Unit 4

Care of the Elderly

Unit One Text A:

1. Teaching Aims and Requirements

2. Teaching Focus

5. Abstract of the Text

4. Text organization

6. Text A study

7. Summary of Text A

3.Cultual Background

1. Teaching Aims and Requirements

1. Teaching Aims and Requirements

A.Grasp the main idea and structure of the text.B. Master the key language points and grammatical structure in the text.C. Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme if the unit.

2. Teaching Focus

Grammar Review:The present perfect tense

It shows actions or states that occurred at some time in the past but have some relevance to the present, and the present perfect continuous tense in that the former is more concerned with the result or effect of the past event in the present whereas the latter is concerned with the duration of that event into the present.

3. Cultural Background

The Aging of the World’s Population

Over the past few years, the world’s population has continued on its remarkable transition path from a state of high birth and death rates to one characterized by low birth and death rates. At the heart of that transition has been the growth in the number and proportion of older persons. Such a rapid, large and ubiquitous ( 普遍存在的 ) growth has never been seen in the history of civilization.

The current demographic ( 人口统计学的 ) revolution is predicted to continue well into the coming centuries. Its major features include the following: one out of every ten persons is now 60 years or above; by 2050, one out of five will be 60 years or older; and by 2150, one out of three persons will be 60 years or older. The aging population poses a serious challenge to the support for the elderly, social security, social welfare and services. The potential socioeconomic impact on society that may result from an increasing old-age dependency ratio is an area of growing research and public debate.

3. Cultural Background

4. Text Organization: P. 16

After reading each part, we’ll sum up the main idea.

Parts Paragraphs Main Ideas

1

2

3

1

2~8

9~16

GG slowly began to fade after grandfather’s death.

GG recalled her childhood experience.

Meagan and her mother managed to produce a close copy of the doll to GG as a Christmas present.

5. Abstract of the Text

Have you ever done anything special for your grandmother or your great-grandmother out of your love for her? Would you take pains to make a doll for her so that she can refresh her fond childhood memories? Here is such a story about a loving great-granddaughter who makes extra efforts to let her great-grandmother feel that she is loved.

A Doll for Great-Grandmother

Unit Four Book One

Text A

Paragraph 1:

When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family (two children, eight grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren). Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.

Why did Grandmother begin to fade after Grandfather’s death? What’s the implied meaning of the sentence?(= Her husband, her lifetime companion, had been a very important person in her life. When her love was gone, gone also was her vitality in life.)

Paraphrase this sentence.(= Though she was better on some days than others, she was usually no longer interested in the things around her.)

GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost reverent tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, trimmed with fine lace. But what I especially remember was her petticoat. It was fine linen, trimmed with rows and rows of delicate lace.

Paragraph 5:

Why did GG’s voice drop low? What can we infer from the sentence?(= The doll she once had was an important part in her life and it was a symbol of many things: respect, admiration, and love, etc. That’s why when GG talked about it, her tone was full of respect.)

A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia. Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.

Paragraph 8:

Paraphrase this sentence.(= When GG thought back that Christmas in her childhood, her eyes were filled with tears and she was about to cry.)

Subdued for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get GG a new doll for Christmas, one exactly like the doll that got broken. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”

Paragraph 8:

How to use the structure “no sooner … than …”?(= This structure means the second thing happens immediately after the first thing. When “no sooner” appears at the beginning of a sentence, the word order of the sentence is inverted: No sooner was Meagan in the car going home than she exclaimed, … )Translate this sentence into Chinese.(= 米根郁郁寡欢地度过了剩下的几天，我们该回家了。一上车她就叫道：…… )

My heart filled with pride as I listened to my compassionate little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond memories?

What is the implied meaning of this sentence?(= Maybe it was very difficult, almost impossible for us to find a doll that could match the one in GG’s fond memories.)

Paragraph 9:

Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local dollmaker who made doll heads, hands and feet of a ceramic that closely resembled the old porcelain ones. From her I commissioned a doll head in the style of three-quarters of a century ago — making sure to specify “big blue eyes that opened and closed,” and hands and feet. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown wig and a kidskin body, and Meagan and I shopped for fabric, lace and ribbon to duplicate the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and as the last days before Christmas raced by, Chris helped me make the doll’s outfit, complete with lacy petticoat. And while Liz, Chris and I searched for doll “boots with real buttons,” Meagan wrote and illustrated the story of the lost doll.

