6Life beyond Earth.docx

6Life beyond Earth.docx

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6LifebeyondEarth

LessonSixLifebeyondEarth

Objectives:

Toenablethestudents

1）Toenlargetheirknowledgeabouttheuniverse,andthegalaxyaswellasthevocabularyrelatedtoastronomy.

2）Tonotethewritingskillsofparagraphtransition,touchesofhumor,andheavyrelianceofsubjunctivemood、modalverbs、vocabularyexpressinglessassertiveaffirmations.

3）Togetmoreinvolvedintheprotectionoftheearthandifpossiblefostertheirloveinastronomy

TimeAllotment:

Theteachingplanwillbecarriedoutwithin10periods.

BackgroundInformation

AbouttheAuthor

JoelAchenbach:

WashingtonPoststaffreporter.NationalPublicRadio（NPR）commentatorandauthorofCapturedbyAliens;formerwriterforMiamiHerald;writerofthreecolumnsaweekforWashingtonpost.Com.Hewroteasyndicatedcolumnfor7yearscalledWhyThingsAre.

OrganizationoftheText:

1）Paras1—2theemergenceoflife2Para3（transition）whatelseisaliveoutthere?

1.Paras4—10searchforlife4）Paras11—23searchforintelligence

5）Paras24—42Mars6）Paras43—45Allen’sargument

1）Paras46—52conclusion

DetailedStudyoftheText

PartIParas1—3introducethequestion:

Istherelifeoutthere/beyondearth?

Para11.S1theauthorisannouncinganimportantevent.Suchanannouncementwouldimmediatelyarousereaders’curiosity.Whatisthisastonishingthing?

Thefollowingsentencegivestheanswer.

2.Qualitativelydifferentfrom----:

differentfromthemasaresultofevolution.Inwhatwayis“life”differentfromrocks,gas,---?

Lifeisalivingthingwhilerockisinorganicmatter.

3.Whatislife?

（Paras1-2）Doestheword“life”meanthesamethingthroughoutthearticle?

No.1）LifeonEarth2）lifebeyondEarth（alienlife）,alienlifeorextraterrestriallife

Para21.S1Itisnotdifficultforyoutodetect/findlife,butwhenyoutrytodefineit,itisdifficulttogiveadefinition,awholecompleteexplanation.Togiveacomplete/cleardefinitionisdifficult.

Itisnotdifficulttodeterminewhetherathinghasalifeornot,butwhenitcomestogive“life”aclearandexactdefinition,peoplefinditextremelydifficult.

2.Notoriously:

（anegativeword）unfavorablywell-known.Itistoodifficulttodefineit,sothisnegativewordisused.E.g.notoriouslynaughty出了名的淘气不能用famous

3.Lifeadapts:

Lifechangesitselftobefitforthespecificsituation（AccordingtoDarlvin’sEvolutionTheory,onlythefittestcansurvive.）

4.LsWhatsortoflifecanbecomeself-aware?

Onlyhumanlifecanbeconsciousofitsownidentity.Thatisbecauseonlyhumanbeingcanthink.Soherelifemeanshumanlife.

Whydoestheauthorsay“inatleastoneinstance”?

Sofarweonlyknowoftheoneparticularcaseofhumanlife.But,maybethereislifeelsewhereintheuniverse.So“atleast”isusedhere.

Para3.TransitionPara,leadingtolifebeyondearth.

Whatelseisaliveoutthere?

Istheresth.similartohumanlifeinotherpartsoftheuniverse?

Outtheremeansinspacebeyondtheearth.

PartIIparas4—7Therearemanysuppositionsthattheremustbelifeoutthere.

Para41.S1:

Attheturnofthenewmillennium（thatis,betweentheendofthe20thcenturyandthebeginningofthe21stcentury）,onemaynotfindanythingwhichisscientificallyunknowntohumanbeingssointriguingandyetsodifficulttoanswerastheissueofextraterrestriallife.

Tantalize:

Toexcite（another）byexposingsomethingdesirablewhilekeepingitoutofreach.

2.S2Extraterrestriallifemeansthat,innature,thereareagreatnumberofthingsthatwedon’tknow.

Gap:

sth.Wedon’tknow.

3.S3WiththehelpofadvancedtechnologysuchasHubbleSpaceTelescopescientistshavediscoveredaverylargeamountofcosmicmaterialandyettheyhavenotdiscoveredanylifeonanyotherplanet.

Bewildering:

confusedhopelesslybysth.Complicated.Hereitimpliesthatmanyofthethingsintheuniversehaveturfwhichobscuresyourview.Youcan’tseeevenwithHubbleSpaceTelescope.//Turfsurroundsthesethings;youcan’tfind/seewhattheyare.Soyoufeelbewildered.

Onlyasingleinhabitedworld:

onlythisworld（ourworld）isinhabitedbyhumanbeingsandotherlivingthings.

Para51.Supposition:

assumption;sth.regardedastruewithoutactualknowledge.

Scenario:

Anoutlineoramodelofanexpectedorasupposedsequenceofevents:

2.S2ThelateastronomerCarlSaganestimatedthat---inourgalaxyalone:

CarlSagan,theastronomer,whoisnowdead,predictedthatthereareamillionsocietieswithadvancedtechnologyinourgalaxy,withouttakingintoaccountothergalaxy.

CarlSagan（1934—19960）:

DirectoroftheLaboratoryforPlanetary（行星的）StudiesatCornellUniversity.PulitzerPrizeWinner1978.Hehascontributedtomostoftheunmannedmissions（aerospaceoperation太空行动）thatexploredthesolarsystem.

