Ships in the Desert

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Lesson 3

• Ships in the Desert
• Al Gore

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Objectives

• To understand the text
• To learn the words and phrases about environment
• To be familiar with the environmental issue

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Teaching Contents

• 1. Introduction (10 min.)
• 2. Detailed study of the text (140 min.)
• 3. Structure analysis (5 min.)
• 4. Language appreciation (5 min.)
• 5. Summary of words and phrases(5 min)
• 6. Exercises (15 min)

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1. Introduction about the author

•    Al Gore was born in 1948 in Washington D.C.,
  U.S. He has been a Senator (1984-1992)
  representing the State of Tennessee, and U.S.
  Vice-President (1992-2000) under President Bill
  Clinton. He ran for the Presidency against George
  W. Bush jr. but the latter won the closely tied
  election and has become the 43rd American
  President. The text is taken from Al Gores book
  Earth in the Balance

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• Al Gore's profound analysis of where humanity has
  gone wrong ranges across history, politics,
  science, economics, psychology, philosophy, and
  religion.

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• Gore demonstrates that the quality of our air and
  water is urgently at risk. He clearly illustrates
  how problems that once were regional have now
  become global. Gore argues for a worldwide
  mobilization to save us from disaster.

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The introduction of the text

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2. Detailed study of the text

• Ships in the Desert
•  Whats the meaning of the title?
• What does the author try to tell us through his
  article?

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Para.1 typical example of environmental
destruction
Why did the writer go to the Aral Sea? What did
he see there?
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(No Transcript)
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the prospects of a good catch looked bleak

• a good catch did not look promising / hopeful.
• an understatement  

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the Aral sea

• The Aral Sea
• located in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
• historically a saline lake
• In 1960 the worlds fourth largest lake, the
  size of the entirety of Southern California
• in the center of a large, flat desert basin
• a prime example of a dynamic environment

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Americas Great Lakes

• the group of five freshwater lakes, central
  North America, between the United States and
  Canada,
• largest body of fresh water in the world
• From west to east, they are Lake Superior, Lake
  Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario
  
• HOMESH stands for Huron, O for Ontario, M for
  Michigan, E for Erie and S for Superior.

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comparable

•      something that is comparable to something
  else is
• a) as good as/ as big as/ as important as the
  other thing
• b) similar to the other thing
• e.g. This dinner is comparable to the best
  French cooking.

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to feed it has been diverted in an ill-considered
irrigation scheme to grow cotton in the dessert

• to flow into the sea has been turned away to
  irrigate the land created in the desert to grow
  cotton.
• The scheme was an ill-conceived one because it
  failed to take into consideration the ecological
  effect.

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Para. 2 thesis statement

• My search for the underlying causes of the
  environmental crisis has let me to travel around
  the world to check and study cases in order to
  find out the basic causes behind the
  environmental crisis

What does it mean?
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• I traveled around the world because I wanted to
  see, check and study cases of such
  destruction in order to find out the basic causes
  behind the environmental
• crisis.
• This sentence expresses the main idea and
  indicating the development of a causal essay.

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Trans-Antarctic Mountains

• Antarctica is icy cold.
• Trans-Antarctic Mountains divided it into the
  East Antarctic and West Antarctic subcontinents.

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China has set up two scientific research
stations there Zongshan Station in the East and
Great Wall in the West.

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the sun glaring at midnight through a hole in
the sky

• the sun shining at midnight through the ozone
  depletion
• a hole ozone depletion ?????

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about the tunnel he was digging through time

• about the tunnel he was drilling for samples from
  the glacier, which estimates the time. The deeper
  he drilled, the farther the sample in time
• in other words, the surface of the glacier is an
  indication of recent time while the deeper part
  of the glacier tells of situation of a much more
  remote period.

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He moved his finger back in time to the ice of
two decades ago

• Following the layers of ice in the core sample,
  his finger came to the place where the layer of
  ice was formed 20 years ago.

