全新版《大学英语》教案

课程名称： 大学英语（一级） 专业： 本校05普通本科 年级： 2005

学年： 2005-2006

学期： 第一学期

任课教师：全新版《大学英语》板块任课教师

Course Schedule

Aims:

1. Developing Ss’ ability of independent learning to be automatic learners.

2. Enhancing Ss’ ability in using English: improving Ss’ five micro-skills— listening,

speaking, reading, writing, translation — especially listening and speaking so that they can communicate in spoken and written English.

Required course materials:

1. College English (Book 1)

— Integrated Curse, Listening and Speaking Course, Reading Course

Note: Reading Course book is used as Ss’ self-access material.

2. One Dictionary:

Teaching and Learning:

1. Keep in mind that it is YOU who have to study to improve your English. If you do not study

by yourself, there is no use in coming to class. In other words, just listening to the teacher and other students in class does not help you improve your English.

2. Be well prepared when you come to class. It is of great importance for you to preview the

course materials before class according to the course schedule. If not, you’ll find it very difficult to follow the class.

3. Class participation is vital. You should actively join in pair work or group discussion and do

oral presentation before class.

4. It is important to turn in any assignments by the due date. If you know that you have a

circumstance which will makes it impossible for you to turn in your assignment by the due date, you can and should come to consult with me about your problem beforehand.

5. Your essays should be done in a loose-leaf notebook so as to hand in your assignments by a

loose paper.

6. Since attendance/absence is part of evaluation, keep in mind that your absence will reduce

your evaluation.

Useful English Learning Resources:

Magazines: English Language Learning, College English, English Salon, English Weekly, The world of English, English Digest, Overseas English

Newspaper: 21st Century, China Daily

Websites: (英语比萨园地); (听力快车); (普特英语听力); (英文写作网); (旺旺英语); .cn (中国日报); http://www.guardian.co.uk (英国卫报) (华盛顿邮报)

Unit 1 Writing For Myself

1. 教学目标及基本要求：

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

1) grasp the main idea (the essence of writing is to write what one enjoys writing) and structure of the text (narration in chronological sequence);

2) appreciate the narrative skills demonstrated in the text (selection of details, repetition and the use of synonyms.)

3) master the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

4) conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit.

2. 教学内容及学时分配：

Time allotment:

1st period: pre-reading; text organization

nd2 period: while-reading

3 period: post-reading activities

4 period: reading practice

5th period: speaking

6 period: writing

3. 教学重点及难点：

Important language points in the text:

4. 教学内容的深化及拓宽： ththrd

Students conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing practice to deepen their understanding of the points taught in class.

5. 教学方式及在教学中应注意的问题：

A combination of traditional teaching methods with the communicative approach will be adopted. Special attention should be paid to classroom interaction. Give students time to adapt to the new teaching mode in the university that are quite different from the one they were used to in the middle school. More encouragement is needed and more guidance will be given to them in their extracurricular study.

6. 主要参考书目：

季佩英，吴晓真，2001，《全新版大学英语综合教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 

柯彦玢，张砚秋，2002，《全新版大学英语阅读教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 朱万忠，2002，《大学英语阅读进阶1》。重庆：重庆大学出版社。

7. 思考题和习题：

《全新版大学英语综合教程1》第一单元Text A后的所有习题。

阅读第一单元Text B，完成后面的相关练习。

《全新版大学英语阅读教程1》第一单元及相关练习。

《大学英语阅读进阶》第一单元及相关练习

Writing Assignment

1st Period:

Pre-reading Tasks:

1) Students listen to the recording and do the pre-reading task on page 2 of their book. (15 minutes)

2) Warm-up Questions (10 minutes)

Students are required to scan the text and answer the following questions:

a) Suppose you were the writer, would you enjoy writing “The Art of Eating Spaghetti /

noodles”? Why / Why not?

b) Why does the author enjoy writing this? In which paragraph lies the answer?

c) Look at the title and find out in which paragraph a similar phrase appears. Read this

paragraph and explain in your own words what the author means by saying “write for myself.”

3) Main idea and text organization (10 minutes)

Please go through the whole text within 3 minutes and circle all the time words, phrases and clauses, and then answer the following questions:

a) From which point on does the author start talking about his new experience?

b) Where does he stop writing about this new experience?

Do Text Organization Exercise on P. 9.

4) Text analysis (10 minutes)

Selection of details: the author is very good at selecting details to prove his point. But how? Please think about the following questions.

a) What details are selected to show “I’d been bored with everything associated with English

courses”?

b) What details are given to show that Mr. Fleagle was dull and rigid?

c) By which sentences does the author manage to give us the impression that his essay was

very good?

2nd Period

1) Text Analysis

Repetition: Please think about the following questions: (7 minutes)

a) How many “prim” or “primly” does the author use in para.2?

b) How many “I wanted” are there in para.5?

c) What’s the use of repetition?

Synonymous words & phrases: (8 minutes)

The author is also very good at avoiding repetition by employing synonymous words and phrases. Please look for synonyms of the following words and phrases.

1) tedious 2) write 3) anticipate 4) prim 5) recall

6) recapture 7) delight 8) contempt 9) topic

2) Language points (30 minutes)

The teacher explains the following language points to the students:

Off and on; take hold; bore; turn out (turn up; turn down; turn over; turn in; turn away); bore; anticipate; rigid; severe; tackle; face up to; scan; recall; violate; hold back; avoid; career; inspire; associate. (see the courseware of Unit 1)

3rd Period

Post-reading Tasks

1) Students are required to discuss the following questions in pairs: (15 minutes) According to Mr. Fleagle, what is the very essence of the essay?

What tense should you use to describe a memorable incident?

2) Translation: The teacher guides the students through the translation of the useful expressions in the CD ROM. (15 minutes)

3) Dictation: Studetns do the spot dictation task in the CD-ROM. (15 minutes)

4 Period Reading Practice:

1) Uncle Jim’s Wink at Life

Group discussion: What is a thesis? (5 minutes)

Pair Work: Students discuss the following questions in pairs: (15 minutes)

a) The author begins this story with a childhood experience. When Uncle Jim knew about his

lie, what did he say?

b) What did the boy do when he found Mrs. Jameson’s gloves?

c) What did he get for his honesty in returning the gloves to the right owner?

d) What did Uncle Jim tell about his baldhead?

e) How did Uncle Jim treat his friends?

f)

thWhat lesson did the boy learn from the bet? 

g) Can you try to tell what lessons the boy learned from Uncle Jim and in what way Uncle Jim

taught him the lesson?

h) Can you find a sentence in our text to indicate what the boy learned from Uncle Jim? Exercise: Students do the context-clue exercise in their book. (15 minutes)

2) Students do the fast-reading exercises in College English Progressive Reading. (10 minutes)

5th Period

Speaking: Introduction

1) The teacher explains some important points about introduction to the students (10 minutes)

Introduction

a) How to Introduce People

In introducing two people, the general rule is: Introduce other people to the person you wish to honor. The old are honored in the West as in China. Women have been honored in the West since the days of knighthood.

b) Rising at Introduction

A man always rise for an introduction, except that it is sometimes all right for an elderly man to remain seated when a young man is introduced to him. The hostess always rises for an introduction.

c) Introducing Yourself

If you want to meet someone, it is better to ask a friend who know him to introduce you. But sometimes at a meeting or gathering it is all right to introduce yourself to a fellow-student, or to one of the same sex and position.

Task: Role-Play (25 minutes)

1) Imagine you’re showing a group of English-speaking visitors around your laboratory in China. As you go from department to department, you meet various people whom you would like to introduce to the visitors.

2) You are having dinner with a friend in a restaurant. Another friend walks into the restaurant alone. You ask him to join you and then introduce your companion to him. Task: Group Discussion: (10 minutes)

Have you got any plan for the coming college life? What is your plan for English study? 6th Period

Writing

1) Topic: Students read the following instructions individually. (5 minutes)

Some intensive English programs in the United States offer a foreign student the option of living with an American family while he or she is studying abroad. Many students feel that such a home-stay program is a valuable part of their total learning experience. However, others may feel that such a plan offers little value. In a short essay, discuss one or two advantages of living 5

with an American family and then state one or two disadvantages. Tell whether you are in favor of or opposed to the idea of home-stay. Give examples to support your opinion.

2) Students discuss the advantages of living with an American family. (10 minutes) · Opportunity to learn about American customs

· Environment to improve English

3) Students discuss the disadvantages of living with an American family (10 minutes) · Lack of privacy and independence

· Being treated like a child

4) Students draft their essay individually. (20 minutes)

Unit 2 Friendship

1. 教学目标及基本要求

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

a) grasp the mail idea (never delay expressing your true feelings to a friend) and structure of the text (developing a story around a letter);

b) appreciate that spoken English is much more informal than written English;

c) master key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

d) conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit.

2. 教学内容及学时分配：

Time allotment:

1 period: pre-reading; text organization; text analysis

2nd period: while-reading

rd3 period: Post-Reading Activities

4 period: Reading

5 period: Speaking

6th period: Writing

3. 教学重点及难点：

Important language points in the text:

4. 教学内容的深化及拓宽： ththst

Students conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing practice to deepen their understanding of the points taught in class.

5. 教学方式及在教学中应注意的问题：

A combination of traditional teaching methods with the communicative approach will be adopted. Special attention should be paid to classroom interaction. More encouragement and guidance will be given to the students in their extracurricular study.

