Unit 14 Reading The Language of Honey-bees

Discussion How do people communicate with each other? How about animals? spoken language written language facial expressions hand gestures posture body language sounds smell movements touch with each other facial expressions body language posture

Reading Para.1 Q: Why is it the honey-bee that has interested scientists most? Because of the language they use to communicate with each other.

Reading Para.2 Q: What was Prof.von Frisch puzzled by? When he placed little dishes of honey on a table, bees soon came. As soon as one bee discovered the honey, many more came to it one after another in a short time.

Read Para 2- 3, then fill the form blow: Problem s Experim ents Results Conclusi on How did one bee commu- nicate the news of food to others ? Professor von Frisch marked some bees with little dots of colour. The marked bee performed a circle dance, and the surrounding bees copied it and left for the feeding place together. The circle dance communi- cated the news of food.

Proble ms Experiment s Results Conclusi on Did the dance convey more informa -tion? Professor von Frisch set up two feeding places, one close to the hive, the other much farther away, and marked the bees with two colors. Bees from nearby feeding place did circling dance, while bees from the distant one did a wagging dance. The two dances told the bees about the location of the feeding place. Para.4

Problem s ExperimentsResultsConclusion How did bees tell the exact distance of the feeding place? Zoologists moved the feeding place slowly farther, and use a stop-watch to count how many times the bees repeated the dance per minute. The farther away the feeding station was, the slower the dance was. Para.5 The number of wagging dances per minute told the exact distance of the feeding place.

Proble ms Experimen ts ResultsConclusion Could bees tell each other the exact position of a feeding place? Scientists obtained more data and did more experiment s. The zoologists clarified the procedure by which bees communicate information they use to find and fetch food. Para 6

What does “make a beeline for someone or something” mean? Para.7-8 To go quickly along a straight course for somebody or something.

1. Among the different kinds of bee, it is the honey-bee that has interested scientists most because of the language they use to communicate with each other.(P1L3) 1) It was in the house _______ they got married ________ they quarreled bitterly. It was not until they received their son’s letter ______ they felt relaxed. It is ________ he was careless ______ the car accident happened. where that becausethat 2)It was on Oct 1st,1949 ______ New China was founded. It was Oct 1 st,1949 _______ New China was.. that when

2. It seemed that one bee was able to communicate the news of food to other bees in its hive.(P2L7) communicate sth. to sb./sth.= convey … This poem communicates the author’s despair. The officer communicated his orders to the men by radio. The police communicate with each other by radio.

4. One was close to the hive, the other was much farther away. --- ________ further do we have to go? --- I’ve no idea. Perhaps one more mile. A. How B. How much C. Any D. What 3. In order to tell the bees apart, he painted some bees with little dots of colour.(P2L11) tell …apart = distinguish … The twins are so much alike that we can hardly tell them apart.

5. …, and all the bees that went to the far-away place red.(P4L4) far-away adj. ( 前置定语 )---- nearby far-away times/ a far-away forest far away ( 表语或状语 ) He lives far (away) from the school. The hotel is far away. far from + adj “ 远远不 ; 完全不 ; 决非 ” I am far from happy in my present job. It is far from perfect.

6. make a beeline for : 走近路, 走直路 As he spoke, he made a beeline for the door. If you want to catch up with the team, you’d better make a beeline for them. 那个饥饿的男孩直奔回家吃饭. The hungry boy made a beeline for dinner.

Thank you very much!

Problem s Experime nts ResultsConclusion Could bees tell each other the exact position of a feeding place? Scientist s obtained more data and did more experime nts. If the feeding pace is towards the sun, the dancer heads straight upward during the straight part the wagging dance. Para.6

1.To teach a fish how to swim. 2.Love me, love my dog. 3.Look the barn door after the horse is stolen. 4.Let sleeping dog lies. 5.I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse. 6.Go home and kick the dog. 7.You can make a crab walk straight. 8.It rains cats and dogs. 9.All his geese are swans. 10.As stupid as a goose 11.The cats shuts its eyes when stealing cream. 12.Better a living dog than a dead lion.

1. Dr. Jones covered the box with a transparent t lid in order to be able to observe the mice when they were feeding. 2. If we want to protect the environment, we must clarify the problems and convince people to take action. 3. When a worker id laid off and loses his or her income, society must ensure that he or she receives a monthly allowance and medical insurance.

4. An interpreter must be able to handle both everyday situations and special occasions such as conference and business meetings. 5. The company blamed the losses on current development trends in the economy. 6. “Oh, no! My box is full of junk mail again! This is really annoying!”