The style of "Footprints on the Moon"

Text Discussion

1. Overall understanding

Human beings have long had the desire to land on the moon, and many beautiful myths and legends have been produced as a result. In July 1969, the American "Apollo 11" spacecraft finally turned this dream of mankind into a reality. This article truly records the entire process of American astronauts Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin landing on the moon. This is an interesting popular science piece. Reading it can stimulate students' interest in scientific exploration.

This article focuses on narrative, describing the entire process of the moon landing clearly and vividly. It can be said that attractiveness is the outstanding feature of this article.

First of all, the moon landing itself is attractive, especially to young students. What is on the moon? How can people land on the moon? How is the spacecraft made? What if there is an accident and cannot fly back? How would astronauts feel while flying at a speed of up to 10.5 kilometers per second? How would astronauts feel? How do you eat during a flight? How do you deal with defecation? And so on. A series of questions can arouse students' strong curiosity. Teachers’ teaching design should pay attention to stimulating students’ curiosity. By studying this article, students can ask many questions to teachers (it doesn't matter even if teachers can't answer these questions), which is exactly what we want to see. Therefore, "stimulating interest" is the focus of teachers teaching this article. Teachers can let students design an updated moon landing plan. Everyone can express their own ideas, even if they are illogical, it is very valuable.

Students must read the text carefully, and the concentration of students' interest can be seen from the reading. Teachers can provide reading guidance for certain sentences. For example, Armstrong's famous saying: "This small step for a person is a giant leap for mankind." Teachers should inspire students to choose appropriate readings based on their own understanding. Law.

How to describe something completely and vividly? This article provides a good example. First is rendering. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the article are rendered to arouse readers' interest in reading. Secondly, there is a clear time clue. Starting from "July 16 of this year" in the third paragraph, the author gives a detailed account of the entire moon landing process in chronological order, even writing down the minutes and seconds clearly. This allows readers to understand the specific time of the moon landing in more detail, and also enhances the vividness of the event. It can be said that narration in chronological order is another outstanding feature of this article.

Vivid language is the third outstanding feature of this article. The vividness of language is reflected in the following aspects: 1. Appropriate description. When writing about the scene before the rocket was launched, the author wrote: "The rocket stood upright like a giant, with its tip pointed straight into the blue sky, more than a hundred meters high." This shows the tall and majestic posture of the rocket. When writing about the rocket flying in space, the author wrote: "The spacecraft is driving slowly in space like a solitary boat. It has flown over...and it has flown...from the spacecraft, you can see that the beautiful moon is already far away. It found It glows with beautiful silver light and hangs quietly above the spaceship. "This description can stimulate the reader's imagination. 2. Let the numbers speak for themselves. The author lists a series of numbers in more detail, which can help readers increase their knowledge because these numbers are attractive. For example, the speeds of the three-stage rocket are 6.8, 7.67, and 10.5 respectively, which can make students wonder. 3. There is discussion in the narrative. Appropriately interspersing some argumentative sentences in the narrative can deepen understanding and add the finishing touch. For example, in paragraph 4, the author writes: "A great era is coming... This will be the most distant journey that mankind has ever made." Another example is in paragraph 11: "This is a great moment. This It is a great step for mankind... This is a milestone in human exploration of space." This writing method of adding discussion to the narrative is an important writing point that middle school students should master.

2. Problem Research

Traditional Chinese teaching likes to divide the text into several paragraph levels. Although this approach has its merits, it often falls into a fixed thinking pattern. Some texts do not need to be divided into paragraph levels. Like this article, because the time clues are very clear, students can completely see the stages of event development, so teachers do not have to spend energy segmenting them. Even if it is separated, it has no practical significance. When teaching this article, teachers should work hard on how to stimulate students' interest. In addition, humans have landed on the moon more than once. Teachers can appropriately introduce other relevant situations to students, or allow students to find relevant materials on their own. Also, someone wrote an article saying that the Apollo moon landing program was a big scam. Some people also say that some of the photos of the moon landing are fake. Teachers only need to know a little bit about these viewpoints, and there is no need to explain them to students in class. Once students ask, teachers can guide students to find ways to verify it themselves, because the process of verification is the process of exercise.

Exercise instructions

1. Quickly read the text silently, try to draw a schematic diagram of the whole process of landing on the moon, and give a brief explanation.

