Unit 19 Modern agricultureUnit 19 Modern agriculture

1 、 Look at the pictures and compare traditional and modern farming?

2 、 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each way ?

In the first picture: A chicken / A hen.In the second picture: A farmer feeding chickens.In the third picture: A modern chicken farm.

What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern

ways of raising chickens.

Old way Modern way A farmer can only keep a few chickens.

A factory can keep thou-sands of chickens.

It cost only a little money.It cost a lot to start a factory.

don’t have many problems if ill, many die or are killed

The eggs and meat are tasty.

They don’t taste so delicious.

The chickens are free. not free, can sit in small cages

In the first picture: A pile of animal shit (manure)

In the second picture: A bag of chemical fertilizer.

What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern

ways of feeding the crops.

Natural Fertilizer Chemical Fertilizer It is free or cost very

little. It is easy to be put into the fields.

It usually has a bad smell. It takes little place to

store.It is difficult to carry and move.

It is expensive to buy.

It needs lots of work to be made.

It usually has no smell.

It needs a lot of place to store.

It is easy to transport.

In the first picture: *terraced field.

In the second picture: *A farmer is ploughing the field with an animal.

In the third picture: *Farmers use the tractor to work the land.

What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern ways of plough

ing the fields.

Using Animals Using Machines

cheap to own and to keep expensive to buy and to use

They result in pollution.They can be used in dif-ferent places

They don’t need rest too often.

They can be food when they are old.

They do not pollute the air. They can only be used on

flat and dry land.They need rest now and then.

They can be sold to steel factories when broken.

In the first picture: * Terraced fields.

In the second picture: * Dry barren farmland.

In the third picture: * Irrigated farmland.

In the fourth picture: * Greenhouses.

What are the differences? Compare the old and the modern

ways of irrigation.

Natural Climate Controlled Climate

in bad weather, crops lost climate controlled, less damageThe landscape loses its natural beauty.

Only arable land can grow crops.

Greenhouses can be built almost everywhere.

The landscape is more beautiful.

If there is a power failure, you may lose crops.

3 、 What other changes have happened on farms in the last 100 years?Over the last 100 years there have been some changes on farms and in agriculture:The use of machines,the use of chemical fertilizers,the use of insect killers,the use of food supplements in animal feed,the growth of the farms(bigger farms),doing the work with workers who are not part of family,growing different crops,etc.

1. China has only about 670 ,000 sq. km of arable land 2 No advanced technical information was brought in from abroad before 1980. 3 Scientists have always tried to increase farming production without harming the environment since the early 1990s. 4Traditional methods of farming have no advantages so they won’t be used in future agriculture. 5 The average arable land for each Chinese is much less than that of the world. 6 Growing vegetables in green houses has so many advantages that it can reduce losses caused by bad weather and that it can partly settle the problem of the shortage of arable land. 7 GM is a new technique that can make a plant quite different from what it used to be, bigger and healthier and with no diseases, but it takes longer time to grow 8. The GM technique can only be used on plants, but not on animals at the present time.

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Read the whole text .Find out the topic sentence in each paragraph.Para.1: For thousands of years traditional agriculture in China did not change very much.

Para.5: Another technique tries to create plants that produce more and bigger fruit.

Para.4: Using the latest technologies, Chinese scientists

grow vegetables in greenhouses.

Para.3: Not only is food production important but also taking care of the environment.

Para.2: Over time, many farming techniques have been

modernised.

Para.6: Nearly 4,500 different plants are genetically modified.

**Divide the text into 4 parts and find the main idea of each part:

The 1st part — the first paragraph

The 2st part — the second paragraph

The 3st part — the third paragraph

The 4st part — the fourth, fifth and sixth paragraphs.

Paragraph 1: Traditional agriculture in China.

Paragraph 2: The development of agriculture before the 1980s.

Paragraph 3:New techniques to protect environ-ment as well as increasing produs-tion from the 1990s.

Part4: Ways to solve the problem of the shortage of arable land.

What are the ways?

1. Grow vegetables in greenhouses. 2. Use GM to create plants that produce more and bigger and better crops.

1.It is …………that…………

It is on this arable land that the farmers produce food …………

It was from the early 1990s that scientists started to develop……

2.as……as possible. 尽可能

We need to deliver the letter as soon as possible.

3.where possible

Fill in the words in the blankets where possible.

Come to see her when possible.

4.as well as 也，而且

He can speak English as well as French.

5.not only……but also……

nor/neither/so/there/here/only+ 地点状语 / 介词短语作状语放在句首

Not only …… but also…… 连接句子成分时不倒装。

Not only he but also I have kept the secret.

Not only+ 句子 but also+ 句子时 前半句倒装

Not only is he busy,but also I have a lot of work to do.

6.stand for

USA stands for the United States of America.

7.a variety of 多种多样的（ various ）

She showed a variety of flowers.

She showed various flowers.

Kind How would you change it Why do you want to change it in this way?

Fruit Watermelon

Grow them like block instead of balls

Easier to store,take less space

Vegetable

Onion Make sure they don’t hurt our eyes

Easier to peel and cut

Animal

Sheep To have red wool Look funny and we don’t need to dye it

Discussion:How would you like to change fruit,vegetableOr animals using GM?

Fertiliser fertilise fertileProduction produce productiveProtection protect protectedModification modify modified

1.modified

2.protecting protection

3.fertile fertilisers

4.produce productive

Grammar: The Use of “It” for Emphasis

• It is / was … that / who (whom) …• I saw John in the street this morning.It was I who/that saw John in the street this m

orning. ( 强调主语 )It was John that/whom I saw in the street this

morning. ( 强调宾语 )It was in the street that I saw John this mornin

g. （强调地点状语）It was this morning that I saw John in the stre

et. ( 强调时间状语 )