Unit 5

I. Passages ReadingII. ListeningIII. SpeakingIV. Writing

I. Passages Reading:

A. Coughing for a million

B. Betting

Coughing for A Coughing for A MillionMillion

Coughing for A Coughing for A MillionMillion

Background Information

Some Basic Facts about TV Game Shows:

TV game shows are popular all over the world. They are TV programs in which people play games or answer questions to win prizes. There are usually several stages in each game. With the advancement of stages, the challenges are more and more difficult, and the prizes are higher and higher. Many contestants and audiences are attracted by the high prizes and the excitement of the shows. In order to win a high prize, some contestants even use some illegal methods. But once cheating is discovered in these games, the winners will have to return all their winnings, and face legal prosecution.

Warm up questions:

1. Have you ever been cheated or

do you know any stories about

cheaters?

2. What is your favorite TV game?

Please describe it.

Who wants to be a millionaire? has been one of the most popular television game shows, not only in Britain, but also around the world. In the show, the host asks a question and gives the contestant four possible answers. If the contestant gets the right answer, he will win the money—say 100 pounds—and then go on to the next question for, say, 250 pounds. The money increases for each question until, if the contestant has answered all the other questions correctly, the prize for the final question is one million pounds.

a. num. 1,000,000;b.(pl.) a large amount; 3 million, millions

of

continue

It’s a time adverbial clause linked by “until”,

in which a condition adverbial clause linked by

‘if’ is contained.

In this extract from a British show some years ago, the host of the show is television personality Chris Tarrant. Answering the questions is a veteran officer, Charles Ingram.

1. He has already become a personality in the news.

2. Parents should help the children build up a good personality.

Terrant: What kind of garment is an “Anthony Eden”? An overcoat, hat, shoe, tie?

Ingram: I think it is a hat. A cough from the audience.Ingram: Again I’m not sure. (Haltingly) I think it is

… Coughing from the audience.Ingram: I am sure it is a hat. Am I sure? Coughing from the audience.Ingram: Yes, hat, it’s a hat.

1. ad. stopping and starting often, not fluently; 2. halt, v. to stop moving: The soldier halted for a rest.

It is a collective noun, having no

plural form; people who listen to an

opera or a concert are called audience,

but the ones watching sports

games are spectators.

The answer—the name for a peculiar type of British hat that nobody wears any more—earned Charles Ingram 250,000 pounds. Two questions later, he had won a million pounds, and the audience in the studio went crazy. But something wasn’t quite right. As he progressed through the various phases, Charles Ingram didn’t really seem very sure of himself; it seemed apparent that he didn’t know the answer at first, so he must have been very good at guessing. Unless he wasn’t guessing. To many in the audience that night, it seemed as if he kept changing his mind and frequently repeated an answer as if waiting for signal. He was.

odd, abnormal

Develop; move on: Mary is

progressing in playing tennis.

Steps; sections; aspects

The former as if links a noun clause functioning as a predicative ； the latter one leads an ellipsis adverbial clause of manner, meaning “as if he was waiting for a signal”. Besides, when the subject of the main sentence and of the clause linked by “as if/as though” is the same, the one of the clause can be omitted: She stood up as if to say something.

Charles Ingram’s wife Diana was in the audience, and so was a man with the extraordinary name of Tecwen Whittock. At first, people might have been sympathetic toward Whittock. Maybe he had a bad cough. But a man sitting next to him in the audience noticed that there was something strange about the cough. It was too loud, and it wasn’t very regular. It only happened occasionally, almost as if he was coughing on purpose.

He was.

special

commiserative; pitiful

sometimes but not often

Intentionally; purpose: n. goal, intention: He wandered on the street without purpose.

The three of them, Charles Ingram, Diana Ingram and Tecwen Whittock, had done the whole thing deliberately. Whittock coughed to tell Charles when he had the correct answer. The police began to notice it in the television control room, but at first they didn’t believe what they were seeing. In the end, though, it was just too obvious, and the three cheaters were accused.

thoughtfully, considerately

Charge, sue; complain

When tapes from the program were played to a court in London a year later to verify their guilt, there was no doubt. Charles and Diana Ingram were guilty of cheating in a game show. They were given prison sentences of 18 months and fined 15,000 pounds each. Tecwen Whittock was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined 10,000 pounds. None of them actually went to prison, however, because the sentences were “suspended” —which means that they would not go to prison unless they committed another crime.

Prove, identify

Crime; guilty is its adj.

