Unit 20 disabilities

Disabled table tennis player

Sang Lan, famous gymnastic athlete.

His left arm is shorter than his right one, and in the past he could not hold things with his left hand, but now, after long time exercise he can hold his body with his disabled arm.

Watch the video and answer the following:1 ） What’s the weather like ？

2 ） The tourist is a disabled person ， why is he

traveling in China ？

3 ） Where is the old man going to travel tomorrow ？

It's a bit windy.

The tourist has always dreamed of coming

to China and now his dream has come true

To the Summer Palace tomorrow.

Practice reading

Make dialogs in pairs on page 108Please finish exercise2

Turn to page 152,and do listening comprehension.

Lesson 78 Disabilities (1)

Before we study the text, do the following:How many types of disabilities can you n

ame?What problems may disabled have? Can you name some of the famous disa

bled people and some successful disabled people in China, Hunan

or Changde?

Vision, hearing, body, limbs, sense, intelligence, mentality

Blindness, deaf and mute, movement, speech, smell, performance of everyday life

President Franklin Roosevelt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Stephen Hawking, Helen keller …

Liu Bocheng, Zhang Haidi, the Song’s brothers in Changde

Look at this picture, do you know anything about him?

Physicist Stephen Hawking, author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time, has made difficult concepts in physics more acceptable to the public. His discoveries about gravitation are regarded as some of the most important contributions to that area of physics since Albert Einstein introduced the general theory of relativity in 1915.

Watch the video and answer the following:

1 ） What is the professor talking about in the lecture hall ？2 ） When did he begin to notice that it was difficult for him to move around without falling over ？

1 ） The professor is talking about

his special subject ： the

beginning of space matter ， and

time.

2 ） By the time he was 21 years old ， he had begun to notice that it was difficult for him to move around without falling over.

Ludwig van Beethoven is considered possibly the greatest Western composer of all time. He wrote symphonies, concertos, chamber music, sonatas, and vocal music.

Beethoven began to lose his hearing in the 1790s and was completely deaf by 1818. His best-known composition is the Ninth Symphony, the Ode to Joy. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461563416&artrefid=761551951&sec=-1&pn=1

President FranklinRoosevelt

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefMedia.aspx?refid=461517895&artrefid=761562953&sec=-1&pn=1

Quotation of Franklin D Roosevelt

So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

Helen kellerDeaf and blind from the age of 19 months, Keller learned to communicate with the help of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Sullivan taught Keller to read

Braille and to “listen” by feeling a speaker’s face. Keller graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904 and authored a number of books about her experiences.

Lesson 79 Disabilities

(2)

What are disabilities?

Persons with physical, sensory, or mental impairments ( 损害 ) that can make performing an everyday task more difficult.

Do you know how big China’s disabled population is?

It is at least 60 million.

1 ） Professor Stephen Hawking who gives a talk in a lecture hall of a university uses a very strange voice because the sound he makes is produced by a computer and a voice box. 2 ） When Professor Stephen Hawking answers the questions ， he always does it very quickly because a computer can help him to do so. 3 ） Many people come to his lecture only because they want to see how a man who can not speak uses a computer to produce the sound. 4 ） Professor Stephen Hawking became disabled because he had a disease of the brain. 5 ） The book written by him with the title “On History of Time”might be about how he continued with his research and his writing even if he could only move the fingers of one hand. 6 ） The passage lists many examples of successful people with disabilities ， saying that the disabled people can be successful in many ways except in the fields of sports. 7 ） Those who have the wrong attitude towards people with disabilities may not realize that it is probable that one day they will end up with a disability. 8 ） The reading passage strongly demands that the government should design more programmes to help disabled people ， for ordinary people can do nothing to help them.

Key ： 1, 4, 7 True. 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 False. 2. He first has to type out the answer on a computer and then gets the computer to translate it into sounds. So it takes about two minutes to answer each question. 3. Many people come to his lecture only because Stephen Hawking is one of the top three physics experts in his particular field. 5. “On History of Time”is about the beginning of space ， matter ， and time. 6. The passage points out that many people who use wheelchairs do well in sports. 8. Everyone should take care of disabled people ， not just the government.

Marla Runyan, wearing number 3375, became the first legally blind U.S. Olympic athlete in the women’s 1,500-meter race. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Runyan advanced to the finals, where she placed eighth. Here she competes in the Olympic semifinal heat with American Suzy Favor Hamilton, left, and Russian Lyudmila Rogachova, center.

People with disabilities find special ways to master activities that others take for granted. By balancing the basket in his lap, this man in a wheelchair can retain independence and shop on his own.

A specially trained dog assists a blind woman across a road. Many people with disabilities have companion animals who help them with a variety of tasks.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination ( 禁止歧视 )against people with disabilities. Under the law, employers must not discriminate against individuals who are qualified for the position and who, with or without “reasonable accommodations” for their disability, can perform the essential functions of the job. This woman, whose disability requires her to use a wheelchair, works as a receptionist.

In July 1990 Congress passed the acclaimed Americans with Disabilities Act, which extends to people with disabilities the same rights given to other minority groups under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It provides extensive protections against discrimination and requires public and certain private agencies

to make new or renovated buildings, buses, and trains barrier-free. The wheelchair symbol, painted here on a designated parking stall, is used to mark buildings and buses equipped with special facilities to accommodate persons with disabilities. Ramps to enter buildings, Braille floor numbers on elevators, and telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD) are just some of the methods of making a building more accessible.

新残疾人观一，残疾人与健全人一样，具有与生俱来的公民权利，包括生存的权利，康复 的权利，受教育的权利，劳动的权利，娱乐的权利，爱与爱的权利，得到 各种社会补偿的权利，并尽自己应尽的义务。二，通过现代社会提供的各种补偿手段，各类别的残疾人能够以适合自己的方 式接受教育，掌握知识与技能，认知世界。三，残疾人在现代社会提供的各种条件下，不再是社会的负担而是参与社 会物质与精神财富的创造，推动社会前进的一个力量。四，“残疾”不是造成残疾人问题的根本原因，主要是为残疾人提供的条件不够， 因而使“残疾”成为一个问题。为残疾人提供各种补偿条件，使残疾人无障碍 地接受教育、参加生产劳动、参与社会生活，在事实上享有公民权利，是政 府与社会的责任，是社会文明、进步的标志，是我国人权普遍化原则的体现。五，“残疾”是人体的一种遗憾，所以要加强残疾预防，但残疾并不构成人性的差 异，奋斗精神的差异。时常倒是相反，由于残疾的磨练，残疾人往往具有更 加坚强的意志，更加宽容的胸怀，更加渴望社会祥和、稳定、繁荣。六，残疾人的残疾是为人类文明、社会进步付出的代价。要善待残疾人。建立 残、健融合的关系，做到人人平等、人人参与、人人共享，是我国社会发展 的方向。七，实现“平等参与”的局面，是政府、社会与残疾人双向的责任，缺一不可。残 疾人要发扬自尊、自信、自强、自立精神，在社会实践中创造、发展自己， 实现人生价值。

Useful expressions:1. hopefully2. dream of ／ come true 3. sense n. ／ v.4. in need of 5. as a matter of fact6. even if ／ though 7. declare v. ／ n 8. as if ／ though9. look forward to