21世纪大学实用英语综合教程(第2册第1单元)

nullUnit1Unit1Ⅰ. ObjectivesⅡ. Suggested Teaching PlanⅢ. Background InformationⅣ. Class PresentationPreviewprev.prev.Preview This is the first unit of Book Two. In the Listening and Speaking section, you will learn how to ask for and give clarification. In the Reading and Writing section, you will learn some interesting aspects of the English language. Text A relates some real stories about how misunderstandings arise when one fails to catch the English word correctly; Text B presents some mysteries of the English language; and Practical Reading is a CNN’s program schedule.Obj.Obj.Ⅰ. ObjectivesAfter studying this unit, the students are expected to1. master the basic language and skills necessary to ask for and give clarification; 2. understand the main ideas of Texts A and B, and master the useful sentence structures and words and expressions found in the exercises relevant to the first two texts; 3. grasp the basic English grammar of subject-verb agreement (1);Obj.Obj.Ⅰ. Objectives4. know how to write a letter of invitation; 5. read a CNN’s program schedule; 6. guess the meaning of unknown words in context (1).s.t.p.1.1s.t.p.1.1Ⅱ. Suggested Teaching PlanSuggested Time and Teaching Plan for Unit 1 Time Contents Plan The teacher begins with the Preview so make sure that the students have some idea of what this unit is all about. After that, the teacher activates the listening and Speaking exercises as follows:2 periodsPreviews.t.p.1.2s.t.p.1.2Time Contents Plan 1) The Language for Asking For and Giving ClarificationHave a warm-up activity by asking students what they say when they are not clear about what has been said or have become puzzled about a particular point just mentioned;A.Listening and Speakings.t.p.1.3s.t.p.1.3Time Contents Plan B.Have the students listen to Ex. 1 (2-3 times) and fill in the blanks with the missing words;C.Ask one student to read aloud the talk so students can check their completed answers;s.t.p.1.4s.t.p.1.4Time Contents Plan D.Ask other students to present their opinions on a particular subject or situation, trying to use the expressions learned in Ex. 1.2) Asking For and Giving Clarification Go through the new words in the first dialogue in Ex. 3;A.s.t.p.1.5s.t.p.1.5Time Contents Plan B.Have the students listen to the conversation twice and fill in the blanks with the missing words;C.Ask students to answer the questions about the conversation;D.Now have them look for the language used to ask for and give clarification;s.t.p.1.6s.t.p.1.6Time Contents Plan E.Next, students can role-play the dialogue;F.Then have them either do the same with the second dialogue or be creative with it;Finally, study the structures presented in Ex. 4, and create situations for conversations in which students are encouragedG.s.t.p.1.7s.t.p.1.7Time Contents Plan to ask for and give clarification using the language they have picked up in Ex. 1.3) Listening PracticeBefore ending, the teacher tells the students how to do Ex. 5-10 as their assignment. The teacher also tells them that they should bes.t.p.1.8s.t.p.1.8Time Contents Plan prepared to answer the questions in Ex. 9 and give an oral presentation on the topic in Ex. 10 when next they come to class. s.t.p.1.9s.t.p.1.9Time Contents Plan 3 periods Review of the listening and speaking skills the students have learnedThe teacher begins with the assignment mainly to review the functional and notional language the students picked up in the previous classes. The teacher asks some students to answer the questions in Ex. 9 of the Listening and Speaking section and invites a few students to tell their classmates their opinions on the topic of “Life would bes.t.p.1.11s.t.p.1.11Time Contents Plan 1) StarterAfter a brief explanation of the instructions, the teacher A.gives the students a few minutes to think about the questions in the starter;B. asks some students to tell the others their responses. (10 minutes)Text A & text-related exercises meaningless without misunder-standings.” s.t.p.1.12s.t.p.1.12Time Contents Plan 2) Text AThe teacher lets the students answer the text-related questions, helps them identify the main idea of each paragraph and analyzes some difficult sentences and some language points while discussing the whole text with the students (one and a half periods);A.s.t.p.1.13s.t.p.1.13Time Contents Plan guides the students through the exercises, focusing on certain items or leaving some exercises as the students’ homework, according to the students’ different levels of English (one period).B.s.t.p.1.14s.t.p.1.14Time Contents Plan 1 period Grammar Review1) Grammar ReviewThe teacher explains to the students what the subject-verb agreement is, and then asks the students to do the grammar exercises in class.s.t.p.1.15s.t.p.1.15Time Contents Plan 2) Practical WritingThe teacher tells as well as shows the students how to write an invitation