This question stimulates students’ imagination. Just be able to draw the diagram in chronological order. Explanatory text should be concise.

2. Read the following paragraphs and discuss with your classmates: Why is it said that the first human landing on the moon is "a huge leap for mankind as a whole" and a milestone in human exploration of space?

1. This small step is a small step for one person; it is a huge leap for mankind as a whole. (Armstrong)

2. The first step to the moon is also a step to the planets in the solar system and eventually to other planets in space. “What’s a small step for one person” is a fact, while “what’s a giant leap for mankind” is a hope for the future. (Aldrin)

3. From the 21st to the 22nd century, humans will immigrate to the moon and establish a lunar village. The lunar village will use solar energy for heating, use water found on the moon to produce vegetables and food, and build various living facilities. The important task of the lunar village is to mine helium 3 and transport it back to the earth, and use this thermal energy to generate electricity to supply the electrical energy needed by the entire earth. Humanity will also develop tourism for people on earth to visit lunar villages. (He Zuoxiu)

This question is designed to test students’ understanding of the significance of the moon landing. Before that, humans had fantasized about landing on the moon, and produced many myths, legends, and science fiction works, but they had never actually visited planets other than the earth. The success of the "Apollo" moon landing program has turned humankind's dream into reality. Humanity has begun to go to planets other than the earth, which shows that modern science and technology have reached the level of development into outer space. Humanity will not be limited to the earth. Humanity's The future is bright. Students can answer as they please; there is no "standard answer" to this question.

3 Based on the following situation, use your imagination and write a paragraph of one to two hundred words.

You drive a spaceship and search for alien life in the vast space. It's been several days since you left Earth. At this time, through the porthole, you see a beautiful blue planet...

This question mainly stimulates students' imagination. Teachers should not impose any restrictions on students' imagination, and the text should be as vivid as possible.

Teaching suggestions

1. Schools with conditions can prepare some teaching courseware to make classroom teaching more vivid and intuitive and arouse students' interest in learning.

2. This lesson should cultivate students' interest in exploring the unknown world. When teaching, it can be combined with the comprehensive study of this unit "Exploring the Mysteries of the Moon".

3. Teach students some speed reading methods, read the entire text within the specified time, summarize the text content, and see who summarizes comprehensively and correctly.

4. Carry out an oral activity. Invite one or several students to follow up and report on the entire process of the moon landing. The content of the report can be based on this article, with reference to other relevant materials.

Relevant information

1. From the "Mercury" project to the "Apollo" moon landing project

In order to seek and maintain its "space leadership" position, the United States has It defeated the Soviet Union in the "Space Race" and implemented a series of manned space programs since the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958.

The "Mercury" program is the first manned space program implemented by the United States in 1958. In view of the urgent situation of competition with the Soviet Union at that time, the basic guiding ideology of the plan was to use the technologies and achievements already mastered as much as possible to send people to heaven as quickly as possible and in a simple and reliable way. But in fact, when the Soviet Union successfully launched astronaut Gagarin into orbit on April 12, 1961, the Mercury spacecraft was still in the unmanned testing stage and did not conduct its first manned orbital flight until 1962. The "Mercury" program ended in 1963. It completed 25 flight tests, including 4 animal flights, 2 manned ballistic flights, and 4 manned orbital flights, at a cost of approximately US$400 million.

Through the "Mercury" project, the United States proved that humans can survive in the space environment and effectively pilot a spacecraft, and also gained preliminary experience in the design of manned spacecraft. However, it lost to the Soviet Union in this round of manned space competition, which was highlighted by the fact that it lagged behind the Soviet Union in the time it took for manned flights to space, and its space carrying capacity was also at a disadvantage. In order to change this situation, NASA and rocket experts such as von Braun proposed that the goal that the United States could achieve through efforts in the 1960s and that was just beyond the capabilities of the former Soviet Union was to land a man on the moon. As a result, U.S. President Kennedy announced the "Apollo" manned moon landing program on May 25, 1961.

As a transition from the "Mercury" to the "Apollo" program, the United States implemented the "Gemini" program from November 1961 to November 1966. Its main mission is to research and develop the technology for manned lunar landing and train astronauts’ capabilities for long-term flight and extravehicular activities. The program lasted for 5 years and completed 10 manned flights around the Earth's orbit, with 2 people each time, at a total cost of US$1.28 billion. In addition, for the implementation of the "Apollo" program, the United States also developed the "Prowler", "Surveyor", "Lunar Orbiter", unmanned lunar probe, Saturn family heavy-duty launch vehicle, as well as the escape system, command module, service module and the "Apollo" spacecraft composed of the lunar module. These efforts laid a solid technical foundation for sending people to the moon in 1969.

