高级英语教案 Book1 Unit3

Unit Three Ships in the Desert
Teaching Object: English majors of junior year
Time: 8 periods
Teaching Aims:
·To enable students to get better understanding of the text
·To help students learn to use new words and useful expressions in the text ·To enable students learn to paraphrase some complicated sentences
·To enable students to learn the use of rhetoric devices in the text
·To help students appreciate the techniques of argumentative writing
·To arouse students’ awareness of enviromental protection
Teaching Focus:
·Background Information
·Language points and expressions
·Main idea summarizing
·Figures of speech
·Writing practice
Teaching Difficulties:
·Appreciation of argumentative writing style
·Paraphrasing some sentences
·Identifying figures of speech
·Translating some sentences
Teaching Procedures:
·Background information
·Question to ponder
·Structural analysis
·Detailed study of the text
·Writing skills
·Exercises
Time Allocation：8 periods, 360minutes
·Background information (45 minutes)
·Intensive study of the text (225 minutes)
·Exercise (90 minutes)
I. Background Information
AL Gore: born in I948 in Washington D.C., U.S. Senator (1984-1992) from the State of Tennessee, and U.S. Vice-President (1992-2000) under President Bill Clinton. He failed to won the great presidential election in 2000 with a controversial results. Some people say his failure was, to a large extent, a result of the negative effects of Clinton's scandal. But more people are convincing that he will win next time. He is the author of the book Earth in the Balance from which this piece is taken.
Global warming: the earth is getting warmer due to the heat from gas in industry, and surfs heat accumulated because of too many man-made pollutants. The
temperature of the earth's atmosphere and its surface is steadily rising. The global warming is a great concern to our present environmental problems. It is a result of the greenhouse effect in which man-made pollutants in the atmosphere (carbon dioxide, carbon oxide---waste gas from factories and cars, etc,) trap heat at the surface of the earth. The warming of global warming will speed up the disappearance of glacier on both polar regions, increase of desert on earth's surface and unbearable heat in the summer, imposing a great danger to the living condition on Earth.
II. Questions to Ponder
1. Pre-reading Questions (optional)
1) What does "ships in the desert" originally refer to? (camels) Can we find ships in the desert? Where is the desert mentioned here and how did it come from?
2) From this title, what do you think the author is going to discuss in the text? (environmental problems) How does the title relate to the theme of the whole text? (a starting point to discuss the world environmental crisis, not just in Aral Sea, but all around the world)
3) What proofs does the text mention in presenting the environmental crisis around the world? (desert in Aral Sea, core ice sample from the Trans-Antarctic Mountain -- North Pole, air measurement in the South pole, thinning ice in Arctic Ocean, deforestation in the equator in Brazil, the "noctilucent cloud" in high northern latitudes areas. )
4) What does the author think cause all these environmental destruction? And what is the solution he suggests?
5) What is the main theme of this text?
III. Structural analysis
1) Section 1: Para 1 --- Para 8: Presenting readers with environmental problems we are experiencing.
proofs/examples to show the global environmental crisis due to the
humankind's assault on the earth.
Para 1: Desert in the Aral Sea---the new shoreline was almost forty kilometers across the sand from where the fishing fleet was now permanently docked; canning fish shipped from the Pacific Ocean more than a thousand miles away.
Para 2: core ice sample from Trans-Antarctic Mountains---moved his fingers back in time to the ice of two decades ago; the Clean Air Act, even a small reduction in one country's emissions had changed the amount of pollution found in the remotest and least accessible place on earth.
Para 3: industrial revolution caused the atmosphere, air measurement in South.Pole
Para 4-5: polar ice cap in Arctic Ocean is thinning as a result of global warming, which will bring disastrous consequences.
Para 6: billowing clouds of smoke regularly blacken the sky; the rain forest burned to create pasture for fast-food beef, we are silencing thousands of songs we have never even heard.
Para 7-8: The noctilucent cloud in high northern latitudes---ghostly sky, because of a huge buildup of methane gas in the atmosphere; adding to the threat of global warming.
2)Section 2 (can also be grouped into section 3): Paragraph 9--- Transitional paragraph by way of raising question.
We have all witnessed our assault on the environment. Our present response to environmental destruction is puzzling, but no massive effort to save it. Why?
3) Section 3: Paragraph 10-16 ---what to do with the problems?
The author's suggestion on how to classify environmental problems and to find the real cause of these problems so as to respond appropriately.
Para 10: reason to classify the problems and to organize our thoughts and feelings
Para 11: introduction on how to classify military conflict--- local/regional/ strategic.
Para 12: how to classify environmental destructions
Para 13-14: two examples to show what is a strategic environmental problem.- chlorine and global warming
Para 15: To think strategically about our new relationship to the environment. Human civilization has usually had a large impact on the environment.
