Unit Three Ships in the Desert

1. Unit Three Ships in the Desert Book I

2. Teaching Objectives • Get to know some knowledge about ecology and environment • Grasp the main idea and the theme of this essay • Learn to use some terms and expressions connected with ecological environment • Appreciate the writing skills of comparison and contrast • II. Teaching Tasks • Pre-reading question • Background knowledge • Type of Literature • Organization • Detailed Study of the text • Follow-up discussion • Exercises and Homework

3. III． Important and difficult points • Analyzing the structure of some long and complicated sentences • Understanding the scientific matters connected with ecological environment • Translating long and complicated sentences • Mastering the rules of word formation • IV. Important words • Lap, divert, Antarctic, parka , glacier, inexorable, graph, rendezvous, hover, hummock, collide , scenario, billow, slash, noctilucent, shimmer, translucent, methane, biomass, rip, spectral, skirmish, ultraviolet, equilibrium, axiom, depletion, deforestation, sober, deploy, leapfrog, at stake • V. References • 高级英语（修订本），第一册，张汉熙主编，王立礼编，外语教学与研究出版社， 1995.6 。 • 高级英语（修订版）学习指南，第一册，张鑫友主编，湖北人民出版社，2000.8。 • 高级英语（修订本）教师参考书，第一册，王立礼编，外语教学与研究出版社， 1995.6。 • 高级英语精读精解, 姚兰，西南交通大学出版社，2004。

4. Pre-reading Questions 1.What’s the meaning of the title? Can you imagine there’re some ships in a desert rather than on the sea? 2.What do you expect to have when you read the title? 3. What’s the chief topic of the text? 4. According to the text, what solutions does the writer put forward to our ecological problems? 5. What do you think about the relationship between man and nature?

5. 6. Can you list some of the largest environmental problems now affecting the world, i.e. the environmental problems our planet now is facing?

6. Acid Rain

7. Air Pollution

8. Global Warming

9. Hazardous Waste

10. Ozone Depletion

11. Water Pollution

12. Deforestation

13. Desertification

14. 7. In your opinion, what can we do to reinforce environmental protection?

16. Background Information Al Gore a Senator (1984-1992) representing the State of Tennessee U.S. Vice-President (1992-2000) under President Bill Clinton currently serves as President of the American television channel Current; chairman of Generation Investment Management; the board of directors of Apple Computer; an unofficial advisor to Google’s senior management

17. Clean Air Act • Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, air pollution has been a major public health problem. In 1948, in Donora, Pennsylvania, an air pollution episode resulted in the deaths of nineteen people in a community of 14,000; 43 percent of the population were adversely effected. The cause was industrial emissions of combustion products combined with a thermal inversion. Today, air pollution still causes extensive rates of morbidity and mortality, and it poses a particular risk for children and those with chronic lung disease. Air pollution is a complex mixture of substances discharged into the air in a myriad of ways. • The Clean Air Act of 1970 is a U.S. federal law intended to reduce air pollution and protect air quality. The act—which underwent a major revision in 1990—deals with ambient air pollution (that which is present in the open air) as well as source-specific air pollution (that which can be traced to identifiable sources, such as factories and automobiles). • The Clean Air Act affects American businesses in a number of ways.

18. Aral Sea

19. Shrinking of the Aral Sea Aral Sea from space, August 1985 The Aral Sea, in 2003, had shrunk to well under half of the area it had covered fifty years before. Aral Sea from space, August 1964

21. Type of Literature • A piece of exposition • The purpose of a piece of exposition: to inform or explain • Ways of developing the thesis of a piece of exposition: comparison, contrast, analogy, identification, illustration, analysis, definition, etc.

22. Organization Part 1 (para. 1-8): the list of the images of environmental destruction l        para. 1-5: one of the author’s experience--- the drying up of the Aral l        para. 6: deforestation l        para. 7-8: air pollution Part 2 (para. 9-16): analysis of the global threats posed by the environmental destruction and the common cause---the change in the relationship between human civilization and the earth’s natural balance l        para. 9: transition--- the author proposes some questions for us to think over.        para. 10-16: analysis of the global threats posed by the environmental destruction and the common cause---the change in the relationship between human civilization and the earth’s natural balance Part 3 (para. 17-26): the solution to environmental destructions--- reinventing and healing the relationship between civilization and the earth

23. Detailed Study of the Text Ships in the Desert: 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 can’t help wondering why and how. Para. 1:typical example of environmental destruction 1. the prospects of a good catch looked bleak. Understatement: a form of irony in which something is intentionally represented as less than it is, i.e. in it, the words play down the magnitude or value of the subject. It aims at making the statement or description impressive or interesting. e.g. (1) It took a few dollars to build this indoor swimming pool. (2) “He’s really strange.” his friends said when they heard he had divorced his pretty and loving wife. This sentence 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.