6. 主要参考书目：

季佩英，吴晓真，2001，《全新版大学英语综合教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 柯彦玢，张砚秋，2002，《全新版大学英语阅读教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 朱万忠，2002，《大学英语阅读进阶1》。重庆：重庆大学出版社。

7. 思考题和习题：

《全新版大学英语综合教程1》第二单元Text A后的所有习题。

阅读第二单元Text B，完成后面的相关练习。

《全新版大学英语阅读教程1》第二单元及相关练习。

《大学英语阅读进阶》第二单元及相关练习

Writing Assignment

1st Period

Pre-reading Tasks:

1) Introduction (10 minutes)

Students listen to the recording and then answer the questions on page 32.

2) Warm-up Questions: (15 minutes)

a) Do you have any friends?

b) Why do you think we need friends?

c) What kind of people can be regarded as our true friends?

d) How do you understand friendship?

3) The text can be divided into 3 parts. Students skim the text and try to find out the main idea for each part (10 minutes)

4) Students scan the text and then answer the questions on page 38. (10 minutes)

2nd Period

The teacher explains the following language points to the students (45minutes)

Be lost in / lose oneself in; available; or something; estimate; not much of a; correspondence; kind of / sort of; come up; urge; postpone; reference; hang out; mostly; awful; choke up; skip ; keep in/ get in / lose / be in touch with sb. practically

3rd Period

1) Sentence Translation: (15 minutes)

Students are required to translate the following sentences into English.

a) 请注意,这种车票仅在发售当天有效。

Attention, please. These tickets are available on (the) day of issue only.

b) 这道甜食我还是不吃了吧。

I might as well give the sweet course a miss.

c) 艰难的重担；可怕的冒险

an awful burden; an awful risk.

d) 他住在一所旧房子里。

He hangs out in an old house.

e) 商店把投诉转交给制造商。

The shop referred the complaint to the manufacturers.

f) 我们把比赛从3月5日推迟到3月19日举行。

We postponed the match from March 5th to March 19th.

g) 她和我说话的神情，好像她早就认识我似的。

She spoke to me as if she knew me.

h) 敌人空袭后通信中断了。

The correspondence dropped after the enemy’s air-raid.

i) 疯子把他自己的孩子掐死了。

The madman choked his own child to death.

j) 当我的老朋友布赖恩怂恿我接受一支香烟时,我实在熬不住了。

When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear.

2) Translation: Students are required to translate the useful expressions in the CD-ROM. (15

minutes)

3) Dictation: Students do the dictation exercise in the CD-ROM. (15 minutes)

4th Period Reading Practice

Reading:

1) The teacher explains the important reading skills to the students. (30 minutes)

This part will introduce you several reading skills which will prove to be helpful in your English reading if you master them skillfully and use them creatively.

Now let’s see what these magic shills are.

The first skill named main idea, by main idea, we mean what one’s idea about one topic, as a further step, to know one’s idea about one topic, we also need to know what kinds of details are used to support one’s idea.

For example, if one’s say “Beckham is always in the center of admiration, he is a handsome guy, and scores or helps others to score in every match”(example 1 below). Then his topic is Beckham, and the main idea is Beckham is in the center of admiration, and the details here used to support that main idea is “he is a handsome guy, and scores or helps others to score in every match”

So a very simple definition of main idea, topic and detail can be given as follow:

Main idea is the comment or thought one made about something.

Topic is the thing one makes comments.

Details are some factual events one used to support one’s main idea.

But attention should be given to the fact that sometimes, people make comments without giving any support, for example: “A friend in need is a friend indeed” (example 2). Its topic is about friend, it main idea is “a friend in need is a friend indeed”, while no details are given to support this main idea. In other cases, the main idea is not so obvious, you must make some effort to draw a conclusion, or try to infer what the author is intended to say, for example, here is Socrates’ joke about marriage “By all means marry, if you get a good wife, you will become happy; if you get a bad one, you will become a philosopher.” (example 3).Here you must draw a conclusion from these details by yourself; a possible main idea is that “marriage is a good thing”. Of course, topic can sometimes be another problem; it may also not be so clear what a paragraph is talking about after reading it. This will be clear when you proceed with this course.

Another trick in finding the main idea of a passage is that in a paragraph, the most possible places for main idea are the beginning, or the end and less likely, in the middle of a paragraph. To give you an overall picture of main idea, topic and detail, a longer example taken from the text is given below (example 4)

Example 1

Beckham is always in the center of admiration, he is a handsome guy, and scores or helps others to score in every match.

Example 2

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Example 3

“By all means marry, if you get a good wife, you will become happy; if you get a bad one, you will become a philosopher.”

Example 4

As we begin to separate ourselves and grow away from our families in adolescence, friendships become even more important to us as sources of support. However, in late adolescence and early adulthood, friendship can take a back seat to romantic relationships. Marriage can disrupt friendships: our interests change, and we begin to form relationship with other couples. In the same way divorce can disrupt the friendships we formed as couples

Can you tell the topic and main idea and identify the details that are used to support the idea in the above paragraph. Let’s do it together, firstly, we should tell what the topic is, it seems stupid to ask such a question, because it is obvious that the topic is friendship. While that may seem to be true superficially, when we give it another thought, we will find this obvious answer is somewhat odd, because the whole text is about friendship, not just this paragraph. A closer look will lead us to the fact that there are several different time indicators, that is “adolescence”，late adolescence, and early adulthood, marriage and divorce. In this different time of life, friendship is different , so we may well say that the topic is “ change of friendship in different time of life”, and the corresponding main idea is “on different stages of life, friendship may have different form.” And the detail used to support the main idea is “in adolescence, friendships become even more important to us” “ in late adolescence and early adulthood, friendship can take a back seat (后退) to romantic relationships.” “marriage and divorce(离婚) can disrupt the friendships we formed as couples”

2) Exercise: Students do the following exercises individually. (15 minutes)

Now maybe you are eager to have a try on this reading skill by yourself, so do the following exercise: try to find the topic, main idea, and supporting details of the following paragraphs. a) What is remarkable about the history of toys is not so much how they changed over the centuries but how much they have remained the same. The changes have been mostly in terms of crafts ship, mechanics, and technology. It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world and their persistence to the present is amazing. In Egypt, the America, China, Japan and among the arctic( 北极的)peoples, generally the same kinds of toys appeared. Variations depended on local customs and ways of life because toys imitate their surroundings. Nearly every civilization had dollars, little weapons, toy soldiers, tiny animals and vehicles.

b) A young college student is constantly discouraged, irritable( 烦躁)，and unable to sleep. Frequent crying spell have ended, but she is still very unhappy. A middle-aged man has become increasingly indecisive in business affairs. He has strong feelings of worthlessness and guilt, and has lost interest in everything. An elderly complains of pain and lack of appetite. Her weight has been dropping steadily. Three different problems? Not really. These people------and millions like them------ suffer from the most common problem: depression.

5th period Speaking:

Expressing Likes and Dislikes

2) Task One: Choose some things that you really like (sports, music, movies,etc.). Make a list. Starting from the first item on your list, ask your partner if he/she likes it too. If he/she does, ask about his/her favorites. If he/she doesn’t, go on to the next item until you find something you both like. (15 minutes)

3) Task Two

First look at the lists below. Then ask your partner about the kinds of music, books, movies, etc. that he/she likes. (20 minutes)

6th Period: Writing

1) Students read the following sample letters and then answer the questions. (10 minutes)

Read the following letter, and decide weather it is a business letter or a personal one. Why? UL：美国电器安全规格检验，（Underwriters’ Laboratories）

CEO:行政执行首长，（Chief Executive Officer）

3) Writing Assignment: (The teacher explains the writing assignment to the students) (5 minutes)

Write a letter in the name of Ed(now in heaven). You see your friend Tom is sorrowful and regrets for not writing to you. Write to him and tell him not to be sad anymore.

4) Students draft their letter. (20 minutes)

Unit 3 Understanding Science

1. 教学目标及基本要求：

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

a) understand the main idea ( to ensure the survival of human civilization, measures must be

taken to help the public understand science ) and structure of the text ( introducing a topic, developing the topic with supporting details, supplying a conclusion );

b) appreciate the style differences between narrative writing and expository writing;

c) master key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

d) conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of

the unit.

2. 教学内容及学时分配：

Time Allotment

st1 period: pre-reading task; Text Organization

2 period: while-reading task

3 period: Post-reading task

4th period: Reading Practice

5 period: Speaking

6th period: Writing

3. 教学重点及难点：

Important language points in the text:

4. 教学内容的深化及拓宽： thrdnd

Students conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing practice to deepen their understanding of the points taught in class.

5. 教学方式及在教学中应注意的问题：

A combination of traditional teaching methods with the communicative approach will be adopted. Special attention should be paid to classroom interaction. More encouragement and guidance will be given to the students in their extracurricular study.

6. 主要参考书目：

季佩英，吴晓真，2001，《全新版大学英语综合教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 柯彦玢，张砚秋，2002，《全新版大学英语阅读教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 朱万忠，2002，《大学英语阅读进阶1》。重庆：重庆大学出版社。

7. 思考题和习题：

《全新版大学英语综合教程1》第三单元Text A 后的所有习题。

阅读第三单元Text B，完成后面的相关练习。

《全新版大学英语阅读教程1》第三单元及相关练习。

《大学英语阅读进阶》第三单元及相关练习

Writing Assignment

1st Period

Pre-reading task

1) Task One: Students listen to the recording two or three times and then think over the following questions: (10 minutes)

---- What questions interest Hawking?

---- When did the illness start to affect him?

---- Does Hawking give himself in to the disease?

---- What makes his achievements so remarkable?

---- Is there anything else you know about Hawking?

