Numbers: everyone’s language
Warm up:
1.What do workers do in a clock factory?
2.What 5-letter word has 6 left when you take 2 letters away?
3.What never asks any questions but always gets answers?
4.Where did Columbus stand when he discovered America?
5.When the boy fell into the water, what’s the first thing he did?
Welcome to the language garden now!
一、Key words:
language international ancient different count
system invent develop calculate abacus
represent modern subtract multiply divide
powerful amazing solve
二、Important phrases:
at least consist of be able to in ancient times
in many different ways
三、Read the text.
Numbers: everyone’s language
How many languages do you know? Everyone knows at least two---- his or her own language and the international language of numbers.
Ancient numbers
In ancient times, people wrote numbers in many different ways. However, they nearly all counted in tens.
zero
The system of numbers today consists of the numbers from 1 to 9 and 0 (zero). The Indians first invented and developed the 1 to 9 system of numbers. They then invented the zero. This was a very important invention because it made it easier to write big numbers and to calculate.
Calculating machines
One of the first calculating machines was an abacus. Abacuses are fast and accurate, so people still use them today. On the abacus in the picture, the beads on the wires represents ones, tens, hundreds and thousands, starting from the bottom wire.
Now, we use modern calculators. The picture on the right shows a modern caslculator. It can add, subtract, multiply and divide. It can also calculate percentages and square roots.
Computers are very powerful calculating machines. A computer can do a calculation in a flash,
but you might not be able to do in your whole lifetime.
Brain against computer
Some people call the brain a living computer. Is a human brain more powerful than a computer? The following story may give an answer.
Shakuntala Devi is from India. She has an amazing brain and can calculate like lighting. In America, Shakuntala asnd a very powerful computer were given this problem to solve.
Shaskuntala’s brain took fifty seconds to find the answer. The computer took a minute. However, before the computer could begin calculating, someone had to spend many hours programming it with instructions. No one had to program Shakuntala!
Language study:
1. way n 方式，方法，其后可跟不定式或of短语作定语，两者含义基本相同
He’s trying to find a new way of making his classes lively.
Man is trying to find ways to stop pollution.
way 作“方式”“方法”讲时，常和介词in搭配，表示“用……方式/方法”
We both answered in the same way.
2. at least 至少，表示事情的最低限度.at可与最高级形容词或副词连用.
at one’s best 在最佳状态at most 至多
The shoes are at least 50 dollars.
He is at least as tall as his father.
3. invent v 发明
辨析：invent 与discover
invent指能够想象或实验，发明以前并不存在的东西.
discover指发现早已存在只是未被人知道或看到的东西.
Thomas Edison invented lots of things.
Columbus discovered America.
4. be able to 能、能够
I will be able to write faster.
辨析：be able to, can 与could
三者均有“能”“能够”之意.be able to 有多种时态变化，还可与某些情态动词连用.can 只有两种时态变化(can 与could)，不能再与其他情态动词连用.此外can 还有表示“请求”之意，而be able to则不能表示“请求”.表示“请求”，往往使用could, 此时的could 不是can 的过去式，而是动词原形，表示语气更委婉.
Are you able to come tomorrow?
5. 辨析take, spend
take 和spend在表示“花费（时间）”时所用的句型不同.
take 常用it takes (sb) some time to do sth句型it 是形式主语，不定式是真正的宾语.
Spend常用sb spend some time (in) doing sth 或sb spend some time on sth句型，这种句型中，主语是人.