24. 2. How could the fishing ships be anchored in the sand? 3. Where there should have been . . . there was . . . Pay attention to the structure. The implication is that once there were gentle waves lapping against the side of the ship but there were none now. Instead, in the place of the waves there were stretches of sand . 4. How could the other ships be at rest in the sand? 5. Why is the Aral disappearing? 6. What was the Aral like 10 years ago? 7. How did the author feel toward the changes of the Aral? Para. 2:thesis statement--- travel around the world to check and study cases in order to find out the basic causes behind the environmental crisis 8. Why did the author travel around the world? 9. Why did the author say “the sun glared through a hole in the sky”? Where comes the whole?

25. 10. What was “the tunnel through time”? 11. What’s implied in “a badly burned face that was cracked and peeling”? 12. Paraphrase “he moved his finger back in time to the ice of two decades ago”. Para. 3: the global warming seen in the Antarctic 13. Industry meant coal: the development of industry meant the use of large amount of coal as fuel to generate power. 14. 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, keeping the heat near the earth. 15. What was the change in the earth’s atmosphere? When did the dramatic change start? Why? 16. What causes global warming? Why is it considered a strategic threat? 17. Why are the engines of the ski plane kept running?

26. Para. 4:a thinning cap as the result of Arctic air warms 18. at the end of our planet: Antarctic as one end and Arctic as the other end 19. rendezvous point: the place where a submarine was to pick them up20. What were scientists doing in the Arctic Ocean? 21. How are hummocks formed? Para. 5:the rising temperature of the earth 22. Paraphrase the first sentence. 23. 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 has got practical value. 24. What did the first team of scientists report? 25. What did the second team report? Why was it still a controversial claim? 26. What’s the function of the first part? Para. 6:the disturbing images of environmental destruction at the equator 27. Where do the thick clouds of smoke come from?

27. 28. Why was Amazon threatened? 29. Acre by acre, the rain forest is being burned to create fast 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. With that comes the “fast” disappearance of the rain forest.fast pasture for fast-food beef: alliteration 30. which means we are silencing 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. Para. 7: images of destruction seen almost anywhere 31. 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. 32. How is noctilucent cloud formed? 33. When and where can you see this kind of cloud? 34. Where does methane gas come from?

28. Para. 8: human attitudes towards the images of destruction 35. How can methane intensify the threat of global warming? 36. 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. 37. But, without even considering that threat, shouldn’t it startle us that we have now put these clouds in the evening sky which glisten with a spectral light? Or have our eyes adjusted so completely to the bright lights of civilization that we can’t see these clouds for what they are—a physical manifestation of the violent collision between human civilization and the earth? These are two rhetorical questions. As for rhetorical questions, there’s no need to give the answer, and the answer is implied in the questions. If the rhetorical question is negative, the answer is positive and vice versa. So the first rhetorical question means it should startle us…; the second one means our eyes haven’t adjusted so completely to the bright lights of civilization that we can’t see…. 38. Paraphrase the last sentence. 39. What do human civilization and the earth refer to respectively?

29. Para. 9:human’s puzzling response 40. What are the surprising experiences? 41. Notice the three words--- frequency, speed, constancy. 42. And why do other images, though sometimes equally dramatic, produce instead a kind of paralysis, focusing our attention not on ways to respond but rather on some convenient, less painful distraction? : And why do other signs, though sometimes no less striking, only cause a kind of loss and inactivity and we concentrate our attention not on the ways to deal with them but instead, on some other substitutes which are easy to get and less painful?Paragraph 10:the importance of organizing our thoughts 43. it may be helpful to classify them and thus begin to organize our thoughts and feelings so that we may be able to respond appropriately: it may be useful to arrange them into different groups, thus getting our thoughts and feelings straightened out / organized so that we will be able to take the most suitable action. Para. 11:the military system: “local” skirmishes, “regional” battles, and “strategic” conflicts 44. What are the strategic conflicts? 45. be reserved for

30. Para. 12:the same case with the images of destruction 46. What’s the meaning of “in the same way”? 47. Problems like acid rain, the contamination of underground aquifers, and large oil spills are fundamentally regional. Problems like acid rain, the contamination of underground aquifers, and large oil spills basically belong to regional category. 48. the pattern appears to be global: It seems that the problem has acquired a global nature since so many similar things occur at the same time all over the world. 49. Why aren’t the problems regarded as strategic? Para. 13:a new class of environmental problems affecting the global ecological system: chlorine 50. The increased levels of chlorine disrupt the global process by which the earth regulates the amount of ultraviolet radiation from the sun: The increase of the amount of chlorine disturbs the usual way of handling and controlling the amount of ultraviolet radiation the earth receives from the sun.