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Clean Air Act

•   American Congress passed the Clean Air Act in
  1970, which is one of the oldest environmental
  laws of the U.S. as well as the most
  far-reaching, the costliest, and the most
  controversial.

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two continents

• South America and Antarctica
•  
• least accessible place on earth the place which
  is the most difficult to get to in the world 

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Para. 3 the global warming seen in the Antarctic
Whats Paragraph 3 talking about?
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Whats the cause of the global warming?

• Began with the industrial revolution,

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Industry meant coal

• the development of industry meant the use of
  large amount of coal as fuel to generate power.

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--bringing risingwith its ability warm the
earth

• adverbial of result
• making the amount of carbon dioxide in the
  atmosphere grow
• heat cannot easily get through carbon dioxide and
  go into the high altitude so carbon dioxide plays
  the role of a cover, keeping the heat near the
  earth.

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 upwind from the ice runawayscientists monitor
the airto chart the course of that inexorable
change

• upwind from the ice runaway where the ski plane
  lands and keeps its engines running so that the
  metal parts will not be frozen solid, scientists
  watch the air several times every day to mark the
  course of that unalterable change.
• upwind in the direction from which the wind is
  blowing or usually blows
• to chart the course to show the onward movement
  on an outline map

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graph usually a mathematical diagram
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Para. 4 a thinning cap as the result of Arctic
air warms
What caused the thinning of the polar ice cap?
global warming
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snowmobile

• a kind of motor vehicle for traveling over snow,
  usually with steer able runners at the front and
  tractor treads at the rear
• rendezvous point the place where a submarine was
  to pick them up
• A rendezvous is a place where you have arranged
  to meet somebody often secretly.

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to secure the release of previously top secret
data

• to ensure the making public of data which was
  originally classified as top secret .

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sonar

• U (an acronym for sound navigation ranging) an
  apparatus using sound waves for finding the
  position of underwater objects, such as mines or
  submarines??(?????????????????????)
• Baiqi dolphins have sonar. Bats have sonar.

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I was standing when separate sheets collide

• I was standing in the vast scene of snow which
  was fearfully beautiful, windswept and shining
  white, with the stretch of ice field
  characterized by small ridges because of the
  force of the collision of the separate layers.
• eerily mysteriously, especially in such a way as
  to frighten or disturb
• snowscape scene of snow.
• cf. landscape and seascape.  

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the consequences of a thinning cap could be
disastrous

• the result of a thinning cap may indicate
  the possibilities of disasters
• could the word indicates possibilities

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And why could the thinning of the polar ice cap
be disastrous to the world?

• Because the polar cap plays an important role in
  the worlds weather system, the consequences of a
  thinning cap could bring about dramatic changes
  in the ecological pattern. For example, it will
  bring large amount of water which will raise the
  ocean level and cause some floods.

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Para. 5 the rising temperature of the earth
.     Considering such scenarios is not a purely
speculative exercise Thinking about how a
series of events might happen as a consequence of
the thinning of the Polar cap is not just a kind
of practice in speculation, it has got practical
value.
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the pattern of ice distribution controversial
claim

• the regular way ice is distributed
• a statement which some scientists still do not
  completely accept

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the Arctic Circle

• an imaginary line drawn round the world at a
  certain distance from the most northern point
  (the North Pole), north of which there is no
  darkness for six months of each year and almost
  no light for the other six months. cf. the
  Antarctic Circle
•  
• tundra any of the vast, nearly level, treeless
  plains of the Arctic regions

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Para. 6 the images of destruction at the equator
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billowing

•    large swelling mass of
• billow v. When smoke or cloud billows, it moves
  slowly upwards or across the sky

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Amazon rain forest

• The Brazilian Amazon contains about a third of
  the Earth's remaining tropical forest and a very
  high portion of its biological diversity. One
  hectare (2.47 acres) of Amazonian moist forest
  contains more plant species than all of Europe.
  Yet still it is being destroyed just like other
  rainforests around the world.

