第6/711期初二教案

蒋莉

 

Replacing real meat (P4-5)

 

 

I. Pre-reading

·Have you tried this burger?

·What might it be made of?

·Plant-based foods have been hotly debated（热议) this year. 

·Will they disrupt（扰乱) the industry, or is this food trend just a fad（一时的风尚）?

 

II. While reading

·How did the soy burger taste?

  It tasted a bit different than a “real” burger, but it wasn’t bad either.

 

·Does plant-based meat taste like real meat?

  Yes, it does.

 

·Why do experts think plant-based food is healthier?

  Because eating too much meat can lead to many illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer.

 

·What is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the world?

  The meat industry.

 

·Which is more expensive - plant-based meat or real meat?

  Plant-based meat.

 

·Why is plant-based meat a high-tech product?

  Because it’s not easy to take pea protein from a pea and make it into something that tastes like meat. It’s only possible with the use of biochemistry. 

 

·Why does real meat taste different?

  Because the molecules that make it up have different structures.

 

Read the sentences and mark them true (T) or false (F).

(T) 1. A soy burger is made out of soy protein.

(T) 2. Plant-based meat is becoming more popular around the world these days.

(F) 3. Some people think real meat is healthier than plant based meat.

 

III. Further reading

Read the passage and fill in the blanks.

     Beyond Meat stock rose 163 percent on the first day of listing, JUST Egg launched in Mainland China, Nongfu Spring came out with plant-based yogurt, KFC released a meatless cheese and mushroom burger, Impossible Foods partnered with Burger King.

       If these events are not enough to mark the year 2019 as the era of plant-based foods, then pea protein meat company "Zhen Rou", which recently raised millions of RMB in seed round financing, undoubtedly further adds to this growing plant-based meat market.

       Zhen Rou had its first plant-based meat product ready by September 2019, using pea protein as a main ingredient (成分).  

       Lu Zhongxuan, the founder of "Zhen Rou", also founded  "Fu Chou Zhe" and was one of the first to create a protein bar brand in China. 

       The goal of plant-based meat is to change consumer habits (消费习惯). American consumers are now pursuing healthier food options that help protect animals and the environment where there is no need to sacrifice (牺牲) taste, and they are willing to pay a premium for them. 

       Chinese consumers are also changing, and plant-based meat has the opportunity to not only change consumers‘ dietary habits (饮食习惯), but also create a market valued at over tens of billions of dollars.

       According to one research firm's report, by 2030, the global demand for alternative meat products will reach US $34 billion.

 

Fill in the blanks.

1. Zhen Rou used pea protein as a main ingredient in its first plant-based meat product.

2. The goal of plant-based meat is to change consumer habits.

 

IV. Post reading

Group activity - Design a poster and write a report to call on people to eat more plant-based meat instead of real meat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny discoveries awarded (P6)

 

 

I. Pre-reading

·Do you know any famous scientists who have won the Nobel Prize?

·Have you ever heard of the Ig Nobel Prizes?

 

Look at the picture.

·What is the purpose of the Ig Nobel Prizes?

  To honor research that first makes people laugh, and then makes them think.

 

Look at the title:

·What are we going to read about?

·Do you believe that eyebrows can tell us whether we are narcissists (自恋者)?

·Do you believe that poop can be turned into a sharp knife?

 

II. While reading

·How many discoveries are honored each year?

  Ten.

 

·What did the researchers do to prove (证明) that people can find narcissists based on their eyebrows?

  1. Researchers took pictures of 39 college students with neutral expressions.

  2. The students were asked to fill out a personality test.

  3. People looked at photos and judged whether the students were narcissistic or not. 

 

·Where did the scientists test the knives?

  They tested the knives on pork in a room with a temperature of about 10 ℃.

 

·It's said that  an Inuit man once made feces into a frozen knife in order to kill a dog.

  一些表示“据说”或“相信”的动词如believe, consider, expect, report, say, suppose, think等可以用于句型“It+be+过去分词+that从句”或“主语+be+过去分词+to do sth.”。 有：It is said that… 据说，It is reported that…据报道，It is believed that…大家相信，等等。

  eg. It is said that he has passed the national exam. (=He is said to have passed the national exam. )

 

·Who might have misophonia?

  People who feel annoyed by the sound of other people chewing food.

 

Read the sentences and mark them true (T) or false (F).

(F) 1. The Ig Nobel Prizes honor 10 discoveries each year.

(T) 2. People with dark and dense eyebrows are more likely to be narcissists.

(T) 3. Some scientists spent eight days collecting poop and freezing it into knives. 

(F) 4. Most people feel annoyed by the sound of their own lips smacking.

 

III. Further reading

         The Ig Nobel Prizes praise research that makes you laugh and then think. The winners are allowed to give a one-minute speech with time kept by an eight-year-old! Every year, in Harvard's Sanders Theatre, people watch the winners step forward to accept their prizes. These are handed out by real Nobel winners. Let's take a look at some of them.           

 

The empty bladder (膀胱) experiment

       Four researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that animals that weigh above 3 kg can empty their bladders in about 21 seconds. What is the purpose of this study? The researchers hope this will help solve urinary (泌尿的) problems that some animals have.

 

The science of eggs

       A team of Australian scientists managed to get hard-boiled egg whites to become raw (生的) again. While it sounds silly, this research could have a big influence on cancer (癌症) research. 

 

The fascination with animals

       Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites from the UK shared the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology. Thomas chose to live like a goat and wrote about his experience in "GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human". Charles, on the other hand, spent some time in the wild, trying to live the same way many animals do. He felt it gave him a chance to explore the world with his senses. 

 

Colors & horseflies（牛虻）

       A team from Hungary, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland won the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. They studied why horseflies have less interest in white-haired horses. The team used man-made “horses” covered in glue. They found that dark colors attracted more flies because of how sunlight reflected (反射) off of them. To the food-searching flies, it was a sign of food. This finding could explain why zebras have stripes.                   

 

1. Who give the Ig Nobel winners their prizes?      

  Nobel Prize winners.

2. What did Charles Foster and Thomas Tliwaites have in common?

  Both their experiments centered on animals.

3. What does the underlined phrase “food-searching flies” refer to?

  Horseflies.

 

IV. Post reading

·Choose a discovery you’ve read about in the news and give a one-minute speech about it.

·Group activity - Design a funny scientific study that could win an Ig Nobel Prize.