Teaching aims:
1. Talk about the science of stars
2. Practise giving instructions
1. Learn to use noun clauses as the subject
2. Learn to write an essay to show your problems and the way to overcome them.
3. Vocabulary: astronomy, atmosphere, violent, explode, surface, disappointed, gradually, cheer, mass, harmful, presence, in time, prevent …from… depend on, now that, get the hang of, break out
The first period Intensive reading
Step Ⅰ Presentation
T: Hello, everyone! Today we will come to Unit 4, Astronomy. Before that I have a question: where do we come from? Or we can say: Who are our ancestors?
S1: Monkeys!
S2: Beijing Ren who lived many years ago.
S3: dinosaurs
…
T: Very good! Do you know what it was like before life appeared on earth?
S4: Full of water…
Bs: I don’t know.
T: Do you want to get more information?
Ss: Yes, we do.
T: Today we will learn something about how life began on earth. Turn to page 25. Let’s come to Warming up first.
Step Ⅱ Warming up
1. Read the three questions, while the students listen and follow.
2. Give the students several minutes to discuss the questions.
3. Collect answers from the class.
4. Check answers while discussing.
Step Ⅲ Pre-reading
Get the students to discuss the questions on page 25 with their partners. Then ask the students to tell their stories. Encourage them to tell different stories, If they don’t know any, tell them some.
T: Now discuss these questions with your partners. Then I will ask some of you to tell us your stories. Are you clear?
Ss: Yes.
a. Do you know each religion or culture has its own ideas about the beginning of the universe? Give an example if you know.
b. Do you know what a scientific idea is?
Read some stories to the students.
Pangu separates the sky from the earth;
The Biblical Account;
India;
Japan;
Europe;
…
Step Ⅳ Reading
1. Scanning
Get the students to read the passage quickly and accurately and meanwhile help the students to form a good habit of reading. Give the students a couple of minutes to look throuth the whole passage. Tell them to read silently and then ask some detailed questions about the text. Encourage them to express their ideas.
T: We are going to learn a passage about how life began on the earth. Now read the text quickly and then answer my questions.
a. What was there on the earth before life began?
b. Why do scientist think there has never been life on the moon?
c. Why do animals first appear in the sea?
d. Why do green plants help life to develop?
e. Why were mammals different from other animals?
Discuss the answers with the whole class.
2. Skimming
In this part, students will read the text again and finish part 1,2,3
T: Now skim the passage fast to finish part1,2,3,4 Then we will check the answers together.
Key to part 1: DBIGEHACFJ
Discuss the rest with the students.
Step Ⅴ Listening
Listen to the tape for the students to follow and have further understanding of the passage.
T: Read after the tape, then answer me some questions with your book closed.
a. How did water come into being on the earth?
b. Why is water important on earth?
Step Ⅵ Language points
T: Turn to page 25. Let’s look at the sentences:
a. It exploded loudly with fire and rock, which were in time to produce the water vapour.
Which leads non-restrictive attributive clause.
in time: sooner or later; eventually
I will see him in time.
In time ( for sth/to do sth): not late
She will be back in time to prepare dinner.
In/out of time: in/not in the correct time
The audience clapped in time to the music.
b. Nobody knew that it was going to be different from other planets going around the sun.
Be different from: not like someone or something else in one or more ways
City life is quite different from country life.
c. Whether life will continue on the earth for millions of years to come will depend on whether this problem can be solved.
To come: serves as attributive
She is the last person to do such a thing.
Depend on: something might only happen or be true if the circumstances are right for it
Our success depends on whether everyone works hard or not.
d. Walking does need a bit of practice now that gravity has changed.
Now that: because of the fact that
Now that I am free, I can enjoy music for a while.
Now that you have grown up, you can decide it by yourself.
Step Ⅶ Homework
1. Retell the passage
2. Remember important language points
The second period Language study
Step Ⅰ Revision
1. Check retelling of the passage
2. Translate the following sentences.
a. 你遲早會成功的.
b. 我的車與你的不一樣.
c. 站在門旁邊的那個人是誰?
d. 他總是第一個來,最后一個走.
e. 既然你已經長大了,你自己決定吧.
