An Integrated English Course Book 1 Unit 4 World of the Future.

An Integrated English CourseAn Integrated English Course

Book 1

Unit 4

World of the Future

Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives

By the end of this unit, you are supposed to grasp the author’s purpose of writing and make clear

the structure of the whole passage through an intensive reading of Text 1 World of the Future.

comprehend the topic sentences in Text 1 thoroughly and be able to paraphrase them.

get a list of new words and structures and use them freely to describe the future world in conversation and writing.

Teaching ProceduresTeaching Procedures

Pre-reading QuestionsText I. World of the Future● Passage● Structure analysis● Main idea of the passage● Language points ● sentence studies ● vocabulary studies

Text II. How Technology Shapes Our World

Pre-reading questions

1. What do you think the future world would be like?

2. You have seen the science fiction movie “Star War”, haven’t you? How does it strike you?

Text 1. World of the FutureText 1. World of the FutureAt the docks you step into a shiny metal submarine that is shaped like a shark. The door is closed behind

you, and powerful engine purrs to life. Down slides the submarine—like a shark diving. Deeper and deeper under the water.

Soon all sunlight is gone. The headlights of the diving ship are turned on. Then, six miles below, you come to the sea bottom. From the diving submarine, you change to a tiny jet boat and ride along close to the bottom of the ocean, almost as you would skim over the land in an airplane. As you travel, you have fun looking out the window at the sights on the bottom of the ocean. You see strange fish and underwater mountains, cliffs, and valleys. But more than that—hotels and mining camps and farms and factories!

Scientists think that wonderful things may come true in the future. Future means a time that is not yet here. It can be short time from now or a long time from now. some of the underwater wonders are almost ready to come true now. others won’t come true, we think, until a long time from now.

Some, of course, may never come true—but who knows for sure? They may. What are some of the wonders that may come true in the future?

Let’s go back to dry land and take a future journey the other way—up instead of down.Huge rocket liners take you into space to visit the Moon Camp. You walk around on the moon in a speci

al moon suit. You visit an observatory where a giant telescope looks far into space—farther than anyone has ever been able to see from Earth. You go deep down into one of the moon mines.

After you have visited the moon, you visit the Mars Colony and the Venus Exploration Outpost.

Let’s go back to Earth.In the far, far future, girls—and boys, too—may be playing with dolls that look like the people of the planets

visited by our spacemen.To control or run all kinds of toys, boys and girls may learn to use special computers—machines that

answer questions and do arithmetic faster than you can blink.Bicycles and perhaps skates may be run by jet power, and a new thing to ride may be a small flying saucer.

Imagine a race between them!There may be telepathy helmets that send thought waves from your brain to that of your friend miles away.

You just think a thought ands your friend knows it! You can have secrets with each other that nobody else can tune in on!

There will be other surprises in the future. How would you like to have robot playmate?Having robot playmates may not be so much fun as it seems. But maybe a boy with a wrench and a

screwdriver can fix the robot so that it won’t be too perfect.What about the food of the future? Scientists think that much of it will be artificial—made in factories from

such surprising things as coal, limestone, air, and water.You don’t think that ice cream or cake or candy or even bread and potatoes made out of these things will

taste very good! You may be wrong. These artificial things will be blended so skillfully by food chemists that the food of the future probably will be delicious. It probably will also be healthful because all the things that you need to live a long and healthy life will be put into it.

Scientists of the future will almost certainly find other ways to make life last longer. They probably will find cures for most diseases. Hospitals will probably have “body banks” that can give you almost any new part you need to keep on living. People of the future may live to be a lot older than 100 years.

Are you wondering whether there’ll be television in the future? There’ll almost certainly be wonderful programs. Television screens probably will be large and flat, hanging on the wall or going across the four walls of a room. People on the screen will look as real as if they were right in the room with you.

What about highways of the future? Well, a very small child probably will be able to drive a car. Nobody will need to steer. Electric signals will hold each car on the right road to get wherever the “driver” want to go. And it probably will be impossible for cars to smash together. Controls that won’t ever have to touched will make all speeding car miss each other or will put on the brakes. Driving by car will be as safe as being at home.

But maybe the most wonderful surprise in the future will be weather control. Cities may have giant plastic domes over them to keep out snow, rain, or storms.

When you plan a picnic in a park, you won’t have to worry about rain. It will rain only when the “weatherman” thinks it is needed to freshen the air inside the city. All other days will be fair and warm.

The future should be a wonderful time in which to live. But the time you are living in now was also “ a wonderful future” to the people who lived 100 years ago.

Structure Analysis The passage can be divided into five parts.

Part One: paragraph 1-4, the beginning part of the text.