Postpone, defer

condemn

Did the Ingrams and Tecwen Whittock get an appropriate sentence? How “bad” is it to cheat a television game show in which winning money is a matter of chance anyway? It is crimes like this that challenge our notions of what is right and what is wrong, and since administering justice in the courts means that we have to decide on how serious an offence is (is robbery more or less serious than driving too fast, for example), the case of the cheating Ingrams is an excellent one to consider.

proper; resonable

It’s an emphasized sentence, stressing

on “crimes like this”. Challenge: v. question; threat; n.

©. Difficulties. Notion: conception;

idea

carrying out the law

n. (c.): Have you heard about that bank robbery?Rob: v. They knocked him down and robbed him of his briefcase.Robber: n. Both the robbers and the thieves should be sent to prison.

“ So many people want to be someone else that they cheat themselves of who they are” - Alex Fairfield

Our notions about what is right and what is wrong are challenged.

BettingBettingBettingBetting

Vt. I bet it will rain soon.

vi. I never bet on horses.

n. (c.) I did all the things for a bet.

Warm up questions

1. Do you bet? What kind of betting do you play? Can you list some more?

2. Why people like betting?

Some people love to bet. They bet on everything. “I bet you that it will rain this afternoon.” “I bet you that the next person who comes into this room will be a bachelor.” “I bet you are chasing that girl.” “I bet you that I will win our next bet.”

The most popular kind of betting is probably the lottery. Many countries of the world have lotteries, and millions of people play the lottery every day. It’s easy. (You buy a ticket with a number on it. If that is the lucky number, you will win a prize. The prize is usually money, but it can also be something else—a house, a car, or a trip.)

A single man; the name of a

degree—Master

—Doctor

In most places there are different kinds of lottery tickets. Some tickets with quite a long number can give different prizes, for example, a ticket with the numbers 83742951 could give $20 to people who have the last four numbers, 2951; $2,000 for the last six numbers, 742951; and $1 million for the whole number.

People have different ways of choosing numbers. Some people use the number on the license plate of their car. Others use their address or their birth date. In some countries there are books of lucky numbers. The book has a special number for everything. If you dreamed about your mother, there is a special number to play. If you met your uncle, there is a special number to play. If you saw a dog with red hair, there is a special number. Some people are superstitious. They always buy their tickets from the same person. Or they ask a child to buy a ticket for them.

1.n.; 2. vt: They had licensed our company to prin the

book.

a. 迷信的 n. superstition: It’s a

common superstition that black cat is

unlucky.

• In some places the amount of lottery money is enormous. It is possible to win a million dollars. So people play the lottery every day, and they spend a lot of money. But only a few people win. Most people lose.

• What happens to all the money in the lottery? It often goes to the city councils. They city councils usually budget the money for education, for health or for new public residences.

市政厅； The Council of Ministers is the real power in the

EEC.

Another kind of betting is betting on races. The most common race is the horse race, but there are also dog races, turtle races, mice races, and ostrich races. Some people try to be scientific when they bet on horse races. They look at the horse’s weight. They find out if the horse won or lost before. They look at the jockey’s weight. They find out if the horse likes to run on wet earth or on dry earth. They compare all the horses in a race. Then they make a bet.

n. competition; v. to move very quickly: The car raced along the

road.

1.A teacher’s work is often

compared to the burning of a

candle.( 比作 )2. Walking can’t compare with

flying. （比较）

Others are not so scientific. They follow their instinct. They just look at a horse and, if they like it, they bet. Others don’t even look at the horses. If they like the horse’s name, they bet on that horse. And others close their eyes and put their hand on a list of horses; the horse’s name that is closest to their thumb is the lucky one! People also bet on sporting events—on football games, basketball games, and so forth.

Feeling, natural ability

Index finger, middle finger,

ring finger, little finger

In some parts of the world betting is forbidden and not legal. The communities feel that people who bet may lose too much money. Most of the people who bet are poor, for betting takes money away from the people who need it. For other people, betting is a religious problem. Their religion tells them that betting is a sin.

Adj. excluded from use or mention: forbidden city;

forbid: v. His mother forbad him to swim in the river.

to explain why they are poor

Vice, crime

However, most people of the

world believe in the idea of luck, and they associate it with betting. There are many expressions like “Good luck!” or “This is my lucky day.” If people think that they are lucky, betting will always seem worthwhile.

to have faith or trust in; followed only by nouns;

believe: to consider to be true, honest, real(could have an objective clause followed) :

You can’t believe everything one says.

v. Connect with

n. A business associate( 伙

伴 )a. An associate director( 副的 )

Worthwhile: a. good enough for the time, effort

you spend.Worthy: a. 1) It’s

worthy to be remembered. 2)

He is a poet worthy of the

name.Worth: n./a. What is worth doing is worth doing well.