by doing Ex.12 of Practical Writing, and then requires the students to do Ex.13 and Ex.14 as their homework. Practical Writings.t.p.1.16s.t.p.1.16Time Contents Plan 2 periods Text B & text-related exercises 1) Text BWhile discussing the text with the students, the teacher calls on them to pay attention to the structure of the paragraphs of the text, introducing briefly the concept of the topic sentence. Ex. 16 and Ex.17 can be done either in class or after class. s.t.p.1.17s.t.p.1.17Time Contents Plan 2) Practical ReadingThis part should either be read by the students themselves as their homework or done in class. Practical Readings.t.p.1.18s.t.p.1.18Time Contents Plan Basic Reading Skills3) Basic Reading SkillsThe teacher tells the students how to guess the meanings of unknown words in context (1), and asks them to do the exercises in Basic Reading Skills.BIBIⅢ. Background InformationEnglish LanguageCharacteristics of English American EnglishNew ZealandThe Big AppleBI-ELBI-ELEnglish Language The English language is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is used as either a primary or secondary language in many countries. During the 1500s, fewer than 2 million people spoke English. All of them lived in what is now Great Britain. Through the centuries, as the result of various historical events, English spread throughout the world. Today, about 400 million people speak English as their native language. Most of them live in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.BI-ELBI-EL Another 100 million people living chiefly in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and in many African countries speak English in addition to their own language. An additional 200 million people probably know at least some English. (From the 1998 World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia)BI-CE1BI-CE1Characteristics of English Vocabulary. English has a larger vocabulary than any other language. There are more than 600,000 words in the largest dictionaries of the English language. Some English words have been passed on from generation to generation as far back as scholars can trace. These words, such as woman, man, sun, hand, love, go, and eat, express basic ideas and feelings. Later, many words were borrowed from other languages, including Arabic, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. For example, algebra is from Arabic, fashion from French, piano from Italian, and canyon from Spanish. BI-CE2BI-CE2 A number of words, such as doghouse and splashdown, were formed by combining other words. New words were also created by blending words. For example, motor and hotel were blended into motel. Words can be shortened to form new words, as was done with history to form story. Words called acronyms are formed by using the first letter or letters of several words. The word radar is an acronym for radio detection and ranging. Characteristics of English BI-CE3BI-CE3 Pronunciation and spelling in English sometimes seem illogical or inconsistent. Many words are spelled similarly though pronounced differently. Examples include cough, though, and through. Other words, such as blue, crew, to, too, and shoe, have similar pronunciations but are spelled differently. Many of these variations show changes that occurred during the development of English. The spelling of some words remained the same through the centuries, though their pronunciation changed. Characteristics of English BI-CE4BI-CE4 Grammar is the set of principles used to create sentences. These principles define the elements used to assemble sentences and the relationships between the elements. The elements include parts of speech and inflections. Characteristics of English BI-CE5BI-CE5Characteristics of English Parts of speech are the word categories of the English language. Scholars do not all agree on how to describe the parts of speech. The traditional description lists eight classes: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. The most important relationships of the parts of speech include subject and verb, verb and predicate, and modifier and the word modified.BI-CE6BI-CE6Characteristics of English English has fewer inflections than most other European languages. An English noun has only two inflections, the plural and the possessive. Inflections are used to change the tense and number of a verb or the case of a pronoun. Inflections can change adjectives to the comparative or the superlative — for example, big, bigger, biggest. (From the 1998 World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia)BI-AE1BI-AE1American English American English is a variety of the English language spoken in the United States. Although all Americans do not speak the same way, their speech has enough in common that American English can be recognized as a variety of English distinct from British English, Australian English, and other