Unit 6 The Way We Are

Lesson 1 Detailed Descriptions

Describe people and things

Recall and read

1. A Work in pairs. Describe each picture using the given words.

1. acoustic alley
2. baseball ball
3. basket board
4. bowling cap
5. chess class       
6. drawing course
7. golf guitar
8. Math racket
9. tennis teacher

B Discuss possible connections between the words and the pictures.

    Give reasons for your answers.

     easygoing                  handmade                       hardworking

     long-haired                old-fashioned                 self-confident

2. What do all the people in the pictures have in common?

Read Martha’s message for a clue. Then decide who Martha’s writing to.

What are they doing now?

Martha Denis, Research Scientist

Hi! My name’s Martha. I was 15 in the picture above. I’m 28 now, and I’m a scientist in the field of genetics. I study human DNA to try to understand how our genetic code determines the way we are. It’s really exciting to be at the cutting edge of scientific research. Genetics has been responsible for some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of our time, and gene therapy is starting to give us groundbreaking cures for common diseases.

I chose genetics because I’ve always been fascinated by what makes us all so different. I used to wonder why I was shy whereas my twin sister was easygoing, even though we had a similar upbringing. My job is investigate questions like this. Right now I’m looking at what makes about 10 percent of us left-handed. Many animals show a preference for using one hand when they have to carry out complex tasks, but no other animal has such a strong bias toward right-handedness. So far, we haven’t found a clear genetic cause, and it’s possible that cultural pressures  play  a  role  too. If  you  like Science  subjects  and  are  curious  and

open–minded, genetics   could be a    good career choice. The challenges are

never-ending, but the thought that your work will bring far-reaching benefits for society is really awe-inspiring.

3. A Match the words in the message to the definitions.
4. important discovery that comes after hard work
5. willing to consider new ideas
6. the most advanced point of current knowledge
7. the arrangements of genes that makes someone develop in a particular way.
8. continuing for a very long time
9. the way that parents take care of their children and teach them to behave
10. a medical treatment in which genes are used to cure illness
11. using new methods or achieving new results
12. with a natural tendency to use the left hand
13. affecting a lot of people in an important way

1. far-reaching f. never-ending
2. left-handed g. genetic code
3. groundbreaking h. cutting edge
4. gene therapy i. open-minded
5. upbringing j. gene therapy

4. Listen and read about a lefty-person.

          I’m a lefty-person who writes with my left hand. It’s not so easy being left-handed in a right-handed world. If you’re right-handed, you probably don’t notice the everyday objects are made specifically for right-handed people.

Here  a few things made especially for lefties.

When I eat, I hold my fork in my right hand and my knife in the left. I try to sit to the left on the right-handed people in my family. If I sit on their right, we will bump elbows.

Sometimes it’s an advantage to be a left-hander, especially in sports. I used to play baseball a lot, and my coach gave me extra training as a pitcher. The coach was right-handed, so sometimes it was hard for him to teach me to pitch left-handed. I watched videos of left-handed pitchers to learn the correct technique.

There are plenty of famous “lefties” too.

Like  Jimi Hendrix. He was left-handed, but he played a right-handed guitar. And some of the best soccer players ever, like Pele. And some of the greatest actors: Jim Carey and Pierce Brosnan. And one of the greatest artist, Leonardo da Vinci, was also left-handed.

Maybe the best advantage to being left-handed is that I’m unique. Only 10 percent of people are left-handed.

5. Extend Meaning of the words.

Absent-minded = likely to forget things or to think about something different from what

                             you should thinking about

Big-headed = behaving in a way that shows that you think you are very important or

                       intelligent

Short-sighted = 1. Not able to see things clearly if they are far away from you

2. dealing with things that are happening now, but failing to consider   

          what will happen in the future.

Thick-skinned = not easily upset or offended by what other people say

6. Speak Work in pairs. Answer the questions.
7. What scientific breakthroughs have been in the news recently?

    What benefits do you think they will have?

2. To what extent do you think we were born the way we are?

    How much influence do you think our upbringing has?

3. Would you like to be a research scientist? Why or why not?
4. Read the clues and write the missing words.

    class        racket          guitar       ball        cap    course        alley       board

1. It’s a fundamental part of education. Math _______
2. This protects your head from the sun while playing a sport. baseball ________
3. This building has special mechanical equipment for playing a game. bowling _______
4. No electronics are needed for this musical instrument. acoustic ________
5. You hit the ball with this piece of equipment. tennis ________
6. You throw this into the hoop to score. basket ________
7. You move the pieces around on this. chess ________
8. The place where you play this game in a big green area. golf ________

8. Match the words to describe people.
9. easy a. behaved
10. well- b. handed
11. bad- c. working
12. hard- d. tempered
13. self- e. minded
14. long- f. confident
15. open- g. going
16. left- h. haired

9. Complete the sentences using the words given.

hard-working        self-confident        open-minded        

well-behaved        easy going             bad-tempered

1. Dad often doesn’t get home from the office until after eight. He’s so ________.
2. I don’t know why Greg’s been so angry lately. He’s become really ________.
3. Nothing seems to bother or worry Tara. She’s an ________ type of girl.
4. Paula’s always very polite and respectful, and she never gets into trouble.

    She’s very ________.

5. Rafa’s always willing to see the other point of view. He’s an ________ guy.
6. Lilia believes she can succeed at anything she tries. She’s highly _______.