M3U3教学资源Section2Backgroundination.doc

牛津高中 学英语报社金色教案 Section 2: Background informationI. History of the Silk RoadMemorabilia along the silk road Named in the middle of the 19th century by the German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, the Silk Road, which is regarded as the greatest East-West trade route, was first traveled by Zhang Qian when he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions in the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). The Silk Road was the information super highway of its age, serving as the conduit not only for goods but also for the transmission of knowledge and ideas between east and west.The Rise of the Silk RoadThe Silk Road originated in the 2nd century BC from a desire for military and political purpose instead of for trade. In order to seek allies to against Xiongnu repeated invasion, a court official named Zhang Qian was sent by Han Wudi to the Western Regions. However, on the way to the Western Regions, the Xiongnu captured Zhang and detained him for ten years. Escaped from Xiongnus detention, Zhang Qian continued his journey to the Central Asia. While at that time, the local rulers were satisfied with their status and refused to ally with Han Empire. Although the mission failed in its original purpose, the information Zhang Qian conveyed to China about Central Asia, and vice versa, made people in each area desire goods produced in the other. Silk that was favored by Persians and Romans, inaugurated the trade along the Silk Road. When the Silk Road was first established, silk was not the chief commodity. Han dynasty made very little profit from it until the Romans were fanatic about silk that the large profits came in. The Roams love silk so much that they even exchanged silk for its weight in gold. During the Tang dynasty, thirty percent of the trade on the Silk Road was comprised of silk. Prosperous as it was, the operation of the Silk Road was always influenced by the political developments. A stable state could ensure the smooth trade on this road, while the troublous one would hurt. When Zhang Qian opened this road, the Han dynasty and the empire of Parthia in Persia just achieved their golden ages, which give a favorite financial support to the smooth development of this route.The Height of the Silk RoadThe fall of the Han dynasty in the early 3rd century once caused Silk Road trade to decline. However, the rise of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century revived this commerce and by the mid 8th century, the route reached its height. The prosperity of this road should owe to many reasons. Based on the breakdown of earlier dynasties, the Tang dynasty especially thought well of the internal stability and economic development. Many favorable policies were carried out to stimulate and encourage the trade between the east and west, leading to the enlargement of the market and quick development of the trade on this road. At the same time, with the spreading of various religions in the world range, more and more missionaries reached to the east in succession by this road. With the Silk Road acting as an information superhighway, the exchange of ideas grew to a larger scale than ever before. And as a result, the Tang dynasty fortunately experienced the best flourishing period of the Silk Road.The Decline of the Silk RoadThe fall of the Tang in the early 10th century gave a deathblow to the trade on the Silk Road. The trade on the road declined sharply till in the 13th century, when the conquests of the Mongols ushered in an era of