Pre-Reading
1.When do you think the inventions in the pictures above were made?(火車，電燈和蒸汽船)
2.When was electricity discovered and how was it used in the following two hundred years?
3.In the early nineteenth century, people had no idea what the inside of the earth might look like. Can you explain what we know about it today?
4.Write down eight key words that you expect to find in the reading passage below.
JULES VERNE: THE FATHER OF SCIENCE FICTION
Jules Verne was born in 1828, in France. His father sent him to Paris to study law, but instead Verne developed his love for the theatre. To make a living, Verne had to write and sell stories. Jules spent many hours in Paris libraries studying geology, physics and many other subjects. He used the latest ideas and technical inventions of his day in his books. Many of the instruments in his novels will remind the reader of Dr Benjamin Franklin’s experiments with electricity. By taking the scientific developments of his day one step further, Jules Verne laid the foundation of modern science fiction. He also suggested how inventions could be used in the future to allow man to do things that were considered impossible in his own time. Jules Verne died in 1905, long before any of his dreams came true.
At the beginning of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, one of his most famous novels, ships are disappearing all over the world and it is believed to be caused by a sea monster. Dr Aronnax, his servant and a Canadian whale hunter set out to find the monster. After months of searching they find it and in the collision that follows, the three men are thrown overboard. In their efforts to survive, they find themselves on the surface of the monster itself, which turns out to be a submarine. They are taken on board and Captain Nemo decides not to kill them but makes them his permanent guests. From that day on they start planning their escape.
Captain Nemo takes them on a voyage across the oceans. The Nautilus is an extraordinary ship. The furniture is precious and huge glass windows that can be opened and closed give a view of the underwater world. The ship is also very strong and protected with thick iron plates. All that is needed for life on board comes from the ocean. Electricity is used for light, heating, power and to defend the ship against attacks. The food aboard the Nautilus is all sea food.
Dressed in diving suits, they walk around in this magic world, lighted by the lamps of the ship. They find themselves surrounded by colourful rocks, fishes, shells and plants, all waving and moving slowly in the blue waters.
Readers have wondered about the character of Captain Nemo ever since the book was published. You could say he is someone you will neither like nor dislike. You might think that he is a cruel man because he keeps Aronnax and the others as prisoners and destroys ships. But at other moment you will find him gentle and weak, when he cries about the lost lives of people drowned in ships that have sunk.
Another wonderful story is that of Journey to the Center of the Earth. The story begins with the discovery of an ancient document in an old book. It explains how to find a secret road to the centre of the earth. Two men decide to go on this adventure and travel to Iceland, where they enter the earth through a chimney in an extinct volcano. Their guide leads them through a narrow passage deep into the earth. Passing through layers of coal and marble they go deeper and deeper. They drink the water from a boiling underground river and after many days they reach a huge lake or underground ocean. Walking along its shores they go through forests of mushrooms and plants that lived on the earth millions of years ago. They build a raft to cross the sea and are attacked by ancient sea creatures. In the end, their raft is drawn into a fast steam and with ever increasing speed and temperatures they are shot out of a volcano in southern Italy.
POST-READING
1.Describe the character of Captain Nemo.
2.Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.
1.)To make a living he had to write and sell stories. He had to write and sell stories to make money.
2.)In their efforts to survive…
3.)They find themselves on the surface of the monster itself.
4.)his permanent guests
3.Under water travel and space travel have many things in common. Describe the similarities and differences and fill in the chart below.
SUBMARINE SPACESHIP
Differences
Similarities
4.Think about all the knowledge we now have about the earth and explain where Jules Verne might have got his ideas from when he wrote his novel.
1)Why would there be a huge underground ocean?
2)Why do the characters find plants and animals that lived on the earth millions of years ago?
3)How could they find an old metal object that is about 500 years old?
5.Which tools and things would you bring if you were going to climb down into a very deep cave? What would be the most important dangers and things that could happen?
Preparation:Tools and things to bring Risks: Dangers and things that could happen
LANGUAGE STUDY
Word study
Choose the right word to complete the following sentences. Some may be used more than once.
