第七單元
突發(fā)事件
??課文A
????初看上去像是一個舊盒子或破衣裳。可緊接著他們就明白過來到底是什么了。
“鐵軌上有孩子!”
????左克·墨菲
??? 1989年5月1日，星期一，新澤西州的拉姆齊上午天氣宜人。凱特·普里查德俯身站在車尾行李箱前，費力地收拾著剛買回家的一袋袋食品雜貨。她聽到遠處火車的鳴笛聲。聯(lián)合鐵路公司的火車經(jīng)過的地方離普里查德家不到三百英尺，可在后院與鐵軌之間沒有柵欄，只有一排長得密密的樹木。然而，她的兩個兒子，三歲半的托德和十八個月的斯科特，就在近旁私家車道上玩耍。???
????“就呆在這兒，”凱特說。“媽媽去把食品放好，然后我們進屋吃午飯，好嗎?”
????“好!”托德一面說，一面豎起大拇指，做著他以前看他父親做的這個手勢。
????“好!”斯科特隨聲應和，試著模仿他哥哥的樣子。
????他們望著母親提著幾個袋袋走進屋子。
????凱特關好冰箱門匆匆走出屋來。還好。兩個孩子正在原地玩耍。
當她從車后行李箱里又提出幾個袋袋時，凱特聽見有一列火車疾駛而過——是特快客車，她根據(jù)車速判斷。她又將幾個袋袋拿進屋去。
????火車的聲音顯然把兩個孩子的注意吸引到鐵軌上。兩人穿過那排樹木，爬上筆陡的路基，跪在地上玩了起來。
????往西幾千英尺處，一輛貨車緩緩地朝兩個孩子駛宋。頭頂上的燈向司機里奇·坎普納發(fā)出信號，指示前面那輛客車已經(jīng)開走，他們可以每小時40英里的正常速度繼續(xù)運行。司機調(diào)整了加速器，轉(zhuǎn)身面對列車員安東尼·法爾佐。安東尼中等身材，長得結(jié)結(jié)實實，現(xiàn)年35歲，已經(jīng)為聯(lián)合鐵路公司干了差不多十六、七年。
????“你周末都干點啥，安東尼?”
????“唉，不干什么。大多是瞎混——看點兒電視，然后睡覺。還能干什么?”
????坎普納笑了。“嘿，你最好悠著點，安東尼——你都快成派對狂了?！?/p>
????兩人哈哈大笑。就在他們大笑的時候，正以21英里的時速運行的機車開始加速。
????里奇和安東尼在同——瞬間發(fā)現(xiàn)火車前方有什么東西。
????“那前面是什么?”司機問道。安東尼沒回答。他日不轉(zhuǎn)睛盯著前方看，試圖辨識前方鐵
??軌上那怪形怪狀的東西。是盒子?還是舊衣裳?
????猛然間，兩個人都明白過來那是什么東西。里奇用盡全力猛地緊急剎車，并拉響了汽笛。
????汽笛嘶鳴，與此同時安東尼大聲嚷道：“鐵軌上有孩子!”
????安東尼沖出駕駛室，跳到車輪上方六英尺處一條狹窄人行踏板上，接著跑到搖擺的火車頭前。他疾速攀下鐵梯，停在梯子最后一級上，離他腳下飛速掠過的鐵路路基有兩英尺。
????現(xiàn)在，他可以清楚地看到兩個孩子，他們正坐在鐵軌旁邊。安東尼拼命揮手示意，并大聲喊叫：“走開!走開!”
????他心里計算著火車的減速速度，痛苦地哼了一聲。我們絕對不可能及時停車的。
????托德和斯科特正玩得起勁，沒聽到火車的聲音。最后，當火車轟隆隆駛近時，斯科特抬頭—看，驚呆了。
????盡管火車在減速，安東尼知道車速仍比他奔跑的速度快。所以，他強迫自己等待，等到離孩子足夠近的時候，他再一躍而下一把將他們抓住。在孩子與火車頭前的犁雪機鋒利的雪鏟只有約十英尺的時候，安東尼從梯子上縱身向前一躍。他落在鐵軌旁拳頭大小的散石上，使盡力氣才保持住平衡。他跨出兩大步，幾乎就要夠著兩個孩子了。兩個孩子嚇壞了，目瞪口呆地望著他。安東尼縱身躍起，朝他們撲去。
????火車汽笛不停地嘶鳴，凱特·普里查德聽著就像是被鐵錘猛擊了一下?！昂⒆?”她一聲驚叫，沖出屋門。兩個孩子不見了!
