Unit III Understanding Science

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Unit III Understanding Science
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Teaching Objectives
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Teaching Objectives

• Students will be able to
• Understand the main idea and structure of the
  text
• Appreciate the differences between narrative
  writing and expository writing
• Master the key language points and grammatical
  structures in the text
• Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking
  and writing activities related.

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Teaching Set-up

• Text A
• Pre-reading
• Warm-up activities
• Background information
• Text prediction
• While-reading
• Text organization
• Writing strategies
• Language points
• Related exercises

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• Post reading
• Useful expressions
• Questions for discussion
• Text B
• Background information
• Language points
• Assignments

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Warm-up activities

• Brainstorming
• Clone

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Brainstorming
Brainstorm some of the scientific and
technological inventions.

Electricity
E-mail
Television
Computer Laptop
nanotechnology
Scientific and technological inventions
Genetic engineering
Mobile phone
Nuclear power
cloning
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Questions
In what way have science and technology changed
the world we live in?

• ?

Do all these inventions always change our life
for the better? Give examples to explain your
opinion.
How do you keep informed of the changes in
science and technology? What else can be done to
educate the public about science?
In what way does science change our life for the
worse?
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Television
changes for the worse?
changes for the better?
Expose children to violence
Quick and easy access to information, education,
entertainment, etc.
Deprive families of quality time
Deprive people of the will to communicate with
each other
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cloning
changes for the worse?
changes for the better?
Endangered animals
Clone human beings ?
Produce stronger ones
farmers
Clone their cows and sheep who can produce more
milk
Hitler or other war criminals or evil people?
Man
Clone replacement organs for transplant patients
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• In February 1997 a group of geneticists(????) led
  by Ian Wilmut at the Roslin Institute in
  Edinburgh, Scotland, announced that they had
  cloned a sheep from the mammary gland
  tissue(????) of a six-year-old ewe(??), the first
  time scientists have been able to clone an adult
  mammal(????).

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• Dolly, the first-ever mammal to be successfully
  cloned from an adult cell, with her first lamb,
  named Bonnie, is seen at the Roslin Institute in
  Edinburgh, Scotland in this image on April 23,
  1998. Dolly, who was naturally mated at the end
  of last year with a Welsh Mountain ram(??), gave
  birth to Bonnie on April 13, proving that despite
  her unusual origins, she is able to breed
  normally and produce healthy offspring.

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People must understand that science is inherently
neither a potential for good nor for evil. It is
a potential to be harnessed by man to do his
bidding.
------- Glenn T. Seaborq
What role should scientists play in science and
technology development?
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Background information

• ?Stephen Hawking
• ?Albert Einstein
• ?Frankenstein

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?Stephen Hawking

• ?1. Brief Introduction to Stephen Hawking
• ?2. Chronology of Stephen Hawking

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Stephen Hawking
?1. Brief Introduction to Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking (1942 ) British theoretical
physicist and mathematician
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking -1
?2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
--1942 Born in
Oxford, England.
--1958 Entered and
became especially
interested in thermodynamics(???), relativity
theory, and quantum mechanics
(????). --1962 Received a bachelors degree in
physics and then enrolled as a
research student in general relativity
at the
.
Oxford University
University of Cambridge
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen
Hawking1-1
2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
Oxford University
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen
Hawking-1-2
2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
University of Cambridge
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking-2
2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
--1966 Earned his Ph.D. degree at the University
of Cambridge. Stayed at the
University of Cambridge to do
post-doctoral research. Diagnosed as
having Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS) (??????????).
I am quite often asked How do you feel about
having ALS? The answer is, not a lot. I try to
lead as normal a life as possible, and not think
about my condition, or regret the things it
prevents me from doing, which are not that many.
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking -3
2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
-- 1977 Became a professor of physics. -- 1979
Appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
at Cambridge, a post once held by
Isaac Newton.
This is a picture of Stephen, Isaac New-ton and
Albert Einstein.
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BR_Background _ 2.Chronology of Stephen Hawking
-3. Main Achievements
3. Main Achievements
singularity
(A point in space-time at which the space-time
curvature(??)becomes infinite.)
black hole
(A region of space-time from which nothing, not
even light, can escape. Nothing can escape
because gravity is so strong.)
A Brief History of Time
(One of his books to make his work accessible to
the public.)
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?Albert Einstein

• ?The Monologue of Albert Einstein (18791955)
• I was born in Ulm, Germany in 1879.
• As you may know, 1905 was a big year for me.
  Thats when I turned the world upside down, at
  least for scientists, with several new ideas. I
  proposed that space and time had to be looked at
  in a whole new way -- that Newtons view of space
  and time was inaccurate. These ideas became known
  as the special theory of relativity and
  introduced the equation Emc2.
• Ten years later I presented the general
  theory of relativity. The general theory showed
  that gravity is not a force, as Newton had
  thought. It is instead a curvature(??) of the
  space-time continuum.

