懂你英语L3-unit3
Unit 3-1 Listening
There are manyforms of life on earth, including human beings.
Life exists ina variety of conditions.
Some forms oflife livein awatery environment, like theoceans.
Other forms oflives can be found in very dry areas like desserts.
However, for anyform of life to exist, conditions must be right.
When theconditions aren’t right, that form of lives will become extinct.
To become extinctmeans to die out completely.
Conditions mustbe right for life to exist.
Millions ofyears ago, there were forms of lives that no longer exist.
When condition has changed, this form of lifedied out.
One extinctionevent happened about 250 million years ago.
This was thelargest extinction event of all time.
Many forms oflives become extinct. 96% of all lives in the oceans died out.
Most insectsalso became extinct.
This eventhappened over a period of several million years.
The causes ofthis extinction event are still unknown.
Possible causesinclude largevolcanic eruptionsand global warming.
Some scientistsbelieve that there were several causes.
They believethat a series of events caused the extinctions.
Scientists areworking to better understand what really happened.
In modern times,we human beings face changing conditions.
For humans tolive, we need clean air and clean water.
Pollution is nowa growing problem around the world.
Pollutionpoisonsthe air and water that we depend on.
Polluted airmakes people sick and afraid to get outside.
Polluted waterpoisons our food supply.
As a result, wenever know which foods are safe to eat.
Human beings cannot live in a poisoned environment.
Therefore, pollutionis a major threat to our existence.
Humans needtemperatures to be in a comfortable range.
To be in a comfortablerange means to be neither too hot nor too cold.
With globalwarming, global temperatures are rising.
As temperaturesrise, the polar icecaps will melt.
As the polar icecaps melt, ocean levels willrise.
Areas of some countries will soon be underwater.
People would beforced to relocated from flooded areas.
In nature, evensmall changes can sometimes have large effects.
It’s difficultto predict what’s going to happen.
The entire ecosystem that we depend on ischanging.
Some of thesechanging are irreversible.
Irreversiblechanges cannot be undone.
Let’s hope thehumans are smart enough to understand how the world is changing.
With moreunderstanding, we make better choices about what to do.
We can face thechallenge of the pollutions and global warming.
We need to dothis before it’s too late.
This planet ofearth is our only home and we need to protect it.
Unit 3-1 vocabulary
Mammals are covered byhair orfur, have a backbone andwarm-blooded.
All female mammalsproduce milk for the young.
Reptiles are covered by scales,includes snakes,lizards andturtles.
Reptiles have abackbone and are cold-blooded,
which means theyoften rely on the external resources of heat.
Birds arecovered by feather and are warm blooded.
Most birds canfly and many types of bird migrate great distances.
Most insectssuch as ants and bees have a small 3 parts body with 3 pairs of legs.
Some insects, likemosquitoes, spread diseases that cause the deaths of many humans.
Unlike animals,plants get the energy that they need from the sun.
Plants convertlight energy along with carbon-dioxide and water into chemical energy.
Scalesand rulersare used to measure weight and length.
Units of weight includes kilograms and poundsand units of length includes centimeters and inches.
Theseinstruments are used to observe very large and very small objects. Telescopesare used by astronomers and microscopes are used by biologists and doctors.
These appliancesare used in the kitchens of almost every home.
Stoves are used to heatfood andrefrigerators are used to keep foods cool or cold.
Household toolslike these are used to build and repair things.
Hammers are used topound in the nails andscrew drivers are used to turn a screw.
Mammals includesome of the most intelligent animals on earth, such as elephants and humanbeings.
Mosquitoes causethe death of more human than any other animals.
Rulers are usedto measure length We can use a telescope to see objects that
are far way.
Insects such asants and bees live in well-organized colonies.
Unit 3-1 dialogue
Do you know whatdate is it today?
What do youmean, is it the special day?
Oh, so you don’tremember.
Remember what?What’s the special?
It’s ouranniversary. We started dating a year ago today.