2) Task Two: Mention some of the scientific and technological discoveries that have changed or will change the way people live. Students write down on a sheet of paper some of the scientific and technological discoveries that have changed or will change the way people live. When they finish, teacher may invite some of them to read out to the class. Then teacher writes down some discoveries on the blackboard. （7 minutes）

3) Task Three: Pointing at the discoveries noted down on the blackboard, teacher asks students: In what way do these discoveries change our lives for the better? In what ways do these discoveries change our lives for the worse? (8 minutes)

4) Teacher makes a conclusion (5 minutes)

5) Text Organization: The teacher guide students through the text organization exercise on page 69. (15 minutes)

2nd Period:

1) Detailed reading: Questions about text (15 minutes)

Part one:

Paragraph 1:

a) In what way have science and technology changed the world we live in? Give examples. b) What is the attitude of some people towards the changes brought about by science and

technology?

c) What does “a privileged minority” in line 5 refer to?

d) What was life like before science and technology began to change our way of life? Paragraph 2:

a) What would happen if all government money for research were cut off?

b) What is the function of the imaginary “global state”?

c) What does “this” in “even this wouldn’t succeed” refer to?

d) How do you understand “human initiative and inventiveness are such that even this wouldn’t succeed.”?

Paragraph 3:

a) What does the author think we should do about science and technology?

b)

c)

d)

e) Why is it necessary for the public to have a basic understanding of science? In your own words, explain what Hawking means by saying that “the public is in two minds about science.” Have you ever read the terror story of Frankenstein? Why does the author use this example? How do you understand “It is also an important element behind support for the Green

Parties.”?

Part Two

Paragraph 4

a) How is science taught in schools?

b) What does the author think of equations as a way of expressing scientific ideas?

Paras. 5-6

a) What limited role can books and magazines play in popularizing scientific ideas?

b) What is the responsibility of TV science program producers?

Part Three

a) What is the sick joke about?

b) What does the author think of the future of human civilization?

Language Points: (30 minutes)

The teacher explains the following language points to the students:

attitude; likely; do without; highly; anyway; cut off; bring about; moreover; inquire; initiative; ensure (assure; insure); informed (inform); steady; audience; lie in; in terms of; tend; grasp; sufficient; convey; put across; slow down

3rd Period

1) Style and Text analysis

The teacher explains stylistic features of the text to the students: (5 minutes)

This text is a piece of expository writing. Exposition is the process of making a statement and then supporting it with evidence. In expository writing, the topic sentences are usually presented in the first or second sentences of a paragraph, followed by supporting details.

2) The teacher explains the style differences between narration and exposition. (15 minutes)

Read the first 10 lines of both All the Cabbie Had Was a Letter and Public Attitudes Toward

What are the major differences between narrative and expository writing?

Expository writings usually employ longer paragraphs in which there are longer and more involved sentences. Simply glance over the first page of Text A, Unit 2 and the first page of Text A, Unit 3, and you will see the latter is more closely packed than the former. For the purpose of objectivity, third-person narration is often adopted in exposition. Meanwhile, sentences in the passive voice appear regularl

3) Debate: Should cloning of human beings be banned? (25 minutes)

Students are divided into two groups, each assigned a position either for or against human cloning. Each group brainstorm to find out arguments in their favor, and propose counter-arguments against what the opposite side might bring up.

4th Period Reading Practice

How to be scientist in the Reading Course

1) Reading Skill: conclusion

The teacher explains features of conclusion. (5 minutes)

2) Task : Students discuss in pairs how the text is concluded. (10 minutes)

How to Tell in What Way the Text Is Concluded

With a conclusion, the essay is brought to its end; without a conclusion, it lacks a sense of completeness. A conclusion may be a summary of the main points, a prediction of the future, a recommendation of a solution or a quotation to make the whole thing clear.

How is this text concluded?

3) Students discuss the following questions in small groups for general Comprehension of the Text (20 minutes)

a) What do science majors expect from a life of scientist?

b) What do researchers tell about their life?

c) What do leading scientists do instead of working in the lab?

d) Why did Dr. Shirley Tilghman say that she should be “a psychology major” in order to become a “principal scientific investigator”?

e) According to Dr.Ponzy Lu, what was the most useful thing he learned at Cal Tech? 

f) What is the reason some successful scientists are delighted to leave the laboratory? g) Why are they loath to admit that they are delighted to leave the laboratory?

h) Why did Dr.Arthur Skoultchi tell Dr. Gross to enjoy the laboratory work while he could? i) From what time on does their time spent in the lab dwindle to nothing?

j) What did those leading scientists find themselves to be in the end?

k) According to Dr.Lu, how can a scientist get influence and power?

l) From what sources can the researching groups get money or funds to support their research? m) What are the difficulties of becoming a leading scientist?

4) Context clues: Students do the context clue exercise in their book. (10 minutes)

5th Period: Speaking:

1) Students practice the useful expressions for making phone calls in pairs. (10 minutes)

2) Task: Students make up dialogues based on the following situations. (20 minutes) a) You wish to speak to Charlie Brown, but the person who answers the call doesn’t

know anyone by that name.

b) You are in your office at the university and your roommate is at home. You call him/her to

discuss what the two of you have at home to eat for dinner and what you should buy on the way home.

c) You ring your friend about a book you lent him two weeks ago. Now the book is due, but

your friend is not in. His/ her father answers the phone. He would like to take a message for you.

d) You call a friend, Steve, to ask if he can go with you to a disco tonight. Your friend answers

the phone and discusses other ways of entertainment tonight.

3) The teacher invites some groups to act out the situations for the class. (15 minutes)

6th Period Writing

1) Group Discussion: (15 minutes)

Pick one or two scientific discoveries, the computer or genetic engineering for example, that have had a great impact on our lives and talk about it.

2) Useful Words and Expressions (10 minutes)

3) Students draft their essay. (20 minutes) 

Unit 4 American Dream

1. 教学目标及基本要求：

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

a) understand the main idea (Tony Trivisonno realized his American Dream through his own

efforts) and structure of the text (one part telling the story of Tony’s life and the other giving the author’s comments on it).

b) learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features, together with supporting details

which demonstrate the features.

c) grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text.

d) conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities centered upon the

theme of the unit.

2. 教学内容及学时分配：

Time Allotment

1 period: pre-reading task; text organization

2 period: while-reading tasks

3rd period: post-reading tasks

4 period: reading practice

5th period: speaking

6th period: writing

3. 教学重点及难点：

Important language points in the text:

4. 教学内容的深化及拓宽： thndst

Students conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing practice to deepen their understanding of the points taught in class.

5. 教学方式及在教学中应注意的问题：

A combination of traditional teaching methods with the communicative approach will be adopted. Special attention should be paid to classroom interaction. More encouragement and guidance will be given to the students in their extracurricular study.

6. 主要参考书目：

季佩英，吴晓真，2001，《全新版大学英语综合教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 

柯彦玢，张砚秋，2002，《全新版大学英语阅读教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 朱万忠，2002，《大学英语阅读进阶1》。重庆：重庆大学出版社。

7. 思考题和习题：

《全新版大学英语综合教程1》第四单元Text A后的所有习题。

阅读第四单元Text B，完成后面的相关练习。

《全新版大学英语阅读教程1》第四单元及相关练习。

《大学英语阅读进阶》第四单元及相关练习

Writing Assignment

1st Period:

1) Pre-reading task

Questions: Students answer the following questions after they listen to the recording. (10 minutes)

a) What did American Dream mean to Dr. Hertz’s grandparents?

b) Why does Dr. Hertz say that the American Dream is in one’s head and in one’s pocket? c) Why does Dr. Hertz say that the American Dream is in one’s head and in one’s pocket?

2) Ask students do Cloze B on page 106 to have a better understanding of the American Dream. (10 minutes)

3) Based on the above two activities, the class will have a discussion about American Dream. (10 minutes)

4) Text Organization: Students are required to do the text organization exercises on page 98. (15 minutes)

2nd Period:

The teacher explains the text and relevant language points to the students. (45 minutes) Language Points to be covered:

turn away; work out; do with; determination; personnel & personal; capacity & ability; turn down; call on; loan; discard; abandon; property; sponsor; approach; above all; weekly; clean up; for sale / on sale; send for; hunt (for); sometime / sometimes / some time

3rd Period:

1) The teacher explains stylistic features of the text to the students. (20 minutes) Style of the article : Narration-A story narrated according to time sequence

The writer employs time words and phrases in narration. Time words and phrases serves as transitional devices by which an author switches from one event to another. The latter event may take place either before or after the former, which allows an author freedom in narration. Text A in Unit 1 is a good example of narration interspersed with flashbacks, and in this text the writer is able to keep his narration concise by simply recounting Tony’s steps toward success, since the time phrases make it unnecessary to squeeze in too many details about how he succeeded during each step.

Questions:

a) Ask students to read the text again quickly to find the time words and phrases

b) Ask students to try to think of other time words and phrases as many as possible which are often used in their usual practice.

(for example: first, ...second,

Careful and successful use of details

Not all the details are not important. Some vital details are very important to the development of the story or the description of the characters. Can you find some example to show the writer’s craftsmanship? For example:

a) Tony’s faulty English sentence “I mow your lawn” was repeated four times to show Tony’s determination in finding a job and his optimistic view that people would help a man who needed a job.

b) The writer does not make a statement claiming that Tony is a good worker, he makes the reader infer from other people’s compliments.( e.g. “my wife said he was very helpful”, the personnel department “said Tony was a very good worker”; “ I got a report that he had graduated as a skilled grinder”; When Tony died, people found “the farm green with vegetables, the little house livable and homey. There were a tractor and a good car in the yard. The children were educated and working, and Tony didn’t owe a cent.’

c) The three instances when Tony’s physical appearance is described present an increasingly well-to-do Tony. Please notice that Tony had remained standing when he talked to Mr. Crawford until in Line 65 “we sat down and talked’? Tony’s social status improved enough to allow him to sit down with Mr. Crawford.