????鐵道，她心想。我得去鐵道那兒!
????安東尼身子砸下地時，他一邊護著托德，一邊伸出一只手臂去抓斯科特，好把他拉離鐵軌。但火車壓了過來。安東尼只見雪鏟的黑色鋼刃擊中幼孩的下巴，將他的頭往后一推，鏟子從他臉上括過。頓時，鮮血從孩子額頭濺出。???
????車身猛撞安東尼工作服的后背，把尼龍布都撕破了。但安東尼還是把斯科特完全拉到了自己身下。???
????他死了，安東尼心想。他毛骨悚然，一陣惡心。他的臉緊貼在石子上，使盡力氣將兩個孩子往下壓，火車就從他們上面駛過，離他們只有幾英寸。???
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????凱特奔到停下的火車前，首先看到的便是托德。她的大兒子失去控制，在那兒亂蹦亂跳，大聲哭喊。但凱特看出他沒受傷。她抓過他緊緊抱住。隨后她看見第三節(jié)車廂下一動不動躺著一個人。只見這人身子下面斯科特的腦袋上黑糊糊一片血污。凱特沖過去?！八箍铺?”她尖聲叫道。???
????安東尼扭轉(zhuǎn)身子面對著她。“女士，”他對她說，聲音很鎮(zhèn)靜?！盎丶胰ァ＝芯旌途茸o車來?！眲P特沒聽進他的話，伸著手要抱孩子。安東尼又開口了，口氣嚴厲了許多，“夫人，聽著!回家打電話叫警察——叫救護車，快!”???
????凱特飛奔回家，打了電話，又通過尋呼機找到她丈夫加里。???
????第一輛警車到達時，安東尼仍然緊抱著年幼的斯科特。列車員從孩子的哭聲知道他還活著，但斯科特可能有內(nèi)傷，稍一動彈就有可能加重傷勢。因此安東尼堅持讓急救人員先對孩子進行檢查，然后才放手。真是奇跡，斯科特傷勢不重，只需縫十三針。
????雪鏟與地面之間只有十四英寸。記者后來問安東尼他在冒生命危險救孩子之前有否猶豫。“沒有，”他回答道?！拔耶敃r所想到的就是那兩個孩子前頭還有整個人生，如果我不采取行動，他們必死無疑。我決不能讓這樣的悲劇發(fā)生?！???
????事故發(fā)生后不久，安東尼去普里查德家探望。他還記得他用雙臂抱住托德和斯科特并將兩人舉起的情景?！斑@讓我想起當時在火車底下我護著他們的情景。再一次抱住他們的感覺是奇特的——也是美妙的。”
????普里查德夫婦說，自從第一次來探望之后，安東尼幾乎成了他們家庭的一員。他們還說，現(xiàn)在有道柵欄把他們的街坊與鐵軌隔開了。? ??
第七單元
突發(fā)事件
??課文B
????中國常常遭受洪水之害。但是中國并不是惟一的洪水受害國。其它國家的人也????不得不學會接受洪水為害的可能性：他們家門口那條平靜的大河也許有一天會漫溢出來，把他們卷走，并徹底改變他們的生活。
夜晚，河水漫溢
????威廉·亨德利克斯
????丹·迪克斯特勒站在十一歲的女兒詹妮弗身旁，長長的手臂挽住她的肩膀，兩人從瓜達盧佩河畔的小木屋里望著大雨如注的茫茫夜色。???
??? (1)雨已經(jīng)下了差不多一整天樂，南得克薩斯河的河水猛漲，溢出了堤岸。不過看來不用擔心。小木屋搭建在高出這一洪水泛濫地幾英尺的柱子上。
????“看來最糟糕的情況已經(jīng)過去了，詹，”晚上十點鐘光景，迪克斯特勒說?！霸蹅兯X吧?！比欢菜恢Ｋ刨嚢职?，可還是忍不住回想起那些洪水肆虐的電視畫面，人們緊抓著樹頂，又冷又濕。輾轉(zhuǎn)不眠幾個小時之后，她去衛(wèi)生間。她踩在地毯上，發(fā)現(xiàn)地毯濕了。
????她停了下來，聚精會神地聽著。那是什么聲音?奇怪——像是湍流的聲音。
????正是湍流!而且就在屋子正下面奔涌。她沖到父親的床邊。“爸爸，爸爸，”她一面大聲叫喊，一面拼命搖晃他?！靶研?。家里進水了!”
