D. indifferent to the lot of the poor black people Explanation:
Here Jason DeParle blames the indifference on the part of the officials to the lot of the poor black people. Were they sympathetic with them, they would have provided them means to evacuate the city before the flood came; they would have taken every immediate action possible to rescue them when the threatening flood did reach them. With hurricane roaring in New Orleans and the poor black people growing more hungry, sick and frightened with every passing minute, the officials, far away and secure from the disaster themselves, counseled patience and warned that rescues take time. They were actually quite indifferent.
3) American TV news professional covered to death every missing little blue-eyed, blond white
girl, because they are ______A______. A. white B. poor C. lovely D. homeless Explanation:
We can get the answer from the tone of the whole text as well as from the immediate context.
4) ―Paula Zahn grilled the hapless Bush crony Michael Brown, who pretends to direct FEMA.‖
(Para 5) Here the author implies _____D_____. A. Bush was hapless
B. Michael Brown was hapless
C. Michael Brown was not the director of FEMA D. Bush was dishonest Explanation:
A is wrong, because in this sentence ―hapless‖ modifies Michael Brown. So is B, because the information ―Michael Brown was hapless‖ is explicitly stated rather than implied. C is also wrong, because Michael Brown was really the director of FEMA; what the author means here is that he didn‘t do what he should do in this time of crisis. D is right, because the word ―crony‖ means a close friend or someone who works with a stated and usually dishonest person in authority.
5) All of the following except _____B_____ are Fox staff.
A. Bill O‘Reilly B. Rick Warren C. Neil Cavuto D. Shephard Smith Explanation:
Paragraph 6 gives us the answer. Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose-Driven Life and he was brought in by Neil Cavuto.
Extension from the Text 1. Speaking
What do you think caused the New Orleans flood? Give your reasons based on your background knowledge and clues in the text.
I think it was a hurricane that caused the flood. New Orleans is located by the Caribbean Sea. The phrase in the text ―water‘s mighty shove here‖ implies that the flood came like a wall. We have only to find out what caused the water behave like this. Near the end of the text, we see the clause ―the hurricane is still roaring through Mississippi‖. We can be sure that it was this hurricane that drove a wall of water into the city, which has the lowest elevation in the US 2. Cloze
Katrina has forced open a window through which the media have finally glimpsed the Bush Administration‘s spectacular incompetence at keeping 1) Americans safe and secure. The evidence had been there for years, but most reporters 2) missed it, hidden as it was by a fog of rhetoric, ideology, political intimidation and tabloidization. Katrina has 3) also demonstrated how ludicrous it was that in 2004 Bush managed to win his first genuine 4) presidential election victory by playing the ―security‖ card.
In the hurricane‘s 5) wake, reporters for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have all taken the opportunity to delve into local, state and 6) federal plans for emergency evacuation. The ―plan‖ in each case is exactly the same: chaos. The deadly bungling in Louisiana and Mississippi that so shocked Americans would not have been so surprising 7) had the media paid more attention to the combination of ideological obsession, incompetence and dishonesty that has 8) characterized not merely the Iraq War but also this Administration‘s economic policies, its environmental policies—indeed, its entire faith-based governing philosophy. In New Orleans you see the 9) results. Seen in the context of Administration planning, New Orleans was not an unpredictable disaster—it was a model. And when the next 10) disaster comes, we will all be under water. Explanations: 1) Bush is the US president, and one of his responsibilities is to keep Americans safe and secure. 2) The natural result of the fact that the evidence had been there for years would have been
that most reporters saw it. The conjunction ―but‖ indicates that it was just the opposite—they did not see it. The verb meaning ―did not see‖ is ―missed‖. 3) The first sentence, where a window metaphor is used, actually means that Katrina had
demonstrated something. This sentence must mean that the hurricane has also demonstrated something else. 4) We know that Bush was the US president, the election victory he won, of course, was
one in a presidential election. 5) What the reporters did (delving into plans for emergency evacuation) must have been
done after the hurricane. For the phrase ―in the hurricane‘s ___‖ to mean ―(immediately) after the hurricane‖, the word in the blank must be ―wake‖, which originally means ―the track left behind by a moving body (as a ship) in a fluid (as water)‖. 6) In the series ―local, state and _____ plans‖, the highest level is ―federal‖, similar to our
―national‖. 7) The verb phrase ―would not have been‖ is used in the main clause of a sentence of unreal
condition. Normally, the subordinate clause should be ―if sb. had done sth.‖, but ―had‖ placed before the subject (inverted) can take the place of ―if . . . had‖. 8) ―Ideological obsession‖, ―incompetence‖ and ―dishonesty‖ are nouns derived from
adjectives, describing characteristics of something. Here, the combination of them must be the characteristic of the Iraq War and policies. The verb meaning ―be the characteristic of‖ is ―characterize‖. 9) What is seen in New Orleans—suffering of people and loss of lives—must be related to
the Bush administration‘s governing philosophy. The relationship is causal. So what is seen in New Orleans must be the ―results‖.
