A merry Duckmas to all (P4)

I. Pre-reading

Discussion:

Christmas is just around the corner. How are you planning to celebrate the 

festival?

For Chinese people, the Spring Festival is a big event. What do you think are 

the most important things you do to celebrate the festival?

II. Reading

Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following 

questions:

1. Why does the author celebrate Ducksgiving and Duckmas?

A. To get a taste of the local culture in Beijing. 

B. To entertain his friends with a duck feast.

C. To make himself feel better during the two US festivals.

D. To promote Thanksgiving and Christmas in China in an original way.

2. The underlined word “cravings” in Paragraph 4 probably means ____.

A. presentsB. desiresC. traditionsD. 

goals

3. According to the article, the author thinks that ____.  

A. Beijing roast duck has little in common with the roast turkey cooked by 

his mom

B. the people you spend time with during festivals are more important than 

the food you eat

C. the side dishes of his duck feasts don’t compare with those he eats in 

his home country

D. traditional Thanksgiving foods are more diverse than what he ate during 

Ducksgiving

4. What is the tone of the article?

A. Serious.  B. Humorous.  C. Disappointed.  D. Excited.  

Key:

1. C。由第二段可知作者庆祝Ducksgiving and Duckmas主要是因为怀念在家过感恩节和

圣诞节的感觉，所以通过这一方式弥补内心的惆怅感，故选C。

2. B。在中国过美国这两大传统节日，作者认为烤鸭宴最能满足他的两个与这两个节日

相关的_____：传统的食物和家人。根据语境可知B为最佳选项。Cravings表示“渴望”

。

3. B。由倒数第二段的“Food is a big part of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but 

the people you surround yourself with matter even more.”可以推知B为正确答案

。

4. B。不能吃到美国传统的节日食物，不能与家人一起过节，作者退其次，发明了他的

Ducksgiving and Duckmas，文章幽默，尤其是最后一段，所以答案为B。

III. Language study

1. CAN you imagine experiencing three straight Spring Festivals away from 

your family?

Straight: 无间断的，连续的。例如：

We sat in the airport for five straight hours.

2. Side dishes back home are hearty and healthy – potatoes, peas, carrots 

and so on.

Hearty: （饭菜）丰盛的。例如：

A hearty midday meal can power you through the rest of the day.

3. And in that regard, Ducksgiving and Duckmas are great as well.

In this/that regard: 在这点/那点上。例如：

He is studying law and in that regard he is doing very well.

Moon mission lifts off (P5)

I. Warm up 

On Dec 14, when the Chang’e-3 lunar probe touched down on the moon at 9:11 

pm, Yutu, China’s first moon rover (月球车), became a milestone in the 

country’s space exploration project. 

What else do you want to know about the launch of the Chang’e-3 and Yutu’s 

journey on the moon? 

II. Reading

Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following 

questions:

1. What is the article mainly about?

A. How the Chang’e-3 moon lander was successfully launched into space.

B. What the Chang’e-3 moon rover Yutu is expected to do during its moon 

journey.

C. The significance of China’s Chang’e-3 making its successful soft landing 

on the moon. 

D. Challenges that the Chang’e-3 moon lander and the Yutu rover might face 

during their journey.

2. Why was it hard for Chang’e-3 to land on the moon?

a. Its fast traveling speed.  

b. The wide temperature range.  

c. The lack of air on the moon.

d. The rocket motors installed on the Chang’e-3 lander.

e. The fact that a parachute couldn’t be used.

A. a, b, cB. a, b, dC. a, c, eD. c, 

d, e

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

A. The rover and the probe will stay on the moon for half a year, gathering 

valuable information about the moon.  

B. Tasks of Yutu include surveying the moon’s geological structure and 

surface substances and looking for natural resources.

C. A radar system is used to help the rover survey the geological structure 

of the moon and set up a telescope on the moon. 

D. Nuclear power will be used for the heating and cooling systems on the 

rover when it is too hot or too cold on the moon.  