2) Translation: (10 minutes)

Students translate the following phrases into English

1) 梦想成真 ２）结结巴巴的英语 ３）雇不起保姆

4）拒绝一个需要帮助的人 5）夸奖某人的工作 6）割草坪

7）一小笔微薄的周薪 8）人事部 9）一栋待售的房子

10）拜访一个朋友 11）贷款 12）满自信的样子 13）首付

14）寻找一份体面的工作 15）他的形象在我心目中越来越高大。

3) Dictation (15 minutes)

Students do the dictation exercise in the CD-ROM.

lastly...; firstly, secondly, lastly; to begin with,...next,...finally,...;first,...then, and then...;at the beginning, later, ultimately)

4th Period Reading Practice:

1) Reading Skill 1 － facts and opinions (15 minutes)

The teacher explain this reading skill to the students:

Facts are usually objective descriptions or statements while opinions are subjective evaluations or predictions from both the characters and the author. In general, facts are directly related to the development of the plot while opinions provide the author’s and characters’ reflections.

Students read the following sample and then answer the questions:

A further difficulty would arise in respect of communication. Water will conduct sound, but it does not transmit words produced by human vocal chords; nor is the human ear adapted to underwater hearing. If the sea-people are to be amphibious, they will want to retain the voices and ears which they have for communication out of water, and may therefore have to develop a new code of signals for their own use in their new environment. Divers use sign-language, but this has awkward limitations, especially bearing in mind the poor visibility of the submarine world.

Questions: Decide whether the following statements are facts, or simply the opinions of the author.

a) Water will conduct sound.

b) If the sea-people are to be amphibious, then they will want to retain their voices and ears. c) Divers use sign language.

2) Reading Skill 2 —thesis (15 minutes)

The teacher explains the steps for finding thesis to the students.

Step 1: Skim over the passage to get a general sense.

Step 2: Carefully read the passage and underline the topic sentence or key words that express the implied main idea.

Step 3: Go over what has been underlined and determine the main idea.

Students read the following sample and then do the exercises.

If you are planning to buy a television set, the following advertisement would certainly attract your attention: “Color TV, only $79. Two day sale. Hurry.” However, when you go to the store ready to buy, you may discover that the advertised sets are sold out. But the salesman is quick to reassure you that he has another model, a more reliable set which is “just right for you.” It costs $359. This sales tactic is called “bait and switch.” Buyers are baited with a sales offer, and then they are switched to another more costly item. Buying items on sale requires careful consideration of the merchandise and the reasons for the sale.

Which of the following best expresses the main idea

a. The customer must be on his guard when purchasing items on sale.

b. Color television sets which sell for $79 are sold out quickly.

c. Many stores use the “bait and switch” techniques to attract customers.

d. Anyone planning to buy a television set should look for a sale.

This paragraph could be entitled

a. Buying a TV Set b. Buyer Beware

c. Closeout Sale d. Sales Tactics

3) Reading Skill 3 －details (15 minutes)

The teacher explains the steps for finding details to the students.

Step 1: Read the passage and determine the main idea.

Step 2: Underline important words and ideas and sort out the important details that support the main idea.

Step 3: Find how the paragraph is put together.

Television is addictive. For example, when a set breaks, most families rush to have it repaired, often renting one if the repair process takes longer than a day or two. When “nothing’s on TV,” people experience boredom with their lives, not knowing what to do with themselves. Perhaps the best example of television addiction was an experiment in Germany where 184 volunteers were paid to go without television for a year. At first, most volunteers did well, reporting that they were spending more time with their children, reading, and visiting friends. Then, within a month, tension, restlessness, and quarreling increased. Not one volunteer lasted more than five months without a television set. Once the sets were on again, people lost their anxieties and returned to normal.

Questions: which is the main idea of the passage and which are the supporting details. a) Many people have fallen victims to television addiction.

b) Most families can not go without a TV set even for a couple of days.

c) With no exciting TV programs to entertain them with, people will feel bored to death.

d) An experiment in Germany showed none of the 184 volunteers could last more than five

months without a TV set.

5th Period Speaking

1) Group Discussion: (20 minutes)

You are going to talk about sports. Read the following questions and discuss them with your partner(s).

a) Do you like sports? What is your favorite sport?

b) What sports do most young people go in for?

c) What sports are suitable for old people?

d) Do you like jogging? Why or why not?

e) Could you name some ball games? Which one do you like best?

f) Why do people need to play sports?

g) What do you know about the Olympic Games?

2) Language Focus (10 minutes)

Students read the following sentences aloud.

I like swimming / jogging / fishing / tennis, etc.

My favorite sport is basketball / volleyball / football, etc.

Young people go in for such sports as running / playing basketball, tennis, football, etc. Jogging / Walking / Fishing is good for old people. Jogging is considered a healthy sport for both the young and the old / for people of all ages. Many people begin jogging because they believe it is a very good form of exercise / can make their hearts stronger / can help them lose weight.

Jogging against the cold wind is also a test one’s will power. Playing sports can help us to relax.

Sitting in a chair all day has made me very lazy. I can get my figure back if I play a sport. I could meet some new people when I play sports.

People play sports because they want to keep fit / live an active life. Playing a sport we like is an essential part of our life.

The Olympics are held every four years in a different city in the world.

Over 2, 700 years ago the first Olmpics were held in Athens. The Olympics have become the world’s most important athletic events / a symbol of the sporting friendship of all the people in the world.

3) Discussion: Students work in small groups and discuss the positive effects of doing exercise. (15 minutes)

6th Period

Writing skill

Writing Strategy ----- How to write a personal description

1) Word Categorizing: Students categorize the following words according to the instruction.

Character: _________________________________________________________

Face: _____________________________________________________________

Body: _____________________________________________________________

Clothes: _____________________________________________________________

2) Students read the following two samples individually. (10 minutes)

My Roommate

It was my first day at college. I got into the dormitory where i was going to live, and looked at door after door for my name. As last I found it. In the room there was already a student making his bed.

After we said “How do you do” to each other, he continued his work, paying no attention to me. “What a stuck-up fellow”, I thought. I examined the room. it was not different in the fittings and furnishings from any other room I had seen, but it had been thoroughly cleaned---by my new roommate, no doubt. I looked at him. He was thin, short and dark. His hair was untidy. His dirty clothes, which were made of cheap cloth and tired look were signs of a long journey. The coat was too short and the trousers too loose. The rubber shoes that he wore were unfashionable. He did not look a smart freshman at all. “A country folk”, I concluded. The second time he spoke, his accent told me that he was from the south, “Shall I help you to get pour luggage from the office?” I did not refuse since I really needed help. He was quick in movement. He walked out of the room and was soon far ahead of me in the corridor.

“A good guy” I said to myself, “I will make friends with him” I hurried and caught up with him. My mother

My mother is a kind and gentle woman. She is always very genteel. She takes care of her children and keeps them all at school. I have two brothers and sisters. So she gets five children in all. She gives us every comfort. We all love her and she loves us also.

My mother has too much to do in bringing us up. As our family is too poor to keep a nurse, my mother has always to do much housework. she gets up very early and sleeps very late every day. She works hard, yet without complaining.

She is also a thrifty and industrious woman. She saves every penny that she can and keeps everything in order. As she has been busy ever since she was young, she looks older than she really is. Her face is wrinkled, her hair becomes silver gray, and some of teeth become movable. But she works hard as ever.

Often she says to us, “Work while you work, play while you play. If you do not work, you will become lazy and of no use to society.” What a piece of good advice this is! We must treasure it up and always keep it in mind.

3) Writing Strategy (20 minutes)

The teacher explains the writing strategy for personal description to the students.

When you describe something or someone, you give your readers a picture in words. To make this “word picture” as vivid as possible, you must observe and record specific details that appeal to your reader’s senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). More than any other type of writing, a descriptive paragraph needs sharp, colorful details.

Here is a description in which only the sense of sight is used:

A rug covers the living-room floor.

In contrast, here is a description rich in sense impressions:

A thick, reddish-brown shag rug is laid wall to wall across the living-room floor. The long, curled fibers of the shag seem to whisper as you walk through them in your bare feet, and when you squeeze your toes into the deep covering, the soft fibers push back at you with a spongy resiliency.

Sense impressions include sight (thick, reddish-brown shag rug; lad wall to wall; walk through them in your bare feet; squeeze your toes into the deep covering; push back), hearing (whisper), and touch (bare feet, soft fibers, spongy resiliency). The sharp vivid images provided by the sensory details give us a clear picture of the rug and enable us to share in the writer’s experience.

In this section, you will be asked to describe a person, place, or thing for your readers through the use of words rich in sensory details. The following paragraph can help you prepare the assignment.

Karla

Karla, my brother’s new girlfriend, is a catlike creature. Her face, with its wide forehead, sharp cheekbones, and narrow, pointed chin, resembles a triangle. Karla’ s skin is a soft velvety brown. her large brown eyes slant upward at the corners, and she emphasizes their angle with a sweep of maroon eye shadow. Karla’ s habit of looking sidelong out of the tail of her eye makes her look cautious, as if she were expecting something to sneak up on her. Her nose is small and flat. The sharply outlined depression under it leads the observer’s eye to a pair of red-tined lips. With their slight secretly pleased. One reason Karla may be happy is that she recently was asked to be in a local beauty contest. Karla’ s face is framed by a smooth layer of brown hair that always looks just combed. Her long neck and slim elegant and sleek no matter how she is standing or sitting, for her body seems to be made up of graceful angles. Her slender hands are tipped with long. polished nails. Her narrow feet are long, too, but they appear delicate even in flat-soled running shoes. Somehow, Karla would look perfect in a cat’ s jeweled collar.