Suggested answers:
a. You will succeed in time.
b. My car is different from yours.
c. Who is the person standing by the door?
d. He is always the first to come and the last to go.
e. Now that you have grown up you can decide it yourself.
Step Ⅱ Word study
This part is a consolidation of the words learnt in this unit. Ask the students to do the exercises individually.
a. Page 27. First let students finish part 1,2
b. Check the answers with the whole class.
c. Give students 3minutes to finish part 3.
d. Let the students read part 4 for a while and finish it.
e. Turn to page 63. First let the students finish 1and 2 and check the answers.
Step Ⅲ Preparation
Show some sentences on the blackboard.
a. A tree has fallen across the road.
b. You are a student.
c. To find your way can be a problem.
d. Smoking is bad for you.
e. “How do you do?” is a greeting.
f. What she said is not yet known.
g. That we shall be late is certain.
h. It’s certain that we shall be late .
T: What part does the underlined part serve as in each sentence? Or find its subject in each sentence.
Step Ⅳ Grammar
1. Give the students some time to find the sentences in the passage. The collect answers from the class.
2. Show typical examples of how to make a subject clause. Guide the Ss to find out what changes we have to make when we make a sentence or combine two sentences using subject clause. Teacher shows the example and Ss write down the sentences.
3. Turn to page 64. Read the following passage quickly and finish the eight sentences.
4. Have a discussion in pairs. The topic is My dream. One talks about the problems in his study or life, another gives some advice. Remind the students to use the following structures
a. My problem is…
b. My trouble is…
c. The question is…
d. My advice is…
e. What I think about it is…
f. The fact is…
g. My suggestion is…
Step ⅤHomework
1. Finish part 3(P23)
2. Finish part 3(P64)
Added material:
什么是黑洞？
就是在宇宙中有那么一些點，這些點的體積趨向于零而密度變得無窮大，由于具有強大的吸引力，物體只要進入離這個點一定距離的范圍內，就會被這個強大的引力吸收掉，連光線也不例外。因此任何進入這個范圍的物體都無法再逃出來，就是說，沒有任何信號能夠從這個范圍內傳出，因此這個范圍的界限被稱作視界，里面的情形人類無法看到。所以科學家給它起了個名字叫黑洞，英文就是black hole。 一顆燃燒盡了的恒星由于自身的重力而不斷坍縮，最后就會形成黑洞。
歷時30年霍金改觀點 稱黑洞能“吸”能“吐”
從事宇宙黑洞研究近三十年的世界天體物理學泰斗斯蒂芬霍金在前不久承認“黑洞悖論”有誤之后，21號，他在愛爾蘭都柏林舉行的一個學術研討會上終于就自己的新發現向外界進行了詳細闡述。
黑洞是宇宙中引力極強的區域。19世紀70年代，霍金首次提出黑洞能夠輻射能量的理論，但是在引入這一理論的同時，霍金也制造了物理學上的一個巨大難題，因為他認為
黑洞輻射不包含以前吸入物質的相關信息，而且隨著黑洞的消失，曾經存在的黑洞的相關信息也會消失于無形。這與量子力學中認為物質信息不會完全消失的理論相矛盾。對此，過去近30年來，霍金的解釋是：黑洞中的量子運動是一種特殊情況，這種說法受到了許多科學家的質疑。
如今，霍金終于改變了觀點，在當天召開的學術研討會上，霍金說，根據他的最新發現，黑洞并非只是吞噬物質。除了會在星系形成的過程中扮演重要角色外，在經過一段相當漫長的時間后，黑洞也會把一些曾被它吸入的物質信息向外界釋放出來。
霍金的最新闡述被不少人稱為黑洞理論的一個重要逆轉。美國加州理工學院的理論物理學家約翰普雷斯基就是其中之一。20多年前，霍金提出黑洞輻射理論時，普雷斯基就一直堅持物質信息不會完全消失，當時兩人還因此打賭。所以，在當天結束演講后，霍金將一本百科全書贈予普雷斯基，作為打賭輸了的代價，而普雷斯基則獲得了全場的熱烈掌聲。
Black holes
(1) What is a black hole? Well, it's difficult to answer this question, since the terms we would normally use to describe a scientific phenomenon are inadequate here. Astronomers and scientists think that a black hole is a region of space (not a thing ) into which matter has fallen and from which nothing can escape---- not even light. So we can't see a black hole. A black hole experts a strong gravitational pull and yet it has no matter. It is only space ---- or so we think . how can this happen?