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?Do You Know?

• ?Einstein could not find a job in physics upon
  graduating from college, and became a technical
  assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. He worked
  on theoretical physics in his spare time.
• ?Einstein did not receive a Nobel Prize for his
  theory of relativity
• ?Einstein immediately left Germany for the United
  States following Hitlers rise to power.

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?Do You Know?

• ?Einstein spent much of his later career
  searching for a unified field theory, but was
  unsuccessful.
• ?Einstein declined the presidency of the state of
  Israel when it was offered to him in 1952 by
  state leaders.
• ?The element einsteinium(?), discovered in 1952,
  was named in honor of Albert Einstein.

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Frankenstein

• This is a horror film about a doctor who builds a
  monster out of dead body parts and brings it to
  life using electricity, based on the novel by
  Mary Shelley.

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Text prediction

• With the activities weve done, can you predict
  what the text is mainly about?

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While-reading

• I. Text organization
• An essay is usually divided into 3 parts, and how
  many parts are there in this text?
• Structure of the text
• ?Teacher may explain that this text would be the
  first piece of expository writing Ss encounter in
  Book One.
• ?Teacher explains that in expository writing, the
  structure of a paragraph is usually similar to
  that of the text, i.e., the topic sentences are
  presented in the first or second sentences of a
  paragraph, followed by supporting details.

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Part Division of the Text
Parts Lines Main Ideas
1 1-32 The public needs education in science so as to make informed decisions on their own fate.
2 33-62 The ways to educate the public are detailed.
3 63-69 Human civilization will survive if the public understands science well.
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Chart Completion

• Fill in the chart by comparing the first 10 lines
  of both All the Cabbie Had
• Was a Letter and Public Attitudes toward Science
  to see the style differences
• between narration and exposition.

Texts Paragraph length Sentence length Simple or compound sentences? Any passive voice? Any dialogue? Any 3rd-person narrator?
Unit 2 shorter shorter simple no yes no
Unit 3 longer longer longer yes no yes
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Text Analysis

• This text is the first piece of expository
  writing in our textbook series, therefore it is
  important to note the style difference between
  narration and exposition. By the former
  comparison between unit two and unit three, we
  can see clearly the differences between narration
  and expository.
• ?expository writings usually employ longer
  paragraphs in which there are longer and more
  involved sentences
• ?expository writings are more closely packed than
  the narration
• ?third-person narration is often adopted in
  exposition for the purpose of objectivity
• ?sentences in the passive voice appear regularly
  in exposition

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Question for part I

• 1.What is the attitude of some people towards the
  changes brought about by science and technology?
• Some people would like to stop these changes and
  go back to what they see as a purer and simpler
  age.
• 2.What was life like before science and
  technology began to change our way of life?
• For the vast majority of the population, life was
  nasty, brutish, and short.
• 3.What would happen if all government money for
  research were cut off?
• ? The force of competition would still bring
  about advances in technology if all government
  money for research were cut off.
• 4.Is it possible to prevent science and
  technology from further development? Why or why
  not?
• No. The only way to prevent further developments
  would be a global state that suppressed anything
  new, and human initiative and inventiveness are
  such that even this would not succeed.

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Part Two Skimming

• Skim part 2 to find out a mini-exposition.
• Topic sentence How to educate the public in
  science?
• Supporting point 1_______________________________
  
• Supporting point 2_______________________________
  
• Supporting point 1_______________________________
  

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Part 3True or False

• 1.Our civilization is more advanced than other
  alien civilizations according to the joke. ( T
  )
• 2.We have not been contacted by an alien
  civilization because of the insufficient
  development of the science and technology. ( F
  )
• We have not been contacted by an alien
  civilization because any alien civilization tends
  to destroy themselves when they reach our stage.
• 3.The author has had sufficient evidence to prove
  that the joke is wrong. ( F )
• The author has not had sufficient evidence, but
  he believes that the good sense of the public
  might prove the joke is wrong.