Para 16: Human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment. (topic sentence in Para 16)
4) Section 4: Para 17---To solve the global environmental crises by trying to building up a new relationship between human civilization and environment Para 17---20: two dramatic changes (population and scientific technology) has brought us a new relationship to the Earth.
Para 21: The new relationship between the Earth and human civilization is a common cause to environmental problem
Para 22: Analysis of the new change relationship with the environment.
(first.,.., second....)
Para 23---25: example of nuclear weapon in changing the way we think about war and the relationship between states.
Para 26: A solution to the global environmental crisis---reinventing and finally healing the relationship between civilization and the Earth.
The whole text follows the organization of 1..raise problems; 2. analyze the problem (find the cause); 3. find a solution to the problems.
This is also the typical structure of a argumentation.
IV. Detailed study of the text
1. I was standing . .. on a good day
1) in the sun: in the sunlight, as opposed to in the shade
2) capable of: having the ability of
3) to process: to prepare by a special method
4) catch: the amount caught
5) on a good day: good here means satisfying
6) capable of processing a fifty-ton catch on a good day: having the ability of cleaning and preparing for marketing or canning 50 tons of fish caught on a productive day 2. But it wasn't a good day.
It refers to the day I was there.
3. the prospects of a good catch looked bleak
l) bleak: not promising or hopeful
2) it was riot at all possible to have a good catch, to catch a large amount of fish
3 ) This is obviously an understatement because with sand all around there was no chance of catching fish, to say nothing of catching a lot of fish.
4. Where there should have been.., there was ...
1) Pay attention to the structure. The implication is that once there were gentle waves lapping against the side of the ship but there were none now. Instead, in the place of the waves there were stretches of sand.
2) lap: to strike gently with a light, splashing sound
3) in all direction: everywhere
5. The other ships . .. to the horizon
1) How could the other ships be at rest in the sand?
The other ships were also anchored in the original coast but now water had turned into sand therefore they were surrounded by sand and could not move.
2) dune: a rounded hill or ridge of sand heaped up by the action of the wind
3) that stretched . .. to the horizon: that extended as far as the eye could see; that extended to the far off place where the sky meets the earth
6. Why is the Aral disappearing?
It is becoming smaller and smaller because the water that used to flow into the sea has been turned away to irrigate the land created in the desert to grow cotton. The scheme was an ill-conceived one because it failed to take into consideration the ecological effect.
7. My research for ... destruction
1) Why did he travel around the world?
He travelled around the world because he wanted to see, check and study cases of such destruction in order to find out the basic causes behind the environmental crisis.
2)image: typical example
8. But the most significant …ever since
1) thus far: up to this time
2) pick up speed: develop in an accelerated speed; become faster
3) ever since: from then until now
9. Industry meant…warm the earth
1) industry meant coal: the development of industry meant the use of large amount of coal as fuel to generate power
2) it: standing for coal and later oil
3) rising level: the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grew
10. upwind from the ice runway… that inexorable change
1) upwind: in the direction from which the wind is blowing or usually blows ,
2) ice runway: runway is a strip of paved ground for use by air planes in taking off
and landing, and here in the South Pole the runway is a strip of ice ground
3) ski plane: an airplane with skis instead of wheels for landing and taking off in the snow
4) Why are the engines of the plane kept running?
Because the pilot fears that if he stops the engines, the metal parts would be frozen solid and the engines would not be able to start again.
11. and then I was standing…sheets collide
1) eerily: mysteriously or uncannily, esp. in such a way as to frighten or disturb
2) windswept: swept by or exposed to winds
3) with the horizon defined by little hummocks: with the stretch of ice field characterized by small ridges
4) How are these hummocks formed?
When separate layers of ice, broad in extent, strike violently against each other, ice is pushed up into ridges by the force of the collision.
12. As the polar air ... could be disastrous
1) polar cap: the polar region of ice
2) to thin: to make or become thin or thinner
3) could be: note the use of modal verb. Here "could be" indicates possibility.
13. Considering such scenarios ... exercise
1) scenario: an outline for any proposed or planned series of events, real or imagined
2) Thinking about how a series of events might happen as a consequence of the
thinning of the polar cap is not just a kind of practice in conjecture (speculation), it has got practical value.
14. Six months . . . last decade
l) the pattern of ice distribution: the regular way ice is distributed
2) a still controversial al claim: a statement which some scientists still do not completely accept
3) which a variety of data now suggest: data coming from different sources point to this conclusion
4) overall: in general
15. whether . . . of waste: whether it is the fact that recently there are more hot days when the temperature is over 100 degrees F, or the fact that the sun burns our skin more quickly in recent times, or the fact that the debate over the way of disposing of the growing amount of waste matter comes up more frequently
16. But our response ... puzzling: but our reaction to these signals is so baffling that it is difficult to understand
17. Why haven't ... environment?: Why haven't we started a large scale movement to save our environment?
18. to come at the question another way: to approach the question in a different way; to put the question differently
19. Why do ... effectively? : Why do some symbols so alarm us that we immediately take action and concentrate on ways of dealing with them effectively?
