Unit 4 The Man in the Water

上课时间上课节次课 型课 题Unit 4 The Man in the Water教学目的1. To build the students vocabulary power by learning the new words and doing the vocabulary exercises.2. To lead the Ss to comprehend and appreciate the content of the text.3. To cultivate Ss ability of using their own words to summarize the main idea of the text.4. To use the text as the materials to develop the Ss speaking ability.5. To help Ss grasp the theme of the text and the language and style used in it.6. Based on the air crash, and the important words and expressions in the text, get students to know historical fact as well as techniques in writing a narration.教学方法Heuristic, Interactive, task-based teaching and learning, group discussion重点、难点1. Theme of the passage2. The usage of the new words and expression3.Writing devices4. Discussion about human nature, heroism and heroic deeds教 学 内 容Teaching proceduresStep 1. Warming up Step 2. Background informationStep 3. Learn the new words Step 4. Fasting reading of the text. (1) The main idea of the text (2) Passage structure Step 5. Detailed study of the text Step 6. Summarize the passage. Step 7. Grammar points in this unit. Step 8. Deal with the exercises in this unit Step 9. Assignment教学内容Step 1. Warming up: Sing a Song and Group Discussion 1. Sing a Song: Hero by Mariah CareyLyrics:Theres a heroIf you look inside your heartYou dont have to be afraidOf what you areTheres an answerIf you reach into your soulAnd the sorrow that you knowWill meit awayAnd then a hero comes alongWith the strength to carry onAnd you cast your fears asideAnd you know you can surviveSo when you feel like hope is goneLook inside you and be strongAnd youll finally see the truthThat a hero lies in youIts a long roadWhen you face the world aloneNo one reaches out a handFor you to holdYou can find loveIf you search within yourselfAnd the emptiness you felt will disappearAnd then a hero comes alongWith the strength to carry onAnd you cast your fears asideSo when you feel like hope is goneLook inside you and be strongAnd youll finally see the truthThat a hero lies in you2. Group Discussion: Do You Know?Q1. What makes a hero?Open answers.Q2. Can you name some heroes? What do you think that makes them heroes? Open answers.Q3. Have you ever tried to find a hero in yourself?Open answers.Q4. Do you think every ordinary person can be a hero if he wants to?Step 2. Background Information The Author: Roger Rosenblatt Roger Rosenblatt is a journalist, author, playwright and professor. As an essayist for Time magazine, he has won two George Polk Awards, and awards from the Overseas Press Club and the American Bar Association. Roger Rosenblatt, an American playwright and essayist, is the author of six books. This essay on an airplane crash in Washington, D.C., originally appeared in Time on January 25, 1982. Theme of the TextAsk students to read the text and then express their ideas about heroismHeroism: Heroism of course has been admired. But this mans heroism was unusual. People usually expect revolutionaries to die martyrs; true believers to be willing to die for their faith; people ready to lay down their lives in performing their duty; even people to show courage in their attempt to win power, influence, money or to save their loved ones. But the man in the water did not fit any of these descriptions.The man in the water did not have to give his rings to others; he did not even know these people. He was extraordinary precisely because he was ordinary. He showed what every one of us could do. The display of his heroism was a song to the beautiful human character. This is true heroism. BackgroundThis is short essay about an air crash that took place in the capital of the US in the year 1982. A plane took off from the Washington National Airport and did not clear the bridge over the Potomac River because of the thick ice on the wings. It hit the bridge and fell right into the river, bringing all the passengers to instant death except six from the tail section who found themselves gasping and struggling in the icy water. Only five people survived, and they were able to survive because of four heroes. The author wrote this essay in praise of these heroes, three of whom had risked their lives to rescue the survivors and were able to live to tell the story, but the man that really held the whole nations attention was the fourth man who had kept pushing his lifeline and floatation rings to others until he went under.The fact that this hero happened to be an American should remind us that heroism is not a national trait. No nation has a monopoly of this human spirit. Over the years, however, there has always been prejudice against different races and ethnic groups. When some people talk about the American character for example, they sometimes go to extremes. But blind hatred is just as wrong as blind worship. The US has their share of human trash of course, but they also have numerous decent, honest, brave people like the one in the water, who have made their country a great country and their people a great people. And it is this side of their national character that we should learn from.Step 3. Learn the new words.PS: In this step, we just learn the pronunciation of the new words and its meaning, as for the usages of these new words, well learn them in details during the passage study.Point out the key words in this unit, such as:acknowledge, admirable, aesthetic, anonymity, balding, blast, casualty, chaotic, chunk,collision, congressional, dip, distinction, flotation, grope, gull, harsh, immovable, lifeline,likewise, remark, represent, skid, standoff, stunning, unidentified, universal, ect.Step 4. Fasting reading of the text.