文档内容
Unit 3 Life in the future
Brief Statements Based on This Unit
The topic of this unit is about life in the future, which is full of imagination.The unit gives us
vivid pictures about the first impression in 3005 AD.The four skills of reading, listening, speaking
and writing all center on the topic, life in the future.
This unit can be divided into six parts—warming up, reading, learning about language, using
language, listening and speaking, summing up and learning tip.
In Warming-up, students are expected to fill in a chart.Let the students compare differences in
life between in 1005AD and in 2005AD, and encourage them to imagine what will happen in
3005AD.The purpose of designing this part is to prepare the students for the knowledge of life in
the future.
In Pre-reading, two questions are presented.The first question is to ask the students to list all
the problems we are facing.The other one is to get the students to discuss whether the problems
will still exist in the future and will get much more serious in the future.
In Reading, the students are to read a letter named First Impressions.In the letter, Li Qiang
told his parents about how he traveled to the living space in 3005AD and what he saw there.In
reading, it is necessary for the teacher to get the students aware of the strategies for reading
descriptive articles.The purpose of designing this part is to develop the students’ reading ability, to
get the students to know more about the future and to encourage them to explore the future.
In Post-reading, three exercises are followed.The students are asked to discuss which changes
are good, while others belong to disadvantages.The next one is to ask the students to infer the
author’s attitude towards the future.At the same time, the students are expected to show their own
opinions to the whole class and reason them, trying to persuade others to accept them.The third
exercise is to ask the students to imagine what they would like to visit if he/she were Li Qiang.
In Learning about language, there are two parts.The first is about vocabulary, which is to ask
the students to apply the words and phrases freely.The other exercises are about the grammar, that
is to say, the past participle used as the adverbial and attribute.
In Using language reading, speaking and writing, there is a passage titled I have seen
amazing things.Teaching and learning activities can be focused on reading, speaking and writing
with the purpose of developing the students’skills.
In listening, the listening material is also about life in the future, which is about living in
Wonder world.By listening to it, arouse the students to imagine whether such a world is fit for
living in.
In Speaking, the teacher mainly offers the students the chance to talk about the future and
learn to how to express prediction.
In Writing, the students are expected to learn to describe a person in their imagination to get
the students not only to be familiar with description but also to form the good habit of imagining.
In Summing up and Learning tips, let the students learn to sum up what they have mastered
in this unit, including words, expressions, grammar and what to know about the future.The
purpose of this is to get the students to know what they have learned and what need to be learned
in the future.Besides that, some advice is also given to the students on how to write down notes.
The new words and expressions to be learned in this unit are: vehicle, carriage, private,
settlement, impression, constant, constantly, previous, tablet, capsule, opening, surrounding, lack,
1ache, mask, bend, press, swift, master, sight, flash, optimistic, length, extraordinary, helmet, assist,
agency, skip, require.take up, remind...of, lose sight of, catch sight of, speed up, assist in, space
agency, as a result, suffer from, be similar to, be well-known for, as though, in no time,
provide...with, fall fast asleep, search for, go soft, speak in whispers, mix with, wave about, shake
from side to side, depend on, put on, get lost, as if by magic, plenty of, in all directions.
The following sentences to be learned in this unit are:
1.It took me only a few minutes to master the idea and soon I could fly as fast as Wang Ping.
2.I got lost when we reached what looked like a large market because of the people flying by
in all directions.
3.There were so many carriages that I lost sight of Wang Ping.
4.Wang Ping’s mother appeared, flashed a switch on a computer screen, and a table and
chairs rose from under the floor as if by magic.
5.Worried about the journey, I was unsettled for the first few days.
6.This is similar to the “jet lag” you get when flying, but instead it means you keep getting
flashbacks from your previous time period.
7.Confused by the new surroundings, I was hit by the lack of fresh air.
Exhausted, I slid into bed and fell fast asleep.
