Unit 4 The Virtual WorldI. Suggested Teaching PlanObjectivesStudents will be able to:1.understand the main idea(despite the many negative effects of virtual life, the author prefersit to real life) and structure of the text(contrast between virtual life and real life);2.learn some rules of interpreting new vocabulary and usage related to computers and theInternet in English;3.grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;4.conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme ofthe unit.Time allotment1.T asks Ss the following questions on the poem Surfing the Internet: (5 minutes)—What was the hero doing when his boss came in? (surfing the Internet)—How did he act in front of his boss? (He pretended to be surprised at the computer which had crashed “unexpectedly”.)2.Ss look at the theme of this unit (the Virtual World) and the title of Text A (A Virtual Life),then try to:—find antony ms of “virtual world” and “virtual life”;(real world, real life)—suggest synonyms for “virtual world”;(cyberspace, cyberia, etherworld, virtual reality, Internet world, net world, etc.)—say what people can do on the Internet.(communicating with people, shopping, reading, entertainment, education, working, hacking, publishing, etc.)3.Imaginative writing (28 minutes)1) T dictates to Ss the following paragraph:For the past two weeks, other participants of the Net Survival Contest(网络生存竞赛) and I have been shut up in bare hotel rooms. Our only link to the real world has been a computer that is hooked up to the Internet (联网电脑). We have relied on it, not only for food, bed sheets and other daily necessities, but also to set up an e-business (电子商务) of our own.2) Now Ss will complete the paragraph beginning with: “Now it is time for me to walk outinto the light of day again…” They will give their imagination full play. They will write no more than 100 words.3) Ss form groups of four to five, and read aloud to each other their own writings.4) T asks some groups to recommend the best piece in their group to the class.4.T may lead in to Text A by saying: Some of us like to live a life in contact with real things andreal people, but others favor a virtual exist ence. Which life is better? I’m sure you have different opinions. Now let’s read Text A to find out what Maia Szalavitz has to say about these two life styles. (2 minutes)While-reading tasks1.Text organization (15 minutes)1)T draws Ss’ attention to Text Org anization Exercise 1, and lets them read its instructionas well as what has already been done for them in this exercise.2)Ss try to complete the exercise by simply reading the sentence of each paragraph in TextA.3)Ss compare answers with each other; if necessary, T may help.2.T explains the key language points and gives Ss practice (Language study). (45 minutes)3.T guides Ss through Structure Exercise 2. (10 minutes)4.Ss re-read Paras 4-10, work in pairs to find out consequences of “my” virtual life. Can theyuse the “find oneself + adj./past participle/present participle” structure when summing up the consequences? (10 minutes)5.Some pairs report to the class their findings, using the “find” structure. (5 minutes)Post reading tasksputer-related vocabulary items (20 minutes)1)Ss scan Text A to find out vocabulary items to computer and the Internet. (They are:virtual life, the net, telecommuter, email, Internet mailing lists, computer-assisted, data, link, cyber-interaction, on line, system cash, click on the modem, connection, password)2)T tells Ss that new terms related to computer and the Internet are constantly added tothe English vocabulary, so much so that many of them are not included in any English dictionary. However, if we apply certain rules, their meanings are easy to deduce.3)T gives Ss more examples of computer-related vocabulary items (see Text Analysis)2.T guides Ss through some after-text exercises. (25 minutes)3.T checks on Ss’ home reading (Text B). (3 minutes)4.Ss do Part IV: Theme-Related Language Learning Tasks. (1 period)5.T asks Ss to prepare the next unit: (2 minutes)1)do the pre-reading task2)preview Text A.II. Text AnalysisThe most dynamic combining forms/prefixes for new computer-and-Internet-related vocabulary in /English are cyber-, virtual, net- (net-), Web- (web-), and E- (e-).New English vocabulary items derived from them usually appear in the following forms:bining forms/prefixes+ noun: this is the most common type, e.g. virtual life（虚拟生活）,virtual world（虚拟世界）virtual