????迪克斯特勒光著腳，只穿著短衣褲，走到門口，打開了門。眼前的景象頓時使他睡意全消。他們那條叫達奇斯的狗就站在門外，四條腿浸在六英寸深的水里。(2)這意味著河水已溢出河岸，泛濫到四百英尺之外，淹沒了大路——他們脫逃的惟一途徑。
他們被困住了。
冰涼的河水拍打他的腳髁。迪克斯特勒急忙把狗拉進木屋，使勁關上門。隨后他抓過兩??件救生衣?！按┥线@個，寶貝，”他對詹妮弗說。
????迪克斯特勒朝四周打量了一下。渾濁的河水順著四壁護墻板一點點上升?！霸蹅冊趺崔k?”詹問道，她聲音在顫抖。
????“咱們不會有事的，”迪克斯特勒回答說，盡力掩飾住自己的焦慮?！霸蹅兊綐巧先ァ！?/p>
????他們攀上梯子般的樓梯，爬到起居間上面的閣樓。在上面，他們聽見洪水在往下面的房間涌漲，并慢慢接近他們。窗子在水的壓力之下爆裂。電視機被沖著撞上了墻壁。
????突然，整個屋子像遇上地震似地搖晃著。接著木屋先是猛地朝上一掀，然后又摔下去幾英尺。我的天哪，迪克斯特勒心想。咱們是在水里漂了。
????從窗子望出去，他們看到自己在移動，屋子正被河水沖著走。(3)迪克斯特勒害怕木屋下沉會把他們一起拉到水底，于是決定離開木屋。他雙臂緊緊摟著女兒，縱身跳進冰冷的水中。
????木屋就在兩人身后，在黑夜中緊追不舍。迪克斯特勒還沒來得及避開，就被沖到—棵被淹沒的樹上。剎那間，木屋在河水巨大沖力的推動下，把他死死擠壓在樹上。他肋骨被壓斷。左腿喀嚓一聲折了。他失聲慘叫。
????緊接著他的腦子失去了控制。迪克斯特勒只覺得自己是在遠處遙望著自己。他看到自己和詹沉到了河底。他對自己的平靜感到驚訝。“對不起，寶貝，”他說?！罢鎸Σ黄??！苯又褪裁匆膊恢懒恕?/p>
????他失去知覺時，屋子移動了一下，松開了他，打著旋漂離了他們。詹妮弗發(fā)覺自己順水漂流而下，身邊是不省人事的父親?！安灰溃职?”她叫道。“千萬別死!”
????或許是小女兒的聲音喚回了迪克斯特勒的意識。他輕輕捏了捏詹的手，她的心猛地——跳。
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????慘淡的月光下，迪克斯特勒——此刻清醒了些——看到纏在樹頂上的一些垃圾形成的孤島。他忍著傷痛，掙扎著逆流而上游了過去。詹爬到那一小堆木頭上，把父親從湍急的水流中拉起。他疼得倒了下去，渾身哆嗦，透不過氣來。
????他們還遠遠談不上安全，詹對此很清楚。那堆垃圾隨時可能漂散開來，把他們重新拋入水中。她真想蜷伏在父親的懷里，可這只會增加他的傷痛。她明白，此刻，得靠她來救爸爸了。
????就在這時，她驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)不知從哪兒現(xiàn)出一個身影。“達奇斯!”她高聲喊道，他們的狗渾身濕透，這時爬了上來與他們呆在一起。有狗在，詹感到寬慰了不少。
????夜里，每過幾分鐘詹就要查看一下父親。“想一些會使人暖和的東西，”她對父親說，“比如咖啡、火爐?！彼秊樗瑁€為他禱告。
????清晨來臨，但仍無救援人員的蹤影。他們痛苦地捱過一小時又一小時。上午十時左右有架飛機幾乎就從頭頂上飛過，卻沒有減速。一兩個小時之后又有一架飛機飛過。后來，傍晚時分又有第三架飛機飛過。(4)每次詹都跳起來揮舞手臂并大聲呼喊，而每次飛機都從地平線上消失，令她沮喪不已。
日光漸漸消退，詹意識到他們有可能要在這個孤島上冉捱—個漫長而寒冷的夜晚。父親會頂不住的。要是沒有父親，她知道自己也恐怕活不成。她—想到這兒，就覺得沒了希望?！八麄儾粊碚椅覀兞耍彼^望地哭出聲宋。“我們要死了?！?/p>
就在這時，—個聲音劃破黑暗從遠處山坡上傳了過來?！班?那兒有人嗎?”