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  fast pasture for fast-food beef

• Bit by bit trees in the rain forest are felled
  and the land is cleared and turned into pasture
  where cattle can be raised quickly and
  slaughtered and the beef can be used in
  hamburgers.
• fast pasture for fast-food beef alliteration
• Pay attention to the connection of the two
  fasts in fast pasture and fast food. With that
  comes the fast disappearance of the rain
  forest.

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the dry season

• ant. in the wet seasonthe rainy season
• similarly
• the football season, the breeding season,
• the planting season, the holiday season,
• the harvest season, the cold season,
• the tourist season, the game season,
• a season of film
• in season Ant. be out of season
• season v. e.g. season the food with salt

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with more than one Tennessees worth of rain
forest

• the area of rain forest burned in one year is
  bigger than the state of Tennessee.
• worth equal in area or size
• slash cut with a sweeping stroke

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we are silencing thousands of songs we have never
even heard

• Since miles of forest are being destroyed and
  the habitat for these rare birds no longer
  exists, thousands of birds which we have not even
  had a chance to see will become extinct.

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How will the destruction of the Amazon rain
forest affect the earths ecological balance?

• Fewer rainforests mean less rain, less oxygen
  for us to breathe, and an increased threat from
  global warming.

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Para. 7 images of destruction seen almost
anywhere
What does the writer call ghosts in the sky?
noctilucent clouds
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How are they formed?
They are formed because of the huge buildup of
methane gas in the atmosphere, released from
landfills, from coal mines and rice paddies, from
billions of termites that swarm through the
freshly cut forestland, from the burning of
biomass and from a variety of other human
activities.
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On some nights that signals the loss of
ecological balance now in progress

• On some nights, in the area at a high northern
  latitude, the sky alone presents another example
  of ill omen showing. There is ecological
  imbalance and this kind of imbalance is
  developing.
• in high northern latitude ????????
• cf. longitude??

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noctilucent cloud

• This luminous cloud occasionally appears
  when the earth is first hidden in the evening
  darkness shining unsteadily above us with a
  partially transparent whiteness, these clouds
  dont seem natural

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noctilucent cloud

• nocti- means night lucent means shining,
  translucent
• designating or of a luminous cloud visible at
  night
• translucent partially transparent

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landfills garbage disposal

• methane is emitted from garbage disposal,
  from coal mines and rice fields, from billions of
  termites (??)moving in large numbers through the
  freshly cut forestland, from the burning of
  amount of living organism in a particular area
  and from a variety of other human activities.

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Even though noctilucent clouds to the surface
far beneath them

• The implication is that the night comes earlier
  than the upper part. The balance between day and
  night is broken.
• altitudes a high area
• e.g. At high altitudes it is difficult to
  breathe.

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Para. 8 human attitudes towards the images of
destruction

• What should we feel toward these ghosts in the
  sky
• What should our attitude be toward these
  noctilucent clouds in the sky?

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the mix of emotions we feel at the zoo

• the mix of emotions we feel at the zoo on the
  one hand we feel excited about seeing those
  animals, but on the other hand, we feel sorry for
  them because they have been deprived of freedom.
• Should it only be a feeling of surprise and
  admiration or a combination of different feelings
  we experience in the zoo?

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feel awe for our own power

• feel amazed and frightened at our own power.

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upset the balance between daylight and darkness

• Just as men are killing such large number of
  elephants for their tusks that the species will
  soon extinguish, we are using and destroying
  resources in such a big amount that we are
  disturbing the balance between daylight and
  darkness.

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  greenhouse gases

• gases that will trap heat at the surface of the
  earth like a greenhouse and ranks third only to
  carbon dioxide and water vapor in total volume.
• This means of all the gases, water vapor occupies
  the largest portion, carbon dioxide the second.
  Methane-natural gas, greenhouse gases- the third

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the chemistry of the upper atmosphere

• the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere

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shouldnt it startle us with a spectral light?
Or have our eyes human civilization and the
earth?