Collision permanent voyage escape on board fiction fantasy
This is not a real story; it is ___________. In 1898, an American writer wrote a novel. In the story, a huge ship called Titan of which it was said that it could not sink, set off from Southampton on her first ___________ across the Atlantic Ocean. It sank after a ____________ with an iceberg, killing most of the 2,500 people ___________________.
Fourteen years later, in 1912, Titanic, which was called the “Ship of Dreams” or the “Ship That Cannot Sink”, set off from Southampton on its first _________. On its way to New York City, it hit an iceberg. Three hours after the _________, it sank to the bottom of the sea. It had more than 2,220 passengers __________, of whom 1,513 did not ________ the cold ocean water and died.
The story of Titanic is an example where ________ meets reality. The disaster has become a __________ pain in people’s hearts.
Word formation (2)
1.Study the meaning of these stems and affixes. Match the words and the correct definitions.
mis = wrong extra- = outside inter- = between sub- - under
under- = below over- = too much dis- = not -marine = sea
1. _______ submarine A. do not like
2. _______ underground B.work too hard
3. _______ overwork C.action and reaction between two people or things
4. _______ interaction D.put in the wrong place
5. _______ misplace E.a ship that can travel below the surface of the sea
6. _______ dislike F.below the surface of the earth
2.Guess the meaning of the words in italics, using context clues and what you know about word parts.
1. _______ Mum tole me not to misbehave at my grandparents’ house.
2. _______ The Chinese subtitles at the bottom of the screen help us understand foreign movies.
3. _______ Don’t misunderstand me; I’m only trying to help.
4. _______ In many cases, the words “fiction” and “novel” are interchangeable.
5. _______ People like to take the subway because it is faster than buses and cheaper than taxies.
6. _______ He looks very tired because he has been working overtime all week.
7. _______ People will think you are mad if you walk in public in your underpants.
INTERGRATING SKILLS
Reading and writing
THE STORY OF DR FRANKENSTEIN
No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. Instead of children’s play and adventure, I was driven by a desire to learn. I wasn’t interested in the structure of language or law. I wanted to learn the secrets of heaven and earth. My father was not scientific, so I had to look for a road without having a map. I entered the search for wisdom and dreamt of finding a way to cure any disease.
I read all the books I could find that threw light upon these matters. I studied maths and physics and the works of many learned author. At the age of seventeen, my parents sent me to university. But I found all that was taught at university very disappointing and decided that I would pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of nature.
One of the phenomena that attracted my attention was the structure of the human body, and any animal that was alive. I often asked myself, where the principle of life came from. After days and nights of incredible labour I discovered the cause of life and how to create life from dead matter.
When I found this amazing power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time how I should use it. Although I knew how to create life, how to prepare a body for it with all its muscles and organs still remained a difficult job. I doubted at first whether I should try to create a being like myself, or one of simpler organization. But soon I dreamt of nothing else but the creation of a creature as complete and wonderful as man.
It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the small size of the parts slowed down my speed, I decided to make the being much larger than man; about eight feet in height. With these ideas, spending some months collecting and arranging materials, I began.
Who can imagine the horror of my secret work? I collected bones from graves and cut up dead bodies. Many of my materials came from butcher shops and hospitals. It was on a night in November that I looked at the result of my work. I collected my instruments around me, with which I would light the flame of life into the dead thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open.
I looked at the terrible monster that I had created. He opened the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, looked at me. His hair was black and his teeth as white as snow, but his skin was yellow. When his thin black lips opened, nothing came out some strange sounds. While unfinished, he was ugly, but now he was a living horror.
Writing
One of man’s greatest dreams has always been to create life, especially a life form that looks like us to create a man. Answer the questions below to help you brainstorm about how that could be done. Then name of your own mysterious doctor and write a short story about how he or she would create a human being.
1)How does your doctor create a life form that looks like a human being?
2)Describe your doctor’s efforts to do that.
3)Create a word web of nouns, verbs and adjectives for the story. Add all the words you need.
arms cells hospital butcher fur
grow
test tube