Sci-Fi Reading Courses
Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash / 照片出處：由Cerqueira拍攝 on Unsplash
ESL Lesson Plan: Tides of Europa (Part 2)
Objective:
Students will continue to improve their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills through the story “Tides of Europa.”
Duration:
45 minutes
ESL課程計畫：木衛二的潮汐(第二部分)
學習目標：
透過本故事〈木衛二的潮汐〉，學生能夠繼續提升閱讀理解能力、詞彙量以及批判思考能力。
花費時間：
45分鐘
Pre-Reading Activity (10 minutes)
Key Vocabulary:
Colonies (plural n): Settlements established by people in a new territory, often in space in this context. * "Multiple colonies on Mars competed for resources and trade."
Trench (n): A deep, narrow depression in the ground or ocean floor. * "The submersible explored the mysterious trench, hoping to discover new life forms."
Seismic (adj): Related to or caused by an earthquake or other vibration of the earth. * "Scientists monitored the seismic activity for any signs of an impending eruption."
Membrane (n): A thin, flexible layer of tissue that covers or lines an organ or structure. * "The delicate membrane of the creature's wing shimmered in the sunlight."
Ascent (n): The act of rising or climbing up. * "The rocket's ascent into space was a breathtaking sight."
Giddiness (n): A state of being lightheartedly excited or dizzy. * "A feeling of giddiness overcame the explorers as they reached the summit."
Pulses (plural n): Regular beats or throbs, often referring to rhythmic vibrations or signals. * "The Diver drones emitted pulses of sonar to map the ocean floor."
Inferno (n): A large fire that is dangerously out of control, or a place of intense heat. * "The volcanic eruption created a raging inferno, consuming everything in its path."
Radiation (n): The emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles. * "The explorers wore protective suits to shield themselves from the harmful radiation."
Rhythm (n): A strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. * "The rhythmic crashing of the waves against the shore was mesmerizing."
Diver (drones) (n): A fictional drone used for deep-sea exploration. * "The Divers were deployed to investigate the strange signals coming from the trench."
Pre-Reading Activity (10 minutes)
重要單字：
Colonies (plural n)：在一個新領土上(本文中指在太空)，由一群人所建立的居所。* "在火星上的各個殖民地為了資源和貿易機會競爭著。"
Trench (n)：在陸地上或海底下深而狹窄的窪地。* "潛水艇探索著神祕的海溝，希望可以發現新生命。"
Seismic (adj)：與地震或其他地球上的震動有關，或由此引起的。* "科學家監測著地震活動，以捕捉任何暗示即將發生火山爆發的跡象。"
Membrane (n)：一層薄而富有彈性的組織，包覆或由內分佈在某個器官或構造上。 * "這隻生物翅膀上的薄膜在陽光下閃閃發光。."
Ascent (n)：上升或往上攀爬的動作。* "火箭升空的景象令人屏息。"
Giddiness (n)：雀躍或頭暈目眩的狀態。* "’ 探險家們到達山頂時感到一陣暈眩。"
Pulses (plural n)：規律的敲擊或顫動，通常指帶有規律節奏的震動或信號。* "無人機發出聲波來繪製海底地圖。"
Inferno (n)：失控的巨大火焰或一個極端高溫的場所。* "火山爆發引發了熊熊烈火，吞噬了它沿途經過的一切事物。"
Radiation (n)：能量以電磁波或次原子粒子移動的形態傳送。* "探險家們穿著防護服來防止他們受有害輻射的影響。"
Rhythm (n)：一個很強而規律且不斷重複的動作或聲音。* "海浪帶節奏地拍擊著海岸的景象令人著迷。"
Diver (drones) (n)：一個用於深海探險的虛構無人機。* "無人機被派出調查海溝裡傳來的奇怪信號。"
Photo by Jongsun Lee on Unsplash / 照片出處: Jongsun Lee on Unsplash
Reading Activity (20 minutes)
Tides of Europa (Middle Third)
It was six months until the drones were fully ready. It was December back on earth, so it was December on the colonies. The daily cycles of the climates mirrored earth, even though half of those living in Europa’s colonies weren’t born there.
Dr. Pavlov had been dreaming that she was swimming to the depths of the trench. The pressure was crushing her. Her lungs would scream. She had to reach it. Every time, she would wake with her bed drenched in sweat.
Today, they would reach it. She felt like a little girl again on her birthday. She walked into the mission room. Dr. Adams was already there. He looked pale but excited nonetheless. The whole room was. Every member of the mission was on the edge of giddiness as they watched the graphics from the descending drones.