• two rhetorical questions
• it should startle us
• our eyes should not haven adjusted so completely
  to the bright lights of civilization that we
  cant see.

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what they are

• Or have we been so accustomed to the bright
  electric lights that we fail to understand the
  threatening implication of these clouds

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a physical manifestation of the violent
collision between human civilization and the
earth?

• we fail to understand that it is a glaring sign
  of the violent clash between human activity and
  nature?

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Para 9. humans puzzling response

• Even though it is sometimes hard to see their
  meaning, we have by now all witnessed surprising
  experiences
• to understand the threat of these clouds

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What are the surprising experiences that signal
the damage from our assault on the environment
mentioned in the paragraph?

• more hot days, quicker sunburn, and more debate
  on garbage disposing matter.

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--whether its the frequencywith growing
mountains of waste

• whether it is the fact that recently there are
  more hot days when the temperature is over 100
  degrees Fahrenheit (38 degree Celsius), or the
  fact the sun burns our skin more quickly in
  recent times, or the fact that the debate over
  the way of disposing of the growing amount of
  waste matter comes up more frequently.

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But our response to these signals is puzzling

• But our reaction to these signals is so baffling
  that it is difficult to understand.

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To come at the question another way

• To approach the question in a different way to
  put the question differently

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Why havent we launched a massive effort to save
our environment?

• Why havent we started a large-scale movement to
  save our environment?

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some images

• Why do some signs so alarm us that we
  immediately take action and concentrate on ways
  of dealing with them effectively?
• some images
• e.g. white pollution, (immediate action stop
  producing
• sandstorm (immediate action plant grass
  and trees)

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other images... less painful distraction

• And why do other signs, though sometimes no
  less striking, only cause a kind of loss and
  inactivity and we concentrate our attention not
  on the ways to deal with them but instead, on
  some other substitutes which are easy to get and
  less painful?
• other images
• e.g. gases from cars (distraction people still
  want cars, and have an easy and less painful way
  to deal with this issue, say, its a natural
  cycle, not because of human activities)

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Para.10 the importance of organizing our thoughts

• it may be helpful to classify them and thus
  begin to organize our thoughts and feelings so
  that we may be able to respond appropriately
• to arrange them into different groups
• so that we will be able to take the most suitable
  action.

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Para. 11 the military system local
skirmishes, regional
battles, and strategic conflicts

• theater scene of operation
• e.g. This was the Pacific theatre of World War
  II.
• ?????????????????
• lecture theatre ????

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A useful system comes from the military

• A useful way of classifying comes from fighting.
• They are local skirmish, regional battles,
  and strategic conflict.
• A skirmish is a minor battle

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a global context

• This third kind is reserved for struggles that
  can endanger a nations existence and must be
  viewed against the background of the world.

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What kind of conflict will be considered as
strategic conflict?

• Only struggle that can threaten a nations
  survival and must be understood in a global
  context will be considered as strategic
  conflict..

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Para 12. the same case with the images of
destruction

• illegal waste dumping the disposal of waste in a
  way that violates the law
• Problems like acid rain, the contamination of
  underground aquifers, and large oil spills are
  fundamentally regional basically belong to
  regional category.

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Acid rain(??)

• rain with a high concentration of acids produced
  by sulfur dioxide (????), nitrogen oxide (???),
  etc. emitted during the combustion (??)of fossil
  fuels it has a destructive effect on plant and
  aquatic (???) life, buildings, etc.

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contamination

• cf. pollution Pollution is a term to describe
  the degrading of the environment in some waythe
  air we breathe or the water we drink or wash in
  can be polluted when it is contaminated by some
  foreign or unwanted material, e.g. engine oil or
  chemicals in water, smoke, or car exhaust in the
  air. We talk about air pollution or water
  pollutionnot water contamination but pollution
  is the more common term.

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• Contamination is a more scientific term used to
  describe a substance contaminating or spoiling
  something such as an experiment, e.g. the water
  purity experiment was contaminated by an outside
  chemical. We would not say polluted in this
  case.