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II. Language points

• Difficult sentences
• The only way to prevent further developments
  would be a global state that suppressed anything
  new, and human initiative and inventiveness are
  such that even this wouldnt succeed. All it
  would do is slow down the of change.
• 1. What is the grammatical function of the first
  that?
• Here that brings about an attributive
  clause.
• 2. What does the structure such that here
  mean?
• The structure is used to give an
  explanation for something.
• His manner was such that he would
  offend everyone he met.
• 3. What can we infer from this sentence?
• No way can suppress anything new, as human
  initiative and inventiveness do exist.

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• At the moment, the public is in two minds about
  science.
• What does in two minds about mean?
• Unable to decide whether or not you want sth.
  or want to do sth.
• 2. What can we learn from the sentence?
• The public finds itself holding two
  contradictory viewpoints about science. On the
  one hand, it expects the improvement in the
  standard of living that has been brought by
  science on the other hand, it also distrusts
  science because it does not understand it.

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Words and phrases

• Likely
• Do without
• Put/turn the clock back
• Cut off
• Initiative
• Slow down
• Ensure
• Inform
• In terms of
• Put across
• hence

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Likely1)adj. probable

• The word is often used in the following patterns
  It is likely that/be likely to do sth.
• Eg. It is likely that my roommate will win the
  first-class scholarship.
• An earthquake is likely to strike the area in a
  year or two.
• Im likely to be very busy tomorrow.

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2)adv. probably

• When used as an adv, the word is often preceded
  by most, more than, or very. You dont use
  it as an adv in its own.
• Eg It is reported that another sandstorm will
  very likely come in the next 24 hours.
• We will most likely stay home during the Spring
  Festival.

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Do without manage to survive, continue, or
succeed although you do not have sth. you
need,want, or usu. have.

• Eg Theres no bread left, so Im afraid youll
  just have to do without.
• She simply cant do without at least four weeks
  holiday a year.

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put/turn the clock back return to the past or
to a previous way of doing things

• EgAs is manifested by history, nobody can put
  the clock back and prevent the advancement of
  society.
• Since you cannot turn back the clock, you may as
  well forget the past and look to the future
• .

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cut off 1)stop providing sth.

• Eg Water and electricity supplies in the city
  have been cut off because of the American air
  attacks.
• Their phone has been cut off because they
  havent paid the bill.

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Cut off 2) to become separate or cause someone to
be or feel alone

• Eg When his wife died, he cut himself off from
  other people.
• Many villages have been cut off by the heavy snow.

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Initiative1)the ability to make decisions and
take action without waiting for sb. to tell
you what to do

• If you show that you have initiative, you will
  sooner or later be promoted.
• The workers are able to solve the problem on
  their own initiative.

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2)used in the phrase take the initiative be
the first person to take action to improve a
situation or relationship, esp. when other people
are waiting for sb.else to do sth.

• He took the initiative in organizing a party
  after his brothers wedding.
• They have attempted to take the initiative in
  dealing with the problem.

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Ensure make sure (followed by a N. or that
clause)

• The client must ensure that accurate records are
  kept.
• ? Hard work combined with luck will ensure you a
  place in society.

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Informed having or showing knowledge

• Science is now enabling us to make more informed
  choices about how we use common drugs.
• I dont know the answer but I can make an
  informed guess.

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Inform tell(used in the patterninform sb. of
/about sth., inform sb. that clause, inform sb.)

• Walters was not properly informed of the reasons
  for her arrest.
• I informed my boss that I was going to be away
  next week.
• The terrorists said that anyone caught informing
  on them would be killed.

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in terms of as regards expressed as sth.

• A 200-year-old building is very old in terms of
  American history.
• ? A computer is powerful in terms of capacity
  and speed.
• ? In terms of natural resources China is superior
  to Japan.

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put across cause to be understood

• ? A teacher should have the ability to put his
  ideas across quickly and clearly to his
  students.
• ? The government needs to put across the message
  that the economy is starting to recover.