Paragraph 9:

我委托她定做了洋娃娃的头部，按照七十五年前的式样，还特别强调要“蓝色的大眼睛能眨巴眨巴”，也定做了手和脚。

Finally, our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But, of course, there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?

Paragraph 9:

What can we infer from this sentence?(= Even though we made great efforts, it is impossible for us to copy the same doll as GG once had.)

And perhaps she wasn’t saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.

Paragraph 9:

虽然看起来不可能完全一样，但我们毕竟做了一个她记忆中近似的复制品。

1. fade: v. 1) (cause to) lose brightness, colour, strength, freshness, or

vigor * Beauty fades like a flower. (= 红颜易逝。 ) * 她的身体在迅速地衰弱。 (= She is fading fast.)

2) disappear gradually (from sight, hearing, memory, etc.) * 她已经忘记儿时的事情。 (= All memory of her childhood faded from her mind.) * The sound of the cheering faded away in the distance.

Words and Expressions:

Words and Expressions: 2. move in: take possession of a new home * You must come and see our new house whe

n we’ve moved in. * We moved out on Monday and the new tena

nts moved in on Tuesday.

Collocation: move in 搬进 move out 搬出

3. arouse: vt. 1) wake sb. from sleep * Aroused from a deep sleep, he was rather short-tempe

red. * 他午睡时被门铃吵醒。 (= He was aroused from his nap by the doorbell.) 2) cause sb. to become active * Of all the planets, Mars always arouses the greatest cu

riosity.

Collocation: arouse one’s enthusiasm 激起某人的积极性 arouse one’s interest 引起某人兴趣 arouse one’s suspicion 令人生疑 arouse public wrath 动起公愤

CF: arouse, awake, wake & waken

arouse 除表示一般的唤醒外，多作引申用。 awake 是正式用词，常指觉醒、警惕的状态，多作不及物动词，多用于

比喻，可用作表语形容词。 wake 是普通常用词，指真正的醒来，多作不及物动词。 waken 是书面用词，多作及物动词，常用于被动态和引申意义。

1) You must _______ to the fact that failure will mean disgrace. 2) My mother _______ me from sleep. 3) He ________ up with a start when the door slammed. 4) We were _______ by a loud bang. 5) Is he _______ or asleep? 6) It’s time you _______ up to the fact that you’re not popular.

Awake, aroused, woke, wakened, awake, woke

4. miracle: n. a wonderful unexpected event; remarkable example or specimen

* The launch of manned spacecraft Shenzhou Ⅴ is a miracle of modern technology.

* 她性命得救简直是个奇迹。 (= That her life was saved was a miracle.)

Derivative: miraculous adj. * It’s miraculous how much weight you’ve lost! * He made a miraculous recovery from his illness.

5. sacrifice: 1) n. offering of sth. valuable to a god; giving up of sth. * 她父母为她上大学在多方面做出了牺牲。 (= Her parents made many sacrifices so that she could g

o to university.)

2) v. offer sth. to a god; give up sth. important for a particular purpose

* He sacrificed his life to save a drowning child. * Do you approve of sacrificing comfort to appearance? (= 你赞成只要风度不要舒适吗？ )

6. recall: 1) vt. ① summon back; order sb. to return to a particular place * The government recalled its ambassador when war was declared. ② bring back to the mind; remember * Can you recall your school days? 我不记得见过她。 (= I don’t recall meeting her.) 2) n. ① the act of summoning back * The recall of the general from abroad caused a scandal. ② the ability to remember 我的记忆力已大不如前。 (= My powers of recall are not what they were.)

Pattern: recall sb./ sth. (from … to …) recall doing sth. recall that … recall where, how, why, etc.

CF: memorize, remember, recall & remind

memorize 指有意识地下功夫把某事的整个细节都记在脑子里。 remember 含义较广，多指无意识地回忆起往事，也可指通过主观努

力去记忆。 recall 比 remember 文雅，指想方设法回忆已经遗忘之事。 remind 用作及物动词，表示“提醒，使想起”。

1) The film _______ him of what he had seen in Germany. 2) He _______ every detail of that occurrence as though it hap

pened yesterday. 3) An actor must be able to ________ his lines. 4) Please _______ me to write to Dave. 5) He _______ his last evening with his fiancée whenever he fel

t depressed. Reminded, remembers, memorize, remind, recalled

7. crash: 1) v. fall or strike suddenly, violently, and noisily * The plates crashed to the floor. * The lightning flashed and thunder crashed. (= 电光一闪，雷声隆隆。 )

2) n. violent fall, blow or breaking * The tree fell with a great crash. * All the passengers were injured in the car crash. * The great financial crash in 1929 ruined international t

rade.

