Unit 3: Ships in the Desert
by Al Gor
I . Additional Background Knowledge 1. Al Gore the author 2. Clean Air Act 3. The Aral Sea
II . Introduction to the Passage
1. Type of literature: a piece of exposition 2. The purpose of a piece of exposition: --- to inform or explain
3. Ways of developing the thesis of a piece of exposition:
--- comparison, contrast, analogy, identification, illustration, analysis, definition, etc.
4. The central thought or thesis
III . Effective Writing Skills
1. making effective use of specific verbs
2. discussing the solution to environmental problems from a politician’s point of view, that is, relating the solution to environmental destruction to the solution to arm races IV . Rhetorical Devices
1. understatement 2. metaphor
V . Special Difficulties
1. analyzing the structure of some long and complicated sentences
2. understanding the scientific matters connected with ecological environment 3. translating long and complicated sentences 4. mastering the rules of word formation VI . Questions
1. How has human civilization now become the dominant cause of change in the global environment?
2. What changes in the global environment present a strategic threat to human civilization? How should we face this challenge and solve the problem? 3.What solutions does the writer put forward to our ecological problems? Detailed Teaching Notes:
Background knowledge 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 Gore’s book Earth in the Balance.
The Aral Sea:
The Aral Sea, located in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (both countries were part of the former Soviet Union), is historically a saline lake. It is in the centre of a large, flat desert basin. The Aral Sea is a prime example of a dynamic environment. In 1960 it was the world’s fourth largest lake, the size of the entirety of Southern California (at 26,250 square miles, approximately two hundred times larger than the Salton Sea). America’s Great Lakes:
America’s Great Lakes refer to 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. HOMES can help remember the names of the five lakes. H stands for Huron, O for Ontario, M for Michigan, E for Erie and S for Superior.
Lake Superior:
Lake Superior is one of the cleanest lakes in the world because of its temperature, size, and the lack of people living around it. Lake Superior, with a surface area of 31,700 square miles, is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area. This one body of water contains 10% of all the
freshwater in all the lakes and rivers in the world. The amount of time needed for the water in Lake Superior to be completely replaced is 191 years. The lake is known for its cold temperatures. Almost all of Lake Superior’s water stays at 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) all year. Lake Superior is often referred to as ―crystal clear,‖ with visibility of 50 feet or more.
Antarctica:
Antarctica is icy cold. Transantarctic Mountains divide it into the East Antarctic and West Antarctic subcontinents. China has set up two scientific research stations there: Zhongshan Station in the East and Great Wall in the West.
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.
Rhetorical devices:
understatement: the prospects of a good catch looked bleak alliteration: fast pasture for fast-food beef metaphor: cloak, ghosts rhetorical question:
But, without even considering that threat, shouldn’t it startle us that we have now put these clouds in the evening sky which glisten with a spectral light? Or have our eyes adjusted so completely to the bright lights of civilization that we can’t see these clouds for what they are—a physical manifestation of the violent collision between human civilization and the earth? metonymy: concrete Preview:
What’s the meaning of the title?
What do you expect to have when you read the title? What kind of writing is the text?
What is the theme? What does the author try to tell us through his article? How is the exposition developed? Typical content of an exposition:
Part 1 A problem is pointed out (definition, phenomena, etc)
Part 2 The problem is analyzed (causes, classification,
advantages/disadvantages, etc)
Part 3 How to solve it (suggestion, etc.) How does an essay / feature article begin？ What’s the effect the writer produces here?