reality（虚拟现实）,cyber-interaction（网络互动）,cyberculture（网络文化）, cybernut（网虫）,cyberpet（电子宠物）,cyberspace（网络空间）, netwriter（放送电子邮件的人）, nethead（网虫）, Webmaster（网站维护者）, Web page（网页）, Website（网站）, WebTV（网络电视机）,E-book（电子书籍）,E-shopper （网上购物者）, e-card（电子贺卡）,e-journal（电子杂志）,e-business（电子商务）, e-cash （电子货币）, e-commerce（电子商务）.bining forms/prefixes + verb: e.g. cybersurf（网络漫游）, netsurf（网络漫游）, websurf,（网络漫游），email （发送电子邮件）3.words like cyber, net, etc. + suffix: e.g. cyberian(网络用户)，cyberphobia（电脑恐惧症）cybernaut (网络用户)，netter（网民）Webify（使万维网化）cyberize（使联网）4.clipped word: cyberdoc（网络医生），Netcast（网络播放）, Netiquette（网规）, Netizen（网民），Netpreneur（网络企业家）Webcam（网络摄象机），Webcasting（网络播放）Webliography（网络书目）, Webnomics（网络经济），Webzine网络杂志），e- tailing （电子零售）, e-zine（电子杂志）.III. Cultural Notes1.The Internet:an international computer network for the exchange of information. It wasoriginally used mainly in the academic and military worlds but has since become available to the large and increasing number of people with personal computers. Other services, e.g. the World Wide Web, are available through it.The Internet is changing our lives and a parallel universe is rapidly emerging online. Today there is scarcely an aspect of our life that isn’t being upended by the torrent of information available on the hundreds of millions of sites crowding the Internet, not to mention its saving companies billions of dollars in producing goods and serving the needs of their customers.Nothing like it has been seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when power-driven machines began producing more in a day than men could turn out in nearly a year. The Internet and e-commerce are viewed as a global megatrend along the lines of the printing press, the telephone, the computer and the electricity.You would be hard pressed to name something that isn’t available on the Internet.Consider: books, health care, movie tickets, baby clothes, stocks, real estate, toys and airline tickets. American kids today are so computer savvy that it virtually ensures the United States will remain the unchallenged leader in cyberspace for the foreseeable future. Most kids use computers to play games and have email chats with friends.What’s clear is that, whatever we like it or not, the Internet is an ever-growing part of our lives and there is no turning back.2.NBC (the National Broadcasting Company):the first of the original three US nationalbroadcasting companies. It was established in 1926 by Radio Corporation of America as two groups of radio stations. The first NBC television channel opened in 1940. The company is now owned by General Electric. Its main offices are at Rockefeller Center in New York.3.PBS ( the Public Broadcasting Services):(in the US) a television system that broadcastsprograms to an association of local stations which use no television advertisements and do not make a profit. It was established by the Public Broadcasting Act and is supported by money from the US Government, large companies and the public. PBS is known for the high quality of its programs.4.ABC ( the American Broadcasting Company):one of the original three major televisionnetworks in American. It began in 1943 as the Blue Networks of six radio stations. ABC is now owned by the Walt Disney Company.IV. Language Study1.virtual: 1) created and existing only in a computer 虚拟的can visit a virtual store and put what I want in my basket at the click of a mouse button. Some people spend too much time escaping from reality into the virtual world conjuring up on their computer screens.2) being or acting as what is described, but not accepted as such in name or officially 差不多的，实质上的He claimed to be a virtual prisoner in his own home.The world’s governments have done virtually nothing to combat the threat of nuclear accidents.virtual world 虚拟世界virtual community虚拟社区virtual pet虚拟宠物virtual reality 虚拟现实2.interpret: 1) make clear the meaning of (either in words or by artistic performance) 解释，说明Poetry helps to interpret life.The professor tried to interpret the difficult passage in the book.2) consider to be the meaning of 认为是……的意思She interprets the dream as an unconscious desire to be young again.We interpreted his silence as a refusal.They are worried that the students might interpret the new regulation as a restriction of their rights.3) translate what is said in one language into another 作口译No one in the tour group spoke Spanish so we had to ask the guide to interpret.He worked as a interpreter at the UN’ s World Summit on Sustainable Development.他在联合国可持续发展大会上担任口译。