This unit can be divided into seven periods, which are as follows:
Period 1 Welcome to the Unit
Period 2 Reading
Period 3 Listening and Speaking
Period 4 Reading and Writing
Period 5 Grammar
Period 6 Language Focusing
Period 7 Assessment
Period 1 Welcome to the Unit
The General Idea of This Period
This is the first period of this unit.At the beginning of this period, the teacher can spend some
time training the students to read new words and expressions.The purpose of this is to offer some
new expressions to the students, which are helpful for the students to talk about the topic “life in
the future” and to help the students pronounce them correctly.
This unit is about life in the future, so the teacher can let the students brainstorm the words or
phrases about future.In their minds, what will life in the future be like?The students are free to say
anything that they can imagine.They should be encouraged to be brave enough to speak out what
they dream.This activity gives Ss a chance to express their imagination.At the same time, this
activity can stir the students’ imagination.
Later Ss are required to talk in groups of four about the following topic: Think about how
many changes there have been in the last one thousand years.Now think about what changes you
might expect to find in the next one thousand years in the following aspects: transport, houses,
villages, towns, locations and settlement.
Then ask students to draw a picture about the topic “my future family”.After that, let some of
them show what they have designed in the picture.What’s more, the teacher can ask them why
they design it in this way and whether it is possible to realize their dream in the future.If they want
such dreams to come true, what should they do now?
2Apart from the above, the teacher can design a competition.Divide the class into four
groups.Each group should work together to list the problems human beings are facing
today.Then let them discuss whether what they have listed is reasonable or not.The group, which
has listed the most problems, will be the best.Following that competition, the teacher will ask the
students to consider what problems people in the future will have to overcome and which ones
will still exist there or might be even worse in AD 3005 so as to lead in the text more coherently.
The Ss are supposed to analyze the possibilities, and also show their reasons for such imagination.
Finally, the teacher had better let the students consider this question“Do you want to live in
AD 3005 or today?Why do you prefer to live in AD 3005 or nowadays?”
Teaching Important Points
Have the students discuss the changes that have taken place for almost one thousand years
and what will happen in the coming one thousand years.
Encourage the students to predict what problems people will have to overcome.
Understand and learn the following words and expressions: vehicle, carriage, private,
settlement, impression, take up, constant, remind, previous, tablet, capsule, surrounding, lack,
mask, bend, press, swift, master, lose sight of, catch sight of, sweep, switch, optimistic, length,
speed up, extraordinary, helmet, assist in, agency, slip, require.
Teaching Difficulties
Predict what changes may take place/be found in the next one thousand years.
Teaching Aids
CAI equipment with a multi-media classroom and other normal teaching tools
Three Dimensional Teaching Aims
Knowledge Aims
Learn about the changes that have happened for almost one thousand years and what will
happen in the coming one thousand years.
List what problems people will have to overcome.
Try to understand and learn the following words and expressions: vehicle, carriage, private,
settlement, impression, take up, constant, remind, previous, tablet, capsule, surrounding, lack,
mask, bend, press, swift, master, lose sight of, catch sight of, sweep, switch, optimistic, length,
speed up, extraordinary, helmet, assist in, agency, slip, require.
Ability Aims
Develop the students’ ability of speaking.
Encourage the students to imagine what will happen in the future to cultivate the students for
creativeness.
Emotional Aims
Encourage the students to be brave enough to imagine what seems impossible today.Let them
realize nothing is impossible and we can make the impossible possible.Having courage to imagine
sometimes leads to new success and new breakthroughs in the future.
Teaching Procedure
Step 1 Greeting
T: Hello, my friends.
S: Hello, Miss Wang.
Step 2 Word Puzzles
T: Open your books to Page 94.Let’s read the words and expressions together.
3(The students read those words and expressions together.Help them pronounce the new words
and expressions correctly.Later give them some time to remember some.If some students are poor
in pronunciation, the teacher should give them some more help.)
T: Now, listen to me carefully.I will give you some explanations or situations for some words
and phrases.When I tell you some meanings or situations, you’d better guess which words or
phrases I refer to.Get ready for it.Let’s see who will be the first to find out the correct answers.
T: When we go to some place, especially to a place far away from you, what do you need the
most?