10)
It is obvious from ―an unpredictable disaster‖ that what comes next must also be a ―disaster‖. 3. Writing
Write a composition entitled ―Money and Disaster‖.
Chinese Version of the Text
洪水期间的发现
1 新奥尔良洪水期间，出现了一幅幅引人注目、惊心动魄的图景，看得人晕头转向。这一幅幅图景最新鲜、最异乎寻常的特点大概莫过于美国电视和报纸头版对贫民的再度关注，态度既不屈尊俯就，也不谴责非难。《纽约时报》贾森·德帕勒的报道是这样开头的：“白人都撤离了。不管怎么说，大多数白人都撤离了??留下来的大部分都是黑人。可怜的黑人，时间一小时一小时地过去，他们越来越饥饿、恐惧，病得越来越厉害，而远方的官员们却劝告他们要耐心，告诫他们救援需要时间。”贾森·德帕勒们为媒体报道定下了基调。《华盛顿邮报》的威尔·海古德调门相似（尽管他的报道深藏在A33版）：“很多人纳闷，风刮得洪水滚滚而来时，为什么还有这么多人留了下来？解释非常简单，被困者说他们把分币、角币、元币都凑起来，仍无力承担快速撤离的费用。” 2 除了备受喜爱的旅游区外，新奥尔良的贫穷、黑人数量和不安全程度远远超出大多数美国人的想象。发布在《进度报告》上的数据表明，在受灾最严重的地势低洼的第九区，98％以上是黑人，家庭年平均收入不足27，000美元，还不及美国社会平均水平的一半。其中四分之一家庭年平均收入不足10，000美元。州飓风疏散计划顾问布赖恩·沃尔肖恩在接受《纽约时报》采访时说, 新奥尔良市的疏散计划很少考虑“低移动性”人群――那些年老、病弱、贫穷而没有汽车或其他途径撤离的人。 3 如此众多的电视新闻专业人士，甚至有线新闻那些臭名昭著的媒体婊子都感染了这场热病，理直气壮地指责眼前这场灾难最根本的因素是种族歧视与阶级歧视，其原因不得而知。也许他们别无选择、无从回避；也许是多年来――甚至9·11事件后――对失踪的每一个蓝眼睛、黄头发、白皮肤的小女孩的连篇累牍的报道已让他们的职业道德不堪其辱；也许，身处这场悲剧中，他们的人道主义精神和职业本性发生了冲突。无论何因，这都是可资一看的景观。
4 在采访众议院多数党领袖汤姆·迪莱时，微软国家广播公司黑人主持人莱斯特·霍尔特问，“现在人们开始纷纷站出来说出这有目共睹的事实――在新奥尔良，留下来的绝大部分都是黑人。他们贫穷，他们是社会中的弱势群体。看到这些，你认为这说明我们作为一个国家做得怎么样？我们的政府在对待自己的人民方面做得怎么样？”汤姆·迪莱以他一贯的右翼立场满口胡说，“我们的工作做得很好，我们是一个极富同情心的民族。”莱斯特·霍尔特毫不退让。“体育馆里的人，会议中心的人，他们大体都是黑人，穷人，他们大体都滞留下来了。这一切说明我们的国家处于什么样的现状，又是如何对待自己的公民呢？”面对微软国家新闻网的镜头，康多莉扎?赖斯女士和日前买鞋被采访时一样，显得心不在焉。“你满世界讲演，高谈阔论自己作为一个南方黑人的成长经历,”记者咄咄逼人地问道，“而现在，国内外至少会留下这样一种印象: 对遭灾最重者的部分救援工作因其种族和阶级而受到了影响，你关心此事吗？”这位国务卿的白痴般的回答让其黑人血统及博士学位蒙羞，“说美国人做出救哪些人、不救哪些人的决定时受到肤色的影响，我才不信呢。” 5 微软国家广播公司这回表现远远优于往常。而最出人意料的是美国有线新闻网，他们的洪水报道锋芒逼人，慷慨激昂，可说是新闻网有史以来最优秀的报道。克里斯·劳伦斯描述
了“三、四、五个月大的婴儿，生活在如此恶劣的条件之下??这些人被迫像动物般生活。”波拉·赞拷问布什的倒霉的铁哥们迈克尔·布朗，此人号称是美国联邦紧急事务管理局局长，“先生，”她质问道，“今天早些时候你曾指责说那些无视疏散警报不撤离的人该为新奥尔良的――你认为会是非常庞大的――死亡人数负部分责任。但是，这些灾民中许多人说他们是无计可逃，他们没有私人汽车，而官方也没有提供撤离援助，谴责他们公平吗？”杰克·卡弗迪的新闻评论也不同凡响：犀利而大胆，集中讨论种族、阶级、贫困、联邦政府无能、以及40%国民警卫队被派往伊拉克战场给灾民带来的损失等问题。
6 然而，在替布什当吹鼓手的一派媒体里，福克斯依然故我。比尔·奥赖利对灾前撤离的明显阶级歧视意味置若罔闻、视若无睹，他沉吟道，“许多人留下来是为了搞破坏”，同时纳闷那些哄抢者为什么没有被当场击毙。确实，除了出人意料情绪激昂的谢泼德·史密斯外，福克斯的大部分报道都可标上―乌有国某日电‖。尼尔·卡伍托请来了《有志人生》一书的作者里克·沃伦，建议那些痛失一切的难民“淡然面对灾难，但求时来运转”。弗雷德·巴恩斯抱怨那些难民选址建房时满不在乎，故意诈骗纳税人的钱，“他们知道那些房子会被水淹。而当这一切真的发生时，他们要全国的纳税人付出代价，他们就是这样做的。”查尔斯·克劳特哈默取笑道，“在飓风仍在密西西比州呼啸而过时谈论停止救援是有点不妥，但就让我们试试看吧。”接着他开始嘲弄巴恩斯的避暑屋。福克斯的新闻行家里手们就这样和布利特·休姆一道，就雨水淋坏了巴恩斯的家庭游泳池上的棚子一事谈笑风生。
7 是的，这不过是在福克斯的一场司空见惯的哄堂大笑。但是这一次，其他媒体没有步其后尘，而是给了专造假新闻的冒牌货们一次机会，让他们看看真正的新闻工作者是怎么行事的。
Part 2 Tool-sharpening
Words and Phrases
Exercises 1. Multiple-choice Questions 1) A new kind of control called a ―Command link‖ provides a single-click operation to
choose from a short list of _____C_____. A. choices B. alternatives C. options D. selections 2) I hope the reader has much too good an opinion of them to suppose that they ever would
have dreamed of paying a visit to so _____A____ a district as Bloomsbury. A. remote B. faraway C. distant D. far 3) The man earlier tormented Pip and posed as his _____A______ benefactor.
A. phony B. unreal C. counterfeit D. fake 4) Smith, having sent back for reinforcements, ______B_____ reassembling his men for the
