知识点1
教师讲解：
Para. 1
John Koshak, Jr., knew that Hurricane Camille would be bad. Radio and television warnings had sounded throughout that Sunday, last August 17, as Camille lashed northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico. It was certain to pummel Gulfport, Miss., where the Koshaks lived. Along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, nearly 150,000 people fled inland to safer ground. But, like thousands of others in the coastal communities, John was reluctant to abandon his home unless the family－his wife, Janis, and their seven children, aged 3-11－was clearly endangered.
Q1: What do you know about a hurricane?
A1: A hurricane storm in which winds attain speeds greater than 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour. The term is often restricted to those storms occurring over the North Atlantic Ocean.
Q2: What do you know about Hurricane Camille?
A2: Hurricane Camille is one of the worldwide ever to achieve wind speeds of 190 miles per hour (310 km/h). It flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In total, it killed 258 people.
Q3: What do you think are the primary features of the title of the text?
A3: All headings and titles are generally succinct and particular care is given to the choice of words.
face to face: The phrase in this context means “confronting one another.” This phrase connotes a sense of urgency and danger.
Q4: What can be known from this paragraph?
A4: We can know information related to the background of the event including the time, the place, the protagonists and antagonist.
Q5: How do you paraphrase the following phrases or sentences ?
1.Radio and television warnings had sounded throughout that Sunday, last August 17, as Camille lashed northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico.
The national Hurricane Center of the National Service of the United States broadcast warnings of potential hurricanes.
Warnings had sounded: Radio and television had broadcast warnings about the hurricane.
August 17: Hurricane Camille devastated the area for two days August 17 and 18.
Lash: a specific verb, meaning to strike with great force. e.g. Waves lashed the cliffs.
2.It was certain to pummel Gulfport, Miss., where the Koshaks lived.
Pummel: to beat or hit with repeated blows.
Miss.: abbreviation for Mississippi
The Koshaks: when an “s” is added to a surname and used with the definite article “the”, the term, then, stands for the whole family.
3.Coastal communities
People living together in towns, cities, villages, along the coast
4.But, like thousands of others in the coastal communities, John was reluctant to abandon his home unless the family－his wife, Janis, and their seven children, aged 3-11－was clearly endangered.
abandon: leave the place, time or person for a long time for forever.
endanger: to expose to harm or danger; imperil
Para. 2
Trying to reason out the best course of action, he talked with his father and mother, who had moved into the ten-room house with the Koshaks a month earlier from California. He also consulted Charles Hill, a longtime friend, who had driven from Las Vegas for a visit.
Q1: What is the main idea of this paragraph?
A1: The main idea addresses the onsultation for reasoning out the best course of action.
Q2: How do you paraphrase the following knowledge point?
…who had moved into the ten-room house with the Koshaks a month earlier from California.
A2: John’s parents left California and came to Gulfport to live with their son, John Koshak, Jr. In western countries, children, when they grow up and start working, generally live away from their parents.
Paras. 3 & 4
John, 37－whose business was right there in his home (he designed and developed educational toys and supplies, and all of Magna Products’ correspondence, engineering drawings and art work were there on the first floor)－was familiar with the power of a hurricane. Four years earlier, Hurricane Besty had demolished his former home a few miles west of Gulfport (Koshak had moved his family to a motel for the night). But that house had stood only a few feet above sea level. “We’re elevated 23 feet,” he told his father, “and we’re a good 250 yards from the sea. The place has been here since 1915, and no hurricane has ever bothered it. We’ll probably be as safe here as anyplace else.”
The elder Koshak, a gruff, warm-hearted expert machinist of 67, agreed. “We can batten down and ride it out,” he said. “If we see signs of danger, we can get out before dark.”
Q1: What can be known from paragraphs 3 and 4?
A1: we can know from these two paragraphs John Koshak’s (the protagonist) and his father’s confidence in beating Hurricane Camille.
Q2: What do you know about Hurricane Besty?
A2: Hurricane Besty formed east of the windward islands, and moved north through the island chain as a tropical storm. It made its second U.S. landfall at Grand Isle, Louisiana, just west of the mouth of the Mississippi River, where it destroyed almost every building, causing the deaths of 74 people.
1.We’re elevated 23 feet. (para 3)
In British English, one would probably say “We’re 23 feet above sea level.”
2.…and we’re a good 250 yards from the sea. (para 3)
We’re at least 250 yards distant from the sea.
3.The place has been here since 1915, and no hurricane has ever bothered it. (para 3)
The house has been here since 1915, and no hurricane has ever caused any damage to it.
4.“We can batten down and ride it out,”
A metaphor is used here, comparing the house in a hurricane to a ship fighting a storm at sea. The meaning of this sentence is that we can make the necessary preparations and survive the hurricane without much damage.
Batten: to fasten canvas over the hatches of a ship, especially in preparing for a storm.
Ride it out: to stay afloat during a storm without too much damage; survive a storm.
Para. 5-6
The men methodically prepared for the hurricane. Since water mains might be damaged, they filled bathtubs and pails. A power failure was likely, so they checked out batteries for the portable radio and flashlights, and fuel for the lantern. John’s father moved a small generator into the downstairs hallways, wired several light bulbs to it and prepared a connection to the refrigerator.
Rain fell steadily that afternoon; gray clouds scudded in from the Gulf on the rising wind. The family had an early supper. A neighbor, whose husband was in Vietnam, asked if she and her two children could sit out the storm with the Koshaks. Another neighbor came by on his way inland－would the Koshaks mind taking care of his dog?
Q1: What is the gist of these two paragraphs?
A1: these two paragraphs give an account of the preparations made by the Koshak family to fight against the impending hurricane.
Q2: How do you paraphrase the following knowledge points?
1.The men methodically prepared for the hurricane. (para 5)
The men in the house made all the necessary preparations to fight the hurricane and they went about their work in a systematic and orderly manner.
2.A power failure was likely, so they checked out batteries for the portable radio and flashlights, and fuel for the lantern. (para 5)
power failure: a breakdown in the supply of electricity
check out: to examine the batteries and fuel and see if they were all right
3.…gray clouds scudded in from the Gulf on the rising wind.
Scudded in: driven inland by the wind
Gulf: the Gulf of Mexico
rising wind: wind that was getting stronger and stronger
4.A neighbor, whose husband was in Vietnam, asked if she and her two children could sit out the storm with the Koshaks.
whose husband was in Vietnam: This was 1969. The husband of this neighbor was in the American army fighting in Vietnam.
sit out the storm: to stay until the end of the storm
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