frequent and extended contacts between East and West. This increased contact created a demand for Asian goods in Europe, a demand that eventually inspired the search for a sea route to Asia. The discovery of a sea route from Europe to Asia in the late 15th century dealt a damaging blow to the Silk Road trade again. With less cost, harassment and danger, many goods and materials that the Silk Road could not transfer were conveyed through the sea route. Besides, the Persians had mastered the art of sericulture and the import of the silk from the East was reduced. Since then, the prosperous Silk Road was on its downhill. The bustling streets, wealthy cities and solid ramparts now were submerged in the vast desert, and today, people can only trace their splendid history in the endless ruined and dilapidated remains.Mogao CavesNear the oasis city of Dunhuang in the Gobi desert, Gansu Province, a honeycomb of caves is sculptured into a cliff wall often, referred to as the Caves of the 1,000 Buddhas, these caves were mostly built between the fourth and fourteenth centuries. Nowadays, only 492 of these caves still exist. This special site is not only considered a historical rarity in China, but also is an outstanding cultural heritage for all the world. In 1987 the caves were registered as one piece of the worlds cultural heritage sites. More information is available on the following websites:http:/www. /jeichman/http:/www. /encyclopedia/m/mo/mogao_caves.htmlII For ReferenceFranklin RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt, a brilliant former US President, was born in 1882 to a rich and powerful New York family. He was a successful student at Harvard and Columbia Law School. Roosevelt was elected US President four times beginning in 1932. He is the only president ever to do that. Roosevelt took the USA through the Great Depression and into the fourth year of WWII. He asked Hollywood to make the film Were in the Money to help the American People regain confidence. His death came before he saw the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied Forces. For more information, you may check the following websites:/fdrbio.htmlhttp:/www.spartacus.schoolnet. co.uk/USArooseveltF. htmThe Second World WarSo far, the Second World War has been the largest scale war ever: The injuries and deaths in WWII were the heaviest in the history of mankind. Sixty percent of the countries in the world were involved. The flames of war spread over Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania. The war spread over the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian and Arctic Oceans at the same time. The war started when Germany invaded Poland on 1st September, 1939, and came to an end when Japan surrendered to the Allies on 2nd September, 1945. For more information, you may check the following websites:/history/WebChron/World/WWII.htmlhttp:/www.spartacus.schoolnet. co. uk/REVhistory2WW2.htmChinese CivilizationIve been pondering the question: what makes Chinese civilization unique and why was it the longest surviving ancient civilization in the world?According to most Chinese history texts, there are 4 great ancient civilization:1. Egyptian (based on Niles river civilization)2. Mesopotamia (based on Tigris and Euphrates civilization)3. Indian (based on Indus Valley civilization)4. China (based on Yellow River civilization)Chinese civilization is the longest continuous surviving civilization dating from ancient times. After attending a course on Chinese history, Ive learnt a number of factors that make Chinese civilization unique, contributing to its continuity:1. Geographical FactorChina has great territorial land for developing its own culture and civilization. 