1. 学习目标
In this unit, you will
● get to know the differences between American and British spelling;
● debate whether learners should aim to speak English with a native-speaker pronunciation;
● exchange your experience with your classmates in learning English;
● discuss how people communicate each other;
● be supposed to compare Helen's process of language learning with that of your own;

2. 语言精要

重点单词 (22)：
barrier, dense, flush, impress, passionate, penetrate, quiver, vain, broaden, offend, abstract, cautious, dispute, exclusively, reside, succession, dash, fragment, sensation, section, compete, sympathize

重点词组 (11)
come forth, prey upon, amount to, in honor of, give birth to, long for, sweep away, fit in with, there is no point (in) doing sth., set in the way of, in the course of

重点句型
● Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen?
● When I finally succeeded in making the letters correctly I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride.
● Suddenly, I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten ---- a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.

重要语法
● only to引导的不定式短语，表示意想不到或者不幸的情况发生
● 主语或者宾语同位语的用法
● very作为形容词的用法
● 独立主格结
● seem as if后跟虚拟语气的用法

3．课文主题
This text describes how Helen discovered words. Helen became deaf and blind when she was only a little girl. She lived in a world dark and cold. The day Miss Sullivan came marked a turning point in her life. Since then, he education began. But she could only learn by touching and feeling. She didn't understand the relationship between the words and the real objects until her teacher took her to the well house. Helen suddenly learned that “water” is something cool flowing over her hands. From then on, Helen Keller knew that everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. She felt so happy that she thought nobody else was happier than her.

4．佳句背诵
● The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansfield Sullivan, came to me.
● On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant.
● “Light! Give me light!” was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.
● That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!

5．专家建议—— 学会阅读记叙文
本单元的In-Class Reading基本上是按故事发展的时间顺序展开描写的。主旨鲜明，条理清晰。作者用平实的语言生动地描述了海伦?凯勒识字的艰苦历程。沙利文小姐的到来，改变了海伦的生活，使海伦由一个没有温情、没有阳光的黑暗世界步入了一个充满了鲜花和爱的美好世界。正是真正了解字的含义与实物之间的联系，使得每个字都“活”了起来。当海伦?凯勒明白了“水”就是从她手上流过的凉冰冰的东西时，她的内心充满了狂喜。在那个重要的日子快要结束时，已很难找到一个比她更幸福的孩子了。