Unit 6 A World of Mystery

Part One Preparation

Mysterious Circles Above are the pictures of the “crop circles”. Crop circles refer to the circles of bent down plants that mysteriously appear in fields at night mostly in England. What, in your opinion, can explain such a strange phenomenon?

Life in Outer Space Discuss the following questions in pairs. Do you believe there is life in outer space? If the answer is yes, what do you think creatures in outer space look like? Are they more intelligent than people on the Earth? Are they friendly or hostile to human beings? If the answer is no, why not?

The Mystery of the Twenty-Third Floor Read the following description of the mystery of the twenty-third Moor. Then work in groups to solve the mystery. Mr. X worked in a large, modern office building in the heart of Manhattan. Each sunny day, I observed him enter the office building, walk straight to the elevators t ), and press floor three. This puzzled me because once when I was riding in the elevator with Mr. X, I asked him which floor he wanted me to press. He quickly replied, "Floor twenty-three; that's where my office is." Why would he press floor three when he worked on floor twenty-three? One day, I followed him off the elevator onto floor three. Much to my surprise, Mr. X walked all twenty flights of stairs to his correct floor-twenty-three. If you think that's puzzling, just wait. The story gets even stranger. Each rainy day, I observed Mr. X walk directly to the elevators and press floor twenty-three! What was going on? Why didn‘t he ride the elevator to floor twenty-three every day?

Part Two In-Class Reading

Pre-Reading Study the map and work in groups to answer the following questions Where is the Bermuda Triangle? What is the Bermuda Triangle known for?

The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Western Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Western Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Florida, and Pueto Rico. The Bermuda Triangle, a section of the North Atlantic Ocean off North America in Which many ships and airplane are said to have mysteriously disappeared over the years, still remains mysterious to many people. While there are plausible theories today, they have yet to be proved. This vaguely triangular-shipped area of ocean has countless stories and some people and actually believe its mystery will never be satisfactorily explained. Even if it is, there will still remain many things in this world of mystery that will keep us asking, ”Why?”

The structure of the text Part 1 (Para.1-6) The disappearance of Flight 19 Part 2 (para.7) The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle Part 3 (para.8-13) Explanations for the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle

Part One

flight (line 1) Here the word “flight” means “a group of airplanes working as a unit” (飞行对). consist of (line 2) to be formed from two or more things or people The buffet consisted of several different Indian dishes. The area does not consist entirely of rich people, despite popular belief.

take off (line1-2) The phrase “take off” has several meanings when it is used intransitively. 1) (used for an airplane, etc.) leave the ground and start flying if an aircraft takes off, it rises into the air from the ground I felt quite excited as the plane took off from Heathrow 2) remove take something off to remove a piece of clothing Charlie was taking off his shirt when the phone rang. 3) To suddenly start being successful: Mimi became jealous when Jack's career started taking off

on board 1) on a ship, plane, or spacecraft There are 12 children on board the ship. 2) involved with something or working for an organization Supporters of the treaty say that it will be necessary to have the United States on board. He came on board in the late Sixties and spent two decades with the agency

go crazy to do something too much, in a way that is not usual or sensible, especially because you are excited Don't go crazy and spend it all at once

campus an instrument that shows directions and has a needle that always points north a map and compass compass points/points of the compass (=the marks on a compass that show you north, south, east, west etc)

Part Two

take place to happen, especially after being planned or arranged The next meeting will take place on Thursday. Talks between the two sides are still taking place.

It is a large triangular area of the ocean with the island of the Bermuda at its northern tip. 句中with the island of the Bermuda at its northern tip是用with引导的独立结构。with可跟各种复合结构，包括带介词、过去分词、现在分词等的复合结构。 She didn’t dare to sleep with the windows open. With a lot of work to do, he decided to stay at home. Marcel painted her sitting in a chair with her hands folded. I won’t be able to go on holiday with my mother being ill.

Puzzle 1) to confuse someone or make them feel slightly anxious because they do not understand something He was puzzled by the reactions to his remark. What puzzles me is why his books are so popular 2) a game in which you have to think hard to solve a difficult question or problem a crossword puzzle

…why people, planes and ships disappear in such high numbers here. This part of the sentence means “…why so many people, planes and ships disappear in this area.” In English, we can use the phrase “in … numbers” to express the quantity of something that can be counted. These books were printed in limited numbers. Young people have been leaving the countryside in large numbers for urban areas.

Flying saucer a large round spacecraft from somewhere else in space, that some people believe they have seen in the sky

4. Since there are millions of other planets in the universe, Spencer believes there must be other intelligent creatures somewhere in the universe 1) Surely not. It can't be true. There must be some mistake. 2) You must have heard about it. It's in all the newspapers. 3) Take my umbrella—you may/might need it. 4) The report states that the man may/might have been killed. 5) Alice can't/couldn't be at home. I've just seen her in the cafe. 6) John could have been seriously hurt in the accident.