本课简介 技术是否也是一把双刃剑,在给人们带来帮助的同时也带来了弊端?本课通过卫星通讯的利弊昭示人们“明智”地运用技术才能使我们走向成功。
卫星、计算机和电视的三结合改变了人们的生活。卫星被用来传送电视节目、电话和印刷材料;卫星被用于远程教育,使边远地区的人们通过“空中教室”接受教育;卫星被用来帮助生活在交通不便的偏僻地区的人们;卫星使世界各地的人们便捷地获取信息。然而侵犯隐私、使人与人之间疏于接触交流等弊端也应引起关注。
本课主要语言点
1.At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were four powerful means of transmitting and receiving information over long distances:…
本句中的beginning 是一个名词,意思是“开始,开端”。如:
1)from beginning to end (从头到尾)
2)He has made a good beginning. (他开了个好头。)
3)I'm afraid I won't have the time to come back at the beginning of the term. (恐怕我不会有时间在开学初回来。)
means在本句中的意思是“方法;工具”,请看例句:
1)The most convenient means of transport for people in the United States are cars.(对美国人来说最便利的交通工具是汽车。)
2)He had no means of escape other than jumping. (除了跳窗,他没有别的逃跑方法。)
3) He succeeded by means of painstaking effort. (他依靠苦干获得了成功。)
by all means 尽一切办法
live within/beyond one's means 量入(不量入)为出
a means to an end 达到目的的方法
by some means or other 用某种方法
2.By the middle of the century, both radio and television had become established means of transmitting sounds and pictures.
句中所用的过去完成时,表示过去某时前已经发生的动作或情况。该动作已经完成,或者可能延续下去。用by引起的时间状语常与过去完成时连用。例如:
1) By the end of last June, they had visited 15 countries. (到去年六月底为止他们已经访问了15个国家。)
2)By the end of last year Henry had collected 1500 butterfly specimens. (到去年年底,亨利已经采集了一千五百多个蝴蝶标本。)
3)By the middle of 1999, more than 10 high buildings had been built in this area. (到1999年年中,这一地区已建造了十座高楼。)
4)By the time they got to the cinema, the film had already begun. (他们赶到电影院时,电影已经开映了。)
established在句中做形容词,意思是“常规的”。这个词还可解释为“(被)设立的;确认的;既定的;公认的”。例如:
1)a newly established organization (新设的组织)
2) the established principles of international law (公认的国际法准则)
3)an established fact (既成事实)
4)an established custom (常规)
3.In order to transmit an event such as the Olympics Via satellite, television signals are first changed into radio waves,which are then sent from a station on earth to an orbiting satellite.
such as的后面既可以跟名词也可以跟从句,意为“诸如…之类的”;“例如”或“像…这样的人或事物”。请看例句:
1)They will plant flowers such as roses, sunflowers, etc. (他们将栽种玫瑰、向日葵一类的花。)
2)Countries such as France, Germany, Japan and America are developed countries. (像法国、德国、日本和美国这类国家是发达国家。)
3)I felt a weight at my heart such as I had never had before. (我心中感到了一种从未有过的沉重情绪。)
4)I don't have many reference books but I will send you such as I have. (我的参考书不多,但我愿把我手头有的那些寄给你。)
which引导的是一个非限定性的定语从句。非限定性定语从句在修饰人时用who, whom或whose, 在修饰物时用which.非限定性定语从句常用逗号与主句分开。例如:
1)The students, who wanted to go outing, were disappointed when it rained. (那些学生想去郊游,天下雨了大家都感到失望。)
2)The team is headed by an American, whose wife is a Chinese. (队长是一个美国人,他的妻子是中国人。)
3)The book, which he borrowed from me yesterday, cost 1/3 of my salary. (他昨天从我这儿借走的那本书花了我三分之一的工资。)
非限定性定语从句也可用关系副词where或when来引导。非限定性定语从句的先行词可以是一个词,也可以是前面主句中的一个短语、从句或前面整个句子,通常用关系代词which引导。例如:
1)The small town, where he once worked, has turned to be a modern city. (那座小城,他曾在那儿工作过,已变成一座现代化的城市了。)
2)We will put off the outing until next week, when we won't be so busy. (我们把郊游推迟至下周,那时我们不会这么忙了。)
3)They turned a deaf ear to our demands, which made all of us angry. (他们对我们的要求置之不理,这使我们大家都很生气。)
4.In theory, every person will have access to an unlimited amount of information.
