Step 3 Skimming

1. Ask students to skim the passage quickly and answer the questions:

1) What is the first anecdote about? And how about the second one?

2) The first anecdote mainly talks about that ________.

A. Clancy began to work at a whaling station

B. the killer whales helped the whalers to catch a baleen whale

C. the killer whales hunted in a team and killed a baleen whale

D. Old Tom showed whalers the way to a baleen whale

The second anecdote: Old Tom saved a whale James who was washed off the boat.

3) The text mainly tells us _______.

A. what a hard life the whalers lived

B. how the killers helped the whalers catch whales

C. what the whalers did at the whaling station

D. how the whalers caught a whale by teamwork

4) Why didn't the shark hurt James when he was washed off the boat?

A. Because James wore a protective diving suit

B. Because other people drove away the shark

C. Because the shark wasn't interested in James

D. Because Old Tom didn't let it near James

2. 根据课文内容填空.

Characters The whalers and _________. The first anecdote:

How the killers helped the whales ______ huge whales. Old Tom told the whalers there was a whale out there.

Old Tom ______ the whalers the way to the hunt.

A whale was _______ by a pack of about six other killers.

The killers threw themselves on top of the whale's blow-hole to ____.

The dead whale's body was _______ into the depths of the sea by the killers. The second anecdote:

How Old Tom saved the whaler James. James was _______ the boat.

Old Tom prevented the shark ______ James.

James was firmly _______ in the water by Old Tom.

James was ______ back into the boat by us. (Suggested answers: Old Tom; catch; showed; being attacked; stop it breathing; dragged; washed off; nearing; held up; pulled)

Step 4 Scanning

1. Fill in the following blanks with the proper names: