Chapter 2Protecting our environment

A. What do you know about ……?

Before you read the interview on the

next page, try this quiz about trees.

a. mice

b. pine trees

c. cats

d. dolphins

e. people

i. 75 years

ii. 14 years

iii. 25 years

iv. 1,200 years

v. 2 years

1. How long do they live? Match the

items on the left with the ages on the

right.

2. Pollution means the process of

making things dirty and unhealthy.

Which type of pollution do trees

help fight?

a. air pollution b. water pollution

c. noise pollution d. all of the above

3. Which of the following come from

trees?

a. apples b. beans c. cotton d. oil

e. tea f. rubber

4. The best-known flowers in Shenzhen

are azaleas. These sweet-smelling

flowers are known as the flowers of

Shenzhen city. Which picture shows

azaleas?

B. Look and think

Before you read the interview, look at

the title, the introduction and the

pictures. Then say whether the

following statements are T (True) or F

(False).

1. The ‘pollution fighters’ are probably

scientists.

2. Few useful things come from trees.

3. Trees give out harmful gases.

4. Trees can pass information to one

another.

Reading passage

Pollution fighters

This is an interview between Judy

and Dr Ray about trees.

Judy is collecting information for a project on pollution. She learns:

P1-2: Trees are the biggest and oldest living things on Earth.

P3-6: Trees provide many things such as wood, rubber and paper. They cool and clean the air. They are natural air conditioners.

P7-8: Scientists are only now beginning to understand trees. Trees can warn each other of insect attacks and pass food and water to one another through their roots. But many things about them are still a mystery.

P9-10: Trees are in danger because we are destroying our best pollution fighters.

1. collect (v.) bring things together 收集

Tom collected some information for

his homework.

Tom 收集了一些关于他作业的消息。

Vocabulary:

2. project (n.) a piece of work that invo

lves a careful study of a particular s

ubject 课题研究 It took me two months to finish that

science project.

我花了两个月的时间完成了科学课题。

3. interview (v.) talk with someone and as

k him or her questions about something

采访 We are now going to interview the Mini

ster of Education.

我们现在就去采访教育部长。

4. doctor (n.) a person who has the highest

degree at a university 博士 Amy graduated as a doctor from that u

niversity.

Amy 从那所大学以博士的身份毕业了。

5. end (n.) [P4] the part of something that

is further away from its centre 末端 Turn left at the end of the street.

在街末端向左拐。6. breathe (v.) [P4] take in air 呼吸 All animals need to breathe to live.

所有动物需要以呼吸维持生存。

7. natural (adj.) [P6] existing in nature

天然的，自然的 Some desert countries have few natur

al resources.

一些沙漠国家只有很少的自然资源。

8. cool (v.) [P6] make something become

cool 冷却 I put some ice into the glass to cool th

e water inside.

为了冷却水我往杯子里放了些冰块。

9. chemical (n.) [P8] something produce

d by or used in chemistry 化学物质 The farmers used chemicals to kill th

e insects.

农民用化学品杀死虫。

10. join (v.) [P8] connect things together

加入，连接 The Channel Tunnel joins France an

d the UK.

英吉利海峡连接了法国和英国。

11. underground (adv.) [P8] under the

surface of the ground 在地下 Some animals such as moles live un

derground.

一些动物像鼹鼠生活在地下。

12. communicate with (phrase) (P8) give

and receive information, messages, s

ignals, etc. 与……沟通交流 In the past, people would often com

municate with each other using lette

rs.

过去人们用信进行沟通。

13. in danger (phrase) [P9] in a dangero

us situation 处境危险 Many animals are in danger because

hunters are killing them or destroyin

g their homes.

许多动物处境危险，因为猎人的猎杀或者人类对他们生存空间的破坏。

14. cut down (phrase) [P10] cut somethin

g to make it fall down 砍倒 They cut down the trees to build a wo

oden cottage.

他们砍倒树去建造木屋。15. burn (v.) [P10] damage sth by fire 燃

烧 He burnt the letter after reading it.

