Unit 5 Unit 5 Overcome Overcome ObstaclesObstacles

Text A True HeightText A True Height

Proverbs

Where there is a will, there is a way. Rome was not built in a day. God helps those who help themselves. You shall reap what you sow. Constant dripping wears away a stone.

Reference: Terms of Track & Field    sprint/middle-distance/long run 短 / 中 / 长距离跑 marathon  马拉松 relay race; relay  接力 hurdles; hurdle race 跨栏 walking; walking race 竞走 steeplechase 障碍赛 high jump 跳高 pole jump/pole vault 撑竿跳高 long jump 跳远 high skip and jump  三级跳 shot put  推铅球 discus  铁饼 weight throw  链球 javelin  标枪 decathlon 男子十项全能 heptathlon 女子七项全能

triathlon 铁人三项

Teaching Objectives•Main ideaMain ideaDreaming and hard work helped Michael Stone on his way to success •Narrative skillsNarrative skills

using details to bring out a character; a surprising ending; use of puns

•language points, grammatical language points, grammatical structures and comprehensive skillsstructures and comprehensive skills

Background InformationOlympics The Olympic Games are the most important

international sports event in the world held every four years. The ancient Olympic Games were held in Olympia every four years from 776 B.C to 392 A.D. The modern Games were first held in 1896 in Greece and, with the exception of three games not held because of the two world wars, have been held in various cities of the world at regular 4-year intervals. In 2008 Beijing will host the 29th Olympic Games.

Text Organization

Parts Para. Main Ideas

One 1-2

Two 3-5

Three 6-12

Four 13 --

Michael faced the most challenging competition in his pole-vaulting career.

Michael’s childhood was marked with dreams and tough training.

Michael topped his personal best, won the championship and set a new world record.

Writing skills

Flashback: a scene in a film, play, book etc that shows something that happened before that point in the story

How to switch between two parts of narrations describing events in two different time periods:

To repeat a key word in the last sentence of a paragraph in the first sentence of the next paragraph.

To pick up a key idea from a previous paragraph and repeat it in the sentence introducing the next paragraph.

Language PointsBear out: prove that (sth) is true The witnesses will bear you out in court. What he said was borne out by his neighbors.The evidence that the US Central Intelligence Agency has obtained bears out the claim that Bin Laden is closely related to the Sep. 11 terrorist attack in the USA.

Bear: (1) have or show

Her face bears/bore signs of tears.

The letter bears no signature.

(2) keep (a feeling) in one’s mind 怀有 Because of the love she bore him, she

would have faced any danger.

I bear hatred against no man.

(3) suffer, put up with

bear out vt. prove that (sth.) is true 证实The other witnesses will bear me out/bear out what I say. Cf. 1) bear down vt. 战胜或击败 2) bear up (against/ under sth) 对付 ; 处理 3) bear with (sb/sth) vt. 耐心地忍受 :

Ex. Choose the correct word from the above:He's ___________well against all his misfortunes. They ___________ the enemy.We must _____________ her (ie treat her with sympathy) during this difficult period.

bearing upbore down

bear with

mere adj [attrib] (no comparative form) nothing more than; no better or more important than She's a mere child.

他不只是拳击手 , 还是世界冠军呢 . He's not a mere boxer: he's world champion. merely adv only; simply 仅 ; 只 ; 不过Ex. 光说（不做）无济於事 . Mere words won't help.

fantasy n 1) [U] imagination or fancy, esp when completely unrelated to reality:I still have the fantasy that one day I will win the National Lottery.2) [C] product of the imagination; wild or unrealistic notion : Stop looking for the perfect job-- it's just a fantasy. Ex. 这个年青人生活在幻想的世界里。The young man lives in a world of fantasy/a fantasy world.

