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课件网) Unit 3 The seasons Key question What do you know about the seasons Do you know how the ancient Chinese divided up a year In ancient China, a year was divided into 24 parts. Each part started with a solar term. The 24 solar terms The months of the traditional Chinese calendar follow the moon, but did you know that the calendar also follows the sun In fact, the year is divided into 24 parts, based on where the sun is in the sky. Each part starts with a solar term, or jieqi in Chinese. These solar terms follow the changes of the seasons and the weather. The “Start of Spring”, “Start of Summer”, “Start of Autumn” and “Start of Winter” divide the year into four seasons. Each of the seasons is then divided into six parts, and each part lasts about 15 days. The solar terms can fall on different dates. They sometimes move a day or two. The 24 solar terms are very useful in daily life. For example, they help farmers decide when to plant their crops. The solar terms also play an important part in traditional Chinese culture. People celebrated these days in different ways in the past, such as eating special local dishes. Many of these traditions continue in our times. For example, people still eat spring rolls and spring pancakes to celebrate the “Start of Spring”. Task 1 Read the article quickly to get an idea of the structure. Match the paragraphs with the key questions. a. Why are solar terms useful b. How do people use solar terms to divide up the year c. What are solar terms Paragraph 1 _____ Paragraph 2 _____ Paragraph 3 _____ c b a Task 2 Read the article again and answer the questions. Think—Pair—Share! (1) Why does the writer say “... the calendar also follows the sun” Because the year is divided into 24 parts, based on where the sun is in the sky. (2) Why are the 24 solar terms very useful in daily life Because they help farmers decide when to plant their crops. (3) How do people celebrate the “Start of Spring” They eat spring rolls and spring pancakes. Task 3 Learn some new words and understand difficult sentences. Circle the new words and guess their meanings from context. Underline some difficult sentences and analyse them with your classmates. for example和such as for example通常用于引入一个具体的例子来说明或支持前一句话的观点，可以缩写为 "e.g."。 There is a similar word in many languages, for example in French and Italian. The report is incomplete; it does not include sales in France, for example. such as用来列举特定的例子，通常是一系列中的几个。暗示还有更多的例子，但只列举部分。 There are many sports that can help improve your health, such as swimming, running, and cycling. Difficult sentence Line 2: In fact, the year is divided into 24 parts, based on where the sun is in the sky. 实际上，一年的时间依据太阳在天空中的位置，被划分为24个部分。 in fact意为“事实上，实际上”；be divided into意为“被划分为”；be based on意为“基于”。 Task 4 Watch a video clip from th ... ...