The "Apollo" program was implemented from 1961 to the end of 1972. Japan spent US$24 billion and completed 6 lunar landing flights, sending 12 people to the moon and returning them safely to the ground.

It not only achieved the political goal of the United States to catch up with the Soviet Union, but also promoted the development of American science and technology, especially propulsion, guidance, structural materials, electronics, and management science. However, the "Apollo" program cost too much, accounting for almost three-fifths of NASA's total funding in the 1960s. It seriously affected the development of space science and space applications in the United States and forced the United States to reconsider its next space goals.

2. The "Apollo" moon landing program: an amazing work in the history of human spaceflight

After the former Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial earth satellite in 1957, it later In 1961, he launched mankind's first space mission into Earth orbit. On the surface, the former Soviet Union has repeatedly won gold medals in the aerospace field and is far ahead. This greatly stimulated Americans with strong technological power, and even U.S. President Kennedy exclaimed: "We are falling behind!"

In order to break the aerospace superiority of the former Soviet Union, U.S. President Kennedy approved on May 25, 1961 He launched the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's moon landing plan and boldly proposed in Congress the mission to send people to the moon before the former Soviet Union before 1970. With a candor unmatched by any American president, Kennedy warned the American people not to accept the mission unless they had the fortitude to finish the race. This mission later became the famous "Apollo" manned lunar landing expedition program named after the sun god in Greek mythology.

In order to develop large launch vehicles, the famous rocket expert Braun and his team of four were assigned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The government also allocated US$140 million for the development of the Saturn 5 rocket. In the days that followed, despite failures, accidents, and harsh criticism from some quarters, the American people and their government never wavered in their support of the Apollo program. They were determined to "throw the Soviets on the moon" and suffer the shame of repeated defeats.

Kennedy's successor Johnson also unswervingly cared about and supported the "Apollo" program, even when the political benefits of the program were doubted, he did not waver. Not since World War II has a national policy in the United States enjoyed such sustained and unwavering support.

The "Apollo" project was conceived as early as 1957. Around 1960, it was believed that there were only two ways to land on the moon: one was to "land directly on the moon", and the other was to launch from an earth orbit launch station. Later, an engineer named Hobolt from Langley Laboratory proposed a completely different lunar orbit rendezvous plan, which is to use a relatively small spacecraft to descend from lunar orbit to the moon, and then return to the moon after completing the expedition mission. It will rendezvous and dock with the mother ship in lunar orbit and return to Earth. After a heated internal debate, Hobolt's idea was adopted. According to more conservative estimates, this technical approach advanced the Apollo lunar landing by at least two years.

In the original lunar module design, two windows were arranged on the bulkhead in front of each astronaut's seat. The larger porthole is at eye level with the astronaut. Because the astronaut is sitting, the distance between the window and the astronaut's eyes is 60 cm. The smaller porthole is located near the astronaut's knees. The total area of ??the four porthole windows in front of the two astronauts is 11 square meters. This design is far from ideal. First, because the total area of ??the portholes is too large, too much sunlight is exposed, and reducing the area will affect the astronauts' field of vision; secondly, because the windows are far away from the astronauts' eyes, the field of view is very limited, which creates a problem for the astronauts during the lunar landing process. Observation of the conditions at the landing site caused great difficulties. In addition, because the window is large and heavy, it takes up the weight of other equipment.

In order to find a reasonable design solution that can reduce the size of the window, reduce the weight, and provide a good view, designers have racked their brains and often argue over this. One day, a space agency engineer named George Franklin complained that the total time from separation of the lunar module from the service module and the command module to landing on the moon was only one hour, or even less. Why did the space agency have to let the space agency do that? Isn’t it okay for employees to sit or stand? “Stand?” Yes, stand! This grumbling remark opened up the designers’ minds. A new and reasonable solution emerged. When astronauts stand, they can put their eyes close to the window and look out, which greatly expands their field of vision. In this case the window can be designed very small, thus also reducing the weight. It's really hard to find anywhere without trying to find it, and it takes no effort to get it!