return march to Boston. A. killed time B. took his time C. played for time D. took time 5) They are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political
connection between them and the _____D____ of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved. A. Country B. Nation C. State D. Land 6) The black minority was condemned to live in exile in his new _____B____, unless he
took some affirmative steps to push toward the elaboration of a new social contract.
A. household B. home C. house D. family 7) The Allies suffered _____A_____ on the Italian front in 1917.
A. disaster B. catastrophe C. calamity D. cataclysm 8) _____C____ disasters come and go in a neat arc of calamity, followed by anger at the
slow response, then cleanup. A. Most of B. The Most C. Most D. Mostly 9) Whenever Becky made a little circle for herself with _____A_____ toils and labour,
somebody came and swept it down rudely, and she had all her work to begin over again. A. incredible B. incredulous C. unbelieving D. distrustful 10) A ghost refers to the spirit of a dead person believed to appear in bodily _____D____ to
living persons or to haunt former habitats. A. like B. liking C. likelihood D. likeness 2. Translation (with the words or phrases in parentheses)
1) 他从来没有喜欢过我们这种人，因为我们跟他没有任何相似之处。(like, liking, likeness)
He has never taken a liking to the likes of us, who bear no likeness to him at all.
2) 他的书中生动地描绘了远方的海岛，比你到过的最远的地方还要遥远，岛民靠吃鱼和水
果为生。(remote, distant, faraway)
His book gives a lifelike description of faraway islands, remoter than the most distant places you have ever been to, where people live on fish and fruit.
3) 你来得可真是不慌不忙！这项工作是要花时间的啊！(take time, take one‘s time)
You certainly took you time getting here! This work takes time!
4) 他建了一座房子作为他那幸福的大家庭隐居和避暑的别墅。(home, family, house)
He built a house as retirement and summer home for his large, happy family. 5) “多么令人难以置信的胡说！”他说。我也不相信地摇摇头。(incredible, incredulously)
―What incredible nonsense!‖ he said. I, too, shook my head incredulously.
6) 对老百姓来说，战争是一场可怕的大灾难，但对军火商（munitioner / munitioneer）来说，
战争并不意味着灾祸而是暴利。(disaster, cataclysm)
War is a cataclysm for the people, while to munitioners / munitioneers it means huge profits instead of disaster.
7) 大多数美国妇女认为，她们只拥有权利平等的外表，大多是一种姿态，没有真正的力量。
(most, mostly)
Most American women think that they only possess the external aspect of equal rights, which is mostly a gesture without real power.
8) 在我国，土地是国有的，这对全国的经济发展是非常有利的因素。(country, state, nation)
In our country, land is owned by the state, which is a very favorable factor for the whole nation‘s economic development.
9) 冒牌公司为了出售假冒商品，往往对顾客表现出伪装的诚恳。(phony, counterfeit, sham)
Phony companies often show sham sincerity to customers so as to sell their counterfeit goods to them.
10) 我们当时没办法只好走那条极为危险的小路，因为另外没有路可走。现在可供选择的走
法可多了：可坐汽车、坐火车、乘飞机。(choice, alternative, option)
At that time we had no choice but to take the extremely dangerous path, for there was no alternative to it. Now there are so many options—by bus, by train, and by plane.