张汉熙编《高级英语》Advanced - English教案笔记 - （1-14课全）

www.TopSage.com 大家网

17 / 49

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? 5. metonymy: concrete III. Preview:

1. What’s the meaning of the title?

2. What do you expect to have when you read the title? 3. What kind of writing is the text?

4. What is the theme? What does the author try to tell us through his article?

5. How is the exposition developed? 6. How does the essay begin?

7. What’s the effect the writer produces here?

IV. 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;

5. that stretched all the way to the horizon: that extended to the far off place where the sky meet the earth

6. comparable: something that is comparable to something else 7. 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

8. the sun glaring at midnight through a hole in the sky: the sun shining at midnight through the ozone depletion

9. 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

更多精品在大家！

http://www.TopSage.com

大家网，大家的！

18 / 49 13078685.doc TopSage.com

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.

10. 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.)

11. 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.

12. two continents: South America and Antarctica 13. emission: the amount of pollutants discharged

14. least accessible place on earth: the place which is the most difficult to get to in the world

Paragraph 3

15. Industry meant coal: the development of industry meant the use of large amount of coal as fuel to generate power.

16. bringing rising levels of carbon dioxide: making the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grow

17. 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.

18. upwind from the ice runaway…that inexorable change:

upwind: in the direction from which the wind is blowing or usually blows

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

to prevent the metal parts from freeze-locking together: to stop the metal parts from being frozen solid

monitor the air: watch or check on the air

to chart the course: to show the onward movement on an outline map inexorable: that cannot be changed; unalterable

e.g. the inexorable rise in the cost of living 19. graph: usually a mathematical diagram

Paragraphs 4 & 5

20. 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.

21. 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 22. frigid: cold; icy; freezing 大家网，大家的！ http://www.topsage.com

更多精品在大家！

www.TopSage.com 大家网

19 / 49

e.g. frigid weather

23. a hearty breakfast: a satisfying and rich breakfast

24. snowmobile: a kind of motor vehicle for traveling over snow, usually with steerable runners at the front and tractor treads at the rear

25. rendezvous point: the place where a submarine was to pick them up

26. 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.

27. After it crashed through…resubmerged: After it broke through the ice, picked up it new passengers, and went below the surface of water again…

28. the polar ice cap: 极地冰冠

29. to secure the release of previously top secret data: to ensure the making public of data which was originally classified as top secret .

30. from submarine sonar tracks: obtained from submarine sonar tracks

31. 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.

eerily: mysteriously or uncannily, especially in such a way as to frighten or disturb windswept: swept by or exposed to winds with the horizon defined by little hummocks: with stretch of ice field characterized by small ridges

32. the ice here will thin: the ice here will become thin

33. 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‖

34. 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

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

35. the pattern of ice distribution: the regular way ice is distributed

36. a still controversial claim: a statement which some scientists still do not completely accept

37. which a variety of data now suggest: data coming from different sources point to this conclusion

更多精品在大家！

http://www.TopSage.com

大家网，大家的！

20 / 49 13078685.doc TopSage.com

38. 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

39. tundra: any of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the Arctic regions Paragraph 6

40. billowing: large swelling mass of

billow v. When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards or across the sky

41. 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.

42. the dry season: ant. in the wet season—the rainy season

43. 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.

44. 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

45. 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.

46. 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 47. blot out: hide entirely; obscure

48. This ―noctilucent cloud‖ …seem quite unnatural

noctilucent cloud: nocti- means night; lucent means shining, translucentdesignating or of a luminous cloud visible at night

to cloak: to conceal; hide

shimmer: shine with an unsteady light translucent: partially transparent

大家网，大家的！

http://www.topsage.com

更多精品在大家！