8. smash: v. (cause to) break into pieces violently and noisily; rush into; defeat

* The wave smashed on to the beach. * The lock was rusty, so we had to smash the door open.

CF: break, crack, crush & smash break 是常用词，含义广泛，多指猛然用力将坚硬物打破或损坏。 * He has broken the glass into pieces. 他把玻璃杯摔碎了。 crack 多指因长期使用或经受压力，物体表面呈现裂纹、裂口或破裂、

裂开，但一般没成碎片。 * The tree cracked loudly and fell. 那棵树发出咔的一声巨响断裂倒

下了。 crush 表示从外面往里或从上往下压，使其成为碎片或碎块。 * This machine crushes wheat grain to make flour. 这台机器把麦

粒碾成面粉。 smash 指突然而猛烈地重击某物，使之破碎或完全变形。有时指感情

受到打击。 * He smashed the headlights of the car when he hit another car.

他撞上了另一辆车，把车前灯撞得粉碎。

9. spill: v. (cause to) run or fall accidentally, esp. over the edge of a container; overflow

* Some of the wine spilled on to the floor.

他撞翻了水桶，水全流出去了。 (= He knocked the bucket over and all t

he water spilt out.) * Who spilled the news? (= 是谁把这个消息捅出去的？ )

10. subdue: vt. bring under control; calm * Neither riches nor honours can corrupt him; neither p

overty nor humbleness can make him swerve from principle; and neither threats nor forces can subdue him.

(= 富贵不能淫 , 贫贱不能移 , 威武不能屈。 )

subdued: adj. unnaturally or unusually quiet in behaviour

* I felt strongly subdued as I drove home. * 听说考试不及格，嘉莉情绪低落地回到寝室。 (= Carrie returned to her dormitory with a subdued hea

rt when she heard she had failed in the exam.)

11. exclaim: v. speak or say loudly and suddenly, because of surprise or other strong feelings

* The evil stepmother of Snow White looked in the mirror, exclaiming in dismay at her appearance.

* He exclaimed that it was untrue. * He could not help exclaiming at

how much his son has grown.

CF: cry, shout, exclaim & scream 这些动词的共同含义是“喊”或“叫”。 cry 一般指因恐惧、痛苦、惊奇等而喊叫。 shout 指有意识地高声喊叫，常用于提出警告、发出命令或唤起注意

等。 exclaim 多指因高兴、愤怒、痛苦、惊讶等突发感情而高声喊叫。 scream 指因恐惧、快乐或痛苦而发出尖叫声。 Directions: Fill in the blanks with the words above. Change th

e form where necessary. 1) The police _______ out a warning. 2) A baby can _______ as soon as it is born. 3) Mary was ________ hysterically. 4) She _______ her heart out when she heard of her friend’s

death. 5) The newspaper _______ against the government’s action. Shouted, cry, screaming, cried, exclaimed

12. in/out of touch (with): in/not in communication (with); having/not having information about

* I’ll be in touch again towards the end of the week.

* I try to keep in touch with latest events by reading newspapers.

一定要尽早联系。 (= Do get in touch soon.)

13. resemble: vt. look like or be like * Many college graduates discover that socie

ty does not at all resemble the way it is in their imagination.

* Leo Tolstoy once said all happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

她和她母亲长得非常像。 (= She resembles her mother in looks.) Pattern: resemble sb./sth. (in sth.)

14. commission: vt. place a special order for, or appoint someone to do sth.

* My father commissioned a real estate agent to sell our house.

* He is commissioned to negotiate with the terrorists.

* 他请人制作他妻子的雕像。 (= He commissioned a statue of his wif

e.)

15. make sure of sth./that: take action so that something will certainly happen

* There aren’t many seats left for the solo concert; you’d better make sure of one.

* I’ll just make sure that the car has been locked.

* I think he has to go to the doctor to make sure it is not infected.

* 千万查看一下是否所有的门都锁好了。 (= Make doubly sure that all the doors are loc

ked.)