Passion: (1) strong feeling, esp. of love She had never before loved anyone with such passion. The poet expressed in his poem his passion for the woman he loved. (2) strong liking have a passion for: have a strong interest in sth and like it very much. She had a passion for dancing, which inte

rfered with her studies.Passionate: a ~ woman / speech

passion n 1)[U, C] strong feeling, eg of hate, love or anger: P

assions were running high at the meeting. have a strong passion for: have a strong interest i

n sth. and like it very muchShe had a passion for dancing. 2) [sing] angry state; rage (used esp in the expres

sions shown) be in a passion 在盛怒中 get/fly into a passion 勃然大怒passionate adj. 热情的 passionately adv.Ex. 她争论时情绪很激动 . She argued with great passion.

detail n [C] [U] small, particular fact or item 细节 Please give me all the details. A good organizer pays attention to detail. Collocation:go into detail(s) 详述 , 逐一细说 explain thoroughly

in detail 详细地Can you give me a rough idea of what happened, without going into detail?Ex. 给我说说事故发生的详情，详细告诉我发生了什么事。Give me all the details of the accident — tell me what happened in detail.

relax vt. vi. make or become less tense, worried or nervous 放松，松弛Don't worry about it; just try to relax. Don't relax your efforts.你不要松懈下来。n. relaxationEx. 经过一天辛苦工作后，他喜欢看电影消遣。After a hard day‘s work, he liked to relax by going to the movies.

vain adj. 1) too pleased with one's abilities or looks 虚荣的，自负的 【 ~of/ about 】 :Too much praise can make a person vain. She was vain of/about her appearance. 2) 无用的；徒劳的 : All our work was in vain. 我们所有的工作都白费了。Ex. 他对自己的发言很得意。He is vain of his speech.

emotion n 1) [C] strong feeling of any kind 情感 :The speaker appealed to our emotions rather than to our minds. 演讲者激发了我们的情感而不是启发我们的思考 .

爱情、 喜悦、 憎恨、 恐惧、 嫉妒都是强烈的感情 .Love, joy, hate, fear and jealousy are all emotions.

2) [U] excitement or disturbance of the mind or (more usu) the feelings 激动 ; 感动 : She answered in a voice filled with emotion.

intensity n [U] 1) state or quality of being intense 强烈 ; 剧烈 ; 紧张 : He worked with greater intensity. 2) strength of emotion （感情的）强烈程度 : I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue. 我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋 . intense adj. 强烈的 , 热情的 , 激烈的 : intense competition 激烈的竞争Ex. _________________________________（动情地望着她） , the man said, “would you please marry me?”

Looking at her with intensity (passion)

anxiety n 1) [U] a feeling of worry or fear; [C] instance of such a feeling 忧虑 ; 担心 : We waited for news with a growing sense of anxiety. The anxieties of the past week had left her exhausted. 2) [U] (~ for sth/to do sth) strong desire or eagerness for sth/to do sth 渴望Ex. 这个医生的报告消除了他的一切忧虑。The doctor's report removed all their anxieties.

tension n 1) [U] worry, nervousness or tenseness 紧张 : Tension is a major cause of heart disease. 精神紧张是引起心脏病的主要原因 .2) [U] state or degree of stretching or being stretched 拉力 ; 张力 ; 紧张状态 : Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles. 按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛 . 3) [U, C usu pl.] condition when feelings are tense or relations between people, groups, etc are strained 心情、关系紧张的状态 : racial/social tension (s)

tense adj 1)causing tenseness 引起紧张的 : a tense moment, atmosphere, meeting 2) stretched tightly; taut 拉紧的 ; 紧张的 . 3) with muscles tight in anticipation of what may happen （因预料要出事）肌肉紧的 : faces tense with anxiety 因焦急而显得紧张的面孔 . 4) unable to relax; edgy 神经紧张的 ; 易怒的 : He's a very tense person. tense vt. (cause sb/sth to) become tense tenseness n.Ex. 比赛一直都很紧张。The game is tense (intense) all the time.

congratulate vt. 【 ~ sb (on sth) 】 tell sb that one is pleased about his good fortune or achievements ； 【 ~ oneself (on/upon (doing) sth) 】 be proud (of sth)庆贺，庆幸 : congratulate sb on his marriage, new job,etc. You can congratulate yourself on having done a good job.

