Unit 7 TV and Its Influence

1. Unit 7 TV and Its Influence

2. New words and expressions for Reading One: • scenario: If you talk about a likely or possible scenario, you are talking about the way in which a situation may develop. • whine: If you say that someone is whining, you mean that they are complaining in an annoying way about something unimportant. • They come to me to whine about their troubles. • ...children who whine that they are bored...

3. Dale Evans:(born Frances Octavia Smith on October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001) was an American writer, movie star, and singer-songwriter. She was the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers. • dodge ball: It is a game played by American children in which the object is to avoid being hit by a large rubber ball thrown by the opposing players.

4. Spalding: 斯伯丁篮球

5. swing set: a frame for children to play on, typically including one or more swings and a slide 成套秋千 • cast:(plaster cast) a bandage stiffened with plaster of Paris, moulded to the shape of a limb that is broken and used to support and protect it • （支撑或保护断肢的）石膏绷带

6. scientifics:theory • splinter: A splinter is a very thin, sharp piece of wood, glass, or other hard substance, which has broken off from a larger piece. 木刺 • odd splinter: 零星木刺 • pump:move vigorously up and down or to and fro 剧烈地来回（或上下）移动 • That’s superb running—look at his legs pumping. • 他跑得真棒——看他两条腿翻飞的样子！

7. holler: If you holler, you shout loudly. (mainly AM INFORMAL) • The baby hollers when he wants feeding. • Cal hollered for help... • = shout, yell • strain: If you strain to do something, you make a great effort to do it when it is difficult to do. • I had to strain to hear... • They strained their eyes, but saw nothing.

8. the next county:the neighboring county • driveway: A driveway is a piece of hard ground that leads from the road to the front of a house or other buildings. • = drive • meander: a circuitous journey, especially an aimless one 迂回旅行；徘徊 • a leisurely meander round the twisting coastline road 悠闲地绕着海岸公路旅行

9. lollygag: 浪费时间; 闲游浪荡 • sprinkler: A sprinkler is a device used to spray water. Sprinklers are used to water plants or grass, or to put out fires in buildings. 草坪浇灌装置 • sashay: If someone sashays, they walk in a graceful but rather noticeable way. • The models sashayed down the catwalk.

10. screen door:the outer door of a pair, used for protection against insects, weather, etc. • 纱门 • short of: 除了……之外 • He will do anything short of murder to achieve his ends. • 为了达到目的, 他除了谋杀什么都会干。

11. bewitch: If someone or something bewitches you, you are so attracted to them that you cannot think about anything else. • She was not moving, as if someone had bewitched her... • flicker: If a light or flame flickers, it shines unsteadily. • A television flickered in the corner.

12. pageant: A pageant is a colourful public procession, show, or ceremony. Pageants are usually held out of doors and often celebrate events or people from history. • tray: A tray is a flat piece of wood, plastic, or metal, which usually has raised edges and which is used for carrying things, especially food and drinks.

13. TV trays: 看电视的时候用的小桌子

14. burst: A burst of something is a sudden short period of it. • ...a burst of machine-gun fire... • The current flows in little bursts. • Jack Paar: Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962. Time magazine's obituary noted that: "His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar."

15. Perry Mason: Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. • snore: When someone who is asleep snores, they make a loud noise each time they breathe. • His mouth was open, and he was snoring.

16. up: winning or at an advantage by a specified margin 高出，多 • United were 3–1 up at half time. • 上半场联队3比1领先。 • We came away £300 up on the evening. • 那晚我们赢走了300英镑。

17. pitcher:In baseball, the pitcher is the person who throws the ball to the batter, who tries to hit it.（棒球）投手 • stretch out:If you stretch out or stretch yourself out, you lie with your legs and body in a straight line. • Moira stretched herself out on the lower bench.

18. Check Your Comprehension B • 1. While putting a cast on my broken arm, I had the time to discuss the theory how to fly with a swing set with Lucy. • 2. We carefully checked the wooden seat for splinters that could ruin our jump. • 3. We continued swinging and Lucy ignored her mother, until her mother started using her long name.

