Group discussion:

In your opinion, what is the most beautiful things one can experience? Why?

The most beautiful thing one can experience is mysteries . They are truly the basis of all arts and sciences . Albert Einstein

Module 2

• Unit 1

• Tales of the unexplained

flying saucer 飞碟

UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects)

不明飞行物

The origin( 起源 ) of the names:

In the United States, the first flying saucers

were reported on June 4, 1947, by a private

plane pilot( 飞行员 ).He saw nine objects

traveling in the sky. Each was disk shaped

and very bright. Because their movements

were compared to ( 比做 )those of a

“saucer ( 碟子 )skimming across the water”,

newspaper reporters called them

“flying saucers”.

Some weeks after the first reported

sighting （目击） , the United States Air Force was given the job of investigating （调查） all the reports of flying saucers.

Because of the confusing （令人费解的） variety of shapes, sizes, and colors reported ,

the Air Force adopted （采用） the term “Unidentified Flying Objects” (UFO)

to describe them.

Himalayasthe highest mountain range in the world

Yeti Abominable Snowman Half-man and half-beast

The yeti is a humanlike monster who is supposed to live in the Himalayas,the highest Mountain range in the world.

Several sightings, mainly of footprints, have been reported by westerner explorers throughout the years. Yet none of them have been supported with evidence in any way.

Loch Ness the largest of a series of interlinked lochs, or lakes, located in northern one of Scotland’s top tourist attractions.

Lock Ness Monster

On the 21st December 1933, the Daily Mail carried the following headline: “Monster of Loch Ness is not a Legend but a Fact.” The hunter said: “It is a four fingered beast and it has feet or pads of eight inches across. I judge it to be a powerful soft footed animal about 20 feet in length....... I am sure that it can breathe like a crocodile( 鄂鱼 ) with just one nostril( 鼻孔 ) out of the water."

The SphinxHalf human, half lion, the Sphinx is 240 feet long and 66 feet high

Pyramids , Egypt

what is known to us? It is very hard to realize how big the Great Pyramid is. It has over 2,300,000 blocks of solid stone .These huge stone blocks weight an average of two and a half tons each, as much as a small car. Some even weight fifteen tons.

Without machinery, the ancient Egyptians cut and moved and lifted each of these stones.It took more than 100,000 slavestwenty years to build the Great Pyramid.

what is unknown to us? It is very hard to answer who built the Great Pyramid .

Whoever built the Pyramid knew the Earth well: the average height of the continents( )大陆 , and the center of the land mass.

• The average height of land above sea level

( 海平面 ) ， as can be measured only by modern-day satellites and computers,

happens to be 5,449 inches.

That is the exact height of the Pyramid.

• The Pyramid is located at( 位于 ) the exact center of the Earth's land mass.

                                                                              

Stonehenge   prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain, southern England, consisting of two concentric circles of large standing stones. It was built between 2800 and 1500 BC and is thought to have been an astronomical calendar or a temple to the sun.

How did these stones stand upright( 直立 )? The truth is nobody really knows. It required sheer muscle power and hundreds of men to move one of these ,the heaviest of them weighing probably about 45 tons.

There are some wonderful myths and legends.

2. If you saw a UFO or a monster some day, what would you do?

Group discussion

1. Do you believe in unexplained things mentioned above? Why or why not?

3. What other unexplained things do you know about?

a hotel balcony , Portugal , Sept, 2003

Photo observation 1

On seeing this photo , how are you feeling?

Why?

no lights on or around, no other rooms above the woman; no light could have reflected on the woman here.

Santiago, 5:40 p.m. May 10, 2004

Photo observation 2:

What has drawn your attention?

an unusual creature crossed the road behind one of the police on horseback; meanwhile, strange lights appeared in the same area

advanced (adj.) 1. very modern:

advanced weapon systems 2. studying or dealing with a school subject at a difficult level

advanced learners of English advanced physics

advance (v.)A line of ants slowly advanced.

Our understanding of human genetics has advanced considerably.

to move forward

to develop

run into1. to meet somebody by chance

Guess who I ran into in town today!

2. to hit someone or something with a vehicle He ran into the back of another car the other day.

Translate the following phrases:

1.充满神秘

2. 先进的科学与技术

3. 一艘沉船

4. 相信未解之谜

5. 偶遇一个飞碟

be full of mysteries

advanced science and technology

a sunken ship

believe in unexplained things

run into a UFO

Homework

1.Surf the net and learn more about world mysteries. Prepare a short speech (better in Powerpoint) to introduce something that interests you.

2. Make a scale model of the Great Pyramid under the following guidelines and bring it to the class.

scale: 1 cm = 30 m 1. Cut out the pyramid along the solid lines. 2. Fold each triangle side along the dotted lines towards the center of the square base. 3.Align the sides of any two triangles and tape into place. 4. Repeat until the pyramid is complete.

Scale Model of the Great Pyramid

7.7 cm ; 6.2 cm ; 7.3 cm