Oh, really.Sorry.
Just a minute,what do you think this is.
Oh, it’s anecklace.
Do you like it?
Yes, I do. It’slovely. Especially the red heart. May I put it on?
No, let me doit.
So you didremember.
Of course Iremember. It’s very special day for both of us.
I have somethingfor you too.
You do?
Yes, but we haveto wait not until later.
Oh, I can’twait. Tell me what is it.
Can you guesswhat it is?
Could you giveme a hint?
We went there 6months ago.
Oh, you meanAlfredo’s.
Yes, are you in excited?
You said youreally like the food there.
Yes, that’strue. I also remembered the dessert. Do you?
Yes, but let’snot talk about that now.
let’s now viewin the surprise.
That restaurantlooks nice.
Yes, but itlooks expensive.
Let’s go in andlook at the menu.
Wow, the menulooks great, especially the fish.
Yes, it looksgood but look at those prices.
Let’s trysomewhere else.
Sometime it’s okto spend a little money.
Yes, but thisprice are a bit too high.
Don’t you think?Yes, they are a bit high.
But don’t you thinkI am worth it? Let’s enjoy ourselves.
Em, ok, if youput it that way.
Let’s see if wecan take you a table.
I’m glad youhave your credit card.
I sure hope thefood is good.
Stop worrying,let’s just enjoy.
Unit 3-2 Listening
Quick serve is ahome repair company.
It providesquick, reliable repair services to homes.
Quick servehandles plumbing and electrical issues 24 hours a day.
It also cleansthe roofs, fixes internet connections and replaces broken windows. For a smallfee, customerssubscribe to the service.
Its main customersare the elders, which means older people.
Whenevercustomers have problems, they can call for help.
There is also a smallservice charge for each service call.
The company wasestablished 5 years ago and is growing rapidly.
It started in 1city but it’s now in 5 cites.
The company planstoexpand to10 cities within the next 24 months.
In each city,there is a small central office in a low-rent area of the city.
The centraloffice handles the businesses, advertising, payroll and billing.
It also takescalls from customereither onlineor by telephone.
It takes call 24hours a day, 7 days a week.
60% of thecompany’s employees work from their homes. When a customer calls in to thecentral office, a service employee is contacted it.
The serviceemployee then contacts customer and sets up an employment. These services employeesare highly trained and provide excellent services.
In emergencies,such as a serious plumbing problem,
service can beprovided within an hour.
One reason forthis is that the service employees live in different parts of the city.
They are notcentrally located so it’s quicker and easier for they to travel to customers‘home.
Quick serve hasan excellent reputation.
Its prices arereasonable and its services are quick and efficient.
The company’s serviceemployees are clean, polite and efficient.
In this type ofbusiness, person to person contact is the key to success.
With each satisfied customer, more customerssubscribe.
Satisfiedcustomers recommend quick serve to their friends.
This kind ofword-of-mouth advertising is very cost effective.
Cost effectivemeans that the results are good without paying a high price.
In other word,quality service provides its own rewards to the company.
The companytakes
great pride in being honest with its customers.
There are nohidden charges for their services.
As a result, thenumber of customers in each city is growing rapidly.
With the agingpopulation, there are more elderly people who need home repair services.
These peopleneed to have confidence in the service provider.
They don’t want tocheated.
These peopledon’t mind paying a reasonable fee for high quality service.
High qualityservices should be rewarded.
The companyprovides a range of service plans, each with a different subscription price.
The leastexpensive service plan is called the basic plan.
This planprovides non-emergency service with a very low service charge.
The mostexpensive service’s plan is their VIP plan.
The VIP planprovides emergency services 24 hours a day with no additional service charge.
It also providesrebates for customers who don’t call for any service during the year.
In addition, quickserve givesbonus pointsto customers for each year they subscribe.
These bonus pointscan be used to buy new appliances, such as stoves andrefrigerators.
