Unit 2Unit 2

Who’s Afraid of Maths Any Who’s Afraid of Maths Anyway?way?

Unit TwoWho’s Afraid of Maths Anyway?Who’s Afraid of Maths Anyway?

1.Vocabulary1.Vocabulary 2. Text2. Text 1) Background Information1) Background Information 2) Key phrases2) Key phrases 3)Paraphrases3)Paraphrases 4)Summary4)Summary 3. Grammar3. Grammar 4. Practical writing4. Practical writing

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

• 1. apparent: a. easily seen or understood– the cause of the accident was apparent to everyone.– It’s quit apparent that he would vote against the

proposal.• 2. attitude: n. a state of mind or a feeling; disposition

– People's attitude towards the skyscrapers varies widely.

– What is your attitude towards this question?• 3. avoid: v. keep away from

– To avoid confusion, the teams wore different colors.– Young ladies should learn to spend money carefully

and avoid extravagance.

VocabularyVocabulary

4. claim: v. state or declare something as a fact– Don’t claim to know what you don’t know.– The job applicant he had a college degree.– The scientists claimed to have worked out a better

solution to the problem.5. convince: v. make someone believe that something is

true or right; persuade– She failed to convince him of his mistake.– He managed to convince the jury that he was telling

the truth.6. convincing: persuasive

– That’s not a very convincing excuse for being late!– John sounded very convincing.

VocabularyVocabulary

7. evidence: n. words or things that prove something– There wasn’t enough evidence to prove him guilty of There wasn’t enough evidence to prove him guilty of

the crime.the crime.– There is some evidence that people’s purchasing There is some evidence that people’s purchasing

power is rising.power is rising.

8. exceptional: a. unusually good, outstanding– The exceptional tennis player won the The exceptional tennis player won the

championship.championship.– The girl has exceptional abilities as a pianist.The girl has exceptional abilities as a pianist.

9. influence: v. have an effect on– He was hardly influenced by the opinion that He was hardly influenced by the opinion that

surrounded him.surrounded him.– It’s your choice, don’t let anyone else influence you.It’s your choice, don’t let anyone else influence you.

VocabularyVocabulary

10. nursery: n. pre-school education primary school/elementary /secondary school college/university11. regard: v. think of

– Mary regards her job as a way to pay her bills.– Some people regard vegetable growing as a health l

eisure activity.12. reveal: v. make known; show

– What he said revealed a top secret.– A glance at the clock revealed that it was almost mi

dnight.

VocabularyVocabulary

13. supply: v. provide or furnish sth. needed

That company supplies paper to the printers.

Trees supply shade in summer.

Cows supply us with milk.

14. tend: v. be apt or inclined; be helpful

Prices are tending upward

People under stress tend to express their full range of potential.

He tends to pitch the ball too high.

15. slight: a. not important; small

slight matters

I have a slight headache.

TextText

Liberal arts :

Liberal arts refers to college or university subjects such as lit

erature,History, and political science. They are different from

prevocational or preprofessional studies, which more directly

prepare a student for specific kinds of employment. Example

s of prevocational and preprofessional studies. Include progr

ams in the health sciences, engineering, architecture, and co

mputer programming. Prevacational or peprofessional cours

es of study constitute an increasing majority of higher educat

ion programs worldwide.

Background InformationBackground Information

In the United States fewer than a third of all college st

udents graduate with bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts

subjects. Nonetheless, liberal arts education still has

passionate advocates. Defenders of the liberal arts cl

aim that abroad-based non-specialized education pre

pares young people for the variety of experiences an

d occupations they can expect to pursue over the cou

rse of a lifetime.

Background InformationBackground Information

Marie Curie(1867--1934)

Key phrasesKey phrases

• 提出，拿出 come up with• 生物学的解释 biological explanations• 足以令人信服 convincing e

nough• 指出 point out• 出生时 at birth• 抚养，培养 bring up• 导致，引发 lead to

• 对数学一筹莫展： be hopeless at maths• 可追溯到： go as far back as • 童年经历： childhood experience• 独立工作： work on one’s own• 出于社会原因： for social reasons

Paraphrases

• 1. Lines 5-9: “But the difficulty … ‘territory’.”

·But the difficulty is that when children enter schools, there will be so many other factors influencing them that it will be very hard to tell if girls are worse at science and maths or they have been reared to consider these subjects to be boys’ “fields of study”.

• 2. Lines 12-14: “While it is …at maths.

·Although in a modern society it is unthinkable that people are unable to read or write, it seems to be acceptable for women to claim that they are very bad at maths

Paraphrases• 3. Lines 24-26: “The explanation … experiences.”

·The explanation for the difference, which is apparent during the teenage years, could be found in some of the early experiences of childhood.

• 4. Lines 38-41: “Most teachers … students.”

·Most teachers taking part in the study of the difference between boys and girls said that they expect their boy students to do better at maths and science subjects than their girl students.

• 5. Lines45-47: “Interestingly, … as difficult.”

·It is interesting that both boys and girls often look upon these boy’s subjects like maths and science as difficult.

SummarySummary

Since there are so many social influences on young lear

ners like boys and girls, biological scientists have found it har

d to determine the reason why some girls are worse at maths

and science than boys. Nevertheless, recent reports have su

ggested that even from their early nursery school days, girls

are not encouraged to work independently, and in contrast, b

oys are encouraged in schools by their teachers’ expectation

that they do better than girl students. Another possible reaso

n is that girls regard maths and science as difficult “masculin

e” subjects and avoid them, although both boys and girls thin

k these subjects are difficult.

GrammarGrammar名词的复数

--- 单复同形• Chinese Japanese, sheep, deer, means, series, species, Swiss, aircraft, s

hark 等--- 合成名词变成附属时通常只将其中的主体名词变为复数

• passer(s)-by look(s)-on sister(s)-in-low grand-son(s)--- 如果没有主体名词，就在最后一个词加复数词尾

• go-between(s) draw-back(s) hand-(s)--- 由 man 和 woman 构成的合成名词，两者都要变成复数

• man doctor men doctors woman servantwomen servants --- 有些名次在固定词组中一定要用复数形式

• take pains make friends with shake hands with give respects to--- 以 -is 结尾的名词变复数时通常将 -is 变为 -es

• thesistheses axisaxes basisbases• analysisanalyses diagnosisdiagnoses crisiscris

Practical WritingPractical Writing

Business CardBusiness Card

CompanyCompany

NameName

TitleTitle

Address1 PhAddress1 Phoneone

Address2 FaAddress2 Faxx

City, State ZIP City, State ZIP

e-maile-mail

Practical WritingPractical Writing

Business CardBusiness Card

Company

Name

Title

ADDRESS1 ． ADDRESS2. CITY. STZIP

PHONE. FAX. EMAIL. WEBSITE