Paragraph1-2 present a vivid description of the future journey to the wonderful sea world.

Paragraph 3 brings up the theme of the text.

Paragraph 4 puts forward the topic to be described or related.

Part Two: paragraph5-7 ， describe a future journey into space to visit the Moon, the Mars and the Venus, with more details about a visit to the Moon.

Paragraph 5 is a transitional paragraph, connecting the preceding part with the following part.

Paragraph 6-7 describe a future journey into space to visit the Moon, the Mars and the Venus, with more detail about a visit to the Moon.

Part Three paragraph 8-12 ， describe some wonderful things that may come true in the far future.

Paragraph 8 also serves as a transitional paragraph. Paragraph 9-12 describe some wonderful things that may c

ome true in the far future: in Paragraph 9, the future foods; in Paragraph 10, special computers with remarkable functions; in Paragraph 11, flying saucers as well as future bicycles and skates; and in Paragraph 12, the fantastic function of telepathy helmets, which may be one of the greatest wonder in the far future.

Part IV paragraph 13-21 ， describe such great wonders of the future as will directly influence or be closely related to future life.

Paragraph 13 is a transitional paragraph. Paragraph 14-21 describe such great wonders of the future

as will directly influence or be closely related to future life.

Part V paragraph 22, a logical and natural conclusion. It also points out a solid historical fact: the time we are

living in now was also “ a wonderful future” to the people who lived 100 years ago.

Main Idea of the passage This text describes a future world from several aspects:

traveling under the sea, traveling in the space, communication between people, future food, and future transportation. The description presents before us a wonderful and fantastic world in the future.

The first sentence of the third paragraph points out the theme of the text: Scientists think that wonderful things may come true in the future.

LANGUAGE POINTSLANGUAGE POINTS

step 1) lift and put down the foot, or one foot after the other,

as in walking

E.g. ouch! You have stepped on my foot!

2)move a short distance in this way in the direction specified

E.g. all the soldiers stepped into the ship.

Submarine — a ship, esp. a warship capable of operating under the water

surface

E.g. They have conventional submarines, giant nuclear submarines, missile-launching submarines and ultra-high-speed submarines capable of moving 25 knots per hour.

…powerful engine purrs to life. —powerful engine makes a low continuous vibrating soun

d and begins to work. Here “life” means activity or movement.

purr—to make the low continuous sound produced by a pleased cat

E.g. when he entered the room, the cat purred loudly.

The big purred along the road.

Down slides the submarine—like a shark diving.

Just like a shark going down under water, the submarine move downwards smoothly.

slide 1) go down to lower level e.g. Will the government take action to support the siding

pound? 2) (cause to) to smoothly over a surface, remaining in

contact with it e.g. she slid the drawer out carefully and slowly

Deeper and deeper under the water. This is a sentence fragment. In fact it is the last part of the

preceding sentence. Sentence fragments are used for emphasis and read in an accented falling tone.

skim-cause to move quickly or glide lightly over a surface, not touching it or only occasionally touching it

E.g. As spring is coming, you can see a lot of swallows skimming over the Through: among or between the parts or members of

He was skimming flat stones across the surface of the pond.

But more than that—hotels and mining camps and factories!

This is an elliptical sentence, with its subject you and predicate were see omitted.

…but who knows for sure? This is a rhetorical question that does not require an answer. It

means: but nobody know exactly (that some may never come true).

for sure—for certain: without doubt E.g. I think we can solve the dispute but I couldn’t say for

sure.

Let’s… take a future journey the other way—up instead of down.—let us imagine that we are taking a future journey in the opposite direction—going up into space instead of going down to the bottom of the ocean.

liner—a large commercial ship of a steamship company. Or an airplane, esp. one carrying passengers on a regular routeE.g. I will take the first liner tomorrow to go to London. They traveled to America in a huge ocean liner.blink 1) shut and open the eyes quickly2) ( of distant lights) shine unsteadily; flickere.g. Beacon lights were blinking on the horizon.

wrench– 1) spanner E.g. I need a wrench to change the back wheel.– 2) a sudden sharp, violent twist or turn– E.g. he pulled the handle off with a wrench.– 3) painful parting or separation – E.g. leaving home was a terrible wrench for him.

artificial– 1) made or produced by man in imitation of sth. natural; n

ot real E.g. these flowers are artificial; they are not real.– 2)affected; insincere; not genuine E.g. Her artificial gaiety disguised an inner sadness.

Healthful—good for one’s healthe.g. These fruits are quite healthful and you should eat more

of them.

e.g. Health food is healthful, for it is natural food with health-giving qualities.

Nobody will need to steer.—it will not be necessary for anybody to direct or control the course of his or her car.