20. And why do ... distraction?
l) equally dramatic: as striking as (the other images)
2) paralysis: partial or complete loss; inability to act
3) convenient distraction: handy and easy to get diversion
4) And why do other symbols, though sometimes no less striking, only cause a kind of loss and inactivity and we concentrate our attention not on the ways to deal with them but instead, on .some other substitutes which are easy to get and less painful? 21. it may be . . . appropriately: it may he useful to arrange them into different groups, thus getting our thoughts and feelings straightened out so that we will be able to take the most suitable action
22. a sudden and startling ... makes up the earth
1) a sudden and startling surge in human population: a sudden big and shocking increase in the world's population
2) with the addition ... every ten years: every ten years the newly-added population will equal the population of China; every ten years, one more China' s population will be added to the population of the world
3) worth: equal in size or number
4) a sudden acceleration . .. revolution: the scientific and technological revolution suddenly develops more rapidly
5) which has allowed ... the world around us: which has increased our power to influence the world around us to such a degree that can hardly be conceived
6) physical matter: material substance
23. when viewed in a historical context: when we look at the matter from a historical point of view
24. Now, in the course of . .. halfway there
1) in the course of our human lifetime: during the life span of an individual
2) mine: referring to my lifetime
3) it is already more than half way there: the world population is already more than half of that figure
25. Like the population . . . exponentially
1) pick up speed: increase speed; gain speed
2) ongoing: continuing; that is actually in process
3) exponential: of or relating to an exponent
26. The problem is ... the environment: What is involved is a matter of human relations with nature, rather than how mankind will affect nature.
27. As a result ... ecological system: As a result, if we want to solve the problem, we will have to carefully weigh and determine how important that relationship is and how important is the complicated interconnection among factors "inside human society and between these factors and the main natural parts of global ecological system.
28. There is ... to our thinking : There is only one example in the past which posed similar demand on us for a change in our way of looking at things.
79. The invention… for warfare itself
1) subsequent: following in time or order
2) forced a slow and painful! recognition: (the situation) compelled us to accept as a
fact gradually and with difficulty
3) thus acquired: come to be possessed in this way
4) institution of warfare: practice of armed conflict
29. That sobering ... such a war
1) that sobering realization: once you know how serious and terrible a nuclear war will be, you become more clear-headed, more balanced in your reasoning and judgment
2) the prospect of such a war: the expected outcome of such a war
30. may well tear away . . . in warfare: can suitably dispose of the wrong thinking people entertain which have made them fail to see the change in the nature of armed conflict
32. genetic engineering: 基因工程
33. a simplistic notion at best: an oversimplified view even under the most favorable interpretation; at most a view which makes complex problems unrealistically simple 34. What, according to the author, should he the real solution?
The real solution lies in a careful reconsideration of all the factors leading to the dramatic change which now poses a threat and the adoption of a new approach towards man' s relationship with nature. In other words, a change in man's thinking, in man's concept on the relationship, is the most important thing.
V.Writing skills
Argumentation Writing Techniques
An argumentation tries to make the reader agree with its point of view and support it, to persuade him to change his mind or behavior, and to approve a policy or a course of action that it proposes. Speeches on policies, editorials of newspapers, articles on political or theoretical question, and various proposals are often argumentative. Argumentation frequently makes use of the other three types of writing---description, narration, and above all exposition, for argumentation and exposition are very closely related----argumentation is actually exposition with the additional purpose of convincing or persuading.
A good argumentation needs to have
1. a debatable point---a point mostly inappropriately shared by some people.
2. sufficient evidence---facts speak louder than words.
3.good logic---facts and reasons are logically connected with conclusion.
4. clear logic--- a good argumentation includes 3 parts: introduction, body and the conclusion.
5. integrated use of other writing styles: description, narration, and especially the various methods of exposition (illustration, cause & effect, comparison & contrast, division an classification
6. An honest and friendly attitude: ---The force of an argument does not come from abuse, sarcasm, exaggeration, or fierce attacks, but from solid evidence, logical reasoning, and careful analysis. Take care that you neither overstate or understate and avoid overuse of such words and phrase as "perhaps", "maybe", sometimes", "most often", "nearly always", "i think", or "in my opinion".
In an argumentation, all or some of the techniques are adopted simultaneously in a passage so as to make your argumentation to be more convincing. The point in an argumentation is that you need to make the potential readers believe what you present and proclaim in the writing are undeniable facts and a reasonable and scientific viewpoint.
VI. Assignment:
1)Going through some exercise in the text.
2)Oral work: Discussing the relationship between economic development and
enviromental protection
3)Choose one of the following topics and write an argumentation in around 1000 wards.
Live to Work or Work to live
Cosmetics Make a Woman (Clothes Make a Man)
Modest Gift Is More Desirable
Is Wealth of Position a Sign of Success
Internet, for or against。