2020-2021学年度第8期总第807期
Storied history (P6)
山东省烟台第二中学 赵娜娜
Lead-in
Do you know how the moon was formed?

the giant impact theory: The moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision between the early Earth and an astronomical body called Theia.

fission theory: The rotation of the early Earth caused debris to be flung into space and later formed the moon.

capture theory: The body known as the moon was formed elsewhere and captured into Earth’s orbit.

condensation theory: The moon and the Earth came into existence when orbiting around a black hole.

Which theory sounds the most reasonable to you? Why?
Fast-reading
Read the passage quickly and choose the main idea of the passage.
A. The process of the moon’s formation.
B. An introduction of the giant impact theory.
C. New evidence of the giant impact theory.

Key: C
While-reading
Read the text carefully and answer the following questions.
1.What is the giant impact theory?
2. What is the main finding of the research?
3. What role does chlorine play in the research?
Reading for details
1. What is the giant impact theory?
Theia was a body roughly the size of Mars or smaller. It smashed into the developing Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago. This collision produced enough heat to create magma oceans and push debris into orbit around the Earth, which then combined and formed the moon.

2. What is the main finding of the research?
The moon was very different from the start, and it’s probably because of the giant impact theory, which is revealed from the amount and types of chlorine in the lunar rocks.

3. What role does chlorine play in the research?
Chlorine is good for doing contrastive analysis. Chlorine is a volatile element, meaning it vaporizes at a relatively low temperature, and it is helpful for understanding planetary formation.
They found that the moon has more “heavy” chlorine, while Earth has more “light” chlorine. According to the giant impact theory, both Earth and the moon had a mix of heavy and light chlorine at first. However, as they took new shape after the crash, Earth’s gravity pulled on the newly forming moon. Earth drew the easily vaporized light chlorine to itself, leaving the heavy chlorine on the moon. “The chlorine loss from the moon likely happened during a high-energy and heat event, which points to the giant impact theory,” said Gargano.
Post-reading
Can you draw a mind map using chlorine to illustrate the process of the giant impact theory?
Language  Study
1.和···有关
concerning
2.提出四个主要理论
put forward four major theories
3.声明、阐述
state
4.迎面相撞
head-on collision
5.领跑者
front runner
6.撞进
smash into
7.相对低
relatively low
8.行星的形成
planetary formation
9.指的是
refer to
10.停住不动
stay put
11.碰撞
crash
12.指向
point to
Exercise
Imitative writing
1. Among them, the giant impact theory – which states that the moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision (碰撞) between the early Earth and an astronomical (天文学的) body called Theia – has become the front runner.
仿写：这些活动中，辩论赛—能让你听到双方思想的碰撞—吸引了很多观众。
Among the activities, the debate – which lets you hear opposing views – appealed to the audience.

2. This collision produced enough heat to create magma (岩浆) oceans and push debris (碎片) into orbit (轨道) around the Earth, which then combined and formed the moon.

仿写：这个工作工作时间灵活，提供住宿，吸引了很多申请者。
The working hours of the job are flexible and accommodation is provided, which attracts many applicants.
Homework
用文中的研究，通过氯气的作用向同学解释大碰撞理论。