难度：中低级★★★

New research suggests that sleeping next to your pet increases your risk of getting sick. Researchers from the University of California-Davis believe pet owners have a greater chance of catching diseases as serious as the bubonic plague, an infection that killed 75 million people across Europe in the fourteenth century. Professor Bruno Chamel did, however, say that although this is extremely rare, it does happen. He said people are safer if they keep Kitty and Fido next to their bed, not on it. He wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases: "There are private places in the household, and I think our pets should not go beyond next to the bed....Having a stuffed animal in your bed is fine, not a real one."

This research will upset many people who love cuddling up to their pet or getting their face licked by them. Professor Chamel reckons that because people are having fewer children, pets have become replacements. More than 60 per cent of American households have a pet and up to 62 per cent of pet owners let their animals sleep with them, according to Chamel’s research. Chamel has already received many e-mails strongly disagreeing with his research. They say they have slept with their pets throughout their lives and are as healthy as anyone else. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Association, agreed, saying: “The benefits of having a pet, whether or not you sleep with it, far outweigh the negatives.”

课前热身：

1. PETS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about pets. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. GOOD PETS: What are the pros and cons of these? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

4. PETS ON BED: Students A strongly believe sleeping with pets is not healthy; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. PET USES: Why are pets useful? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most useful at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

6. SICK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘sick’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

课后练习：

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

AFTER READING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘pet’ and ‘owner’.

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

STUDENT PETS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about pets in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

PETS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

New research suggests that sleeping next to your pet increases your risk (1) ____ getting sick. Researchers from the University of California-Davis believe pet owners have a greater chance (2) ____ catching diseases as serious as the bubonic plague, an infection that (3) ____ 75 million people across Europe in the fourteenth century. Professor Bruno Chamel did, however, say that although this is (4) ____ rare, it does happen. He said people are safer if they keep Kitty and Fido next to their bed, not on it. He wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases: "There are private places in the household, and I think our pets should not go (5) ____ next to the bed....Having a (6) ____ animal in your bed is fine, not a real one."

This research will upset many people who love cuddling (7) ____ to their pet or getting their face licked by (8) ____. Professor Chamel reckons that because people are having fewer children, pets (9) ____ become replacements. More than 60 per cent of American households have a pet and up to 62 per cent of pet owners let their animals sleep with them, (10) ____ to Chamel’s research. Chamel has already received many e-mails strongly disagreeing with his research. They say they have slept with their pets throughout their lives and are as healthy as anyone (11) ____. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Association, agreed, saying: “The benefits of having a pet, whether or not you sleep with it, (12) ____ outweigh the negatives.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

WRITING

Write about pets for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about sleeping with pets. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. PETS: Make a poster about pets. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. RESEARCH: Write a magazine article about this research. Include imaginary interviews with a pet owner and his/her pet.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to an animal expert. Ask him/her three questions about sleeping with pets. Give him/her three of your opinions. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

答案：

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

PHRASE MATCH:

GAP FILL:

New research (1) suggests that sleeping next to your pet increases your risk of getting sick. Researchers from the University of California-Davis believe pet owners have a (2) greater chance of catching diseases as (3) serious as the bubonic plague, an infection that killed 75 million people across Europe in the fourteenth century. Professor Bruno Chamel did, (4) however, say that although this is (5) extremely rare, it does happen. He said people are safer if they keep Kitty and Fido next to their bed, not on it. He wrote in the (6) journal Emerging Infectious Diseases: "There are private places in the household, and I think our pets should not go (7) beyond next to the bed....Having a (8) stuffed animal in your bed is fine, not a real one."

This research will (9) upset many people who love cuddling up to their pet or getting their face (10) licked by them. Professor Chamel reckons that because people are having (11) fewer children, pets have become replacements. More than 60 per cent of American households have a pet and up to 62 per cent of pet owners let their animals sleep with them, (12) according to Chamel’s research. Chamel has already received many e-mails (13) strongly disagreeing with his research. They say they have slept with their pets throughout their lives and are as healthy as (14) anyone else. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Association, agreed, saying: “The (15) benefits of having a pet, whether or not you sleep with it, far (16) outweigh the negatives.”

LANGUAGE WORK

英语口语教学