大学英语(全新版)第三册电子教案Unit Four THE WATERY PLACEI. Teaching objectivesStudents will be able to :1.understand the main idea ( to be found in Part I) and structureof the text ( narration in time sequence);2.appreciate the difference between formal speech andinformation speech;3.grasp the key language points and grammatical structures inthe text;4.conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking, and writingactivities related to the theme of the unit.II. Text SummaryThe text tells of a stupid error which results in a discouraging thing that no extraterrestrials will ever land on the Earth. The story begins with the introduction of he character of Bart Cameron, the Sheriff at Twin Gulch, Idacho, who is a quick-tempered and impatient person. On that special day, April 14, 1956, the author sees the flying saucer. But just because of the extraterrestrials’ too formal English and Bart’s too bad mood that day, Bart Cameron misunderstands the extraterrestrials once and time again . Finally , they fly back to Venus. Therefore weare never going to have visitors from space课文概述文章讲述了由于一个愚蠢的错误导致再无外星人光顾地球的故事。
故事开始介绍了爱达荷州温加尔奇的治安官巴特·卡默伦的性格，他是一个脾气暴躁，没有耐心的人。
在1956年4月14日那个特殊的一天,作者亲眼目睹了飞碟。
但仅仅因为外星人过于正式的英语和巴特那天过于糟糕的心情，使得巴特·卡默伦对外星人一而再、再而三地误解。
最终外星人飞回了金星。
正因为此，再也没有来自外星的访问者。
III. Cultural Notes1.Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) : Russian-born American writerand scientist . He was a distinguished biochemist, but is more widely known as the author of many works of science fiction, books on science for non-scientists, and essays on a wide variety of subjects. Among his best-known science fiction are I, Robot(1950) and the Foundation trilogy(1951-1953).Building on Karel Capek’s concept of the robot, in 1941 Asimov coined the term robotics.2.Venus: the second major planet in order of distance from theSun. Also known as Hesperus, The evening star(黄昏星), or Phosphorus, the morning star(启明星), Venus can be thebrightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon and follows a near-circular path some 106 million kilometers from the Sun, taking 225 days to complete one orbit.金星也叫常庚星或昏星，也有人叫它启明星或晨星。
金星是太空中除太阳和月亮以外最亮的星体，沿着离太阳约一亿六百万公里的椭圆轨道运行，运行一周约需225天。
金星表面的平均温度约475o C，其中约95％的大气是二氧化碳。
金星上几乎没有氧气。
这使得金星上几乎不可能有我们所知的生命。
除金星和地球外，太阳还有七个行星，它们是：水星（the Mercury），火星（the Mars），木星（the Jupiter），土星（the Saturn），天王星（the Uranus），海王星（the Neptune 和冥王星（the Pluto）。
3.extraterrestrial life: life-forms that may have evolved on otherplanets. There is no hard evidence at present that life exists other than on the Earth. Most UFOs have been satisfactorily explained as being natural or man-made, and the Viking missions to Mars were inconclusive in testing for the existence of life on that planet. Nevertheless, searches have been and are being made for signs that life has arisen in other parts of the universe. Certain knowledge either that life isconfined to planet Earth or has been found elsewhere would have the profoundest philosophical implications for mankind.Factors contributing to any assessment of the probability that life exists elsewhere must include the size, age, and structure of the universe, and the conditions under which life as we know it can originate and evolve. Other factors of relevance in the search for extraterrestrial life include an assessment of the probability that intelligence leading to scientific and technological civilizations similar to our own may arise.4.space exploration: In 1903 the Russian physicist KonstantinTsiolkovsky was developing ideas for space rockets fuelled by liquefied gas and by 1926 Robert Goddard in the USA had successfully designed the first liquid fuelled rocket. There followed considerable German research into rockets, culminating in the launch of the V-2 rocket in 1944. In 1957 the Soviet Union surprised the USA by putting the first artificial satellite , Sputnik I, in orbit. This was followed by the US Explore I in 1958. Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space in 1961, followed by John Glenn in 1962. In 1961 President Kennedy proposed the Apollo programme to achieve a manned lunar landing by 1970, and in 1969 Neil Armstrong and Edwin(“Buzz”) Aldrin landed on the moon.The Soviet Union concentrated on unmanned flights, Luna IX achieving a soft landing on the moon in 1966.In the early 1970s space stations were launched by both the USA and the Soviet Union, and in 1975 an Apollo capsule linked up with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. Unmanned flights have been made to Venus and Mars, while the US probe, V oyager 2, launched in 1977, reached Neptune in 1989. In 1981 the USA launched a space shuttle , the first reusable space craft, but its commercial and scientific programme was interrupted for two years by the explosion of the shuttle, Challenger, on life-off in 1986. In 1986 the giant Soviet modular space station, Mir, was launched with astronauts being ferried to the station by Soyuz spacecraft, followed in 1987 by the placing in space of the powerful Energiya station. In 1987, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko set a space endurance record of 326 days in orbit. The Hubble space telescope,which can produce images of other solar systems, was launched from US shuttle in 1990. Its faulty mirror limited observations until it was repaired by astronauts in the space shuttle Endeavor in 1993. An international space station , Freedom, conceived by the USA in1984, became operational in the 1990s. Space technology has resulted in numerousapplications , and telecommunication satellites have greatly improved global communications; while meteorological satellites provide advance weather information, and reconnaissance satellites register the earth’s resources and military information.Our knowledge of the Sun, planets, natural satellites , and comets in the solar system, as well as the interplanetary medium, has been greatly advanced in recent years by the Mariner, Venera, Pioneer, and V oyager series of spacecraft. More recently, space exploration is being extended by the launching of artificial satellites into Earth orbit carrying advanced technological packages to further our astronomical knowledge of the wider universe.5.the Congress: The Congress is one of the three branches ofthe US federal government , the legislative branch. Congress has two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives .The main job of Congress is making laws. Before a new law can be made , both houses have to pass it, and it must then have the approval of the President . In a system of government based on a series of checks and balances, the two houses of congress act as a check on each other, as well as together forming a check on the powers of the executivebranch, especially the President.6.the Supreme Court: The judicial branch is one of the threebranches of US federal government and operates the system of law courts. The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. is the highest court in the US, and is very powerful . It has nice judges, called justices. Traditionally , they are called the mine old men ,although there has been one woman justice. The head of the court has the title of Chief Justice of the United States. Justices are by the President, although the Senate must give its approval to the choice. There has been only one African-American justice.7.income tax: a tax paid according to a person’s level ofincome, with people on higher incomes paying higher rates of tax. It is used by the government to help pay for things like health care and education. It is collected in Britain by Inland Revenue and in the US by the Internal Revenue Service.IV. Language Study1.I’m not being a pessimist. 我不是故意要显得悲观。