Steer 1)direct or control the course of a (a boat, car, etc.) He managed to steer the boat into the harbor. 2) ( of a a boat, car, etc.) be able to be steered I want to buy a car that steers well on corners.

signal 1) sign, gesture, or sound, etc. that conveys a message, com

mand. Etc.e.g. a red light is usually a signal for danger.2) any event or action that causes some general activitye.g. The President’s arrival was the signal for an outburst of c

heering.3) anything indicating that sth. Exists or is likely to happene.g. Her speech yesterday was a signal that her views had cha

nged.

smash 1) (cause sth.) move with great force onto or against sth. el

se E.g. The car smashed against a large tree, which fell down

on its top. 2) (cause sth.) be broken violently into pieces E.g. The man flew into a rage and smashed all the furnitur

e in his room. 3) hit very hard E.g. The batsman smashed the ball up into the air.

Cities may have giant plastic domes over them to keep out snow, rain, or storm.—Immensely large plastic domes may have been erected over cities so as to protect them from snow, rain, or storms.

dome—a rounded roof with a circular base or anything shaped like this

E.g. The snow last night put a beautiful white dome over the hill.

The blue dome of the sky is very pleasant to look at.

TEXT 2: How Technology Shapes Our WorldTEXT 2: How Technology Shapes Our World

Human beings have a unique ability to shape the world we live in. our innovations have given us the power to transform our environment, extend our life span, create vast, interconnected societies, and even explore the stars. The technologies that have made this possible—from the simplest wooden plow to the most advanced personal computer—have also helped bring about fundamental economic and social change.

Just as the steam engine, the railroad, and the telephone created dramatic shifts in the way people lived, the digital information technology developed in the past few decades has transformed our world at a pace that eclipses all innovations before it. But with each wave of innovation comes a new set of challenges. As government and business leaders from around the world gather in New York City for the World Economic Forum, we face a number of key social, economic and policy issues surrounding information technology.

Protecting individual privacy. More people than ever are entrusting the Internet with sensitive personal information, from their medical history to their shopping preferences. Today, tools and practices exist that give people control over their personal information, but we’re still a long way from creating a technological, economic and social environment that makes individual privacy a core principle.

keeping our critical systems secure. As our economy becomes increasingly dependent on the Internet, and as businesses and individuals become more interconnected, protection of the global technology infrastructure is essential,. With the events of September 11 fresh in our minds, along with widely publicized incidents of web site hacking, industry and government leaders have a responsibility to create a safe, secure, reliable and trustworthy computing environment.

Protecting our children. The PC and the Internet have helped revolutionize education, giving children powerful and exciting tools for exploration. The private sector and government have made significant progress towards ensuring that children aren’t exposed to inappropriate content this cooperation is a good example of how we can collectively tackle some of the Internet's toughest challenges.

Bridging the “digital divide”. Although a significant part of the world still lacks essential resources such as a safe water supply, adequate electrical power or quality healthcare, technology and the Internet can help improve the quality of life worldwide through better communication, business processes and education. Working together, industry and government have an opportunity and responsibility to ensure that no one is left behind.

Protecting intellectual property. The Internet makes it possible to easily distribute digital information—from software to books, music and video—instantly and at virtually no cost. To ensure that incentives exist to innovate in the future, government and industry must work together to protect intellectual property rights around the world.

Regulating global commerce. Because the Internet offers people an easy way to purchase goods and services worldwide—generating tremendous economic growth—it make commerce even more challenging to tax or regulate effectively. Governments and businesses must cooperate to find innovative ways to integrate online commerce into the economy without undermining its tremendous economic benefits.

Even as we work to address these challenges, the next decade will see a wave of innovation that will further advance the positive role technology plays in our lives. Microsoft is committed to providing industry leadership by creating technology that is fundamentally secure and trustworthy. Working in partnership with others who share our excitement about the promise of technology, a great opportunity exists to help people realize their potential and to help move society forward, paving the way fro even greater accomplishments.

Comprehension questions: 1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning wooden plow and personal

computer?

2. How important is the digital information technology?

3. What is the author’s explanation for innovation?

4. What information does the author give us about the Internet?

5. What is one of the Internet’s toughest challenges we face?

6. What suggestion does the author provide for bridging the digital divide?

7. What is the significance of protecting intellectual property?

8. What does Microsoft promise to do?

Main IdeaInnovations in technology have changed our life greatly and

done great contribution to the development of the world, but they also bring about some challenges to our world in following fields: protecting individual privacy, keeping our critical systems secure, protecting our children, bridging the “digital divide”, protecting intellectual property and regulating global commerce, etc.