Unit 2 Working the land

Using language

高一必修 4

Words preview

chemical

production

bacteria

pest

nutrition

mineral

adj. 化学的；关于化学的n. 生产；制造n. 细菌n. 害虫；害兽；害鸟n. 营养；滋养；食物n. 矿物；矿石

discovery

focus

soil

reduce

root

n. 发现；发觉n. 焦点；中心点vt. 集中；聚焦n. 土壤vt. 减少；减缩n. 根；根源

Words preview

skim

underline

summary

comment

vt. 浏览；略读vt. 画底线标出；强调n. 总结；摘要；概要n. 评论；议论vi.& vt. 表达意见 ;

做出评论

Words preview

Expressions preview

build up

lead to

focus on

keep… free

from/of

逐渐增强 ; 建立 ; 开发导致 ; 造成 ( 后果 )

集中 ( 注意力，精力等 ) 于使…免受 ( 影响，伤害等 ) ；使…不含 ( 有害物 )

Organic Farming

What are genetically-modified foods?

The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms)

is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for huma

n or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology tec

hniques.

What are some of the advantages of GM foods? The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:

1).pest resistance

2).disease resistance

3).cold tolerance

4).drought tolerance/salinity

tolerance

5).nutrition

What are some of the criticisms against GM foods?

Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories:

environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic

concerns.

Read and answer:

What is the main idea of this passage?

This passage tells us something about

organic farming. It means growing crops

without chemical fertilizers which damage

the soil. The organic farmers keep the

soilrich and healthy in several ways.

1 Why are chemical fertilizers so popular in farming today? 2 What problems can be caused by using chemical fertilizers?3 What is organic farming?4 What is the main reason for using organic farming methods?

Read the passage and answer the following questions.

1 Why are chemical fertilizers so popular in farming today?

They are a great way to stop crop disease and increase

production.

2 What problems can be caused by using chemical fertilizers?

They can damage the land by killing helpful bacteria and pets and by staying in the ground and underground water for a long time, They damage people's health by building up in their bodies and leading to cancer or other illnesses.

3 What is organic farming?

4 What is the main reason for using organic farming methods?

Organic farming means growing cropswithout using any chemicals.

The main reason for using organic farming methods is to grow good food and to avoid damaging the environment or people’s health.

Find and write down the methods and advantages in the passage.

Methods of organic farming Advantages of methods

Farmers use natural waste from animals.

This makes the soil richer in minerals and so more fertile.

Methods of organic farming Advantages of methods

1 Farmers use natural waste from animals.

1 This makes the soil richer in minerals and so more fertile.

2 Farmers often change the kind of crop in each field every few years.

2 Changing the crops renews the minerals in the soil and helps it become rich and healthy.

Methods of organic farming Advantages of methods

3 Farmers plant crops with different lengths of roots.

3 This uses different levels of soil.

4 Farmers sometimes plant grass between crops and leave it in the ground.

4 This prevents wind or water from carrying away soil and acts as a natural fertilizer.

Language points

1 These chemicals in the food supply

build up in people’s bodies over time.

build up   增强 ; 建立；开发 Hard working conditions build up

character.

艰苦的工作条件能磨练人的性格。

2 Many of these chemicals can lead to

cancer or other illnesses.

lead to: 导致；造成Too much work and too little rest

often lead to illness.

过量的工作和过少的休息会引起疾病。All roads lead to Rome. 

条条大道通罗马。

3 They focus on keeping their soil rich and free of disease.

focus on: 集中 ( 注意力，精力等）于You should focus your attention on

your work.把注意力集中在你的工作上。

Olympus: Focus on life.奥林巴斯：瞄准生活。

4 This also keeps the air, soil, water and crops free from chemicals.

keeps… free from /of: 使…免受（影响，伤害登）；使不含（有害物）keep from:   阻止 ; 妨碍 I hope you will keep from doing

anything rash. 

我希望你不要做出任何鲁莽的事情来。

Listening

chemical fertilizer

cow dung

用化学肥料和有机肥料的区别 :

The possible bad effects of chemical

fertilizers on the fruit and vegetables

that we eat today.

As you listen to this dialogue, keep in mind what you have just read about chemical fertilizers. What is the main topic of the conversation?

Listen to the dialogue a second time.

Decide if the following statements are

true or false, according to the conversation.

Give your reasons.

1 Paul thinks that Carrie is not telling him the truth.2 Using chemical fertilizers always makes vegetables empty inside.

True

False

3 Today’s fruit is not as healthy for

people as fruit fifty years ago.

4 Eating more vegetables might not

always be good for us.

5 All of today’s vegetables look

healthy but in fact are not.

False

True

True

Listening text

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE VEGETABLES?

Girl: Hey, Paul, listen to this … a magazine article about a farmer who used too much chemical fertilizer on his fields. When his vegetables were picked, they were all found to be empty!

BOY: Empty? You’re joking, Carrie … that can’t be true!Girl: I didn’t believe it either! This article says this can happen sometimes with vegetables like cucumbers, carrots and pumpkins. This chemical fertilizer makes the vegetables grow fast to look big and beautiful, but they’re empty inside!

BOY: You know, I’ve noticed that

sometimes my mum buys carrots

from the supermarket that have big

holes down the center. I guess that

must be from using chemical

fertilizers!

GIRL: Yeah, that’s what the magazine says!

The main point of the article, though,

isn’t about holes in our vegetables.

It’s talking about why the fruit and

vegetables we eat today aren’t as

nutritious as the ones our

grandparents ate.

BOY: What? My mum is always telling me

to eat more vegetables, because

they’re good for me!

GIRL: Yeah, I know – my mother says that

same thing! And it’s true -

they are good for us… but the problem is that they aren’t

healthy enough! All these chemical fertilizers – they kill off

both the bad and the good things in the ground. The ground

doesn’t have enough vitamins and minerals any more to help

crops grow healthy.

BOY: So … if our fruit and vegetables

were grown with chemical

fertilizers, they might look

healthy, but probably aren’t

really healthy? I guess we’ve got

to stop using so many chemical

fertilizers to grow our food!

Write a summary of the text following the procedure on page 15.

Homework

祝同学们学习进步！