Unit 7 Savior or Destroyer (Nuclear Technology)

1. Unit 7 Savior or Destroyer (Nuclear Technology)

2. New words and expressions for Reading One: • postulate: If you postulate something, you suggest it as the basis for a theory, argument, or calculation, or assume that it is the basis. (FORMAL) 假定；假设 • ...arguments postulating differing standards for human rights in different cultures... • Freud postulated that we all have a death instinct as well as a life instinct.

3. defy: If you defy someone or something that is trying to make you behave in a particular way, you refuse to obey them and behave in that way. • This was the first (and last) time that I dared to defy my mother... • portent: A portent is something that indicates what is likely to happen in the future. (FORMAL) • The savage civil war there could be a portent of what’s to come in the rest of the region... • Some people believe the raven is a portent of death. • = indication, sign

4. astounding: If something is astounding, you are shocked or amazed that it could exist or happen. • The results are quite astounding. • = amazing, astonishing • far-reaching: If you describe actions, events, or changes as far-reaching, you mean that they have a very great influence and affect a great number of things. • The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. • = sweeping

5. strikingly: in a way that is very easy to notice • strikingly similar/different • The two experiments produced strikingly different results. • In one respect, however, the men really were strikingly similar. • resultant:caused by the event just mentioned (FORMAL) • She is still trying to get over the attack and the resultant injuries. • = consequent, ensuing

6. infinitely: Something that is infinite is so large in amount or degree that it cannot be measured and has no limit. • A centimeter can be infinitely divided into smaller units. • It is infinitely easier to drive a car than to repair it. • There is an infinitely bright future ahead of you young people. • dynamite: Dynamite is a type of explosive that contains nitroglycerin. • Fifty yards of track（铁轨）was blown up with dynamite.

7. blow up: If someone blows something up or if it blows up, it is destroyed by an explosion. • He was jailed for 45 years for trying to blow up a plane... • Their boat blew up as they slept. • remote: If you say that there is a remote possibility or chance that something will happen, you are emphasizing that there is only a very small chance that it will happen. • There’s a remote chance that you can catch him before he leaves. • The prospect of peace seems remote. • = slight

8. Chernobyl: a town in Ukraine (formerly part of the Soviet Union) where in 1986 an explosion destroyed large parts of a nuclear power station in the worst accident involving nuclear power • inevitably: If something will inevitably happen, it is certain to happen and cannot be prevented or avoided. • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment... • = unavoidably

9. Check Your Comprehension A • When Albert Einstein published his “Theory of Relativity,” why didn’t people understand it and see its enormous potential? People did not understand the theory because it seemed far removed from reality and logically difficult to fathom. • Why is using nuclear energy an attractive alternative to energy from fossil fuels? Nuclear energy is attractive because of the startling results — a single kilo of uranium can supply energy equivalent to burning thousands of tons of coal.

10. Why is harnessing nuclear energy to provide for constructive purposes controversial? It is controversial because people are concerned about the possibility that if the process of converting nuclear energy goes wrong, it could blow up like a bomb. Even though the possibility of that happening is remote, the procedure is nonetheless dangerous if it is not carried out properly or if there is leakage. • What is the difference between nuclear energy and nuclear power? Energy is the ability to do work (e.g. carrying 100 books from point a to pint b), but power is the measure of how quickly the work is accomplished (in one hour).

11. Why does the author say that the danger behind the terms “atomic energy” and “nuclear energy” is that they hide more than they reveal? The danger is that nuclear energy also includes the process of nuclear fusion (the process behind the hydrogen bomb) and this also has great potential and danger, but as yet, we have not yet found the technology to harness this process to provide nuclear energy. Which process is used is not clear from the terms nuclear energy and atomic energy, and because it is not clear, people may not know the potential and danger behind these two processes and the use of nuclear energy.

12. Check Your Vocabulary A

15. New words and expressions for Reading Two: • curb: [transitive] to control or limit something in order to prevent it from having a harmful effect • ...advertisements aimed at curbing the spread of Aids... • Inflation needs to be curbed in Russia. • = check, restrain

16. kinship: If you feel kinship with someone, you feel close to them, because you have a similar background or similar feelings or ideas. • She evidently felt a sense of kinship with the woman. • veteran:A veteran is someone who has served in the armed forces of their country, especially during a war.

17. uplift: If you uplift someone, you make them feel more cheerful. • We need a little something to help sometimes, to uplift us and make us feel better... • Art was created to uplift the mind and the spirit.

