Prefects help out at school (Page 3)

江苏锡山高级中学 陈虹秀

I. Pre-reading discussion

1. When you first set your foot in your high school, how did you feel?

2. Did you expect seniors to help you?

3. When you are in your senior year, will you help younger students at your school? What kind of help will you offer them?

II. General questions

Who wrote the article?

Jake Corry.

What does the author want to tell us?

The true job of a prefect - uniting the school.

III. Detailed questions

Read carefully and answer the following questions.

1. What is a prefect?

Prefects can be seen as the leaders of the school who help run the school.

2. What has the author had to do as a prefect?

He has had to help with school assemblies, events, and many activities across the school.

3. Who made up the soccer team for the tournament?

Several prefects made up the team.

4. Who won the game?

The younger students won.

5. Why did the author think that size didn't matter?

The younger students were not intimidated.

6. What did the prefects do after they were defeated?

After they were defeated, they talked to the younger students, helped referee the final few games, and had dinner with the younger students.

IV. Practice

Fill in the blank with the proper word or phrase from the article to complete the sentence.

1. If you _________ someone, you do not realize what they are capable of doing.

2.If one country or person _________ another, they have great power over them.

3.If you _________ someone, you deliberately make them frightened enough to do what you want them to do.

4. In some schools, especially in Britain, a ______ is an older student who does special duties and helps the teachers to control the younger students. 

5. An ________ is a group of people gathered together for a particular purpose. 

6.The little girl looked so ______; I didn’t have the heart to refuse her.

Retell the article based on the following key words and phrases.

a sense of responsibility   be seen as the leaders of the school

officially become prefects      run the school

school assemblies                   a soccer team made up of...

underestimate                         dominate

knock out of            intimidate        pitiful attempt

referee                                    the true meaning of the job

V. Post-reading discussion

Describe one of your own experiences in which you offered to help younger students or you accepted the offer of help from senior students in your school.

Mammoths could return (Page 5)

21ST

I. Pre-reading

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

If you’ve ever seen a movie from the popular Ice Age animated movie series, you’re no stranger to woolly mammoths. If there were a technology that could bring back this extinct species, would you want to use it? Why or why not?

II. Reading 

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

1. We can infer from the article that ____.

A. scientific studies on mammoths didn’t begin until May 2013

B. the technology to revive mammoth genes is already mature

C. George Church and his colleagues tried to reproduce mammoth DNA

D. Church and his team managed to list all the genes that separate mammoths from elephants

2. According to Church, what is the significance of his study? 

A. It could help prevent the extinction of the Asian elephant.

B. It could help people better tell elephant DNA from mammoth genes.

C. It could help bring back some extinct species and save fragile ecosystems.

D. It could help bring mammoths back to life via cloning from frozen remains.

3. The underlined word “unethical” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to ____.

A. wrong  B. unworthy

C. impractical  D. interesting

4. According to the article, Professor Alex Greenwood believes that _____.

A. there is no need to worry about the extinction of African and Asian elephants at present

B. it’s necessary to bring back species that are beneficial to human beings from extinction 

C. the return of the woolly mammoth would help to balance ecosystems

D. it’s more important to protect present species than to bring back extinct ones

Key:

1. C。第四段里提到，科学家们先是找到不同于大象的猛犸象的基因，将其用来再造14个猛犸象的基因。第六段里Church说，他更愿意通过分析现存猛犸象遗骸的DNA、然后再将其放入与其亲缘关系最近的现存物种即亚洲象的细胞中的方法，来重建猛犸象的完整基因组。所以C是正确答案。

2. C。根据第七段可以得此答案。

3. A。下文Alex Greenwood反驳道，为什么不努力去保护好现有的物种，而是想要把已经灭绝的物种复活？这样传达的信息就是我们可以对环境为所欲为、不负责任。所以持反对意见的科学家应该是觉得复活猛犸象的研究是不对的，A的意思最为接近。

4. D。根据最后一段可以得此答案。

III. Language study

1. According to The Telegraph, woolly mammoths (长毛猛犸象), which featured in the popular Ice Age animated movie series, “may walk the earth once more” now that scientists have taken another step toward realizing a long-held dream – recreating their DNA.

这句话的主干成分是woolly mammoths … “may walk the earth once more”。句中which引导非限制性定语从句，修饰先行词woolly mammoths；now that引导原因状语从句。Feature的意思是“在……中扮演主要角色”，例如：Jon featured in one of the show's most thrilling episodes. 乔恩主演剧中最引人入胜的剧集之一。。句意为：《每日电讯报》称，《冰河时代》系列动画电影中的主角猛犸象也许会重返地球，因为科学家们长久以来一直梦想重造它们的DNA，现在他们离梦想更近一步了。

2. He said he “preferred to focus on rebuilding the full mammoth genome by analyzing DNA from preserved remains and putting it into the cells of its closest living relative – the Asian elephant,” reported The Telegraph.

在said后面的宾语从句中，主干结构为：he preferred to focus on …，其后的by analyzing … and putting …作方式状语。句意：他说，他更愿意侧重于通过分析现存猛犸象遗骸的DNA、然后再将其放入与其亲缘关系最近的现存物种即亚洲象的细胞中的方法，来重建猛犸象的完整基因组。

IV. After reading

Reread the last two paragraphs of the article and think about the following question. 

Are you for or against Professor Alex Greenwood’s view? Why?

Small complaints (Page 6)

江苏锡山高级中学 陈虹秀

I. Pre-reading discussion

1/ What do you know about Easter (复活节)?

2/ What was the most expensive toy you played with during your childhood? How expensive was it?

3/ Are you satisfied with your life? Why or why not?

II. General questions

1/ Why did the writer’s oldest daughter complain?

She did not have a new Easter dress.

2/ Why was the life of Mauritanian kids mentioned?

To show what a happy life the writer’s kids have.

3/ How did the writer feel when reading about the lives of Mauritanian kids?

She felt sick.

4/ What does “it” (in Paragraph 5) refer to?

What Mauritanian kids do all day.

5/ Why does the writer think she should be grateful for her life?

Compared to the lives of people in poor areas of the world, her family are leading very happy lives. 

III. Practice: choose proper word(s) to fill in each blank.

barefoot, decent, grateful, wonder, drop off

1/ The stranger had to ________ at the post office.

2/ Last month thousands of workers went on strike, looking for ______ working conditions.

3/ They saw several poor children running ______ through the streets. 

4/ I am ______ to you for helping me so much.

5/ I do not ______ why she fell asleep in the middle of the play, because it was a very uninteresting performance. 

IV. Further thinking 

1/ What are the differences between the life of the writer’s kids and those of Mauritanian kids?

2/ How do you feel when comparing your life with that of a Mauritanian kid?