Unit 8 Cloning

1. Unit 8 Cloning Text A A clone is Born

2. Objectives • understand the main idea and structure of the text; • Appreciate the writing strategies employed by the author; • 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.

3. Before reading • What would you associate with cloning? • Background informatiion: clone • Listening: interview eith Prof. Greely

4. Global reading • What does the first 2 paragraphs tell us? What tense has been used here? • What have you learned in the 4th paragraph? • What is the function of the 5th paragraph in whole text? Can you find anything about Dolly in the following paragraphs? • Why the text is entitled “A Clone is Born?” • Is the text about the cloning of the frist sheep or something else? • Read the last paragraph of the text and try to guess the author’s general attitude towards cloning.

5. Detailed Reading • Ls 32-33: “But there was nothing exceptional about sheep?” What does it imply? • What is the purpose of using the stories of Narcissus and Prometheus in para.7? • What is the message the poem in para.8 carries? • How to understand the sentence from line 65 to line 68: “Is it one thing --- but better?”

6. Detailed Reading • What does the old joke at the end of para.8 indicate? • What are the privileges and limitations of life (L.75)? • Why there are so many questions in the middle of the text in para.7, para.8, and para.9? • What does Oppenheimer’s story suggest?

7. While Reading • Main Idea of the text? • Structure of the text?

8. After Reading • Write: Write a report after a survey among the class about whether people want to be cloned in about 200 words--- interview at least 10 classmates to find out if they would like to be cloned and why; --- write an introduction of the report; --- analyze the results of the survey, --- form a general conclusion about the survey.

9. After Reading Text analysis • This is a piece of journalistic writing like Text a unit 7. What important role do beginning paragraphs play in journalistic writing? --- an eye-catching introduction and objectivity.

10. After Reading • Why didn’t the author start from the very beginning of cloning research, but start with the birth of Dolly? --- the text starts with the birth of Dolly, because it is a critical point in cloning research. Reader interest is further aroused by the low-key tone. Why no excitement, why no champagne, why were few people around? Readers are then ready to be told an objective account about human cloning.

11. After Reading --- The “father” of Dolly is level-headed about his achievement, so is the author. She quotes Wilmut and Oppenheimer to show how science can be a double-edged sword. Before listing the many benefits of human cloning , she first identifies the ethical problems involved. --- In her article she asks many questions, to which she gives no answer. If she said that there were definite answers, she would not be objective.

12. After Reading --- author of Text A is a science reporter . Compared with text A, Unit 7, the word choice is more elaborate; sentences and paragraphs grow longer and more complex. After all, this is about science and ethnics.

13. After Reading • Words and expressions 1. More immigrants were admitted to the U.S. for permanent __ in recent years. 2. The extraordinary experience __ his latest novel. 3. In her richest works, she fuses comedy with tragedy. 4. An examination of two fossils reveals that a __ human species had arrived in Asia from about 2 million years ago.

14. After Reading 5. The DNA is divided into units called __, just like a long train is divided into separate cars. 6. The two countries continued to have difficulties reaching a __ on a solution to the problem of acid rain. 7. Smog, a __ of smoke and fog, irritates the eyes, throat, and lungs and also damages plants.

15. After Reading 8. Mum had done most of the cooking __, so we weren’t tied to the kitchen. 9. Labor __ bargained with employers to determine issues such as wages, conditions of work, and worker security. 10. They __ wanting a house, but eventually bought a flat.

16. After Reading 11. There has been no __ so far from police about the bomb attack happening yesterday. 12. Users outside the library can access millions of bibliographic records, including the entire card __, through the internet. 13. Aristotle defined the basic concepts and principles of many of the __ sciences, such as logic, biology and physics.

17. After Reading 14. I felt __ as if I was still a child. 15. My father __ my wish to become a musician. 16. The government has __ with its critics over monetary policies. 17. We are utterly __ any form of terrorism.

18. After Reading 18. Hebrew is an __ language that became extinct, but has now been brought back to life and is spoken today. 19. The school authorities have laid down a great __ of rules and regulations. 20. The Hubble telescope is __ new device that allows us to peer far more deeply into the heavens.

19. After Reading 21. Science museums stimulate __ and allow people to learn at their own pace. 22. The sky was __ with stars. 23. Thomas Edison is considered a __ of invention. 24. The journalist David Rorvik wrote a true story of a billionaire’s quest to produce a son __ to himself.

20. After Reading 25. My brother seems t be __ to colds – he just never gets them. 26. Although all humans share the same set of genes, individuals can __ different forms of a given gene, making each person genetically unique. 27. In the great melting pot like New York city cultures are __ and traditions lost.

21. After Reading 28. The document did not appear to contain any __ statements. 29. The best single indicator of a state’s great-power __ may be its total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 30. The gunman’s threats __ her into handing over the money. 31. Teachers will not __ cheating on exams, just as parents will not let their children lie and get away with it. 32. To repair injuries such as burns, skin is sometimes __ from one area of the body to another.

22. After Reading 33. With the construction of the highways, the village is __ a town. 34. I believe that __ the idea of cloning humans is far less terrifying for a person to use his or her own genetic material to create an identical twin than to use an atomic bomb to kill people. 35. He __ at them with his fists. 36. Don’t __ that dog __in the yard, as it will terrify the kids. 37. As the crowd grew, riot police __ their positions.

23. Key (residence, gave birth to, primitive, genes, compromise, mixture, beforehand, unions, started out, comments, catalog, theoretical, for all the world, opposed, compromised, opposed to, ancient, batch, brilliant, curiosity, dotted, genius, identical, immune, inherit, merged, offensive, potential, terrified, tolerate, transplanted, growing into, in principle, lashed out, let --- loose, took up)