national varieties. American English has grown up with the country. It began to diverge from British English during its colonial beginnings and acquired regional differences and ethnic flavor during the settlement of the continent. BI-AE2BI-AE2Today it influences other languages and other varieties of English because it is the medium by which the attractions of American culture — its literature, motion pictures, and television programs — are transmitted to the world. Characteristics of American English A. Pronunciation In broad terms, Canadian and American speakers tend to sound like one another. They also tend to sound different from a large group of English speakers who sound more British, such as those in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. For example, most Canadians and Americans pronounce an r sound after the vowel in words like barn, car, BI-AE3BI-AE3and farther, while speakers from the British English group do not. Also, some British English speakers drop h sounds at the beginning of words, so that he and his are pronounced as if they were spelled ee and is. The English spoken in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa sounds more like British English than American English does because these varieties have had less time to diverge from British English. The process of separate development began later in these countries than in North America.BI-AE4BI-AE4 In some cases there are differences between American English and British English in the rhythm of words. British speakers seem to leave out a syllable in words like secretary, as if it were spelled secretry, while Americans keep all the syllables. The opposite is true of other words, such as specialty, which Americans pronounce with three syllables (spe-cial-ty) while British speakers pronounce it with five syllables (spe-ci-al-i-ty). Vowels and consonants may also have different pronunciations. British speakers pronounce zebra to rhyme with Debra, while American speakers make zebra rhyme with Libra. Canadian and British speakers pronounce the word schedule as if it began with an sh sound, while Americans pronounce it as if it began with an sk sound.BI-AE5BI-AE5 B. Words The most frequently used words are shared by speakers of different varieties of English. These words include the most common nouns, the most common verbs, and most function words (such as pronouns, articles, and prepositions). The different varieties of English do, however, use different words for many words that are slightly less common — for example, British crisps for American potato chips, Australian billabong for American pond, and Canadian chesterfield for American sofa. It is even more common for the same word to exist with different meanings in different varieties of English. BI-AE6BI-AE6Corn is a general term in Britain, for which Americans use grain, while corn in American English is a specific kind of grain. The word pond in British English usually refers to an artificial body of water, whereas ponds also occur naturally in North America. British English chemist is the same as American English drugstore, and in Canada people go to the druggist. Many of the words most easily recognized as American in origin are associated with aspects of American popular culture, such as gangster or cowboy.BI-AE7BI-AE7 C. Spelling American English spelling differs from British English spelling largely because of one man, American lexicographer Noah Webster. In addition to his well-known An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828), Webster published The American Spelling Book (1783, with many subsequent editions), which became one of the most widely used schoolbooks in American history. Webster’s books sought to standardize spelling in the United States by promoting the use of an American language that intentionally differed from British English. The development of a specifically American variety of English mirrored the newBI-AE8BI-AE8country’s separate political development. Webster’s most successful changes were spellings with or instead of our (honor, labor for the British honour, labour); with er instead of re (center, theater for the British centre, theatre); with an s instead of a c (defense, license for the British defence, licence); with a final ck instead of que (check, mask for the British cheque, masque); and without a final k (traffic, public, now also used in British English, for the older traffick, publick). Later spelling reform created a few other differences, such as program for British programme. Canadian spelling varies between the British and American forms, more British in eastern Canada and more American in western Canada.BI-AE9BI-AE9 D. Grammar The grammar of educated speakers of English differs little among national varieties. In the speech of people with less access to education, grammatical variations in regional and social varieties