Unit Four Turning Off TV: A Quiet Hour

1. Unit Four Turning Off TV: A Quiet Hour

2. Ⅰ.New Words: • Worthwhile • a.---good enough for the time or effort needed

3. eg. a worthwhile taskIt is worthwhile to visit that country.

4. worth a.--- eg. This old book is worth $300.

5. Don’t lock the door, it isn’t worth the trouble. His suggestion is worth considering.

6. worthy a.--- eg. His deed is worthy of praise.His deed is worthy to be praised.

7. 2. program n.--- a commercial program; a live program

8. 3. current a.---of the present time

9. eg. the current issue of a magazine the current year; current affairs; current prices

10. 4. propose vt.--- offer or put forward for consideration

11. eg. I propose an early start / to start early / starting early/ that we should start early.

12. --- offer marriage eg. Tom has proposed (marriage) to Mary.

13. proposal n.--- eg. a proposal for peace

14. make / present proposal; reject /turn down proposal;accept/ adopt proposal

15. His proposal is that the meeting should be postponed.He made a proposal (of marriage) to her.

16. 5. prohibit vt.---forbid by law

17. eg. Smoking is prohibited in this hospital. Children are prohibited from buying cigarettes.

18. 6. communicate vi.--- share or exchange opinions, ideas, news, etc.

19. eg. We can communicate with people in most parts of the world by telephone.

20. We communicate with each other by letter. --- conavey eg. He communicated his intention to me.

21. communications eg. a world communications network; communications satellites

22. 7. disturb vt.--- make sb. worried

23. eg. She was disturbed to hear of /about her mother’s sudden illness.

24. interrupt eg. I’m sorry to interrupt you but the noise in your room disturbs my study.

25. 8. involve vt.---have as a part or result

26. eg. Taking the jobs involves living abroad.

27. To apply for university study involves taking the College Entrance Examination.

28. --- Don’t involve me in your quarrel. Some leaders were involved in the scandal.

29. II. Language Points 1. a quiet hour--- an hour without the distraction of TV programs

30. 2. Without the distraction of TV, they might sit around together after dinner and actually talk to one another.

31. The prepositional phrase “without the distraction of TV” functions as a conditional clause--- “if they had not the distraction of TV”

32. 3. in part: partly; to some degree The driver was in part responsible for the accident.

33. 4. emotional difficulty of one kind or another ---various problems relating to one’s feeling or emotions.

34. 5. get to: begin to We got to know the professor at the party.

35. 6. take a ride: make a trip on an animal or vehicle. to take a ride in a car; to take a ride in the bus

36. 7. remember feet? –do we ever remember that we can travel on foot?

37. 8. see the neighborhood with fresh, new eyes --- see the neighborhood (街坊) as if for the first time

38. 9. grow up: become adult The little girl has grown up into a pretty young woman.

39. 10. come up with: produce; think of (a plan, an answer, etc.) They came up with a good excuse for being late.

40. 11. It has been only twenty-five years since television came to control American free time.

41. “It has been (is) … years / months / weeks / since…” is a useful sentence pattern.

42. It has been two months since he left for Beijing. It is several weeks since the scientist disappeared.

43. 12.It wasn’t that difficult. Honest. The truth is we had a ball.

44. --- It wasn’t so difficult for people to occupy their spare time without the help of TV.

45. I’m telling you the truth: we Americans used to have a very good time before TV came into our life.

46. “have a ball” is an American slang expression, which means “ have a lot of fun” or “ have a good time.”