他读完信后烧了它。

16. destroy (v.) [P10] damage somethin

g so badly that it no longer exists or

works 破坏 His car was destroyed in a car cras

h.

他的汽车在一场车祸中撞坏了。

17. against (prep.) [P10] disagreeing;

opposing 反对，违反 Peter took part in a campaign ag

ainst smoking.

Peter 参加了一个禁烟的活动。

重点讲解翻译下面课本中的原句，请阅读讲解，领会其知识要点。1. Why are you so interested in trees,

Doctor Ray? (Paragraph 2)

译文 :

雷博士，你为什么对树那么感兴趣？

要点 : be interested in ：对……感兴趣We are interested in computer games.我们对电脑游戏感兴趣。interesting ：有趣的注意与 interested 的区别The book is very interesting. I’m interested in it. ( 这本书很有趣，我对它感兴趣。 ) 可以看出， book 是物，只能是 " 有趣 " ，不可能对其他东西感兴趣，故用 interesting 。

2. ..., it can warn its neighbours.

(Paragraph 9)

译文 : …… 它能警告其邻居。 要点 : warn ： v. 警告，提醒 She warned us that the winter would

be very cold.

她曾提醒我们冬天会很冷。

warn 三个句型a. warn sb. to do sth. ：提醒某人做某事 They warned him to be careful. 他们

告戒过他要小心。b. warn sb. against sb. / sth. ：告戒某人

提防某人（某事） The old man warned us against swimm

ing in that river. 老人告戒我们不要在河里游泳。

c. warn sb. of sth. ：对某人发出关于……的警告

The sign warned us of the danger ahea

d. 这标志警告我们前面有危险。

3. We are destroying our best fighters

against pollution. (Paragraph 11)

译文 : 我们正在摧毁最棒的环保卫士。 要点 : against ： prep 反对，违反； 与……相对 That’s against the law. 那是违法的。 against 与 for 的意思相反，它们构成的 词组也往往是反义词。

fight for 为……而战；fight against 同……作战speak for 为某人说话；speak against 反对Are you for the plan or against it?

你支持这个计划还是反对它呢？

难点点拨

1. The other trees then produce a chemic

al to make their leaves taste bad to pro

tect themselves. (Paragraph 9)

于是，其他树就会产生一种化学物质，让其叶子味道难忍，从而达到保护自己的目的。

[ 点拨 ]

句中 to make their leaves taste bad 和 t

o protect themselves都用来表示目的不定式（ to do sth. ）表示目的在英语很常见。例如： We eat to live. （我们吃饭是为了活着。）

两个重要的搭配需要重视：a. make + n. / pron. + do sth. ：使……做某事The teacher makes us do our homework

every day. 老师让我们每天做作业。b. protect oneself ：保护自己How do the animals protect themselves?

动物们是如何保护自己的？

2. Trees are communicating with one a

nother, but we don’t know how. (Par

agraph 9)

树是有相互交流的，但我们不知道它们怎样交流。

[ 点拨 ] 为避免重复， how 后面省略了 trees are communicating with o

ne another 。

句中 one another 的意思是“互相”，常用于多者之间。注意： each other 也表示 "互相 " ，它可用于两者之间或多者之间。

C. Find the meanings

C1. Find these words in the interview on

page 17. Read the words around

them and choose the best meanings.

1. collecting

a. picking someone up

b. ringing things together

c. buying

2. join

a. take part in

b. put away

c. Make two or more things together

3. Communicating with

a. attacking

b. Sending messages to

c. joining

4. in dangera. not dangerousb. safec. not safe

5. burna. save b. damage something by firec. make warm

6. destroying

a. protecting

b. helping

c. damaging badly

7. against

a. for

b. saying no to

c. saying yes to

C2. Find the words in Column A in

the interview and match them

with the meanings in Column B.

A1. project2. interviewing3. breathing4. natural5. warn6. A chemical7. cut down

Ba. made by nature, not by manb. Talking to someone and asking them questionsc. A careful study of a subject by school or students d. Taking in aire. Something produced by or used in chemistryf. Cut something to make it fall downg. Say that something bad or dangerous may happen

D. Find the facts

Judy took some notes from her

interview with Doctor Ray.

