Unit 3.ships in the desert课文解释

Unit 3.ships in the desert课文解释 Unit 3: Ships in the Desert by Al Gore I . Additional Background Knowledge 1. Al Gore the author 2. Clean Air Act 3. The Aral Sea II . Introduction to the Passage 1. Type of literature: a piece of exposition of a piece of exposition: 2. The purpose --- to inform or explain 3. Ways of developing the thesis of a piece of exposition: --- comparison, contrast, analogy, identification, illustration, analysis, definition, etc. 4. The central thought or thesis III . Effective Writing Skills 1. making effective use of specific verbs 2. discussing the solution to environmental problems from a politician’s point of view, that is, relating the solution to environmental destruction to the solution to arm races IV . Rhetorical Devices 1. understatement 2. metaphor V . Special Difficulties 1. analyzing the structure of some long and complicated sentences 2. understanding the scientific matters connected with ecological environment 3. translating long and complicated sentences 4. mastering the rules of word formation VI . Questions 1. How has human civilization now become the dominant cause of change in the global environment? 2. What changes in the global environment present a strategic threat to human civilization? How should we face this challenge and solve the problem? 3.What solutions does the writer put forward to our ecological problems? Detailed Teaching Notes: Background knowledge About the author: Al Gore was born in 1948 in Washington D.C., U.S. He has been a Senator (1984-1992) representing the State of Tennessee, and U.S. Vice-President (1992-2000) under President Bill Clinton. He ran for the Presidency against George W. Bush jr. but the latter won the closely tied election and has become the 43rd American President. The text is taken from Al Gore’s book Earth in the Balance. The Aral Sea: The Aral Sea, located in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (both countries were part of the former Soviet Union), is historically a saline lake. It is in the centre of a large, flat desert basin. The Aral Sea is a prime example of a dynamic environment. In 1960 it was the world’s fourth largest lake, the size of the entirety of Southern California (at 26,250 square miles, approximately two hundred times larger than the Salton Sea). America’s Great Lakes: America’s Great Lakes refer to the group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, between the United States and Canada, largest body of fresh water in the world. From west to east, they are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. HOMES can help remember the names of the five lakes. H stands for Huron, O for Ontario, M for Michigan, E for Erie and S for Superior. Lake Superior: Lake Superior is one of the cleanest lakes in the world because of its temperature, size, and the lack of people living around it. Lake Superior, with a surface area of 31,700 square miles, is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. This one body of water contains 10% of all the freshwater in all the lakes and rivers in the world. The amount of time needed for the water in Lake Superior to be completely replaced is 191 years. The lake is known for its cold temperatures. Almost all of Lake Superior’s water stays at 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) all year. Lake Superior is often referred to as ―crystal clear,‖ with visibility of 50 feet or more. Antarctica: Antarctica is icy cold. Transantarctic Mountains divide it into the East Antarctic and West Antarctic subcontinents. China has set up two scientific research stations there: Zhongshan Station in the East and Great Wall in the West. Clean Air Act: American Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, which is one of the oldest environmental laws of the U.S. as well as the most far-reaching, the costliest, and the most controversial. Rhetorical devices: understatement: the prospects of a good catch looked bleak alliteration: fast pasture for fast-food beef metaphor: cloak, ghosts rhetorical question: But, without even considering that threat, shouldn’t it startle us that we have now put these clouds in the evening sky which glisten with a spectral light? Or have our eyes adjusted so completely to the bright lights of civilization that we can’t see these a physical clouds for what they are— manifestation of the violent collision between human civilization and the earth? metonymy: concrete Preview: What’s the meaning of the title? What do you expect to have when you read the title? What kind of writing is the text? What is the theme? What does the author try to tell us through his article? How is the exposition developed? How does the essay begin? What’s the effect the writer produces here? Detailed study Paragraph 1 1.capable of processing a fifty-ton catch on a good day: having the ability of cleaning and preparing for marketing or canning fifty-tons of fish on a productive day. catch: the amount of something caught; in the sentence it refers to the amount of fish caught e.g. The boat brought back a big catch of fish. 2. the prospects of a good catch looked bleak: a good catch did not look promising / hopeful. This is obliviously an understatement because with sand all around there was no chance of catching fish, to say nothing of catching a lot of fish. 3. waves lapping against the side of the ship: waves touching the side of the ship gently and makes a soft sound lap can also be used as a noun. e.g. Your lap is the flat area formed by your thighs when you are sitting down. 4. as far as I could see in all direction: that extended as far as the eye could see: that stretched all the way to the horizon: that extended to the far off place where the sky meet the earth 5. comparable: something that is comparable to something else 6. My search for… these images of destruction: I traveled around the world because I wanted to see, check and study cases of such destruction in order to find out the basic causes behind the environmental crisis. images of destruction: typical examples of destruction 7. the sun glaring at midnight through a hole in the sky: the sun shining at midnight through the ozone depletion 8. about the tunnel he was digging through time: about the tunnel he was drilling for samples from the glacier, which estimates the time. The deeper he drilled, the farther the sample in time; in other words, the surface of the glacier is an indication of recent time while the deeper part of the glacier tells of situation of a much more remote period. 