Sending the drones to manufacturing facilities orbiting Ganymede, they used a technique to strengthen them that was only possible in the vacuum of space. The drones were showing that they were stable. They reached 600 kilometers deep.
“Target is 20 kilometers and closing,” Dr. Adams spoke.
The loudest pulse they had recorded yet was transmitted through the drones. It vibrated through the colony.
“Adjust the audio,” Dr. Adams directed. “We don’t want to disturb everyone.”
“Target depth reached.”
“Let’s get a quality visual.”
The displays had mostly been focused on the walls of the trench. Now, they looked directly below the drones. The rock seemingly ended where that smooth heat-producing membrane began. It looked like the skin of a marine creature, an octopus perhaps. There was another pulse. Even with the audio turned down, Raina felt it in her chest.
“Let’s retrieve a sample of that membrane,” Raina suggested.
“Diver C can take the sample and begin its ascent with it. We will want that here as soon as possible.
On the display for Diver C, there was a quick flash of its laser as a slender piece of skin was cut from the membrane. Seismic activity spiked, and the displays were disturbed for a moment. Then the visuals normalized and Diver C began its ascent.
The next pulse came, early. The pulse after that was earlier. They were quickening by a quarter of a second each time.
“I think we woke it up,” said one of the drone pilots.
“Funny,” Dr. Adams said. “Those lasers could take a limb off you and you would never feel it.”
“It’s heart rate is getting faster,” Raina said. “Could we leave a drone in the trench to record the changes in these rhythms?”
“I would like that information too,” said Dr. Adams. “Diver A has enough power for 24 hours. We will let it record for 12.”
Raina spent the entirety of Diver A’s 12 hours of recording in the mission room. It was the patterns that occurred two hours after the sample was taken that she kept going back to. The pulses had been coming much more quickly before then slowing down, returning to their normal regular pattern.
It was now a week after the mission had occurred and she was listening to the recording again. They had found something alive and far more complex than bacteria and algae beneath their trench in Europa’s vast ocean.
The sample was definitely skin. It was nearly identical to an octopus’s skin except for the hide of the creature beneath the trench was far heartier than any earth-born creature’s. Genetic testing had revealed quite little about the creature. They needed to go back down.
I see you.
She pushed her equipment away. Her eyes were too tired and she already knew what it all said. They would have nothing new to work with until their next mission. Her assistant walked in.
“Need anything before I go home?”
“Oh, could you help quickly put this away, I forgot that I need to rest.”
“You forget about that every day.”
“The 24 hour day… I wasn’t born on earth, I don’t feel bound by its cycles.”
“Regardless of how you may think you’ve adapted, humans still need rest. And, we are biologically programmed around a 24 hour day, born on the earth or not.”
Raina smiled at her assistant. “You’re right, I’ll get home and get some sleep.”
Sleep…
Raina took a sleeping pill once she got home then laid down and closed her eyes.
How long… how long have I slept?
Matter and energy, that was all there was. Raina was floating in an inferno of elements. It was so hot. She reached out a hand toward the dust that was everything as it slowly became something. At the center of this cloud of swirling everything, a sun was being born.
How long?!
Great terraced pyramids rose from a city of orange and red… purple and gold… stone obelisks and verdant gardens. The sun filled the sky, this wasn’t Earth. This wasn’t Mars.
Venus…
How she knew the planet to be flashed through her mind.
HOW LONG?!
She woke up to the colony shaking. An alarm was going off, then her device hummed. Someone was trying to reach her.
“Hello?”
“I guess no one slept through that.” It was Dr. Adams.
“What was that?”
“Seismic activity moved the ocean around a bit, so the ice moved with it.”
“Is everything fine?”
“Yes and no, the colonies are safe. However, I’m calling for an emergency mission into the trench. I want to confirm what I suspect to be a relation between that creature down there and what we just felt.”
