新视界第二册第二单元讲稿

Unit Two A Sporting Chance
Ⅰ. Lead in
Ask Ss to stand one by one and tell the class of their last sporting activity. For example: My last sporting activity was two years ago. I played ping-pong with a roommate and I am happy to tell you that I beat her—though to be honest, she usually beats me. It was really good exercise.
Ⅱ. Active Reading: Sport in Ancient Greece and China
1.Background information
Ancient Greece is well-known for its love of sport. Young men in the ancient Greek cities spent a lot of time exercising in open areas for sporting activities, called gymnasia, plural of gymnasium. There were a number of famous games. Of course, the Olympic Games which took place at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, are the ones best remembered nowadays. Winners in the athletic tournaments and various forms of racing were greatly honored as can be seen in the many surviving ancient poems on the subject. Greek art also shows the importance of sport to the culture with many status of discus throwers, charioteers and athletes. The passage discusses how similar things were ancient China.
2.Main idea of the passage
The writer suggests that all human cultures value sport as a way of keeping fit and training for war. Just as the ancient Greeks included sporting activities in their myths and legends, used sport to train for battle, danced as a way of keeping physically fit and regarded sport as part of a good education, so did the ancient Chinese. Chinese culture has long valued sport and it is not all surprising that China is such a keen participant in the modern Olympic movement.
3. New words
①exchange n. a situation in which people give each other information or discuss their ideas and opinions 交流
e.g. I met Sara on a Spanish cultural exchange.
vt. to give someone something in return for something that they give you 交流，交换
e.g.We exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch with each other.
②fundamental a.
essential to the existence, development, or success of something 必不可少的，十分重要的
e.g. The Internet is playing a fundamental role in our life today.
③temporary a. existing, done, or used for only a limited period of time 暂时的，临时的
e.g. I’m living with my parents, but it’s only temporary.
④substitute n. (～for)something that is used instead of something else代替品，代替物
e.g. Feeling sorry for someone is no substitute for love.
vt. to use something new or different instead of what is normally used 替代，代替
e.g. A lot of small companies had to fight for survival.
⑤efficiency n.the ability to work well and produce good results by using the available time, money, supplies etc in the most effective way 效率
e.g. There are many ways to increase agricultural efficiency in the poorer areas of the world.
⑥award vt. to give someone a prize or other reward because they have achieved something 授予
e.g. He did very well and was awarded top prize.
⑦rid a.(get～of) to do something so that you stop being affected by something annoying, unpleasant, or not wanted 摆脱，除去
e.g. He opened the windows to get rid of the smell.
⑧mood n. the way someone is feeling, for example whether they are happy, sad, or angry 心情，心境
e.g. He was in a bad mood this morning.
⑨ritual n. ⑪a formal ceremony
e.g. The local people still follow the ancient wedding rituals.
⑫ something you do regularly and always in the same way 惯例,例行公事
e.g. Their meetings become a weekly ritual.
⑩embrace vt.
⑪to completely accept something such as a new belief, idea, or way of life
e.g. We hope these religions will embrace democratic reforms.
⑫To put your arms around someone to show love or friendship
e.g. Jack warmly embraced his son.
4. Language points
1. have sth. in common: to have the same feature with someone or something else
e.g. The two games have much in common.
2. bear comparison with: vt.比得上(不亚于)
e.g. The language of the playground bears little comparison with the language of books.
3. I t is true that in the ancient period, the Silk Road served as a channel …from Greece to China. Yet sport appears to pl ay….(Para 2)
Ancient China could have been influenced by ancient Greece ideas on sport with the help of the Silk Road. However, it is more probable that sport was important as a natural result of human activities and played a key role in all aspects of human life. 4. In due course: at some time in the future when it is the right time, but not before.( Line 13,Para 4)
5. be called into play: to become useful, to be made good use of, to come into action
6. Thus, the origin of sport appears to lie in human instinct, and not in human invention.(Line23,Para4)
Many aspects of sport arose before civilization; it shows that sport comes from man’s basic nature is not a product of culture.
7. they knew that greater physical strength would allow them to use the tools with greater efficiency.(Line 7,Para4)
they knew that if they are strong enough they can use the tools more efficiently.
8. So is it surprising that China should embrace modern Olympic ideals which were deeply rooted in ancient Greek society?
You might think it would be hard for China to understand the Olympic Games as they were the product of an entirely different culture, but the history of sport in China is very similar to that of sport in ancient Greece. So it is easy for China to appreciate the ideas behind the Olympic Games. They are not new or strange.
