Global Reading >> Further Understanding
I. True or False
1. The phrase “on the latch” means the door is closed and locked. (F)
(=This phrase means the door is closed but unlocked.)
2. Nowadays, doors, not only in cities but also in rural areas, are locked. (T)
3. Urban streets are more dangerous than outskirts and country areas. (F)
(=Suburbs and country areas are more dangerous than urban streets.)
4. In America nowadays, no one leaves his front door on the latch anymore. (t)
II. Supporting Facts for the Central Idea
The author uses lots of facts to support his central point of view: America is deteriorating from “the Land of the Free” into “the Land of the Lock”. Could you find any more supporting facts in addition to those listed below?
1. Doors are not left unlocked either in cities or in rural areas.
2. Dead-bolt locks, security chains, electronic alarm systems and trip wires are widely in use.
3. Suburban families have steel bars built in sliding glass doors.
4. Small notices warning against burglary are commonly seen pasted on the windows of the most pleasant of homes.
5. Access cards are required of those who work with medium- to large-size companies.
6. Airport security uses electronic X-ray equipment to guard against terrorism.
7. Businessmen employ new machines linked up to their telephone to determine whether the caller is telling lies or not.
8. Suburban housewives wear rape whistles on their key chains.
III. Discussion
In Paragraph 6, the author mentions a public service advertisement by a large insurance company. Dis
cuss the following questions.
1. What does this ad point out?
(=The lock is the new symbol of America.)
2. What is the author’s purpose of using this example?
IV. Sentence Completion
Read Part 2 carefully and supply the missing information.
1. We have become so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of American life and so used to putting up barriers.
2. We are satisfied when we think we are well-protected.
3. With electronic X-ray equipment, we seem finally to have figured out a way to hold the terrorists at bay.
4. We do not want to afford ourselves even so much a luxury as a shadow.
V. Questions and Answers
1. Under what excuse do people resort to all those means mentioned in Part 2?
(=In the name of “security”.)
2. Does the author think they are justified in doing so?
(=No. Because in the author’s opinion, America becomes the most insecure nation with all these means.)
3. According to the author, what may be the legacy we remember best when we recall this era? (=We became prisoners of ourselves when we deal with the unseen horrors among us.) Global Reading >> Word Scanning
1. Scan the text to find all the sentences containing the word “lock” or the word with “lock” as its root.
the word “lock”:
1) … the door was closed but not locked. (Para. 3)
2) It has been replaced by dead-bolt locks, security chains, electronic alarm system … (Para. 12)
3) The lock is a new symbol of America. (Para. 6)
4) … the transformation of America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Lock. (Para. 7)
5) … we devise ways to lock the fear out. (Para. 16)
6) We may have locked the evils out, but in so doing we have locked ourselves in. (Para. 18)“lock” as a root:
1) … doors do not stay unlocked (Para. 1)
2) … a picture of a child’s bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it. (Para. 4)
2. Based on these sentences, summarize the main idea of this text.
Detailed Reading
I. Difficult Sentences
1.I don’t know if that was a local term or if it is universal.
1) What do “local” and “universal” mean respectively?
(=“Local” means “of a particular place”, while “universal” means “common to all conditions or situations”.)
2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(=我不知道这是当地的一种说法，还是大家都是这么说的…)
2.… doors do not stay unlocked, even for part of an evening.
Paraphrase the sentence.
(=… doors are always locked, even just for a short period of time in the evening.)
3.It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on the windows small
notices announcing that the premises are under surveillance by this security force or that guard company.
What can be commonly seen pasted on the windows of the most pleasant homes?
(=Small notices warning against burglary are commonly seen pasted on the windows of the most pleasant of homes.)
4.Indeed, a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not
charts showing how much at risk we are, but a picture of a child’s bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
What is the insurance company’s intention of running an ad with a picture showing a padlock attached to a kid’s bicycle?
(=The insurance company wants to show what danger people are in now because they may get the kid’s bicycle stolen.)
5.If you work for a medium- to large-size company, chances are that you don’t just wander in
and out of work.
1) What is a medium- to large-size company?
(=A company which is between medium-sized and large-sized.)
2) Paraphrase the structure “chances are that …”
(=It is very likely that …)
- Chances are that we will win easily.
(=我们很可能会轻松取胜。)
6.It simply didn’t occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.