閱讀時間 (20 minutes)
木衛二的潮汐（中篇2/3）
過了六個月，無人機終於完全改造完成了。正好是地球的十二月，所以也是殖民地的十二月。在這裡氣候的晝夜循環比照地球，雖然有一半的木衛二殖民地居民並不是在地球出生。
Pavlov博士常常夢見自己正在游向海溝的深處。但海底的壓力幾乎將她碾碎。她的肺疼得像在尖叫。但她必須到達那裡。每一次，她都汗流浹背地在床上醒來。
今天，他們將會到達那裡。她覺得自己像當天生日的小女孩一樣興奮。她走進了任務室。Adams博士已經在那裡了。他看起來臉色蒼白但十分興奮，整個任務室的人都一樣。每一位參與任務的成員都處於激動的邊緣，壓抑不住內心的期待，目不轉睛地看著下潛中的無人機所傳來的圖像。
不久前他們將無人機送往環繞於木衛三（Ganymede）的製造中心。他們使用了一種只有在太空的真空環境中才能應用的技術來加強它。現在無人機顯示它運行穩定。已經達到了600公里的深度。
「目標距離我們20公里，正在接近中。」Adams博士說。
他們目前所記錄到最大的聲波正透過無人機傳送過來。它震動了整個殖民地。
「調整音量。」Adams博士指示。「我們不想影響到任何人。」
「已經到了目標深度。」
「讓我們看看更清晰的影像。」
螢幕原本正對著海溝的峭壁，現在他們直接讓它看向下方。
沿著岩壁，在岩石末端能看見平滑、散發著熱能的薄膜。它看起來像一種海洋生物的皮膚，也許是章魚的皮膚。又有另一個聲波襲來。即使音量已經調小，Raina仍然能在胸口感受到那股震動。（註：Raina的姓氏為Pavlov）
「我們來取一塊薄膜樣本吧。」Raina建議道。
「無人機C可以取樣並帶著樣本上升，我們希望能盡快把它帶回來，」有人回應。
透過無人機C的螢幕，可以看到一道雷射光一閃而過，從薄膜上切下了小小一片細長的皮膚。地震活動開始了，有一小段時間螢幕被干擾。之後影像又恢復正常了，無人機C開始爬升。
下一個聲波比預期的更提前到來。接在這個聲波後的聲波又來得更早。每次都比前一次快四分之一秒。
「我想我們叫醒它了。」一位無人機操作員說。
「真有趣。」Adams博士說。「那些雷射可以在你感覺不到的情況下截斷你的四肢。」
「它的心跳正在變快。」Raina說。「我們可以將無人機留在海溝中，記錄這些聲波的節奏變化嗎？」
「我也想要這些資料。」Adams博士說。無人機A有足夠的電力可以支撐24小時。我們會讓它記錄12個小時的資料。
Raina在任務室裡花了整整12個小時聽無人機A錄下的檔案。她不斷倒帶，回放在取樣後兩小時出現的那些聲波模式。聲波的頻率先是變快很多，隨後又慢下來，恢復成原本規律的模式。
任務結束一週後，她又再聽了一次錄音檔。在木衛二浩瀚海洋的海溝下方，他們發現了某個活著的生命體，而且遠遠比細菌和藻類複雜得多。
這個樣本肯定是皮膚。這幾乎可以認定為章魚的皮膚，只是這個海溝下生物的皮膚比地球上任何生物都更加堅韌。基因測試幾乎沒有提供什麼線索。他們需要再次潛入海底。
我看到妳了。
她推開了她的器材。她的眼睛很痠而且她已經掌握了所有已知的資訊。在下一次任務前他們沒有什麼可做的。她的助理走進來。
「在我回家前有什麼需要幫忙嗎？」
「哦，你可以幫我快速收拾一下這些東西嗎？我差點忘了自己需要休息。」
「你每天都忘記。」
「一天24小時……我不是在地球出生的，我不覺得自己受它的晝夜循環限制。」
「無論你感覺如何，人類還是需要休息。而且，我們的生物機制是24小時一天，不論是不是在地球上出生。」
Raina向她的助理微笑。「你說得對，我得回家小睡一下。」
睡覺……
Raina一回家馬上就吃了一顆安眠藥，然後躺下並且閉上眼睛。
多久……我睡了多久？
物質和能量是一切事物的本質。Raina正漂浮在一個熱核反應的火焰中。它非常燙。她把手伸向漸漸形成某個物體的星塵。在這個旋轉著一切的星雲中央，一顆太陽正在誕生。
多久了？！
巨大的階梯狀的金字塔從一座橙紅色的城市中拔地而起……紫色與金色交織……石製方尖碑和蓊鬱的花園。太陽填滿了天空，這裡不是地球，也不是火星。
金星……
她對這顆星球的印象閃過她的腦海。
多久了？！！！
她被殖民地的震動搖醒。警報聲響起，接著她的裝置發出嗡嗡聲。有人試圖聯繫她。
「喂？」
「我猜沒有人經歷這個以後還能不被驚醒。」是Adams博士的聲音。
「那是什麼？」
「地震活動讓海洋稍微移動了一點，所以冰層也隨之移動。」
「一切都還好嗎？」
「是，也不是。殖民地是安全的。不過我正準備發布緊急任務進入海溝。我想確認我所懷疑的事情，我想海底的那個生物和我們剛才感受到的震動之間絕對有某種關聯。」
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash / 照片出處： NASA 哈伯太空望遠鏡 on Unsplash
Post-Reading Activity (15 minutes)
Comprehension Questions:
True or False:
The drones were able to reach a depth of 600 kilometers. T / F
The membrane found at the bottom of the trench was cold to the touch. T / F
The rhythmic pulses detected by the drones became faster after a sample was taken. T / F
Short Response:
What did the drones discover at 600 kilometers deep?