16. duplicate: 1) vt. copy exactly; repeat * I’ll get these notes typed up and duplicated. * This research merely duplicates work already done elsewher

e. * 有人说，用不了多久，电脑将不仅能复制人脑，而且还远远胜过人

脑。 (= Some say in a very short time, computers may not only dupl

icate the human brain, but far surpass it.)

2) n. copy * Is this a duplicate or the original? * The secretary was asked to prepare the contract in duplicate. * If you’ve lost your key, I can give you a duplicate.

3) adj. identical; doubled * a duplicate set of keys (= 完全相同的一套钥匙 ) * a duplicate receipt/form (= 双联式收据 / 表格 )

17. volunteer: 1) v. give or offer (one’s services or help) will

ingly or without being paid * Many people volunteer to fund the establish

ment of Hope Primary Schools and enable dropouts to return to classrooms.

* She volunteered (her services) for relief work.

她自愿提供经济资助。 (= She volunteered financial support.) Pattern: volunteer sth. volunteer to do sth. volunteer (sb.) for sth.

2) n. person who offers to do sth. without being compelled or paid

* Princess Diana’s special satisfaction came from volunteer work.

* One volunteer is worth two pressed men. Collocation: an aid-the-poor volunteer 扶贫志愿者 volunteer labour 义务劳动 volunteer service 义务服务

18. illustrate: vt. 1) supply a book, article, lecture, etc. with pictures * He donated 5,000 well-illustrated textbooks to dropou

ts. 2) explain by examples, pictures, etc.; serve as an exam

ple * Aesop’s fables illustrate moral maxims. * Olympic Games illustrate what high standards our pla

yers must achieve. 为了阐明我的观点，我做了对比分析。 (= To illustrate my point I have done a comparative anal

ysis.)

19. go with: be gained with or included with esp. as a result; match or suit

* Disease often goes with poverty. * We must go with the times/tide. 幸福未必总是伴随金钱而来。 (= Happiness doesn’t always go with

money.) * These new curtains don’t go well wi

th your carpet.

20. get through (with): (manage to) do or complete sth.

* He has got through all his fortune. * As soon as I get through with my work, I’ll

join you. * She can get through a greater amount of w

ork with less expenditure of energy. 今天我处理了一大批信件。 (= I’ve got through a lot of correspondence

today.)

21. crack: v. (of the voice) become harsh; break without complete separation of parts; hit sharply

* Thunder cracked and rumbled. * I dropped a plate and cracked it. * We must, according to law, crack down on all kinds of

crimes and social evils such as gambling, drug abuse and illegal trafficking ( 非法交易 ).

他从窗户跌出去，手臂有一处骨裂。 (= He fell out of the window and cracked a bone in his ar

m.) * A cracked bell can never sound well. (= 破钟无好音。 / 狗嘴里吐不出象牙。 )

22. take over: gain control over and responsibility for (sth.)

* After his father retired, Tom took over the family business.

* Was it in 1948 that the Government took over the railways in Great Britain?

* 比尔退休时将由彼得接任总经理一职。 (= Peter will take over as general manager w

hen Bill retires.) * Would you like me to take over the driving f

or a while?

23. leave off sth./doing sth.: stop (doing) something; give up

* It’s time to leave off work. * I wish you’d leave off whistling like t

hat. * I didn’t leave off work until ten o’cl

ock last night. 请停止打麻将，读书吧。 (= Leave off playing mahjong and stud

y.)

24. cradle: 1) n. a small bed for a newborn baby; the place where st

h. begins * The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. * The Yangtze River Valley is another cradle of Chinese c

ivilization running parallel to, if not earlier than, the Yellow River Valley.

* from the cradle to the grave (= 从生到死 ) 2) vt. hold gently as if in a cradle * She cradled the baby in her arms. * He was cradled in luxury. * She had been cradled a child of fortune in the house of

her uncle.

25. inspire: vt. 1) put uplifting thoughts, feelings or aims into * The trainer inspired the team to even greater efforts. 他激起了所有同事的信心。 (= He inspired confidence in everyone he works with.) 2) fill with creative power * The beautiful scenery inspired Li Bai to write his greatest po

etry. * He inspired his students with a vision of freedom. * His passion for romantic literature inspired him to begin writ

ing.

Pattern: inspire sb. to sth. inspire sb. to do sth. inspire sth. in sb. inspire sb. with sth.

7. Summary of Text A