Unit 7 Text 1

1. Unit 7Text 1 The Fun They Had Issac Asimov

2. Teaching Objectives 1. Help students learn the features of narration; 2 .Elicit further thinking with regard to ‘the future world’; 3. Learn the sentence structures “had hoped that” and “had been hoping that”; 4. Learn to use some important words and phrases.

3. Summary • About the Author • Before Reading • Global Reading • Detailed Reading • After Reading

4. About the Author Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), an American biochemist and writer, born in the former USSR on January 2,1920 and then taken to the US at the age of 3 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.

5. Isaac graduated from Columbia University in 1939, and got his Ph. D. in the same university in 1947. He taught biochemistry at Boston University, but he is most widely known for his science fiction.

6. Some of his best-known works are , Robot, published in 1950 and The Foundation Trilogy, published in 1951-1953.The magazine under his name Asimov Science-fiction is well know in the US.

7. Before Reading Ask students to work in pairs or small groups and discuss the following questions: • What is the present American school education like? • Have you read any science fiction about the future world? If yes, what are they?

8. Make a comparison between Chinese education system and that of the USA. Which do you prefer and why? • Do you believe that schools today are headed in the direction of the home schooling described in the text?

9. Topics for Discussion In small groups, answer these questions: • 1. How much do you know about the ancient form of school in your culture. • 2. Say something about present school in your culture. • 3. What will school look like in the future, say, in about four hundred years?

10. Global Reading • Is this text a piece of narration, description, argumentation or exposition? • How many parts can this text be divided into?

11. Detailed Reading • Paragraph 1 • Paragraph 2-31 • Paragraph 32-35

12. Paragraph 1 This paragraph serves as the introductory part and tells readers the exact date on which this story occurs, the names of the leading characters and a real book around which the story evolves.

13. Language work On the page headed May 17, 2157…

14. Paragraph 2 - 31 This part is the main body of the story, a long conversation between the two leading characters concerned the old book and school centuries ago.

15. Questions • Who determines what the students learn and at what pace they learn? • When and where do students socialize with friends?

16. What do you think are the biggest advantages of home schooling? What do you think are the biggest problems facing home-schooled students? What solutions can you think of for the problems?

17. Language work • They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to --- on a screen, you know.

18. When you’re through with the book, you just throw it away, I guess.

19. “In my house,” he pointed without looking because he was busy reading. “In the attic.”

20. Margie was scornful. “School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school.”

21. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector.

22. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. • Margie had hoped he wouldn’t know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right.

23. The part Margie hated most was the slotwhere she had to put homework and test papers. • She always had to write them out in a punch code they made her learn when she was six years old, and the mechanical teacher calculated the mark in no time.

24. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether. • Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes…He added loftily, pronouncing the word carefully, “Centuries ago.”

25. “Sure they had a teacher, but it wasn’t a regular teacher. It was a man.” • “A man isn’t smart enough.”

26. Margie wasn’t prepared to dispute that. • Tommy screamed with laughter. • “But my mother says a teacher has to be adjusted to fit the minds of each boy and girl it teaches and that each kid has to be taught differently.”

27. They weren’t even half-finished when Margie’s mother called, “Margie! School!” • “Maybe,” he said nonchalantly. He walked away whistling, the dusty old book tucked beneath his arm.

28. Paragraph 32-35 Questions: • What do you learn about Margie’s schoolroom and her mechanical teacher? • What do you think of your school, teachers and your classmates? Do you have the fun Margie envisioned?

29. Language work • The screen was lit up, and it said: “Today’s arithmetic lesson is on the addition of proper fractions. Please insert yesterday’s home work in the proper slot.”

30. Margie did so with a sigh.

31. head vt. To be in the first or foremost position of. e.g. • The chapter was headed My Early Life. • This canyon heads the list of natural attractions.

32. crinkly adj. uneven by virtue of having wrinkles or waves. Synonyms: crinkled, rippled, wavy, wavelike

33. still adv. Without movement; motionlessly e.g. stand still standstill n. Complete cessation of activity or progress e.g. All work came to a standstill.

34. be through with v. finish, be done with; dump, break with e.g. • We may be through with the past, but the past isn’t through with us. • I’m through with her. We’ve broken up.

35. attic n. A story or room directly below the roof of a building, especially a house. • He made the attic in the small house a reading room. • I unearthed the portrait from the attic.

36. scornful adj. expressing extreme contempt • He gave a scornful laugh at my proposal. • We are scornful of the forces of convention.

37. mechanical adj. Operated or produced by a mechanism or machine • a mechanical toy dog • We need a mechanical digger to level the ground.

38. sorrowfully n. Sorrow adj. sorrowful adv. Sorrowfully 1. in a sorrowful manner2. with sadness; in a sorrowful manner

39. send for • order, request, or command to come • He was so ill that we had to send for a doctor. • Police were sentfor to maintain order.

40. take apart v. take apart into its constituent pieces • The machine has already been takenapart. • John took the engine apart.

41. had hoped that… “Hope” in past perfect is used to indicate a past unfulfilled wish. • He had hoped to set a new world record, but was frustrated by bad weather.

42. put together v. create by putting components or members together • The boy took apart the toy car, but couldn't put it together again.

43. slot n. a small slit (as for inserting a coin or depositing mail) • Pick up the receiver and deposit a coin in the slot. • If you put a coin in the slot of this machine, stamps come out of another slot.

44. punch v. deliver a quick blow to; drive forcibly as if by a punch n. (boxing) a blow with the fist • They cut holes on the sheet of metal with a punch press.

45. code n. (computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions A punch code is a computer language by pressing keys.

46. calculate vi. To perform a mathematical process; figure Vt. To ascertain by computation; reckon • We must measure and calculate to determine how much paint will be needed. • The computer has been programmed to calculate the gross profit margin on all sales.

47. in no time adv. in a relatively short time • He will come back in no time. • I have a few dictionaries to hand. I can get the meaning of the phrase for you in no time.

48. had been hoping Like in the structure “had hoped”, “Hope” in past perfect progressive is also used to express a past unfulfilled wish.

49. superior adj. of or characteristic of high rank or importance • He smiled a superior smile as he drove past in his expensive new car. • be superior to • rise superior to

50. loftily adv. in a lofty manner lofty adj. having or displaying great dignity or nobility • I don't like her lofty treatment of her visitors.