新标准大学英语(第二版)综合教程2 Unit 6 B篇练习答案及课文翻译

1、.,.,Contents,Active Reading 2,.,Work in groups and discuss the questions: How many branches of science can you think of? anatomy: studying the body astronomy: studying space biochemistry: studying chemical processes botany: studying plants chemical engineering: studying chemical substances cosmology

2、: studying the universe,Warming Up,., ecology: studying organisms and their environment genetics: studying genes and variation meteorology: studying weather microbiology: studying viruses etc nutrition: studying food oceanography: studying the seas pharmacology: studying medical drugs radiology: stu

3、dying radiant energy such as X-rays,Warming Up,.,Warming Up,2. Where did you learn most about science? 3. How much do you remember about your science lessons at school? 4. Who was your best science teacher? Why do you remember him / her? 5. Can you remember any lesson in particular? 6. What would yo

4、u do to improve science teaching at school?,.,Text,Science: fact or fiction?,.,Science: fact or fiction? 1 Students arent what they used to be. These days, it seems, some of them never even open a book. Such is the depressing picture painted by popular science writer Steve Jones in his book The Sing

5、le Helix, laying the finger of blame on modern communication systems. The message is the medium; once upon a time there were books, but now, Jones says, “the medium is, or so it seems, anything but lines of print on a page.” Many students are just not used to reading books anymore theyre such an out

6、dated form of communication.,Text,.,2 So how do you get them to learn about science? Well, if you go into a campus bookstore you can find out. There are songbooks for biochemists, with chemical formulae set to music to make them easier to remember. Relativity is explained in a video game which is a

7、simulation of a rocket journey through space: You can play tennis on board as the rocket speeds up or slows down. And there are cartoons to make even the most obscure scientific subjects accessible, and fun as well.,Text,.,3 But even these methods of generating interest have become conventional. Rat

8、her more radical is the proposal which a physics professor has come up with to learn science from the mistakes in science fiction films. Some of the films may be dreadful, but they hide a lot of helpful messages. Students just have to sit back, relax, enjoy the film, and soak up a bit of science at

9、the same time.,Text,.,4 A few examples will show what the professor has in mind. In The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), the earth is pushed towards the sun as a result of two simultaneous atomic explosions. But this contravenes Newtons Third Law of Motion namely, that action and reaction are equal

10、 and opposite. Since the Earth weighs six thousand billion billion tons, a huge blast would be needed to push it into the right direction. Supposing it hurled a hundred million tons of rock and debris into space. This explosion would require a bomb far greater than any that has ever exploded. But a

11、few basic sums would show that such a blast, as well as killing every single inhabitant of the earth, would only shift the Earth about a quarter of an inch out of its orbit.,Text,.,5 So the film is fiction without the science. The same could be said of the 1986 film Aliens. In this film the crew sau

12、nter around the spaceship as if they were at home on earth whereas they should be floating, in a gravity-free environment. The producers of Aliens would fail a first year physics exam, but Stanley Kubrick and Arthur Clarke, the brains behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, would pass the same exam with flyin

13、g colours. On board the spaceship a giant wheel rotates, generating centripetal force and giving the astronauts on board a sense of “up” and “down”.,Text,.,6 The treatment of relativity in science fiction films is even more confusing. Take Star Trek: The Voyage Home (1987). As the spaceship revolves

14、 round the sun, it gathers so much speed that it moves backwards into history. But this is nonsense, not relativity. As Jones puts it, “Einstein said that nothing travels at more than the speed of light, not that the clocks will run the other way if you go fast enough.” Even Superman (1978) is baffl

15、ed by the concept. It takes him a split second to fly round the earth anticlockwise to save Lois Lane, who has fallen victim to an earthquake. Jones: “Time is not like a car. It has no reverse gear.”,Text,.,7 Finally, what about those giant insects like the ones in Empire of the Ants, the 1977 film

16、based on a story by H. G. Wells? The problem is their lungs, or rather, the lack of them. Ants dont have lungs, so they get oxygen by absorbing it through the tissues of their bodies. The bigger the ant, the longer it would take to absorb the oxygen and their body parts would not be able to function

17、 well. So an ant the size of a human would be more likely to be gasping for breath than biting off the head of a reckless teenager.,Text,.,Text,科学：事实还是虚构? 1 学生已今非昔比。如今，似乎有些学生从来就没有翻开过书本。这是科普作家斯蒂夫琼斯在其单螺旋线一书中描绘的令人沮丧的情景，他把批评的矛头指向现代通信系统。信息即媒介；从前有书本，可是现在，琼斯说：“媒介是，或者说似乎是，一切，但绝不是纸上印的一行行字。”许多学生就是不再习惯读书了书是老掉牙

18、的沟通方式。,.,Text,2 那么怎样使他们学习科学呢？好吧，你要是走进校园书店，就会找到办法。那里有生物化学家的歌本，其中化学分子式被配上乐曲以便记忆。相对论是用电子游戏来解释的，那是个虚拟乘火箭在空间旅行的游戏：你可以在火箭加速或减速飞行时在上面打网球。还有卡通，它们使哪怕最艰涩的科学话题都变得有趣易懂。,.,Text,3 可是就连这些激发兴趣的方法也已变得老套了。更激进的方法是一个物理学教授提出来的：从科幻电影的错误中学习科学。有些电影也许糟透了，但其中隐藏有大量有益的信息。学生只需舒舒服服地坐着、放松、欣赏电影，同时吸收一点科学知识。,.,Text,4 有几个例子可以说明教授的想法。

