新概念英语第三册 39

Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about

不必担心

一、【Text】课文



The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.

As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders.The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.

What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zig-zag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dash- board flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!



二、【New words and expressions】 生词和短语



●rough adj. 崎岖不平的

●boulder n. 大石块

●pit v. 使得坑坑洼洼

●perturb v. 使不安

●underestimate v. 低估

●swerve v. 争转变

●scoop v. 挖出

●hammer v. （用锤）击打，锤打

●ominously adv. 有预兆的，不祥的

●rip v. 划破，撕，扯

●petrol n. 汽油

●stretch n. 一大片（平地或水）

●obstacle n. 障碍

●clump n. 丛，簇

●fissure n. （石、地的）深缝

●renew v. 重复

●pleading n. 恳求

●gear n. （汽车）排档

●astride prep. 骑，跨

●crack n. 缝隙

●zigzag n. “之”字形

●shallow adj. 浅的

●grind (ground, ground ) v. 磨擦

●halt n. 停

●dashboard n. （汽车上的）仪表盘



■rough adj. 崎岖不平的

Eg: We’d better not take

the rough road.

be rough on sb. 对某人苛刻，无礼

Don’t be rough on your friends.

cut up rough 发脾气



■boulder n. 大石块

■pit v. 使得坑坑洼洼

■perturb v. 使不安

verp upset

be perturbed about sth 为…而心神不安



His threats didn’t perturb her in the least

disturb 并非用心去扰乱

Eg:It is disturbing to think that a wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

plague 因病痛和类似的折磨而使人苦恼

Eg:The terrible disease plagued him

trouble

Eg:Sorry to give you trouble. / Sorry to trouble you.

worry

Eg:He is worried about his son’s safety.

fret

Eg:He freted himself all the time for news of her.

upset

Eg:I feel upset now because I am afraid I hurt you.

dismay 使沮丧

辨别：perturb ; disturb ; plague ; trouble ; worry ; fret ; upset ; dismay



■underestimate v. 低估

■swerve v. 争转变

■scoop v. 挖出

Eg:She sccped out some sugar.

make a scoop 走运

Eg:That guy made a scoop.



■hammer v. （用锤）击打，锤打

■ominously adv. 有预兆的，不祥的

ominous adj.

Eg:Look at those ominous black clouds.

omen n.

Eg:This is a good / bad omen.

Eg:The clouds omen rain.



■rip v. 划破，撕，扯

tear

rip one's mask away 撕下某人的假面具

let things tip==let things be 听其自然

rip into 猛攻，抨击

rip off 偷窃

rip up the back 背后说坏话



■petrol n. 汽油

■stretch n. 一大片（平地或水）

at a stretch 连续的，一口气的，不停顿的

a stretch of land

a stretch of water

Eg: He worked for hours at a stretch.

We drove fast on a stretch of open field.

He is unable to work for long stretches.

a stretch of hill 连绵不断的群山

vt.

He stretched out his hand to get the apple.

There are forests stretching for hundreds of miles.

Transport was rather stretched in the Spring Festival.





■obstacle n. 障碍

Lack of education is an obstacle to success.

constitue an obstacle to 构成…的障碍

remove/ overcome an obstacle 克服困难

put obstacle in sb's way 妨碍某人的发展

obstacle to 介词to



要英语中有好多动词要与介词to搭配：

key; answer; shred; advantage; disadvantage; admission; damage to

辨别：obstacle; obstruction; hindrance

Eg: Lake of education is obstacle to success.

There must be an obstruction in the pipe.

You are more of hindrance than help.



■clump n. 丛，簇

■fissure n. （石、地的）深缝

■renew v. 重复

■pleading n. 恳求

■gear n. （汽车）排档

■astride prep. 骑，跨

■crack n. 缝隙

■zigzag n. “之”字形

■shallow adj. 浅的

■grind (ground, ground )v. 磨擦

grind wheat into flour

grind sth to pieces 把……弄成碎片

grind one's teeth in anger 气得

咬牙切齿



■halt n. 停

==stop

They halt for a few minutes.

stop; halt; cease

Eg: The heart will cease to beat when life ceases.

pause vi.

He paused for a breath.

halt

They halted for a few minutes.

halt; cease; pause; stop

halt n.

come to a halt / stop 停下来



■dashboard n. （汽车上的）仪表盘





三、【课文精析】



get sb. to do sth.: persuade / advise sb. to do

Please get them to finish the work as quickly as possible.

Please get him to give up smoking.

be littered with

be pitted with

even though: even if



not in the least= not at all / not a bit/ not the least bit 一点也不

not a little = very much



by no means= in no way =on no account =at no times= under no circumstances 绝不



a mere==only （必须和不定冠词搭配）



It was not (to say )…… 这并不是说



dusty track==dusty road



look back 回头看

wondering 从句做伴随状况状语

How relieved we were



give way to 为……所代替

Eg: The great clouds gradually broke up and give way to blue sky.

He has no intention of iving way to your demands.



in response to : in reaction to



Key sentence:

Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.



hardly ... when...

He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house.

Before he had hardly had time to worry about what might happen when we were back on the plane again.