Unit 24 The Science of farming - 英语写作指导

Teaching objectives and demands:

1. Words and useful expressions:

farming, condition, gardening, be busy with, knock out of, point out, turn over, go against, year after year, agree to do sth．, now and then, give a talk

2. Everyday English for communication

It's a beautiful day today.

It's going to be dry and sunny for the next two days.

What's the weather going to be like at the weekend?

They say it's going to be wet and windy.

3. To help the students know something about agriculturalist Jia Sixie and his book Qimin yaoshu.

4. Language use: Manipulate listening, speaking practice

Key points:

1. Everyday English for communication

2. Words and useful expressions

3. Grammar: the grammar items about indirect speech

Time arrangement:

This unit is arrangement to be finished in 5~6 teaching periods, including a unit test.

Teaching procedures:

Lesson 93

Step 1. Revision

(1) Check the homework exercises.

(2) If possible, ask several Ss to talk about the Changjiang River project.

(3) Revise weather vocabulary. Say What's the weather like today? What was it like yesterday?

What kind of weather do you like? Why? What do you do when the weather's hot/cold/windy? etc.

Step 2. Reading

(1) SB Lesson 93, Part 1. Say Today we're going to learn a dialogue about the weather and farming.

(2) Tell the students that the weather is very important for farmers. Read the dialogue to find out what the weather is going to be like in the next two days. (Dry and Sunny.) What will Tim do? (Sow carrot seed.) How about next weekend? What will the weather be like? (Wet and windy.) What will he do? (Pick the rest of the cabbages before the weather changes.)

Step 3. Dialogue

Speech Cassette Lesson 93. Play the tape of the dialogue for the Ss to listen and repeat. Then let them practise the dialogue in pairs. Get them to make up new dialogues, using the words on the right. Ask some pairs to act out their new dialogues.

Step 4. Explanations to the dialogue

1. He is always busy with his farm work. 他总是忙于他的农场工作。

be busy with 忙于……。例如：

Father is always busy with his research work. 父亲老是忙于他的研究工作。

“What are you busy with? ”--“ I'm busy with the preparation for the performance.” “你在忙些什么?”--“我在忙于演出前的准备。”

2. -What's the weather going to be like at the weekend? 周末的天气如何?

-They say it's going to be wet and windy. 据说是潮湿、多风。

询问天气的交际用语通常用“What's the wether like…? ”

回答时用“It's…”。这是用来询问当时或某地的天气情况的。

如果询问未来的天气情况，则用这个句型的将来时态：

“ What's the weather going to be like…? ”，应答时用“It's going to be…”。例如：

“What's the weather like today in Shanghai? ”--“It's fine in Shanghai.”

“今天上海的天气如何?”--“上海今天是晴天。”

“What's the weather going to be like tomorrow in Shanghai?”--“It's going to be cold and rainy.” “明天上海的天气怎么样?”--“上海明天有雨，天气寒冷。”

“What's the weather going to be like next week? ”--“It's going to be cloudy and rainy.” “下星期的天气情况如何?”--“多云有雨。”

3. “be made of”和“be made from”的区别。两者都作“ 由……制成”解，但“be made of”指“由 ……(材料)制成”，这种材料在制成品中可以看得出来。例如：

The bridge is made of stone.

这座桥是由石头砌的。(桥的材料是石头，可以看出)

而“be made from”指“由……(原料)制成”，这种原料在制成品中是看不出来的。例如：The wine is made from fruit.

这种酒是由水果酿制的。(酒的原料是水果，水果在酒中看不出来。)

Step 5. Practice

(1) Play a short game with the Ss. Describe an object and see if they can guess what it is: e.g. It's made of wood. We use it for writing with. (Pencil) It's made from trees. We use it to write on. (Paper).

Write two sentences on the Bb:

Pencils are made of wood.

Paper is made from trees.

Point out the difference between made of (the material is still the same) and made from (the form of the material has changed).

(2) SB Lesson 93, Part 2. Do one or two examples with the whole class, then let the Ss work in pairs, making sentences.

Note that dumplings are made from wheat and are filled with meat and vegetables.

Step 5. Listening

(1) SB Lesson 93, Part 3. Wb Listening, Unit 24.

Turn to page 130 of the Workbook. Look at the picture. Go through the questions in Ex. 1 and discuss possible answers. It doesn't matter if the answers are not correct. Say now let's listen to the tape and find out the correct answers.

(2) Listening Cassette Unit 24. Play the tape once or twice as necessary. Discuss the answers with the whole class. For Exx. 2 and 3, make sure the Ss know what to do before you play the tape. Ex. 4 is a discussion topic.

(3) Check the answers with the class.

Step 6. Workbook

Get the Ss to do Ex. 1 in pairs and discuss the answers. Then check them with the whole class.