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aquifer an underground layer of porous
(???)rock, sand, etc, containing water, into
which wells can be sunk.
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the pattern appears to be global

• It seems that the problem has acquired a global
  nature since so many similar things occur at the
  same time all over the world.

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Para.13 a new class of environmental problems
affecting the global ecological system chlorine?

• The 600 percent increase countries producing
  the chlorofluorocarbons responsible
• There have been 600 percent increase in the
  amount of chlorine in the atmosphere during the
  last forty years not only in those countries
  which are mainly responsible for the production
  of CFC
• chlorofluorocarbons CFC ???

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The increased levels radiation from the sun

• The increase of the amount of chlorine disturbs
  the usual way of handling and controlling the
  amount of ultraviolet radiation the earth
  receives from the sun.

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ultraviolet

• (of light) that is beyond the purple end of the
  range of colors (spectrum) that make up light
  that can be seen by human beings
• ultraviolet rays ???
• ultra- beyond e.g. ultrared (????),
  ultrashort (????), ultrasonic (????),
  ultramodern(??????)

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Para.14 another strategic threatglobal
warming

• Why?Because this increase in heat seriously
  threatens the global climate equilibrium that
  determines the pattern of winds, rainfall,
  surface temperatures, ocean currents and sea
  level, and these in turn determine the
  distribution of vegetative and animal life on
  land and sea and have a great effect on the
  location and pattern of human societies, so it is
  considered a strategic threat.

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equilibrium that determines the pattern of

• balance that decides the regular way of .
• equilibrium a state of balance between opposing
  forces
• pattern a regular, mainly unvarying way of
  movement

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Para. 15 the transformed relationship between
humankind and the earth

• in our own time we have reshaped a large part
  of the earths face with concrete in our cities
• in the modern time we have given a new shape or
  form to a large part of the earths surface by
  building paved roads, bridges, buildings etc.
• concrete metonymy

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But these changes have, until recently, been
relatively trivial factors in the global
ecological system

• Although sometimes these changes seem to be
  taking place everywhere in the world they have,
  until recently, been relatively insignificant in
  their influence on the ecological system of the
  world.
• pervasive prevailing spreading

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that assumption so that

• What we should get rid of is exactly that kind of
  view which has been taken for granted. Only when
  we have dropped such a view can we think in a
  long term, overall way about our relationship to
  the environment.

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Para. 16 the dominant cause of change in the
global environmenthuman civilization
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What caused the change of the entire
relationship between humankind and the earth?

• human civilization

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Yet we resist this truth against the mountains

• Yet we refuse to accept this true fact and find
  it difficult to think that we should treat our
  effect on the earth the same way as the moons
  gravitational pull on the oceans or the winds
  effect on the mountains and measure our effect in
  the same way as we measure the effect of natural
  forces.

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use that power wisely

• of cause we must recognize that we have the
  responsibility to use the newly acquired
  capability in a prudent way and with proper
  restraint.

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the fragility of the earths natural systems

• the earths natural systems are very delicate and
  can easily be disrupted.

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Para. 17 dramatic changes in two key factors

• a sudden and startling surge in human population
• a sudden acceleration of the scientific and
  technological revolution

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that define the physical reality of our
relationship to the earth

• that determine the actual state of our
  relationship with nature.

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with the addition one Chinas worth of people

• Every ten years the newly-added population will
  equal the population of China
• Every ten years, one more Chinas population will
  be added to the population of the world.
• Worth equal in size or number
• e.g. The storm did thousands of pounds worth
  of damage (did damage worth thousands of
  pounds).
• I bought 10 pounds worth of food.
• He bought 10 dollars worth of postage
  stamps.

100
magnification

• which has increased our power to influence the
  world around us to such a degree that can hardly
  be conceived
• magnification the act of magnifying the
  power of magnifying

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physical matter

• material substance

102
Para 18. the surge in population

• when viewed in a historical context
• when we look at the matter from a historical
  point of view
• Julius Caesar (102? B.C.- 44 B.C.), Roman
  statesman and general
• Christopher Columbus (1451- 1506), discoverer of
  America, born Genoa, Italy
• Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826) third President of
  the U.S. (1801-9), author of the Declaration of
  Independence.

