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Unit 2 READING 2

W hat do you do when you are faced with a bad situation? In fact, your
mind has ways of dealing with an unpleasant reality and protecting
you. One of them is *displacement. It is expressing your feelings somewhere
else. (a) For example, you might get angry at your teacher. (b) But you know
you will get in trouble if you express your feelings to him or her. (c) You
become angry at your family or friends. (d) Denial is another common way
to protect yourself from pain. This is when you refuse to see any problems
or bad situations. You believe that they are not real. Finally, there is a “sour
grapes defense.” In one of Aesop’s fables, a hungry fox wanted to have some
grapes. But they were hanging high on the tree, and he could not reach
them. Then he said to himself, “The grapes are probably sour anyway!”

* displacement: a shift of feelings from their original target to another

English Usage

• be faced with : to have to deal with a difficult situation that affect you
They are faced with the choice between war and peace.

• get in trouble : to be in a situation with a lot of problems
Colin didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to get in trouble.

64 Chapter 3 Humanities