If the business continues to grow, the ownersmay decide to take the company public.
This means that thepublic can buy shares of the company.
It would thenchange from private-owned company to a public company.
The ownersbelieve that their business is successful and can expand around world. Theyalso believe that taking their company public can make them rich.
Unit 3-2 vocabulary
Biologyis the study of life, including its structure andevolution.
Biology studyhow life survives and reproduces.
Chemistryis thestudy of matter, including the structure of its atoms and
molecules.Chemists study how various substances interact with each other.
Astronomy is oneof the oldest sciences.
Astronomers study thestructure and evolution of the universe, including the study of stars, planetsand galaxies.
Geologiesis the study of structure of history of the earth andother planets. Geologist study different types of rocks, earthquakes anddifferent layers of the earth. Mathematics is the study of numbers, shapes,patterns and change. Mathematics is used by all other branches of science.
Here are sometypes of terrible events that hurt or kill people.
Earthquakes are causeby forces deep within the earth.
Duringearthquakes, many people are often killed by collapsing buildings and
bridges. Floodhappen when rivers rise andoverflow
their banks. Flood waters damage or destroy many houses and businesses. Firesdestroy building, land, and forests. There are many causes for fire, includinglightning.
In a hurricane,high winds destroy building and sometimes cause flooding.
Some hurricaneshave winds of more than 200 miles an hour.
Car accident happenwhen car collide or drivers lose control of their cars. One of the main causesof car accidents is driving too fast.
Unit 3-2 dialogue
What’s in thatbig box you carried in?
It’s a new desk.I just brought and now I
have to put ittogether.
Do you need anyhelp?
No, I don’t thinkso.
I just need toget my tools.
l’ll need a screwdriverand maybe a hammer.
Don’t forget toread the instructions.
How were thingsgoing?
I’ve almostfinished.
Somethingdoesn’t look right to me.
The right sideis higher than the left side.
Oh, you’reright.
It looks like Iput a couple ofscrews intothe wrong places.
So now you haveto take it apart.
Great, and Ithought I was almost finished.
I told you toread the instructions. Did you read them?
No, I didn’tread them. I hate to read the instructions.
I looked at thembut they were confusing.
Well, this iswhat happen when you don’t.
You were toinpatient.
Anyway, what canI do to help you?
Could you getanother screwdriver and help me unscrew some of these screws?
Ok, but nexttime please read the instructions.
Do you ever lookup at the sky and think about the life in the universe?
I did when I wasa kid.
But I don’t dothat very much anymore.
Why do you ask?
Sometimes I feellike I’m lost in day-to-day details.
Then when I lookup at the sky and see a big picture.
I appreciatethings more even the little things.
You sound like aphilosopher or a poet.
I felt like thattoo when I was a kid.
Don’t you feellike that anymore?
No, I don’t. infact, I try not to.
When I thinkabout thing too deeply,
I get depressed.It’s even a bitfrightening.
Really, for meit’s just theopposite.
Everything seemslike a wonderfulmiracle.
Doesn’t thatfrighten you a bit?
The universe isso large and we are so small.
What are yourealize is how little we understand.
We just need toappreciate our life and not get lost.
Sometimes beinglost isn’t so bad.
Do you know theexpression,ignorance isbliss.
Sure, I’ve heardit many times.
To be ignoranceis to be happy.
Maybe it’s true.
Maybe it’s bestnot to think or know too much.
No, that’s notfor me.
I want to understandas much as possible.
That’s why Ibecame a scientist.
Well, I respectyour choice but it’s not for me.
If understandingis painful, I’d rather not understand.
Unit 3-3 Listening
Harry is on thebusiness trip.
Yesterday he wassupposed to fly from San Francisco to Shanghai.
However, thingsdidn’t turn out the way they were supposed to.
In fact, nothingwent the way it was supposed to.
Everything wentwrong and he didn’t get on his flight.
As a result, he stayedin San Francisco.
The following issummary what happen.
