新编英语教程 5 Unit 5 教案

Unit Five

TEXT 1

THE PLUG-IN DRUG:

TV AND THE AMERICAN FAMILY

Marie Winn

Objectives: to scan for the writer’s opinions on the positive and negative effects of TV on American families.

to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of watching TV in China.

to learn the writing skill - cause and effect used in this article and write an essay on the effects that computer exerts on people.

Pre-reading questions:

1.The history, present and future of TV

History: no more than 60 years

Present:Multiple-set family, portable, as small as passport-sized, as large as 35 inches, on the table or on the wall, cable TV receiving more channels in the world, …

Future:Digital, connected with computer and video-on-demand television 点播式电视

2. Can you infer from the subtitle of the essay TV and the American Family the meaning of the main title The Plug-in Drug? What does the word drug imply? (Pre-reading question 1)

Drug in one sense is a habit-forming substance one takes for pleasure or excitement. Harmful drugs include tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, opium, etc. The plug-in drug is a term used by the author to refer to TV which works when it is plugged in. TV is compared to a drug because, on the one hand, the American family has formed the habit of watching TV at leisure time and, on the other hand, TV has undesirable effects on the family.

3. How often do you watch TV? What do you think of the advantages and disadvantages of watching TV? (We often come upon such discussion in

conversation or in writing.)

4. What do you think this essay is about? What do you think of the effects that TV has on the American family?

Some other adv. and the disadv are discussed in the essay.

In-reading Interpretation

Para.1

1. A quarter of a century… and ordinary part of daily life.

--- Analyze the structure of the first sentence.

Main clause: television viewing has become an inevitable and ordinary part of daily life.

Adverbial phrase: a quarter of a century after the introduction of ...

a period that has been seen the medium....

--- Can you infer from this sentence when television was first introduced into American society? (comp.3-1)

A quarter of a century after the introduction of TV:In the early 50’s, if we tak e 1977, the date of the publication of Winn’s book The Plug-In Drug, as the basis of inference. Many reference books give an earlier date, though. (as is shown in note 1) --- Explain a period that has seen the medium become so deeply ingrained in American life that in at least one state the television set has attained the rank of a legal necessity, safe from repossession in case of debt along with clothes, cooling utensils, and like.(comp. 3-2)

medium = TV

ingrained = fixed, rooted

The TV set has become so important in the life of a family that its possession is guaranteed by law. Even when a person is in debt, it cannot be taken away from him by whomever he owes a debt as clothes, cooking utensils, and the like.

2.Only in the early years …the effects of television on family life.

In other words, people at that time didn’t realize the effects that TV would exert on its viewer. Watching TV was just considered as an activity of sitting before the screen. Nothing was taken into account as to what they were watching, e.g. whether there was too much violence or sex shown on the screen, which would bring about

more juvenile delinquency in the country. Small attention was given to the influences of TV programs. If there was any, what they concerned about is only the effects of TV on family life. This is, according to the author, a myopia.

3. Why does Winn accuse the early observers of myopia? (comp. 3-3) i.e. interpret almost without exception … influence upon the family.

The early observers only saw the favorable effects of TV and none of them was sufficiently far-sighted to predict the negative effects of TV in the future. That’s why they are accused of myopia, i.e., short-sightedness.

Paras. 2-5

1.What were the positive effects of TV that early writers and commentators

observed or predicted?

Para. 2: Every family with children would have TV. It seemed that TV was created to meet the needs of children.

Para. 3: TV would change people’s way of living and children’s habits for the better.

Para. 4: TV was beneficial for the happiness of a family.

Para. 5: A beautiful picture of a happy family was shown here: a family cozily sitting … around Mom’s shoulder.

But now, with the development of television, there are more and more multiple-set families in which each family member watches his favorite TV programs in their own place: Granny the operas in Channel 3, Daddy Sports Channel 5, Mummy Movie Channel 6, and child all the cartoons in all the channels. My son enjoys all the cartoons and Kungfu films. Whenever there is a conflict in choosing the channels, we are forced to sit before the smaller and not-so-well-working TV set, and he is always the winner in such conflicts. It is said that the only-child cannot find companionship in his family, but according to my observation, it is not the fact that he can’t find anybody to play games with –parents are willing and ready to offer companionship, but the fact that he doesn’t like to. What he likes is to watch cartoon films and play computer games himself.