The writer of “Karla” organizes the details by observing Karla in an orderly way. Which of Karla’s features is described first? Which of Karla’ s features is described last? Check the method of spatial organization that best describes the paragraph.

_____ Interior to exterior

_____ Near to far

_____ Top to bottom

Write a paragraph describing a person. Decide on a dominant impression you have about the person, and use only those details that will add to that impression.

Unit 5 Romance

1. 教学目标及基本要求：

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

a) grasp the main idea (the nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive) and

structure of the text;

b) appreciate the narrative skills demonstrated in the text (switch between tenses, change of

narrators), some rhetorical devices (simile and metaphor) and the use of informal language in conversations;

c) master the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

d) conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to love and

growth.

2. 教学内容及学时分配：

Time allotment:

1st period: pre-reading task; Scanning

2nd period: while-reading task

3rd period: post-reading activities

4th period: reading Practice

5th period: speaking

6th period: writing

3. 教学重点及难点：

Important language points in the text:

4. 教学内容的深化及拓宽：

Students conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing practice to deepen their understanding of the points taught in class.

5. 教学方式及在教学中应注意的问题：

A combination of traditional teaching methods with the communicative approach will be adopted. Special attention should be paid to classroom interaction. More encouragement and guidance will be given to the students in their extracurricular study.

6. 主要参考书目：

季佩英，吴晓真，2001，《全新版大学英语综合教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 

柯彦玢，张砚秋，2002，《全新版大学英语阅读教程1－教师用书》。上海：上海外语教育出版社。 朱万忠，2002，《大学英语阅读进阶1》。重庆：重庆大学出版社。

7. 思考题和习题：

《全新版大学英语综合教程1》第五单元Text A后的所有习题。

阅读第五单元Text B，完成后面的相关练习。

《全新版大学英语阅读教程1》第五单元及相关练习。

《大学英语阅读进阶》第五单元及相关练习

Writing Assignment

1st Period

1) A brief introduction to the Valentine’s Day (10 minutes)

2) Students do the pre-reading task on page 136 of their book. (15 minutes)

3) Students scan the text and answer the following questions. (20 minutes)

a) How had Blanchard and Miss Maynell come to know each other?

b) How had Blanchard and Miss Maynell got in touch with each other?

c) Why did Miss Maynell refuse to send Blanchard a photograph? How do you understand

Miss Maynell’s words in Para4? What do you think of her?

d) How would Blanchard recognize Miss Maynell at their first meeting?

e) What did the young girl look like? What was Blanchard’s response? And what did “Miss f) Maynell” look like? How did Blanchard feel toward his “valentine”? Why didn’t Blanchard turn away from “Miss Maynell”?

g) How come the middle-aged woman was wearing the rose?

h) What did Miss Maynell want to find out through the test? Do you like Miss Maynell’s test?

2nd Period

The teacher explains the text and the language points in detail. (45 minutes)

Language points to be covered:

straighten (broaden…); make one’s way to; absorb ( be absorbed in / by); reflect & respond; thoughtful; previous; locate; correspond; schedule; sustain; slim; split; identify & identity ; in respond to; as though; be supposed to; company;

3rd Period

Text Analysis

1) Simile and Metaphor (15 minutes) The teacher explains the features of simile and metaphor to the students.

What are simile and metaphor?

A simile is a comparison of one thing to another, using words “like” or “as” , e.g., “her hair was black as night”; “in her green suit she was like springtime come alive”.

A metaphor is a suggested but not stated comparison of one thing to another,

e.g. “…while I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment”.

Read the following sentences and decide whether they are similes or metaphors.

a) He is as brave as a lion.

b) Her husband is walking wallet that will pay for whatever she likes.

c) All the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.

d) The man sleeps like a baby.

2) Selection of Details. (15 minutes) The teacher explains features of detail selection in the text.

Questions:

What details are given to show that Blanchard fell in love with the girl who he had never seen?

a) His interest in her had begun twelve months before… Taking a book off the shelf he soon

found himself absorbed……

b) With time and effort he located her address. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and

inviting her to correspond.

What sentences to show the sharp contrast between the young girl and “Miss Maynell” a) Her eyes were blue as flowers;

b) Her lip and chin had a gentle firmness;’

c) A small, provocative smile curve her lips.

d) “Miss Maynell”

e) She was more than a little overweight, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes; f) Her pale, round face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly glow. What were Blanchard’s feelings towards the two women?

a) For the young and beautiful girl:

b) “I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose.” c) “Almost uncontrollable I made one step closer to her…”

d) For “Miss Maynell”:

e) “This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even f) better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.” “…while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment.”

What’s his last choice? How do you feel about Blanchard?

3) Dictation: Students do the dictation exercise on their CD-ROM. (15 minutes)

4th Period Reading Practice

1) Reading Skill 1－Point of view (10 minutes)

The teacher explains the features of this reading skill to the students:

The first person perspective is often adopted to describe the author’s own experiences or feelings, which are more or less personal and subjective while the second person perspective is generally used when the author wants to rouse the participation of the readers or to generalize his or her statements. The shift between the two perspectives in this essay helps the author express her ideas and feelings clearly.

Discussion: What point of view is used in this essay? When does the author make switches between first and second person perspectives? (10 minutes)

When she first changes the second person perspective to the first person perspective in paragraph 7, she wants to specify her own image of being defeated. Later, when she returns to the second person perspective, she describes the general feelings felt by unemployed people. With this change, she succeeds in a rousing the sympathy of the readers and thus makes them believe that these feelings are not peculiar to an individual, yet, they are common to all who have ever experienced unemployment.

2) Reading Skill 2: details (5 minutes)

The teacher explains the importance of details to the students:

Biography is not simply the account of one’s life written by someone else. Instead, it endeavors to summarize the life of a person through all these past events that combine together to make him or her the one he or she is. Significant details are provided to enable readers to understand what causes the person to be him or her in the end.

Discussion: What details are provided in the text to depict the poverty of the family and its outcomes? (10 minutes)

3) Reading Skill 3－How to sense the dominant impression (10 minutes)

The teacher explains this reading skill to the students.

With many details, the author creates the dominant impression that her family’s philobiblic tradition has greatly influenced her. First, the philobiblic tradition is emphasized. Her mother agreed to have her hair cut on condition that she was given a set of Dickens and she read them even at night. Then, Welty vividly describes interesting things that roused her interest in reading. In her eyes, the tick of the rocker seems to be “a cricket accompanying the story” and the cuckoo clock adds a lot of fun to the story time. With all these details, Welty shows that in her family, reading was not dull, but relaxing, natural and interesting. Even word itself was not dull at all. For one thing, it had its own image and holiness; for another, it was not merely to be read; instead, it was to be felt and tasted so it came to her naturally. As a conclusion, Welty stated that “In the beginning was the Word,” which actually shows her feeling for reading, which was “the keystone to knowledge”.

5th Period Speaking Making Reservations

1) Useful Expressions: Students read the following useful expressions aloud. (10 minutes)

Reserving A Hotel Room

Useful Expressions

book a room 预订一个房间

single room with bath 有浴室的单人房间

double room with a bathroom 有浴室的双人房间

twin-bedded 两张单人床的

a room with a view 景色好的房间

rates 房租

included/exclude breakfast 包/不包早餐

Reserving A Table

Useful Expressions

reserve a table for 12:30 订一张桌子，时间是12点半

book a table in a quiet corner 在一个安静的角落订一张桌子

book a table for four 订一张4个人的桌子

2) Group Discussion (15 minutes) Students discuss the following questions in small groups.

a) Travelers are always discoverers. How true do you think this statement is?

b) What significant role can traveling play in a person’s life? (Can you imagine a life

limited/rooted to one place only?)

3) Role play: (20 minutes)

a) Imagine you’re a student of Chongqing University and this weekend several your

old classmates will visit you from Sichuan University, Chengdu. They hope you

can book hotel rooms for them before they arrive.

b) During the daytime, you lead your old classmates to go sight-seeing in Chongqing.

You just introduce the history and some information about Chongqing to them as a

guide.

6th Period Writing

Narrative Essay

1. Students read the following passage that provides guidance for narrative writing and then discuss the important elements of a narrative essay with their partner. (15 minutes) To narrate is to give an account of an event or a series of events. In its broadest sense, narrative writing includes stories, real or imaginary, biographies, news items, and narrative poems. Narration often goes hand in hand with description. When one tells a story, one describes its setting and characters. On the other hand, accounts of actions may be necessary to the description of a person or a scene. When planning a narrative, the writer should consider these five aspects: contest, selection of details, organization, point of view, and purpose.

Context

When, where, and to whom the action in a narrative happened is often made clear at the beginning of the narrative. This will provide the reader with a context, or circumstances, to help him understand the whole narrative.

Selection of Details

A narrative is made up of details. There should be enough details so that the reader knows what is happening, but there should not be too many of them, or the reader will be confused and lose interest in the story. Only relevant details, or things that contribute to bringing out the main ideas of the narrative, are useful and effective. When selecting details, therefore, the writer should bear in mind his purpose in writing the narrative.