Yesterday morninghe got up at usual and had breakfast.
Everythingseemed to be fine and he was looking forward to the trip.
He was justabout tocheck out of his hotel when he felt the pain.
It was a pain onhis lower back.
It was a dot painat first, not too bad.
So he didn’tworry about it and he checked out the hotel.
Then he got on ashuttle bus to the airport.
About half wayto the airport, the pain in his back started to get worse.
It was a growingpain and he was beginning to worry.
Soon it wasdifficult for him to sit in his seat.
The pain wasgetting worse.
He wanted to liedown.
He started tosweat and breathe quickly.
He was in realpain then.
On a scale of 1to 10, the pain was an 8.
When the bus gotto the airport, the bus driver helped him to get off.
It was difficultfor him to walk but he finally made it to the terminal.
Inside theterminal, he went to the men’s bathroom.
He went to thetoilet but that didn’t help.
Instead ofimproving, his felt dizzy and hethrew up.
By now, he waswet from all his sweating.
He knew hecouldn’t get on his flight.
He used hisphone to call the airline.
He explained thesituation and cancelled his reservation.
Then he called911 for emergency help.
911 is theemergency number to call for help in the United States.
An ambulancearrived about 10 minutes after he called.
By then, he wasin so much pain that he could barely walk.
Once inside theambulance, they gave him oxygen to help him to breathe.
But the pain wasstill terrible.
Then they drove himto a hospital near the airport.
Luckily, thehospital was on his health plan.
That means hishealth insurance is supposed to pay for everything.
Medical costs inthe United States are very high.
When he arrivedat the hospital, he was taken to the emergency room.
After sometests, a doctor told him he had a kidney stone.
It was a verysmall stone, but it caused a lot of pain.
It was passingthrough a small tube in his body from his kidney to his bladder. The pain willgo away once it got to his bladder.
Until then hehad to take pain medicine to reduce the pain.
Harry didn’thave to stay in hospital for very long.
With the painmedicine, the pain went away very quickly.
He took a taxiback to his hotel andchecked in for another night.
Then he calledthe airline and made a reservation for another flight.
The flight will leavetomorrow.
Until then, he willjust rest in his hotel.
There may even bea good movie to watch.
So when you’retraveling, please be prepare for the emergencies.
Make sure you havea medical insurance.
You never knowwhen something like this can happen to you.
So be prepared.
Unit 3-3 vocabulary
Solar energy isone of the cleanest and mostplentiful sources of energy.
Solar powerdepends on sunlight,
so in cloudyweather or at night, no power generated.
Wind energy isnon-polluting but it’s only useful in places where there is a lot of wind.
Windy turbinesconvert thekinetic energy of the wind into a mechanical power.
Nuclear energyis efficient and doesn’t produce carbon gases as waste products.
The dangerous ofnuclear power included deadlyradioactive waste products.
A major sourceof energy comes from the burning offossil fuels such as coal and oil.
When we burn thefossil fuels, waste gases such as CO2 are produced.
Fossil fuelremain the largest sources of energy for most counties.
Hydro powercomes from the kinetic energy of falling water.
Output isreliable and can be regularly to meet the demand except during the period ofdrought.
Here are some differenttypes of words in English.
Words that arenouns or pronouns are used to represent objects.
A noun or apronoun can be a person, an animal or a thing including an idea.
Verbs are usedto express action such as to sit down or stand up.
We also useverbs to express relationships such as to love someone or to own something.
We use adjectivesto describe objects such as a tall building.
Adjectives areused with noun or pronoun but not with verbs.
We use adverbsto describe actions such as to run fast or to walk slowly. Adverbs express thequality of an action such as how well or poorly something is done.
We useconjunctions to connect things or actions such as to read and write.Conjunctions include words such as and, or, because, but and yet.
Dams areexpensive to build and affectwild life such as fish.
Nouns andpronouns can be used to represent any object.
