unit 4 the virtual world

Unit 4 The Virtual

World

www.brainybetty.com 2

Teaching Objectives

Students will be able to: Grasp the main idea and structure of the text; Learn some rules of interpreting new vocabulary

and usage related to computers and the Internet in English;

Master the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;

Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit .


Text A Pre-reading: Discussion About the Title Background Information

While-reading: Main Idea

Text Organization Global Reading

Teaching Set-up


Language Points

Related Exercises Post-reading:

Computer-related Vocabulary Items

Useful Expressions

Mock Debate Text B

Language Points

Assignments


1. What do people usually do on line?

2. What web sources interest you most?

3. What do you think are the differences between the web sources and the normal media ones (such as news in the newspaper, on television and over radio)?

Discussion


About the Title

1. What does the title mean?2. Try to find the synonyms and antonyms

for “virtual life”.Synonyms:cyberspace, cyberia, net world, virtual reality, virtual existenceAntonyms: real life, real world, actual world, reality


Title virtual life

L1

L8

L9

L9-10

on the net

telecommuter

email

Internet mailing lists

L10-11 computer-assisted

L18 data

Scan Text A to find out vocabulary items related to computer and the Internet.

L19 link

L25

L39

L47

L64

cyber-interaction

on line

system crash

click on the modem

L64 connection

L65 password

Word-web


Background Information

SOHO -- Small-Office/Home-Office

1) What do you guess is the meaning of SOHO in information technology?

2) What kind of people do you think belong to the group of SOHO?


In information technology, SOHO is a term for the small office or home office environment and business culture. A number of organizations, businesses, and publications now exist to support people who work or have businesses in this environment. These people needn’t go to the office every day. They work at home without worrying about their dress and the strict rules of the company. The term “virtual office” is sometimes used as a synonym.


Writers, program designers, ad-agents, etc., all belong to the group of SOHO. Obviously, the author of Text A is a member of them.


Main Idea

Despite the many negative effects of virtual life, the author prefers it to real life.


Text Organization

Parts Lines Main Ideas

1 1-16

2 17-53

3 54-66

Description of the author’s virtual life.

Her feeling about the virtual life.

Her effort of returning to the real world and her feeling about the real world.


Global Reading

Skim the text and find:

1. What does the author do in her virtual life?

2. How does she feel about the virtual world?

3. What does she do to return to the real world?

4. How does she feel about the real world?

5. Which does she prefer, the virtual life or the real life?


Language Points

1. virtual: 1) created and existing only in a computer:

I can visit a ~ store and put what I want in my basket at the click of a mouse button.

Some people spend too much time escaping from reality into the ~ world conjured up on their computer screens.

` 2) being or acting as what is described, but not accepted as such in name or officially:

Our deputy manager is the ~ head of the business.


2. interpret: 1) understand:

They worry that students may ~ the new regulations as a restriction of their rights.

She ~s the dream as an unconscious desire to be young again.

2) explain:

How do you ~ his refusal to see us?

3) translate:

Could you ~ for me?


3. stretch: (cause to) become longer, wider, etc., without

breaking

The child ~ed the rubber band to its full extent.

The meeting ~ed over 3 hours.

The cornfield ~ed for miles.

~ yourself / ~ her neck to see what was going on / ~ out a friendly hand to sb.


1)

2)

include

3)

make (clothes) narrower4)

understand

5) deceive 6

)

see at a glance; see at once

The dress was too big, so I took it in.

I didn’t take in what you were saying.

She took in every details of the other woman’s clothes.

Do you mean we should get rid of the stale and take

in the fresh? Don’t be taken in by her promises.

This is the total cost of the trip, taking in everything.

3

4

2

6

1

5

4. take in receive, admit

3)


Collocation:

take apart

take back

take down

take for

take off

take on

take out

take over

take uptake after

拆开收回（所说的或所写的事）拿下，放下把……视作；误认为脱掉（衣服等）；起飞从事；开始对付取出；弄走接管举起；开始从事仿效，跟随；相像，在相貌、脾气或性格上相似


5. arrange:

prepare or plan (usu. used in the pattern: arrange to do sth. / arrange for sb./sth. to do sth. )

I’ve ~d for my secretary to meet you at the airport.

Let’s ~ to have a dinner together some time before we graduate.

I have ~d for a taxi to pick us up at 8:00 a.m.


Sentence Structure

Read Paras 4~10 and work in pairs to find out consequences of “my” virtual life. Use the “find oneself + adj./past participle/present participle” structure when summing up the consequences.

Models:

I find myself shyer, more cautious, more anxious.

I find myself sucked in by soap operas.

I find myself attacking everyone in sight.