Organization

Events in a narrative are usually related in chronological order, that is , in the order in which they occur. But it is also possible, and sometimes preferable, to start from the middle or even the end of the story with the event that is most important or most likely to arouse the reader’s interest, and then go back to the beginning. The middle tells the story itself. When the story is clearly told, the narrative comes to a natural end; then there is no need for a superfluous concluding paragraph. But sometimes it may be necessary to add one or two paragraphs about the significance of the story or about things that happen afterwards.

Point of View

A story can be told either in the first person or in the third person, each having its advantages and disadvantages. A first-person narrative may be more graphic and lifelike, because it gives the reader the impression that it is what the writer himself has seen or experienced. But the scope of the narrative may be limited, for it is difficulty to recount events that happen in different place at the same time. A third-person narrative is free from this limitation, and it may seem more objective, but it is not easy to put in good order things that happen to different people in different places.

Purpose

There must be a purpose in telling a story. The writer may want to prove a theory, to illustrate a concept, to praise a virtue, to condemn a vice, etc. He should make sure that the total effect of his narrative, or the final impression it leaves on the reader, is in agreement with his purpose. To achieve this, he has to choose details and design the plot of his story carefully.

2. Students read the following instructions to get some idea of what they are going to write. (7 minutes)

Write a first-person or third-person narrative describing

? the happiest or saddest or most memorable or most important day in your life, for example,

your first day at school, the day when you got your first pay, the day when you were given an interview, the day when someone walked into your life, the day when something changed the course of your life;

? an accident which has taught you something ;

? Some experience you will never forget.

2. Students work in small groups and share the experience of the most memorable day in

their lives with other group members. (8 minutes)

4. Students draft their essay individually. (15 minutes)

Unit 6 Animal Intelligence

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Understand the main idea (some animals seem capable of thinking when it is in their own

interests to do so) and structure of the text (introduction, 3 subheadings to give 3 supporting examples, conclusion);

2. Appreciate the importance of examples in exposition;

3. Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

4. Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities centered upon the

theme of the unit.

Methods and facilities:

Group discussion, pair work, oral presentation, etc.

Time allotment

Teaching Procedure:

Pre-reading tasks

1.T asks Ss the following questions to check if they have listened to the tape recording: How does Michael Jackson feel about Ben? Why?

Is the song related to the theme of this unit—animal intelligence? How?

2.T elicits or offers a definition of intelligence: the power of perceiving, learning, understanding; knowing; mental ability.

3.Ranking

T dictates the following names of animals to Ss: pig, hen, dog, dolphin, elephant, monkey, rat, parrot, cat, ant.

Ss form groups to rank those animals according to their intelligence, and get ready to explain the rationale behind the ranking. Ss may cite examples, anecdotes, personal experiences, scientific findings, etc.

T invites speakers from several groups to report to the class.

4.T leads into the text by saying: As you all agree, animals do display intelligence in some areas. Let’s read the text and find out more examples of animal intelligence.

While-reading Tasks

1.Ss read the instructions for Text Organization Exercise 2 to grasp the three-part structure of the text. T tells them that they will complete this exercise as they go through the txt.

2.T draws Ss’ attention to the three subheadings in the text, and explains the functions of headings: suggest to the reader the contents of each section; enhance the formal appearance of an essay; eliminate the need for wordy transitional devices between sections.

3.T explains the key language points in Part I, and gives Ss practice.

4.Ss sum up the main idea of Part I, then T invites some of them to tell their summary to the class. (Some animals demonstrate intelligence when dealing with captivity and human beings.)

5.T explains the key language points in Part II and gives Ss practice.

6.Ss sum up the main ideas of the parts under the three subheadings respectively, then T invites some of them to give their summary to the class.

(Let’s Make a Deal—Some animals are intelligent enough to know how to bargain with people; Tale of a Whale—Animals like whales can assess a situation and act accordingly; Primate Shell Game—Animals can sometimes be tricky.)

7.Ss read Writing Strategy in Part IV, and answer the following questions:

How many kinds of animals are mentioned in Part II? What are they? (a gorilla, 3 orangutans, a killer whale)

Why does the author mention these animals in his article? (to support his point advanced in Part I.)

8.T explains the language points in Part III and gives Ss practice.

9.Ss sum up the main idea of Part III, then some of them report their summary to the class. (Some animals are intelligent.)

Post-reading Tasks

1.Besides headings, what are other ways of transition?

Ss answer the following questions:

A.What does “it” in the first line of Para. 4 refer to? (the key chain held by Colo)

B.What does “the problem” in the first line of Para. 10 refer to? (The keepers couldn’t reach the baby whale to help it.)

C.What does “this whole trick” in the first line of Para. 12 refer to? (Melati deceived her keeper into giving her two oranges instead of one.)

T points out that the use of anaphora (前指) is a common transitional device.

T introduces some other transitional devices used in this text.

2.T guides Ss through some exercises.

3.Text B

4.Writing

Text Analysis

As students will learn how to support a topic with examples by studying Writing Strategy in this unit, we are not going to dwell upon this point here. Instead, we will focus on the various transitional devices employed in the text.

Headings and subheadings provide natural transitions between paragraphs or sections. However, it doesn’t follow that any other transitional devices are not welcome. For example, the first sentence under the heading “Let’s Make a Deal” begins with “Consider the time…”. This actually introduces an example to illustrate the points made by the author in the introductory part of this article. Or consider the first sentence under the heading “Tale of a Whale”—“Why would an animal want to cooperate with a human?” Both the heading and the question direct readers’ attention to another demonstration of animal intelligence. The third heading and the sentence following it—“Sometimes evidence of intelligence can be seen in attempts to deceive.”—function similarly.

Another common transitional device is the use of anaphora and cataphora. The former is seen in the use of pronouns to refer to something, somebody or some event previously mentioned, the latter predicting something, somebody or some event that will soon be mentioned in the discourse. This text mainly employs anaphora.

Besides, conjunctions also pave the way for a smooth transition of ideas. Take the first sentence of Para. 6 for example: “Miles also tried to teach Chantek more virtuous habits such as saving and sharing.” The conjunction “also” connects this paragraph with the previous one. “Such as” introduces a new example to be mentioned in the sentences to follow.

In the beginning sentence of a new paragraph, one may also sum up the main idea of the previous paragraph or section, then go on to introduce the topic of the current paragraph. The first sentence of Para. 5—“If an animal can show skill in trading one thing for another, why not in handling money?”—is a good case in point.

Cultural Notes

1.gorilla:

The largest of the great apes. The male is heavily built and may stand 1.7 m in height, with an arm-spread of 2.4 m. it has a large head with a short neck, prominent mouth, thin lips, and small ears. The female is smaller than the male. This huge animal has formidable canine teeth, yet it feeds on fruit and vegetables and has no natural enemies. Most of the day is spent on the ground; they usually walk on all fours leaning on the knuckles of their hands, but occasionally upright.

2.orangutan:

3.A species of large ape related to chimpanzees, gorillas, and man. It is the largest fruit-eater in the world and is known to eat at least 200 species of fruit.

The prominent flanges of fat at the side of the face are very striking in large adult males. The jaws project forward from the face, the eyebrow ridge is only slightly pronounced, and the eyes and ears are small. The coat is coarse, long, and shaggy, especially over the shoulders and arms, where it may grow to 45 cm in length. And the arms and hands are extremely long. When extended the arms may span 2.4 m and their length is exaggerated because the standing height of the animal is only 1.4 m.

Language Study

1.controversy: a lot of discussion and argument about sth, often involving strong feelings of anger or disapproval (+ over /about)

A new controversy arose regarding the politician’s finances.

There is a fierce/bitter/heated controversy over the publishing of his book.

2.surround: be or go all around

The village was surrounded by desert. So the villagers had to abandon it and move to other areas.

The shell surrounding the egg has many important functions.

The baby was sitting on the floor surrounded by toys.

3.explore:

examine thoroughly, learn about

A.The engineers have already explored the possibility of building a bridge over the river.

B.The repairman explored my car and said he would fix it tomorrow.

C.Travel over for the purpose of discovery

D.Both adults and children find it exciting to explore space.

E.The man will explore the Sahara desert on foot.

4.encounter: meet, esp. unexpectedly

She encountered an old friend on the street.

Before they had gone very far, they encountered a young man selling oranges.

5.reveal: make known

The details of the new policy for medical insurance have been revealed.

His research in cloning “Dolly” revealed some very important facts.

A survey of the Chinese diet has revealed that a growing number of children in cities are overweight.

6.convince: make (sb.) feel sure by the use of argument or evidence (convince sb that/of sth) 

His parents managed to convince him that teaching was the most suitable profession for him. We finally convinced the police of our innocence.

I was convinced that we were doing the right thing.

7.dominant: ruling; stronger; more powerful

Charlie Chaplin was a dominant figure in the American film industry.

The dominant powers took control of the conference.

8.make a deal: reach an agreement or arrangement, esp. in business or politics

I’ll make a deal with you—you wash the car and I’ll let you use it tonight.

The car company has made a deal with a Japanese firm, which will supply engines in exchange for brakes.

9.only to do: often used to indicate that sb did sth with a disappointing or surprising result He hurried to the railway station, only to find that the train had left.

He had once tried inviting her out, only to meet with a rather cool response.

10.negotiate: discuss in order to come to an agreement (negotiate for sth, negotiate to do sth, negotiate with sb)

We will negotiate for a pay increase of 3.5%.

The government refused to negotiate with terrorists.

There were reports that three companies were negotiating to share the market.

11.maintain: continue to do or have

The hotel staff showed determination to maintain high-quality service.

Our department maintains close contacts with the IT industry.