Unit 3-3 dialogue
Hey, I’ve gotsome news, some good news and some bad news.
Ok, give me thebad news first.
We're moving toa new office.
When was thisgoing to happen?
We were supposedto move at the end of next month.
How far away isthe new office?
We are not sureyet but we will mean a longer commute for most of us.
The new officewill probably be on the other side of the city.
The commute isalready too long for me and I’m not going to change flats.
We just broughtone.
Anyway. What’sthe good news.
The good news isthat we're going to expand.
The company isgrowing so we’re gonna hire more people.
Well, I’ve gotsome news for you too.
I hope it’s goodnews.
Well, thatdepends on your points of you.
I’m planning to startmy own business.
Why, I thoughtyou were happy working here?
I like the workbut I’m not learning anything new.
I think I can dobetter on my own.
I was planningto wait a few months.
But now that theoffice is moving, I’m ready to make the change.
Why does yourwife think?
She is in favorof it and she’ll help me.
She’s alreadydesigning a website.
We’ll work fromhomat first.
So you reallyare serious about this.
You are taking abig risk.
Most newbusinesses fail.
Yes, I know. Butif I don’t do it now, I never will.
I’m tired ofworking for others.
I know you mean.
Don’t tellanyone about this ok?
It’s still asecret.
Sure, I won’tsay anything to anybody.
I’m sure thiswill come as a surprise to everyone.
I’m sure changingoffices will also come with surprises to people.
This is exactlywhy I want to work on my own.
I don’t likethis kind of surprises.
You’re rightabout that. When are you gonna let people know?
I’ll make theannouncement at the beginning of next month.
Unit 3-4 Listening
Leonardo Da
Vinci is one of the greatest geniuses(天才) of all time.
He was apainter, an architect, an engineer and a scientist.
He was born inVinci, Italy in 1452.
Vinci is a townjust outside of the great Italian city, Florence.
His name DaVinci means a Vinci.
Leonardo’sfather was lawyer and landowner and his mother was a peasant. Leonardo’sparents were never married to each other.
Leonardo livedwith his mother until he was around 5 years old.
When he was 5,he moved into the home of his father.
By then, hisfather had married a 16-year-old girl.
Leonardo’smother married another man and moved to another town.
She had manymore children after that with several different men.
In the end,Leonardo had more than 15 half-sisters or brothers.
As a young man,DaVinci didn’t go to school.
He was educatedat home at reading, writing and mathematics.
In othersubjects, he was mostly self-educated.
Hehad access
to books at his father’s home.
Leonardo spent alot of time outdoors and developed a strong interest in nature. He loved toobserve things especially birds.
He was alsointerested in the properties of water.
Leonardo’s earlydrawings and paintings demonstrated a rare talent.
His father andhis father’s friendsrecognized his talent and encouraged him. Whenhe was 15, he was sent to Florence.
In Florence, hebecame anapprentice to a famous master painter.
For the next fewyears, Leonardo worked at his master’s workshop.
It wasn’t longbefore his ability surpassed that of his master.
Some people said
that his master became jealous of Leonardo’s great talent. They said the master
vowed(发誓) to neverpainted again.
In 1478, withhis father’s help, Leonardo set up his own workshop.
In 1482, heentered the service of powerful man in city of Milan.
This man was theDuke of Milan.
For the next fewyears, Leonardo designed buildings, machineries and weapons of war.
Weapons wereimportant, because Italy wasconstantly (不断地) at war duringthis period.
From 1485 to1490, Leonardo produced designs fora variety of weapons.
In his notes, hepredicted the development of advanced weapons such as submarines and flyingmachines.
In 1499, theFrench invaded Italy and Leonardo left Milan.
Altogether,Leonardo spent 17 years in Milan.
During thisperiod, he spent much of his time studying nature.
Hedissected(解剖) bodies both human and animal to study and
illustrate anatomy(解剖). His detailed illustrations are masterpieces.
Leonardo filledmany notebooks with drawings and ideas.
