中学生考典

Unit 3 The seasons Section 1 Experiencing and understanding language Reading Page 37 Read the article about the four seasons. The four seasons There are four seasons in a year, and each season has its special features. Spring Life begins again in spring. The snow melts, and nature wakes up after the long winter. Warm rain falls on the forests and fields. Plants start to grow, and birds come back from the south. Farmers begin to work their land. It is a time of new life and new hope. It is exciting to take a trip in the countryside in springtime. Summer Summer is bright and noisy. The weather is hot. The sun shines brightly in the clear, blue sky. Cicadas sing loudly. There is often thunder and lightning in the afternoon. Many people like to go to the beach and swim in the sea. It is nice to eat ice cream or fresh fruit in summer. Autumn Autumn is beautiful and full of color. The weather is cool and dry. In autumn, everything changes. Leaves turn brown, red or yellow and start falling from the trees. Squirrels gather food for the cold winter. Farmers are busy with the harvest". It is great to go on a family outing at this time of year. Winter Winter is peaceful and fun. It is cold and snowy in many places. Bears and snakes find warm places to sleep through the winter. Children love winter because they love to play in the snow. 一年有四季，每个季节都有其独特之处。 春天万物复苏。积雪融化，经过漫长的冬季后大自然苏醒过来。温润的雨水洒落在森林和田野上。植物开始生长，鸟儿从南方归来。农民开始耕种土地。这是一个充满新生和新希望的时节。春天到乡村去旅行是很令人兴奋的。 夏天明亮而喧闹。天气炎热。太阳在清澈湛蓝的天空中明亮地照耀着。蝉大声鸣叫。下午常常会有雷电。许多人喜欢去海滩并在海里游泳。夏天吃冰淇淋或者新鲜水果很惬意。 秋天美丽且色彩斑斓。天气凉爽干燥。秋天里，一切都发生着变化。树叶变成棕色、红色或者黄色并开始从树上掉落。松鼠为寒冷的冬天收集食物。农民们忙于收获。每年这个时候进行家庭出游很棒。 冬天宁静又有趣。许多地方寒冷且多雪。熊和蛇寻找温暖的地方冬眠。孩子们喜欢冬天，因为他们喜欢在雪地里玩耍。

Listening The four seasons in Auckland Page 40

Section 3 Expressing and communicating ideas Speaking Talking about your favorite season Page 43 Play a guessing game in pairs. Describe your favorite season and explain why you like it. Then ask your classmate to guess which season it is. In this season, it is usually warm. Sometimes it is sunny, and sometimes it is cloudy. It often rains. Plants and flowers begin to grow. Everything is green. It is exciting to go to the park to see the new life. Which season is it? It is spring! Your turn, please!

Section 4 Extending and developing competencies Focusing on cultures Page 46 Do you wonder when and how Chinese people first began to mark the changing seasons? 1.Read the article to find out how ancient Chinese people divided up the year. The 24 solar terms The months of the traditional Chinese calendar follow the moon, but did you know that the calendar also follows the sun? In fact, the year is divided into 24 parts, based on where the sun is in the sky. Each part starts with a solar term, or jiegi in Chinese. These solar terms follow the changes of the seasons and the weather. The “Start of Spring”, “Start of Summer”, “Start of Autumn” and “Start of Winter” divide the year into four seasons. Each of the seasons is then divided into six parts, and each part lasts about 15 days. The solar terms can fall on different dates. They sometimes move a day or two The 24 solar terms are very useful in daily life. For example, they help farmers decide when to plant their crops. The solar terms also play an important part in traditional Chinese culture. People celebrated these days in different ways in the past, such as eating special local dishes. Many of these traditions continue in our times. For example, people still eat spring rolls and spring pancakes to celebrate the “Start of Spring”. 二十四节气 中国传统农历的月份依据月亮（的运行规律），但你知道吗，这个历法也依据太阳（的运行规律）。实际上，一年基于太阳在天空中的位置被划分为24个部分。每个部分都以一个节气开始，节气的汉语是“节气”。这些节气遵循季节和天气的变化。 “立春”、“立夏”、“立秋”和“立冬”将一年划分为四季。然后每个季节又被划分为六个部分，每个部分持续大约15天。节气可能落在不同的日期，有时会变动一两天。 二十四节气在日常生活中非常有用。例如，它们帮助农民决定何时种植作物。节气在中国传统文化中也扮演着重要的角色。过去人们以不同的方式庆祝这些日子，比如吃当地的特色菜肴。许多这样的传统在现代仍然延续着。例如，人们仍然吃春卷和春饼来庆祝“立春”。

Cross-curricular connection: Earth science Page 48 We have learnt about the four seasons in this unit, but why does the Earth have four seasons? Does every place on Earth have four seasons? 1.Read the article and find out why we have different seasons. Why do we have different seasons? As our planet moves around the Sun, the light from the Sun falls on the Earth from different directions. This helps create the seasons. At different times of year, there is more sunlight in some places, and less sunlight in others. More sunlight means longer days and warmer weather, and this is why we have spring and summer. It gets colder in autumn and winter because the days are shorter, and we get less light from the Sun. The seasons fall at different times of year around the world. China is north of the equator. Here, we experience summer from June to August. South of the equator, June, July and August are winter months. In Australia, it is summer from December to February, and Australians have their spring when we have our autumn. The hottest and the coldest parts of the world don't have four seasons. It is always hot in places close to the equator. These places are called the tropics. Instead of our four seasons, many parts of the tropics have a rainy season and a dry season. Around the North and South Poles, there are only two seasons too: a very, very cold winter and a somewhat less cold summer. 我们为什么会有不同的季节？ 当我们的地球绕着太阳公转时，太阳光线从不同方向照射到地球上，这就促成了季节的形成。在一年中的不同时间，有些地方获得的阳光较多，而有些地方则较少。更多的阳光意味着白昼更长、天气更暖和，这就是我们有春季和夏季的原因。秋季和冬季变得更冷是因为白昼更短，我们从太阳那里获得的光照更少。 世界各地的季节处于一年中的不同时段。中国位于赤道以北，在这里，我们在6月到8月经历夏季。赤道以南，6月、7月和8月是冬季。在澳大利亚，12月到2月是夏季，当我们处于秋季时，澳大利亚人正处于春季。 世界上最热和最冷的地区没有四季之分。靠近赤道的地方总是很热，这些地方被称为热带地区。热带的许多地方没有我们的四季之分，而是有雨季和旱季。在北极和南极周围，也只有两个季节：非常非常寒冷的冬季和稍微不那么寒冷的夏季。