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hence1) as a result, therefore (a formal
use,followed by a clause/noun group/a./ad./preposi
tional phrase)

• His mother was an Italian, hence his nameLuca.
• It was a steep and difficult route and hence not
  too popular with walkers.
• The computer has become smaller and cheaper and
  hence more available to a greater number of
  people.

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2)from this time

• The project will be completed at the end of the
  decade, two years hence.
• The annual conference of APEC will be held in
  Shanghai seven months hence.

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Post Reading

• useful expressions
• 1. ???????? in the
  last hundred years
• 2. ??
  go back to
• 3. ???????? a
  privileged minority
• 4. ????
  the present government
• 5. ????
  basic science
• 6. ????
  a global state
• 7. ????
  a democratic society
• 8. ??????? make
  informed decisions
• 9. ????
  the standard of living
• 10. ????
  cartoon figures

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• 11. ????
  science fictions
• 12. ??
  acid rain
• 13. ????
  greenhouse effect
• 14. ???
  nuclear weapons
• 15. ????
  genetic engineering
• 16. ????
  learn by rote
• 17. ?????
  halve the sales
• 18. ?????
  molecular biology
• 19. ????
  alien civilization
• 20. ?????
  have sufficient faith in

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AR_ 7. Proverbs and Quotations-1
Proverbs and Quotations
1. Science has no enemy but the ignorant.
2. Science rests on phenomena.
3. Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour
is now always.
-- A. Schweitzer, German surgeon
???????????
?????????
????????????? ??????????
--???? A. ???
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AR_ 7. Proverbs and Quotations-2
Proverbs and Quotations
4.Even when the experts all agree, they may well
be mistaken. -- Bertrand
Russell, British logician 5.The Golden Rule
is that there are no golden rules. --
G. B. Shaw, Irish writer
????????????, ???????.
--?????? ?????
?????????????????.
--????? ???
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Exercise
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AR_4. Interview-1
Interview
Suppose you are Professor Zhang, who is in
charge of a project of cloning only the best and
brightest of the human race, and your partner is
the host of Tell It like It Is (????), a popular
TV program concerning hot issues of current
affairs and social topics. The interview may
cover the following topics.
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Text B How to Make Sense of Science

• Background Information
• 1. El Ninoan abnormal warming of surface ocean
  waters in the eastern tropical Pacific, is one
  part of what's called the Southern Oscillation.
  The Southern Oscillation is the see-saw pattern
  of reversing surface air pressure between the
  eastern and western tropical Pacific when the
  surface pressure is high in the eastern tropical
  Pacific it is low in the western tropical
  Pacific, and vice-versa. Because the ocean
  warming and pressure reversals are, for the most
  part, simultaneous, scientists call this
  phenomenon the El Nino/Southern Oscillation or
  ENSO for short. South American fisherman have
  given this phenomenon the name El Nino, which is
  Spanish for "The Christ Child," because it comes
  about the time of the celebration of the birth of
  the Christ Child-Christmas.

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• 2.Apocalypse (Greek apoca'lipsis, meaning
  literally the lifting of the veil), is a term
  applied to the disclosure to certain privileged
  persons of something hidden from the majority of
  humankind. Today the term is often used to mean
  "End of planet Earth", which may be a shortening
  of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which
  literally means "revelation at the end of the
  æon, or age".

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Words and phrases

• yield to reveal, offer, produce
• e.g. An examination of the plane yielded vital
  secrets about their anti-weapon technology.
• Talks between the two sides have yield no
  results.
• He finally yielded his consent

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• Random made, done, happening or chosen without
  method or conscious decision
• e.g. The way the books were arranged seemed
  completely random.
• The quality inspectors made a random check of the
  products.
• at random

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• submit sth. for present sth. to a person or body
  for consideration or judgment
• e.g. He submitted his application to the
  committee for consideration.
• Have you submitted your plan to your boss for
  approval.

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• Wear down overcome by persistence
• As I waited for him for nearly three hours, my
  patience wore down.
• The strategy was designed to wear down the
  enemys resistence.

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Assignment

• Writing Practice
• Write a paper of about 80 words entitled Should
  cloning of human beings be banned? Your paper
  should cover the following points.
• 1.Your opinion on cloning of human beings.
• 2. Give supporting evidence.
• 3. Use to begin with, secondly, thirdly and
  finally to
• connect all the evidence.

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• Thanks for Your Kindly
• Attention!