Unit 1 The world of our senses

1. With what do we see and hear? 2. How do we know whether a dish is delicious? How do we know that a flower has a pleasant smell? 3. What do we do when we want to know whether the water in the basin is hot or cold?

We dowiththe sense seeeyessight hear taste smell touch/feel earshearing tongue/taste buds taste nose smell hands/feet/skintouch

A person who cannot see is _____ and someone who cannot hear is _____. blind deaf What would happen if you lost one or two of your senses?

Read the passage on page 1 and answer. 1. Do you know how blind people can read? They can read by touching raised dots which represent numbers and letters. This system is called _______. Braille

2. How do the deaf communicate with each other? They use body language or sign language.

However, even if we have good senses, they can still confuse us. Look at the following pictures and try to answer the questions.

What do you see in the picture? What can you see in this picture?

Do you see a vase or two faces? If you look at the white part, you can see a vase. If you look at the black part, you can see two faces.

Which is longer? Actually the two lines are of the same length.

How can you find out whether the two lines are of the same length? We can use a ruler to measure the two lines. Or you can use two pieces of paper to cover both ends of the two lines.

Are these lines straight?

How can you prove that the two lines are straight? You can place a ruler next to the line. You can also use a ruler to draw more straight lines which run parallel to the two lines.

Are these pillars round or quadrate?

Move or not?

Count the black dots.

Is the woman real or in the jigsaw?

Why are people misled by their own eyes? Because the background or other lines confuse the eyes. Also, what we expect to see can change what we see. Actually it’s more the brain that is confused than the eyes.

1. Do you use one of your senses more than the others? Give an example. In the dark, the sense of hearing and the sense of touch become more sensitive because we can’t see anything. When we listen to our favourite music, we may close our eyes and just listen with our ears.

2. Some people cannot remember something until they have seen it. Other people only need to hear something once or twice before they can remember it. Which sense helps you learn best? How does it help you?

3. Do you know of any people who have made great achievements even if you have lost the ability to use one of their senses? What did they achieve?

There are quite a few people who have made great achievements even when they have lost one of their senses. For example, Beethoven, the great German composer.

Fill in the blanks with words relative to senses. When he got there, he _______ that there was a dark hole. He ______ into it, but could ___ nothing. He _______with his ears, he could ____ nothing, either. noticed looked see listened hear

He ________ it for a long time. He ______ something strange. He __________ the side of the hole. It ___ hot. Suddenly some noises were _____ from the hole. It ________ like someone was cooking inside. watched sensed felt/touched felt heard sounded

What do you see in this picture? Tree and birds or a woman’s face? Enjoy the pictures.

What do you see? flowers or a woman’s face?

Which hand is drawing picture?

Find information about some famous people who are disabled yet they made great contributions to the world.