张汉熙高级英语

1、Ships in the Desert Detailed Study 1. Ships in the Desert image-7: Ships anchored in the desert. This is an eye-catching title and it gives an image that people hardly see. When readers read the title, they cant help wondering why and how.Paragraph 1. typical example of environmental destructionimag

2、e-72. 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 cat

3、ch of fish.3. but as I looked out over the bow, the prospects of a good catch looked bleak: a good catch did not look promising / hopeful.This is obviously an understatement because with sand all around there was no chance of catching fish, to say nothing of catching a lot of fish.bowaudio-1 : the f

4、ront part of a ship ant. sterncompare: bowaudio-2: v. & n. to bend the upper part of the body forward, as a way of showing respect, admitting defeat, etc.bow audio-3: n. a weapon for shooting arrowa long thin piece of wood with a tight string fastened along it, used for playing musical instrumen

5、ts that have stringsa knot formed by doubling a string or cord into two curved pieces, and used for decoration in the hair, in tying shoes, etcbleak: 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

6、b) If a place is bleak, it looks cold, bare, and unattractive e.g. the bleak coastlinec) When the weather is bleak, it is cold, dull, and unpleasante.g. the bleak wintersd) If someone looks or sounds bleak, they seem depressed, hopeless, or unfriendlye.g. his bleak featuresbleakly adv.e.g. He stared

7、 bleakly ahead.“What,” he asked bleakly, “are these?”4. 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.Her youngest child was a

8、sleep in her lap.He placed the baby on the womans lap.In a race, when you say that a competitor has completed a lap when he or she has gone round the course race.5. as far as I could see in all direction: that extended as far as the eye could see; 6. that stretched all the way to the horizon: that e

9、xtended to the far off place where the sky meet the earth7. comparable: something that is comparable to something else is a) as good as/ as big as/ as important as the other thing; b) similar to the other thinge.g. This dinner is comparable to the best French cooking.Our house is not comparable with

10、 yours. Ours is just a small hut while yours is a palace.8. Now it is disappearing because the water that used to feed it has been diverted in an ill-considered irrigation scheme to grow cotton in the dessert: Now it is becoming smaller and smaller because the water that used to flow into the sea ha

11、s been turned away to irrigate the land created in the desert to grow cotton. The scheme was an ill-conceived one because it failed to take into consideration the ecological effect.9. dock: v. anchor, moorParagraph 2. thesis statement: travel around the world to check and study cases in order to fin

12、d out the basic causes behind the environmental crisis image-810. My search for the underlying causes of the environmental crisis has led me to travel around the world to examine and study many of these images of destruction: I travelled around the world because I wanted to see, check and study case

13、s of such destruction in order to find out the basic causes behind the environmental crisis.This sentence is the thesis statement, expressing the main idea and indicating the development of a causal essay. images of destruction: typical examples of destruction11. the sun glaring at midnight through

14、a hole in the sky: the sun shining at midnight through the ozone depletion image-9midnight sun: phenomenon occurring only in the polar regionsa hole: ozone depletion 臭氧层空洞12. about the tunnel he was digging through time: about the tunnel he was drilling for samples from the glacier, which estimates

15、the time. The deeper he drilled, the farther the sample in time; in other words, the surface of the glacier image-10 is an indication of recent time while the deeper part of the glacier tells of situation of a much more remote period.13. Slipping his parka back to reveal a badly burned face that was

16、 cracked and peeling image-11: 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: image-12 n. waterproof jacket with a hood attached (as worn for skiing, moun

17、tain climbing, etc.)14. 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.15. two continents: South America and Antarctica16. emission: the amount of pollutants d

18、ischarged17. least accessible place on earth: the place which is the most difficult to get to in the worldParagraph 3. the global warming seen in the Antarctic image-1318. Industry meant coal: the development of industry meant the use of large amount of coal as fuel to generate power.19. bringing ri