18. harness: If you harness something such as an emotion or natural source of energy, you bring it under your control and use it. • Turkey plans to harness the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for big hydro-electric power projects. • monstrous: If you describe something as monstrous, you mean that it is extremely frightening because it appears unnatural or ugly. • = hideous

19. obliterate: If something obliterates an object or place, it destroys it completely. • Their warheads are enough to obliterate the world several times over... • Hiroshima was nearly obliterated by the atomic bomb. • proliferation: a sudden increase in the amount or number of something • peril: Perils are great dangers. (FORMAL) • They put their own lives in peril to rescue their friends.

20. endorse: to express formal support or approval for someone or something • appeal: a serious and urgent request • Romania’s government issued a last-minute appeal to him to call off his trip. • = petition • convention: an official agreement between countries or groups of people 公约; 协定 • The countries all agreed to sign the convention. • = pact, treaty

21. forgiveness: If you ask for forgiveness, you ask to be forgiven for something wrong that you have done. • He never admitted his guilt or asked for forgiveness. • folly: If you say that a particular action or way of behaving is folly or a folly, you mean that it is foolish. • It would be sheer folly to reduce spending on health education.

22. Check Your Comprehension A 1. How did the author feel back in 1945 about President Truman’s decision to release two atom bombs on Japan? The author supported Truman’s decision in 1945, and rejoiced when the bombs were dropped and the Japanese surrendered as he and humanity were then released from the war. 2. How does the author feel about Truman’s decision now? Today, he still believes that Truman had a good motive, which is to save lives, and that those bombings could have prevented a third world war.

23. 3. How did the author feel about nuclear energy when he was a science fiction writer in the 1930’s? As a science fiction writer then, the author had no doubt that nuclear energy would be released and would be used as a force for good, to eliminate poverty and bring about prosperity for all. 4. How did the writer feel about nuclear weapons when he was a speechwriter for President Truman and members of the Senate? When he was President Truman’s speechwriter, the author believed in the theory of “deterrence” — that having such weapons would keep heavily armed nations from going to war.

24. 5. How does the author feel about nuclear weapons now? Today he thinks that these weapons are monstrous instruments that endanger everyone and may destroy the whole earth, and he supports getting rid of these weapons as fast as we can. 6. What does the author feel particularly remorseful about? The author is sorry for the part he played in supporting the nuclear arms race from 1949 to 1952, for the belligerent speeches he wrote for Senators, and statements he made to friends.

25. Check Your Comprehension B • Mankind will enter a new era where everyone will be satisfied and happy because everyone can be prosperous. • But now I know that nuclear weapons are terrible and frightening instruments that can completely wipe out all forms of life on planet Earth. • I did not see clearly that having nuclear weapons around brought such great danger to humankind and that this cannot be tolerated.

26. …requiring countries to get rid of their nuclear weapons gradually in stages, including workable arrangements to confirm that this has been done, and make sure that the rules have been obeyed. • I strongly advise that everyone make demands to the authorities to completely get rid of all nuclear weapons.

27. New words and expressions for Reading Three: • biodegradable: Something that is biodegradable breaks down or decays naturally without any special scientific treatment, and can therefore be thrown away without causing pollution. • ...a natural and totally biodegradable plastic. • This carton is made of biodegradable plastic.

28. substantial: large in amount or degree (FORMAL) • We have the support of a substantial number of parents. • The document requires substantial changes. • = significant • indefinitely: If a situation will continue indefinitely, it will continue for ever or until someone decides to change it or end it. • The visit has now been postponed indefinitely...

29. consensus: A consensus is general agreement among a group of people. • The consensus amongst the world’s scientists is that the world is likely to warm up over the next few decades... • The question of when the troops should leave would be decided by consensus.

30. attest: To attest something or attest to something means to say, show, or prove that it is true. (FORMAL) • Police records attest to his long history of violence... • I can personally attest that the cold and flu season is here...

31. fault line: A fault line is a long crack in the surface of the earth. Earthquakes usually occur along fault lines. • = fault • gird: If you gird yourself for a battle or contest, you prepare yourself for it. (LITERARY) • With audiences in the US falling for the first time in a generation, Hollywood is girding itself for recession.

32. inasmuch as: You use inasmuch as to introduce a statement which explains something you have just said, and adds to it. (FORMAL) • This was a good decision inasmuch as it worked for you. • = insofar as

33. blueprint: A blueprint of an architect’s building plans or a designer’s pattern is a photographic print consisting of white lines on a blue background. Blueprints contain all of the information that is needed to build or make something. • The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device. • = design

34. earthquake supports: 防震柱 • shield: Physics A wall or housing of concrete or lead built around a nuclear reactor to prevent the escape of radiation. • 【物理学】核屏蔽：一种用混凝土或铅做成的墙壁或遮蔽物，包在核反应堆周围，以防止核辐射外泄。

35. weld: To weld one piece of metal to another means to join them by heating the edges and putting them together so that they cool and harden into one piece. • It’s possible to weld stainless steel to ordinary steel... • They will also be used on factory floors to weld things together... • Where did you learn to weld?

