Unit 2 Working the land
Using language
chemical
production
bacteria
pest
nutrition
mineral
adj. 化学的；关于化学的
n. 生产；制造
n. 细菌
n. 害虫；害兽；害鸟
n. 营养；滋养；食物
n. 矿物；矿石
discovery
focus

soil
reduce
root
n. 发现；发觉
n. 焦点；中心点
vt. 集中；聚焦
n. 土壤
vt. 减少；减缩
n. 根；根源
skim
underline
summary
comment
vt. 浏览；略读
vt. 画底线标出；强调
n. 总结；摘要；概要
n. 评论；议论
vi.& vt. 表达意见;
做出评论
build up
lead to
focus on
keep… free
from/of
逐渐增强; 建立; 开发
导致; 造成 (后果)
集中 (注意力，精力等) 于
使…免受(影响，伤害等)；
使…不含(有害物)
Organic Farming
What are genetically-modified foods?
The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques.
What are some of the advantages of GM foods?
The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways:
1).pest resistance
2).disease resistance
3).cold tolerance
4).drought tolerance/salinity
tolerance
5).nutrition
What are some of the criticisms against GM foods?
Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns.
Read and answer:
What is the main idea of this passage?
This passage tells us something about
organic farming. It means growing crops
without chemical fertilizers which damage
the soil. The organic farmers keep the
soilrich and healthy in several ways.
1 Why are chemical fertilizers so popular
in farming today?
2 What problems can be caused by using
chemical fertilizers?
3 What is organic farming?
4 What is the main reason for using
organic farming methods?
Read the passage and answer the following questions.
1 Why are chemical fertilizers so popular in farming today?
They are a great way to stop crop disease and increase production.
2 What problems can be caused by
using chemical fertilizers?
They can damage the land by killing helpful bacteria and pets and by staying in the ground and underground water for a long time, They damage people's health by building up in their bodies and leading to cancer or other illnesses.
3 What is organic farming?
4 What is the main reason for using
organic farming methods?
Organic farming means growing crops
without using any chemicals.
The main reason for using organic farming methods is to grow good food and to avoid damaging the environment or people’s health.
Find and write down the methods and
advantages in the passage.
Language points
1 These chemicals in the food supply
build up in people’s bodies over time.
build up  增强; 建立；开发
Hard working conditions build up
character.
艰苦的工作条件能磨练人的性格。
2 Many of these chemicals can lead to
cancer or other illnesses.
lead to: 导致；造成
Too much work and too little rest
often lead to illness.
 过量的工作和过少的休息会引起疾病。
All roads lead to Rome. 
条条大道通罗马。
3 They focus on keeping their soil rich and free of disease.
focus on:集中(注意力，精力等）于
You should focus your attention on
your work.把注意力集中在你的工作上。
Olympus: Focus on life.奥林巴斯：瞄准生活。
4 This also keeps the air, soil, water and crops free from chemicals.
keeps… free from /of: 使…免受（影
响，伤害登）；使不含（有害物）
keep from:  阻止; 妨碍
I hope you will keep from doing
anything rash. 
我希望你不要做出任何鲁莽的事情来。
Listening
chemical fertilizer
cow dung
用化学肥料和有机肥料的区别:
The possible bad effects of chemical
fertilizers on the fruit and vegetables
that we eat today.
As you listen to this dialogue, keep in mind what you have just read about chemical fertilizers. What is the main topic of the conversation?
Listen to the dialogue a second time.
Decide if the following statements are
true or false, according to the conversation.
Give your reasons.
1 Paul thinks that Carrie is not telling
him the truth.
2 Using chemical fertilizers always
makes vegetables empty inside.
True
False
3 Today’s fruit is not as healthy for
people as fruit fifty years ago.
4 Eating more vegetables might not
always be good for us.
5 All of today’s vegetables look
healthy but in fact are not.
False
True
True
Listening text
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE
VEGETABLES?
Girl: Hey, Paul, listen to this … a
magazine article about a farmer
who used too much chemical
fertilizer on his fields. When his
vegetables were picked, they were
all found to be empty!
BOY: Empty? You’re joking, Carrie …
that can’t be true!
Girl: I didn’t believe it either! This article
says this can happen sometimes with
vegetables like cucumbers, carrots
and pumpkins. This chemical
fertilizer makes the vegetables grow
fast to look big and beautiful, but
they’re empty inside!
BOY: You know, I’ve noticed that
sometimes my mum buys carrots
from the supermarket that have big
holes down the center. I guess that
must be from using chemical
fertilizers!
GIRL: Yeah, that’s what the magazine says!
The main point of the article, though,
isn’t about holes in our vegetables.
It’s talking about why the fruit and
vegetables we eat today aren’t as
nutritious as the ones our
grandparents ate.
BOY: What? My mum is always telling me
to eat more vegetables, because
they’re good for me!
GIRL: Yeah, I know – my mother says that
same thing! And it’s true -
they are good for us… but the problem is that they aren’t healthy enough! All these chemical fertilizers – they kill off both the bad and the good things in the ground. The ground doesn’t have enough vitamins and minerals any more to help crops grow healthy.
BOY: So … if our fruit and vegetables
were grown with chemical
fertilizers, they might look
healthy, but probably aren’t
really healthy? I guess we’ve got
to stop using so many chemical
fertilizers to grow our food!
Write a summary of the
text following the
procedure on page 15.
Homework
Thank you.