S: Vehicle
T: Right.You are clever.
T: Something belongs to one particular person or group only, which is personal.What is it?
S: Private.
T: Excellent.Can you use it to make a sentence?
S: This is my father’s own private chair, which no one else is allowed to sit on.
T: What a beautiful sentence.Next one is coming before in time or order.Can you guess what
it is?
S: I think it is previous.
T: Yes.Would you please make a sentence using it?
S: We had met on a previous occasion before...
T: Good.I like the book very much, but I don’t have enough money on me.What difficulty do
I have now?
S: You are lacking money.
T: You are clever.I can’t buy the book because of lack of money.
T: Even if he is in lack of money to buy food to eat and to buy a house to live in, he is still
confident and leads an active life.So we can say he is...
S: He is optimistic, I think.
T: Quite good.He has an optimistic view of events.
Step 3 Brainstorming
T: As we all know, no one can stop the wheel of history.Our society keeps advancing, so what
will happen in the future?Sure you often dream of your beautiful life tomorrow.Now, I’d like to
share with you what you have imagined about the future.You are free to show your different
imaginations.
S: People will not have to work, because all of work will be done by machine.
S: People will go to space very easily.We can go to other stars just as we visit other cities
nowadays.
S: People will live forever and no one will die.
Ss: ...
T: Now let’s fill in the following chart according to your imagination.
Fields What will the__________become in the future
Energy
Language
Farm
Factory
(Five minutes later, ask three or four Ss to report.)
S: In the future people will live in different places.As the population is exploding, more
4people will prefer to live in faraway places, under the sea or even on the moon.
S: In the future people will speak only English and Chinese.
S: In the future, people can eat anything.People won’t need to worry about the food problem
in the world.
S: In the future people can find many ways to deal with pollution, we can live in a better
environment.People in the future will explore a new kind of energy, which will never be used up.
Step 4 Discussion
T: Just now you offered me a good chance to vividly view a future world.It is full of
imagination and wonders.Let’s wait together for it coming asap (as soon as possible).Now let’s try
to think about the many changes there have been in the last one thousand years.Then think about
what changes you might expect to find in the next one thousand years, especially consider the
following fields: transport, houses, villages, towns, location and settlement.I will break you up
into several groups.Each group is made up of four students.Discuss it in groups.In five minutes,
one student in one group will report what you have discussed.
(The teacher had better join in the discussion and give them some guidance when/whenever
necessary.After the discussion, some students will come to summarize what the group has
discussed.)
Some answers here for reference:
AD1005: China AD2005: Modern World AD3005: Your ideas
Transport By horse or by simple By car, by bus, by train, by By spaceship, or
vehicle such as a air, by motorbike, by bike, capsule, by advanced
carriage. by maglev, by ship. vehicle to be invented.
Houses Made of wood and mud: Apartment, villa, Siheyuan Special houses with
no bathrooms. advanced equipment,
which can be moved
to any place.
Villages Many small house round There are many buildings Farmers needn’t go to
a temple and a pond. with gardens, wide roads and work, and they will
large fields. live in a folded house
with everything
people need.Computer
will do anything to
help villagers.
Towns Streets with markets, There are crowded Streets will not as
small shops and private skyscrapers on both sides of crowded as now,
houses. main streets with malls and because the entire
shopping centers. vehicle can fly in the
sky.People will take
whatever they need
for free.
Location of On the earth; on land On the earth, on land On the moon, on the
settlement other planets; under
the sea.
(In fact, there are no fixed answers to the question what the future will be like.Various
answers are possible.)
Step 5 Dreaming the Future Family (competition)
T: Now, let us have a competition about designing our future family.Four students make up a
group to design it.Make a sketch together.After that, some of you will show what you have
designed in the picture.Discuss it first and then draw it.You are allowed to finish it in six minutes.
(The teacher can join in their designing or just give them some help if necessary.)