103
Declaration of Independence

• full and formal declaration adopted July 4,
  1776, by representatives of the thirteen colonies
  in North America announcing the separation of
  those colonies from Great Britain and making them
  into the United States

104
Para. 19 the present faster increasing population

• in the course of one human lifemine
• during the life span of an individual my
  lifetime
• it is already more than half way there
• the world population is already more than half of
  that figure.

105
Para. 20 the scientific and technological
revolution

• And this ongoing revolution has also suddenly
  accelerated exponentially
• And this continuing revolution has also suddenly
  developed at a speed that doubled and tripled the
  original speed.
• exponential (???)of or relating to an exponent
  (??????)

106
While no single discovery it is nevertheless
true

• While no single discover has had the kind of
  effect on our relationship to the earth (that),
  it is nevertheless true that taken together, they
  have completely transformed our cumulative
  ability to exploit the earth for
  sustenancemaking the consequence of unrestrained
  exploitation every bit as unthinkable as the
  consequences of unrestrained nuclear war
  adverbial.

107
While no single discover has had the kind of
effect on our relationship to the earth

• Although no individual discovery has changed
  human relationship to the earth so much that it
  is comparable to the nuclear weapons which have
  brought tremendous change to the relationship
  between man and warfare

108
taken together, they have completely transformed
our cumulative ability to exploit the earth for
sustenance

• put all the discoveries together, they have
  completely changed our ability to utilize the
  earth productively for survival
• Originally, our ability to utilize the earth
  productively for survival grew by gradual
  addition but now these discoveries have changed
  the ability fundamentally

109
making the consequence of every bit as
unthinkable as the consequences of unrestrained
nuclear war

• this increased ability has made the results of
  unlimited use of global resources altogether as
  terrible as the results of full-scale nuclear war

110
Para. 21 our challenge to recognize that
startling images of destruction

• Our challenge is to recognize that the startling
  images of environmental destruction now occurring
  all over the world have much more in common than
  their ability to shock and awaken us Our task is
  to see and to understand that those frightening
  examples of environmental destruction that are
  happening all over the world are so much the same
  in nature that they surprise us no longer.
• are so frequently/ become so common that they
  dont shock and arouse us any more.

111
Symptoms of an underlying problem broader in
scope

• signs and indications showing that there exists a
  much greater and more serious problem which we
  have never encountered.

112
deforestation

• disappearance of forest

113
Para. 22 two aspects to this challenge our power
to harm the earth and our role as co-architect of
nature

• What are the two aspects to help people recognize
  the images of environmental destruction?

114
to see ourselves as we are used to

• to regard ourselves as part of a complicated
  system which does not function according to the
  rule of cause-effect we are familiar with

115
The problem is not so much as our relationship
with the environment

• The point is that our effect on the environment
  is not the same as our relationship with the
  environment.
• What is involved is a matter of human relations
  with nature, rather than how mankind will affect
  nature

116
As a result, the earths ecological system

• As a result, if we want to solve the problem, we
  will have to carefully weigh and determine how
  important that relationship is and how important
  is the complicated interconnection among factors
  inside human society and between these factors
  and the main natural parts of global ecological
  system.
• relation relative relationship
• relationship friendship connection
• interrelationship interrelation a (close)
  connection, relation of dependence

117
Para. 23 one precedent for this kind of challenge
to our thinking military one again

• one example in the past which posed similar
  demand on us for a change in our way of looking
  at things.
• precedent a former action or case that may be
  used as an example or rule for present

118
forced a slow and painful recognition

• (the situation) compelled us to accept as a fact
  gradually and with difficulty

119
institution of warfare practice of armed
conflict

• institution
• a large organization for a university, bank, or
  church
• a building where certain people are kept or
  looked after
• e.g He may end up in a mental institution.
• c) a system, rule or a system that is considered
  an important or typical feature of a society,
  usually because it has existed for a long time
• e.g. the institution of marriage

120
all-out war

• armed fighting between nations using all
  possible strength and effort
• all-out using all possible strength and
  effort
• e.g. We made an all-out effort to finish the
  job by Christmas.