19. Check Your Comprehension B • 4. Once Lucy got to her yard, she slowed down her walking tremendously, even going through the sprinklers. • 5. When she finally got to the front door, she turned to me with a big smile and showed me a victory sign by thumbing up, as most of the pilots did.

20. Check Your Comprehension B • 6. I only understood what had happened when several weeks later I heard my mother suggest to my father that if we got a TV I might calm down about missing Lucy. • 7. Lucy was really fascinated by the black and white pictures on her television set. • 8. Perhaps if her parents had let her do more things in the real world, Lucy would not have fallen so much in love with the world of television.

21. New words and expressions for Reading Two: • junior: If you are someone's junior, you are younger than they are. • She now lives with actor Denis Lawson, 10 years her junior. • aggressive: An aggressive person or animal has a quality of anger and determination that makes them ready to attack other people. • Some children are much more aggressive than others... • Aggressive behaviour is a sign of emotional distress. • = belligerent

22. questionable: If you say that something is questionable, you mean that it is not completely honest, reasonable, or acceptable. (FORMAL) • I suspected that his motives for helping us were questionable. • = dubious

23. overly: more than is normal, necessary, or reasonable • Employers may become overly cautious about taking on new staff. • Your views on economics are overly simplistic. • = excessively

24. socialization: the process by which people, especially children, are made to behave in a way which is acceptable in their culture or society (TECHNICAL) • Female socialization emphasizes getting along with others.

25. stimulus: something that encourages activity in people or things • Interest rates could fall soon and be a stimulus to the US economy... • adversely: unfavorably • Price changes must not adversely affect the living standards of the people.

26. counteract: To counteract something means to reduce its effect by doing something that produces an opposite effect. • My husband has to take several pills to counteract high blood pressure... • Taking vitamins can counteract some bad eating habits.

27. shield: keep • elect: If you elect to do something, you choose to do it. (FORMAL) • Those electing to smoke will be seated at the rear.

28. intervene: If you intervene in a situation, you become involved in it and try to change it. • The situation calmed down when police intervened... • The police don’t usually like to intervene in disputes between husbands and wives. • The Government is doing nothing to intervene in the crisis.

29. mediate: If someone mediates between two groups of people, or mediates an agreement between them, they try to settle an argument between them by talking to both groups and trying to find things that they can both agree to. • United Nations officials have mediated a series of peace meetings between the two sides... • The Vatican successfully mediated in a territorial dispute between Argentina and Chile in 1984...

30. predisposition: If you have a predisposition to behave in a particular way, you tend to behave like that because of the kind of person that you are or the attitudes that you have. (FORMAL) • There is a thin dividing line between educating the public and creating a predisposition to panic.

31. New words and expressions for Reading Three: • objectionable: If you describe someone or something as objectionable, you consider them to be extremely offensive and unacceptable. (FORMAL) • I find it highly objectionable to have to sit near people who are smoking. • This programme contains scenes some viewers may find objectionable. • = offensive

32. ratings: The ratings are the statistics published each week which show how popular each television programme is. • CBS’s (Columbia Broadcasting System) ratings again showed huge improvement over the previous year. • CBS will end the series if it continues to drop in the ratings.

33. stink: To stink means to smell extremely unpleasant. • Get away from me — your breath stinks... • The place stinks of fried onions... • The pond stank like a sewer. • His breath stank of alcohol. • The toilets stank to high heaven (= stank very much).

34. NBC: National Broadcasting Company • hoping against hope: hoping for something that is very unlikely to happen or be true 抱一线希望 • I rang my parents, hoping against hope that they hadn’t left yet. • shoot: informal to spend, use up, or waste • They shot their savings on a new boat. • 他们把积蓄都花在了这条新买的船上。

35. decode: to understand the meaning of a word rather than use a word to express meaning • unemcumbered: If you are encumbered by something, it prevents you from moving freely or doing what you want. “Unencumbered” is the opposite of “encumbered”.

