第40/738期初二教案

边晓霏

 

Fossils tell a story (P6)

 

 

I. Pre-reading

·Have you ever seen a fossil?

·How does an amber (琥珀) fossil form?

 

II. While reading

·How can we know what the  world looked like millions of years ago? 

  We can get some clues from fossils.

 

·look like: 看起来像；

  What …look like?询问外貌外表

  eg. :What does he look like?

 

·How old is the Zhangpu biota?

  It is nearly 15 million years old.

 

·The biota includes about 25,000 amber fossils and 5,000 plant fossils.

 

·What was Fujian province like 15 million years ago?

  It was once a tropical rainforest.

 

·keep doing 持续做某事

  eg: He kept talking until the meeting was over.

 

·Write true (T) or false (F).

  In the past, there were only plants in the rainforest in Fujian. (F)

 

·average: 平均的

  all kinds of: 各种各样的

  so far: 到目前为止

 

·The best finding is the rich samples of insects in amber.

 

·get stuck:卡住,粘住;          

  harden: (使）变硬；硬化。

 

·Wang compared the amber fossils to a natural museum.

 

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

1. There are 5,000 kinds of plants in Zhangpu. (F)

2. We can’t see the species found in the fossils. (F)

3. The Zhangpu biota is the richest tropical rainforest biota discovered so far. (T)

4. We don’t know the insects looked like when they first got stuck in the sap. (F)

 

选择词语的恰当形式填空。

look like, all kinds of, stand, average

1. There are all kinds of food at the store.

2. What was the average temperature yesterday?

3. The boy was standing in front of the class.

4. He looks like his father.

 

III. Further reading

Read the passage and fill in the blanks.

       Scientists recently found some huge fossils (化石) in Argentina (阿根延). They are from a newly-discovered kind of dinosaur. Scientists believe that it might be the largest dinosaur ever known. But don't be afraid: these dinosaurs were plant-eaters.

       This dinosaur, which is not yet named, might have reached 131 feet in length and weighed 80 tons. Jose Luis Carballido is the leader of a team of scientists at the Egidio Feruglio Muscum. "It's as long as two trucks and heavier than 14 African elephants together in weight," Carballido said.

       Carballido and his team found seven huge dinosaurs among more than 200 fossils in the province of Chubut, Argentina. A farmer told the museum about the fossil-filled area in 2011.

       How did these dinosaurs get so big? To find out, scientists like Martin Sander at Bonn University in Germany have studied the dinosaurs' fossils and other animals. These animals and the dinosaurs have similar features (特征). Scientists have discovered that the huge dinosaurs were built to eat.

       Sander says dinosaurs can grow big because of their ability to eat without chewing (咀嚼). This kind of dinosaur could cat leaves quickly without stopping to chew on them.

       Not chewing also influenced the dinosaur‘s shape. Its head could stay small and light because it didn’t need to chew. Having a small head allowed the dinosaur‘s neck to grow very long.                                                           

       The long neck, says Sander, was the dinosaur's most important feature. The dinosaur could reach plants一near and far一easily. By eating quickly, dinosaurs grew to be the biggest land animals on Earth.

 

·A farmer told the museum about the fossils.

 

·Why did the dinosaur have a small head?

  Because a small head allowed the dinosaur’s neck to grow very long.

 

Fill in the blanks.

1. Some dinosaurs don’t eat meat. They are plant-eaters.

2. The scientists said dinosaurs could grow big because of their ability to eat without chewing.

3. The dinosaur's most important feature was its long neck.

 

IV. Post reading

Group activity – Why do we study palentology? What is its importance