The "Apollo" project is a grand and huge task. No one unit, department or company can do it alone. During the implementation of the plan, approximately 400,000 people and more than 20,000 companies participated, costing a total of US$23.915 billion.

(Excerpted from "Sina Technology" on February 15, 2001)

3. Armstrong

If someone asks you: "Do you know which animal can fly the highest? "?" Many people will definitely answer: "The eagle flies the highest." If someone tells you that the eagle can fly to the moon, you will definitely think that this person has something wrong with his mind.

On July 20, 1969, an American named Armstrong reported a piece of news to all mankind: the eagle had flown to the moon. Everyone who heard the news at that time knew that there was indeed nothing wrong with his mind, and that the news he reported was indeed true.

Of course what Armstrong was talking about was not an ordinary eagle, but the American "Apollo 11" moon landing spacecraft. More than a billion people on earth witnessed Armstrong slowly stepping off the spacecraft and carefully setting his feet on the lunar surface through live television broadcasts. "This small step is a small step for one person; but it is a huge step for mankind as a whole!" Armstrong's famous saying became the great declaration of mankind's conquest of the moon.

As the first space eagle to fly on the moon, Armstrong deservedly became the hero of all mankind.

Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in a small city in Ohio, USA. Neil has been fascinated by flying since he was a child. He started taking flying lessons at the age of 15, and he earned the tuition by working part-time. Due to his excellent academic performance, he obtained a trainee pilot's driving license at the age of 16. At that time, he hadn't even obtained a driver's license yet. To use a Chinese saying, Little Neil has learned to run before he even learns to walk.

After graduating from high school in 1947, Armstrong received a scholarship from the U.S. Navy and entered the famous Purdue University. In 1949, Junior enlisted in the Army and officially became a pilot in the U.S. Navy. In the following ten years, Armstrong flew more than 200 aircraft of various types, including gliders, helicopters, jets, etc. The most famous model was the X15 ultra-high-speed rocket plane with a speed of 6,500 kilometers per hour. . During this period, Armstrong also successfully completed graduate courses at the University of Southern California while working and received a master's degree in aerospace engineering.

In 1962, Armstrong was selected by NASA and became the second batch of American astronauts. On March 16, 1966, Armstrong, as the spacecraft commander, and Scott piloted the Gemini 8 spacecraft to dock with a satellite in space. After successfully docking, the spacecraft suddenly began to rotate. Armstrong steered the spacecraft away from the satellite, but the spacecraft was still somersaulting in space. Armstrong activated one of the 16 jet thrusters, and the spacecraft was still spinning. They started the second thruster, and 30 minutes later, the spacecraft finally stabilized. According to the instructions of the ground center, they terminated the mission, successfully flew back to the ground, and landed in the designated waters of the Western Pacific.

On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins drove the "Apollo 11" spacecraft to begin mankind's first feat of conquering the moon. On July 21, they arrived at the scheduled landing site in the Moon's "Sea of ??Tranquility" and were about to land when they suddenly discovered a football field-sized crater below the spacecraft, which was filled with large and small stones. If they were to land forcefully, they would The lunar module is likely to be smashed by these rocks, and there will not be much fuel left if it continues to fly forward. Armstrong's ability to deal with emergencies was once again put into play. He immediately took emergency measures and changed the spacecraft to manual driving. After continuing to fly for about 20 seconds, he found a relatively flat place 6 kilometers away. Due to high tension, his heartbeat had increased from 77 to 156 beats per minute.

The lunar module finally landed safely on the lunar surface. Armstrong immediately reported to Earth: "Houston, we are reporting from the Moon's Sea of ??Tranquility, the Eagle has landed!"

After several hours of preparation, Armstrong was the first to step out of the lunar module, using his feet to Specially made large rubber shoes left the first human footprints on the surface of the moon.

Armstrong and Aldrin began intense work and installed some scientific instruments on the lunar surface, including cosmic ray counters, seismometers, laser reflectors, etc. They took a lot of photos and collected some lunar soil and rock samples. After staying on the lunar surface for more than three hours, they returned to the lunar module.

On July 25, the three of them successfully returned to Earth, completing the first human conquest of other planets.

In 1971, Armstrong retired from NASA and became a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. In 1981, he retired from the University of Cincinnati and became president of Aerospace Computer Technologies. In 1993, this space eagle was selected by relevant departments and entered the American Astronaut Hall of Fame.