1) Paraphrase the structure “It occurs to sb. that …”
(=sb. gets the idea that …)
- It suddenly occurred to me that we could use a computer to do the job.
(=我突然意识到可以用电脑来做这个工作。)
2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(=那时管理人员根本没想到过恰当的手段是不信任他人。)
7.We seem finally to have figured out a way to hold the terrorists, real and imagined, at bay.
Paraphrase the sentence.
(=Finally, we found the way to keep away the terrorists, no matter whether they are real or imagined in our mind.)
8.The machines are supposed to tell the businessman, with a small margin of error, whether
his friend or client is telling lies.
Paraphrase the sentence.
(=The machines are thought to be able to tell the businessman whether his friend or client is telling lies with little probability of making mistakes.)
9.All this is being done in the name of “security”; that is what we tell ourselves.
defending
1) Why does the author use the quotation marks?
(=This is not real security. People are living in the illusion that they are properly protected by these sec
urity means.)
2. Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(=所有这一切都是以“安全”的名义实施的；我们是这么跟自己说的。)
10.We have become so smart about self-protection that, in the end, we have all outsmarted
ourselves.
1) Explain “we have all outsmarted ourselves.”
(=“Outsmart” means “gain the advantage over by cunning or cleverness”. “We have all outsmarted ourselves” means “our cunning and cleverness result in our own disadvantage.”)
2) Translate the sentence into Chinese.
(=我们在自我防卫方面变得如此聪明, 最终全都聪明反被聪明误。)
II. Words & Expressions
on the latch:(of a door) closed but not locked
- Let yourself in; the door is on the latch.
- Don’t forget to leave the front door on the latch if you go to bed before I come back.
rural: adj.of, in or suggesting the countryside
- By the year 2003 urban residents will outnumber rural residents in most developing countries. - 庄稼种在乡村地区。
(=Crops are grown in rural areas.)
vulnerable: posed to danger or attack; unprotected
- Compared with Saudi Arabian soccer team, the Chinese team is more vulnerable.
- 你的论点相当容易受到批评。
(=Your arguments are rather vulnerable to criticism.)
- How does the country defend vulnerable groups in society?
urban: adj.of, situated in or living in a city or town
- Motor vehicle emissions, to a large extent, are responsible for urban air pollution.
- Most urban areas in the world are facing the problem of over-population.
Collocation:
urban districts市区
the urban population城市人口
urban areas市区
CF: urban & municipal
这两个形容词都有“都市的、城市的”之意。
urban 指以都市中心为主的行政区。例如：
- Nowadays, as the population and vehicles increase, urban districts seem to be more crowded. (=如今，随着人口增长和交通工具增多，市区似乎变得更拥挤了。)
- Our government has always paid much attention to the life of the urban poor.
(=我们的政府历来都重视城市贫民的生活。)
municipal 主要指与城市、市镇或其政府相关的部门、服务机构，尤指市政府机构管辖下属于公共的、为公众服务的设施、事业等。例如：
- Cities usually use taxes for education, police and fire departments, public works and municipal buildings.
(=城市通常将税收用于教育、公安和消防部门、公共设施和市政建设。)
statistics: n.collection of information expressed in numbers
- The statistics indicate that roughly every 22 years a major drought occurs in the United States. - 统计数字显示退休之后女性比男性生活愉快。
(=Statistics show that women live happier lives than men after retirement.)
tranquil: adj.calm, quiet and undisturbed
- Visitors like to stay in this hotel because it is beautiful and located in a tranquil lake area.
-
家中的温馨气氛是非常重要的。尽你所能去创造一个宁静和谐的家。
(=A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil and harmonious home.)
- Another advantage of country life is that it is more tranquil.
CF: tranquil & calm
这两个形容词都有“安静的、平静的”之意。
tranquil 指安宁的、平静的。例如：
- We found a tranquil spot on the bank of a river to have a rest.
(=我们在河岸上到一块宁静的地方休息了一下。)
- She has a tranquil life in the country, in an out-of-way little village.
(=她在乡间一个偏僻的小村子里过着宁静的生活。)
calm 表示平静的、镇静的，指一种毫无迷惑与兴奋的宁静状态。例如：
- He went straight into his room, his face quite calm.
(=他径直走进自己的房间，脸十分平静。)
- She remained calm on the face of imminent disaster.
(=灾难临头而她镇静自若。)

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