He wrotebackwardsso he need a mirror to read them.
After 15hundred, Leonardo spent times in a number of Italian cities.
He worked veryslowly and the range of his interests was very wide.
As a result,Leonardo left many paintings and projects unfinished.
One paintingthat he did finish, was the Mona Lisa, one of world’s most famous
paintings.
People are stillinterested in this painting 500 years after he painted it.
Thought thereare many theories, nobody knows who the woman in the painting really was.
In 1516,Leonardo left Italy for good when the French King, Francis the first, offeredhim a position.
There he had thefreedom to paint and draw whatever he wanted.
Leonardo died in1519 at the age of 67.
Some say thatthe French King, who had become a close friend was with him when he died.
He was buried in the church
which was destroyed during the French
revolution. The exact location of his remains is unknown.
Unit 3-4 vocabulary
Waste water andcarbon gases from farm animal are bad for the environment. Animal wastes andother chemicals flow into the ground and pollute water supplies.
Exhausted gasesfrom automobile are a major cause for air pollution and global warming.
As a result,many companies are trying to produce more efficient and cleaner cars.
Pesticides(杀虫剂) andfertilizers(化肥) are used byfarmers to grow crops such as foods and vegetables.
These chemicals pollutewater supply when it flows to the ground and rivers.
Factories likethis one, allow harmful chemicals to get into the air or water. Companies needto try harder to protect the environment and our health.
Nuclear wasteproducts are radioactive and can pollute the environment for thousands ofyears.
They need to besafely transported and stored in the safe place.
The Britishwriter, Jame, was born in England in 1775, 1 of 7 children.
She wrote someof most popular love stories of all time.
One of mostfamous female rulers in the history, has affair with j and later with Mark.
She was knownfor her great beauty and charming voice.
Born 1756,Mozart composed and performed some of world’s greatest classical music.
He was youngestof 7 children and by the age of 5, he was already composing music.
The sun of theking, Alexander the Great, was a military leader who created one of the largestempires in the ancient world.
As a youth,Alexanderwas taught by the Greekphilosophy, Aristotle.
Mahatma Gandhiwas 20th century leader who used non-violence resistances to led India toindependence. Gandhi dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth.
Unit 3-4 dialogue
I’d like tospeak to Mr. Bennett please.
I’m sorry buthe’s not here right now.
would you wantto leave a voice message?
It’s urgent thatI speak with him. It’s an emergency.
Oh, I see. Whatkind of emergency?
It’s verypersonal so I can’t give you any details.
Without moredetails, I’m afraid I can’t give you his number. Give me your number, and I’lllet him know about your call. Then he’ll call you back and would that be ok?
Sure, my numberis 583 4987. It would be great if he could call me within the next half hour.
That’s a greatdinner.
Here, put theway I want. I’ll pay the bill.
You paid lasttime. This time is my turn to pay.
Hey, you don’thave a joke. And I do. Let me pay.
Thanks for theoffer but I can handle it.
Wait, let’sthrow for it.
Throw for it?What’s that mean.
Do you see thiscoin?
This side ishead and the opposite side is tails.
I’ll throw it upin the air.
If itcomes
down with heads facing up, I’ll pay.
If tails is up,you can pay.
Ok, let’s fightwith me.
Look, it’s headsup so I’ll pay.
Thanks, it’svery nice of you.
It’s mypleasure.
Do you wantanything else sir?
Would you liketo see the dessert menu?
No, thanks, I’malready for the check. Here is my credit card.
I’m sorry sir,but we don’t take credit cards.
You’re joking,right.
No, sir, I’m notjoking. Did you see that side?
it says cashonly.
I didn’t see itwhen I came in.
I don’t haveenough cash to pay the bill.
There is a bankdown the street, sir.
If you let mehold your driver’s license, you can go and get the cash.
Ok, I hold thebank is open.
The bank isclosed but you can use the ATM to get your cash.
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