5T: Have you finished it?It’s time for you to show your pictures.Let’s see which group can
offer us the most beautiful picture with the most wonderful imagination.What’s more, you will
have to describe what you have drawn and why you design it in this way.In the end, you will
predict whether it is possible to realize our dream in the future, and analyze why you have such
view.The rule is that your group will be given one star when you finish one step.If your design is
extremely excellent, you will be praised to get two stars.When you give us a vivid and imaginative
description, which is also reasonable, you will also gain two stars for one step.Let’s see which
group will do it the best.
(The teacher can arrange everyone to take part in this activity.One will show the picture,
one will describe it, one will tell us the purpose of designing it.The last one will tell us whether it
is possible to realize the dreams.)
T: You did an excellent job.If you want such dreams to come true, what should we do now?
S: We should work hard to be knowledgeable.
S: We had better make efforts to speed up development.
S: We will have to get in touch with aliens, who may give us help.
S: We should have enough courage to imagine what seems possible now, which may lead to
new discoveries and new inventions.
Ss: ...
Step 6 Discussion (Competition)
T: Just now you designed a beautiful dream.But as we know, each coin has two sides.We may
meet with some problems in our daily life.Discuss what problems we are facing, and make a list of
the problems human beings are facing today.Discuss it in groups.
(The teacher had better join in discussion.Then ask some students to come to write problems
on the blackboard.)
T: Look at the blackboard, and predict which problems will be overcome in the future and
find out the ways to solve the problems.
(The teacher should encourage the students to use their heads to find out as many ways as
possible.)
S: I think scientists will invent new medicine to deal with some incurable diseases.People
will not suffer from cancer, AIDS and so on.
S: There will be no war and people will not experience social and economics unrest.In my
opinion, people all over the world will lead a rich and happy life, because our world is being
highly developed and all the people will be educated to be friendly and kind to others.
Ss: ...
T: I am proud of your outstanding imagination.Can you tell me which problems will still be
there or even worse in AD 3005?Why do you think so?You are expected to discuss in groups.If
what you will present is reasonable and excellent, you will be offered three stars.
(The students should be given five minutes to discuss them.Later exchange them with the
whole class.)
S: I think pollution will still be a problem in the future, which will be even worse.Because
population will be larger and larger, in turn, more pollution will be caused.
S: The balance of nature will be destroyed worse and worse, because a large number of
animals and plants are dying out day by day.As a consequence, human beings will be endangered.
Ss: ...
6T: Good, you know.Everything has advantages and disadvantages.What should we do to
make sure we will have a bright future?
S: We should study hard and be a lifelong learners.
T: Good.We should be lifelong learners and accept the change, appreciate what is new and
different, making great efforts to make our dreams come true.
Step 7 Sum up
T: In this period, we have talked a lot about future.You are full of imagination and clever.In
class, you are also active.So all of us bring me vivid pictures and let me preview what the future is
like.After class, write a passage about the future.You are free to write what you are interested
in.The title is“Future in my eyes”.
The Design of the Writing on the Blackboard
Unit 3 Life in the future
Period 1 Welcome to the Unit
Brainstorming
Research and Activities
Imagination
One day, you are walking through a forest alone.Suddenly, you happen to meet a strange man
who lives in AD 3005.At first sight, you find him kind and friendly, so you come to have a talk
with him.You are talking about the way of life, transport, houses, villages, towns, locations of
settlement, education, culture and customs.Now, imagine and write down the dialogue.
Reference for Teaching
The fastest electric vehicle
Last week an electric and speed vehicle designed by a Ohio State University’s undergraduate,
set new US and International land speed records for electric vehicles—308 mph and 271 mph
respectively.
Housing
In rural areas the floors of dwellings consist of pounded earth or concrete, or else of raised
wood floors, while wooden framing supports walls of woven bamboo matting, and the roofs are of
dried palm fiber or tiles.In urban areas floors are of cement or tile, the framing of the dwellings is
of teak, the walls are of brick and plaster, and the roofs of tile or shingle.Although most of the
population is nonurban, the major housing problems are in the cities, where new arrivals crowd
into squalid slums.In their desire to escape the restraints of the traditional rural life and seek the
opportunities of the cities, most immigrants find living conditions that are less attractive than
7those of the country.