9. Slipping his parka back to reveal a badly burned face that was cracked and peeling: Pushing his parka back, he revealed a badly burned face because of overexposure to direct sunlight; on the face there were lines that were split open and pieces of skin were coming down. parka: n. waterproof jacket with a hood attached (as worn for skiing, mountain climbing, etc.) 10. He moved his finger back in time to the ice of two decades ago: Following the layers of ice in the core sample, his finger came to the place where the layer of ice was formed 20 years ago. 11.two continents: South America and Antarctica 12.emission: the amount of pollutants discharged 13.least accessible place on earth: the place which is the most difficult to get to in the world Paragraph 3 14. Industry meant coal: the development of industry meant the use of large amount of coal as fuel to generate power. 15. bringing rising levels of carbon dioxide: making the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grow 16.with its ability to trap more heat…warm the earth: heat cannot easily get through carbon dioxide and go into the high altitude so carbon dioxide plays the role of a cover, keeping the heat near the earth. 17.upwind from the ice runaway…that inexorable change: upwind: in the direction from which the wind is blowing or usually blows 18.ice runway : runway is a strip of paved ground for use by airplanes in taking off and landing, and here in the South Pole the runway is a strip of ice ground 19.to prevent the metal parts from freeze-locking together: to stop the metal parts from being frozen solid 20.monitor the air: watch or check on the air to chart the course: to show the onward movement on an outline map 21.inexorable: that cannot be changed; unalterable e.g. the inexorable rise in the cost of living 22.graph: usually a mathematical diagram Paragraphs 4 & 5 23.pitch: pitch a tent means put up a tent e.g. They pitched their tent near the stream. They pitched their tent at the edge of the field. 24.slab: A slab of something is a thick flat piece of it. e.g. a slab of rock; a concrete slab; a slab of cheese 25.frigid: cold; icy; freezing e.g. frigid weather 26.a hearty breakfast: a satisfying and rich breakfast 27.snowmobile: a kind of motor vehicle for traveling over snow, usually with steerable runners at the front and tractor treads at the rear 28.rendezvous point: the place where a submarine was to pick them up 29.hover: to wait close by, especially in an overprotective, insistent or anxious way When a bird or insect hovers, it stays in the same position in the air by moving its wings very quickly. If somebody is hovering, they are waiting in one place, for example, because they cannot decide what to do. A figure hovered uncertainly in the doorway. 30.After it crashed through…resubmerged: After it broke through the ice, picked up it new passengers, and went below the surface of water again… 31.the polar ice cap: 极地冰冠 32.to secure the release of previously top secret data: to ensure the making public of data which was originally classified as top secret . 33.from submarine sonar tracks: obtained from submarine sonar tracks 34.and then I was standing …sheets collide: and then I was standing in the vast scene of snow which was fearfully beautiful, windswept and shining white, with the stretch of ice field characterized by small ridges because of the force of the collision of the separate layers. 35.eerily: mysteriously or uncannily, especially in such a way as to frighten or disturb 36.windswept: swept by or exposed to winds 37.with the horizon defined by little hummocks: with stretch of ice field characterized by small ridges 38.the ice here will thin: the ice here will become thin 39.the consequences of a thinning cap could be disastrous: the result of a thinning cap may indicate the possibilities of disasters could: the word indicates ―possibilities‖ Considering such scenarios is not a purely speculative exercise: Thinking about how a series of events might happen as a consequence of the thinning of the Polar cap is not just a kind of practice in conjecture / speculation, it has got practical value. scenario: a) an outline for an proposed or planned series of events, real or imagined 方案 气瓶 现场处置方案 .pdf气瓶 现场处置方案 .doc见习基地管理方案.doc关于群访事件的化解方案建筑工地扬尘治理专项方案下载 b) the scenario of a film is a piece of writing that gives an outline of the story脚本 speculative: meditating; thinking; pondering; guessing the pattern of ice distribution: the regular way ice is distributed a still controversial claim: a statement which some scientists still do not completely accept which a variety of data now suggest: data coming from different sources point to this conclusion the Arctic Circle: an imaginary line drawn round the world at a certain distance from the most northern point (the North Pole), north of which there is no darkness for six months of each year and almost no light for the other six months. cf. the Antarctic Circle tundra: any