5. Exercise (from p29-p31)
Ⅲ.Language in use
①would 的用法
②wherever and whenever 的用法
③all/ some/many of which/whom 的用法
④it is surprising/strange/curious etc+ that…should… 句型
Ⅳ Further Reading: Survival of the fittest
1. Main idea of the passage
The writer of the passage is out running when something a women jogger says starts him reflecting about his sporting life. After a childhood without interest in sport, he took up running at the university and found, as he ran longer distances, that he could think more clearly when out on a run. One day, he recalls, he came across the great biologist, Charles Darwin’s house on a run and found himself suddenly able to understand the theory of evolution. Usually he ran alone, but on one occasion he found himself with other runners and discovered he could easily outrun them. But shortly after that, he was badly injured in a skiing accident and was for a time unable to run. He would not, however, accept the situation and step by step got himself fit enough to join a marathon race and did well in it. The passage ends with the writer effortlessly running past the woman jogger.
2.New words
①stretch n.(～of)an area of land or water
e.g. The village lay across a narrow stretch of water.
vt. to pull something to make it longer or wider
e.g. I’ll have to get these shoes stretched.
②enthusiasm n. the feeling of being very interested in something or excited by it
e.g. They go about their tasks with great enthusiasm.
③perception n.
⑪a particular way of understanding or thinking about something
e.g. Children’s perceptions of the world are quite different about something.
⑫ the ability to notice something by seeing, hearing, smelling etc.
e.g. Visual perception is a function of our eyes and brain.
④involve vt.
1 to something that you expect or know is going to happen in the future, or the
thought of this
She got nervous at the prospect of seeing his parents.
2 the possibility that something will happen, especially something good
He sees no prospect of things getting improved here.
⑤improvement n. the state of being better than before, or the process of making something better than it was before
e.g. There’s been a big improvement in the relationship between the two countries.
⑥ accelerate
vi. if a vehicle accelerate, it moves faster
e.g. The car suddenly accelerated and overtook us.
v. to happen or make something happen at a faster rate
e.g. The decline of her health seemed to suddenly accelerate.
⑦privilege n.
⑪something nice that you feel lucky to have
e.g. It has been a privilege to be involved in such an interesting project.
⑫ a special benefit that is given only to a particular person or group
e.g. Cheap air travel is one of the privileges of working for the airline.
⑧ depressed a. very unhappy because of a difficult or unpleasant situation that you feel you cannot change
e.g. She was very depressed about losing her job.
Ⅳ Language points
1 She started to run with more vertical movement than horizontal (Line3, Para 1)
The lady is kick jumping as she jogs, a technique used in fitness training by lifting the knees very high when one runs. It can look rather amusing to onlookers.
2 when I started to run, I would have a problem to solve, a mental challenge to face, a string of thought in knots (Line 5, Para 4)
A string of thoughts in knots: this is a metaphorical use which refers to complex problems. The writer finds that he thinks more clearly when he runs and can sort the problems out. Metaphorically he can untie mental knots.
3 with the raised perception of an oxygen-filled brain, I understand what Darwin had revealed to the world(Line 7, Para5)
The physical activity which makes the heart beat faster fills the blood stream with extra oxygen. The writer feels this makes his thoughts much clearer and sharper.
4 of course, as they say, pride comes before a fall(Line 1,Para 7)
Pride comes before a fall: it is a famous wise saying which means when we start feeling how good we are, something will happen to punish us.
5 B ut it didn’t make me feel especially good to beat everyone. It was just like ticking something off a list of things to do
Running faster than anyone else did not give me any special pleasure. Showing I could win a race was just something I hadn’t done before and ought to experience.
6 The fact that I complete the race in an honorable time of three hours gave me only slight pleasure.
It is not a great winning time, but it is a good time which no one could criticize as the
writer had encountered a serious accident
7 I waited five seconds and then accelerated past her with a serious of long, lazy strides.
The writer easily overtook the woman even though he was running far below his top speed. His slow running was far faster than the woman’s jogging.
8 I wasn’t bothered if she was impressed, it was simply a privilege to be fit. (Line 6, Para 10)
I was not showing off and wanting the woman to admire me, I was simply enjoying being fit and healthy.
ⅤExercise (p36-37)
Homework: write a composition the title can be “My favorite sport” or “a sports meeting in our university” at least 100 words.。