Follow the same procedure with Ex. 3. Then discuss in class. There may be more than one answer for the same thing, e.g. This suit is made of cotton/wool. Tables are made of wood/metal.

Ex. 2 can be done after class as written work.

Ex. 4 is optional. Do it if time permits.

Homework

(1) Finish the Workbook exercises.

(2) Do Ex. 2 on a piece of paper.

(3) Do Ex. 4 if possible.

(4) Prepare a story with the words in the box.

Lesson 94 A Farming Pioneer

Step 1. Revision

(1) Check the homework exercises, especially Wb Lesson 93, Ex. 2.

(2) Revise the listening exercise in Lesson 93. Say Tell me about Dawn. Where does she live? What does she do? Where are the fish kept? etc.

Step 2. Presentation

SB Lesson 94, Part 1. Let the Ss read the title and the first sentence of each paragraph. Get them to say what they think the passage is about. (Science of farming; a great farmer in Chinese history). Tell the Ss that agriculture means the science of farming.

Step 3. Reading

Ask the Ss to read the passage to find out about Jia Sixie. They can make notes in their exercise books.

When they finish reading, they close their books.

Step 4. Language points

1. While people in other countries in the world were trying to catch wild animals and birds and were still collecting seeds and nuts, farmers in China were developing the science of agriculture. 当世界上其它国家的人民还在捕猎飞禽走兽、采集种子和坚果的时候，中国的农民就已经在从事农业科学研究了。

While是从属连词，作“当……时候”解，引导表示时间的状语从句。在主句和从句中的谓语动词都用了过去时，以强调两个过去的动作在同时进行。例如：

It was raining all the time while they were working on the farm.

他们在农场劳动的时候，天一直在下着雨。

The girls were singing while Jack was playing the piano.

杰克在弹钢琴，姑娘们在唱歌。

What were you doing while I was listening to the radio?

我听收音机的时候你在干什么?

while作“当……时候” 解时，指的是“一段时间”(a period of time)，同延续动词连用，此时可以有when/as代替，如上述例句中的while都可以换用成when/as。但是when/as 还可以指“一点时间”(a point of time) ，同瞬时动词连用，而while却不能。如下句中的when/as不能用while替代：

What did you see when/as you entered the room? 你进房时见到了什么?

2. Then he returned home and spent his time on research into agriculture. 后来他回乡从事农业科学的研究。

(1) “spend(time/money)on sth.”的意思是“在……方面花费(时间/金钱)”。例如：

The researchers spent almost half a year on the project.

研究人员在这项工程上花费了将近半年时间。

He spends much money on books and magazines every month.

他每月在购买书籍杂志上要花很多钱。

在spend后还可以跟“on/in doing sth.”，表示“在干某事中花费(时间/金钱)”，其中的介词 on/in 也可以省去，即“ spend (time/money) doing sth.”。例如：

He has spent a lot of time and money on improving his living conditions.

他花费了大量的时间和金钱来改善生活条件。

上句中的介词on可以换用介词in，也可以不用任何介词，而直接跟-ing形式。又如：

She spent her evenings (in/on) washing the floors and windows.

她把晚上时间用来擦洗地板和窗户。

(2) 句中的research是名词，作“研究”、“探索”解，可以用单数，也可以用复数。后面可以跟介词into/in的短语，表示“对……进行研究”。例如：

Mr. Green has spent 10 years on research into farming and gardening.

格林先生花费了十年时间对耕作和园艺进行了研究。

His father is a physicist; he is doing his research(es) in space physics.

他的父亲是物理学家，他在进行空间物理研究。

The doctors are making a research into the causes of cancer.

这些医生正在进行一次癌症病因的研究。

3. He advised farmers to choose the best seed-heads, the ones that had the best colour. 他劝告农民要挑选最好的谷穗，也就是那些颜色最好的谷穗。

(1) advise vt. 劝告、建议。常用在带不定式的复合结构中(advise sb. to do sth.)。例如：

The doctor advised me to have some more rest. 医生劝我多休息一下。

The teacher advised us to do experiments more carefully.

老师建议我们要更细心地做实验。

We advised them not to catch wild animals and birds.

我们劝他们不要捕猎飞禽野兽。

advise后也可以跟名词或从句作宾语。例如：

We advised an early start. 我们建议早点动身。

He advised me that I should improve the speed of reading.

他建议我提高阅读速度。同advise相对应的名词是advice。这是一个不可数名词，作“劝告”、“意见”解。表示“一条意见”或“多条意见” 时，该用 “a piece of advice ”或“ pieces of advice。例如：

His talk includes advice on keeping cows and sheep.

他的谈话内容包括有关饲养牛羊的建议。

I'd like to give you a piece of advice on your plan. 我想对你的计划提一点意见。

He gave me several pieces of advice on my study.

