1、Unit 2 Natural disastersExtended readingThe Last Days of Pompeii (Excerpt) What do you know about Pompeii? Lead-inan ancient Roman city What can you see in the picture?Lead-ina volcanic eruption Can you imagine what has happened to the city or the people?Lead-in city remainsAccording to the title, C
2、an you guess what is the novel The Last Days of Pompeii about?PredictScanning:find the topic sentenceHow many parts can the adaptation be divided into? Part 1: Paragraph1 before the volcanic eruption Part 2: Paragraphs24 during the volcanic eruption Part 3: Paragraph5 after the volcanic eruptionScan
3、ning:dividing the parts What is the structure of the passage?Scanning:dividing the parts Volcano PeopleBefore the eruptionPara. 2During the eruptionParas. 34 After the eruptionPara. 5A huge cloud shot from the top of the volcano. (unusual form and color) The earth shook.Roofs fell.Cloud rolled.Ashes
4、 and stones showered.The earthquake came.Pompeii was unearthed.(walls, floors, columns) Read Paragraph 1 and answer the following questions. 1. What was the city of Pompeii like before the volcano erupted? Careful readingIt was a typical Roman city. Trading ships bringing imports to the city or carr
5、ying exports overseas, along with golden pleasure boats for the rich, were crowded together in the glassy water of the port. The boats of the fishermen moved rapidly in all directions. Read Paragraph 1 again and answer the following questions. 2. What was the evidence of past eruptions of Mount Vesu
6、vius?Careful readingIts ashy rocks, now dark, now light.1. What did the busy citizens see when they looked upwards?They saw a huge cloud shooting from the top of the volcano.2. Why did they feel frightened?The huge cloud indicated the eruption of the volcano.3. What did citizens do at the beginning?
7、The cries of women broke out; the men looked at each other, but were silent.Careful readingRead Paragraph 2-4 again and answer the following questions.4. What changes happened to the cloud a moment later?A moment later, the mountain-cloud seemed to roll towards them, dark and rapid, like a river; at
8、 the same time, it threw out a shower of ashes and huge pieces of burning stone!5. How did people behave then?Each turned to flyeach running, pressing, pushing against the other. If, in the darkness, wife was separated from husband, or parent from child, there was no hope of their meeting again. Eac
9、h hurried blindly and fearfully on.Careful readingRead Paragraph 2-4 again and answer the following questions.Read the last paragraph and answer the following questions.1. What did the city remains look like after it was unearthed?Its walls were fresh as if painted yesterday; not a single colour cha
10、nged on the rich pattern of its floors. In its forum, the half-finished columns seemed as if just left by the workmans hand.Careful readingRead the last paragraph and answer the following questions.2. What do the remains of the city remind us of?The remains of the beautiful city survive to remind us
11、 that human lives burn bright and short.Careful readingWrite a summary of the excerpt from the novel. Use the ideas in Part A on Page 26.Careful readingashowederuptionwhenthat/whichburningwere discoveredremainsremindernaturalAppreciationBDiscussionHow does the author create a sense of fear and confu
12、sion duuring the volcanic eruption?Para. 3 “the cries of women” , “the earth shaking”, “shower of ashes” to let the reader hear, feel and see what is happening in Pompeii at that moment.Appreciation:Writing styleEach turned to flyeach running, pressing, pushing against the other. (Page 26, Line 27)T
13、he sentence pictures people running away in panic by three verbs “running, pressing, pushing”.Appreciation:Writing styleRead the adaptation again and share with peers their favourite sentences.Para.4 verb-ing forms like “running, pressing, pushing” create feelings of confusion because they show that
14、 these actions are happening at the same time. Fear is created with phrases like “wife was separated from husband, or parent from child” showing that in the darkness, everyone in Pompeii risked being separated-no one was safe.Appreciation:Writing styleCompare the first and last paras, what effect do
15、 they create?It creates a strong comparison between Pompeiis lively past and lifeless present. By doing so, the author wants to remind us that in the flowing river of time, humans life is just a ripple and in the face of Mother Natures power, human beings are small and weak.Appreciation:Writing styl
16、eDo you think that we will be better able to protect ourselves from natural disasters in the future?Why or why not?Critical thinkingDiscussionAppreciationOption 1Yes, I believe we will be better able to protect ourselves from natural disasters in the future. The development of science and technology
17、 will improve the ability to predict the arrival of natural disasters and help us be better organized and prepared for disasters.AppreciationOption 2No. No matter how advanced science and technology may be in the future, natural disasters will always challenge us because most of them are unpredictab
18、le. Human technical skill will never match the power of nature so our ability to protect ourselves will always be limited and this means that we will always be victims of natural disasters in some way.Homework1. Design a poster for the novel The Last Days of Pompeii. Your poster should include the following aspects: a brief summary of the plot, some book reviews and several pictures. 2. What Was Pompeii?, written by Jim OConnor, contains 16 pages of photos inside. Read this illustrated book and find out more information about Pompeii.
