新编英语教程 4

For your promising future

Unit Seven

Objectives

1. to learn how to elaborate on one’s psychological development.

2. to grasp words such as take, except and peer.

Teaching Tasks and Process

I. Pre-reading questions

Are you afraid of the little ants ？ Do you think that they will ever pose a threat to you? What do you think are the possible threats they can pose to you?

II Background Information

Ants and human beings have much in common, including that both species

have globally conquered the planet. We are both highly socialized creatures,

agriculturalists and ruthless in warfare. Both depend on forests for

sustenance.

Ants have been on Earth for more than 140 million years and evolving from wasps. There are about 12,000 species known and professor E. O. Wilson of Harvard University estimates there about another 9,500 kinds still to be discovered. Currently there are about ten thousand trillion living ants. When combined, all ants on Earth would weigh about as much as all humans. There are currently about 750,000 known species of insects. There are about 15,000 species of highly social insects of which ants make up 12,000. Half the living tissue of insects is made up of just two per cent of the species that live in well organized colonies.

III Language points

1. … great energetic ants that took no notice of him, but hurried and scurried towards the fighting shape…

take (no) notice of —pay (no) attention to More examples: Taking no notice of what was happening around him,

Langston Hughes continued to sit on the mourners’ bench, waiting for Jesus Christ to come into his life.

At the Chinese Commodities Fair, people couldn’t fail to take notice of the rapid progress the Chinese people had made in producing machinery, textiles, silk, handicrafts, and food and beverages.

2. It might have been lying there years, except that on the white bone there were pink fragments of flesh.

except (that)—not including (the fact); leaving (the fact) out

More examples: I know nothing about him except that he has

written an article on euphemisms. He does not have any idea about symbiosis

except that it is a term in biology.

3. “I am not for you—not just yet, at any rate,” at any rate—in any case, whatever happens,

anyway More examples: If I don’t see you tomorrow, I’ll see you on

Thursday at any rate. You needn’t post the letter for me. I’m going to the

post office this afternoon at any rate.

4. He fancied that the ants turned and went away. fancy—believe without being certain; imagine More examples: I fancy I have seen him before because his face st

rikes me as familiar. She fancied she’d suffer from intense heat this su

mmer.

5. … he thought incredulously, remembering the liquid dark eyes of a buck

remember—keep in the memory; here, recall Cf.: … and reminded himself: the ants must eat

too! remind—cause (someone) to remember

Ask the students to change these sentences using remember or remind.

1) Don’t forget to come early next time. (Remember to come early next time.)

2) See that Clive brings along his birth certificate.

(Remind Clive to bring along his birth certificate.)

3) I’ll try and keep these words in mind when I next happen to be talking to him.

(I’ll try to remember these words. When I next happen to be talking to him.)

4) Be sure to tell Louise to take her camera to the seaside.

(Be sure to remind Louise to take her camera to the seaside.)

5) I don’t want you to forget the lesson that you were taught this summer by your friends at the tourist camp.

(I hope you’ll remember the lesson that you were taught this summer by your friends at the tourist camp.)

6) Tell Mary that we are expecting her at our house at seven sharp Friday evening.

(Remind Mary that we are expecting her at our house at seven sharp Friday evening.)

Discussion/Exercises

A Discussion on the Psychology of the Boy in “A Sunrise on the Veld”

Suggestions: The Boy’s Feeling The Reason for the Feeli

ng

Assignments

Translation part in workbook