1. D。本文主要讲的是嫦娥三号着陆器在月球着陆时以及探测器“玉兔”在探月过程中

可能遇到的问题，所以答案为D。

2. C。由第三段可知C为正确答案。

3. B。由第五段的“The six-wheeled, 140-kg rover will dig into the moon’s 

surface to test samples, surveying the geological (地理的) structure of the 

moon and looking for natural resources.”可知B为正确答案。A项的for half a 

year不对。C项雷达系统并非是为了帮助探测器建立望远镜的，所以不对；D项文中只提

到核能被用于晚上给加热系统供能，没有提到制冷系统，所以不对。

III. After reading

Show two graphics to help students better understand how Chang’e-3 landed on 

the moon, and released Yutu, along with Yutu’s missions on the moon. 

Play together (P6)

I. Pre-reading

Discussion:

Have you ever had any problems when playing with friends of the opposite sex? 

What were they?

II. Reading

Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following 

questions:

1. What is the “issue” mentioned in Paragraph 3?

A. The author didn’t want to be the only girl in the group.

B. The author wasn’t satisfied with the passive roles she had to play.

C. The author hoped she could design different people’s roles in the games.

D. The author preferred to be her real self in games instead of made-up 

roles.

2. What kind of leader was Pace, according to the article?

A. He was not a good leader of the group.

B. He was unconcerned about the needs of other group members.

C. He seldom listened to members’ suggestions and liked to give orders.

D. He was able to adapt what he did according to the needs of the group 

members.

3. Which of the following was TRUE of the author’s mission?

A. The girls helped her accomplish the mission.

B. The other boys gave her the help she needed.

C. She completed her mission at the price of her skirt.

D. She and Jake almost failed because their path was blocked by the girls.

4. What happened after the mission?

A. Jake told the author that it had been embarrassing.

B. The author felt so proud of herself that she burst into tears.

C. The boys agreed that the author could do things as well as the boys could.

D. Jake often embarrassed the author by joking about the situation in later 

years. 

Key: 

1. B。第二段提到，因为作者是玩伴里唯一的女孩，所以她老得扮演受难的公主一类的

角色等待别人来救。作者不喜欢自己总是扮演这样被动的角色。

2. D。第四段里Pace说：“You are a girl and that is the way things are going 

to be. But since you insist, let us test your skill.”。可见，Pace觉得女孩就

应该扮演那些柔弱的角色，但是既然作者提出了意见，他决定给她一次机会证明自己，

所以Pace是那种能够根据成员需要调整的领导者。

3. C。从倒数第四段可以看到，拿到芭比娃娃后作者被女孩子们发现了，她和好朋友

Jake慌忙逃跑，在这过程中作者把裙子划破了，滑落下来被作者踢到了地上，所以C正确

，at the price of的意思是“以……为代价”。在执行任务期间，只有Jake帮助了作者

，所以AB不对。文中没有提到他们回去的路被女孩子们堵上，所以D不对。

4. C。从句子“From then on I was allowed action-filled roles”可知，男孩们同

意让作者扮演跟他们一样的角色了，所以C正确。A文中没有提到。从“Suddenly I felt 

embarrassed for the first time and tears ran down my face”可见，作者流泪是因

为尴尬，B不对。Jake迄今仍然取笑作者，但是他是她的好朋友，应该是善意地取笑，而

不是想使她尴尬，所以D不对。

III. After reading

Read the article again and complete the exercises below.

●我决定和Pace谈谈。

1. Translation:

1) 陈述我的问题

2) 跟男生做得一样好

3) Bring it on.

●我和Jake执行任务。

2. Fill in the blanks.

“Hey!” ____ (大叫) one of the girls.      I ____ (恐慌). I felt 

my support falter and I fell to the ground. There was an ____ (糟糕的) rip 

and I knew it was my skirt ______ (钩在) the fence. As we ran to our fort, 

I felt it ____ (滑落) my legs. I ____ (踢着脱掉它) to reveal multicolored 

hot pants. Pace was _____ (打滚) the floor laughing… I felt amazing, 

________ (飘在云彩里一样).

●我成功地执行了任务以后。

3. 在这句话中：Suddenly I felt embarrassed for the first time and tears ran 

down my face.作者用到了run down表达眼泪“流下来”，还记得在上期中我们说到的“

流下来”的三种表达吗？

4. Translation: 那些男孩们不再讨论我的裙子了。

Key: 

1. 1) state my issue  

    2) keep up with the boys

3) 放马过来吧。/来吧。

2. exclaimed, panicked, awful, catching on, slipping down, kicked it off, 

rolling on, floating on clouds

3. trickle down, roll down, stream down

4. Talk of my skirt faded among the boys.