Stories from History

By yu yu-ping

Volcanic eruption

Pompeii

On August 23, 79 AD, Pompeii

looked like any other busy,

prosperous city. People were

moving about, trading goods,

news, and friendly talk.

Three days later, on August 26, all

of these sounds had fallen silent,

and the place itself had vanished.

Almost nothing was seen of

Pompeii for more than 1500

years. Now, more than 1900 years

later, we are learning more and

more about the last days of

Pompeii.

1. Once, there was a thriving

city. But one day, it suddenly

disappeared. Use your

imagination, and see how this

tragedy happened.

Discussion

2. Do you know any city that

disappeared within a minute?

Pompeii

3. Read the title, can you guess

from the title what the article is

about?

It is about a city named Pompeii.

First Reading:

Read the whole passage quickly,

and try to find out what happened

to Pompeii.

It was destroyed and covered by a

volcanic eruption and discovered

again by some archaeologists 1,600

years later.

Second Reading:

write down the things in

connection with the following

numbers:

August, 24th, 79 AD:

The eruption had occurred and

destroyed the whole city.

1,600:

More than 1,600 years later,

some scientists found the lost

towns that had been buried

under the ashes.

1748:

By 1748, scientists had found

an awesome historical site.

250:

More than 250 years after

scientists found the city,

thousands of tourists and

hundreds of scientists visit

Pompeii every year to learn

more about the ancient

world.

Go through the whole passage,

and find out what the following

people did.

Pliny:

People in Pompeii:

scientists:

Third Reading: Note-taking

a Roman writer

wrote about a terrible volcanic

eruption

described a cloud coming down

the mountain, blocking out the sun

and burying everything in its path,

including whole villages and towns.

Pliny:

Those sad events left a deep

impression on Pliny.

People in Pompeii:

disappeared under the ashes

were gradually forgotten by the

world

gathered together for protection

in their last hours of life.

One person, sitting alone, looks

like he is praying.

Another man, lying on his side,

looks as if he is trying to get

up.

found the lost towns

found an awesome historical site

and started to dig out the ancient

city of Pompeii

hundreds of scientists visit Pompeii

every year to learn more about the

ancient world

Those scientists:

Answer the questions in exercise2

1. Why does the article describe

Pompeii as a “time capsule” ?

Because it preserves a frozen

moment in history.

2. What had Pompeii been like

before the eruption?

Before the eruption occurred, it

had been a booming roman city

with temples, markets,

restaurants, and theaters.

3. What can you see If you walk in

the streets of Pompeii today?

Now as you walk along the streets

of the city, you can admire the

ancient architecture, statues,

decorated walls and authentic

objects characteristic of the time.

1. He had witnessed as a young

man…

v. see something by oneself

2. The eruption had occurred on

August 24th, 79AD.

take place, happen (Vi.)

Paraphrase

3. The earth began to tremble and

a volcano…

shake

4. He described a cloud coming

down the mountain, blocking out

the sun and burying everything

in its path.

hide the sun from being seen/

bury everything when it was

passing

5. Time rewinds.

v. go back to ancient times

6. You can admire the ancient

architectures, statues, decorated

walls and authentic objects

characteristics of the time.

typical of that time

7. One person, sitting alone, looks

like he is praying.

alone is an adverb(副词 ).

8. One can only feel sorry and deep

sympathy for these once-living

statues.

9. The city lives on nearly 2,000 year

s after its loss.

keep alive

a container used to store for

children a selection of objects

thought to be representative of life

at a particular time.

Time capsules are interesting to

people of all ages.

10. Time capsule

Write to yourself an e-mail, and

receive it 20 years later. What will

the feeling be?

the Forbes provides an interesting

service, kinda TIME CAPSULE.

but the 'capsule' would be an e-

mail.

you may send emails to yourself,

and decide the mails to be

received 1 or 3 or 5 or 10 or even

20 years later! the mails will

be kept and sent by yahoo.

Changes of Pompeii City:

A thriving Roman city with

temples, markets, restaurants and

theatres, works of art on walls;

Summary

destroyed and covered by a terrible

volcanic eruption; people

disappeared and forgotten by the

world; the locations of the buried

towns and villages were lost.

discovered by some scientists;

visited by tourists and scientists

every year

GrammarPast Perfect tense

1. Pliny wrote about a terrible

volcanic eruption that he had

witnessed as a young man.

2. However, more than 1, 600 years

later, some scientists found the lost

towns that had been buried under

the ashes.

3. Before the eruption occurred, it

had been a booming Roman city.

4. The bodies of people who had

died in Pompeii left impressions

in the ash...

It shows an event that happened

earlier, before the other past

event in the story.

1. The audience left after the film

had finished.

What is past perfect tense?

2. We got married a year after we

had fallen in love with each other.

3. By the time I got home, the others

had eaten all the food.

4. We arrived at the cinema late

after the film had started.

5. When I had arrived home and

looked around, I saw that a burglar

had stole my CD player.

Henry, from London, married

Anna from Poland.

He once told a reporter that he

had never been in love until he

met Anna.

Oral Exercise

Suppose you were Henry, what else

would you like to say to the reporter?

Visit Poland…fall in love with a

girl…eat Polish food…want

children…spend all his time on

one person…talk so openly…