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Lesson 37 The process of ageing 衰老过程

Lesson 37 The process of ageing 衰老过程

时间:2015-01-21 06:59点击:
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Comprehension 理解

Answer these questions:

1 Why is the likelihood of death least when we are twelve years old?

2 Why are there heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty?

3 Which power do we gradually lose between the ages of twelve and eighty?

Vocabulary 词汇

Refer to the text to see how the following words have been used, then write sentences of your own using self-evident (1.15); moot (1.20); fatal (1.24).

Summary 摘要

Drawing your information from the second paragraph (lines 13-27), write a summary of the author's description of the process of ageing. Do not write more than 100 words. Your answer should be in one paragraph.

Composition 作文

A Write a list of ideas in note form which could be used to discuss the following subject: Suggest reasons why we in the twentieth century can expect to live longer than people who lived in bygone times.

B Drawing on your list of ideas, write a composition of about 400 words.

Key structures 关键句型

A Supply the where necessary in the following sentences:

1 It is one of ______ most unpleasant discoveries which we all make. (11.6-7)

2 _______most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do. (11.17-18)

3 Death is something which ______most people fear.

4 Make ______most of what you've got.

5 ________ most of the things I've got were bought overseas.

B Compare the use of however in these sentences.

1 There is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are. (11.11-12)

2 No one will deny that many of the programmes shown on television are very poor. There are, however, a fair number which are very fine indeed.

Write two sentences using however in the ways shown above.

C Complete these sentences in any way you wish. Then compare what you have written with the sentences in the passage:

1 We shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, ____, will finally become so steep that ____(11.3-4)

2 We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that____(11.13-14)

3 An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that____(11.21-22)

Special difficulties 难点

A Study the following pairs of words and then write sentences of your own bring out the difference.

1 infant (1.3)----baby

The State provides a programme of health checks for all infants up to a year old.(infant is only used in official contexts)

We were innoculated against diphtheria when we were babies.

2 imperceptible (1.4)----unperceived

The changes, at first so small as to be imperceptible, become more obvious as time passes.

So much money was involved that it was impossible for the forgery to remain unperceived.

3 alive----living

It was a surprise to learn that he had just died, since I hadn't realized he was still alive!

Until August 1977, the oldest living person was a French woman from Arles aged a hundred and twenty-two.

B Explain the meaning of the verbs in italics:

1 …we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour …however well we look after ourselves…(11.3-5)

2 Look out! There's a bus coming!

3 I am looking forward to the summer holidays.

4 Everybody looks on him as a leader.

5 If there are any words in the passage you don't understand, look them up in the dictionary.

6 Business was very slack before Christmas, but things are looking up now.

7 I shall certainly look up all my old friends when I go back home.

8 Why don't you look in next week. I'm sure he'll be back by then.

C Explain the meaning of the verbs in italics:

1 …mechanical systems…run out of energy…(11.18-19)

2 My new car hasn't been run in yet.

3 That little boy was nearly run over by a bus.

4 He ran through all the money he had inherited in less than a year.

5 While on holiday in Spain, we ran into our next-door neighbours.

6 Look at that lamp-post. It looks as if a car ran into it.

D Explain the meaning of the verbs in italics:

1 …an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out…(11.25-26)

2 There's so much work to do in the office these days, I never knock off before six o'clock.

Multiple choice questions 多项选择题

Choose the correct answers to the following questions.

Comprehension 理解

1 Our first twelve years ____.

a.are followed by a rapid decline

b.represent the peak of our development as human beings

c.are succeeded by a gradual ageing process

d.are the time when the human body is at its most vigorous

2 No matter how lucky and robust we are, we ____.

a.cannot avoid the ageing process

b.make unpleasant discoveries

c.will died between the ages of sixty-five and eighty

d.will all die at the same time

3 The process in humans and animals of losing vigour with time ____.

a.is something we would all like to forget

b.is not something we question very much

c.is like a watch that wears out

d.follows the second law of thermodynamics

4 Humans could live for very long periods indeed if they ____.

a.retained the capacity for self-repair they enjoyed at twelve

b.didn't become run down

c.survived the first 700 years

d.weren't worn down by friction

Structure 句型

5 ____reached its full size and strength. (11.1-2)

a.It hasn't before

b.It hasn't ever

c.It still hasn't

d.Yet it hasn't

6 At this age, the possibilities of death are ____.

a.few

b.fewer

c.the fewest

d.fewest

7 We can live no longer, ____we look after ourselves. (11.4-5)

a.whatever

b.no matter how much

c.how much

d.whichever way

8 So familiar____ with the fact that man ages, that…(11.13-14)

a.have we

b.we have

c.are we

d.we are

Vocabulary 词汇

9 The body has yet to arrive____ its full size. (1.1)

a.-

b.to

c.in

d.at

10 They run out of energy____ with the second law of thermodynamics. (1.19)

a.similar

b.in contrast to

c.in line with

d.in harmony with

11 Whether the whole universe runs out of energy is____ point. (1.20)

a.a mute

b.an undecided

c.a lost

d.a big

12 A watch could never repair itself----it is not made____ living parts. (11.22-23)

a.out

b.away with

c.over to

d.up of