This is the side effects of having multiple TV sets and multiple computers in a family: closer relationship between human and machine, distant relationship between human beings.

This is what the early observers failed to observe. So they were myopic.

Para. 6

1. Are there any other facts that show they are myopic, or they failed to foresee?

The price goes lower and lower so that more and more families own two or more sets; the number of hours children / people devote to TV is longer owing to the richer programs perhaps; more functions or roles that TV plays: as a child pacifier, or electronic baby-sitter (e.g. encourage the child to watch TV when parents are busy), television-dominated family (e.g. supper after 6:40, or 7:00 when cartoons are over), influence on child-rearing methods (e.g. less communication and understanding between parents and children, more knowledge from TV).

These are the negative effects that early observers failed to predict.

Para. 7

1. But a few years after television is invented, children became more and more interested in it and spent more and more time before it. Parents show more and more concern about the influences that TV might have on their children. In other words, they were more and more anxious about the ill-effects or disadvantages of watching TV. (ll. 32-4)

What did the writers and commentators say to the parents?

refrain = a regularly occurring melody; a much repeated saying or idea. In this context the word is used in the second sense. It refers to the quotation that follows. (comp. 3-4)

A confirmation arose saying that it was for sure that TV exerted influences on the home, the peer group, the school, the church, and culture generally, but there would be no ill-effects of too much TV viewing so long as your family life went on well. In other words, if your family life goes wrong, it is not at all television’s fault. So they soothed and reassure the anxious parents that it’s of no need to worry about their children’s watching TV so much.

What do you think of this idea?

Para.8: other ill-effects besides those on children in the previous para.

1. Rephrase it deeply influences that ‘pattern of influences’ that is meant to

ameliorate its effects.

2. Rephrase The peer group has become television-oriented, and much of the time children spend together is occupied by television viewing. (LW 6-1)

Children have become television addicts, devoting much of the time when they are together to watching TV. When they come together, there is no games, no hide-and-seek, no singing, but watching TV or video only.

3. How do you understand Culture generally has been transformed by television.

Spring Festival Gala/Entertainment,

4. It is improper to assign to television the subsidiary role its many apologists (too often members of the television industry) insist it play.

--- What do television producers (= members of the television industry ) think of the role that it plays?

subsidiary role, not the most important role, so they apologize. By saying so, they actually deny the great ill-effects of TV on people. What they acknowledge and insist is that TV is only of minor importance in influencing children’s lives. All the manufacturers claim the high benefits to the consumers besides the high quality of their products other than the harms and negative effects.

--- What does the writer think of this opinion?

improper, i.e. not the subsidiary role, but … (the following sentence.)

5. Rephrase Television is not merely one of a number of important influences upon today’s child. Through the changes it has made in family life, television emerges as the important influence in children’s lives today. (LW 6-2, 3)

Television is not simply just one among many important factors that may influence a child today. Television has brought about great changes in family life, playing the dominant role in shaping the lives of children today. To put it simple, television does not only exerts great influences on today’s child, but also their lives since it influences the family life.

So television plays the important role in children’s lives as stated above.

Para.9

1. How do you interpret the seemingly paradoxical statement ‘While it has, indeed,

kept the members of the family from dispersing, it has not served to bring them together.’ (comp.3-5)

The TV helps to keep all the family members in the house in a physical sense. But they are not really doing things together. Instead, they watch their own favorite program with little interaction between them. In this sense the TV undermines the relationships between family members.

Since most people live a family life that is dominated by watching TV, there is little distinction between families. It seems what all the families do is watching TV without their own special rituals, games, recurrent jokes, familiar songs, and shared activities.

Para. 10

1. Rephrase the television set casts its magic spell, freezing speech and action, turning the living into silent statues so long as the enchantment lasts.(LW6-4) enchantment = being delighted; referring to TV programs

Once TV set is plugged in, it functions as a magician, freezing the speech and action, keeping the viewer stationery before the screen until ‘Good-bye’ is shown. Or, the television has its magic power over people. As soon as the television is on, people stop talking and doing anything else, growing to be lifeless statues before the TV screen. They will remain so till the end of the program.

2. The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behavior it produces as in the behavior it prevents: the talks, the games, the family festivities and arguments through which much of the child’s learning takes place and through which his character is formed.