3.FrankDrake（1930---）:

Chairman.BoardofPhysicsandAstronomy,NationalResearchCouncil,1989—1992.

4.Ls---whothinkswemaywellbealoneinthisgalaxyifnotintheuniverse:

whothinksthatmostprobablywearetheonlylifeforminthisgalaxy,eventhoughwemaynotbeabletosaywearetheonlyoneintheuniverse.Evenifwearenotthesingleoneintheuniverse,wemaywellbealoneinthisgalaxy.

BenZuckerman:

professoratUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles;authorofTheOriginandEvolutionoftheUniverse;Extraterrestrials,WhereArethey?

Skeptic:

Onewhoinstinctivelyorhabituallydoubts,questions,ordisagreeswithassertionsorgenerallyacceptedconclusions.

Para61.Speculative:

basedonreasoningorspeculation（aguesswithoutfoundation）.Theoretical,notpractical猜测性的，推测的

2.Absenceofevidenceisnotevidenceofabsence:

absenceofevidencedoesnotmeanwedon’thaveproof.ThefactthatwedonnothaveevidenceshowingthereislifebeyondEarthdoesnotmeanthatwecancometotheconclusionthatthereisactuallynolifebeyondEarth.（payattentiontothewaytheideaisorganized.Chiasmus:

inversionofthesecondoftwoparallelphrases,clauses,etc.）

3.Butstillwedonothaveanysolidknowledgeaboutasinglealienmicrobe,muchlessapassingalienstarship:

“But”linksthissentencewiththepreviousone.Themeaningis:

inspiteofthefactthatwecannotprovethereisnolifebeyondEarth,westilldonothaveevidencetoprovethereis.Sofarwedonotknowfirmlythatthereexistsasinglemicrobeinanotherworld,tosaynothingofastarshipcomingfromanotherworldintheuniversepassingtheEarth.

Alien:

belongingtoanotherworld

Microbe:

Aminutelifeform,especiallyabacteriumthatcausesdisease.（notintechnicaluse.）

Para71.plausibilityn.plausibleadj.thatseems/appearsreasonable/convincing,butnottrue

Plausibilityargument:

argument/reasonthatappears/seemsconvincing,butnotactuallytrue.

Hunch:

ideabasedonintuitionorinstinct,notonevidence.基于直觉的想法

Randomought-to-bes:

possiblethingswhicharechosenwithoutspecificaim

2.Wedon’tknow---wedonotknow---:

Wedonotknowifthislifedependsonwaterinliquidformforexistenceorifitlivesinthewaterlikefishorintheairlikebirdsorundertheearthlikegophers囊地鼠.

Thelasttwosentencesarequestionsraisedonthebasisofwhatweknowaboutlifeonearth.Inotherwords,thequestioniswhetherithasthesameelementsordevelopsinthesamewayaslifeonearth.

Medium:

surroundingsinwhichsth.Existsormoves.Sth.asakindofmattertoserveasin-between.

Para8transitionalpara,movingfromspeculationtonamingthefieldofresearch

Whatisthecontrastinvolvedasintroducedby“despite”?

Whatismeantby“theenvelopingnebulaofuncertainty”?

Thecontrastis:

thoughthereisalotofuncertainties,scientistswillnotgiveuptheireffortsatscientificinquiry.Theenvelopingnebulaofuncertaintyintroducestwoideas:

thefirstisthecloudofgasanddustobscurethings;thesecond,asaresult,itisunclearwhathasbeenwrappedupinthecloudofgasanddust,whatisinsidetheenvelopingnebula.

Nebula:

Adiffusemassofinterstellardustorgasorboth,visibleasluminouspatchesorareasofdarknessdependingonthewaythemassabsorbsorreflectsincidentradiation.

Exobiologyn.Thebranchofbiologythatdealswiththesearchforextraterrestriallifeandtheeffectsofextraterrestrialsurroundingsonlivingorganisms.

Para91.NASA:

NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration（美国宇航局）,setupin1958.ItwasformedbecausetheformerSovietUnionlaunchedtwoSputniksin1957,thusgeneratingoutcryintheUnitedStatesaboutlaggingbehindinspacecompetitionwiththeSovietUnion.OneoftheachievementsofNASAwastheApollo11（太阳神十一号,实现人类首次登陆月球,由美国宇航员驾驶的宇宙飞船）missionin1969,puttinghumansonthelunarsurface.Inthe1980s,NASAlaunchedtheSpaceShuttle（（往返于地球和太空站之间运载人和物资的）航天飞机）programthatcontinuestodaytohelpbuildtheInternationalSpaceStation.

Examiningthemforatmosphericsignaturesofalivingworld:

examiningtheseplanetstosee/studyifthesurroundingatmospherecanbeidentifiedasfittingforlife/suitableforlivingthings.

2.Inthepastdecadesorganismshavebeenfoundthrivingonourplanetinbizarre,hostileenvironment:

Whathasthisdiscoverytodowiththesearchforextraterrestriallife?

Iforganismscouldthriveinconditionsinthisworldsimilartohostileconditionsinotherplanets,thenthepossibilityoftheexistenceofalienlifeincreases.

Bizarre,hostileenvironment:

environmentthatisentirelynotsuitableforlivingthings/existinglife.E.g.Marsisnotsuitableforlife.

3.Ls.ThentheywouldnotfindMarsaplacesounsuitableforexistence;inotherwords,ifmicrobescansurviveinplacesinthisworldwithoutairorsunlightorinplacesextremelyhot,thentheymightexistinot