(完整版)新人教版Book4Unit2WorkingtheLand课文

Unit 2 Working the landPart I a Pioneer for all PeopleAlthough he is one of China’s most famous scientists, Yuan Longping consider s himself a farmer, for he works the land to do his research. Indeed, his sunburnt face and arms and his slim, strong body are just like those of millions of Chinese farmers, for whom he has struggle d for the past five decade s. Dr Yuan Longping grows what is called super hybrid rice. In 1974, he became the first agricultural pioneer in the world to grow rice that has a high output. This special strain of rice makes it possible to produce one-third more of the crop in the same field s. Now more than 60% of the rice produced in China each year is from this hybrid strain.Born in 1930, Dr Yuan graduate d from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953. Since then, finding ways to grow more rice has been his life goal. As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing the rice output. At that time, hunger was a disturbing problem in many parts of the countryside. Dr Yuan search ed for a way to increase rice harvest s without expand ing the area of the fields. In 1950, Chinese farmers could produce only fifty million tons of rice. In a recent harvest, however, nearly two hundred million tons of rice was produce d. These increased harvests mean that 22% of the world’s people are fed from just 7% of the farmland in China. Dr Yuan is now circulating his knowledge in India, Vietnam and many other less developed countries to increase their rice harvests. Thanks to his research, the UN has more tool s in the battle to rid the world of hunger. Using his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before.Dr Yuan is quite satisfied with his life. However, he doesn’t care about being famous. He feel s it gives him less freedom to do his research. He would much rather keep time for his hobbies. He enjoy s listening to violin music, playing mah-jong, swimming and reading. Spend ing money on himself or lead ing a comfortable life also means very little to him. Indeed, he believe s that a person with too much money has more rather than fewer trouble s. He therefore gives millions of yuan to equip others for their research in agriculture.Just dream ing for things, however, cost s nothing. Long ago Dr yuan had a dream about rice plants as tall as sorghum. Each ear of rice was as big as an ear of corn and each grain of rice was as huge as a peanut. Dr Yuan awoke from his dream with the hope of producing a kind of rice that could feed more people. Now, many years later, Dr Yuan has another dream: to export his rice so that it can be grown around the globe. One dream is not always enough, especially for a person who loves and cares for his people.Part II Chemical or Organic Farming?Over the past half century, using chemical fertilizers has become very common in farming. Many farmers welcome d them as a great way to stop crop disease and increase production. Recently, however, scientists have been finding that long-term use of these fertilizers can cause damage to the land and, even more dangerous, to people’s health.What are some of the problems caused by chemical fertilizers? First, they damage the land by kill ing the helpful bacteria and pests as well as the harmful ones. Chemicals also stay in the ground and underground water for a long time. This affect s crops and, therefore, animals and humans, since chemicals get inside the crops and cannot just be wash ed off. These chemicals in the food supply build up in people’s bodies over time. Many of these chemicals can lead to cancer or other illnesses. In addition, fruit, vegetable s and other food grown with chemical fertilizers usually grow too fast to be full of much nutrition. They may look beautiful, but inside there is usually more water than vitamin s and mineral s.With these discover ies, some farmers and many customer s are beginning to turn to organic farming. Organic farming is simply farming without using any chemicals. They focus on keeping their soil rich and free of disease. A healthy soil reduce s disease and helps crops grow strong and healthy. Organic farmers, therefore, often prefer using natural waste from animals as fertilizer. They feel that this makes the soil in their fields richer in minerals and so more fertile. This also keeps the air, soil, water and crops free from chemicals.Organic farmers also use many other method s to keep the soil fertile. They often change the kind of crop in each field every few years, for example, growing corn or wheat and then the next year peas or soybeans. Crops such as peas or soybeans put important mineral s back into the soil, making it ready for crops such as wheat or corn that need rich and fertile soil. Organic farmers also plant crops to use different level s of soil, for example, planting peanuts that use the ground’s surface followed by vegetables that put down deep root s. Some organic farmers prefer planting grass between crops to prevent wind or water from carry ing away the soil, and then leaving it in the ground to become a natural fertilizer for the next year’s crop. These many different organic farming methods have the same goal: to grow good food and avoid damaging the environment or people’s health.。