19、sing levels of carbon dioxide: making the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere grow 20. with its ability to trap more heat in the atmosphere and slowly 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, keepi

20、ng the heat near the earth.21. the part after the dash (-) serves as an adverbial of result22. upwind from the ice runaway where the ski plane lands and keeps its engines running to prevent the metal parts from freeze-locking together, scientists monitor the air several times every day to chart the

21、course of that inexorable change: upwind from the ice runaway where the ski plane lands and keeps its engines running so that the metal parts will not be frozen solid, scientists watch the air several times every day to mark the course of that unalternable change.upwind: in the direction from which

22、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 groundto prevent the metal parts from freeze-locking together: to stop the metal parts from being frozen solidmo

23、nitor the air: watch or check on the airto chart the course: to show the onward movement on an outline mapinexorable: that cannot be changed; unalternablee.g. the inexorable rise in the cost of living23. graph: usually a mathematical diagramParagraph 4. a thinning cap as the result of Arctic air war

24、ms image-1424. pitch: pitch a tent means put up a tente.g. They pitched their tent near the stream.They pitched their tent at the edge of the field.25. slab: A slab of something is a thick flat piece of it.e.g. a slab of rock; a concrete slab; a slab of cheese26. frigid: cold; icy; freezinge.g. frig

25、id weather27. a hearty breakfast: a satisfying and rich breakfastto describe meals: sumptuous dinner; humble bread and cheese; square meal28. snowmobile image-15: a kind of motor vehicle for traveling over snow, usually with steer able runners at the front and tractor treads at the rear29. rendezvou

26、s point: the place where a submarine was to pick them uprendezvous: a) A rendezvous is a meeting often a secret one, that you have arranged with someone for a particular time and place.e.g. We make a dawn rendezvous.b) A rendezvous is a place where you have arranged to meet somebody often secretly.e

27、.g. I met him at a secret rendezvous outside the city.30. hover: to wait close by, especially in an overprotective, insistent or anxious wayWhen 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,

28、for example, because they cannot decide what to do.e.g. A figure hovered uncertainly in the doorway.31. After it crashed through the ice, took on its new passengers, and resubmerged: After it broke through the ice, picked up it new passengers, and went below the surface of water againemerge: appears

29、ubmerge: go below the surface of water 32. the polar ice cap image-14: 极地冰冠33. to secure the release of previously top secret data: to ensure the making public of data which was originally classified as top secret . 34. from submarine sonar tracks: obtained from submarine sonar trackssonar: U (an ac

30、ronym for sound navigation ranging) an apparatus using sound waves for finding the position of underwater objects, such as mines or submarines声纳（利用声波探测如水雷或潜艇等的水底目标的仪器）Baiqi dolphins image-16:have sonar. Bats have sonar.35. and then I was standing in an eerily beautiful snowscape, windswept and spark

31、ling white, with the horizon defined by little hummocks, or “pressure ridges” of ice that are pushed up like tiny mountain ranges when separate 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

32、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 disturbsnowscape: scene of snow. Compare with landscape and seascape. windswept: swept by or exposed to winds with the horizon defi

33、ned by little hummocks: with stretch of ice field characterized by small ridges36. the ice here will thin: the ice here will become thin37. the consequences of a thinning cap could be disastrous: the result of a thinning cap may indicate the possibilities of disasterscould: the word indicates “possi

34、bilities” Paragraph 5. the rising temperature of the earthimage-1738. 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 h

35、as 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 39. the pattern of ice distribution: the regular

36、way ice is distributed40. a still controversial claim: a statement which some scientists still do not completely accept41. which a variety of data now suggest: data coming from different sources point to this conclusion42. the Arctic Circle image-18: an imaginary line drawn round the world at a cert

37、ain 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 Circle43. tundra image-19: any of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the Arctic regionsParagraph 6. the

38、disturbing images of environmental destruction at the equatorimage-2044. billowing: large swelling mass of billow v. When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards or across the sky45. Amazon rain forestimage-21: The Brazilian Amazon contains about a third of the Earth's remaining tropical