Microsoft intends to maintain its position as market leader.

The taxi driver and his friend ED maintained their friendship for over 30 years.

12.relieve: free form pain, anxiety, etc.; ease

Taking a part-time job would relieve you of the financial burden.

Drugs can relieve much of the pain.

13.undertake: carry out; take upon oneself

The United Nations was supposed to undertake the role of global peace-keeper.

You should think very carefully before you undertake the responsibilities of a general manager of a multi-national company.

We’ll have to employ more staff if we’re to undertake more work.

14.figure out: understand; reason out

I can’t figure out why he quit his well-paid job to undertake such tedious work.

I can’t figure her out; one minute she’s happy, the next, sad.

It took me 2 hours to figure out how to start the new washing-machine.

15.expand: grow larger

The air in the balloon expands when heated.

The population of the town expanded rapidly in the 1960s.

The bank is aiming to expand its share of the mortgage market.

16.extend:

stretch or reach

A.The high-speed train service is planned to extend form Baltimore to Philadelphia.

B.Rain is expected to extend to all parts of the country by this evening.

make larger or longer

A.I would like to stay in France a it longer, but I will need to extend my visa.

B.We’ve extended the kitchen to give us room for a dining area.

17.switch: change; shift (+ to)

He used to play tennis, but now he’s switched to golf.

She started studying medicine at college, but switched to Business Studies in her second year.

18.envy: wish that you had a quality or possession that another person has (envy sb/sth; envy sb sth; envy sb for sth.)

He became a millionaire overnight. Many people envied him for his good luck.

She’s got a capacity for languages that many students would envy.

I don’t envy you your trip in this bad weather.

19.cooperate: act or work together (+ with/ in/ to do)

The New York City police cooperated with the force in Boston in catching the criminals. Russia and the US are cooperating in joint space venture.

Aid agencies and the local government are cooperating to deliver supplies to the flooded area.

20.in sb’s interest(s): for or to sb’s advantage

It would be in your interests to undertake this task although it’s difficult.

The local government has to abandon the plan for a new chemical plant because it is not in the public interest.

In the interests of safety, please do not smoke.

21.go far: help very much; achieve much success

Your suggestion will go far towards solving our present housing problem.

Jane’s a very talented writer—she’ll go gar.

22.assess: judge the quality, importance or worth of

The value of the diamond was assessed at $20,000.

It’s difficult to assess the effects of the use of multimedia in English language teaching in one semester.

Examinations are not the only means of assessing someone’s ability.

23.judgment:

opinion about sth.

A.In you judgment, what has caused the students’ failure in the examination?

B.My judgment is that the students have spent too much time on extracurricular activities.

C.The manager made an unfair judgment of his new secretary’s character.

The ability to form valuable opinions and make good decisions

A.He was employed as manager of the Personnel Department because of his excellent judgment. 

B.I respect my father’s judgment and I’ll follow any advice he gives me.

24.emergency: an unexpected and dangerous event which must be dealt with at once In an emergency, call 110.

The pilot of the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing.

The emergency services are the fire brigade, the police, and the ambulance service.

25.go wrong: stop developing well

I didn’t watch the live opening ceremony of the World Cup yesterday because my television went wrong again.

Everything went wrong with my computer after I installed that new program.

26.size up: carefully examine a situation or person in order to make a judgment

I don’t like the way the sales assistants in that shop size you up as you walk through the door. Some manufacturers have been sizing up some African countries as a possible market for their motorcycles.

I felt insulted by the way my father sized up my boyfriend.

25.release: set free (release sb/sth from)

Some animals in the zoo had been released form its cage.

He was released from prison after serving two years of a five-year sentence.

26.deceive: try to make believe sth that is false (+ into doing)

You can’t pass exams without working, so don’t deceive yourself into thinking you can. You deceived me, and I can’t forgive you.

They deceived the old man into signing the papers.

27.give in to sb/sth: admit a loss; surrender; yield

The authorities showed no signs of giving in to the kidnappers’ demands.

I pressed my parents until they finally gave in and bought me a computer.

27.survive:

remain alive

A.A few were killed but most survived in the earthquake.

B.The baby was born with a problem with its heart and only survived for a few hours. Continue to live or exist after

A.She survived the accident.

B.The plants may not survive the frost.

28.wipe out: get rid of or destroy

The bank agreed to wipe out their debts.

Whole villages were wiped out in the flood.

.Unit7 Emergency

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1.understand the main idea (Anthony Falzo saved two children in a courageous deed) and structure of the text (three parts—what happened before, during and after the incident);

2.appreciate the advantages of specific words over general words;

3.grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

4.conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities centered upon the theme of the unit.

Time allotment

Teaching Procedure:

Pre-reading tasks

1.T asks Ss the following questions to check if they have listened to the recorded poem: How did the father understand courage at first? (to have no fear of certain things) What did courage mean to the father after the fire? (to risk one’s life for other people)

2.Discussion

Before class, Ss are asked to collect stories, news reports, pictures, etc. of courageous deeds. In class, Ss form groups of three or four to share what they have collected.

Groups discuss what qualities are necessary for a person to handle emergencies successfully and why. They may support their points by citing what they have collected.

Speakers for several groups report their discussion results to the class.

T reminds Ss to keep these qualities in mind when they study the text, and see how many of them are embodied in Anthony Falzo.

While-reading Tasks

1.Predictions

Ss read the title and the first paragraph, then answer the following questions:

A.Who might have uttered the exclamation “Kids on the Track”? (Kate Prichard, a railway worker, a train engineer, a neighbor, a passer-by who saw the kids on the track, etc.)

B.Why does the author describe how Kate carried the groceries from her car to the house? (She was so preoccupied with the task that she neglected her sons, which later caused the accident.)

C.Why does the author mention a train horn, Conrail, and the lack of fence between the Prichards’ yard and the railway? (They foreshadowed the later accident.)

D.Why does the author include in the story the ages of Todd and Scott? (Tell the reader they were too young to understand the importance of staying away from the railway road.)

T comments that the author skillfully includes in the first paragraph the above-mentioned hints of the story to be unfolded.

Ss read the last sentence of the story and get an idea of the importance of coherence. 

2.Ss read the instructions for Text Organization Exercise 1 to learn the three-part structure of the text. They will complete this exercise as they go through the text.

3.T explains the language points in Part I and gives Ss practice.

4.Ss sum up the main idea of Part I, then some of them report their summary to the class.

5.T explains the language points in Part II and gives Ss practice. It might be important to mention that 14 inches equal approximately 35cm. During the process, pay special attention to the verbs that describe a succession of actions taken by Rich and Anthony. T may ask Ss what more general synonyms could replace those in the text.

6.Ss do the Usage Exercise and learn about the advantages of specific words over general ones.

7.Ss sum up the main idea of Part II, then do Text Organization Exercise 2. They will compare their answers with each other.

8.T explains the language points in Part III and gives Ss practice.

9.Ss sum up the main idea of Part III, then some of them report their summary to the class.

10.Ss re-form groups, which are the same as those in Pre-reading Activities No. 2, to discuss the valuable qualities Anthony possessed. They must give examples to support their findings. Post-reading Tasks

1.Ss re-read the first sentence of the text, Paras. 9-13, Para. 28, and answer the following questions:

Does the description of the weather have anything to do with the story? (to form a contrast with the ugliness of the later accident)

Why is the small talk between Rich and Anthony relevant to the story? (to form a contrast between the relaxed mood they were in and the tense scenes to come)

How do Scott and Kate’s reactions to the accident compare with Anthony’s? (to highlight Anthony’s cool-headedness)

2.T sums up by saying that sometimes a good story relies on comparison and contrast to play up the atmosphere.

3.Exercises

4.Text B

5.Writing

Text Analysis

A good story-writer selects details carefully. He/she only includes those details that are vital to the theme.

At first sight, some readers may wonder why the author bothers to give descriptions of the weather, of how Rich and Anthony made jokes about each other, of how after the accident Scott was jumping and crying, and of how Kate had delayed calling for help. But after closer inspections they will realize that those details are there to highlight the urgency of the accident and the level-headedness of Anthony.

In the first part of the story the author tells us there was no fence separating the yard from the railroad. It is interesting to note that in the last paragraph, the author makes a special mention of the fact that there is now a fence separating the neighborhood from the railroad track. That provides a good example of coherence.

Cultural Notes

Emergency services:

The emergency services are the public organizations whose job is to take quick action to deal with emergencies when they occur, especially the fire brigade, the police, and the ambulance service. The telephone number used for calling the police, fire or ambulance services in an emergency is 999 in Britain and 911 in the US.

Language Study

1.struggle with: have difficulty handling or coping with

e.g.

She struggled with the math problem but eventually worked it out.

We found the Smiths struggling with their car stuck in the mud.

1. nearby:

e.g.

in the area close by (adv.)

A.Jack found a part-time job in the company nearby.

B.All the towns nearby were crowded with tourists during the holiday.

C.Te man spoke softly to an old lady standing nearby.

not far away (adj.)

A.This drug can be bought at your nearby pharmacy.

B.We stopped at some nearby shops to pick up some food.

3.draw one’s attention to: make sb aware of and be concerned about sth.

The article was intended to draw the public’s attention to environmental protection.

My teacher drew my attention to an error in the term paper.

4.signal: send by a light or an act

The student raised his hand, signaling to the teacher that he had finished his paper.

She signaled a passing taxi and asked him to take her to the railway station.

5.out of the way: at a distance from the usual route; in a state or condition so as not to hinder Step out of the way and let me handle the stone.

The house is well out of the way on the back road.