2. Chinese are agriculture and farming-basedChinese are farmers who usually settled down permanently in a land and develop its own production for food or artisan.【B:tI5zAn; (?) B:rtIzn】(工匠, 技工) This accelerated Chinese civilization. Because of productivity, the population of Chinese also increased rapidly making the civilization strong. 3. Acculturation E7kQltFE5reiFEn文化传入, 文化适应and signification nature of Chinese cultureWhen nomads such as Xianbei, Mongols, Manchus conquered China, instead of them using the nomads way to rule China, they were forced to use the Han -Chinese way to rule China. Remember, the Chinese were farmers and to rule China, you cannot use warrior and nomadic way to rule China. Otherwise, the regime will have problems. This accounted for why Chinese culture and civilization was not destroyed.III. Translation of Reading失落的文明第1天7月15日我是加拿大的代表。能够赢得这次旅行的一个名额，我感到很幸运。我们现在到了意大利，明天将参观庞贝。下周我们就飞往中国，前去楼兰众所周知的沙漠中的中国庞贝。庞贝和楼兰大约在2000年前均已成为失落的文明。第2天7月16日今天上午我们听了一个关于庞贝的讲座。该城是公元前8世纪建成的。公元前89年， 罗马人占领了庞贝。此后，庞贝成了个富庶的城市。离该城不远处有座叫维苏威的火山。公元79年8月24日，该火山突然爆发，熔岩、火山灰和岩石从火山口喷射到周边的乡村。接下来的三天时间里，火山持续不停地喷发。不幸的是，全城的人都被活埋了，整座城市也被掩埋了。第3天7月17日今天，我亲眼看到了2000年前保存下来的古罗马城市庞贝。真是令人称奇!这座城市被世人遗忘了很多年，直到18世纪，有个农夫偶然发现了一些写着文字的石头。结果，人们就开始在这个地区挖掘金银财宝，对遗址造成了很大的破坏。于是，1860年意大利考古学家朱赛佩费奥雷利受命担任了庞贝占城遗址发掘工作的总指挥。 走在古城中，我看到原样保存下来的街道，上面铺满了踏脚石，这样，每逢下雨天行人就可以不用踩着街道上的泥巴了!我看了好几间地上铺着马赛克地板、墙上绘有壁画的房子。我还看到了许多被火山灰覆盖后变成了化石的死难者尸体他们在2000年前的样子被原封不动地保存了下来。如今，维苏威火山依然耸立在那里。我手持一副望远镜远眺火山。真的很难想像这样一座平静的火山怎么就毁灭了整个城市! 明天我们将前往那不勒斯，去参观那座收藏了许多来自庞贝城的宝物的博物馆。第10天7月24日经过数日旅行，我们终于来到了楼兰。我太疲惫了，他们给什么东西我都吃不下。面条我没吃，米饭也没吃，所以，到达目的地时我感到非常饥饿。 这座富庶的商业小城存在于大约2000年前，当时它是连接东西方的著名的丝绸之路上的一个歇脚点。很多人相信，它是在公元200年至500年之间被风沙渐渐覆盖了。能够来到这里我好兴奋!第11天-7月25日当地文化研究所的一位考古学家张教授告诉我们，是100年前瑞典的探险家斯文海定发现了楼兰王国的遗迹。斯文发现了埋藏在沙子下面的建筑物遗迹，以及很多诸如钱币、彩绘罐、丝绸、文献和壁画等珍贵文物。我们走进楼兰古城，看到了城墙、宫殿、寺庙、作坊和塔楼。我们发现楼兰废墟极其有趣。有一条古老的供水系统贯穿市中心。现在的沙漠一度是一片绿色的土地，长着参天大树，然而，尽管如此也没能阻止这座城市被风沙覆盖的命运真遗憾!IV. Translation of project古代中国和古罗马公元前753年，罗马城建立。公元前509年，罗马成为共和国。此时的罗马不仅是一座城市和一个共和国，它也将成为历史上最大帝国之一的都城。与此同时，在中国，各霸一方的诸侯国之间一片混乱，频繁征战。孔子就是在这个时代出生于中国。孔子生活在公元前551年至公元前479年之间，他对中国文化和教育的发展产生了深远的影响。 公元前221年，秦始皇统一中国，但秦王朝并没有维持很久。15年后，也就是公元前206年，秦王朝被推翻，汉朝成立，定都长安。长安，也就是现在陕西省的西安，在当时是世界上两座最大的城市之一。有趣的是，当时另外一座最大的城市就是罗马。此时，无论在中国还是在罗马，诗歌、文学和哲学都开始兴起了。 中国和罗马之间还有另外一个相似之处。公元前212年，罗马人的影响力开始向意大利本土之外伸展。到公元前27年，罗马已成为一个帝国，控制了欧洲的许多地区。同样，此时的中国也将自己的影响力延伸到其他国家。早在公元前200年，作为东西方贸易通道的丝绸之路就开始使用了。在汉朝，中国人沿丝绸之路越走越远，将丝绸、瓷器和茶叶等物品带到其他国家。第一批丝绸就于公元元年出现在罗马。中国以丝绸从其他国家换得了酒、香料、羊毛和其他物品。 在接下来的几百年间，罗马和中国都经历了一番磨难。公元220年，汉朝灭亡，中国再次被诸多诸侯国统治，因此战祸频仍。而在欧洲，各地方部落攻打罗马人。到公元410年，罗马帝国在不列颠的统治宣告结束。到公元476年，罗马帝国就不复存在了。而此时对于中国就是一段不同的历史了：公元581年隋朝建立，它在公元589年重新统一了中国。V. 如何写英语日记用英语写日记是最有效的练习英语写作的形式。它能够让你从各种生活细节及感受中学到最生活化、最地道的英语词语。比如：你今天吃了龙虾，英语是 lobster；你想说某个女同学堪称“校花”，那是 school beauty；考试作弊是 cheat in the exam，等等。因此，可以这么说：如果你能流利地写出好的英语日记，你的英语就已经成功了一大半。写好英语日记的要点1. 养成积累词语的习惯从某种意义上说，写英语日记又是最难的写作，因为它包罗万象，涉及到生活的各个方面，对词汇的要求特别高。因此，在日常学习中，必须做一个“有心人”，准备一本笔记本，对一些英语的习惯表达法及时记录下来，以便在以后记日记的时候可以使用。在开始记日记时，碰到一两个英语词汇不会写，不妨用汉语先写上，以后学会了英语表达，再补上去。千万不要因为一两个词写不出，就没了记英语日记的兴趣，以至放弃用英语记日记。只要你注意积累，一定会发觉自己英语日记中夹杂的汉语会越来越少，最后变为全部地道的英语日记。2. 英语日记的写作格式日记的第一行，要写明年、月、日与星期，然后要写明当天的气候状况，如果是游记，还要写明地点。这一部分中天气状况比较难写。下面是一些常用的描写天气的英语词语：晴 clear 阴 overcast 多云 cloudy 冰雹 hail 虹 rainbow 下雪 snow 小雨 light rain 大雨 heavy rain 毛毛雨 drizzle 阵雨 shower 炎热 scorching heat气温 temperature 寒冷 icy cold 东风 east wind 南风 south wind 西风 west wind 北风 north wind西南风southwester东南风southeaster东北风 northeaster西北风 northwester 日记正文可以是叙事、描述、说明、议论等各种形式。其实，由于日记是非常随便的，因此上述文体常常结合在一