39、 forest and a very high portion of its biological diversity. One hectare (2.47 acres) of Amazonian moist forest contains more plant species than all of Europe. Yet still it is being destroyed just like other rainforests around the world.46. Acre by acre, the rain forest is being burned to create fas

40、t 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. Wit

41、h that comes the “fast” disappearance of the rain forest.fast pasture for fast-food beef: alliteration47. the dry season: ant. in the wet seasonthe rainy seasonsimilarly: the football season, the breeding season, the planting season, the holiday season, the harvest season, the cold season, the touri

42、st season, the game season, a season of filmin season: If a fruit or vegetable is in season, it is the time of year when it is time for eating and its widely available.Ant. be out of seasonseason v. e.g. season the food with salt48. with more than one Tennessees worth of rain forest being slashed an

43、d burned each year: the area of rain forest burned in one year is bigger than the state of Tennessee.worth: equal in area or sizeslash: cut with a sweeping strokeIf you slash something, you make a long, deep cut in it.e.g. Jacks face had been slashed with broken glass. 49. which means we are silenci

44、ng 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.Paragraph 7. images of destruction seen almost anywhere image-22 http:/la

45、/noctilucent_clouds/pix.html 50. 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. 51. On some nights, in high northern latitudes, t

46、he 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

47、(s): an area at a particular latitudein high northern latitude 在北纬高纬度地区cf. longitude经度52. blot out: hide entirely; obscureIf one thing blots out another thing, it is in front of the other thing and prevents it from being seen. e.g. The dust cloud blotted out the sun.53. This “noctilucent cloud”image

48、-22 occasionally appears when the earth is first cloaked in the evening darkness; shimmering above us with a translucent whiteness, these clouds seem quite unnatural: This “luminous cloud” occasionally appears when the earth is first hidden in the evening darkness; shining unsteadily above us with a

49、 partially transparent whiteness, these clouds dont seem natural.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 lighttranslucent: partially transparent54. because o

50、f a huge buildup of methane gas in the atmosphere: because there has been a big increase of methane gas in the atmosphere55. methane is released from landfills, from coal mines and rice paddies, from billons of termites that swarm through the freshly cut forestland, from the burning of biomass and f

51、rom a variety of other human activities: methane is emitted from garbage disposal, from coal mines and rice fields, from billions of termites （白蚁）image-23moving in large numbers through the freshly cut forestland, from the burning of amount of living organism in a particular area and from a variety

52、of other human activities.release: let go; emitswarm: to move in large numberse.g. As the fire spread, people came swarming out of the building.The photographers swarmed round her.56. Even though noctilucent clouds were sometimes seen in the past, all this extra methane carries more water vapor into

53、 the upper atmosphere, where it condenses at much higher altitudes to form more clouds that the suns rays still strike long after sunset has brought the beginning of night to the surface far beneath them: The implication is that the night comes earlier than the upper part. The balance between day an

54、d night is broken. altitudes: a high area e.g. At high altitudes it is difficult to breathe.Paragraph 8. human attitudes towards the images of destruction imgage-24 57. What should we feel toward these ghosts in the sky: What should our attitude be toward these noctilucent clouds in the sky?58. Simp

55、le 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?the mix of emotions we feel at the zoo: on the one hand we feel excited about seeing those animals, but on the other hand, we fe

56、el sorry for them because they have been deprived of freedom.59. Perhaps we should feel awe for our own power: Perhaps we should feel amazed and frightened at our own power. 60. just as men tear tusks from elephants heads in such quantity as to threaten the beast with extinction: men are killing suc

57、h large number of elephants for their tusks that the species will soon extinguish.61. we are ripping matter from its place in the earth in such volume as to upset the balance between daylight and darkens: 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 rippedin such volume: in such quantityupset: When the word is used as a verb or a predicative, the second s