UNIT 24 RADIO PROGRAMS ( Ⅳ ) Lesson 47 PartⅠ

UNIT 24 RADIO PROGRAMS (Ⅳ)

Lesson  47

PartⅠWarming-up Exercises

Spot Dictation: Successful Predictions

Training Focus:

Dictation is a widely used technique in language skill training. It is also an effective way to test the students' listening comprehension.

Unlike the type of dictation which requires the students to write down everything they hear, spot dictation only asks them to supply the missing words in the given printed material when they spot these words in listening. So dictation of this kind saves time. Since the words arc usually taken out at regular intervals, spot dictation also challenges the students to think more because it constantly requires them not only to write, but to guess, to adjust and to anticipate.

This book offers the students some spot dictation exercises in which every seventh word in the given material is taken out.

Directions: You are going to listen to a passage. Some words on the printed passage have been taken out. Listen carefully. Fill in the blanks with the words you hear on the tape.

Key:

In 1865 the famous French author Jules Verne wrote two books. One was entitled “From the Earth to the Moon” and the other “Around the Moon.” In these books he described man landing on the moon.

In 1969 man actually did land on the moon. Many of the details of the real moon landing had been described with amazing accuracy in Jules Verne's books.

Here are three of the similarities. First, Jules Verne's spaceship carried three men. Apollo 11 carried three men. Second, Verne's spaceship had a beginning speed of 36,000 feet per second. Apollo's beginning speed was 35,533 feet per second. And last, Verne's spaceship took 97 hours, 13 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the moon. Apollo took 103 hours and 30 minutes.

The door of Apollo 11 opened at 10:56 p.m. on July 20, 1969 and a man stepped out onto the surface of the moon. Jules Verne had predicted it with great accuracy over 104 years earlier.

Lesson 47 PartⅡ

Lesson  47

Ex.Ⅰ

Directions: Complete the sentences with what you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex.Ⅱ

Directions: Answer the questions according to the information you hear from the news.

1. What are American Space Agency officials doing?

2. When will the spacecraft be launched if all goes as planned?

3. How many astronauts will the spacecraft carry?

4. What is the name of America's first woman astronaut?

5. How long is the flight expected to last?

6. What will the Voice of America begin to do at eleven hours G.M.T. Saturday?

Key: (see tapescript)

Tapescript:

News  (1′31″)

News Item 1

American Space Agency officials say the new space shuttle Challenger will be ready for its next flight in only sixty days. The Challenger landed Saturday in California after a successful five-day flight. Space officials said preparations for the next flight must be done quickly because of the two-month delay before the shuttle's first flight. Engine problems caused the delay of the space flight. But officials say Challenger worked very well during last week's flight.

News Item 2

Space News

American Space Agency officials are continuing preparations for Saturday's launch of the space shuttle Challenger. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, about eleven hours thirty Greenwich mean time. This is Challenger's second flight in space. It will carry five astronauts, including America's first woman astronaut Sally Ride. The flight is expected to last six days. The Voice of America will broadcast the space shuttle's launch beginning at eleven hours G.M.T. Saturday.

Lesson 47 Part Ⅲ

Lesson  47

Ex.Ⅰ

Directions: Complete this part of the résumé according to the information you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex.Ⅱ

Directions: Answer the questions according to what you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Tapescript:

An Outstanding Character  (1′27″)

Benjamin Franklin (Ⅰ)

Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. His mother and father were of Puritan religion. They left England and moved to the English colony of Massachusetts in order to escape persecution for their religion. In Boston, Franklin left school when he was ten years old and worked for his father for two years. Then he went to work on his brother's newspaper. He became the editor of this paper when he was sixteen. Because he wanted to be independent, he went to Philadelphia. There he bought his own newspaper. He worked hard and saved his money. And by the age of 24 he was one of the most successful men in Philadelphia.

In 1732 Franklin published a book POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC. Most almanacs contained information for farmers, such as information about the days and weeks of the year and about the weather. To his almanac, Franklin added wise sayings, his observations about life. Some of these sayings are still famous today. For example, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” and “Waste not, want not,” and “A penny saved is a penny earned.”