新编英语教程 4

For your promising future

Unit Thirteen

Objectives 1. to try to figure out the nominal

clauses that are used in the passage.

2. to learn the basic features of an scientific essay

3. to master the usages of participles

Teaching Tasks and Process

I. Pre-reading questions

What do you know about the cloning technique?

Do you want to have a baby that has exactly copied your advantages?

II Background Information U.S. scientists say they have, for the first time, returned adult

mouse cells to their embryonic pluripotent state, meaning they can become any cell type. The University of California-San Francisco researchers said they used tiny molecules called microRNAs to reprogram the cells.

The achievement suggests scientists will soon be able to replace retroviruses and even genes currently used in laboratory experiments to induce pluripotency in adult cells. The researchers said that would make potential stem cell-based therapies safer by eliminating risks posed to humans by these DNA-based methods, including alteration of the genome and risk of cancer.

III Language points 1. A brief summary of the uses of the –ing participles as found in the

text 1) The –ing participle used as the subject of a sentence or a clause Examples: …cloning is a very inefficient procedure …cloning is suggested as a means of… Copying is also suggested as a means… … aging is reversed… What practical value whole-being cloning might have… human cloning could be used… (Note that in the last two examples the –ing participles are quali

fied by adjectives.)

2) The –ing participle used as the direct object of a verb

Examples: How would any of us find living wit

h ourselves? …that would prevent copying of ad

ults… but allow copying of infants?

3) The –ing participle used as the object of a verb phrase

Examples: how would a teenager copy with loo

king at me… and seeing the physical future…

4) The –ing participle used as the object of a preposition

Examples: in making a copy of oneself … whether aging is reversed during

cloning…

5) The –ing participle used as the object of a preposition which follows a noun

Examples: … the morality of artificially reproducing life (No

te that reproducing is modified by the adverb artificially).

the notion of applying such treatment to humans…

a means of bringing back a relative… … we do not know about the effects of cloning, e

specially in terms of aging.

6) The –ing participle used as an adjective

Examples: a balding, aging man grieving parents

2. A brief summary of the uses of the –ed participle as found in the text

1) The –ed participle used as an adjective which precedes the noun it qualifies

Examples: a “cloned” baby, the cloned child, cloned tw

ins the lost child an inherited defect these proposed uses of cloning

2) The –ed participle used as an adjective which follows the noun it qualifies

Examples: a child born naturally offspring produced by cloning a relative … killed tragically tissues needed to treat disorders animals produced by cloning

3. The use of comparison as found in the text 1) The incidence of death … is… roughly 10 times as high as

normal … …… 的死亡率比正常情况下的死亡率要高出约十倍。 When two things are compared, the word times is used after

a number to indicate how much bigger or smaller, heavier or lighter, better or worse, etc., one of them is than the other. Examples:

John’s reading speed is twice as fast as / twice faster than that of any of his classmates.

The pumpkins George grows are more than three times as big as / more than three times bigger than those grown by his neighbours.

2) The cloned child would be … physically … far more similar than a natural parent and child. 在身体外貌上克隆的孩子要比生身父子像得多。

Far is here used to modify the comparative adjective phrase more similar. Other intensifiers and adverbs such as much, a lot, even, etc. can also be used to modify comparative adjectives. Examples:

It’s far wetter in many parts of the Changjiang Basin in the summer of 1999 than in any other year.

Transportation in our city is now far more / a lot more convenient than before.

His explanation made the matter even more complicated than before.

4. … these failure rates surely render unthinkable the notion of applying such treatment to humans.

render—cause to become. This is a formal word. Examples:

The car accident rendered him disabled for life.

Her lame excuse rendered all of us speechless.

Tom tampered with the computer and rendered it useless.

5. The two clones would develop distinct personalities, just as twins develop unique identities.

distinct— clearly different in nature or quality. Examples:

Rats and mice are distinct animals. Rayon and nylon are distinct materials. unique—existing as the only of its kind; ha

ving no equal. Examples: He has a unique writing style.

6. Couples… might choose to have a copy of one of them…

choose—decide to do something because one wants to do so. Examples:

She chose to stay at school over the weekend rather than go home.

Do as you choose.

7. a parent is deliberately specifying the way he or she wishes that child to develop.

deliberately—on purpose; Intentionally. Examples: He avoided people deliberately after he was

once caught cheating in his exam. Some doctors tell lies to patients suffering from

cancer deliberately, thinking that they will live longer.

specify—state exactly; be specific about. Examples:

Can you specify the type of furniture you need for the new office?

It is specified in the want ad that all applicants for the job must know at least one foreign language.

8. These use cannot be justified now… justify—give a good reason for. Exam

ples: Do you think the slaughter of the eleph

ants in Kenya’s Tsavo Game Park was justified?

Could Edward Burton justify his offer of job to his namesake Lenny Burton?

9. cloning will have much to contribute to human medicine

contribute to — help in causing something to take place. Examples:

Perseverance and hard work contributed to Mary’s successful piano recital.

Advanced technology has contributed much to the modern way of life.

Discussion/Exercises Free discussion

People often argue the cloning technique can bring disastrous impact on the whole society. How do you think of this opinion?

Assignments Translation part in the workbook