大学英语综合版学生用书第八单元

Unit 8 Protecting Our Environment Global Reading

Parts Para(s) Main Ideas

1 1~

2 A town in the heart of America, where all life lived in harmony with its

surroundings.

2 3~6 The description of the same town which was now stricken with all

kinds of maladies.

3 7~8 The cause of the maladies.

4 9~10 Though imagined, the tragedy may well become a reality and the

author tells about her purpose in writing the book.

Detailed Reading

Ⅰ. Difficult Sentences

1.(Para.1) In autumn, oak and maple and birch set up a blaze of colour

that flamed and flickered across a backdrop of pines.

1. Paraphrase the sentence.

(=In autumn, the leaves of oaks, maples and birches turned bright red against a background of green pines.)

2. Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=秋季到来时，橡树、枫树和白桦树五彩缤纷，在大片松林的衬托下如同一片火海，熠熠生辉。)

2.(Para.2) The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and

variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants was pouring through in

spring and autumn people travelled from great distances to observe them.

1. Understand the long sentence.

(=This is a compound sentence connected with the transitional word “and”. In the second main clause, a sub-clause of time “when the flood of…”is used.)

2. Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=事实上，这里的乡村鸟类品种丰富，数量可观，因此远近闻名。每当大批候鸟在春秋之际蜂拥而至，许多人远道赶来观看。)

3.(Para.2) So it had been from the days many years ago when the first

settlers raised their houses, sank their wells and built their barns.

What does the author mean by saying “it had been from the days many years ago when…”?

(=She means that the land had been known for abundance and bio-diversity for a long time.)

4. (Para.2) Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil

spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of

chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died.

Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=后来，一种奇怪的疫病在这个地区悄悄蔓延开来，一切不再依旧。这个社区中了一种什么邪，一群群鸡很快都染上了神秘的疾病，牛羊纷纷病死。)

5. (Para.6) The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered

vegetation as though swept by fire.

1. What’s the function of “as though”?

(=Here the author used a figure of speech, simile to make her expression more vivid and clear.)

2. What’s her purpose by saying so?

(=She focuses on the severe consequence caused by the pollution.)

6. (Para.9) This town does not actually exist, but it might easily have a thousand counterparts in

America or elsewhere in the world.

1. Why does the author want to say by using “it might…?

(=“might” is used here to express a possibility that it may happen or may be true —such things did have happened in America or elsewhere in the world.)

2. Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=这座小镇在现实世界中并不存在，但是在美国和世界的其他地方，很可能会轻而易举地有数千个遭遇到与其类似命运的小镇出现。)

7. (Para.10) What has already silenced the voices of spring in countless towns in America?

1. What should spring be like? What does “silenced the voices of spring” mean?

(=Spring should be throbbing with life, full of birdsong. “Silenced the voices of spring”

means the spring has already been made lifeless.)

2. Translate this sentence into Chinese.

(=是什么东西使无数美国小镇的春天鸦雀无声？)

Ⅱ. Words and Expressions

1.(Para.1) in harmony with: agree with another idea, feeling etc., or look good with other things

* Your suggestions are not in harmony with the aims of this project.

我们的行为应该与话语相一致。

(=Our actions should be in harmony with our words.)

Collocation:

be in harmony with 与…协调一致

be out of harmony with 与…不协调一致

live in harmony 和睦相处

2. (Para.1) in the midst of: among or with; while (sth.) is happening

* The government is in the midst of a major crisis.

他在暴雨中离开了公寓。

(=He left his flat in the midst of a rainstorm.)