BOOK 3
Unit 7
Athletes
Teaching Aims:
In this unit students are required to :
1) get to know some useful information concerning the topic of the reading passages
in this unit and to know more about English culture;
2) do some preparation activities such as discussion, group work, etc. to practice their
spoken skill and communicative skills;
3) grasp some new words and try to use these words which help them to enrich their
vocabulary;
4)read the in-class reading passage in a limited time and grasp some expressions and
grammatical points in the in-class reading passage to improve their reading
comprehension;
5) do some post-reading exercises and some after-class reading to practice what they
have got to know in class to improve their English comprehensive skills.;
6) translate some typical sentences into Chinese or English by using some expressions
learned in the reading passages to acquire some translating skills and better their
translating abilities.
I. Warm-up
Useful Information
1. Throughout the history, sports have played am important role in society. Not only
have they been a source of entertainment for both the player and the spectator, but
they have served as a pleasurable way of ensuring the physical fitness of citizens of
all ages.
2. The popularity of different sports varies from one country to another. Factors as
tradition, climate and cost obviously influence the types of sports that are played by
both amateur and professional athletes in various countries.
3. Media has increased the popularity of sports like football, basketball, tennis and
golf.
4. Too much emphasis has been placed on the development of professional athletes.
All boys and girls, irrespective of their athletic abilities, should be able to benefit from
the joys and disappointments of competitive sports.
II. Preparation
1. Talking about sports and athletes
1
(1) Classify sports into individual sports, sports that require two players and
team sports.
(2) List some famous Chinese and international sports stars.
2. Do the word game on page.245
III. Reading-Centered Activities
1. Do the exercises in enriching your word power.
1) C 2) B 3) B 4) B 5) B 6) C 7) A 8) A 9) C 10) A 11) C 12) A
2. In-class reading
1) Give the students 15-20 minutes to finish reading the passage.
2) Ask several students to point out the main idea of the passage, and if they
don’t agree with the opinion, then have a discussion about their own opinion
and find out the difference between their own opinion and the idea in the
passage.
IV. Language Points
1. not necessarily (l.3)
This phrase means “possibly but not certainly”.
e.g. We don’t necessarily have to go to Florida this winter.
You’re a good worker, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a raise.
2. deny (l.9), felt like (l.52)
“Deny” and “feel like ” should be followed by a noun or gerund.
e.g. 1) The defendant denied cheating the witness’s statement.
2) The students all denied cheating on the test.
3)I don’t feel like having a walk.
Other examples of verbs and phrases that must be followed by nouns or gerunds:
admit, advise, allow, appreciate, finish, avoid, consider, delay, postpone, enjoy,
endure, escape, excuse, fancy, involve, mind, miss, bear, favor, permit, risk, resist,
quit, suggest, feel like, give up, can’t help, put off, look forward to, object to.
3. run into (l.20)
1) hit someone or something with a car or other vehicle
e.g. His car skidded and ran into a lamp-post.
2) meet someone by chance
e.g. Guess who I ran into on High Street this afternoon!
4. If I were deciding …(l.24)
Here the verb of the sentence is in the subjunctive mood and the continuous tense
is used for emphasis. The more formal expression is “If I were to decide”.
5. … but I’ve had parents in Utah say things…(l.40)
The sentence has a structure of “have + object + infinitive without to ”. Here
“had” is a causative verb followed by an infinitive without to, and other verbs of
the kind are “make” and “let”.
e.g. My sister’s professor had her rewrite her paper many times before allowing
2
her to present it to the committee.
6. Imagine someone putting…(l.44)
imagine 的用法：
1) imagine that
e.g. I) Try to imagine that you are a tourist arriving in London for the first
time.
II) He imagines that people don’t like him, but they do.
2) imagine somebody doing something
e.g. I can’t imagine Sarah running her own business.
3) imagine doing something
e.g. I) It’s hard to imagine working in a place like that.
II) Imagine going all that way for nothing.
4) imagine somebody/ something as
e.g. I never knew my grandmother but I always imagine her as a kind,
gentle person.
5) imagine somebody/ something to be something
e.g. I was surprised when I saw the farm. I had imagined it to be much bigger.
V. Post-reading Activities
1. Do the reading comprehension exercises on page 252 and 253.
2. Discuss the following questions in groups.
1) According to Malone, why do some athletes not want to be role models?
2) In your opinion, is it right for the public to watch star athletes constantly?
Give reasons.
3. Finish the vocabulary exercises and Quiz 7.
VI. Further Development
1. Topic for discussion: Sports and You
2. Work in groups to provide an explanation for the following observation:
Chinese athletes excel in some sports, such as, table tennis, badminton,
volleyball, gymnastics and diving, but not in most of the others.
Topic for discussion: What Makes for Excellence?
3. Writing
Write a composition on either of the following topics. Use at least 6 of the words
or phrases from the box. Your composition should be no less than 150 words.
Remember to write neatly.
1) The athlete I admire Most
2) Athlete Should Be Role Models (or should Not)
Sample 1
The Athlete I Admire Most
The athlete I admire most is Burgcamp. He is a world famous soccer star. He has
3
comprehensive skills., so he shines as a forward. He always measures up to his fans’
expectations. He enabled his club team to win the British Championship. He is a fair
player and isn’t violent. So he is welcome anywhere and at any time. Perhaps you
think the performance of soccer stars as Ronaldo and Micheal Owen are also
excellent and you wonder why I admire Burgcamp most. Now let me tell you the
reasons.
First of all, he is Dutch. I like Holland very much. It is a very small, beautiful and
civilized country. I think the Dutch are full of wisdom and courage. They filled the sea
with soil and constructed dams to keep the sea water out. Burgcamp is a hero in the
eyes of Dutch people because he has brought glory to their nation and contributed to
the positive image of the Dutch people.
Secondly, I like the Dutch National Team very much. The members wear orange
sportswear. Orange is the color I like best, because it means passion, energy and
intensity. The members of the Dutch National Team give you these feelings. I think
the Italians are too conservative, while the Brazilians are so rash that they lack
cooperation. But the Dutch are very brilliant. They are well-organized, and Burgcamp
is the soul of the team. He is a true role model. That’s why I admire him the most.
Sample 2
Athletes Should Not Be Role Models
Athletes are specialists in physical performance. They excel in physical skills but
they cannot be expected to be knowledgeable in other areas. They train all the time to
be competitive and to win games.
I am not interested in sports and I am not an athlete, so I do not see how athletes
could be role models for me. I hope to become a scientist therefore my role models
are not sports stars.
How can one admire athletes like Mike Tyson? He is greedy and selfish and he is
actually a criminal. Many athletes have so much money that they believe they don’t
have to care about other people. They do not give back anything to their community.
They do not accept their social responsibility but enjoy being put on a pedestal by
fans who worship them. They think they are above other people in society. I admire
people who contribute to the society, not people who think they are superior to others.
Michael Jordan is a very famous basketball player. He worked very hard to reach
perfection. Everyone in the world knows him because he is a star and he is in many
advertisements. He has become very rich not only because he is a professional athlete
but also he endorses many brand names like Nike. I will never value all these things,
so why should I choose him as a role model?
4