New Horizon College English Book III

1. New Horizon College English Book III Book Ⅲ Unit 7 Section B:The Chunnel

2. Contents I. Reading skill II. Fast reading III. Structure of the text IV. Important Words V. Detailed study of Text VI. Exercises

3. I. Reading skill -- Identifying the Writer’s Purpose

4. 1.How to find out the key idea? • Authors write for a reason. Three common purposes of writing are: • 1. To inform—to provide readers with information about a topic; • 2. To persuade– to convince readers to believe a certain viewpoint or to take a certain course of action; • 3. To entertain– to amuse readers in some way (althouth very often there’s some food for thought as well!)

5. Reading effectively means recognizing the author’s purpose—which may not always be as easy as it sounds, especially when you’re reading in a foreign language. Writers sometime

6. 2.PracticeDirections: When you read Passage B, scan it for clues that help you identify the writer’s aim. Use the questions below to guide your scanning, then decide: Is the text informational, persuasive or meant mainly to entertain? Or does the author have more than one aim? 1. What is the Chunnel? The Chunnel stands for the 31-mile Channel Tunnel, a word made of Ch(annel) and (T)unnel. 2. What numbers do you see in the text? Are they dates, statistics or something else? The numbers are statistics and dates. • from experts, witnesses, or whom else 3. What quotes do you see in the text? Are they There are quotes from one man from London, from a professor of English history, from a newspaper, and from one pessimistic visitor.

7. II. Fast reading. • Q: 1. Queen Elizabeth and French President Francois Mitterrand will ride a train downward into the $15 billion Channel Tunnel today, crossing the English Channel ______ for the first time since it was a marsh 8,000 years ago. • A. by sea B. by land

8. Q: 2. Though today is the official opening ceremony, visitors are still _____ the most enormous privately funded construction project ever. • A. excluded from B. included in

9. Q: 3. When it really opens, probably in October, the 31-mile Channel Tunnel (the Chunnel, for short) will be 15 months ______. • A. ahead of schedule • B. later than the planned time

10. Q: 4. But most people on both sides wonder if it’s worth it given their respective lack of ______ each other. A. emotional attachment to B. hatred for Q: 5. The Kingdom of England has been trying to ______ Europe for 1,000 years. A. defeat B. surrender to

11. Q: 6. Britain won’t improve its system until after the year 2000, ______ that passengers will have “plenty of time for sightseeing”. A. stimulating Mitterrand to joke B. restraining Mitterrand from joking

12. Q: 7. The company that operates the Chunnel issued press releases accusing the reports of being inaccurate. But ______ have provided no details about the state of security. A. the people from the company B. news reporters Q: 8. One ______ visitor shrugged and said “I reckon it’s just a matter of time before someone has a try, isn’t it?” A. pessimistic B. optimistic

13. III. Structure of the text: Part 1(paras.1-3):The Chunnel will be put into use in the near future. Part2 (para.4):Some problems cause the delayed construction of the Chunnel. Part3 (paras.5-7):The people in both Britain and France question the worth of the Chunnel. Part4 (paras11-14):Thanks to the Chunnel, passengers will save time, while the airlines will lose profit. Part5 (paras15-18): The security problems of the Chunnel should be taken into careful account.

14. IV. Important Words bore: v. 1. make a hole (in sth.) using a tool 钻孔，挖洞，凿井 2. talk or act in a way that makes (sb.) lose interest and become tired 使厌烦 e.g. A tunnel has been bored under the Channel to link England and France. e.g. He bored us all by talking for hours about his new car.

15. respective: a. of or for or belonging to each as an individual 各自的，各个的；分别的 e.g. After the party we all went back to our respective rooms. e.g. They each succeeded in their respective fields.

16. conquer: v. 1. take control of (foreign land or a group of people) by force 征服，攻克 据历史书记载, 诺曼底人于一零六六年占领了英格兰。 According to the textbook of history, the Normans conquered England in 1066.

17. 2. overcome; gain control over 克服；制伏 现代医学征服了许多疾病。 Eg. Modern medical science has conquered many diseases. 3. succeed in gaining the favor, praise, love, attention, etc. of 征服，赢得 著名小提琴演奏家迈克·史密斯在音乐会上演奏了美妙的音乐，征服了所有的听众。 Mike Smith, a famous violinist, presented beautiful music at the concert and conquered all the audience.

18. if not for: • if it weren’t/hadn’t been for; were it not for/had it not been for 要不是1. If not for my brother’s help, I would not have finished. • 2. The Earth would be a frozen ball if not for the radiant heat of the sun.

19. go back to: • return to (an earlier point in space or time) 回溯，追溯1. Can I go back to what you said at the beginning of the meeting? 2. We must go back to the Middle Ages to discover the origins of English plays.

20. by far: • (used to emphasize that sth. is the best or has more of a particular quality than anything else) ······得多；最······；显然1. She is by far the best. 2. Shanghai’s population is greater by far than that of any other Chinese city.

21. 归纳记忆：同义短语 • date back to date from • trace back to retrospect to • 归纳记忆：far构成的短语 • as far as … be concerned 至于 …… • as (so) far as one can尽力 • as far as it goes 就其本身而言 • far and wide四面八方，到处 • far from it远非如此 • so far迄今为止 • so far so good到目前为止一切顺利

22. accuse sb./sth. of: blame sb./sth. by saying that they have done sth. morally wrong or against the law 谴责，控告 The police accused him of murder. 辨析 accuse charge这两个词都含有指控或控告之意，但在用法上和搭配上是有区别的。accuse指当面谴责，但未必诉诸有关当局，语气比charge强，为正式用语，其表达式为accuse sb. of sth.。charge可指因小过错而受的责备，如违犯规则，但常指严重的罪过如犯法，并向当局正式控告，既可作一般用语，也可作法律用语，语气比accuse弱些，其表达式为charge sb. with sth.。

23. come to come to (oneself/one’s senses) 苏醒，恢复知觉 bring …to (antonym) 使．．．恢复知觉

24. pessimistic: a. expecting the worst to happen 悲观的，悲观主义的 1. The doctors are pessimistic about her chances of recovery. 2. This might account for his pessimistic views.

25. V. Detailed study of Text 1. Britain won’t improve its system until after the year 2000, spurring Mitterrand to joke that passengers will have plenty of time for sightseeing: 此句中可释译为：Britain will not raise the speed of its trains until after the year 2000, which made President Mitterrand joke that passengers will have “plenty of time for sightseeing”, as the trains move very slowly.此处分词spurring所引导的结构作结果状语，前面省略了关系代词which，完整句为：…which spur…。“”plenty of time for sightseeing” 打上引号表示“反语”（irony),也就是反话，或者正话反说。反语有表里两层意思，真正的意思不是来自字面，而是由特定的上下文所赐予的。作为一种表现风格，反语常用来进行尖刻的讽刺。

26. 2.London-Pansis is by far the busiest international airline route in the world. 副词词组by far 与形容词或副词的比较级或最高级连用时，置于这类词之后；若这类词带有冠词the 或a 时，则置于这类词之钱或之后均可，其意为“…得多”。例如：It is quicker by far to go by train.

27. VI. Exercises Finish the rest exercises on Book 3, page 206-207. Back

28. The End