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Lesson Nine Against All Odds  Question:  What does the title mean or what’s the meaning of the title?  What’s odds?

Background knowledge  What do you know about Stephen Hawking?  Speak in your own words. (I told you to prepare it beforehand.)

Something about Hawking  Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London, but during the second world war Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight, his family moved to St Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London.

Something about Hawking  At eleven Stephen went to St Albans School, and then on to University College, Oxford, his father's old college. Stephen wanted to do Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did Physics instead. After three years and not very much work he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science.

Something about Hawking  Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there being no-one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Denis Sciama, although he had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his Ph.D. he became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College.

Something about Hawking  After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973 Stephen came to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, and since 1979 has held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. The chair was founded in 1663 with money left in the will of the Reverend Henry Lucas, who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow, and then in 1663 by Isaac Newton.

Something about Hawking  Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory, the other great Scientific development of the first half of the 20th Century.

Something about Hawking  One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science.

Something about Hawking  His many publications include The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime with G F R Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W Israel, and 300 Years of Gravity, with W Israel. Stephen Hawking has two popular books published; his best seller A Brief History of Time, and his later book, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays.

Something about Hawking  Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees, was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes and is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Something about Hawking  Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and one grandchild), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures.

IV. Topic discussion about the text:  What is the attitude of Hawking towards his illness at the beginning and later?  How did he change it or who affected him?  What’s the purpose of the author’s writing? (.Have a discussion)

Text retelling  With the help of the pictures, please retell the story roughly.

VII. Homework:  Practise reading the text again and again to understand it better.  Learn the important phrases by consulting the dictionary.  Learn all the glossary by heart.

Language points  Paragraph 1  What is his hometown? (Look at the map of the world to find London)  blanket: What figure of speech is used? (metaphor)  What is the function of the clause” he had been experiencing”  Return to: come back to  Question: Why “southern England”?  What is the function of ”he threw”?  Throw a party: give a party

Paragraph 2  A series of: pay attention to the pronunciation of it, distinguish it from “serious”  Incurable: that can’t be cured  What is the function of “called”? (attribute)  affect: have an influence/effect on/upon  effect: n.  influence: mostly followed by sb.

Paragraph 2  Happen to be / do: by accident, by chance  Happen to sb: sth happens to sb  For which: prep.+ relative clause (make sentences)  Question: What’s the meaning of “sentence”  What is omitted after “…two years” 

Paragraph 3  Be shocked by( strongest meaning, by hearing terrible news) / be surprised /astonished by  (make sentences)  Depress v.  Depressed adj.  Depression n.  Question: When do you feel depressed?  Why did he feel depressed?

Paragraph 3  Shut away---cut off  “How could sth like this happen to me?” Why did he ask this question? What’s his meaning ? (unfair to him)  Point: sense / meaning / significance  Live for: pay attention to the preposition “for”( make sentences)  What do you live for? ( ask ss to express his own opinion )  Why bother to do…?  Why not do sth.?  Live out his life span: finish his life

Paragraph 4  Drag out of: pull sth./sb with efforts (distinguish from “pull” )  See sb. do sth  Die of / from anger / thirst / disease  But die from bad habits / accidents / wound  Not pretty: terrible, horrible  Question: What about his condition compared with the boy who died?  Feel like doing sth ( make sentences)

Paragraph 5  Question: Can you use “ that ” instead of “which”?  Be worth / worthwhile / be worthy of  “if he were to be set free”:Why use “were to”  ? ( subjunctive mood )  Might as well do…(make sentences)  E.g. 1).Since you have no better offer, you might as well take the job.  2). We might as well go to bed. We can’t do  anything tonight.

Paragraph 6  It is / was … that / who…( emphatic pattern)  Break out of ( make sentences)  As predicted / as planned / a arranged  Adequate: formally used  Enough: informally / orally used  Having fallen heavily …: As he had fallen heavily…( present participle as adverbial)

Paragraph 8  Get into one’s stride: hit one’s stride---be familiar with sth--- do sth with fast and confident pace  Crasy as it may see: pattern: adj. + as + clause--- Although / though…  E.g. 1). Strange as he it may sound, I still believe it.  2). Poor as I am, I still go to school.  3). Strong as he is, he was defeated.

Paragraph 9  Come to term with: accept sth unhappy / unpleasant  Blossom: become happier, healthier

Paragraph 10  Threads: parts of the research  Touch and go: sth bad or risk will happen  In a touch-and-go situation  Be around the corner: be likely to happen soon ( ask ss to make make sentences)

Homework  Analyze each paragraph by using one sentence  Recite Para. 1---Para. 3  Learn all the example sentences in the note  Practice reading the text to each other and correct the pronunciation and intonation.  Do the exercises based on the text.  Retell the text again.