Unit 2 Working the landPart One: Teaching Design1． A sample lesson plan for reading(Working the land)AimsTo help students develop their reading ability.To help students learn about working the land.ProceduresI. Warming upWarming up by questioningHello, everyone. We shall read about man who works the land today. Have you ever grown any plants? If not, what kind of plant would you like to grow? How will you grow it?(For reference: Mr. Li, I worked with my father in the rice field last year. We grow hybrid rice and use animal wastes to make the soil rich.)Has anyone of you ever been to the countryside? What did you do there?(For reference: I went to Chuankou the day before yesterday. It is a small mountain village 75 li north of Beijing. I went t here to visit my uncle’s family. I like that small beautifulvillage very much. )Who are from a farmer’s family? What do you know about farming?(For reference: Mr. Li, Dou Jun and I are from a farmer’s family in our class. We grow wheat and raise pigs on our farms. And both of our family are going to expand the area of fields this year. )Warming up seeing and listeningBoys and girls, I shall show you some photos of farming first. Look at this one. What are these ppeople doing in the fields? Yes, it is spring and they are planting rice. Lots of people in the world live on rice. I think you like eating rice, too. Planting riceHere is another photo about farming. The man driving the tractor in the photo is plowing the land to prepare for the planting. He does not grow rice there. What kind of crop is he going to plant here?Plowing the landThis photo is interesting. The woman farmer from Tibet is harvesting her crops not in the open field but in a plastic house. For generations, the people in Tibet Autonomous Region,have farmed the land using traditional methods. But in recent years, things have begun to change. All the farmers admitt the new ways are better.Indoor harvestingII. Pre-reading1. Questioning and answeringRice is main food in South China. What do you think would happen if tomorrow there was suddenly no rice to eat?(For reference: Then the south people would have to change their eating habit. They could turn to potatoes, wheat flour, cow and sheep cheese, cabbage, onions and garlic for food. They are the bases of the traditional food in North China. )If you had the chance to do one thing to help end hunger in the world, what would you do?(For reference: I would try to end hunger by popularizing the advanced farming techniques. Modern techniques could be introduced to increase the rice output, and expand the area of fields.)2. Giving background information about Professor YuanLongpingHave you ever heard of a man called Professor Yuan Longping? Would anyone of you tell the class something about him? (For reference: Professor Yuan Longping is a Chinese agricultural scientist. Professor Yuan's breakthrough scientific achievement led to the world's first successful and widely grown hybrid rice varieties, revolutionizing rice cultivation in China and tripling production over a generation. His approach to rice breeding then spread internationally throughout Asia and to Africa and the Americas, providing food for tens of millions and leading to his becoming known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice."III. Reading1. Reading aloud to the recordingComprehension—understanding what you are reading—is important. To read in thought groups is an easy, yet effective, way of improving reading comprehension. Now turn to page 9 and read aloud to the recording of the textA PIONEER FOR ALL PEOPLE. Pay attention to the thoughtgroups in the sentences while listening and reading aloud.2. Reading and underliningRead the text again and underline all the collocations in the passage. You are asked to copy them to your notebook after class as homework.3. Reading, identifying and summarizingAttention, please! It is time to skim the text one more time and identify the topic sentence of each paragraph. (Minutes later) Xue Hongmei, would you read to the class the four topic sentences you identified?What about the main idea of the passage? Who will volunteerto give the class his summary of the main idea? Bai Jianfang, you’d like to say something? Go ahead!4. Understanding difficult sentencesIn groups of four, analyze the structure of the difficult sentences. If you have any problems which are too difficult for you to solve do not hesitate to put them to me.5. Reading and transferringIn pairs, read the text, find information to complete the following form.IV. Closing downClosing down by doing exercisesIn the last five minutes let’s do the comprehension exercises on page 10. Check your answers against your neighbour’s when you have finished.Closing down by having a dictationTo end the period you will take a dictation. It is about Yuan Longping, “Father of Super hybrid rice”.2．