Unit Ten Risks
Teaching Objectives:
In this unit students are required to:
1. Practice listening skills;
2. Get to know some useful information concerning the topic of this unit;
3. Do some preparation activities such as discussion, group work to enhance their spoken
English and communicative skills;
4. Learn new words and phrases to further broaden students’ scope of vocabulary;
5. Read the in-class reading passage within limited time for a general idea of the passage
and then do detailed reading for a command of useful expressions;
6. Do post-reading exercises and some after-class reading to test how far they have gone
in grasping reading skills and language points;
7. Translate some key sentences in the unit to upgrade students’ translation abilities;
Teaching Methodology
Communicative approach;
Multi-media teaching;
Teaching process: Pre-task------Task cycle------Post-task
Time Distribution
Listening & Speaking: 2 periods;
In-class Reading :2 periods;
Exercise & After-class Reading :2 periods;
Further Development &Writing :2 periods.
Period 1 &2 Listening and Speaking
I、Teaching Focus
1.Background information introduction
2.Preparation
3.Listening to tapes
II、Teaching steps
1. Background Information:
Risk is the probability of losing something of value. Since we value life above
other things, the greatest risk for most people is the risk of death. Yet life
itself, to the best of our knowledge, is ultimately fatal. The key word here is
“ultimately”, Since we hope to live a lot a lot longer, we easily overlook the
routine and long-range risks associated with being human, and concentrate,
or try predict the times of their occurrence. Walking across the street in
many cities is more dangerous than riding an airplane across an ocean, but
many people give no thought to the former and have great fear of the latter.
People eagerly do dangerous things for recreation that they would rarely do
at work, such as scaling a steep mountain or skiing rapidly down it, Young
people are especially willing to take foolish chances for the sheer joy of
doing so, or because they discount the probability of adverse outcomes. Yet
they should probably be much more careful than their elders, since they
have longer life expectancies remaining and thus have more at stake.
Other things we value include health, safety, money, property relationships
and happiness. There are risks attached to the loss of any of these. Hypochondriacs
exaggerate the risks of ill health or injury. Ironically the precautions taken to promote
health and safety may add to a hypochondriac’s perception of the risks involved. A
wise investor takes calculated risks with money and tries to choose reasonable risks
over unreasonable ones. A compulsive gambler, on the other hand, is so addicted to
risk that there is little thought of the loss that inevitably follows from gambling
indefinitely against the odds. So risk itself may at times be perceived as a reward.
Optimists and pessimists have opposite attitudes toward risk. Extreme
optimists always expect the best. Therefore they try to maximize the maximum gain.
More cautious optimists may try to maximize the minimum loss. More moderate
pessimists may try to maximize the minimum loss. The science of cost-benefit
analysis studies these and other strategies for managing risk. So does actuarial
science, with special emphasis on the risks of death, injury, or illness.
One way to manage risk in ordinary life is through rational planning. By
considering alternatives and balancing the greatest or most likely risks against the
greatest or most likely rewards, we can often make better decisions and give greater
consideration to long-term outcomes. By always having a contingency plan in case
our main plan fails, we can usually avoid catastrophes. But planning takes effort, and
we must balance this effort against the pleasure of doing things spontaneously
because they are not very important or not very risky and plan other things carefully
because they are very important or very risky.
2. Preparation
1.Risks in jobs
Sample
Physical risks
Financial risks
Emotional risks
Nurse, policeman
Coalminer, secretary,
Teacher, fighter pilot,
Interpreter, fireman,
Football player, writer,
Cleaner, tourist guide,
Factory worker,
Chemical engineer,
Computer
Businessman,
stockbroker,
accountant, peasant,
writer, civil servant,
Nurse, psychiatrist,
Lawyer, president,
Beggar, teacher,
Singer, psychologist,
Tourist guide, writer,
Host of TV show,
Ambassador, model,
journalist
tourist guide
programmer
2.Which Activity Is Riskier?
The following is a list of the activities from the riskiest to the safe
Rock climbing –skydiving—driving a motorcycle—being a 65-year-old man—
skiing—flying in an airplane—driving a car—working on a farm
3. Listening to tapes

Period 3&4 Reading.
I、Teaching focus
Practice students’ reading skills and help them learn new words and phrases
II、Teaching steps
1.Pre-reading
2.Words, phrases and grammatical points
1.risk
关于risk的词组有很多：
at risk 处于危险之中
e.g. The disease is spreading, and all children under five are at risk.
Heart disease can be avoided if people at risk take medical advice.
at the risk of 冒……的危险
e.g. At the risk of offending you, I must tell you that I disapprove of your
behavior.
Run the risk of 冒……的危险
e.g. I don’t want to run the risk of meeting George.
I was afraid to run the risk of betting on the game.
Take a risk/risks 冒险做可能失败、有危险的事
e.g. You are taking a big risk driving so fast.
But he must be cautious; he must take no unnecessary risks.
 2.And from these threats come questions that we must


pose to ourselves:…(L.6-7)
This sentence means that these threats give rise to
questions that we must ask ourselves.
当句首状语为表示地点的介词词组，谓语动词为go, come等
表示位置转移的动作动词时，通常引起全部倒装。
e.g. From the room came the sound of children singing.
From the fountain bubbled a stream of cool water.
3.Exercises
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 Period 5&6 Post-reading and Exercise
 I、Teaching focus
 Test students’ reading skills the their command of new
words and phrases.
 II、Teaching steps
 1.Fast reading for exercises
 2.Questions for discussions
 Period 7&8 Further Development and Writing
 I. Teaching Content

Further enhance students’ communicative abilities and writing
abilities
 II. Teaching Steps
 1.Case study
 2.Personal Safety
 Describe the figure in your own words: Only about 2.5% of all
accidental deaths are caused by firearms.
 Suggested ways of preventing accidents: reduce the speed
limit, make less powerful cars; never go swimming alone; keep
poisons out of reach of children; ban all firearms; never ride a
motorcycle without wearing a helmet and protective gear; wear
a safety belt on the highway; wear a life jacket when
swimming…
 3. Writing: Are Environment Risks Worth Taking?