in theory意为“从理论上来说;在理论上”,与其意思相反的词组是in practice (在实践中;实际上)。例如:
1)Your plan is good in theory, but does it work in practice? (你的计划在理论上是不错的,但实行起来能行吗?)
2)His proposal worked well in practice. (他的建议很行得通。)
have access to是一个很常用的词组,意为“可接近,可进入”,to是介词,动词have也可用其他词替换。如get,gain,give,win等。在词汇部分,对access已做过讲解,在此仅举例一、二。
1)The only access to that building is blocked. (进入那座楼的唯一通道被堵住了。)
2)Students need easy access to books. (学生需要很容易地接触到图书。)
2)You can easily get access to the humorous old man.(你很容易接近那个幽默的老人。)
information是一个不可数名词,后面不可以加s,许多信息可以用a lot of information, a large amount of information, much information等表达。一条信息可以表达为a piece of information.
amount通常用在不可数名词前面,如the amount of money; a considerable amount of prejudice (相当大的偏见)。在复数名词前面可用number,如the number of mistakes; the number of students
5.The satellite also demonstrated how it could provide help to people living in isolated areas where transportation is difficult.
how引导的是一个宾语从句。我们很熟悉的是that引导的宾语从句,而且that常常可以省略。如:We must remember (that) things are easier said than done. (我们必须记住事情都是说起来容易,做起来难。)
用连接代词或副词引导的宾语从句我们也应弄清楚。请看下面的句子:
1) He didn't tell me where the shopping center was.(他没有告诉我购物中心在哪里。)
2)Do you know what they were talking about?(你知道他们刚才在谈论什么吗?)
3)Let's see how we can solve the problem. (我们看看怎么来解决这个问题。)
4)I'm wondering if the letter is overweight.(我想知道这封信是不是超重。)
5)We must find out who did this. (我们必须弄清楚这是谁干的。)
provide是一个常用单词,通常可以有如下用法:provide sth. to/for sb.; provide sb. with sth.; provide sb. sth.;provide that…,在前一个单元中,我们已对provide一词有过讲解,再请看几个例子:
1)It is impossible for the government to provide all young people with a job. (政府不可能给所有的年轻人都提供一份工作。)
2)Can you provide 5 buses for/to the tourists? (你们能为游客们提供五辆巴士吗?)
3)The agreement provides that the two sides shall meet once a month. (协议规定双方每月会晤一次。)
6.He was then able to follow the doctor's instructions on how to care for the patient.
句子中的on意思为“关于;有关”,可用about替换。例如:
1)He wrote a book on India. (他写了一本有关印度的书。)
2)He gave us a report on the international economy. (他给我们做了关于国际经济的报告。)
3)They exchanged views on questions of common concern. (他们就共同关心的问题交换了意见。)
care of 在句子中的意思是“照顾”,可用attend; look after替换。例如:
1)The whole society should care for the younger generation. (全社会都应该关怀年轻的一代。)
2)You can't really find out how to care for children from books. (你从书本上不可能真正找到照顾孩子的方法。)
care for 还可以解释为“担心”,“介意”,“愿意”,可用about替换for.
1)He doesn't care about/for his clothes. (他不讲究衣着。)
2)The old lady cared much for her daughter's safety. (老太太非常为女儿的安全担心。
3)Would you care for a cup of tea? (来杯茶,好吗?)
4)I don't care for him to read the letter. (我不愿意让他看这封信。)