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Senior English for China Students’ Book 1A: 

Senior English for China Students’ Book 1A Unit 1 The Summer holiday Lesson 2

Slide2: 

What did you do during summer vacation? Swimming? Traveling？ Watching TV? …

Read and discuss: 

Read and discuss During the summer, many children take a vacation from learning activities and practicing the skills they need to be successful. Instead of reading, they often watch television and play video games. If summer vacation lasted for only a week or two, this wouldn't be a problem. However, most American schools close for nearly three months during the summer. This long vacation can mean trouble for children's learning and achievement when they return to school in the fall. Topics : Do you think summer vacation does harm to your learning? In your opinion, how long summer vacation should be? What do you advice your friend do during summer vacation?

Thinking while listening: 

Thinking while listening What did Charlie do during the vacation? What did his brother do? What did Xiaojun ask about?

Read the text and find out the topic sentences of the first three paragraphs: 

Read the text and find out the topic sentences of the first three paragraphs The topic sentence of the first paragraph is : Right now it is the summer vacation and I’m helping my Dad on the farm. The topic sentence of the second paragraph is : My brother takes care of the vegetable garden. The topic sentence of the third paragraph is : Most Saturday evenings there is a party, even at harvest time.

Slide6: 

Read the text, answer these questions and discuss them in pairs How many hours is the state Charlie lives in behind Beijing time? Why did Charlie work from dawn until dark? Why and how did they water vegetable garden? Did Charlie always drink beer in the parties? Why? How many different time areas in America?

Language point: 

Language point go on doing go on 后跟doing sth 表示 “继续做……某事; 连续不断地做某事”。 He went on working till midnight. 他一直学到半夜。

Slide8: 

result 是名词，作“结果”解。as a result 是个固定短语，表示“由于……的结果”；“因此”．常用来承接上文，表示因果关系。 result He was late as a result of the traffic jam. 由于交通堵塞，他迟到了。 He had a bad cold. As a result, he didn’t come to school this morning.　 他患了重感冒，所以他今天没来上学。

Slide9: 

channel channel不仅可表示“水渠”, 还可表示 “频道;波段”。 What channel is that program on? 那个节目在哪个频道播出?

Read and discuss: 

Read and discuss Among the items on the agenda of the FAO Conference, 2-13 November 2001, is the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. The Conference will consider for approval this new international convention, which Making plant genetic resources beneficial and accessible for all governments have negotiated through the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It establishes a multilateral system providing access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as to fair and equitable sharing of the benefits obtained from their use. It also includes a provision on farmers' rights. José Esquinas-Alcázar, secretary of the Commission, talks about the Undertaking. FAO: 联合国粮食农业组织； multilateral：多边关系

Slide11: 

How do you define biodiversity? Agricultural biodiversity, or more specifically genetic resources for food and agriculture, is the storehouse that provides humanity with food, clothes and medicine. It is essential in the development of sustainable agriculture and food security. It is estimated that 10 000 species have been used for human food and agriculture. However, only about 150 plant species make up the diets of the majority of the world's population. Of these, just 12 species provide over 70 percent of food, while four — rice, maize, wheat and potatoes — make up over 50 per cent of the food supply. Obviously, we are not taking full advantage of the available resources. biodiversity： 生物多样性

Slide12: 

Why is genetic diversity important for food? In order to show the importance of genetic diversity for food security, we can give a very clear example: the famine that overwhelmed Europe at the end of the 1830s, due to the massive failure of potato crops due to disease. The problem was resolved by finding varieties in Latin America, where the potato had originated, that were resistant to the disease. This was only possible because of the great genetic diversity that farmers in that area had created, developed and maintained over many generations. Today it is more important than ever to maintain existing farmers' traditional varieties, so coming generations can cope with unpredictable environmental changes and human needs. The International Undertaking recognizes the enormous contribution that local and indigenous communities and farmers make and encourages national governments to safeguard and promote farmers' rights. These include the protection of their traditional knowledge, the right to equitably participate in benefit sharing and the right to participate in national decision-making regarding plant genetic resources.

Slide13: 

To what extent can biotechnology support the idea behind the World Food Day theme "Fight hunger to reduce poverty"? I prefer to talk in the plural of "biotechnologies", and there is no doubt that the development and use of new and traditional biotechnologies can greatly contribute to reducing hunger and poverty in the world. Genetic resources and biotechnologies should be considered complementary, as the first provide the raw material for the second. Even the most sophisticated biotechnologies do not create genes, but re-combine those existing in nature to produce new varieties and agricultural products.

Slide14: 

Modern biotechnologies provide powerful tools with the potential to increase and improve production in various situations, including to the benefit of small farmers and local economies. The main question lies in which biotechnologies and for which purpose. Big business makes big investments and usually wants short-term returns from a limited range of standardized products, which does not necessarily serve the goal of reducing world hunger. For this reason, it is important that investment also be made in the public sector, so that it can maintain its involvement in biotechnological research, in order to ensure that the needs of the poor are well taken care of. FAO is working on a Code of Conduct on Biotechnology aimed at maximizing its potential and minimizing its risks.

Slide15: 

Topics: Do you think genetic diversity will solve food problem in the future? Do you think genetic diversity will do harm to our health? Do you think genetic diversity will benefit or do harm to human being?

Slide16: 

Please write a letter to your friend about what did you do during your summer vacation and your opinion about summer vacation. Homework:

Slide17: 

See you next class!