A sample lesson plan for Learning about Language(The –ing form as the Subject & Object)AimsTo help students learn about The –ing form as the Subject & Object.To help students discover and learn to use some useful words and expressions.To help students discover and learn to use some useful structures.ProceduresI. Warming upWarming up reading aloud the text A PIONEER FOR ALL PEOPLE Language is learned i n context. So let’s first review the text learned yesterday by reading it aloud. Try to force out your English slowly and clearly.II. Discovering useful words and expressionsIn pairs do the exercises 1, 2 and 3 on pages 11 and 12. You must finish them in 5 minutes.III. Learning about grammar1. Read and identifyRead the text about Yuan Longping again, paying attention tothe sentences which use the –ing form as the subject and object.In the sentence “Wishing for things, however, cost nothing. “the –ing is used as subject.It can be also used as object of the sentence. For example: Yuan Longping likes playing his violin.2. Consolidating by do exercisesTo consolidate your understanding you will be given 10 minutes to go over exercises 1,2,3,4 and 5 on pages 12 and 13. You may just write on your text book. I mean the student’s book you are working by.III. Ready used materials for The –ing form as the Subject & Object)语法学习——动名词1. 动名词作主语1）名词直接放在句首作主语。

Yuan Longping -- Father of Hybrid Rice "I saw rice plants as tall as Chinese sorghum,” said Yuan Longping of a dream he once had, “each ear of rice as big as a broom and each grain of rice as huge as a peanut. I could hide in the shadow of the rice crops with a friend." Yuan was just awarded 5-million-yuan State Supreme Science and Technology Prize for his high yield hybrid rice species. This award is viewed as "Chinese Nobel Prize".Road to Super Hybrid RiceBorn into a poor farmer's family in 1931 and a graduate from the Southwest Agriculture Institute in 1953, Yuan began his teaching career at an agriculture school in Anjiang, Hunan Province.He came up with an idea for hybridizing rice in the 1960s, when a series of natural disasters and inappropriate policies had plunged China into an unprecedented famine that caused many deaths.Since then, he has devoted himself to the research and development of a better rice breed.In 1964, he happened to find a natural hybrid rice plant that had obvious advantages over others. Greatly encouraged, he began to study the elements of this particular type.In 1973, in cooperation with others, he was able to cultivate a type of hybrid rice species which had great advantages. It yielded 20 percent more per unit than that of common ones.The next year their research made a breakthrough in seeding. They successfully developed a set of technologies for producing indica (long-grained non-glutinous) rice, putting China in the lead worldwide in rice production. For this achievement, he was dubbed the "Father of Hybrid Rice."In 1979, their technique for hybrid rice was introduced into the United States, the first case of intellectual property rights transfer in the history of new China.At present, as much as 50 percent of China's total rice fields grow Yuan Longping’s hybrid rice species, yield 60 percent of the rice production in China. Due to Yuan'shard work, China's total rice output rose from 5.69 billion tons in 1950 to 19.47 billion tons last year, about 300 billion kilograms more have been produced over the last twenty years. The annual yield is enough to feed 60 million people.The "Super Rice" Yuan is now working on yields are 30 percent higher than those of common rice. A record yield of 17,055 kilograms per hectare was registered in Yongsheng County in Yunnan Province in 1999.Quality or Quantity Oriented?The debates among scientists about whether quality or quantity should take priority are frequently heard. In the under-developed world, the output increase is no doubt the primary concern, while people in developed countries prefer a high-quality rice.Yuan had been asked to switch his major concern from increasing output to improving quality and taste, a task easier to accomplish for him. But Yuan was unswayed. He firmly believed, in developing countries, the output increase outweighs the urgency for a better taste, and that his foremost task was to increase the grain reserve in developing countries."First we must have enough food, then comes eating well," he said.What's more, he explained, high yield does not necessarily mean a low quality. In the past, when the Chinese people were not sufficiently dressed and fed, they looked on high output as their only goal. So they used fertilizers and farm chemicals without limit. This surely led to quality degrading. At present, China has established nine indicators to evaluate the quality of rice, some of which are positively correlated with the output, while others are not. Last year, China planted over 3 million mu of hybrid