Book one

Unit Three Understanding Science

  1. Objectives:
  2. Grasp the main idea (measures should be taken to help the public understand science to ensure the survival of the human civilization) and the structure of the text (Part one----from paragraph One to Three, Part two----from paragraph four to six, Part three----paragraph 7).
  3. Grasp the main language points and grammatical structures in the text.
  4. Appreciate the style difference between narrative writing and expository writing.
  5. Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking, and writing activities centered upon the theme of the unit.
  6. Time Allotment:

One period for pre-reading tasks, two periods for while reading tasks and two periods for post reading. (Debate, exercises, students’ home reading and theme-related language tasks).

  1. Text Analysis:
  2. ask the students the following questions:
  3. What do you think of science?
  4. How does science change our world?
  5. In order to ensure that science is developing in the right direction, what do we need to do?
  6. Teacher concludes students’ answers by saying “Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

Science has certainly changed our life, brought benefits to some and hardships to others. For example, television provides people with quick and easy access to information, education, entertainment, etc. But it also exposes children to violence, deprives families of time and the will to communicate with each other. For another example, computer has provided some with the comfort of working from home while at the same time throwing others out of work as their jobs are outmoded. In the future changes are likely to be even greater as science reaches out to shape like itself. New organisms are already being engineered. New genetically modified crops promise benefits from higher yields and less use of harmful chemicals.

But we cannot be sure that science will only change our lives for the better. Science is neither a potential for good nor for evil. It’s up to us to make changes head towards changing our lives for the better. We have sufficient faith in the good sense of the public to believe that we could ensure that science is developing in the right direction.

  1. While reading tasks:
  2. Teacher explains the structure of the text. Exposition is the process of making a statement and supporting it with evidence, and then supplying a conclusion.
  3. Teachers explains the difference between narration and exposition. Expository writings usually employ longer paragraphs in which there are longer and more involved sentences while narrative writing usually involves shorter and simpler sentences. For the purpose of objectivity, third person narration is often adopted in exposition while narration writing does not. Besides, sentences in the passive voice appear regularly in expository writing while in narrative writing passive voice is not employed by the author.
  4. Explaining some culture background while explaining the text.
  5. Stephen Hawking (1942-): a British scientist who has greatly influenced people’s ideas on the origins of the universe. He has devoted much of his life to probing the space-time described by general relativity and the singularities where it breaks down. And he’s done most of his work while confined to a wheelchair, brought on by the progressive neurological disease. Hawking is the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Issac Newton. In the 1960s, Hawking proved that if general relativity is true and the universe is expanding, a singularity must have occurred at the birth of the universe. In 1974, he first recognized a truly remarkable property of black holes, objects from which nothing was supposed to be able to escape. He has written the international bestseller A Brief History of Time. The book spent more than four years on the London Sunday Times bestseller list----the longest run for any book in history.
  6. Frankenstein: a novel (1818) by an English writer Mary
  7. Frankenstein who makes a living creature from pieces of dead bodies. The creature is like a man, but stronger, and although it is gentle at first, it later attacks and kills several people close to Frankenstein. There have been many films based on the story and variations of it: Everybody was dressed up as a ghost, a vampire or Frankenstein’s monster.
  8. The Sky at Night (refer to P. 28)
  9. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) (refer to p. 28)
  10. Language Studies:
  11. such…that… and such…as to:

both are used to give a reason or explanation for sth.

e.g.; We are not such fools as to believe him.

  1. in terms of: with regard to the particular aspect or subject specified.

e.g.: Replacing the printers is difficult to justify in terms of cost.

  1. halve:

a. divide into two parts of equal or roughly equal size.

e.g.: They halved the match last Sunday.

b. share something equally with another person.

e.g.: She insisted on halving the bill.

c. reduce or be reduced by half.

e.g.: The new method has halved the production cost.

  1. attitude 5.do without 6. slow down 7.rate 8.informed 9.steady 10.audience

11.basis 12.tend 13.precise 14.entertain 15. convey

(refer to pp.28-34)

VI.Supplementary Reading and Knowledge

  1. The scientific method (Fast Reading)
  2. Can computers replace people? (Fast Reading)
  3. The fun they had (A novel)

(refer to Fast Reading, Unit three)

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