詹跳了起來。她大聲回應道：“喂!喂!”
“我們?nèi)ソ腥?，”那聲音說道?！绊斪??！?/p>
詹跪在父親身邊，揉著他的背，好讓他暖和些。“咱倆一起頂住，”她對父親說。
半夜，一條小船終于在夜色中慢慢劃到了他倆跟前。在小木屋被洪水從地基拔起卷走后十八個小時，詹、她父親以及他們的狗達奇斯被從孤島救至安全處。他們的小木屋再也未見蹤影。
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Unit 7
Content Questions
Pair Work
1. He thinks animals will probably do their best thinking when it serves their own purposes, not
when scientists ask them to.
2. Because he believes they may encounter animal intelligence in their daily life.
3. He regards them as a new window on animal intelligence.
4. She wanted to get more pineapple.
5. He expanded the money supply by breading chips in two.
6. It shows he is clever and sly. He ate up the fruit leaving nothing but stems to share with
Miles.
7. They say that animals cooperate when they learn it is in their interest to do so.
8. The author thinks that what behaviorists say is right, but he doesn’t think their explanation is
satisfactory enough.
9. Because Orky was the most intelligent animal she had worked with.
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10. Corky is a female whale because she is Orky’s mate and delivered a baby whale.
11. Because she thought the orange must have rolled off somewhere inaccessible.
12. Towan hid his orange underneath his foot. The act reveals some animals are intelligent
enough to know how to deceive.
Text Organization
1. Eugene Linden wants to tell the reader that animals do have, at least, some limited
intelligence, and the personal experiences of those who are in close contact with animals are
more convincing evidence than that any experiments can provide.
2.?Let’s Make a Deal: Some animals are intelligent enough to know how to bargain with people.
Tale of a Whale: Animals like whales can assess a situation and act accordingly.
Primate Shell Game: Animals can attempt to deceive.
Language Sense Enhancement
1. (1) controversy (2) consciousness (3) explore (4) serves their own purposes
(5) encounter (6) lack of it (7) convinced (8) mental feats (9) captivity (10) humans
Language Focus
I. Vocabulary
1. 1) go (very) far 2) has expanded 3) in the interest(s) of 4) only to
5) encountered 6) has cooperated 7) assessed 8) (had) switched
9) horizons 10) gaze 11) disaster 12) wiped out
2. 1) … a long/long running controversy over whether the book should be published or not
2) … felt relieved after her first meeting with Tom had gone smoothly
3) ... suddenly went wrong with my computer when I was in the middle of writing the essay
4) … is obvious that our company is still maintaining its composition as market leader in
software.
5) … give in until they give her a pay rise
3. 1) have undertaken, original, to explore
2) evidence convinced, underneath, extending to
3) to negotiate, encounter, to figure out, explore
II. Confusable Words
1. firstly 2. first, first 3. At first 4. First/Firstly
5. first 6. First 7. at first 8. first
III. Usage
1. animal intelligence whose
2. zoo keeper where
3. eye contact through what
4. money supply of what
5. killer whale what kind
6. baby whale how old
7. family member of what
8. sea turtle what kind/where
Comprehensive Exercises
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I. Cloze
1. (1) emergency (2) evidence (3) original (4) sizing up
(5) negotiates (6) reveal (7) make a deal (8) dominant
(9) in their interest(s) (10) deceiving (11) controversy
(12) judgment (13) explore
2. (1) protect (2) However (3) type (4) situation (5) sights
(6) together (7) rang (8) associate (9) without (10) environment
II. Translation
1. 1) A local business?undertook?the project but went bankrupt before it was completed.
2) Let’s?make a deal—you wash my car, and I’ll let you use it tonight.
3) We got to the village which we thought must have been?wiped out?in the severe
earthquake, only to find it slightly damaged.
4) My garden is dry and shady—few plants?thrive?in that condition
5) Mystery still?surrounds?the exact truth behind the film star’s death/exact circumstance of
the film star’s death.
