Step by Step2000 Unit 4 Colorful Lands,colorful people(I)

Unit 4 Colorful Lands,colorful people(I)

PartI Warming up

A Key words:-est

Vocabulary:

peninsula altitude trench¹

Greenland the Sahara Desert the Caspian Sea

Lake Superior Mt.Qomolangma(Mt.Everest)

Baykal Mariana Trench the Nile

Here are some statements of some superlative world geographical² statistics.Listen carefully and complete the following chart.Pay special attention to the numbers.

Geographical feature Location Size

biggest continent Asia __________sq.mi.

largest ocean Pacific __________sq.mi.

biggest island Greeland __________sq.mi.

largest peninsula Arabia __________sq.mi.

largest desert Sahara __________sq.mi.

biggest saltwater lake Caspian Sea __________sq.mi.

biggest freshwater lake Superior __________sq.mi.

smallest continent Oceania __________sq.mi.

smallest ocean Arctic __________sq.mi.

highest peak Qomolangma __________feet

lowest altitude Dead Sea __________feet

deepest lake Baykal __________feet

deepest oceanic trench Mariana __________feet

longest river Nile __________miles

B Key words:

earth water land area

Vocabulary:

bare gulf³ bay isthmus⁴ plateau canyon⁵ plain

 

You are going to hear a passage about the blue planet--Earth.While listening,fill in the blanks with the missing words and get familiar with the different features of the land.

Seen from space,our earth,with_________covering_____of its surface,appears as the beautiful"blue planet".The bare land areas appear_________________________,dark green shows where there is _______________,and the white means_________.Besides the seven major land areas,called____________________,there are thousands of__________.Some of these are arranged in groups and some stand alone in the great oceans.

Arms of land which reach out into the water are called peninsulas;seas,gulfs and bays are_________________which lie between islands and peninsulas.A narrow piece of land___________

two larger land areas is an isthmus;a narrow stretch of water between two land areas is called a strait or__________________.

Water is constantly in motion on the earth.Rain water runs off the mountains into____________;it collects in lakes and rivers which carry it back to the seas.From the high altitudes of mountain passes and plateaus to the canyons⁶ and low-lying_____,the features of the land are wonderful to see.

Part II In Brazil and France

A Key words:

amusing confuse understand French canoe

Vocabulary:

squid deposit

Now listen to two short stories.In each of the stories,there is a person who makes a fool of himself.Listen carefully and try to fill in the words in the charts below.

English Greek for the What the person What Greeks

phrase says think it means

good morning Kalimera Kalamari ___________

English What Stephen says What Frenchman

in French think it means

three canoes trois canneurs _______________

B Key words:

trip Brazil steet vendors⁸ unusual things fortune-teller

eating France performer portrait

Vocabulary:

vendor⁷ fortune-teller specialty⁹

B1 In this part you are going to hear two people talking about Brazil and France.While listening,pay special attention to the interesting things they can see or do on the streets in both countries.Then complete the chart by filling in the missing information.

Interesting things you can see or do

on the streets in Brazil a.street________

b.telling________

c.__________

on the streets in France a.watching__________________

b.__________________________

B2 Now listen to the dialogue again and answer the following questions with key words.

1.What unusual things are sold in the street markets of Brazil?

a._______________________________________________________

b._______________________________________________________

2.How is one's fortune told in Brazil?

________________________________________________________________

3.What is one of the specialties¹⁰ in Brazil?

_____________________________________________________________

4.What kinds of performers can one see on the streets of Paris?

a.____________________________________________________

b.____________________________________________________

c.____________________________________________________

5.Why do the art students paint portraits on the streets of Paris?

_______________________________________________________________

 

Part III Life here and there

Key words:

busy summer winter mountainous crowded

Vocabulary:

humid compact

Osaka

A

Jhon is British but has worked in Japan.Etsuko is Japnaese from Osaka but she is studing in Britain.In the following passage you are going to hear,they are comparing life as they see it in the two countries.But before listening to it,think of the two countries and try to answer the following pre-listening questions.

1. Do you know something about the geographical and climatic conditions in Japan and Britain?

2. Guess the way the two speakers may compare the life as they see in Japan and Britain.

B

Now listen to the passage and make notes about the features they mention and the comparisons they make between the two countries.Then fill in the gaps in the chart below with key words.

Part IV Short talks on listening skills

Now listen to the short talk entitled"Be Careful with Numbers."Some important words are taken away from the written passage.Supply the missing words.

Be Careful with Numbers

Quick and accurate response to numbers is very important in____________.Telephone numbers,addresses,prices,temperatures,time and dates are all closely linked with the use of numbers.Besides,numbers also play a very important part in________________such as scientific stories,statistics update,and reports about ongoing¹¹ events of various kinds.

Although identification of numbers_________is ususlly easy,number identification through________proves to be a big problem for many people.In actual listening,we are often required to get the numbers immediately after we hear them.And___to get a correct number,sometimes a mere¹² mistake in___,can seriously affect the understanding of the whole story and therefore cause severe_______.The differences between million and billion,"-teen's" and "-ty's" are so great that no one can simply afford to_______them.

Numbers are sometimes_____in different ways.For example,"seventeen point five million"or "seventeen million five hundred thousand"can also be read as"seventeen and one half million."________________in numbers can help us get familiar with these different yet still_______ways of number presentations.

For easy reading and writing,numbers of more than four digits¹³ are often separated by_______into groups of three digits each.For example,1,234,567 is one million,two hundred and thirty-four thousand,and five hundred and sixty-seven.Saying numbers over to yourselves after you hear them can increase our________.

Numbers are all around us.Let us practice with numbers and learn to be good at numbers.

1 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

2 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 isthmus   

n.地峡

参考例句：

• North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama.巴拿马海峡把北美同南美连接起来。
• The north and south of the island are linked by a narrow isthmus.岛的北部和南部由一条狭窄的地峡相连。

5 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

6 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

7 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

8 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

10 specialties   

n.专门，特性，特别；专业( specialty的名词复数 )；特性；特制品；盖印的契约

参考例句：

• Great Books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. 名著绝不引经据典，艰深难懂，而是通俗易读。它们不是专家为专业人员撰写的专业书籍。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• Brain drains may represent a substantial reduction in some labor force skills and specialties. 智力外流可能表示某种劳动力技能和特长大量减少。 来自辞典例句

11 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》