--- What is the behavior that TV screen produces? (watching TV)

--- What is the behavior that TV screen prevents? (the talk, the game, the family festivities and arguments)

--- Pay attention to the pattern ‘not so much … as …’.

--- Which is more dangerous, the behavior TV screen produces or the behavior it prevents? (the latter behavior) Why?

Children can learn a lot from all these activities, and they form their character to some extent in the process of these activities.

3. Rephrase Turning on the television set can turn off the process that transforms

children into people. (LW6-5) 打开电视的同时，便关闭了成长通途之大门。

The moment a child sits down to watch television is the moment his growth towards maturity is suspended. i.e. Watching TV all the time prevents a child from growing into maturity.

Para. 11

Parents become used to a television-dominated family life so that they can’t see the danger, the problems, the negative effects of so much television viewing.

Paras. 12-14: examples of two families demonstrating parent’s ignorance of the negative effects of watching TV

1.Describe the television-dominated life of the only-child family.

Background knowledge: In Western countries people go to work in the morning after taking their breakfast. They have lunch in their companies or some snack bar, or Macdonald, KFC, Jack’s Steak, Delifrance, or the like. C hildren have their lunch in the school. No naps at all. Only one hour lunch time. They come back home at around 6:30 in the evening for the dinner. If Mother acts as a housewife, dinner will be ready when her husband and children return. If the wife d oesn’t quit her job after her marriage and there is a small baby, they send it to a baby-sitter early in the morning and pick it up when they go off work. As soon as returning home, parents, usu. Mother, will be busy fixing the dinner while children doing things of their own.

2.Describe the television-dominated life of the family with two boys.

2 and 1/2 hours 两个半小时(150 mins.)，2 half-hour 两个半小时(60 mins.) Paras. 15 & 16

1.What was the family life like without a TV set?

ll. 99-100: family games and long, leisurely (= adj. unhurried; leisure adj. free --- ~

hours, evening) meals, and large families

ll. 105-8: sitting around …, activity, little games, scribbling, chatting, quarrelling,…

All this is what defines a childhood.

But the children living in a family with TV have less fun according to the author. They have regular schedule of TV programs and bedtime(l. 109). Their life is regimented with almost military precision (l. 93), living a dismal and mechanized way

of life (l. 101).

2. conjure up memories (l.99): bring memories into mind

on the spur of the moment (l.107): on a sudden impulse

Para. 17

1.What should we do to keep a family sane?

sane: here, in possession of good relations / of a close bond

to meet the needs of both children and adults.

2.How are children’s demands satisfied? (l. 113)

Their demands are usu. Shunted away (= kept away, prevented, evaded). They are

considered as troublesome if they raise any demands.

3.How are adults’ demands satisfied? (l. 114)

Adults’ demands are always satisfied. They can do anything they like in spite of the children they have. They will go to the seaside to enjoy the holiday themselves, leaving their children with a baby-sitter. Parents will do whatever a childless couple can.

What parents concern a bout is their own needs. They neglect their children’s needs. They don’t realize the significance of meeting children’s needs. It is those very demands … the family depends. (ll. 115-7)

4.What is the last conclusion?

If family members always mind their individual business, or watch their own favorite TV programs all the time without any time to be together, to have some shared experiences, in other words, if there is a lack of communication and interaction among family members, the family is, then, anything other than/nothing but a care-taking institution.

Post-reading discussion

1. Main idea:(comp. 1-b)

The domination of television has exerted strong influence on the way of life of many American families, diminishing their ordinary daily activities and affecting the sound growth of their children.

2.True or false:(comp.2)

TEXT 2

THE PLUG-IN DRUG:

TV AND THE AMERICAN FAMILY

Marie Winn

Questions for comprehension and presentation:

Students’ individual work on these questions before class and ind ividual presentation in class – part by part.

Part one: Family Rituals

1. What are family rituals as defined and explained by Winn? Why are they important for a family? (Q1)

Refer to paras.1 & 2.

Family rituals are simply the regular happenings in the life of a family, or the regular practices characteristic of a family.

They are important because they give all the family members a sense of belonging and oneness, and contribute to their unity.

2. How does Winn demonstrate the effects that TV makes on the family rituals? Retell the example given in paras. 5 & 6.

By making a comparison between the merry gathering of a family before the advent of TV and the engagement of the whole family in TV programs after their possession of TV sets. Details given in paras.5 & 6.

Part two: Real people

1.What is this part about?