Jakarta is the most modern city in Indonesia and also the one with the greatest problems.It
lacks a dependable supply of electricity, gas, and water, an adequate telephone system, a waste-
disposal system, and adequate school and health facilities.There is a severe housing shortage, with
the gap being filled by substandard, temporary housing that does not require building
permits.Subsidized housing is provided largely by employers, including government ministries,
for a limited number of key employees, although efforts by the government are being made to
provide more low-cost housing to a wider group of people.
Life in 2060
Let us suppose it is now about A.D.2060.Let’s make believe it is about sixty years from
now①.Of course, things have changed and life is very different.
Voyages to the moon are being made every day.It is as easy to take a holiday on the moon
today as it was for the people in 1960 to take a holiday in Europe.At a number of scenic spots on
the moon, many hotels have been built.The hotels are air conditioned, naturally.In order that
everyone can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the moon, every room has at least one picture
window.Everything imaginable is provided for entertainment (娱乐) of young and old.
What are people eating now?People are still eating food.They haven’t yet started to take on
heir (继承) supply of energy directly as electrical current or as nuclear power.They may some
day.But many foods now come in pill form, and the food that goes into the pill continues to come
mainly from green plants.
Since there are several times as many people in the world today as there were a hundred
years ago, most of our planet’s surface has to be filled.The deserts are irrigated with water and
crops are no longer destroyed by pests.The harvest is always good.
Farming, of course, is very highly developed.Very few people have to work on the farm.It is
possible to run the farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then②.
People are now largely vegetarians (素食者).You see, as the number of people increases, the
number of animals decreases.Therefore, the people have to be vegetarians and we are healthier
both in our bodies and in our minds, and we know the causes and cure of disease and pain, and it
is possible to get rid of diseases.No one has to be ill any more.
Such would be our life in 2060.
注释
..................
① Let’s make believe it is about sixty years from now.让我们假设现在是大约60年以后。
词组make believe的意思是“假装; 虚构”。
② It is possible to run the farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then.只是通过不时按
几个按钮来管理整个农场已成为可能。
Machine Dreams!A deskless future?
In an, interview, Ray Kurzweil, who helped invent the IT present, explains how humans fit
into the IT future: the impact of automation on jobs, biotechnology, slowing the aging process,
brain enhancement, etc.
There won’t be computers on desks.We’ll eliminate most of that clutter, certainly by the end
of this decade.Future technology will be very mobile; it’ll be so small that it’ll be virtually
invisible.Everybody will be online.Images will be written right to our retinas.And eventually,
we’re going to have software processes running close to our bodies and, ultimately, inside our
8bodies, in our brains.
It reminded me of an article I read two weeks ago in the Financial Times(“The Office is
Future-Proof”, ) explaining what our future office would be like.
According to journalist Fiona Harvey, 50 years ago, computers were kept in huge back-
rooms, but in 50 years’ time, things will be much the same.Computers will be far away from the
office they serve, in silos on the outskirts of cities, like power plants.
The silos will run very powerful versions of the databases and processing software.From their
desks, people would plug into these applications on unobtrusive screens, and communicate with
colleagues by live videos.
System to mind your pupil size while you drive
The future of drivers doesn’t look very rock & roll.Sweden Volvo wants to introduce a new
safety system able to detect and signs of drowsiness in truck drivers.The system was fitted to
Volvo’s experimental Safety Truck.
Developed by Seeing Machines, Face lab system relies on a camera fitted inside the truck’s
cab that scans the driver’s retina and monitors head movement.By counting the number of blinks
per minute as well as the distance between eyes lids, it can automatically detect signs of fatigue in
the truck driver.When the driver starts to nod off, a warning message appears on the driver’s
console, the seat vibrates and small white strobe lights flash away.
The device is also able to detect lapses in concentration.So if the driver stared straight ahead
for too long, it would trigger an alarm.
The system will eventually be able to detect if the truck is approaching another vehicle too
fast or wandering across the road rather than staying in lane.
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