2020-2021学年度第39期总第831期
First Flight on Mars (P6)
邯郸市第一中学   王琪
I. Lead-in
“Ingenuity” 

The small helicopter Ingenuity flew on Mars
 Ingenuity hitched (搭便车) a ride to Mars.
 
It flew about 3 meters above the ground, hovered (盘旋) in the air briefly and then landed.
 
II. Read for main idea
Wright Brothers moment
 
III. Read for structure  

 
How can we divide the passage?
III. Read for structure  
 
IV. Read for details  
1. Why is NASA’s helicopter Ingenuity’s successful flight over Mars called a 21st century Wright Brothers moment?
2. What makes it difficult to fly a helicopter on Mars?
3. Why did transmitting (发射) the signal for the flight to begin require advanced technology?

IV. Read for details  
1.  Why is NASA’s helicopter Ingenuity’s successful flight over Mars called a 21st century Wright Brothers moment?
Because it marked the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet, just as Wright Brothers made their first successful flight on Earth years ago.  
2. What makes it difficult to fly a helicopter on Mars?
Helicopters need an atmosphere to fly. The blades of a helicopter must spin fast enough to generate a force called lift. But lift can only be generated in the presence of some kind of atmosphere. While Mars does have an atmosphere, it’s much thinner than Earth’s – about 100 times thinner. Although the Martian gravity, which is about one-third the strength of gravity on Earth, actually gives the flight a slight advantage, this is offset  by the lack of atmosphere. Therefore, to conquer these hurdles on Mars, Ingenuity’s two rotors had to spin much faster than any helicopter’s on Earth. 
3. Why did transmitting (发射) the signal for the flight to begin require advanced technology?
Because there was a delay of hours for the signals to reach the helicopter, according to The Conversation. 
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V. Deep thinking 
What do you think we can do to make the helicopter fly higher and longer?
VI. Language study
Can you find these expressions in the text?
1.标志第一……
2.旨在
3. 被要求
4. 呈现
5. 平等 
6. 轻微的进步
7. 先进科技
8. 打开
9. 捕捉声音
Key:
mark the first 
aiming to
be required for
In the presence of
equivalent to
a slight advantage
advanced technology
switch on
capture sounds of