解放军文职招聘考试Greenhouse Effect Occurred 5,000 Years Ago 发生在5000年前的温室效应

 Greenhouse Effect Occurred 5,000 Years Ago

发生在5000年前的温室效应

   It is common sense nowadays that too much carbon dioxide in the air caused by too much lumbering (伐木) leads to global greenhouse effects.

   A team of archaeologists from China and the United States is saying that the greenhouse effect started about 5,000 years ago, much earlier than people might expect.

   This is the conclusion reached by a group of Chinese and US archaeologists based on a research on the relics excavated (发掘) from the ruins of a Neolithic site in Rizhao City, Shandong Province in east China, over the past twelve years.

   The experts from Shandong University and US scholars began its survey at the ruins of the ancient Liangcheng Town in suburban Rizhao in 1995, focusing on the relationship between plants and human activity.

   They collected wood samples from the site and did research on 21 pieces of waterish logged timber (木材) and three pieces of charcoal (炭). Archaeologists found that the wood excavated at the site were mostly the remains of burning or construction activities.

   Prehistoric human beings probably burned wood in cooking, lighting, molding pottery (制陶) and even bronze smelting（冶铜), while large numbers of relics of ancient housing facilities show that people of that time lumbered much to build houses.

   The team also concluded that prehistoric human beings used plants for other purposes, such as curing diseases, making furniture or tools and feeding animals, but these plants were hardly preserved and found.

   Experts concluded that the remains of plants and trees at the site showed that prehistoric humans had started lumbering and that the increase of carbon dioxide therefore probably started before the industrial age.

   The traditional view was that human beings affected the environment little in ancient times and that it was not human beings but climate change or catastrophes (大灾难) that promoted ancient cultures or made them disappear.

 

I Aims and Demands（教学目的和要求）

To learn a passage about the greenhouse effects and let the students know the possible reasons for the greenhouse effects.

ⅡKey Points and Special Difficulties（重点和难点）

Key points: to grasp some useful words and expressions

archaeologist, conclusion, scholar, survey, construction, facility, conclude, furniture, preserve, promote, common sense, lead to, focus on, in ancient times

Special difficulties: to know about the human activities leading to the greenhouse effect

Ⅲ Teaching Aids and Approaches（教具及教学方法）

Multi-media, Task-based approach and the integrated approach

 

Ⅳ Brief Teaching Procedures（教学过程）

Step1 Lead-in（导入新课）

Nowadays people are talking more and more about the greenhouse effect. What is the greenhouse effect?

Step2 Fast reading （快速阅读）   

Read the passage quickly and answer（快速阅读并回答下列问题）:

1) Why did the experts from China and America do the research on the relics of the ancient Liangcheng Town?

2) What conclusion did they draw according to the research?

Keys（参考答案）:

1) To find out the relationship between plants and human activity.

2) The greenhouse effect started about 5,000 years ago, much earlier than people might expect.

Step3 Careful reading（细读）    

1. What use did people make of wood in the past?

(lumbered a lot to build houses; burned wood in cooking, lighting, molding pottery and even bronze smelting.)

2. Translate the following sentences.

1) It is common sense nowadays that too much carbon dioxide in the air caused by too much lumbering leads to global greenhouse effects.

common sense常识    lead to = cause/ result in 导致

Nowadays people widely believe that too much carbon dioxide in the air caused by too much lumbering causes global greenhouse effects.

2) This is the conclusion reached by a group of Chinese and US archaeologists based on a research on the relics excavated from the ruins of a Neolithic site in Rizhao City,

reach a conclusion 得出结论

According to a research on the relics excavated from the ruins a group of Chinese and US archaeologists has reached this conclusion.

3) The traditional view was that human beings affected the environment little in ancient times and that it was not human beings but climate change or catastrophes that promoted ancient cultures or made them disappear.

该句结构比较复杂，that human beings affected the environment little in ancient times和that it was not human beings but climate change or catastrophes that promoted ancient cultures or made them disappear分别引导两个表语从句，且第二个表语从句中又隐含了一个强调句型。

Step4 Classroom activities（课堂活动）   

Work in groups of four and discuss:

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems the whole world is facing. What should we do with it?

Step5 Homework （作业）

1. Reading comprehension.

It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past ten years, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a “greenhouse effect”—holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature-a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to new ice age and would make agriculture difficult of impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either or these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.

1. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution _______.

    A. caused widespread damage in the countryside

    B. affected the entire eastern half of the United States

    C. was literally worldwide

    D. existed merely in urban and industrial areas

2. As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author ________.

    A. shares the same view with the scientists

    B. is uncertain of its occurrence

    C. rejects it as being ungrounded

    D. thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

    A. raising the world’s temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth

    B. lowering the world’s temperature merely a few degrees would lead many major farming areas to disaster

    C. almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

    D. the world’s temperature will remain constant in the years to come

4. This passage is mainly concerned with ________.

    A. the greenhouse effect                                 B. the burning of fossil fuels

    C. the potential effect of air pollution              D. the likelihood of a new ice age

Keys: 1-4 DBBC

2. 请根据下面提示，写一篇短文。词数不少于50.

For the period of oral practice, your English teacher put this picture on the blackboard. Everyone should say something about it .What will you say?

This is a balance. On one end stand animals: elephants, tigers, lions, giraffes… On the other end are people holding guns. It seems as though people are stronger because they have weapons and can easily kill the animals but actually if the animals die out, people will fall down and die. This picture shows the situation in the world now. A growing number of people are occupying more and more land, using more and more natural resources and leaving fewer and fewer animals in the world. They are killing themselves, in fact!

Step6 Assessment（评价）

Words and expressions（词和短语）

1. archaeologist n. 考古学家                            2. conclusion n. 结论

3. ruins  n. 废墟                                            4. scholar  n. 学者

5. survey  n.v.  调查                                      6. construction n. 建筑 

7. prehistoric  adj. 史前时期的                       8. facility n. 设施

9. conclude v. 得出结论                                  10. furniture  n. 家具 

11. preserve  v. 保护，保存                           12. promote  vt. 促进

13. common sense 常识                                  14. lead to 导致

15. focus on 集中                                           16. in ancient times 在古代