Unit 5 Working the Land
Reading and Thinking
Can you distinguish following crops?
袁隆平和杂交水稻
What do you know about the man? Whatelse do you want to know about him?
Read the title and the first sentence of each
paragraph.
What kind of writing do you think this is?Where can you find such a piece of writing？
Yuan Longping, known as the “father ofhybrid rice”, is one of China’s most famousscientists.
Go through the whole text. Try to match
the main idea with each paragraph.
Paragraph 1Paragraph 2Paragraph 3Paragraph 4Paragraph 5Paragraph 6
A Yuan conducted research and developed hybrid rice.B Yuan is old but still working hard to fulfil his dreams.C Yuan considers himself a farmer.D Yuan decided to study agriculture.
E Yuan's innovation has helped to feed more people.F Yuan cares little for fame or wealth.
Question:
1 Why does Yuan Longping consider himself a farmer?paragraph 1：Yet，he considers himself a famer becausehe continually works the land in his research.
Question:
2 Why did Yuan decide to study agriculture?
paragraph 2: To tackle the crisis that farmers often hadpoor harvest and sometimes even had a serious shortageof food to eat.
Question:
3 What is the main advantage of hybrid crops?Paragraph 3: They usually attain a higher yieldthan conventional crops.
Question:
4 How has Yuan's work helped China and othercountries?
Paragraph 4: Yuan’s innovation has helped feed notjust China, but many other countries that depend onrice as well, such as India and Vietnam.
Question:
5 What is Yuan's latest vision?
Paragraph 6: He envisioned rice plants as tall assorghum, with each ear of rice as big as a broom,and each grain of rice as huge as a peanut.
Question:
1 Why did Yuan Longping devote himself todeveloping hybrid rice?
2 How did he succeed in developing hybrid rice?3 How has his innovation influenced Yuan himself?
4 What was his latest vision of rice? Has it become areality？
词汇连连看
1、devote把……献给；把……专用于；专心于devote one’s time/energy/attention…to sth投入/花费时间精力/注意力……于某事
2、devote oneself to…献身于，致力于……
2、convince 使确信，使相信，说服convince sb to do sth
convince sb/oneself of sth
convince sb/oneself (that)…使某人相信……
3、characteristic特征，特点，品质；典型的，独特的、特有的
characteristic of sb/sth某人/某物的特性/特点
4、assumption假定，设定，（责任的）承担，（权利的）获得
make assumptions about…对……作出假设on the assumption that…假定……
5、expand 增加，扩大，扩展，发展
expand(…)into…（将……）扩展到/发展成……expand on/upon 详述，详细阐明
6、consumption消耗，消耗量，消费拓展词汇：consumer消费者，顾客consume 消耗，耗费，吃，喝
7、comprise包括，包含，由……组成be comprised of包含，包括，由……组成（或构成）
同义短语：consist of/be made up of
8、reality现实，实际情况，事实
virtual reality虚拟现实come into reality实现face reality面对现实
escape from reality逃避现实in reality实际上
turn(…)into reality（把……）变成现实
Yuan Longping considers himself a farmer. What
does the writer regard him as? What evidence canyou find from the reading? Can you finish the
sentence with as many adjectives as possible? YongLongping is a(n)
farmer. Make sure you give
reasons for each adjective.
What writing technique does the writer employ to exhibit
Yuan Longping's qualities?
作者在文中多处使用了对照（contrast）手法，以突出袁隆平的高尚品质。如第一段：father of hybrid rice vsfarmer；第二段：his parents' wish vs his own decision；第第五段:retire to a life of leisure vs continue to work the landas a man of the soil.
三段: the general assumption about hybrid rice vs his belief；
Thank you!