121
That sobering realization

• Once you know how serious and terrible a nuclear
  war will be, you become more clear-headed, more
  balanced in your reasoning and judgment
• sober adj. not drunk serious
• v. to make or become serious or
  thoughtful
• e.g. a sobering thought

122
the prospect of such a war

• the expected outcome of such a war

123
the veil of illusion that has so long obscured
the reality of the change in warfare

• the wrong thinking people entertain which have
  made them fail to see the change in the nature of
  armed conflict.
• veil covering of thin material a metaphor

124
Para. 24 arms race

• For decades, each new advance... But each such
  deployment led a more advanced deployment of its
  own
• For decades, the two super powers had been
  competing in the research, production and
  deployment of more sophisticated, more advanced
  weapons, hoping that in this the other side would
  be deterred not to launch a first strike in
  nuclear weapons. But the result was just the
  opposite. Each advance in weaponry led to a new
  round of arms race, a race of a much more
  destructive level.

125
leapfrog

• n. U a game in which one person bends down and
  another jumps over them from behind
• v. to jump or skip over to advance well
  by missing out (sth.) on the way
• e.g. He leapfrogged two ranks and was
  promoted directly to colonel.

126
It is complicated what war is all about

• No doubt that the advance in technology has made
  the problem more difficult to solve but
  technology is not the real cause. The real cause
  lies in the kind of relationship between the
  Soviet Union and the United States and the
  theoretical basis for this kind of relationship
  is their outdated concept of war.
• obsolete out-of-date, no longer used

127
Para. 25 the eventual solution to the arms race
new understandings and a mutual transformation of
the relationship itself

• unilateral adj. done by or having an effect on
  only one side, esp. one of the political groups
  in an agreement

128
the denial of nuclear technology to rogue states

• stopping rogue countries using nuclear
  technology or stopping sending nuclear technology
  to rogue countries.

129
rogue

• adj. not following the usual or accepted
  standards, esp. in an uncontrollable or
  troublesome way countries
• e.g. rogue politicians who go against the party
  line
• rogue states states which do not observe or
  follow the established international norms and
  practices, which can be considered as rascals
  /dishonest among states.

130
Para. 26 the real solution reinventing and
finally healing the relationship between
civilization and the earth
131

• he strategic nature of the threat now posed by
  human civilization to the global environment and
  the strategic nature of the threat to human
  civilization now posed by changes in the global
  environment present us with a similar set of
  challenges and false hopes.
• The important/basic nature of the threat now
  brought about by human civilization to the global
  environment and the important/basic nature of
  threat to human civilization now

132
What false hopes do some people have?

• Some people hope a new ultimate technology,
  whether nuclear power or genetic engineering,
  will solve the problem. Others hope that a
  drastic reduction of our reliance on technology
  can improve the conditions of life.

133
a simplistic notion at best

• a simple view at most

134
What is the real solution to the environmental
destruction according to the author?

• The real solution will be found in reinventing
  and finally healing the relationship between
  civilization and the earth. This can only be
  accomplished by undertaking a careful
  reassessment of all the factors that led to the
  relatively recent dramatic change in the
  relationship. The transformation of the way we
  relate to the earth will of cause involve new
  technologies, but the key changes will involve
  new ways of thinking about the relationship
  itself.