6.resume: begin again after a pause

The search for the missing pilot is expected to resume early today.

We’ll stop now and resume at two o’clock.

They stopped talking for a moment to see where the noise was coming from and then resumed their conversation.

7.mess around/about: spend time playing or doing things with no particular purpose He spends his weekends messing around in his boat on the Thames.

The kids spent all say Sunday just messing around.

8.cool down: cause to become calmer

She is so angry now. just leave her to cool down and then talk to her.

The trial was postponed to allow the tension in the city to cool down.

9.spot: see or recognize

Thank you for pointing out the error; I hadn’t spotted it.

He left the house seconds before smoke was spotted coming up the stairs.

10.instant: moment, a very brief period of time

The alarm bells started ringing and at the same instant all the lights went off.

The magician came to the stage with a bunch of flowers. And then, in an instant, the flowers turned into a bird.

the instant: as soon as

I tried phoning her the instant I got home.

11.pull on: take hold of sth and pull it with strength

The child pulled on his mother’s coat wanting to leave.

Sophia pulled on the rope, shouting “help.”

12.explode: burst with a loud noise

The clap of thunder exploded overhead, which frightened the child into crying.

A bomb exploded at one of London’s busiest railway stations this morning.

13.sway: cause to move or swing slowly from side to side

Trees swayed gently in the breeze.

The coastal highway is lined with tall, swaying palm trees.

She swayed her body in time with the music.

14.loose: not firmly fixed in place

His tie was pulled loose and his collar hung open. It seemed that he was drunk.

When the teacher asked her to answer the question, the girl was idly pulling loose tread on her skirt.

15.reach out: stretch one’s arm, usu. in order to et or touch (+to do)

The mother reached out to grab her little boy but it was too late. He fell into the river. The child reached out to pick up the toy.

When he saw his former teacher, he reached out a hand in greeting.

16.clear of: free from, not in contact with

The plane climbed until it was clear of the clouds.

The man kept clear of his wife after the argument.

17.injure: harm, hurt; damage (+badly, seriously, critically)

A bomb exploded in a quiet street, injuring three people and killing one.

The soccer game was very fierce. One of the players injured his knee and had to be carried off.

18.visible: that can be seen (to/from)

These cells are not visible to the human eye.

The TV tower is just visible from my bedroom window.

19.twist:

turn round; revolve

A.The instant they left, he twisted to try and get free of the ropes.

B.Matt twisted around to see who it was.

C.I twisted round in my seat to speak to her.

bend sth so as to spoil its natural shape

A.His face was twisted with pain.

B.The bus was so crowded that my body was twisted, my legs at an awkward angle.

20.via: by means of; by way of

It’s easy and quick to communicate with friends via email.

Mr. Brake will return home via Britain and France.

21.internal: of or in the inside

They have knocked down a couple of internal walls. So the sitting room looks larger. The X-rays showed that the victim of the car accident had no internal injuries.

22.shelter: protect; cover (+ from)

v.

A.The female eagle sheltered her chicks with her wings.

B.Plant herbs next to a wall to shelter them from the wind.

n.

A.The city’s bomb shelters were being prepared for possible air raids.

B.The soldiers built a rough shelter of branches covered with leaves.

Unit 8 Coping with an Educational Problem

Objectives

Students will be able to:

1.understand the main idea (teenagers’ idleness and ignorance will seriously affect themselves and society in general) and structure of the text (two parts—the author’s concern and his proposed remedy);

2.learn the way to write a cause-and-effect analysis;

3.grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

4.conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities centered on the theme of the unit.

Time allotment

Pre-reading tasks

1.T asks the following questions to check if the students have listened to the tape recording: What was the riddle? (Who is the person who has the same parents as I have but is neither my brother nor my sister?)

Why did the teacher ask his class this riddle? (To make his class think and see how clearly they think)

2.Group discussion

Ss are divided into three large groups. Each is assigned one of the following topics for discussion:

A.How has the United States developed into the sole superpower in the world?

B.How did Japan manage to rebuild itself after the devastation of WWII?

C.How will China grow into a prosperous and well-respected country?

Speakers for each group report their answers to the class.

T sums up by stressing that almost all groups mentioned the importance of education, which is closely related to the theme of this unit.

While-reading :Tasks

1.Introduction:

T asks the following questions:

A.What is a fable? (short tales not based on facts and intended to give moral guidance)

B.Tell us the titles of some fables you know. (Aesop’s Fables)

C.Do fables state the moral lessons directly or let the reader deduce? (let the reader deduce) Ss read the title of Text A and try to predict the possible consequences of laziness.

T leads in by saying: In the first part of this text, the author brings up a problem: idleness and ignorance among a great many U.S. teenagers. In the second part he offers a fable trying to teach a lesson.

2.T explains the language points in Part I and gives practice.

3.Ss review cataphoric referents by finding out:

The meaning of “that” in Para. 3 (the author’s doing mental arithmetic)

The meaning of “such an experience” in Para. 6 (the salesgirl’s ignorance)

The meaning of “this” in Para. 7 (students’ inability to perform even the simplest calculations) The meaning of “all this ignorance” in Para. 8 (students’ inability to calculate, and their poor knowledge of world history or geography)

The meaning of “this young man” in Para. 9 (a friend’s bright, lazy 16-year-old son)

The meaning of “this message” in Para. 10 (teenagers’ ignorance leads to serious consequences)

3.Ss skim Part II to find out how many Kevin Hanleys there are in this part, and how they live. Kevin 1835, a poor peasant in Island;

Kevin 1928, a steel-mill worker in Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

Kevin 1945, a soldier fighting the Japanese army;

Kevin 1966, a student who studies all the time so as to get into college and law school; Kevin 1990, a cleaner in a Japanese-owned factory;

Kevin 2020, a porter in a hotel for wealthy Europeans and Asians;

Kevin 2025, living in a slum and searching through trash piles for food.

2.T explains the language points in Part II and gives practice.

3.Ss conclude the moral lesson from Part II. (Education is key to success, while lack of it leads to serious consequences for both individuals and society as a whole.)

Post-reading Tasks

1.Exercises;

2.Text B;

3.Writing.

Language Study

1.run out of: use up or finish a supply of sth.

To our disappointment, our car ran out gas halfway home.

When they ran out of food, the soldiers set about hunting for more.

2.handful: a small number of

You’d better hurry up. A handful of people are already waiting in the hall.

Only a handful students are willing to spend the New Year’s Eve on campus.

They invited a dozen companies, but only a handful of them came.

When the employer arrived, the secretary handed him a handful of letters.

2.in amazement: with a feeling of great surprise or disbelief

All the people in the lecture hall stared at him in amazement when he talked loudly with his friend.

The audience watched the magician in amazement turning the cards into cashes.

3.upset: make sb worry or feel unhappy (+ by / about)

They’re terribly upset by the break-up of their parents’ marriage.

He was upset about the argument he had with his wife.

4.ignorant: knowing little or nothing (+ of / about)

Some people are ignorant of the facts about global warming.

She was ignorant of her husband’s illegal activities, otherwise she would have done everything possible to stop him.

5.slice:

a part of sth (+ of)

A.Fiction takes up a large slice of the publishing market.

B.The boss promised that everyone would get a slice of the profits.

A thin flat piece cut from sth (+ of)

A.Try to eat at least four slices of bread a day.

B.Cut the pork into thin slices.

6.sum up: give a brief summary of

My teacher would sum up the main points of the lesson before he ended the class.

We discussed the proposed changes for most of the meeting. The chairman only took a few moments at the end to sum up.

7.compete with / against sb for sth

More than 2,300 candidates from 93 political parties ate competing for 486 seats.

We are having to compete with three other departments for the fund.

They found themselves competing with foreign countries for a share of the market.

8.affect: have an influence on

The 20 century was full of inventions that have affected the way we live.

More than seven million people have been affected by the drought.

The Asian financial crisis didn’t affect our national economy.

9.break down: stop working; fall; collapse

The elevators in this building are always breaking down.

I have accumulated so many dirty clothes since my washing machine broke down last week. Talk between the two countries broke down when the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

10.drive home: make it clear so that people understand it

We must drive home to them where the difficulties lie.

Peter was lazy. His parents tried to drive home to him the importance of hard work.

The accident in the factory really drove home to us the point that safety regulations must be observed.

11.humble:

not proud; modest

A.He thanked us again with a humble smile.

B.Frank strikes me as a very humble person.

low in importance, status, or condition

A.Michael started his career as a humble fisherman.

B.Lacocca rose from humble beginnings to become boss of Ford.

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12.luxury:

sth expensive which is not necessary

A.A week by the sea is a luxury they can no longer afford.

B.Houses with swimming pools are still a luxury in many parts of the country.

very great comfort, esp. among beautiful and expensive surrounding

A.She was brought up in an atmosphere of luxury and wealth.

B.He took over his father’s company and led a life of luxury.

13.better off: richer than you were; more comfortable

Today’s farmers are better off than they used to be.

It’s obvious that those who work hard are better off than those who don’t

14.scared: frightened (+ of / to / that…)

At the sight of a snake on the floor, the lady was too scared to move.

I have always been scared of mice.

Alex was scared that his classmates might tell the teacher he broke the window.

15.adequate: enough (to do / for)

My parents are prepared to offer me an amount of money adequate to purchase an apartment. Her knowledge of English was adequate for the job.

16.decline:

The first signs of economic decline became visible in that region.

Some people are worried that there will be a great decline in the stock market.

in decline; on the decline: gradually decreasing

The birth rate of China is on the decline.

He is still one of the world’s most popular soccer player, but his fame is in decline. Class attendance is in decline recently.