UNIT 2 MORALS AND VIRTUES

• Unit 2 explores morals and virtues
• Virtues include friendship, hope, giving, generosity, and kindness.
• A moral dilemma is a situation with two or more difficult choices, where choosing one may cause trouble for not choosing others.

Moral Dilemma Conversation

• Jane discusses a moral dilemma where a girl is taking an entrance examination for Beijing.
• During the exam, the student next to her fainted.
• The girl's choices are to help the student or to continue with her exam.
• Helping the student could mean failing the exam.
• Continuing with the exam could mean the student will not get help, but the girl can pass
• Jane is eager to share the magazine article with Luke.
• Luke doubts that young people face moral dilemmas all the time.
• Jane admires what the girl in the story did.
• Luke doesn't believe anybody would do what the girl in the story did.
• Jane wonders how the girl became a doctor later.
• Good friends should help each other, but it doesn't mean you should help him cheat!

Lin Qiaozhi

• The text then presents information on Lin Qiaozhi, a compassionate doctor
• According to Lin Qiaozhi, nothing is more precious than one's life, and she cannot refuse the trust of someone who entrusts her with their life, saying she's cold, hungry, or tired.
• From age 18, instead of following a traditional path of marriage, Lin chose to study medicine.
• She graduated from Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) with the Wenhai Scholarship, the highest prize given to graduates.
• She became the first woman ever to be hired as a resident physician in the OB-GYN department of the PUMC Hospital.
• Within six months, she was named a chief resident physician, a position that usually took four years to achieve.
• Dr Lin rejected an offer to stay in the US, due to wanting to serve the women and children at home.
• In 1941, Dr Lin became the first Chinese woman ever to be appointed director of the OB-GYN department of the PUMC Hospital.
• When the department was closed because of the war, Dr Lin opened a private clinic and charged very low fees to treat patients
• She was even seen riding a donkey to faraway villages to provide medical care.
• Elected as one of the first National People's Congress representatives in 1954.
• Lin was more interested in tending patients, publishing medical research on care for women and children, and training the next generation of doctors than holding a higher position.
• Known as the "mother of ten thousand babies”, having delivered over 50,000 babies in her lifetime.
• Dr Lin did not retire until the day she died, 22 April 1983.
• She left her savings to a kindergarten and a fund for new doctors.

The Stone in the Road (Moral Story)

• The king wanted to teach them if goodness could come from a nation whose people only complain and expect others to solve their problems.
• He placed a stone in the middle of the main street and hid gold coins under the stone.
• The milkman crashed into the stone and spilled the milk and shouted about the stone.
• After a while, a group of women came along, each balancing a pot of water on her head.
• One woman tripped over the stone and her water pot went crashing to the ground.
• The king watched all day as many people complained about the stone, but he found nobody making an attempt to move it.
• A young girl coming along pushed the stone with all her might and finally succeeded in moving it to the side of the street.
• After pushing the stone she noticed the gold coins where the stone had been!
• The king gave the gold to the girl because she was the only person who has learned the lesson that he wanted to teach his people.

Confucius

• Confucius' teachings are all about the most basic aspects of life.
• He stated that Ren was the most important moral principle. Confucius said, "Whatever you don't like done to yourself, don't do it to others"
• Confucian thought is still greatly valued in China and in other East/Southeast Asian countries.
• Confucius taught Zigong that the one single concept to take as a guide for all actions in life is fairness.