135
3. Structure Analysis

• 1.Para. 1 Effects of environmental crises (The
  Aral)
• 2. Paras. 2-20 Causes of environmental crises
• A. The destruction around the world
• -Antarctic, the Arctic, the equator, around us
• B. Classification of the images of destruction
• -Local - Regional- Strategic /global context
• C. The dominant cause of the change
• -Human civilization
• 3. Paras. 21-26 Solution
• A. Recognizing the starling images of destruction
• B. Understanding the two aspects
• C. Changing the view of the relationship-Educate
  people

136
4. Language appreciation

• The author developed this exposition by the cause
  and effect method.
• He chose typical examples to support his ideas.
• To make his writing clear, vivid and forceful, he
  used figures of speech such as understatement,
  alliteration, metaphor, rhetorical question and
  metonymy.

137
Language appreciation

• His formal style, serious tone as well as
  military metaphors indicated that environmental
  protection is a kind of war.
• Although this writing is about a scientific
  research on the environment, the writer uses very
  few technical terms so that ordinary people can
  understand it easily.

138
5. Summary of the words and phrases

• Words of general use
• a good catch
• divert
• comparable to
• dock at rest
• underlying cause, dominant cause
• sample
• remotest and least accessible place
• inexorable change
• in such quantities, in such volume

139

• threat, threaten,
• buildup, increase, acceleration of
• accelerate exponentially
• at stake
• transform, reshape,
• pervasive, spreading , prevailing, prevalent
• discard
• assumption
• yardstick

140
Words of Area

• The Aral
• Antarctica
• frigid Arctic Ocean
• North and South Poles
• The equator
• Amazon rain forest
• local, regional, global (context)

141
Words of Environmental crisis

• images of destruction, distressing images
• pollution, contamination
• monitor the air chart the course measurements
  graph
• pick up speed
• global warming
• polar ice cap, thinning cap
• hole, ozone depletion
• the loss of living species
• deforestation

142

• acid rain
• the temperature rising
• billowing clouds of smoke
• humankinds assault on the earth
• the distress of our global environment
• ghostly image, noctiluncent clouds , transparent
  whiteness
• frequency, constancy
• threaten the beast with extinction
• precedent one example in the past

143
Words of the temperature

• exceeds 100 degreesFahrenheit degrees
• 38 Celsius degrees

144
Words of the loss of ecological balance

• upset the balance
• the global climate equilibrium
• the global ecological system
• the earths ecological system
• the earths natural balance
• a physical manifestation of the violent collision
  between human civilization and the earth
• the pattern of winds, rainfall, surface
  temperatures, ocean currents, and sea level
• the distribution of vegetative and animal life on
  land and sea

145
Words of chemistry of the upper atmosphere

• water vapor
• carbon dioxide
• methane, natural gas
• growing green-house gases
• chlorinechlorofluorocarbons
• ultraviolet radiation

146
6. Exercises Paraphrase

• 1) a good catch did not look promising / hopeful
• 2) Following the layers of ice in the core
  sample, his finger came to the place where the
  layer of ice was formed 20 years ago.
• 3) keep its engines working so that the metal
  parts would not be frozen solid
• 4) Bit by bit trees in the rain forest are felled
  and the land is cleared and turned into pasture
  where cattle can be raised quickly and
  slaughtered and the beef can be used in
  hamburgers.

147
Paraphrase

• 5) Since miles of forest are being destroyed and
  the habitat for these rare birds no longer
  exists, thousands of birds which we have not even
  had a chance to see will become extinct.
• 6) Thinking about how a series of events might
  happen as a consequence of the thinning of the
  Polar cap is not just a kind of practice in
  speculation, it has got practical value.

148
Paraphrase

• 7) we are using and destroying resources in such
  a big amount that we are disturbing the balance
  between daylight and darkness
• 8) Or have we been so accustomed to the bright
  electric lights that we fail to understand the
  threatening implication of these clouds

149
Paraphrase

• 9) To approach the question in a different way
  to put the question differently
• 10) and have a great influence on the human
  residence and the way they are living

150
Paraphrase

• 11) we seem to be unaware of the fact that the
  earths natural systems are very delicate and can
  easily be disrupted
• 12) And this continuing revolution has also
  suddenly developed at a speed that doubled and
  tripled the original speed.