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?

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.

bow : the front part of a ship vs stern

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.

bleak: a) If a situation is bleak, it is bad, and seems unlikely to improve. e.g. His future looked bleak.

bleak prospect; the bleakness of the post war years b) If a place is bleak, it looks cold, bare, and unattractive

e.g. the bleak coastline

c) When the weather is bleak, it is cold, dull, and unpleasant e.g. the bleak winters

d) If someone looks or sounds bleak, they seem depressed, hopeless, or unfriendly

e.g. his bleak features bleakly adv.

e.g. He stared bleakly ahead.

―What,‖ he asked bleakly, ―are these?‖

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. Her youngest child was asleep in her lap. He placed the baby on the woman’s lap.

In a race, when you say that a competitor has completed a lap when he or she has gone round the course race.

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

dock: v. anchor, moor

How many images of environmental destruction are presented here in para 1?

Paragraph 2.

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

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. at stake

Some observers think there is too much at stake for the two sides not to come to an agreement on oversight. 一些观察人士认为，如果两国在监管问题上不能达成一致，将会涉及相当大的利害关系。

The same is about to happen again but with more at stake for Europe this time around.

同样的一幕又将重演，但这一次对欧洲来说更加利害攸关

The 600 percent increase … to the top of the sky: chlorine: 氯

chlorofluorocarbons: CFC氟里昂

Paragraph 15, 16, 17, 18 ，19， 20

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. pervasive

Something, especially something bad, that is pervasive is present or felt throughout a place or thing.

...the pervasive influence of the army in national life...在国民生活中军队的影响无处不在

She lives with a pervasive sense of guilt. 她生活在深深的愧疚之中。

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. Para 16

今天，人类文明已成了地球生态环境变化的主要原因。然而，我们却拒

不承认这一事实，并且觉得很难想象，人类对地球的影响，现在也得用测量月球对海水的吸引力或暴风对高山的侵蚀作用的方法来测量。假如我们现在已有能力改变像太阳与地球之间的关系这样重要事物的话，我们自然应该承认自己有责任谨慎而有节制地使用这种权力。但迄今为止，我们似乎对地球上十分脆弱的生态系统漠然置之。

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 surge

A surge is a sudden large increase in something that has previously been steady, or has only increased or developed slowly.

Specialists see various reasons for the recent surge in inflation.专家们认为目前通货膨胀加剧有多种原因。

The anniversary is bound to bring a new surge of interest in Dylan's work.该周年纪念肯定会再一次激发人们对迪伦作品的浓厚兴趣。

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) Exponential means growing or increasing very rapidly. 迅速增长的；成指数倍增的

The policy tried to check the exponential growth of public expenditure. 该政策试图控制公共开支的迅猛增长。 exponentially

The quantity of chemical pollutants has increased exponentially. 化学污染物排放量已经迅速增加。

axiom: n. a rule, principle, etc. that is generally accepted as true

cumulative If a series of events have a cumulative effect, each event makes the effect greater. 积的；积累的；渐增的

It is simple pleasures, such as a walk on a sunny day, which have a cumulative effect on our mood...

一些简单的娱乐，譬如在一个阳光明媚的日子散步，就能使我们的心情更愉快。

The benefits from eating fish are cumulative. 吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

Sustenance is food or drink which a person, animal, or plant needs to remain alive and healthy. 食物；营养；养料;means of existence

The state provided a basic quantity of food for daily sustenance, but little else.

国家提供基本的日常食物供应，但除此之外就没什么了。

Unemployment has hit a record high of 21 percent, and thousands of Greeks depend on church and municipal soup kitchens for sustenance.

失业率已达新高21%，上千的希腊人靠着教堂和市政的施粥场维持生计。

every bit as 全部；完全一样

For him, tackling climate change is every bit as urgent. 但在他看来，应对气候变化同样是当务之急。

Good analysis was important as a foundation for the architecture and design, but prototypes were every bit as valuable.

作为架构和设计的基础，良好的分析是重要的，但是原型也是非常有价值的。

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 Para 20参考译文：

像人口增长的情形一样，科学技术的发展在十八世纪慢慢开始加速，而

核军备竞赛问题因科学技术的发展而变得复杂了，这倒没错，但其起因却在于两个超级大国之间互相对峙的关系，而其根源则在于人们对战争究竟意味着什么这一问题的陈旧的认识。

rogue states: 流氓国家

The strategic nature of the threat now posed by human civilization to the global environment and the strategic nature of the threat to human civilization now posed by changes in the global environment present us with a similar set of challenges and false hopes. 当前人类文明对全球环境的威胁的战略实质以及全球环境的变化对人类文明的威胁的战略实质向我们提出了一系列相似的挑战，同时也使我们产生了一些自欺欺人的期望。

at best ：Taking the most optimistic view

充其量

Undertake Commit oneself to and begin (an enterprise or responsibility); take on:

/ a firm of builders undertook the construction work

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