rice, with an average yield of 650 kilograms per unit. The highest unit output has reached 1,139 kilograms. Due to improvement in quality, six indicators of the rice have met the First-grade level, and the other three the Second-grade. Some people, after trying this rice, said, "It is more tasty than the rice from Thailand."Yuan is currently working on species meeting the second-grade standards set by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture."The rice of this level is more affordable for urban and rural people," Yuan says.Money and FameLongping High-tech, a seed company using his name, started business last May in Shenzhen. In return, Yuan got 5 percent stake or 2.5 million shares worth 2 million yuan.Yuan's wealth is estimated more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million), making him one of the richest in China. But he cares for nothing more than his research. "That figure means nothing," he says in a heavy local accent. "I’m satisfied with my life. Too much money means a burden. My mind is on my research only."But he admits that the listing may help China's hybrid rice in international market and may bring more funds for future projects.He has, with a donation of 2 million yuan, established Yuan Longping Foundation, which awards merited workers in agricultural research.Four minor planets and a college in China were named after him, the first time a Chinese scientist's name has become intellectual asset."I am afraid of fame," said Yuan, his face lean, wrinkled and sun-burnt, "Too big a fame, too little freedom."Two WishesIn late 1960s, rice output was just over 300 kilograms per mu (0.06 hectare), but Yuan had increased that to more than 500.But Yuan didn’t slow down, working hard on another breed with bigger grains of rice, and a yield of over 800 kilograms per mu.This project, he said, was on two stages. The first was to achieve 700 kilograms per mu on large scale, which was realized in 1997. That year, Yuan saw the highest 870 kilograms of rice per mu in his experimental field in Hunan. The result was similar in an even larger experiment conducted in 1998.The second target is to reach an annual yield of over 800 kilograms per mu. He has set the year of as the deadline for this goal. However, Yuan is confident in hitting that target two years ahead. One reason is an output increase by 7 to 10 percent has been seen in experimental fields; the other being a new planting technique which should bring additional 10 percent increase.Besides, Yuan has another dream --introduce this breed to and benefit every nation.The FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) 1991 statistics show that 20 percent of the world's rice output came from 10 percent of the world's rice fields that grow hybrid rice.A famous economist claimed the Yuan’s achievement as a victory over the threat of famine and that Yuan was ushering us into a world with ample food.Now, over 20 countries have adopted the hybrid rice. The FAO has vowed to be actively involved in spreading the Yuan's high-yield hybrid rice worldwide."If the new strain is sown in the rest of the rice fields, the present grain output worldwide can be doubled, a significant solution to the grain shortage," said Yuan. Yuan worked as the chief consultant for the FAO in 1991, to share his knowledge with workers from other countries. He has gone abroad every year to provide guidance. He also sent scientists to India, Viet Nam, Myanmar and Bangladesh to work as advisors. Between 1981 and 1998, the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center under Yuan Longping held 38 training classes with over 100 participants from 15 countries.With the help of Chinese scientists, the acreage of hybrid rice in Viet Nam and India increased to 200,000 hectares and 150,000 hectares respectively in 1999.After WorkIn spite of a busy schedule for academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, vice-chairman of the Provincial Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Yuan has managed to keep some interests other than working.In his spare time, he loves reading books and listening to music. Half an hour of reading in bed before sleep is his habit. He is also a good swimmer.Other hobbies of his include daily motor-cycling and playing violin. He’s an occasional mahjong player too.From sowing to harvesting, Yuan goes to fields twice daily, covering about 8 kilometers in total distance. Thus his motorbike has become Yuan's essential transportation. "Riding a motorbike was one of my favorite sports in my youth," Yuan smiled. "But now, it’s more for work than for fun."Yuan picked up the hobby of playing violin from a music lover at college. During the "cultural revolution," classical music was viewed decadent, so he stopped playing and sent his violin away. He now suffers from arthritis and can no longer play violin. However, he still adores violin music.“When I lose a game in mahjong,” Yuan smiled, “ I never hesitate to pay the price-- creep through under the table.”。