Stories from History By yu yu-ping

Volcanic eruption

Pompeii

On August 23, 79 AD, Pompeii looked like any other busy, prosperous city. People were moving about, trading goods, news, and friendly talk.

Three days later, on August 26, all of these sounds had fallen silent, and the place itself had vanished. Almost nothing was seen of Pompeii for more than 1500

years. Now, more than 1900 years later, we are learning more and more about the last days of Pompeii.

1. Once, there was a thriving city. But one day, it suddenly disappeared. Use your imagination, and see how this tragedy happened. Discussion

2. Do you know any city that disappeared within a minute? Pompeii 3. Read the title, can you guess from the title what the article is about? It is about a city named Pompeii.

First Reading: Read the whole passage quickly, and try to find out what happened to Pompeii. It was destroyed and covered by a volcanic eruption and discovered again by some archaeologists 1,600 years later.

Second Reading: write down the things in connection with the following numbers: August, 24th, 79 AD: The eruption had occurred and destroyed the whole city.

1,600: More than 1,600 years later, some scientists found the lost towns that had been buried under the ashes.

1748: By 1748, scientists had found an awesome historical site. 250: More than 250 years after scientists found the city,

thousands of tourists and hundreds of scientists visit Pompeii every year to learn more about the ancient world.

Go through the whole passage, and find out what the following people did. Pliny: People in Pompeii: scientists: Third Reading: Note-taking

a Roman writer wrote about a terrible volcanic eruption described a cloud coming down the mountain, blocking out the sun and burying everything in its path, including whole villages and towns. Pliny:

Those sad events left a deep impression on Pliny. People in Pompeii: disappeared under the ashes were gradually forgotten by the world gathered together for protection in their last hours of life.

One person, sitting alone, looks like he is praying. Another man, lying on his side, looks as if he is trying to get up.

found the lost towns found an awesome historical site and started to dig out the ancient city of Pompeii hundreds of scientists visit Pompeii every year to learn more about the ancient world Those scientists:

Answer the questions in exercise2 1. Why does the article describe Pompeii as a “time capsule” ? Because it preserves a frozen moment in history.

2. What had Pompeii been like before the eruption? Before the eruption occurred, it had been a booming roman city with temples, markets, restaurants, and theaters.

3. What can you see If you walk in the streets of Pompeii today? Now as you walk along the streets of the city, you can admire the ancient architecture, statues, decorated walls and authentic objects characteristic of the time.

1. He had witnessed as a young man… v. see something by oneself 2. The eruption had occurred on August 24th, 79AD. take place, happen (Vi.) Paraphrase

3. The earth began to tremble and a volcano… shake 4. He described a cloud coming down the mountain, blocking out the sun and burying everything in its path.

hide the sun from being seen/ bury everything when it was passing 5. Time rewinds. v. go back to ancient times

6. You can admire the ancient architectures, statues, decorated walls and authentic objects characteristics of the time. typical of that time 7. One person, sitting alone, looks like he is praying.

alone is an adverb( 副词 ). 8. One can only feel sorry and deep sympathy for these once-living statues. 9. The city lives on nearly 2,000 years after its loss. keep alive

a container used to store for children a selection of objects thought to be representative of life at a particular time. Time capsules are interesting to people of all ages. 10. Time capsule

Write to yourself an , and receive it 20 years later. What will the feeling be? the Forbes provides an interesting service, kinda TIME CAPSULE. but the 'capsule' would be an e- mail.

you may send s to yourself, and decide the mails to be received 1 or 3 or 5 or 10 or even 20 years later! the mails will be kept and sent by yahoo.

Changes of Pompeii City: A thriving Roman city with temples, markets, restaurants and theatres, works of art on walls; Summary

destroyed and covered by a terrible volcanic eruption; people disappeared and forgotten by the world; the locations of the buried towns and villages were lost.

discovered by some scientists; visited by tourists and scientists every year

Grammar Past Perfect tense 1. Pliny wrote about a terrible volcanic eruption that he had witnessed as a young man.

2. However, more than 1, 600 years later, some scientists found the lost towns that had been buried under the ashes. 3. Before the eruption occurred, it had been a booming Roman city.

4. The bodies of people who had died in Pompeii left impressions in the ash...

It shows an event that happened earlier, before the other past event in the story. 1. The audience left after the film had finished. What is past perfect tense?

2. We got married a year after we had fallen in love with each other. 3. By the time I got home, the others had eaten all the food. 4. We arrived at the cinema late after the film had started.

5. When I had arrived home and looked around, I saw that a burglar had stole my CD player.

Henry, from London, married Anna from Poland. He once told a reporter that he had never been in love until he met Anna. Oral Exercise

Suppose you were Henry, what else would you like to say to the reporter? Visit Poland…fall in love with a girl…eat Polish food…want children…spend all his time on one person…talk so openly…