师：Earthquake. How much do you know about earthquake? Yes. How about you, Nihua?
生：Well, when an earthquake happens, everything begins shaking, right?
师：Yes. Thank you. Sit down, please. How about you, I? Others? How about you, Zhao Ming?
生：When an earthquake happens, everything will be destroyed.
师：Yes, indeed. And an earthquake will kill some people. Right. And then boys and girls, what can happen to a city during a big earthquake? Think about it. How about you? You still remember the earthquake that happened in Wenchuan, right? So when a big earthquake happens, what about this city?
生：Yeah, it will cause a lot of damage to the city, right?
师：Let's see. Damage, what kind of damage? The roads will be destroyed, right?
生：Yes.
师：You used the word "destroyed". And something else?
生：Buildings will be destroyed, too.
师：Well, I like your phrase here. You used "lay in ruins". That's very terrible. Right. Anything else?
生：People may be killed or injured.
师：And, you know, today we're going to talk about another big earthquake. Let's have a look. We're going to talk about Unit 4, "The Night the Earth Didn't Sleep". Now, boys and girls, please look at this title. "The Night the Earth Didn't Sleep". Can the earth sleep?
生：Yeah, here the author just uses a kind of figure of speech, that is...
师：Yes. Personification. Right. So why didn't the earth sleep?
生：A terrible earthquake happened right then.
师：Boys and girls, the passage may be about a big earthquake. And how about you? Where and when? I'd like you to read through the passage very quickly and get the main idea of this passage. Here we go. Who would like to have a try?
生：Ya kun. The passage is about a big earthquake that happened in Tangshan in 1976, which caused great damage.
师：Yes, just now we got the main idea of this passage. Then how about the main idea of each paragraph? And I'll give you a tip here to get the main idea of each paragraph. You should focus on the topic sentence. Try to find out the topic sentence, right? And how to find it? A topic sentence of each paragraph may be in the first or the last sentence, right? So try to find out the topic sentence, then summarize each paragraph in one phrase based on its topic sentence. Right? Here we go. Alright, how about the first one?
生：Yan Yi Xiang. The sentence I found is "Strange things were happening in the countryside of northeastern Hebei." This is something about the warning signs before the earthquake.
师：And how about the next one?
生：At 3:00 am, everything began to shake. This is about the happening of the big earthquake.
师：Let's move on. Ask another one to continue.
生：Two - thirds of the people who lived there were dead or injured. That's about the immediate effect of the earthquake.
师：Yes. Let's move on.
生：But hope was not lost. I found two sentences, "But hope was not lost." and "Slowly the city began to breathe." This is about the rescue work.
师：And how about the last paragraph?
生：Tangshan started to revive itself and get back up on its feet. This is about the revival of the city.
师：Yeah, you can pay attention to the verb right here, "revive". It's a verb, right? We can change this verb into a noun, "the revival of the city". And just now we got the main idea of each paragraph. Then how many parts can we divide the passage into? Think about it. Any volunteers?
生：Wang Yuhan. According to Wang Yuhan, we can divide this passage into three parts. The first one is something before the earthquake.
师：Yes. Go on.
生：Part 2 is from paragraphs 2 to 3. It's something during the earthquake. And part three is about paragraphs 4 to 5, after the earthquake.
师：Yes. Thank you. Have a seat. And now let's look at the first part, some warning signs before the earthquake. So can you find out some warning signs?
生：The village wells rose and fell.
师：Yes. And anything else?
生：Steep cracks appeared in the walls.
师：Right. And go on.
生：Smelly gas came out from one well.
师：And how about the animals?
生：Chickens and pigs were too nervous to eat. Dogs refused to go inside the buildings. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide. Fish jumped out of the water.
师：Anything else? Xueqi, please.
生：Bright lights were seen in the sky outside of the city and loud noises were heard.
师：Then how about the people in Tangshan? Did they notice these warning signs?
生：Actually, no. "But the city's 1 million people were asleep as usual that night." That is to say the people were unaware and unprepared.
师：Am I right? Okay. So the earthquake just happened. Which sentence?
生：At 3:00 am, everything began to shake. Earthquake happened.
师：So now please look through these two paragraphs very carefully and try to circle some numbers. I need a volunteer to circle them on the screen. Who would like to have a try?
生：Wang Yue circled some numbers here.
师：My question is, why did the author use so many numbers in these two paragraphs?
生：To show how terrible the earthquake was.
师：Right. Okay. And it caused a lot of damage to both the people and the city. Yes. Thank you. Sit down, please. And, you know, boys and girls, there are just numbers in our textbooks, but actually behind these numbers, they represent our people and our city. Yes. So it means a lot. It's not just some numbers here. Yes. And what else did the author use to describe this terrible earthquake? Think about it and try to find some evidence.
生：Tommy. The author also used some vivid descriptions to describe this terrible earthquake. For example, "It seemed as if the world were coming to an end."
师：Yes, go on. Anything else?
生："Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt."
师：Anything else?
生："Everywhere survivors looked, there was nothing but ruins." And "Bricks covered the ground like red autumn leaves, but no wind could blow them away."