新编英语教程4
For your promising future
Unit Thirteen
Objectives
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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
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I. Pre-reading questions
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What do you know about the cloning
technique?
Do you want to have a baby that has
exactly copied your advantages?
II Background Information
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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
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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
qualified by adjectives.)
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2) The –ing participle used as the direct
object of a verb
Examples:
How would any of us find living
with ourselves?
…that would prevent copying of
adults… but allow copying of infants?
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3) The –ing participle used as the
object of a verb phrase
Examples:
how would a teenager copy with
looking at me… and seeing the physical
future…
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4) The –ing participle used as the
object of a preposition
Examples:
in making a copy of oneself
… whether aging is reversed during
cloning…
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5) The –ing participle used as the object of a
preposition which follows a noun
Examples:
… the morality of artificially reproducing life
(Note 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,
especially in terms of aging.
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6) The –ing participle used as an
adjective
Examples:
a balding, aging man
grieving parents
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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
twins
the lost child
an inherited defect
these proposed uses of cloning
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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5. The two clones would develop distinct
personalities, just as twins develop unique
identities.
distinct— clearly different in nature or
quality. Examples:
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Rats and mice are distinct animals.
Rayon and nylon are distinct materials.
unique—existing as the only of its kind;
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He has a unique writing style.
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having no equal. Examples:
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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.
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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.
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8. These use cannot be justified now…
justify—give a good reason for.
Examples:
Do you think the slaughter of the
elephants in Kenya’s Tsavo Game Park
was justified?
Could Edward Burton justify his offer of
job to his namesake Lenny Burton?
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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
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Free discussion
People often argue the cloning
technique can bring disastrous impact
on the whole society. How do you think
of this opinion?
Assignments
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Translation part in the workbook