there will be a decision on her invention remains to be seen.

T: Quite right. Since you have got the general idea of the text, let's go through the text again.

Step Ⅲ While-reading

Get the students to comprehend the passage carefully and accurately, and then divide the text into several parts and work out the main idea for each paragraph.

T: Now, please read the passage carefully, divide the whole passage into several parts and find out the main idea of each part.

Part I (Para.1): the discovery of the problem of the snakes

Part II (Paras.2-3): the research on the approaches to solve the problem

Part III (Paras.4-6): the attempts to catch the snakes

Part IV (Paras.7-8): the requirements of getting a patent

T: Now, please go through the whole text again and I'd like you to analyze the text in details. Discuss these questions on the slides.

Show the following.

1. What are the writing techniques of this text?

2. What's the main idea of the text?

3. What should we learn from this text?

4. What's the writing purpose of the writer?

Sample answers:

1. In this text the writer puts forward the problem of the snakes, makes research and analyzes the problem, lists the steps of solving the problem according to the arrangement of ideas, and finally illustrates what is needed for getting a patent. By listing the creative steps she takes to catch the snakes without hurting them, the writer has efficiently recorded and narrated to the readers the beginning, the development and the final result of the incident clearly.

2. The text narrates the problem of the snakes and presents the procedures of catching them and applying for a patent, from which we have got a better understanding of how to do scientific researches and how to apply for a patent. After learning, we know that it usually costs some time and continuous efforts in order to solve some practical problems in a scientific way.

3. We can learn from the text the way of doing scientific researches and how to apply for a patent. We can also learn that it takes an inventor great determination and persistence to achieve his or her ambition in life.

4. The writer wants to inform us of the scientific methods to solve present problems so that we students can not only broaden the horizons but become more skilled in discovering and considering carefully the problems in daily life. We are also encouraged by the writer to be creative and hardworking as well as thinking independently.

Help the students deal with the difficult language points in the text.

T: Now, everyone, I wonder if you have any difficulties in understanding the text.

S1: I have one question. I can't understand the structure of the sentence in Para. 2 on page 20: The first thing I did was to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes. Would you please