of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the Arctic regions Paragraph 6 billowing: large swelling mass of billow v. When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards or across the sky Acre by acre, the rain forest is being burned to create fast pasture for fast-food beef: Bit by bit trees in the rain forest are felled and the land is cleared and turned into pasture where cattle can be raised quickly and slaughtered and the beef can be used in hamburgers. Pay attention to the connection of the two ―fasts‖ in fast pasture and fast food. With that comes the ―fast‖ disappearance of the rain forest. the dry season: ant. in the wet season—the rainy season with more than one Tennessee’s worth of rain forest being slashed and burned each year: the area of rain forest burned in one year is bigger than the state of Tennessee. worth: equal in area or size slash: cut with a sweeping stroke If you slash something, you make a long, deep cut in it. e.g. Jack’s face had been slashed with broken glass. which means we are silencing thousands of songs we have never even heard: Since miles of forest are being destroyed and the habitat for these rare birds no longer exists, thousands of birds which we have not even had a chance to see will become extinct. Paragraphs 7 & 8 Images that signal the distress of our global environment are now commonly seen almost anywhere: Typical examples showing the dangerous environmental situation in the world can be found almost anywhere. On some nights, in high northern latitudes, the sky itself offers another ghostly image that signals the loss of ecological balance now in progress: On some nights, in the area at a high northern latitude, the sky alone presents another example of ill omen showing there is ecological imbalance and this kind of imbalance is developing. latitude (s): an area at particular latitude in high northern latitude在北纬高纬度地区 blot out: hide entirely; obscure This ―noctilucent cloud‖ …seem quite unnatural noctilucent cloud: nocti- means night; lucent means shining, translucent designating or of a luminous cloud visible at night to cloak: to conceal; hide shimmer: shine with an unsteady light translucent: partially transparent because of a huge buildup of methane gas in the atmosphere: because there has been a big increase of methane gas in the atmosphere methane is released from landfills,…activities: release: let go; emit swarm: to move in large numbers e.g. As the fire spread, people came swarming out of the building. What should we feel toward these ghosts in the sky: What should our attitude be toward these noctilucent clouds in the sky? Simple wonder or the mix of emotions we feel at the zoo: Should it only be a feeling of surprise and admiration or a combination of different feelings we experience in the zoo? just as men tear tusks…with extinction: men are killing such large number of elephants for their tusks that the species will soon extinguish. we are ripping matter from its place …darkness: we are using and destroying resources in such a big amount that we are disturbing the balance between daylight and darkness. rip: tear; When you rip something or when it rips, it is torn violently. e.g. The poster had been ripped to pieces. Two of the canvas bags had been ripped in such volume: in such quantity upset: When the word is used as a verb or a predicative, the second syllable is stressed; When it is used as an adjective in an attributive position, the first syllable is stressed. e.g.: You are upset. I’ve got an upset stomach. to upset the balance: to cause something to go wrong changing the chemistry of the upper atmosphere: changing the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere But, without even…shouldn’t it startle us…glisten with a spectral light? Or have our eyes …earth? These are two rhetorical questions. startle: to alarm suddenly or unexpectedly glisten: to shine or sparkle with reflected light, as a wet or polished surface spectral: like a ghost; ghostly adjust (to) : to change so as to fit, conform see : understand for what they are: in their real light; the real nature of manifestation: display Paragraph 9 whether it’s the frequency of days…waste: whether it is the fact that recently there are more hot days when the temperature is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (=38?), or the fact the sun burns our skin more quickly in recent times, or the fact that the debate over the way of disposing of the growing amount of waste matter comes up more frequently. But our response to these signals is puzzling: But our reaction to these signals is so baffling that it is difficult to understand. Why haven’t we launched …environment: Why haven’t we started a large-scale movement to save our environment? To come at the question another way: To approach the question in a different way; to put the question differently Why do some images…respond effectively: Why do some signs so alarm us that we immediately take action and concentrate on ways of dealing with them effectively? And why do other images, though sometimes…distraction: And why do other signs, though sometimes no less striking, only cause a kind of loss and inactivity and we concentrate our attention not on the ways to deal with them but instead, on some other substitutes which are easy to get and less painful? Paragraphs 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 it may be … appropriately: it may be useful to arrange them into different groups, thus getting our thoughts and feelings straightened out / organized so that we will be able to take the most suitable action. Problems like acid rain …regional in both of these categories: Problems like acid rain, the contamination of underground aquifers, and large oil spills basically belong to both local