of American English are very common as normal, systematic occurrences (not as errors). One major difference between British and American English is that the two attach different verb forms to nouns that are grammatically singular but plural in sense. In American English, the team is…, or the government is… (because they are viewed as single entities), but in British English, the team are…, or the government are… (because teams andBI-AE10BI-AE10government are understood to consist of more than one person). Sometimes function words are used differently: The British stay in hospital but Americans stay in the hospital. (From Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2004)BI-NZ1BI-NZ1 New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands, the North Island and the South Island, and numerous smaller islands. Its Maori (毛利语的) name is Aotearoa, meaning “Land of the Long White Cloud.” New ZealandBI-NZ2BI-NZ2 Language: English Currency: New Zealand dollar Capital: Wellington Population: 3,951,307 (2003) Area: 270,534 sq km/104,454 sq mi. (From Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2004)BI-TBA1BI-TBA1 The term dates to 1921 and was originally a reference to the race courses in and around New York City. These were the big money courses, and the “apple” was associated with a prize, something desirable. The Big AppleBy the late 1920s, the term had been adopted by jazz musicians and generalized to the city as a whole. A tourism advertising campaign in the 1970s that used theBI-TBA2BI-TBA2term as a theme reinvigorated its usage and brought the name to the attention of millions who had not otherwise heard it. Today it’s a common colloquial expression used by New York City dwellers to refer with some pride to their city. (From http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorb. html)Class listClass listⅣ. Class PresentationListening & SpeakingReading & WritingTime for Fun LSLSListening & SpeakingThe Language for Asking For and Giving ClarificationAsking For and Giving ClarificationListening PracticeLp-main1Lp-main1Listening PracticeListen to the following people speaking and decide what they are talking about.Listen to the following five short dialogues and choose the appropriate answers.Listen to the following short story twice. Listen carefully and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F) according to the story you have heard. Lp-main2Lp-main2Listen to the following talk and fill in the blanks with the missing words. The talk is given twice. Listen to the talk again and then answer the following questions orally. Have an open discussion on the topic given below.Listening PracticeTL1TL1You are going to listen to an instructor talking about asking for and giving clarification. Listen carefully and fill in the blanks with the missing words. The Language for Asking For and Giving ClarificationInstructor:In our daily conversations, we can not help asking for clarification (澄清，说明) when we are not clear about , or have become puzzled about a particular point . A conversation is a form of . During interaction, what has been said________________mentioned earlier______________two-way interaction________________ TL2TL2misunderstanding can lead to in communication. To avoid misunderstanding or , we tend to have an impulse (冲动) to ask for clarification. This is especially true when a Chinese learner of English talks with . This skill can help him or her avoid embarrassment caused by misunderstanding, and keep the conversation . a breakdown ___________even confusion____________a native speaker_____________going on_______TL3TL3 You can develop the skill by reading and familiarizing yourselves with the language for asking for and giving clarification: — I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand what you mean by market economy. — I’m sorry, could you (possibly) explain what you mean by globalization? — I don’t understand what you mean by black lie. — What (exactly) do you mean by sick humor? TL4TL4 And the language for giving clarification: — (Well,) what I’m trying to say is (that) + SENTENCE. — (Well,) the point I’m trying to make is (that) + SENTENCE. — (Well,) I think what I mean is (that) + SENTENCE. — What I mean is (that) + SENTENCE. — What I’m saying is (that) + SENTENCE. — All I’m trying to say is (that) + SENTENCE. TL5TL5Now come up with a particular subject on which you voice your opinion or attitude, and expect others to ask for clarification about something that might be unclear to them. Try to use the language you have just learned in Ex. 1.CP-gtn1CP-gtn1Asking For and Giving ClarificationBefore you listen to the first conversation, read the following words and expressions which may be new to you.CP-gtn2CP-gtn2Listen to the following conversation twice and fill in the blanks with the missing words. Wang Ying: Tom Chang: Wang Ying: Tom Chang: Wang Ying: Are you goi