Unit 4
Why don’t you talk to your parents?
Section A 2
3a~3c
3a
Read the article quickly and answer the questions.
He can’t get on with his family.
He always feels lonely and nervous.
2. How does he feel at home?
1. What’s Sad and Thirteen’s problem?
Reading
Read the article again and fill in the chart.
His parents fight a lot, he really doesn’t like it.
Talk about the feelings with his family. Do more jobs around the house.
His brother isn’t nice to him. He refuses to let him watch his favorite TV show.
Sit down and communicate with his brother.
Read the article again and fill in the blanks.
1. Sad and Thirteen has some _________. He can’t ____________ his family. His parents _____ a lot. It’s the only ______________ they have. When they _____, it’s like a big black cloud ____________ their home. He doesn’t like it.
get on with
problems
argue
fight
communication
hanging over
His brother always watches whatever he wants until midnight. He _______ to let him watch his favorite TV show. So He always feels ______ and ________ at home.
refuses
lonely
nervous
2. Robert Hunt thinks Sad and Thirteen should __________ these feelings to his family. He should _____ to help.
offer
talk about
Maybe he ______________ jobs around the house so that they have more time _______________________. Second, he could sit down and ________________ his brother. He could ________ that he __________ him watching TV all the time, however, he should let him watch his _____________.
doesn’t mind
could do more
for proper communication
communicate with
explain
favorite show
Do you agree or disagree with Mr. Hunt’s advice? Why?
1. I agree with his advice. Because more
communication can make family
members understand each other
better and know about the feelings
they have.
3b
2. I don’t agree with his advice. I
don’t think their parents should
fight any more. They should care
more about their children and
spend more time with them.
Which words or phrases in the letters have the same or similar meanings as the following? Write a sentence using each word or phrase.
make sth. clear — explain
Can you explain to me how to do this
math problem?
talk — _____________ __________________________________
___________________________________
communicate
The two friends hasn’t communicated with each other for two years.
3c
worried — ________ __________________________________
___________________________________
get along with — ______________
___________________________________
___________________________________
nervous
He was very nervous during his first job interview.
get on with
Linda can’t get on well with her elder sister.
not allow — _______ ___________________________________
___________________________________
The workers refused to work on weekends.
refuse
1. My problem is that I can’t get on with
my family.
get on with和睦相处；关系良好
相当于get along with。
e.g. The child doesn’t get on well
with others.
那个小孩不合群。
Language points
2. Instead he watches whatever he wants
until late at night.
1) instead adv. 代替；反而；却
e.g. If we can’t go to Huashan Mountain,
we’ll go to the city of Xi’an for the trip instead.如果我们不能去爬华山，我们就去西安游玩。
instead是副词，常置于句子末尾。
instead of是介词短语，后接名词、代词、动名词等。
辨析
例如：
Last summer I went to Qingdao. 
This summer I’m going to Dalian instead.
去年夏天我去了青岛。今年夏天我要去大连。 Instead of going to Qingdao I’m going to Dalian this year.
今年我打算去大连，而不去青岛。
2) whatever pron. 任何；无论什么
相当于 no matter what
e.g. Whatever I suggest, he always
disagrees.
无论我提什么建议，他都不同意。
3. If your parents are having
problems, you should offer to help.
offer v. 主动提出；自愿给予
offer侧重主动或愿意给予，主动提出做某事。常用结构：offer sb. sth. 或offer to do sth.
e.g. She offered me a cup of tea.
她给我端了杯茶。
He offered to go instead of me.
他主动提出代替我去。
e.g. Li Mei can easily communicate
with foreigners in English.
李梅能用英语与外国人轻松交流。
4. Secondly, why don’t you sit down and
communicate with your brother?
1) communicate v. 交流；沟通
communicate with sb. 与某人交流
辨析： second和secondly
second用作序数词或形容词， 意为“第二”，常修饰名词。
secondly是副词，意为“其次，第二”，常用来修饰整个句子。如：
2) secondly adv. 第二；其次
First, it’s very expensive. Secondly, it’s ugly. 首先，它很贵。其次，它很难看 。
The second day of a week is Monday.
一周的第二天是星期一。
5. Can you explain to me how to do this
math problem?
explain v. 解释；说明
1. explain + that / what/ why等从句
2. explain sth. (to sb.)（向某人）解释某事
e.g. Can you explain what this means?
你能解释一下这个的意思吗？
Please explain it to me.
请你向我解释一下吧。
一、选词填空。
Exercises
instead argue nervous proper explain
1. My cousin is _______ in front of
strangers.
2. He could not come up with a ______ answer.
proper
nervous
3. The TV shows are boring. Why not
play cards _______?
4. I don’t want to _______ with you. It’s
waste of time.
5. Please _______ to her how to use a
computer.
instead
argue
explain
instead argue nervous proper explain
二、用括号中单词的适当形式填空。
1. All the ______________ (communicate)
with the outside world was broken.
2. Jim is a doctor. His ________ (old)
brother is an engineer.
elder
communication
3. After high school Mike got a job
instead of ________ (go) to university.
4. It’s very kind of you to offer _______
(help) us on the weekend.
5. To begin with we don’t have much
money, ________ (second) we are too
busy.
going
to help
secondly