36. spent: Spent substances or containers have been used and cannot be used again. • recover: to procure (usable substances, such as metal) from unusable substances, such as ore or waste 使重新有用 • Radioactive waste is simply spent fuel... • boric acid: 硼酸 • repository: A repository is a place where something is kept safely. (FORMAL) • A church in Moscow became a repository for police files. • = store

37. molten: Molten rock, metal, or glass has been heated to a very high temperature and has become a hot thick liquid. • The molten metal is poured into the mould.

38. Check Your Comprehension 1. Does the author feel that “we can safely shift our reliance to nuclear power plants considering our present state of technology” (Para. 1)? What evidence can you find in the text to support your answer? From the text, we can infer that the author does not think that with our present technology, we can safely shift our reliance to nuclear technology. He talks about the risks associated with nuclear power, e.g. possibility of accidents and the unsolved problem of what to do with nuclear waste.

39. 2. Is the American public in favor of using nuclear power to produce energy? Which sentences tell you the answer? No, the American public does not support using nuclear power to produce energy. The answer is in these two sentences: “Nuclear power has fallen into disfavour. The risks seem too great, the reward too small — at least for the immediate future.” 3. What are some of the subtle risks associated with nuclear power? Some of the subtle risks are: radioactivity could be released into the environment from activities related to mining and processing nuclear fuel, from the transportation and recycling of the fuel and from the storage of radioactive wastes.

40. 4. Does the author attribute any of the risks associated with nuclear power to human factors? What evidence can you find to support your answer? The author says that “we could probably greatly reduce the risks associated with nuclear power by simply exercising more care and common sense. ” And he mentions that there are “numerous published accounts that attest to our carelessness.” The author also gives several examples of human errors, such as the one at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, and the one at the Comanche Peak plant in Texas. 5. Why is the problem of nuclear waste difficult to solve? What makes nuclear waste a difficult problem to solve is that the waste can only be rendered safe over time. As a result, the waste needs to be properly and safely stored. In the meantime we are running out of space for its storage.

41. Check Your Vocabulary A

43. New words and expressions for Reading Four: • Tokaimura: 位于日本东京东北部茨城县（Ibaraki Prefecture）的东海村。 • fissile: Physics fissionable, especially by neutrons of all energies • 【物理学】可裂变的：尤指用全能的中子可分裂的。 • wave:If you refer to a wave of a particular feeling, you mean that it increases quickly and becomes very intense, and then often decreases again. • She felt a wave of panic, but forced herself to leave the room calmly...

44. thereby: You use thereby to introduce an important result or consequence of the event or action you have just mentioned. (FORMAL) • Our bodies can sweat, thereby losing heat by evaporation... • = thus

45. runaway: You use runaway to describe a situation in which something increases or develops very quickly and cannot be controlled. • Our Grand Sale in June was a runaway success. • ...a runaway best-seller.

46. Cherenkov Pavel Alekseyevich: (1904-1990) Russian physicist. He shared a 1958 Nobel Prize for work leading to the development of a cosmic-ray counter. • 切伦科夫，帕韦尔·阿列克斯维奇：（1904-1990）俄罗斯物理学家，因其致力改进宇宙射线计量器的工作于1958年与他人分享诺贝尔奖。

47. unwittingly: in a way that shows you do not know or realize something • Friedmann had unwittingly broken the law. • He was unwittingly caught up in the confrontation. • makeshift: Makeshift things are temporary and usually of poor quality, but they are used because there is nothing better available. • The refugees slept in makeshift tents at the side of the road.

48. uranium nitrate: 硝酸铀 • dross: If you describe something as dross, you mean that it is of very poor quality or has no value. (LITERARY) • I go through phases where everything I write is just dross. • = rubbish

49. sieve: When you sieve a substance, you put it through a sieve. • = sift • Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. • cylindrical: Something that is cylindrical is in the shape of a cylinder. • It is cylindrical in shape.

50. agitate: If you agitate something, you shake it so that it moves about. (FORMAL) • All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush... • cut corners: If you cut corners, you do something quickly by doing it in a less thorough way than you should. • Take your time, don’t cut corners and follow instructions to the letter（不折不扣地）. • There’s a temptation to cut corners when you're pushed for time, but it’s not worth it.