The disruptive effect upon TV viewer’s relationships with real-life people. Too much TV viewing will reduce the real-life communication and interaction and adversely affect human development.

2. What are the adverse effects discussed in this part? What are the examples and the results of research studies given to demonstrate these effects?

a.unable to respond to real persons because they arouse less feeling than the

skilled actor.

(para. 10) e.g. – para. 12

b. lose the ability to learn from reality because life experiences are much more complicated than the ones they see on the screen... (para. 10)

c. the elimination of opportunities to talk, to argue, to air grievances between parents and children and brothers and sisters. (para. 13) e.g. – paras. 15, 17, 18, 19 Part three: Undermining the family

1.What is the effect of TV discussed in this part?

Disintegration of family / family breakdown.

2.Tell about the love of wife and husband toward each other and the love of parents

toward children in a family with a TV set.

Owing to family’s too much commitment to the television, family members are in spiritual vacuum, leading an empty and barren way of life in a desert of materialism. (para. 23)

They know that love is necessary, but find it difficulty giving each other because the traditional opportunities for expressing love within the family have been reduced or destroyed due to TV. (para. 25)

the love of wife and husband toward each other (para. 26), the reason

(independent destinies outside the family in para. 26) and the result - steadily rising divorce rate (para. 21)

the love of parents toward children (para. 27) and the consequence (para. 28) Additional questions after presentation if necessary:

1.What does Winn think of eye contact in communication?

Eye-to-eye contact is very important in communication. But in a one-way relationship with television people, there is no eye contact, no interaction, no communication.

2. In what way does Winn think television hampers the development of children’s ability to communicate? (Q2)

Refer to paras.6 - 13.

TV reduces a child’s opportunity to engage in face-to-face linguistic communication. Sitting in front of the idiot box, the child plays the role of a passive receiver in his one-way communication with it. No verbal response is called for.

3. Why does Winn say that television diminishes the opportunities for a parent to demonstrate love to his / her children? (Q3)

Refer to paras. 17 - 19.

TV decreases opportunities for simple conversation between parents and children. Even parents seem to have become verbally less competent in dealing with their children.

Good expressions:

the great swoop-down of aunts, uncles,...

family breakdown playing hide and seek

one-way relationship

eye-to-eye contact / eye contact

to air grievances

television-centered home

anesthetize

substantiate

disintegration of the family

the steadily rising divorce rate

adversely affected

a spiritual vacuum

an empty and barren way of life

a desert of materialism

depersonalization of the individual

muddle on

love at a remove

Post-reading activities:

1.Summarize all the positive and negative effects of televis ion on people’s life in

Texts 1 & 2 by means of class discussion.

2.Do you think TV has also become a kind of drug in China and thus produces the

same negative effects as it does in the US? (Q5 in Text 2)

3. Tell other modern inventions that exert both positive and negative effects on people’s life. Each individual gives at most 2 positive effects and 2 negative ones so as to maximize the opportunities for more students.

Telephone, computer, …

Questions for comprehension and presentation in TEXT 2 Unit 5:

Part one: Family Rituals

1. Definition and importance of family rituals.

2.Examples to demonstrate the effects of TV on the family rituals.

Part two: Real people

1.Main idea of this part.

2.The adverse effects discussed in this part and the examples and the results of research studies given to demonstrate these effects. Part three: Undermining the family

1.The effect of TV discussed in this part.

2.The love of wife and husband toward each other and the love of parents toward children in a family with a TV set.

Post-reading discussion:

1.Summarize all the positive and negative effects of

television on people’s life in Texts 1 & 2 by means of class discussion.

2Do you think TV has also become a kind of drug in China and thus produces the same negative effects as it does in the US? (Q5 in Text 2)

3. Tell other modern inventions that exert both positive and negative effects on people’s life.

Pre-class work for TV and American Family https://www.360docs.net/doc/c69729778.html,p. 3

2.Try to interpret the meaning of every sentence in paras. 1, 8, 10, & 17.

3.Identify the positive effects of television in paras. 2-6.

4.Retell paras. 12, and 13-14 in your own words.

5.Figure out what the family life was like without a TV set in paras. 15-1

6.

Post-reading discussion

--- Summarize all the positive and negative effects of television on people’s life

--- Do you think TV has also become a kind of drug in China and thus produces the same negative effects as it does in the US?