However, she made four mistakes in

her notes. Read through the

interview and correct Judy’s

mistakes. You may have to change

one or more words.

Trees:1. live much longer than people;2. produce wood, rubber, paper, etc.;3. heat the air;4. cannot clean the air;5. Are like air conditioners;6. Cannot protect themselves against insects;7. can share food and water with one

another;8. are in danger, mainly from insects.

Cool

Can

Can

people/human beings

Rita is asking May questions about

trees. May is giving Yes or No

answers. Read Rita’s questions and

complete May’s answers with one or

more words.

E. Read and think

1. RITA: We get some useful things from

trees. Is that right?

MAY: ____. Two examples are

_______________.

2. RITA: Trees do two main things to the

air. Is that right?

MAY: ____. They ________________.

Yes

wood and rubber

Yes cool it and clean it

only now beginning to understand them

3. RITA: One tree has the power of 15

air conditioners. Is that right?

MAY: ____. One tree has the power

of ___________________.

4. RITA: Do scientists know a lot about

trees?

MAY: ____. They are ____________

_______________________________.

No

five air conditioners

No

5. RITA: Can trees communicate with one

another?

MAY: _____. For example, when

insects _________________________

__________.

6. RITA: And can they protect themselves

from insects?

MAY: ____. They can produce _______

__________________________.

Yes chemical to make their leaves taste bad

Yes

attack a tree, it can warn its neighbours

7. RITA: Can trees help one another?

MAY: ____. For example, they can

________________________________

______________________________.

8. RITA: Every year, there are fewer and

fewer trees in the world. Is that true?

MAY: ____. People _______________

_____________________ every year.

Yes

join their roots together underground and pass each other food and water

Yes cut down and burn a lot of trees every year

根据课文内容填空 Trees are the biggest and oldest living t

hings on ______. They are very ______. T

hey not only provide things but also help

people ______ against pollution. Trees ca

n _______ themselves.

Earth useful

fight

protect

They can _____ each other of insect

attacks and pass food to ____ another

through their roots.

Trees are ____ danger now because we

destroy a lot of them every year. We are

destroying our best pollution _________.

warn

one

in

fighters

根据句意及汉语提示写出所缺的单词或短语。1. We all like TV, but my grandfather

enjoys ___________(听 ) the radio.

2. My bother ___________( 采访 ) peopl

e

and writes their stories every day.

3. Every year people _________ ( 砍 伐 ) _______ ( 大量的 ) trees.

listening to

interviews

cut down

a lot of

4. Li Ming is my best friend. We

often help __________ （互相） .

5. Tom, you must put on more clothes

to _______ （保护） yourself

_______ ( 防止 ) cold.

6. The ________ （天然的） food is

usually healthy food.

each other

protectagainst

natural

7. People in many countries

__________________ （与……交流） one another in English.

8. Doctor Hill knows ______ （很 多） about animals.

communicate with

a lot

用所给单词的适当形式填空。1. Thank you very much for

______(let) me ______(know) the news.

2. What can I do _________(make) him

_________(believe) me?

3. Trees are one of the oldest

_______(live) things on Earth.

Letting knowto make

believe

living

4. How could these small wild animals

protect ____________(they)?

5. Don’t eat too much fat. It will make you

__________(health).

6. Most children enjoy _______ (play)

games.

themselves

unhealthy

playing

7. ________(insect) may attack people, so

you must be careful of them.

8. Jenny wants her brother

________(help)

her with her Chinese.

Insects

to help

根据提示翻译下列句子。1. 同学们对这部电影很感兴趣。The students ___________________ this fil

m.

2. 你最好出去呼吸新鲜空气。___________ go out and _______________

air.

3. 什么事让你来这么早？What ____________ you ______so early?

are very interested in

You’d better breathe the fresh

makes / made come

4. 老师告戒我们夏天防止害虫。The teacher _______ us _______ harmf

ul insects in summer.

5. 我们需要相互传递信息。We need to

______________________________.

warned against

pass information to one another