Period 4 Reading and discussing

What is a robot? A robot is a machine designed to do jobs that are usually performed by humans.

A biography of Isaac Asimov Reading

Skimming: Glance through the passage and then find out the answers to such questions: 1.Which paragraph tells you when and where Asimov was born and died? 2.Which paragraph tells you about his education? 3.Which paragraph tells you about awards he received? Para.2 Para.3 Para.5

Listen to the text and then find out the answers to the following questions: 1.What subject did Asimov teach? 2.When did he start having stories published? 3.How many children did he have? Scanning He taught biochemistry. In Two children, a son and a daughter.

Read the biography carefully and completed the timeline of the events in his life. Detail reading

Date Event Born in Russia. Parents bought a candy store. Started to take himself seriously as a writer. Mother had her third child Sister born. Moved with family to New York. Started working in candy store.

1939 _____ _____ ___________________________ __________________________. Began having stories published in science fiction magazine Gained Masters degree in chemistry. Finished working in candy store. ________________________. Got married ______________________________ ____________________________. Worked as junior chemist, Philadelphia Navy Yard Got PhD in chemistry

_____ _____ Became a biochemistry teacher, Boston University School of Medicine. Published his first novel. ______________________. Developed three laws for robots. Published “I, Robot” Published “The Foundation Trilogy” and won an award for it. Published first science book. Became a full-time writer

1973 _____ 1992 Divorced his first wife. ____________________________. Had a blood transfusion. Became infected with HIV. ___________________________. Married for a second wife 1983 Died in New York

Asimov’s Laws For Robots First Law : A robot must not injure human beings or allow them to be injured. Second Law : A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings (as long as human being are not injured ). Third Law : A robot must protect its own existence (as long as human beings are not injured; and as long as the robot does not disobey the human beings).

1.Which law is the story “Satisfaction Guaranteed” based on ? 2.What might happen in a world where there were robots if Asimov’s three laws did not exist. Discussion

Translate the following expressions into English. 科幻小说 由于 …… 的 结果 认真对待某人某物 获得硕士学位 放弃教学成为专职作家 因 …… 而出名 作为 …… 而出名 为（某人）所知或熟悉 science fiction stories as a result of take sb./sth. seriously gain a Master’s degree be famous/well-known for be famous/well-known as be famous/well-known to give up teaching to become a full-time writer

Difficulties 难点 1.Asimov had both an extraordinary imagination that gave him the ability to explore future worlds and an amazing mind with which he searched for explanations of everything, in the present and the past. 阿西莫夫不仅有着超凡的想象力，使他能对未来 世界进行探索，而且有着惊人的智力，使他能对现 在的和过去的各种事物做出解释。

2.It was when Asimov was eleven years old that his talent for writing became obvious. 在阿西莫 11 岁的时候，他的写作才华就已经显露 出来了。

1.Have you got any ideas about the recent development of robots? If you haven’t, you can search the internet for more information after class. 2.Can you finish the table on page17 by yourself just now?And how many answers can you get correctly? If you can’t, you should practice reading more. 3.How many phrases can you write out just now? (8 in total) If you can’t write out them,you should read the passage carefully after class. What have you learned in the class?

Homework 1.Surf the internet to learn more about robots and science fiction. 2.Design a robot and write a paragraph describing your robot and what it can do.