(1) The main idea of the text PS: It is students homework to preview the passage before the class, in order to check their job, just encourage student to tell the main idea of it in their own words.Reference answer: This essay tells us the air crash that took place over Potomac in Washington, D.C. in 1982, There were four acknowledged heroes of the event, three of whom, Donald Usher, Eugene Windsor and Lenny Skutnik were able to account for their heroic deeds. However, the fourth one, who moved the whole nation, went under forever and became an anonymous hero. He kept on handing over the rope and ring to others, leaving himself no time and n chance to survive. He fought nature with kindness. What these heroes did is what everyone can do. Therefore, powerful as nature is, we human beings wont lose the fight if we just do as these heroes did.(2) Passage structure As most essays, this one can be divided into three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.Part1 (paras 1-2) The author gives a brief account of the air crash that introduces the thesis of the article in the air crash, human nature rose to the occasion.Part 2 (paras 3-8) The author tells us how human nature rose to the occasion.Part 3 (paras 9) The author points out the reason why the man could have done what he did the human spirit enables him to defy death.Step 5. Detailed study of the text1. As disasters go, this one was terrible, but not unique, certainly not among the worst air crashes on record. (para. 1)Air crashes usually involves a heavy loss of lives. Compared with other air crashes, this one was not the worst. This air crash was remembered for a different reason.as disaster go: compared with the average disaster of this type2. And there was the aesthetic clash as well blue-and-green Air Floria, sunk down among gray chunks of ice in a black river. (para.1)When the air crash occurred, it was not just a clash (a loud sound made by two objects) of metal against the bridge, but also a clash between colors: the blue-green color of the plane and the gray and black color of the ice and river.The aesthetic clash: the combination of different colors which looked very bad (aesthetic: sth connected with the study of beauty)Air Florida: The Florida AirlineChunk: a fairly large amount of, e.g. a chunk of meat3. Still, there was nothing very special in any of it, except death, which, while always special, does not necessarily bring millions to tears or to attention. (para. 1)while always special (while+adj.): although (it is) always specialnot necessarily: possibly but not certainly.bring millions to tears or to attention: to make millions cry or attract millions of peoples attention.4. Here, after all were two forms of nature in collisions: the elements and human character.(para. 2) the elements: the bad weather the two forms of nature: the bad weather and the human character. Both are forms of natural power. collision: clash; two people or vehicles or ideas hitting each other while moving directly toward each other.5. Of the four acknowledged heroes of the event, three are able to account for their behavior. (para. 3)Only three out of these four heroes lived to tell people what they actually had done and how they had rescued the five survivors.To account for: to give a satisfactory explanation of what has happened. 6. they described their courage as all in the line of duty. (para.3) In the line of duty: as part of ones duty7.Its sth I never thought I would do.(para.3) I never thought I would have the courage to jump into the icy water to rescue somebody. “It” here refers to his heroic deed.8. That somebody actually did so is part of the reason this particular tragedy sticks in the mind. (para. 3) Noun clauses introduced by “that” are used as subjects only in formal English. In informal English, we usually turn them into appropriate clauses by adding the word “fact”. stick in the mind: to be remembered9. Every time they lowered a lifeline and floatation ring to him, he passed it on to another of the passengers. (para. 4) lifeline: a rope used to rescue people at sea. floatation ring: some kind of life-belt or life-preserver-shaped like a donut. 10. “In a mass casualty, youll find people like him But Ive never seen one with that commitment.” (para.4)mass casualty: large numbers of people hurt or killed in an accident or battle. “Mass” here is an adj. as in “mass murder”, “mass audiences”, “mass protest”, mitment: Here it means a strong sense of responsibility or loyalty.11. His selflessness was one reason the story held national attention; his anonymity another.(para.4) anonymity: the state of being unknown by name anonymus: not identified by name; of unknown name The fact that the man in the water who had displayed such heroism did not leave his name, was another reason why the whole nation felt so touched by this story. It showed that the man was a very ordinary citizen. It also proved that he did what he did not for fame or anything.12. For a while he was Everyman, and thus proof (as if one needed it) that no man is ordinary.(para.4)Notice that the word “Everyman” is capitalized. It echoes the title of a medieval play about a typical human being. It conveys the idea that this anonymous man really represents the best of human nature. What he did was not the act of a supernatural being, but the act of an ordinary person. Yet, the author says here that “no man is ordinary”, because every person is an individual moral entity and is capable of rising to the occasion and making history.13. For at some moment in the water he must have realized that he would not live if he continued to hand over the rope and ring to others. He had to know it, no matter how slow the effect of the cold.