II. Listening

Listening: 1. Listen to a conversation on the text only once and then fill in the blanks according to what you’ve just

heard.

• W: Can you (1) that some people cheated in a television game show, and won a lot of money?

• M: Really? How did they do that (2) ?• W: Well, it is said that three people — a couple and one of their

friends had (3) __________planned the whole thing. When the husband was answering the questions on the (4) , the friend tried to give him (5) .

• M: Unbelievable! But in what way did they pass the message?• W: The friend sat in the (6) . He coughed to tell the

husband that he had the (7) answer.• M: How could they do that in full view of the audience? Were they

caught in the show?• W: No. But they were proved (8) of cheating afterwards.• M: Then they had to (9) the prize they had won, didn’t

they?• W: Absolutely, what’s more, all of them were (10) to prison

and they had to pay a fine.• M: Serves them right!

imagine

anyway

deliberatelystage

signals

audiencecorrect

guiltyreturn

sentenced

Listening: 2. Listen to an English song twice and then put the following in the correct order according to what you’ve just

heard.

• Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word• (1) It’s sad, so sad. It’s a sad, sad situation• (2) What have I got to do to make you care• (3) Sorry seems to be the hardest word• (4) What have I got to do to be heard• (5) Why can’t we talk it over• (6) That sorry seems to be the hardest word• (7) Oh it seems to me• (8) And I wake to find that you’re not there• (9) What do I say when it’s all over• (10) It’s sad, so sad• (11) What do I do when lightning strikes me• (12) What have I got to do to make you love me• (13) What do I do to make you want me• (14) And it’s getting more and more absurd

key

(12) - (2) - (11) - (8) - (13) - (4) - (9) - (3) - (1) - (14) - (10)- (5) -

(7) - (6)

Listening: 3. Listen to a passage twice and then answer the questions.

• (1) What did the king give to all the children in the country?• _________________________________________________• (2) Did all the children come to the king with their beautiful

flowers?• ___________________________________________________• (3) Which boy did the king say would be the new king? Why?• ___________________________________________________• (4) Why didn’t flowers come out from the pot?• ___________________________________________________• (5) What moral lesson can you learn from the passage?• _________________________________________________

Some flower seeds.

No. One boy carried an empty pot.

The boy carrying an empty pot would be the new king. Because he was honest.

Because all the flower seeds had been boiled.

Honesty is the best policy and it will be best rewarded.

III. SpeakingApology

Model conversation

Expressing Apologies

I’m awfully sorry.Please forgive me for…I hope you will excuse

me.I really didn’t mean to…I really feel bad about…

Accepting Apologies

That’s all right.

That’s OK.

You don’t have to say you’re sorry. I understand.

No problem. We all make mistakes.

Never mind.Forget it.

Tom: Why didn’t you come to my birthday party yesterday? You had promised to come.Mary: I’m awfully sorry about that. But something urgent happened.Tom: What could stop you from coming? We were all looking forward to seeing you.Mary: When I was just about to leave, my baby brother fell out of his bed and injured his head, and we had to send him to hospital.Tom: Oh, I see. But if you had called me…Mary: We were in such a hurry that I even forgot to give you a call. I really hope you will excuse me.Tom: That’s totally understandable! How is your brother now?Mary: The injury was not serious, and it is a good lesson for him. By the way, did you have a good time at the party?Tom: It was wonderful. I got many presents. It was a pity that you were not there.Mary: It was. How I wish I could have come!

IV. WritingA letter of apology

The content of a letter of apology:a. To express apology;b. The reason for apology;c. The reason for the mistake;d. The way to make up the mistake;e. To ask for the forgiveness;f. To apologize again.Ps: The words in this letter should be expressed in a sincere way

and the reason must be true, in order to be forgiven by the receiver, and stimulate the relationship.

Useful expressions:1. I do apologize for…2. I feel terribly sorry for…3. I regret that…4. I hope you can understand my situation and accept my

apology.5. I would be very much obliged if you could forgive me for…

November, 6Dear Linda,I’m really sorry that I cannot keep my promise that I will go to Nanjing to spend a week with you this winter holiday as we had planned, because I have just learned that there will be an important exam at the beginning of next term. To pass the exam, I will have to prepare for it during the whole holiday.My apology again, and I promise that I will visit you during the summer holiday.

Sincerely yours, Tina

Model letter