Warming up：

1. Which lake is larger?

A. Taihu Lake

B. Poyang Lake

2. Which mountain is higher?

A. Taishan Mountain

B. Huangshan Moutain

3. Which country has a longer coastline?

A. Canada

B. Russia

4. Which is the deepest ocean in the world?

A. The Atlantic

B. The Pacific

5. Which river is longer?

A. The Nile

B. The Amazon

6. Which is the highest waterfall in the world?

A. Angel Falls

B. Niagara Falls

7. Which of the following is colder?

A. An iceberg

B. Mars at night

8. What do you call the piece of land?

A. A peninsula

B. An island

9. What body part can butterflies use to taste their food?

A. Their feet

B. Their antennae (触角)

10. True or false? Birds can’t fly backward.

A. true

B. false

An Overview

Unit 7 talks about nature and environmental issues. It consists of four parts:

Part I is a video podcast. Before you view the podcast, please learn the new words that will appear in it. While you view the podcast, please do the exercises. After you view the podcast, discuss the questions in pairs.

Part II is a listening exercise. The teacher will instruct you in listening skills before listening. Then listen to the materials and do the exercises with the help of the skills learned. After you listen, discuss some questions in pairs.

Part III is a selected video program from BBC. Before you view the video clip, learn the new words that will appear in it. While you view the video clip, please do the exercises. After you view the video clip, discuss the questions in pairs.

Part IV is a dictation. You will listen to a passage of around 120-150 words. Altogether the passage will be read to you 4 times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. Please write down every word you hear. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work.

You may watch or listen to any part of the materials again to check your answers or for further learning. You can find scripts of all the materials in Text Learning (文本学习).