(para.6) Obviouslyit requires much more courage to face sure death knowing that you have a choice than to face the possibility of death by, for example, a stray bullet in battle. The man in the story did not act on impulse. He did not pass on his rings to others with a total unawareness of the consequences. At some point he must have known that he was freezing to death and would go under any moment. But he still gave the chance of survival to the next person.14. So the age-old battle began again in the Potomac. For as long as that man could last, they went at each other, nature and man.(para.7)the age-old battle between nature and man: The author is using a very traditional idea here, the idea that human civilization is a record of mans fight with and gradual, though incomplete, conquest of nature.go at: to attack; to start to fight, e.g.15. the one making no distinction of good and evil, acting on no principles, offering no lifelines; the other acting wholly on distinctions, principles and, perhaps, on faith. (para. 7) Nature is indifferent. It does not have any idea what is good or what is bad for human beings, and it does not care. It has no moral principles. Human beings, on the other hand, are different. They have moral standards. They have feelings. They care and they love. Therefore, they are able to choose between right and wrong. 16. “Everything in Nature contains all the powers of nature,” said Emerson. (para. 9)For Emerson, see Notre 11 in Notes on the Text. By “the powers of nature”, Emerson did not just mean such powers as coming from coal, oil, water, wind, etc. (He could have included nuclear power if he had been able to see that far into the future.) He probably also meant the power unique to human beings: the power to love, the power to change, and the power to create.17.The man in the water set himself against an immovable, impersonal enemy; he fought it with kindness; and he held it to a standoff. He was the best we can do.(para.9) set sb against sb: to make sb start to fight or quarrel with another person, esp. a person with whom they had friendly relations before. an immovable, impersonal enemy: It refers to nature, which is indifferent and cannot be persuaded to change its attitude towards us humans. “Immovable” here means “impossible to be changed or persuaded”. standoff: a situation in which neither side in a fight or battle can gain an advantage. He was the best we can do: The man in the water represented human nature at its best.Paraphrase:1. Washington, the city of form and rules, turned chaotic by a blast of real winter and a single slap of metal on metal. Paraphrase: With a sharp and loud noise, Washington, the neatly well-designed city of order was thrown into a terrible confusion.2. And there was the aesthetic clash as wellblue and green Air Florida, the name of a flying garden, sunk down among gray chunks of ice in a black river.Paraphrase: When the air crash occurred, it was not just a clash of metal against the bridge, but also a clash between colors: the blue-green color of the plane and the gray and black color of the ice and river.3. Still, there was nothing very special in any of it, except death, which, while always special, does not necessarily bring millions to tears or to attention.Paraphrase: This air crash has only one element death, which was special in any disastrous accidents. However, death may not be the only factor for sure making millions cry or attracted millions of peoples attention.4. And on that same afternoon, human naturegroping and struggling in mysteries of its ownrose to the occasion.Paraphrase: On that same afternoon, human nature, searching for the flotation rings and struggling in the icy water, came to prove its greatness displayed in an unexpected tragedy.5. delivering every heros line that is no less admirable for being repeated.Paraphrase: Skutnik gave a remark that has been said before by many people in similar situations, but it is still admirable.6. But the person most responsible for the emotional impact of the disaster is the one known at first simply as “the man in the water”.Paraphrase: The man who is known as “the man in the water is the main reason for the great impact of the disaster. / The people of the nation were greatly moved by this disaster mainly because of the man who is at first just known as “the man in the water.” 7. This man was described by Usher and Windsor as appearing alert and in control. Every time they lowered a lifeline and flotation ring to him, he passed it on to another of the passengers.Paraphrase: The man appeared to be able to think quickly and clearly, to be calm and with perfect presence of mind. Every time the rescue team lowered him a lifeline and flotation ring, he never kept it for himself, he handed it to another passenger. 8. “In a mass casualty, youll find people like him,” said Windsor.” But Ive never seen one with that commitment.”Paraphrase: We can always find heroic people like him when a large number of people were hurt in an accident because although not everyone is a hero, theres bound to be a fair representation of heroes in a big crowd. But Ive never seen anyone with such a strong sense of responsibility.9. The fact that he went unidentified gave him a universal character.Paraphrase: The fact that nobody could find out the identity of this person really made him a representative man, like everyone of us could do. We may feel that it might have been anyone.10. Yet whatever moved these men to challenge death on behalf of their fellow is not peculiar to them. Everyone feels the possibility in himself.Paraphrase: Yet whatever enabled or made these men or gave these men the power to challenge death is not unique. Indeed, every one of us has the potentiality to be a hero.Step 6. Summarize the passage Students will be asked to summarize the content of the text after analyzing details of the text. Reference answer: This essay tells us the air crash that took place over Potomac in Washington, D.C. in 1