36. derive: If you derive something such as pleasure or benefit from a person or from something, you get it from them. (FORMAL) • Mr Ying is one of those happy people who derive pleasure from helping others. • compelling: If you describe something such as a film or book, or someone's appearance, as compelling, you mean you want to keep looking at it or reading it because you find it so interesting. • ...a frighteningly violent yet compelling film... • His life makes a compelling story.

37. progression: A progression is a gradual development from one state to another. • Both drugs slow the progression of HIV, but neither cures the disease... • = development • repeat: If there is a repeat of an event, usually an undesirable event, it happens again. • There were fears that there might be a repeat of last year’s campaign of strikes. • = repetition

38. dial: A dial is a control on a device or piece of equipment which you can move in order to adjust the setting, for example to select or change the frequency on a radio or the temperature of a heater. • He turned the dial on the radio...

39. lap: In a race, a competitor completes a lap when they have gone round a course once. • On lap two, Baker edged forward. • Rubens Barrichello finished a lap ahead of his team-mate. • lap of honour British English/victory lap American English (= a lap to celebrate winning) • The entire team took a victory lap in front of their cheering fans.

40. Parcheesi: a trademark used for a board game based on the ancient game of pachisi（印度双骰游戏） • 巴棋戏：一种用作基于古代巴棋戏游戏的棋盘游戏的商标名

41. Check Your Comprehension A 1. What does the author mean by stating that people are lying to each other about TV viewing? The author means although people are complaining about the quality of TV programs and say that they do not watch TV often, they actually love watching TV and watch it too much.

42. 2. What was the author’s work at NBC? The author was in charge of TV rating — investigating popularity of TV programs by asking a selected group of audience. 3. What does the author mean by “another night is shot”? The author means that another night is wasted by watching TV programs that are not satisfying.

43. 4. According to the author, why is the content of TV not suitable to your taste most of the time? Because TV channels are limited and TV stations have to meet their economic needs by attracting viewers from a great variety of people in all ranks of life, it is therefore unlikely that you can be pleased with all the programs. 5. What does the author believe to be the difference between reading and TV viewing? Reading is more difficult than viewing as reading requires the taking in of information which slows down the process.

44. Check Your Comprehension B 1. But the next night you will still be there (watching TV), continuing to hope for good TV programs even when it is unlikely to get them. You never learn from your past experience, and another night is wasted. 2. Reading requires a process in which you try to discover the meaning of a complicated message, and this process requires the reader to slow down and digest the information.

45. 3. Although there is no satisfying content on TV, it is still extremely interesting or exciting so that it attracts most adults every day to watch shows after shows. Most of this content will not be read at all if it is in print. 4. I have to admit that in some rare moments, the “least unpleasant” TV content is considered most satisfying, but most of the time, people are watching programs that they do not consider good. That explains why the medium has immense power over people and earns big money.

46. New words and expressions for Reading Four: • wryly: The word “wry” refers to a strange or twisted way. “Wryly” is the adverb form. • E. B. White: United States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985) • surge: A surge is a sudden large increase in something that has previously been steady, or has only increased or developed slowly. • The anniversary is bound to bring a new surge of interest in Dylan's work.

47. denote: If one thing denotes another, it is a sign or indication of it. (FORMAL) • Red eyes denote strain and fatigue... • There was a message waiting, denoting that someone had been here ahead of her. • = indicate

48. overindulge: If you overindulge, or overindulge in something that you like very much, usually food or drink, you allow yourself to have more of it than is good for you. • We all overindulge occasionally... • Don’t abuse your body by overindulging in alcohol.

49. spell: A spell is a situation in which events are controlled by a magical power. • They say she died after a witch cast a spell on her. • ...the kiss that will break the spell. • sated: If you are sated with something, you have had more of it than you can enjoy at one time. (FORMAL) • ...children happily sated with ice cream.

50. blot out: If you try to blot out a memory, you try to forget it. If one thought or memory blots out other thoughts or memories, it becomes the only one that you can think about. • Are you saying that she’s trying to blot out all memory of the incident?... • The boy has gaps in his mind about it. He is blotting certain things out... • She has suffered an extremely unhappy childhood, but simply blotted it out of her memory. • = block out