Working the Land Unit 2 Warming up and reading

Sympathy for the Peasants By Li Shen Work hard by hoe at midday, Sweating the soil. Do you know that grains come from? It’s due to the hard work of the farmers Plough soil in the noon with the sweat drop in the land, who knows the food made of hard?

What do you think of when you see the word agriculture? water farmer tool field seed machine cattle village rice

Do you know how rice is grown?

ploughing

growing some young plants

insert the young plants

fertilizing

harvesting

everyday food country / areaBasic food England potatoes and bread Canada USA China rice and pasta Italy India Japan South America/Central America corn

1. What is the main food in all East Asian and Southeast Asian countries? 2. What do you think would happen if tomorrow there were suddenly no rice to eat?

Every year 15 million children die of hunger. About 183 million children weigh less than they should for their age. If you had the chance to do something to help end hunger in the world, what would you do?

How to solve hunger? ☆ making good use of the waste land ☆ developing the technology to… ☆ inventing a new kind of food… ☆ improving the quality of the soil ☆ preventing the pests from eating our crops

Yuan Longping Father of Hybrid Rice

Professor Yuan Longping is famous in research on hybrid rice. He gave birth to a hybrid rice which output 30% more than ordinary ones, which has been widely used in the rice fields. The hybrid rice by Yuan and his co-researchers has made the earth produce extra rice equivalent to food for 80 million or more people.

A Pioneer for All People

Look at the title of the passage and the picture. What do you predict this passage is going to talk about?

Fast reading What is the main idea of the passage? It is about an agricultural pioneer named Yuan Longping who worked hard to produce a new strain of rice.

Name ____________ Age ____________ Nationality __________ Occupation ___________________ Education ____________________________ Dream _______________________________ Achievement _________________________ Hobbies _____________________________ Yuan Longping81 agriculture scientist / farmer to export his hybrid rice so that it can be grown around the globe. In 1974, developed hybrid rice which produces 1/3 more than normal rice graduated from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953 Complete the notes about Yuan Longping. Chinese violin music, mahjong, swimming, reading Scanning

Find out the main idea of each paragraph. ParagraphMain Idea 1 His ________________________ appearance and achievements birth, education and research noble personality dreams Careful reading

1. Dr Yuan is more a farmer than a scientist. 2. Dr Yuan’s rice is one of the most suitable ways for China’s farmland. 3. Dr Yuan would rather work than relax. 4. Dr Yuan has dreams when he is asleep and also when he is awake. 5. Dr Yuan enjoys a simpler life than most rich and famous people. F T T T T True or False

1. What dose Dr. Yuan look like? Why? 2. What is his achievement? He looks like a farmer because he always works under the sun for long time. He produces super hybrid rice. Para. 1

1.Why did Dr. Yuan want to increase the rice output when he was young? 2. How dose he help rid the world of hunger? Because at that time, hunger was a serious problem in many parts of the countryside. He saw many people were suffered from hunger when he was young. He works hard to produce the hybrid rice that has a high output. Para. 2

Which of the following descriptions about Dr. Yuan’s personality is NOT TRUE? A. He is satisfied with his life because he is now rich and famous. B. He cares little about money and fame. C. He would rather work than lead a comfortable life. D. He enjoys a simpler life than most rich and famous people. Para. 3 Dr Yuan’s personality ★

Para. 4 1.What does “Wishing for things, however, costs nothing.” mean? 2. Dr Yuan has dreams not only when he is _______ but also when he is______. Dreams are free and everybody can have ideas about what they would like their future life to be. asleepawake

Personal information Achievements Hobbies grow rice that has a high output circulate his knowledge abroad give money to equip others for their research playing the violin listening to violin music playing mah-jong swimming riding his motorcycle to the rice fields

1.As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing the rice output. 2. At that time, hunger was a disturbing problem in many parts of the countryside. When he was a young man, he knew how important it was to produce bigger rice crops. During his early years, much of the countryside was troubled by hunger. Explain the following sentences from the reading passage.

3. Using his hybrid rice, farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before. 4. Spending money on himself or leading a comfortable life also means very little to him. As they use his hybrid rice, farmers are producing twice as much rice as before. He is not interested in buying things for himself or in living a comfortable life.

Discussion 1. Is Yuan Longping more of a scientist than a farmer? 2. Is he more of a businessman than a farmer? 3. What were his dreams and how far did he achieve them? 4. Even if Dr. Yuan’s dreams come true, can this really solve starvation?

5. Dr Yuan thinks that a person with too much money has more rather than fewer troubles. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

1. Review the reading passage and the new words. 2. Do exercises on page Homework