她的部落格提出這個問題:「如何分辨你是否愛上某人或你只是真的真的很喜歡他們而已?」儘管有過多次交往的經驗,凱倫似乎也正為我們大部分的人都質疑的問題所困惑著。同時她也使用每人品茶滋味的不同喜好,做了一個譬喻來表達這問題是很難有唯一正確的答案。最後她決定去詢問一對在她所認識的人中擁有最長遠關係的一對配偶─就是她自己的父母親,來揭開不同程度愛意的神秘面紗。在凱倫和她父親的對話當中,他用他親身經歷所學到的非老學究的教導來回答凱倫的問題。其中,當他回想起過去幾個特定的事件時,他一度得暫停和海倫的對話來平息他的情緒,好讓他能平順的繼續說下去。簡而言之,海倫與父親討論完後,她針對此議題做了一個結論:「愛是一個下定決心為某人犧牲的決定。」此外,愛本身涵概了一定程度的信任以確保一段關係。雖然喜歡是愛一個人的關鍵基礎,但當喜歡配偶的熱情隨著時間褪去之時,以愛為出發點所做的承諾是帶不走的。
還有,我們該如何確定是否已愛上某人而不是只是喜歡加上幻想而已呢?提供一個訣竅讓你參考─以你的真心回答以下的問題─如果你的約會對象癱瘓了,你會願意照顧他一輩子嗎?
除了瞭解到真愛是一種彼此的相互妥協之外,為了和另一半持續好的溝通,現實生活中仍有一些障礙是需要被克服的。很棒地!一個經驗豐富的諮商師Chapman博士寫了一本書叫《五種語言》。書中他透露了可以讓愛持續不變的祕訣。
Chapman博士曾藉由幫助無數對的配偶從這五種愛的語言中找出他們各自的語言,而成功地讓許多面臨冰點的婚姻關係再次點燃熱情。這五種愛的語言是:肯定的話語、美好的相處時光、收到禮物、服務及身體接觸。再說,語言是一種用來表達自我的想法的方式。因此,如果你沒先弄懂你的配偶或女友表達愛的方式,她是不可能會了解你對她的心意的,更別期待對方要體會到你是多麼的愛他或她了。最後,為了表達對他人的愛意或敬意,最好的方式是和你的心儀對象用相同愛的語言溝通。

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