他对我的学习提了好几条意见。

(2) “the ones ”是同位语，用以指代前面的名词 seed-heads 。由关系代词that引导的定语从句(that had the best colour)修饰先行词the ones. ones是替代词one的复数形式，one/ones 常用来代替上文的某个可数名词，以避免重复。如果这个名词是单数，则用替代词one；如果这个名词是复数，则用替代词ones。例如：

Could I choose an apple, a nice red one?

我选一个苹果好吗，一个又红又好的苹果?

I don't want these green apples; I want the red ones.

我不喜欢这些青苹果，我想要红的。

These books are too difficult for me; could you get me some easier ones?

这些书对我来说太难了。给我找几本比较容易的书好吗?

4. In the following spring, the seeds should be knocked out of the seed-heads and sown. (=Next spring, people should remove the seeds from the seed- heads and then sowed them.) 到第二年春天，把种子从谷穗里打出来，然后再播种。

(1) knock… out of…是一个短语动词，意思是“把……从……里面敲打出来”(to remove sth. from sth. else)。例如：

The sudden blow knocked two teeth out of his mouth.

突如其来的一击把他的两颗牙齿敲掉了。

Don't knock the diamond out of the ring. 不要把钻石从戒指里敲出来。

The gun was knocked out of the enemy's hand. 敌人手里的枪被敲了下来。

(2) following adj. 接着的，其次的。句中的 The following spring=the spring that follows= the next spring.例如：

It rained on the day we arrived, but the following morning it was sunny.

我们到达的那天还下雨，可第二天上午就天晴了。

The child was ill in the evening, but on the following day he was well again.

孩子晚上生病了，可是第二天他又好了。

5. He pointed out that it was important to remove weeds before sowing seed in the soil. 他指出，播种前先要清除杂草，这点非常重要。

(1) 这是一个复合句。主句是“He pointed out…”，后跟一个由连词that引导的宾语从句(…that it was important …in the soil)。这个宾语从句是一个形式主语it引导的句子，真正的主语是后边的不定式短语(to remove weeds before……)。

形式主语it的句型是：

It is/was+adj./n.+(for sb.) to do sth.例如：

It is necessary to develop the science of agriculture. 发展农业科学是必要的。

It is important for the farmers to have the knowledge of farming.

农民们要具备耕种的知识，这点很重要。

It isn't a new method to improve soil conditions like that.

像那样改良土壤，并不是一种新方法。

(2) 短语动词point out作“指出”解。例如：

At the meeting, he pointed out that agriculture should be put at the first place.

在会上，他指出农业应当摆在第一位。

The teacher pointed out that the first sentence of each paragraph was the topic sentence. 老师指出，每段的第一句是主题句。

6. The soil should also be turned over with a fork so that the weeds would be destroyed. (=In order to destroy the weeds, you should make the soil face up, using a fork.) 还应该用耙翻地，以除掉杂草。

短语动词turn over作“翻转”、“翻身”解( to face the other way up/to roll from one side to the other)。例如：

The oil lamp was turned over and a fire started. 油灯被打翻了，于是引起了火灾。

I heard the clock, but then I turned over and went back to sleep.

我听到了钟声，但是我翻过身又睡着了。

The soil must be turned over before planting. 在种庄稼前必须翻土。

A fishing boat was turned over by a big wave. 鱼船被大浪打翻了。

7. He also said it was important to plant wheat close together . Other scientists had said that wheat should be planted with space between the plants. 他还说小麦密植很重要，(在此之前)别的科学家曾说过，小麦栽培株距应当大些。

(1) “Other scientists had said …”一句用了过去完成时“had said”，是同上句“He also said…”相比较而言的，有时间的先后。意即：其它科学家先说株距该大些，但是贾思勰说株距该小些，应当密植。两相比较之后，结论就是下一句：

Jia Sixie did experiments and showed that his way was better.(贾思勰作了试验，证明他的方法较好。)

(2) plant既可以作动词，意为“种植”(put in the soil to grow)，也可以作名词，作“植物”解 (a living thing that has roots and leaves)。例如：

“When do you plant rice?”--“In April.” “你们什么时候栽秧?”--“四月份。”

Trees, grass and vegetables are called plants. 树、草和蔬果都叫做植物。

Step 5. Listening

Speech Cassette Lesson 94. Play the tape of the first two paragraphs for the Ss to, listen and repeat. Pay attention to intonation, pronunciation and phrasing.

Step 6. Oral practice

Wb Lesson 94, Ex. 1. Go through the exercise and make sure the Ss know what to do. Then let them work alone or in pairs. Check the answers with the whole class.

Step 7. Oral practice

Ask the Ss to tell you everything they can remember about Jia Sixie.

Step 8. Workbook

Wb Lesson 94, Exx. 2 and 3.