2. When I was young I used to visit the zoo in my hometown. There what attracted me most was
a couple of tigers, especially the male. They were dept in a huge iron cage?at first, but later
were?released?from it and moved to a place called Tiger Hill. Twenty years later I revisited the
zoo and was?relieved?to find Tiger Hill was still there, but greatly?extended.?Moving around
now were six tigers, old and young, instead of two!
Pair work
1. She was amazed at the author’s ability to do mental calculation.
2. Children can’t spell correctly; their knowledge of word history and geography is non-existent
3. He didn’t want to compete with the hard-working Asians at U.C.L.A. He preferred a less
intellectually challenging life.
4. A modern industrial state cannot function with an idle, ignorant labor force.
5. To use the media to dramatize and drive home the message to today’s teenagers.
6. He is fed up with the book he is forced to red.
7. They can’t read or write. They place their hopes on their children.
8. He works as a cleaner in a factory owned by the Japanese.
9. Because he has no education, no useful skill, and no discipline.
10. Americans stop demanding good education foe children. Machines do all the complex work
and there is little manual work to be done.
countries.
11. Hard work education, saving and discipline help a nation rise from the ashes.
12. He finally comes to realize the importance of study.
Work on your own
1.
Part one paras.1-10
Teenagers’ idleness and ignorance will produce serious effects on all concerned and society as
a whole.
Part two paras.11-24
?
Kevin 1990 comes to realize in his dream how greatly lack of education costs his forebears,
himself, his children and the society they live in, and how important it is to study hard.
2.
Part one
Teenagers’ intellectual laziness and ignorance
Part two
Kevin 1990, his forebears(with the exception of his intellectual father),and his children lead a
poor, miserable life.
There is no law and order in the country.
Businesses in
Language sense enhancement
Indifference (1)
Summed up (2)
Preferred (3)
Financial?（4）
Accumulated?（5）
Intellectual?（6）
Affect?（7）
Industrial?（8）
Idle?（9）
Break down?（10）
Vocabulary
I
1.
1. industrial
2. idle
3. is functioning
4. intellectual
5. scared
6. handful
7. luxury
8. private
9. work up
10. slice
11. miracle
12. was jammed
2.
?
1. to be seriously affected by the rise in gas prices。
2. is a matter of total indifference to me.
3. drove home the point that they needed extra people
4. was found after they searched for it for a long time
5. had run out of water by the time they got to the camp
3.
1. manual and complex its financial
2. was very upset make a living by swore was/became much better off
3. handful ignorant of paintings/ works summed up
II
1. The young man made $5 an hour in his summer job.
2. What made you change your mind?
3. I’m sure Jason will make a good lawyer.
4. The vet put something down the dog’s throat to make it vomit.
5. The story makes interesting reading.
6. Five and five make ten.
7. On foot they can only make about 20 miles a day.
8. I don’t think she’ll ever really make it to the top
III
1
(1) developing
(2) develop
(3) development
(4) develop
(5) developing developed
2
(1) amazed
(2) amazes
(3) amazingly
(4) amazing
(5) amazement
Comprehensive exercise
I. CLOZE
1. TEXT-RELATED
(1) complex
(2) idle
?
(3) make a living by
(4) accumulated
(5) affect
(6) function
(7) faculties
(8) ignorant
(9) wake up
2. THEME-RELATED
(1) dormitory
(2) passing
(3) leaping
(4) department
(5) burned
(6) destroyed
(7) seriously
(8) marriages
(9) report
(10) perspective
II TRANSLATION
1) Without his personal?file, an applicant can hardly expect to get/ be employed as a teacher.
2) With enough ice, we would be able to?chill?the drinks.
3) In my?humble?opinion, reading us the most pleasant way to spend one’s?leisure.
4) Some people said it was simply a?miracle?that the American athlete Michael Phelps won
eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
5) The washing machine has?broken down,?so we have to wash our clothes by hand.
This morning I heard an interesting piece of news over my?portable?radio: a man of 36 and his
son of 10 attend the same class competing with each other for high marks. The story goes/ It’s
like this:
The man, Li Wei by name, was too?idle?to learn anything when young. With little education, with
no useful skills, he could hardly earn an adequate living wage. His life experiences?drove home?to
him the point that he had to acquire knowledge before he was able to?accumulate?wealth. So Li
Wei?swore?that he would go to school with his son, determined to learn.
