Unit 3.ships in the desert课文解释

Unit 3: Ships in the Desert

by Al Gor

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 2. The purpose of a piece of exposition: --- 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 clouds for what they are—a physical 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? Typical content of an exposition:

Part 1 A problem is pointed out (definition, phenomena, etc)

Part 2 The problem is analyzed (causes, classification,

advantages/disadvantages, etc)

Part 3 How to solve it (suggestion, etc.) How does an essay / feature article begin？ What’s the effect the writer produces here?

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.

1. When something made of cloth billows, it swells out and moves slowly in the wind. （布制品）鼓起

The curtains billowed in the breeze... 窗帘在微风中鼓了起来。

Her pink dress billowed out around her. 她粉红色的连衣裙鼓了起来。 ...the billowing sails. 鼓起的风帆 2.

When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards or across the sky. （烟或云）翻滚，滚滚向上

...thick plumes of smoke billowing from factory chimneys...

工厂烟囱冒出的滚滚浓烟

Steam billowed out from under the bonnet. 引擎盖下喷出滚滚的蒸汽。 ...billowing clouds of cigarette smoke. 烟雾缭绕 3. n.

A billow of smoke or dust is a large mass of it rising slowly into the air. 腾起的一大团（烟、尘等）

...smoke stacks belching billows of almost solid black smoke. 喷出滚滚黑烟的烟囱

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

A fire could have been deliberately started to cloak small coordinated troop movements.可能是有人故意放火掩护小规模的部队协同行动。

The beautiful sweeping coastline was cloaked in mist.美丽的海岸线一望无际，笼罩在迷雾之中。

shimmer: shine with an unsteady light

The lights shimmered on the water.

水面上波光粼粼。

The trees shimmered in the afternoon heat. 午后的热浪中，树木闪着微光。

translucent: partially transparent半透明的

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?

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