Lesson 36

1. Lesson 36 Danger for the Fun of It

2. Risky Sports • Scuba diving • Skin diving • Canoeing • Mountain/Rock climbing • Hot air ballooning • Hang gliding • Bungee

3. Americans vs. Chinese people • Regard with the attitude toward risky sports, how are Americans different from Chinese people? And why? • Culture (tradition, philosophy of life), character, education, economy, etc.

4. Infinitive, white-water canoeing 1.To put some excitement into his life, he spends many weekends and vacations white-water canoeing. • Infinitive as adverbial of purpose • White-water canoeing: boating in the rip current that runs very fast.

5. The number of, take sth up 2. He is one of the growing number of Americans who in recent years have taken up dangerous sports to fill their leisure hours. • He is one of Americans whose number is growing in recent years and have been involved in dangerous sports to fill their leisure hours. (the number ofa number of)

6. Take sth up Take sth up: adopt sth as a hobby or pastime; start or begin sth, esp. a job • My grandmother took up gardening after she retired.(Adopt sth as a hobby or pastime) • He has taken up golf. (She has begun to learn to play golf.) • It’s said that the new manager is going to take up his duties next week. (Start a job) • He took up the narrative where John had left off. (Continue an unfinished story)

7. Participate in sth, have sth in common 3. People who participate in risky sports usually have several things in common. Participate: take part or become involved (in an activity) • Participate in a competition, discussion, etc • She actively participates in local politics. Participant: person or group of people who participate in sth

8. Thrill seeker, yet 4.They don’t like others to thing of them as thrill seekers, yet they admit the dangers of their sport. And almost all of them look down on sports like tennis and golf. • Thrill: (n) excited feeling; experience causing this • a thrill of joy, fear, horror (一阵欢乐、害怕、恐怖) • It was a real thrill when you finally succeed after making many efforts.

9. Thrill Thrill: (v.) cause sb to feel a thrill • a thrilling experience • The fill thrilled the audience. • We were thrilled to hear your wonderful news. Thriller (novel, play or film with an exciting and gripping plot, esp. one involving crime) • a thriller writer (写惊险故事的作家)

10. Yet (adv.) by this or that time; until now/then (often used in negative sentences and questions in the present or past perfect tense) • I haven’t received his letter yet. • You don’t need to start yet. • Yet again we can see the results of hasty decision-making. (Yet again: once more)

11. Yet (conj.) but at the same time; nevertheless • His handwriting is difficult to recognize yet beautiful. • She worked very hard yet still failed in the exam.

12. Para. 5 5. “There’s just nothing happening in sports like tennis and golf,” said Steve Kaufman, a 44-year-old Manhattan bill collector who scuba dives in his spare time. According to him, the only people who come close to the experience of scuba divers are astronauts “because they’re in a totally alien environment, too.” Kaufman describes his sport as “a total isolation from anything that can interfere with your own personal sense of self.”

13. Several points • There’s just nothing exciting and eventful in sports like tennis and golf.” • Bill collector: 收银员，收款人 • According to sb (him, her, them, etc.): according to what sb said, etc. Cf. in my opinion • The only people who come close to the experience of scuba divers are astronautsthe only people who have similar experience as scuba divers have are astronauts.

14. Alien Alien: (n.) person who is not a naturalized citizen of the country in which he is living (外侨，外国人), being from another world(从另一世界来的生物) • (adj.) foreign, unfamiliar, strange • Alienate: cause sb to become unfriendly or indifferent, estrange sb

15. Isolation, sense of self • “A total isolation from anything that can interfere with your own personal sense of self”totally on your own without any outside interference and you feel yourself an independent being.

16. Para. 6 Although many risk-takers see hang gliding as the most dangerous sport of all, Weigel feels hang gliders should not be regarded as thrill seekers. Yet he said that hang gliding “scares the living daylights out of me” and that “everything else seems boring compared to it.”

17. Scare the living daylights out of sb Scare the living daylights out of sb: make sb numb; Cf. beat/knick the living daylights out of sb (know sb out) • To see bungee jumping already scares the living daylights out of me, let alone jump in person.

18. Para. 7 Why do people willingly seek out danger? According to Dr. George Serban, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at New York University, most men do it to prove their masculinity. Seek (sought-sought) • Seek after/for sth: look for sth, try to find or obtain • Seek sb/sth out: look for and find sb/sth

19. Para. 8 “The nature of the male animal is to undertake dangerous tasks and to confront them and to succeed,” Dr. Serban said. When life becomes boring and routine,” Serban says, and men do not have a chance for adventure or a chance to prove their masculinity, the only other possibility for them is to undertake dangerous activities.

20. Undertake Undertake: start to make oneself responsible for sth, agree or promise to do sth • Undertake a mission, task, and project • He undertook the organization of the whole scheme. • She undertook to finish the job by Friday.

21. Confront Confront: make sb face or consider sb/sth unpleasant, difficult, etc, face • He didn't confess until the police confronted him with all the evidence of his guilt. • That last problem we would like to encounter finally confronted us. • She was confronted with a dilemma. Confrontation

22. Routine Routine: fixed and regular way of doing things • She found it difficult to establish a new routine after retirement. • He just did it as a matter of routine. • Routine tasks, chores, duties, procedure

23. Para. 9 Eric D. Rosenfeld, a 43-year-old Manhattan layer who has been climbing mountains for 20years, spoke of the habit-forming nature of his sport. “It’s quite addictive,” he says. “You get addicted to the risk factor.”

24. Addictive, addicted, addict Addictive, addicted, addict • a heroin addict, a chess/TV/football addict • be addicted to drugs, alcohol, be addicted to TV soap opera • addictive drugs

25. Intellectual appreciation 10. Although several of his friends have died while mountain climbing, Rosenfeld said, “I have an intellectual appreciation that it’s risky…” … “I have an understanding that it’s risky…” • Intellectual: intellectual faculties (智能), intellectual people (善思考的人), intellectual interests/pursuit (需用脑力的爱好、研究)

26. Novelty 11. The novelty of the sport is what attracted Susan Tripp, a 35-year-old Manhattan lawyer, to skin-diving. Novelty: something new

27. Introduce 12. At parties, he said, he simply introduces ballooning into the conversation, and he becomes the center of attention for at least an hour.

28. Frame 1: Quantifiers • A lot of/most/many/some/not many/a few/few people think scuba diving is exciting. (用于可数名词前的数量词) • A lot of/most/some/not much/a little/little food is bad for you.(用于物质名词前的数量词) • A few vs. a little, few vs. little

29. Frame 2: Comparisons with quantifiers • Boxers have more injuries than wrestlers. • Wrestlers have fewer injuries than boxers. • Soccer has more action than baseball. • Baseball has less action than soccer.

30. Frame 2: Comparisons with quantifiers • Joggers have just as many injuries as tennis players. • Scuba divers have just as few injuries as swimmers. • Swimmers get just as much exercise as joggers. • My sister gets just as little exercise as my parents.

31. Frame 3: Quantifiers with of • A lot of people I know go scuba diving. • All/many/most/some/a few/none of them have been injured. • Both of them have been injured. • One/neither of them has been injured. • All/most/some/much/a little/none of it is wasted.

32. Composition 3 Topic: Nowadays Internet is very popular and people spend more and more time on Internet. But as a coin has two sides, Internet has its advantages and disadvantages at the same time. What’s your opinion on this issue?