and regional categories. Acid rain:(酸雨) rain with a high concentration of acids produced by sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, etc. emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels; it has a destructive effect on plant and aquatic life, buildings, etc. aquifer: an underground layer of porous (多孔 的)rock, sand, etc, containing water, into which wells can be sunk. The 600 percent increase … to the top of the sky: chlorine: 氯 chlorofluorocarbons: CFC氟里昂 Paragraph 15, 16, 17, 18 in prehistoric times: in the period before recorded history carefully tended rice paddies: taken good care of rice fields But these changes … in the global ecological system: Although sometimes these changes seem to be taking place everywhere in the world they have, until recently, been relatively insignificant in their influence on the ecological system of the world. Yet we resist this truth …against the mountains: Yet we refuse to accept this true fact and find it difficult to think that we should treat our effect on the earth the same way as the moon’s gravitational pull on the oceans or the wind’s effect on the mountains and measure our effect in the same way as we measure the effect of natural forces. we resist this truth: we refuse to accept this true fact; we refuse to face this real fact that human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment. find it hard to imagine: it is very difficult (for us) to think that our effect … against the mountains: that we should treat our effect on the earth the same as the moon’s gravitational pull on the oceans or the wind’s effect on the mountains and measure our effect in the same way as we measure the effect of natural forces. Surely we must acknowledge … restraint: Of cause we must recognize that we have the responsibility to use the newly acquired capability in a prudent way and with proper restraint. So far … natural systems: Up till now, we seem to be unaware of the fact that the earth’s natural systems are very delicate and can easily be disrupted. that define the physical reality of our relationship to the earth: that determine the actual state of our relationship with nature. a sudden and startling surge in human population: a sudden and startling rise in human population; a sudden big and shocking increase in the world’s population with the addition one China’s worth of people every ten years: Worth: equal in size or number e.g. The storm did thousands of pounds’ worth of damage He bought 10 dollars worth of postage stamps. a sudden acceleration of the scientific and technological revolution: the scientific and technological revolution suddenly develops more rapidly in the course of one human life—mine: during the life span of an individual –my lifetime it is already more than half way there: the world population is already more than half of that figure. to pick up speed: to increase speed; gain speed ongoing: continuing; that is actually in process exponential: (指数的)of or relating to an exponent (数学中的指数) axiom: n. a rule, principle, etc. that is generally accepted as true While no single discovery …on our relationship to warfare: although no individual discovery has changed human relationship to the earth so much that it is comparable to the nuclear weapons which have brought tremendous change to the relationship between and warfare making the consequence…unrestrained nuclear war: this increased ability has made the results of unlimited use of global resources altogether as terrible as the results of full-scale nuclear war Paragraphs 20，21, 22, 23, 24: Our challenge is to …to shock and awaken us: Our task is to see and to understand that those frightening examples of environmental destruction that are happening all over the world not only can shock and arouse us but are very much the same in nature. They are symptoms … we have ever faced: They are signs and indications showing that there exists a much greater and more serious problem which we have never encountered. 112. deforestation: disappearance of forest to see ourselves as part …we are used to: to regard ourselves as part of a complicated system which does not function according to the rule of cause-effect we are familiar with The problem is not our effect… with the environment: What is involved is a matter of human relations with nature, rather than how mankind will affect nature. As a result, any solution … ecological system: As a result, if we want to solve the problem, we will have to carefully weigh and determine how important that relationship is and how important is the complicated interconnection among factors inside human society and between these factors and the main natural parts of global ecological system. There is only one precedent for this kind of challenge to our thinking: There is only one example in the past which posed similar demand on us for a change in our way of looking at things. That sobering realization: Once you know how serious and terrible a nuclear war will be, you become more clear-headed, more balanced in your reasoning and judgment the prospect of such a war: the expected outcome of such a war may well tear…warfare: can suitably dispose of the wrong thinking people entertain which have made them fail to see the change in the nature of armed conflict. For decades … of its own: For decades, the two super powers had been competing in the research, production and deployment of more sophisticated, more advanced weapons, hoping that in this the other side would be deterred not to launch a first strike in nuclear weapons. But the result was just the opposite. Each advance in weaponry led to a new round of arms race, a race of a much more destructive level. leapfrog: v. to jump or skip over; to advance well by missing out sth. on the way.