(2) The theory is that some stars explode when their density increases to a particular point; they collapse and sometimes a supernova occurs. Form earth , a supernova looks like a very bright light in the sky which shines even in the daytime. Supernovae were reported by astronomers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some people think that the Star of Bethlehem could have been a supernova. The collapse of a star may produce a White Dwarf or a neutron star--- a star , whose matter is so dense that it continually shrinks by the force of its own gravity. But if the star is very large (much bigger than our sun) this process of shrinking may be so intense that a black hole results. Imagine the earth reduced to the size of a marble, but still having the same mass and a stronger gravitational pull, and you have some idea of the force of a black hole. Any matter near the black hole is sucked in. It is impossible to say what happens inside a black hole. Scientists have called the boundary area around the hole the " event horizon." We know nothing about events which happen once objects pass this boundary. But in theory, matter must behave very differently inside the hole.
(3) For example , if a man fell into a black hole, he would think that he reached the center of it very quickly. However an observer at the event horizon would think that the man never reached the center at all. Our space and time laws don't seem to apply to objects in the area of a black hole. Einstein's relativity theory is the only one which can explain such phenomena , so that there is no " absolute" time and space depend on the position of the observer. They are relative. We do not yet fully understand the implications of the relativity theory; but it is interesting that Einstein's theory provided a basis for the idea of black holes before astronomers started to find some evidence for their existence. It is only recently that astronomers have begun specific research into black holes. In August 1977, a satellite was launched to gather data about the 10 million black holes which are thought t be in the Milky way. And astronomers are planning a new observatory to study the individual exploding stars believed to be black holes.
(4) The most convincing evidence of black holes comes from research into binary star systems. Binary stars, as their name suggests ,are twin stars whose position in space affects each other. In some binary systems, astronomers have shown that there is an invisible companion star, a "partner" to the one which we can see in the sky. Matter from the one we can see is being pulled towards the companion star. Could this invisible star, which exerts such a great force , be a black hole? Astronomers have evidence of a few other stars too, which might have black holes as companions.
(5) The story of black holes is just beginning . Speculations about them are endless. There might be a massive black hole at the center on our galaxy swallowing up stars at a very rapid rate. Mankind may one day meet this fate. On the other hand, scientists have suggested that very advanced technology could one day make use of the energy of black holes for mankind. These speculations sound like science fiction. But the theory of black holes in space is accepted by many serious scientists and astronomers .they show us a world which operates in a totally different way from our own and they question our most basic experience of space and time.
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer for the following questions
1) Black holes are related to ____
A. geography B. astronomy C. physics D. economic
2) A black hole is ____
A. a dark star B. a large heavenly body
C. a region of space D. a great mass of matter
3) what causes some stars to explode, theoretically speaking ?
A. their density B. their gravity. C. their movement D. their light
4) Scientists call the area around the black hole ____.
A. a White Dwarf B. a supernova
C. the event horizon D. the star of Bethlehem
5) according to Einstein's relativity theory, there is no "absolute " time and space. Is it true or false?
A. true B. false
6) which of the following statements is not true? The story of black holes in space____
A. is accepted by many serious scientists and astronomers
B. has to some extent been proved by research into binary star system
C. is questioning our basic idea of space and time
D. Sounds like science fiction
7) according to the passage , our earth may be swallowing by the black hole one day, is it true or false ?
A. true B. false
8) according to the passage , the human being one day may make use of the energy of black hole by advanced technology. Is it true or false?
A. true B. false