19、在地球着火之日（1961）中，两颗同时爆炸的原子弹把地球推向太阳。可是这违反了牛顿的第三运动定律即，作用力和反作用力相等且方向相反。既然地球重达六千艾吨，那就需要特大的爆炸才能把它推入正确的方向。假设爆炸将一亿吨岩石和碎渣 抛入宇宙，那么这个炸弹的威力要比任何以往的炸弹都要大。但是，稍做运算就能说明，这样一场爆炸除了会把地球上的生物全部杀死之外，充其量也只能让地球偏离轨道大约四分之一英寸。 注：地球的重量应该是610的24次方千克（10的18次方叫艾）。,.,Text,5 所以，这部电影是没有科学含量的虚构作品。1986年出品的电影异形也是同样。在这部影片中，宇航员们在宇宙飞船中走来走去，就好

20、像在地球上的家里一样而实际上他们应当在无重力环境中漂浮才对。异形的制片人可能会在大学一年级的物理学考试中不及格，但是2001：太空漫游背后的智囊斯坦利库布里克和亚瑟克拉克却会在同样的考试中以高分通过。宇宙飞船上有一巨大的轮子转动着，产生向心力，并给船上的宇航员一种“起伏”感。,.,Text,6 科幻电影中对相对论的处理更是令人摸不着头脑。以星舰迷航：回家之旅（1987）为例：宇宙飞船围绕太阳飞行，速度越来越快，最后竟然飞回到了历史之中。但这是瞎编乱造，而不是相对论。正如琼斯所说：“爱因斯坦说没有什么比光速更快；但没有说如果你跑得够快，钟表就会倒转。” 就连超人（1978）也被此概念所困惑。他在

21、瞬间往逆时针方向绕地球一周去救地震受难者洛伊斯莱恩。琼斯说：“时间不像汽车，它没有倒挡。”,.,Text,7 最后，1977年根据H.G.威尔斯的小说拍摄的蚂蚁帝国里的那些巨型昆虫又如何呢？问题在于它们的肺，或者说，它们根本没有肺。蚂蚁没有肺，它们是通过身体组织吸收氧气的。蚂蚁越大，吸收氧气的时间就越长这样它们身体的各部件就不能良好地运作。所以像人那么大的蚂蚁更可能老是在大口喘气，而不是把冒失少年的脑袋咬掉。,.,Words and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World.,.,Ex

22、tension Activities,For many years, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the “Big Three” of science fiction. Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician from 19411946. He,proposed a satellite communication system in 1945 which won him the

23、Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal in 1963. He was the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 19471950 and again in 1953.,.,Extension Activities,Clarke emigrated to Sri Lanka in 1956 largely to pursue his interest in scuba diving (水肺潜水), and lived there until his death. He

24、was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, and was awarded Sri Lankas highest civil honour, Sri Lankabhimanya, in 2005.,Back to Words and Phrases,.,Extension Activities,Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 March 7, 1999) was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer wh

25、o lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career.,Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, his slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, his technical perfectionism, and his reclusiveness about his films and personal life.,.,E

26、xtension Activities,He worked far beyond the confines of the Hollywood system, maintaining almost complete artistic control and making movies according to his own whims (突发奇想) and time constraints, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors. Although he was nom

27、inated for an Academy Award as a screenwriter and director on several occasions, his only personal win was for the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished, innovative, and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.,.,Extension Ac

28、tivities,He directed a number of highly acclaimed and often controversial films that have often been perceived as a reflection of his obsessive and perfectionist nature. His films are characterized by a formal visual style and meticulous attention to detail his later films often have elements of sur

29、realism and expressionism that eschews (回避) structured linear narrative. While often viewed as expressing an ironic pessimism, a few critics feel his films contain a cautious optimism when viewed more carefully.,.,Extension Activities,Even though all of his films, apart from the first two, were adap

30、ted from novels or short stories, his works are noted as some of the “most original, provocative, and visionary motion pictures ever made”.,Back to Words and Phrases,.,Extension Activities,Group discussion 1. Read the list of predictions for the 21st century made by Arthur Clarke and discuss what th

31、ey mean. 2. Make some more predictions about these or other things.,.,Extension Activities,1. Read the list of predictions for the 21st century made by Arthur Clarke and discuss what they mean. 2020 mining on other planets 2030 contact with extra-terrestrials (contact with non-Earth living beings) 2

32、040 transmutation (changing one material / substance into another),.,2050 gravity control; memory playback (Gravity control would allow us to move ourselves and other objects with ease; memory playback assumes the memory is like a tape or disc which could be replayed to give prefect recall.) 2060 artificial life (e.g. intelligent robots) 2070 near light speed; climate control (At such speeds travel over vast distances becomes possible in