Ex. 他的老师 庆贺他获得演讲比赛一等奖 . His teacher congratulated him on winning the first prize in the speech contest.

coincide with (sth.)

vi 1 ） (of events) occur at the same time: Her arrival coincided with our departure. 她来到时我们正好离开 . vi. 2 ） be in agreement 一致 :100 degrees centigrade coincides with 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ex. 她在音乐方面的爱好与她丈夫一致 .Her taste in music coincides with her husband's.

on one/two/several/ numerous occasion （ s ）有一（两，几 , 无数）次Cf. on occasion adv. 有时He reads detective stories on occasion.

be ashamed of (sth./ sb./ oneself) [= be ~ (that...) ] feeling foolish or uncomfortable because of (sth.) 感到羞耻 ; 感到惭愧 : She was ashamed of her behavior at the party. You should be ashamed of yourself for telling such lies. I feel ashamed that I haven't written for so long. = I feel ashamed of not having written for so long.

Ex. He felt that he has done so little work. ( 改写为 be ashamed of)He felt ashamed of having done so little work.

along with prep. together with:I keep my checks in the top drawer, along with my other important documents.

stretch out vt. vi. hold a part of your body straight out in front of you:There were beggars everywhere, pathetically stretching their hands out to passers-by.We stretched out on the lawn.Ex. 我伸手去拿那本杂志。 I stretched out my arm for the magazine.

Alternate: (of two things) happening by turns, first one and then the other 轮流的，交替的 He works on alternate days. This is a week of alternate rain and sun

shine. V. follow by turns We alternate periods of work and sleep. Work and sleep alternate. Work alternates with sleep. My life alternates between work and sle

ep.

Bring sb. back to earth: cause sb. to stop day-dreaming; cause sb. to return to reality

I’m daydreaming, and their quarrel brought me back to earth.

He had been spending all his time chatting on line with his key-pals until his parents had a word with him and brought him back to earth.

what clause (wh- 名词性从句 )a)Where he flew would always coincide with his

mother’s stories. Wherever he flew was with a keen eye for detail and the free spirit of his mother’s love. (line 21-23) ;

b) What he didn’t know was that his dad was hugging his wife and crying. (line 83-84)

wh- 名词性从句可作主语 , 也可作宾语。 Wh- 疑问词通常包括 who, what, whichever 等连接代词，和 where, when, how, why 等连接副词。如：

Why he left so abruptly is not known to any of us.Ex. I can’t imagine_______________________

( 什么会使他那样做 ) 。what made him act like that

DiscussionMichael is blind. Why do you think the author wants to keep quiet about this important detail until the very end of the story?As we read on, our admiration for Michael is building up until we believe that, when Michael broke both national and international records, we have reached the climax. However, the real climax is in the last sentence which shows that Michael is blind. It has a great impact on us.

How do you understand the title “True Height”?

The text title, True Height, itself has more than one meaning. It literally means “the new bar heights that Michael cleared one after another, and figuratively means “the tremendous obstacles Michael had overcome in attaining his goal”

The meaning of words:

Many words have more than one meaning, such as “work”, “hot”, then how do you understand the title of the text?

Replying to an invitation to a scientists’ ball, Pierre and Marie Curie were radiating enthusiasm; Einstein thought it would be relatively easy to attend;Volta was electrified and Archimedes, buoyant at the thought;Ampere was worried he wasn’t up to current research;Ohm resisted the idea at first;Boyle said he was under too much pressure’Edison thought it would be an illuminating experience;Watt reckoned it would be a good way to let off steam;Wilber Wright accepted, provided he and Orville could get a flig

ht;Morse’s reply:” I’ll be there on the dot. Can’t stop now——must

dash.”

Hard work is important to success. But it is not the only factor that contributes to success. Dreaming is equally important.

Hold a picture of yourself … in your mind’s eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated, and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself as winning, and that will contribute immeasurably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything, and you will drift.