31. Para. 14: another strategic threat—global warming 51. The concentration of carbon dioxide and other heat-absorbing molecules has increased by almost 25 percent since World War II, posing a worldwide threat to the earth’s ability to regulate the amount of heat from the sun retained in the atmosphere: As a result of the increase of those particles that can take in heat, less heat is released into the high altitude and more heat is kept in the atmosphere than in the past. This will make the climate of the world warmer. concentration: the measure of the amount of a substance constrained in a liquid [术语]浓缩；a lose gathering Para. 15: the transformed relationship between humankind and the earth 52. in our own time we have reshaped a large part of the earth’s face with concrete in our cities: in the modern time we have given a new shape or form to a large part of the earth’s surface by building paved roads, bridges, buildings etc. 53. But these changes, while sometimes appearing to be pervasive, have, until recently, been relatively trivial factors in the global ecological system: Although sometimes these changes seem to be taking place everywhere in the world they have, until recently, been relatively insignificant in their influence on the ecological system of the world.

32. Para. 16: the dominant cause of change in the global environment—human civilization 55. we resist this truth: we refuse to accept this true fact; we refuse to face this real fact that human civilization is now the dominant cause of change in the global environment. 56. So far, however, we seem oblivious of the fragility of the earth’s natural systems: Up till now, we seem to be unaware of the fact that the earth’s natural systems are very delicate and can easily be disrupted. Para. 17:dramatic changes in two key factors 57. a sudden and startling surge in human population: a sudden and startling rise in human population; a sudden big and shocking increase in the world’s population 58. with the addition one China’s worth of people every ten years: Every ten years the newly-added population will equal the population of China; Every ten years, one more China’s population will be added to the population of the world.Worth: equal in size or numbere.g. The storm did thousands of pounds’ worth of damage (=did damage worth thousands of pounds).I bought 10 pounds worth of food.He bought 10 dollars worth of postage stamps.

33. Para. 18:the surge in population 59. when viewed in a historical context: when we look at the matter from a historical point of view Para. 19:the present faster increasing population 60. in the course of one human life—mine: during the life span of an individual –my lifetime61. it is already more than half way there: the world population is already more than half of that figure. Para. 20: the scientific and technological revolution 62. Although no individual discovery has changed human relationship to the earth so much that it is comparable to the nuclear weapons which have brought tremendous change to the relationship between man and warfare 63. This increased ability has made the results of unlimited use of global resources altogether as terrible as the results of full-scale nuclear war 64. What is our challenge according to the author? 65. What do these examples of environmental destruction imply? 66. What is the common cause of environmental crisis?

34. Para. 21:our challenge to recognize that starting images of environmental destruction 67. Our task is to see and to understand that those frightening examples of environmental destruction that are happening all over the world are so much the same in nature that they surprise us no longer/ are so frequently/ become so common that they don’t shock and arouse us any more. Para. 22: two aspects to this challenge: our power to harm the earth and our role as co-architect of nature 68. Why do you think the author talks about the nuclear arms race here? 69. to regard ourselves as part of a complicated system which does not function according to the rule of cause-effect we are familiar with 70. The problem is not our effect on the environment so much as our relationship with the environment: What is involved is a matter of human relations with nature, rather than how mankind will affect nature; The point is that our effect on the environment is not the same as our relationship with the environment.

35. 71. As a result, if we want to solve the problem, we will have to carefully weigh and determine how important that relationship is and how important is the complicated interconnection among factors inside human society and between these factors and the main natural parts of global ecological system. Para. 23:one precedent for this kind of challenge to our thinking: military one again 72. There is only one example in the past which posed similar demand on us for a change in our way of looking at things. 73. all-out war: armed fighting between nations using all possible strength and effortall-out: using all possible strength and efforte.g. We made an all-out effort to finish the job by Christmas. 74. can suitably dispose of the wrong thinking people entertain which have made them fail to see the change in the nature of armed conflict. veil: covering of thin material; a metaphor Para. 24: arms race 75. leapfrog: n. [U] a game in which one person bends down and another jumps over them from behindv. to jump or skip over; to advance well by missing out (sth.) on the way e.g. He leapfrogged two ranks and was promoted directly to colonel.

36. 76. In the writer’s opinion, what should be the eventual solution? Para. 25: the eventual solution to the arms race: new understandings and a mutual transformation of the relationship itself 77. the denial of nuclear technology to rogue states: stopping rogue countries using nuclear technology or stopping sending nuclear technology to rogue countries. Para. 26: the real solution: reinventing and finally healing the relationship between civilization and the earth 78. The strategic nature of the threat now posed by human civilization to the global environment and the strategic nature of the threat to human civilization now posed by changes in the global environment present us with a similar set of challenges and false hopes. The important/basic nature of the threat now brought about by human civilization to the global environment and the important/basic nature of threat to human civilization now The main structure is: The strategic nature of the threat… and the strategic nature of the threat … present us with a similar set of challenges and false hopes. 79. Notice “by” and “to” in italics, why does the author emphasize the two words? 80. According to the writer, what should be the real solution?

37. Follow-up Discussion 1. How has human civilization now become the dominant cause of change in the global environment? 2. What changes in the global environment present a strategic threat to human civilization? 3. How should we face this challenge and solve the problem? 4.What solutions does the writer put forward to our ecological problems?

38. Exercise and Assignment Write a composition within 200 words to present your attitudes about the global environmental pollution.