First get the Ss to do Ex. 2 in pairs. Then check the answers with the whole class. Translate some of the sentences if necessary. Make sure the Ss understand the passage.

Before asking the Ss to do Ex. 3 in groups or pairs, give them some help. Ask what would you touch upon when you talk about farming or gardening? Write down the notes on the Bb, for example, the importance of agricultural studies, ways of keeping seeds, improving soil conditions, etc.

Homework

(1) Finish off the exercises of Lesson 90 in the workbook.

(1) Revise the key points of this lesson.

Lesson 95 A Farming Pioneer

Step 1. Revision

(1) Check the homework exercises. Get several Ss to talk about farming or gardening, or to tell something about Jia Sixie.

(2) Books closed! Revise the contents of the reading passage in SB Lesson 94. Ask what did Jia Sixie say about keeping seeds/ improving soil conditions/planting wheat and rice? What was in his book?

Step 2. Reading

SB Lesson 95, Part 1. Tell the Ss I'd like you to read the second passage about Jia Sixie. He gives five pieces of advice. Read the passage and try to remember what the five pieces of advice are. Let the Ss read the passage for a few moments. Then books closed! Ask: What advice did Jia Sixie give?

Take notes on the Bb, e.g. Do things at the right time of the year. Examine the soil on your farm carefully. (etc.)

Step 3. Language difficulties

1. Here are five pieces of advice collected from Jia Sixie's book Qi Min Yao Shu:…( =The following are five pieces of advice which are collected from Jia Sixie's book Qi Min Yao Shu:…) 下面五条意见都是从贾思勰的《齐民要术》一书中收集到的。

这是一个倒装句，用“Here is/are…”开头( 这儿是 …… )，后跟主语five pieces of advice，冒号后面的五条意见是主语的同位语。“collected from…”是过去分词短语，相当于一个定语从句，修饰先行词five pieces of advice。例如：

Here are some children's books borrowed from our library.

这是从我们图书馆借来的几本儿童读物。

Here is the necklace picked up by Xiao Li on her way home.

这是小李在回家的路上拾到的项链。

Here are some good phrases and sentences collected from the newspaper.

这儿是从报纸上搜集到的好的短语和句子。

2. But if you go against nature and do things at the Wrong time of year, you will have to do more work and the results will not be so good. (=If you do things that are opposite of the natural way, and if you do things at a time of year when the weather conditions are unsuitable, you will have to do more work and the results will not be so good.) 如果你不顺乎自然，不适时耕作，你就得付出更多的劳动，而成果却不见得好。

(1) 本句用的句型结构是“If you…，you'll…”。这是表示禁止和警告的交际用语，意思是“如果你……，那么你就会……”。例如：

If you're late again, you'll lose your job. 如果你再次迟到，你就会失去工作。

If you don't study hard, you'll fail in the exam.

如果你不用功学习，你就会考试不及格。

If you tell the secret to the enemy, you'll be punished.

如果你把秘密告诉敌人，那么你会受到惩罚。

(2) go against是短语动词，作“违反”、“违背”解 ( to be opposite to sth.)。例如：

It goes against my habit to get up late in the morning.

早晨起得很晚，这违背了我的生活习惯。

If you give up your studies, you'll go against your parents' wishes.

如果你放弃学业，就会违背你父母亲的愿望。

You shouldn't do things that go against the law of nature.

你不该做那些违背自然规律的事情。

3. Do not plant, for example, rice year after year in the same field. 例如，在同一块地里，不要年复一年地种稻谷。

year after year(=every year)年复一年地，一年一年地。常用来表示逐年重复，在句中作状语。例如：

We plant trees year after year in March. 我们每年三月份植树。

Year after year I receive a Christmas card from my friend Jack.

每年圣诞节我都收到我的朋友杰克寄的圣诞贺卡。

Her family go to the seaside for a holiday year after year.

她的一家人每年都去海滨度假。

注意，year by year也作“一年一年地”、“逐年地”解，常用来表示逐年的变化。因此，year after year有“年年 (重复) ”的意思，而year by year有“逐年(变化)”的意思。试比较：

My grandma grows older year by year.

我祖母一年一年地衰老了。(每年变老)

My grandma comes to see me on my birthday year after year.

每年我生日的那天，奶奶都来看我。(每年重复)

4. Grow different plants next to each other in the same field. 在同一块地里套种不同的作物。

next to(=beside)靠近，紧挨着。例如：

Put the chairs and tea tables next to each other. 把椅子和茶几并排放着。

Our school stands next to No.1 Hospital. 我们学校就在第一医院的旁边。

Step 4. Practice

Talk about the advice given by Jia Sixie by asking each other What is his first advice? etc. Then look at SB Lesson 95, Part 2. Let the Ss work in pairs, get some Ss to report the advice to the whole class.