High 1 · Reading series
Lesson 54 · A Question about Clean Water
Audio track 54
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
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For an international class exchange, our group chose “clean water” as a topic. I prepared a slide about saving water at home. When we met our partner group online, one student asked what “clean” meant in our presentation. Did we mean water that looked clear, water tested for safety, or water available when people needed it?
I had used one familiar phrase for several different questions. Our partners described a school project about repairing a broken tap. We described a project that measured how much water was used during lunch. The places and problems were different, even though our slide titles sounded similar.
We decided to exchange questions before proposing solutions. Who checks the water? When is it available? Which part of the system can students actually change? We did not expect one class to solve the other's problem.
The conversation became more useful when “clean water” stopped being a slogan and became a set of specific situations we could understand.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
在一次国际课堂交流中，我们组选了‘清洁的水’作为主题。我准备了一张介绍家庭节水的幻灯片。线上见面时，对方小组一位学生问，我们所说的‘清洁’是什么意思：是看起来清澈的水、经过检测确认安全的水，还是需要时随时能用到的水？
我原来用一个熟悉的短语指代了好几种不同问题。伙伴们介绍了他们学校修理漏水水龙头的项目；我们则讲了测量午餐期间用水量的项目。两边地点和问题不同，幻灯片标题却听起来相似。
我们决定先交换问题，再提出解决方案：谁检测水？什么时间能用？这个系统里哪些部分是学生真能改变的？我们没有期望一班学生替另一班解决问题。
当‘清洁的水’不再只是一句口号，而成为一组可理解的具体情境时，交流才真正有了用处。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- clean water
- 清洁的水；标题需要明确具体含义。
- available
- 可获得的；需要时能否用到水。
- test for safety
- 检测安全性；与只看外观不同。
- phrase
- 短语；一个词组掩盖了不同问题。
- repair a tap
- 修理水龙头；伙伴学校的项目。
- measure
- 测量；本校记录午餐用水。
- propose
- 提出；先问问题再提方案。
- system
- 系统；学生只能改变其中部分环节。
- slogan
- 口号；宽泛标题不足以说明问题。
- specific
- 具体的；交流回到实际情境。
Background notes (Chinese)
同一个大主题在不同地方可能指向水质检测、供应时间或设施维修等不同问题。学生先厘清用词和情境，再讨论各自能做什么。