大学高级英语第一册unit 3.ppt

Unit threeIntroduction 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 43 rd American president. The text is taken from al gore’s book earth in the balance.¡Al Gore’s profound analysis of where humanity has gone wrong ranges across history, politics, science, economics, psychology, philosophy, and religion.¡Gore demonstrates that the quality of our air and water is urgently at risk. He clearly illustrates how problems that once were regional have now become global. Gore argues for a worldwide mobilization to save us from disaster.¡The Aral sea ¡Located in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan ¡Historically a saline lake ¡In 1960 the world’s fourth largest lake, the size of the entirety of Southern California. ¡In the center of a large, flat desert basin ¡A prime example of a dynamic environment ¡America’s great lakes ¡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—i.e. HOMES¡Questions for understanding: ¡1. why did the writer go to the aral sea? What did he see there? ¡2. what were scientists doing in the antarctic region? ¡3. Why would the thinning of the polar ice cap be disastrous to the world? ¡4. How will the destruction of the amazon rain forest affect the earth’s ecological balance? ¡5. How are the “ghosts in the sky” formed? ¡6. Why does the writer say “our response to these signals is puzzling”?¡7. Why is global warming considered a strategic threat?¡8. What are the two factors that define the physical reality of our relationship to the earth?¡9. what dramatic changes have occurred in these two key factors?¡10. What soutions does the writer put forward to our ecological problems?¡Bleak:¡A bleak prospect/ future/outlook¡Life here has always been bleak and difficult.¡Bleak winds of the north Atlantic¡Paraphrase: the prospects of a good catch looked bleak.¡It was not at all possible to catch a large amount of fish.¡Understatement:¡A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in “this is no small problem”.¡Eg: even though I was the president of the class, I did not do much besides organizing all the events during the school year, and helping out fellow classmates.¡I was kind of sick the other day, it really wasn’t that bad besides that I broke my arm and my leg.¡My room isn’t very messy besides that there are about twenty books scattered around the room with ten or so pants or shirts hanging around my bed area.¡Overstatement:¡Eg: I read all my text books today, my eyes are totally falling off!¡Lap: to wash or flow¡Cats and dogs lap water.¡Water lapped the sides of the boat.¡Before the end of the race Bob had lapped Jimmy.¡She lapped my finger with gauze.¡He used to lap the page where he stopped reading.¡She was sitting with her hands on her lap.¡Paraphrase: the water that … in the desert.¡The water to flow into the sea has been turned away to irrigate the land created in the desert to grow cotton. This scheme is ill conceived.¡Para 2: ¡Paraphrase: s1 ¡I travelled 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 enviromental crisis. ¡the very bottom of the earth: the southern end of the earth ¡Trans-Antarctic mountains divided antarctica into the east antarctic and west antarctic subcontinents ¡hole: ozone depletion ¡dig through time: drill sample from glacier ¡Cracked(past particle), peeling(present particle), ¡Paraphrase:He moved his finger 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 year ago. ¡two continents: north america and antarctica ¡Emission: the amount of pollution discharged ¡least accessible:most difficult to get to ¡Para 3 ¡Paraphrase: industry means coal, and later oil ¡Industry needs to use coal and oil as fuel to generate power. ¡Paraphrase: bring rising levels… the earth. ¡Make the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grow, because heat can not 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.¡Para 4:¡Rendezvous point: a place where a submarine was to pick them up¡Hover: to wait close by¡negotiate an agreement: achieve an agreement by negotiation¡To secure the release …:¡To ensure the making public of data which was originally classified as top secret. ¡Eerily: mysterial (usu. Frighten, disturbed) eg: the eerily sound of owl.。