How did the team react to the rhythmic pulses detected by the drones?
Describe the appearance of the membrane found at the bottom of the trench.
What was the significance of the sample taken from the membrane?
Discussion Questions:
What do you think the rhythmic pulses detected by the drones could indicate about the creature in the trench? Provide reasons for your answer.
How do you think the discovery of a large living organism in Europa's trench could impact future space exploration and our understanding of life in the universe?
閱讀後的討論 (15 minutes)促進閱讀理解的問題：
是非題：
無人機能夠下潛600公里深。 T / F
在海溝底部發現的薄膜太冰了沒辦法觸碰。 T / F
在採集樣本後，無人機偵測到的規律聲波變得愈來愈快。 T / F
簡答題：
無人機在600公里深的地方發現了什麼？
當無人機探測到規律的聲波，團隊的反應是什麼？
請描述海溝底部發現的薄膜的外觀。
為什麼這次採取的薄膜樣本具有重大的意義？
討論問題：
你認為無人機探測到的規律聲波，可能顯示了海溝中的生物有什麼特徵？請回答並說明理由。
你認為在木衛二的海溝中發現一個大型活體生物，可能對未來的太空探索，以及我們對於宇宙中生命的理解產生什麼影響？
Answer Sheet
Comprehension Questions:
True or False:
The drones were able to reach a depth of 600 kilometers. T / F (True)
The membrane found at the bottom of the trench was cold to the touch. T / F (False)
The rhythmic pulses detected by the drones became faster after a sample was taken. T / F (True)
Short Response:
What did the drones discover at 600 kilometers deep?
The drones discovered that they were closing in on the target depth of 20 kilometers. They were also approaching a smooth, heat-producing membrane.
How did the team react to the rhythmic pulses detected by the drones?
The team was initially excited and focused on gathering data. They adjusted the audio to avoid disturbing the rest of the colony. After the sample was taken, and the pulses quickened, there was a mix of concern and scientific curiosity.
Describe the appearance of the membrane found at the bottom of the trench.
The membrane was described as smooth and heat-producing. It looked like the skin of a marine creature, perhaps an octopus, but far heartier than any earth-born creature's skin.
What was the significance of the sample taken from the membrane?
The sample confirmed that the team had found something alive and complex beneath the trench. Genetic testing revealed that it was skin, nearly identical to an octopus's skin but hardier. This discovery prompted further investigation and an emergency mission.
Discussion Questions:
What do you think the rhythmic pulses detected by the drones could indicate about the creature in the trench? Provide reasons for your answer.
Possible answers:
The pulses could be a form of communication. If the creature is intelligent, it may be using the pulses to signal to others of its kind.
The pulses could indicate the creature's bodily functions, like a heartbeat. The changing rhythm could reflect changes in its activity or emotional state.
The pulses might be a way for the creature to sense its surroundings. Like sonar, the pulses could help it map the ocean floor or detect other creatures.
The pulses could be a defense mechanism, a way to disorient or deter potential threats.
How do you think the discovery of a large living organism in Europa's trench could impact future space exploration and our understanding of life in the universe?
Possible answers:
It would revolutionize our understanding of astrobiology. Finding life on Europa would suggest that life could exist in many more places in the universe than we currently believe.
It could lead to increased funding and interest in space exploration. Discovering life would be a major event, motivating more research and missions.
It might raise ethical questions about interacting with alien life. We would need to consider how to study the creature without harming it or its environment.
It could have profound philosophical implications. Discovering that we are not alone in the universe would change our perspective on humanity's place in the cosmos.
It could spur new technologies. We might need to develop new tools and methods for studying life in extreme environments.
Credits:
Story and lesson written by… Tyler W. Golec
Translations by… Lien Ji-Cho
Art contributed by…NASA Hubble Space Telescope, Jongsun Lee, Shot by Cerqueira & NASA on Unsplash.
版權頁：
故事和課程由Tyler W. Golec 編寫
國語翻譯... Lien Ji-Cho
圖片來源…NASA Hubble Space Telescope, Jongsun Lee, Shot by Cerqueira & NASA on Unsplash.
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