综合英语5unit 7 The Art of Smart Guessing.ppt

What do you see from the picture? Unit 7 The Art of Smart Guessing Bryan W. Mattimore 1. When making decisions, we are supposed to rely on the exact information relevant. However, for reasons such as lack of time, or statistics, we sometimes would have to resort to guessing. Do you often make guesses? Are all your guesses wild ones or are they sometimes based on estimations? 2. You must know about quite a number of great scientists. But you may not have heard of Enrico Fermi. Try to find some information about Enrico Fermi, such as who he is and for what contribution he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. This expository essay discusses a significant topic: how to hazard a guesstimate so as to solve a Fermi(费米） problem. A Fermi problem is named after Nobel Prize-winning scientist Enrico Fermi, who used Fermi problems to teach his students how to think creatively for themselves and how to obtain approximately correct answers. A Fermi problem does not contain all the information you need to solve it precisely. It presents a specific question, with or without a context, but it does not require the exact answer; it merely calls for the most approximate answer. Group Discussion Can you give an example of a Fermi problem? Fermi, Enrico (Paragraph 9) (1901-1954), Italian-born American physicist and Nobel Prize winner, who made important contributions to both theoretical and experimental physics. Fermi‘s best-known contribution was the demonstration of the first controlled atomic fission reaction（原子裂变反应）. He won the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics for his work in bombarding atoms with neutrons(中子）, subatomic particles with no electric charge. Stan Mason (Paragraph 15) Born in 1921 in Trenton, New Jersey, Mason created his first invention at the age of 7: a clothespin fishing lure that he sold to his friends. Mason calls himself “an inventor of ordinary, everyday products — not high-tech, but common, useful things.” In the last 50 years, his over 100 invention