Unit OneA Teaching Objectivesa. Contents of the text:Focus 1: Help the students learn a lesson from the story—Look beyond the obvious and allow miracles to be created in our life.Focus 2: The importance and necessity of crying.b. Key language points in the text:Focus 1: 1. Words such as graduate, purchase, hand,regret,desire may function both as a verb and a noun.2. Present participle used as adverbials of time, cause and result, etc.3. Absolute construction introduced by the preposition with.c. Vocabulary:Focus 1: 31 B-level words, 11 A-level words, and 4 phrases and expressions listed under Vocabulary.Focus 2: 30 B-level words, 20 A-level words, and 8 phrases and expressions listed under Vocabulary.d. Comprehensive skills:Understand a passage at the pre-intermediate level of difficulty and on this basis, be able to write a summary of the text.e. Functions:Focus 1: Expressing Thanks.Focus 2: Writing a Thank-you Letter.B Procedures and MethodsEight teaching periods are needed to cover the present unit.1. Period One and Period Two:Step One:a. Background information:Graduation Day in the West “There’s a time for joy/A time for tears/A time we’ll treasure through the years/We’ll remember always Graduati onDay…” This is a song entitled Graduation Day by Beach Boys. For graduates and their families, Graduation Day marks a unique moment in time: a celebration of years passed, while looking forward to the endless possibilities of the countless hours that lay ahead. To celebrate, a ceremony is usually held at school on which students wear cap and gown for this special moment and the song “Pomp & Circumstances” is the standard march. At home, parents usually throw a party for their children and special gifts are also necessary.b. warm-up questionsHow is the relationship between you and your father?What is the best gift you have ever received from your father?(The warm-up exercise shall not take up more than 8 minutes.)Step Two: Go over the key words and expressions in the text.Step Three: Start to teach the text para. by para. Help students understand the text and explain language points meanwhile. Questions about Para. 1(1) What was the young man in our story getting ready to do?(2) What did he want from his father as a gift for him?(3) Could his father afford it?Notes of Para 1:A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. 一个年轻人即将从大学毕业。
get ready to do sth.: to get prepared to do sth. 准备好做某事该词组在本句中用进行时态，表示“正准备”的意思，意指通过了所有课程，完成了学业。
e.g. (1) We’d better get ready to leave. 我们最好准备出发吧。
(2) The children are getting ready to go to school. 孩子们正准备去学校。
graduate:vi. to complete education at a school or a university 毕业e.g. (1) He graduated from Beijing University in 1998. 他1998年毕业于北京大学。
(2) When did you graduate from Oxford? 你什么时候从牛津大学毕业的？graduate还可以作可数名词，意为“a person who has completed a university degree（大学）毕业生，研究生”K nowing his father… could well afford it:为现在分词短语作状语，表示原因，相当于Beca use he knew his father… could well afford it。
现在分词knowing后是个宾语从句his father…could well afford it. 宾语从句中主语为his father，a faithful Christian是主语his father的同位语，who owned a prosperous business 是定语从句，修饰名词Christian。
e.g. Not knowing what to do, he phoned the police.（因为）不知道该怎么办，他给警察打了电话。
a faithful Christian…:作father的同位语。
faithful: a. having and keeping faith in one person, idea, belief, etc. 忠诚的，忠实的；如实的e.g. (1) One cannot be too faithful to one’s duty.对自己的职责无论怎样忠诚也不为过。
(2) It is a faithful report. 这是一个如实的报告。
faithful 的词根为名词faith，意为“feeling sure that you can trust someone or something 信任，信心；信仰”。
e.g. (1) Have you any faith in what he says? 你相信他说的话吗？(2) Do you have faith in Tim? 你相信蒂姆吗？(3) Christians have faith in God. 基督教徒信仰上帝。
afford: vt. to be able to buy or pay for 买得起，负担得起e.g. (1) This sofa is expensive. I am afraid that I can’t afford it.这张沙发很贵，我恐怕买不起。
(2) Can we afford a holiday abroad this year? 今年我们负担得起出国度假吗？afford 作动词的另一个常用意思为“to provide, to give 提供，给予”。
e.g. The tree afforded us a shelter from the rain. 这棵树为我们提供了避雨的地方。
宾语从句that was all he wanted作为told的直接宾语，前面省略了宾语从句的连接代词that，而句中的指示代词that指的是汽车。
all 后面省略定语从句关系代词that，本句的完整形式应为(that) that was all (that) he wanted。
Questions about Para. 2(4) What did his father hand him on the morning of his graduation?(5) What did he find in it?(6) How did he feel as he saw the gift?(7) What did he do then?Notes of Para 2:approach:vi./vt. to come near or nearer 靠近，接近e.g. (1) As summer approached, the weather became hotter. 随着夏天的临近，天气变得热些了。