Culture Background

四川省大竹中学 罗芬

Activity 1. About Australia

Step 1. Look at the pictures. Do you know what and where they are?

Sydney

the map of Australia

the national flag

Alice Springs

Ghan (Afghanistan) train

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1. Where do you think most of the people live, in the central part of the country or on the coast?

2. What do you think the central part of the country is like?

Australia

On the east coast and the southeast coast

Desert

abandoned camels cassette clouds colourful desert

diamonds distance experts famous farms fields food

government law meal midnight passengers products

recently sand scenery shine shoot soil supply weather

journey trained

Step 1. Pick out the words that you have already learned.

Activity 2. Vocabulary Learning

abandoned camels cassette

diamonds experts fields

products

scenery soil supply

journey

Step 2. Look at the pictures and try to match the pictures with the right words in the box.

camelscassettediamondsfieldssoil

abandoned experts products scenery

supply (supplies) journey

Step 3.Let’s try to understand these words according to the context( 上下文 )after we finish reading the text. And let’s check your understanding in the post reading part later.

a child visiting her grandmother

Step 1. What is the passage about?a train ride to Sydney

taking the train to Australia

travelling to the central part of Australia

Activity 3. Skimming

Step 2. Talk about the Structure:

1.How many parts can we divide the passage into?

Part 1-

Part 2-

…

Para. 1

Para. 2-3

Part 3- Para. 4-6

Part 1

(Para. 1)

Part 2

(Para. 2-3)

Part3

(Para. 4-6)

Alice/The writer________

Alice/The writer________

Alice/The writer________

A. the origin( 起源 )of the Ghan train and the means of transport for traveling a long distance in the past .

B. when and where their travel took place.

C. the scenery all the journey.

tells

describes

explains

2.Then what is each part about ?

3. Now fill in the blanks with tells, describes or explains.

Step 1. Read the passage again carefully and pay more attention to “Six Wh-words” (who, when, where, what, how and why) and fill in the blanks. _____________, an 18 –year –old Australian girl, _______made

her first long-distance _____ride with a friend. They got on in _______ and got off in____________. They ___meals cooked by experts. They ____colourful scenery, fields, dark red soil, desert and abandoned farms built over 100 years ago. On the train, Alice ________other passengers , _____books and _________ Chinese cassettes to study. She _______ the night sky and found stars, which shone like diamonds. Why is the train called the Ghan? It is short for ___________. The Afghans trained the _______ to carry food and supplies. They did this _____________, when the government built______________.

recently

Sydneysaw

talked to read listened to

Afghanistancamels

until the 1920s a new railway line

Alice Springs

watched

ate

Alice Thompsontrain

Activity 4. Scanning

Exercise 1. Try to guess the meanings of the following words according to the context( 上下文 ) and then choose the best answers that can explain the underlined words well.

1. … We ate great meals cooked by experts. …

A. people who love eating delicious food

B. people who serve food in the restaurants

C. people who have a special skill of a subject

D. people who eat and comment( 评 价 ) the dishes

Para.2 Line 3

abandoned experts products scenery

soil supply (supplies) journey

Step 2. Post-reading

2. … For the first few hundred kilometers of the journey, the scenery was very colourful. …

A. a long trip, sights B. distance, sights

C. a long trip, pictures D. distance, pictures

Para.2 Line 4

3. … We saw abandoned farms which were built more than a hundred years ago. …

A. destroyed B. newly-built

C. no longer used D. unknown

Para.2 Line 10(the last sentence)

4. … For many years, trained camels carried food and other supplies, and returned with wool and other products. …

1) supplies

A. things prepared for travelling

B. things necessary for daily life

C. things carried only by camels

D. things got from far away

Para.5 Line 4

4. … For many years, trained camels carried food and other supplies, and returned with wool and other products. …

2) products

A. things made to be carried by camels

B. things made from a long distance

C. things made by hand in someone’s home

D. things made in a factory or from nature

Para.5 Line 5

abandoned camels cassette clouds colourful desert

diamonds distance experts famous farms fields food

government law meal midnight passengers products

recently sand scenery shine shoot soil supply weather

journey trained

Now read these words aloud.

1. Alice tells

2. Alice describes

3. Alice explains

Activity 5. Retell the text: Alice’s First Ride on a Trainmore than4000 kms away

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get offin the middle of …

2 days & nights

wonderful

great cooked by experts

For the first few hundred kmsthe scenery colourful

fields soils red

desert shine no wind no clouds

Suddenly

look likefrom another timemore than 100 years ago

comfortable nice during the day sitlook out of sometimes talk to readlisten to one night at about midnightwatch shine diamonds be short for

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1. Retell the text .2. Choose one of these topics to talk about.1) My first family holiday 2) The most unusual journey I’ve made3) My first train ride4) The best journey of my life3. Then write a paragraph of the topic.