Combining forms & prefixes:

cyber-

virtual

Net- (net-)

Web- (web-)

E- (e-)

网络的虚拟的网网电子的

Computer-related Vocabulary Items


a.Combining forms/prefixes + noun (The most common type):

netwriter ( 发送电子邮件的人 )

webmaster ( 网站维护者 ) web page ( 网页 )

website ( 网站 ) web TV ( 网络电视机 ) E-book ( 电子书籍 )

E-shopper ( 网上购物者 ) e-card ( 电子贺卡 ) e(-)mail ( 电子邮件 )

e-journal ( 电子杂志 ) e-business ( 电子商务 )

e-cash ( 电子货币 ) e-commerce ( 电子商务 )

virtual life ( 虚拟生活 )virtual reality ( 虚拟现实 )virtual world ( 虚拟世界 )virtual office ( 虚拟办公室 )virtual pet ( 虚拟宠物 )virtual community ( 虚拟社

区 )cyber-interaction ( 网络互

动 )cyberculture ( 网络文化 )cyberpet ( 电子宠物 ) cyberspace ( 网络空间 ) cybernut/ nethead ( 网虫 )


b. Combining forms/prefixes + verb:

cybersurf (网络漫游 )

netsurf (网络漫游 )

websurf (网络漫游 )

email (发送电子邮件 )

c. Words like cyber, net, etc. + suffix:

cyberian (cyber+ian 网络用户 )

cyberphobia (cyber+phobia 电脑恐惧 )

cybernaut (cyber+naut 网络用户 )

netter (net+er 网民 )

webify (web+fy 使万维网化 )

cyberize (cyber+ize 使联网 )


d. Clipped word （缩略词，截短词） :

cyberdoc (cyber+doctor 网络医生 ) Netcast (Net+broadcast 网络播放 ) Netiquette (Net+etiquette 网规 )Netizen (Net+citizen 网民 ) Netpreneur (Net+entrepreneur 网络企业 ) Webcam （ Web+camera 网络摄像机）Webcasting (Web+broadcasting 网络播放） Webliography （ Web+bibliogrpahy 网络书目 ) Webnomics (Web+economics 网络经济） Webzine (Web+magazine 网络杂志 ) e-tailing (electronic+retailing 电子零售 )e-zine (electronic+magazine 电子杂志 )


Word Completion

• Complete the words with the help of the definitions given.

s ______ become longer, wider, etc. e ______ having or seeming to have no end a ______ a strong feeling of dislike a ______ a particular way of considering an issue m _____ understand wrongly


r ______ depend confidently; put trust in

a ______ wrong or excessive use

r ______ bring back to a former condition

i ______ too bad to be endured


Useful Expressions

一周中的最好时光投稿有时对…感到厌恶社交方式缺乏自律网络交际面对穿着得体

a highlight of the week

submit articles

at times

feel an aversion to

forms of socializing

a lack of self-discipline

cyber-interaction

be confronted with

be dressed appropriately


坏脾气在此状态下日常事务依赖长期失业吸毒恢复平衡将…与…区分开面对面找借口

bad temper

in this state

daily routine

rely on

long-term unemployment

drug abuse

restore balance

set apart … from …

face to face

make an excuse


• Suppose your parents think you and your brother/sister are spending too much time on the Internet, neglecting your schoolwork and normal daily life, and isolating yourselves from the real world. You want to convince them that your time on the Internet is not wasted, and the Internet has in no way isolated you from the real world.

Mock Debate


Topic:

The Internet Will Isolate Us

From One Another


Text B Words and Phrases

1. on top of: 1) in addition to : ~ his financial problem, his wife left him.2) covering, above: The bike fell ~ me.3) very close to紧挨着 : We are ~ each other on the bus.4) in control of: I try to stay ~ things. 5) on top of the world: very happy and satisfied Everything was working smoothly and I felt ~.


2. to my knowledge: as far as I know

He has been there several times ~.

3. call forth:

The old song called forth my happy memories.


Writing Strategy — Inductive Generalization

(P.125)

What is induction?

Example


In developing a paragraph by means of the inductive generalization, the writer presents particular instances of a like kind and leads them into valid generalization which serves as his topic sentences. Thus, in the inductive pattern, the topic sentence is likely to appear late in the paragraph, often at the end. The result may be referred to as a periodic paragraph, which, like a periodic sentence, cannot be considered structurally complete at any point before the end.


Example

As an early-morning pastime, Susie, my tortoise-colored kitten, would frequent the utility room, swing open the small metal door on the gas heater, and peer at the mechanism inside. During the daytime her favorite toy was not the usual ball of the yarn, but a small musical top. And late at night, when there was sometimes a gentle tapping in the study next to my bedroom, the cause proved the same: in the darkness a soft little paw was playing feline rhythms on the key of my typewriter. For a kitten, Susie had an unusual interest in mechanical things.


1. What is the conclusion? 2. How does the author draw this conclusion? 3. Analyze Text A and explain how the author uses the technique of induction.

For a kitten, Susie had an unusual interest in mechanical things.

By three examples of the kitten’s interest.


Proverbs and Quotations

1. Lack of work brings a thousand diseases. 一闲生百病。 2. Time and tide wait for no man. 时光如流水，岁月不待人。3. Don’t burn the candle at both ends. 蜡烛不可两头点。（即：不要过度操劳。）4. People need to know one another to be at their honest best. --Bobbins Staca, British writer

人们需要相互了解才能达到最诚实的境界。 -- 英国作家 R. 斯达卡


5. When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard. --O. Henry, American novelist 一旦热爱自己的工作 , 什么奉献也不难。 -- 美国小说家欧 . 亨利6. No matter how strong you are, how notable your attainments, you have enduring significance only in your relationship to others. --Ziegler Edward, American writer 不管你有多么强大 , 你的成就多么辉煌 , 只有保持你与他人之间的关系 , 这一切才会有持久的意义。 -- 美国作家 Z. 爱德华


Writing Assignment

Write a composition entitled Internet － Two-edged Sword based on the following outline (no less than 150 words).

1) 因特网的功绩2) 因特网的弊端3) 你的看法


Thanks!

unit 4 the virtual world

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