Unit 3 Security

Detailed Reading I. DifficultSentences

Unit 3 Security

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 allconditions 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 theevening.)

3. It is not uncommon, in the most pleasant of homes, to see pasted on thewindows small notices announcing that the premises are under surveillance bythis 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 thewindows of the most pleasant of homes.)

4. Indeed, a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurancecompany featured not charts showing how much at risk we are, but a picture of achild’s bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.

What is the insurance company’s intention of running an ad with a pictureshowing a padlock attached to a kid’s bicycle?

(=The insurance company wants to show what danger people are in now becausethey may get the kid’s bicycle stolen.)

5. If you work for a medium- to large-size company, chances are that youdon’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 todistrust 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, realand imagined, at bay.

Paraphrase the sentence.

(=Finally, we found the way to keep away the terrorists, no matter whether theyare real or imagined in our mind.)

8. The machines are supposed to tell the businessman, with a small margin oferror, whether his friend or client is telling lies. Paraphrase the sentence.

(=The machines are thought to be able to tell the businessman whether hisfriend 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 tellourselves. 1) Why does the author use the quotation marks?

(=This is not real security. People are living in the illusion that they areproperly protected by these security 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 haveall 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。)

vulnerable: adj. exposedto danger or attack; unprotected

- Comparedwith Saudi Arabian soccer team, the Chinese team is more vulnerable. - 你的论点相当容易受到批评。

(=Yourarguments are rather vulnerable to criticism.)

- Howdoes the country defend vulnerable groups in society?

urban: adj. of,situated in or living in a city or town

- Motorvehicle emissions, to a large extent, are responsible for urban air pollution. - Mosturban areas in the world are facing the problem of over-population. Collocation: urbandistricts 市区 theurban population 城市人口 urbanareas 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 vehiclesincrease, 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 muchattention 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：

II. Words & Expressions

- 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。)

tranquil: adj. calm, quiet and undisturbed

- Visitors like to stay in this hotelbecause 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 soimportant. Do all you can to create a tranquil and harmonious home.)

- Another advantage of country life isthat 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 ofa river to have a rest. (=我们在河岸上找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 facequite calm. (=他径直走进自己的房间，脸色十分平静。)

- She remained calm on the face ofimminent disaster. (=灾难临头而她镇静自若。)

hook up to: connect or attach (sth.) to (sth. else) withor as if with a hook - I hook up to the internet almosteveryday.

- My computer is hooked up to theInternet, so I can communicate with my students at home via email.

- The alarm systems in the banks arehooked up to the local police station.

premise: n.

1) (pl.) all the buildings and landthat an institution occupies on one site - I showed him off the premises. - There is a kitchen on the premises. - 警察认为小偷仍在屋内。

(=The police think the thief is still onthe premises.)

2) sth. that you accept as true and use asa basis for another idea or way of thinking (usu. followed by that-clause)

- It was the lawyer’s premise that hisclient was innocent.

- I’m rather questioning whether the wholepremise is correct. Collocation:

an assumed premise 假设 an unsound premise 站不住脚的假设

feature:

1. vt. give a prominent part to(sb./sth.) - 报纸为那个事件做了个专题报道。

(=The newspaper featured the story of theevent.) - The play featured two well-known actors.

2. n. a prominent or distinctiveaspect, quality, or characteristic - The building contained many new featuresof construction. Collocation:

a unique feature 独一无二的特征 a key feature 主要特征 a notable feature 显著特征 make a feature of 以…为特色；注重

以下词语都有“特征、特点、特性”的意思，但：

quality: 最普通用词，既可指有形或无形的特性，又可指个性或共性的特征。 property: 多指同类事物所共有的特性，一般不用于指人。

feature: 指事物突出引人注目的特点。多用来说明人的容貌特征或地理特征。 characteristic: 指某人或某物天生有别于他人或他物的内部特质或外表特征。 例如:

Such decoration was a typical feature of the baroqueperiod. Ambition is a characteristic ofall successful businessmen. Many plants have medicinal property. It's difficult to recruit teachers of quality.

barrier: n. thing that prevents progress or movement

- The football fans broke through thebarriers and rushed onto the pitch. - The English Channelwas a barrier against Nazi ground forces. - 警察设了路障。

(=The police put a barrier across theroad.) Collocation: trade barrier 贸易壁垒 cultural barrier 文化隔膜 language barrier 语言障碍 geographical barrier 地理阻隔

hold/keep (sb.)at bay: prevent (an enemy, pursuers, etc.) from comingnear - Eating oranges keeps colds at bay.

- She left the light on at night to keepher fears at bay.

sideways: adj./adv. to, towards or from the side - Alfred shot him a sideways glance.

- If you would move sideways to the left,I can get everyone on the picture. - 我们把桌子斜向一边以便把它搬进房间里。

(=We turned the table sideways to get itinto the room.)

stand for: represent; mean - What does NB stand for?

- The symbol “%” stands for percent. - 约翰一直支持正确的事情。

(=John always stands for what is right.)

analyze: vt. examine sth. in detailin order to understand it, esp. by considering separately all the elements itconsists of

- The teacher tried to analyze the causeof our failure. - 科学家分析了一下牛奶，发现里面水分过多。

(=The scientist analyzed the milk and foundit contained too much water.)

margin: n. anamount by which a thing is won or falls short - Governor Bush won the election but by asmall margin.

- Demand for college education exceedscapacity by a large margin.

- With the improvement of their livingconditions, people’s demand for air-conditioning has increased by a largemargin. Collocation:

with/by a small/large margin 以微弱/较大的多数；幅度较小/大地

civilize: vt. cause to improve from a primitive stage ofhuman society to a more developed one - The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center has shocked thecivilized world.

- It must be admitted that the Romanshelped to civilize many Europeans at that time. - 非洲国家希望把非洲所有的原始部落都变成文明社会。

(=The African countries hoped to civilizeall the primitive tribes on the land.)

reflection: n.

1) a thing bringing discredit or criticism(followed by on)

- The fact that we all failed the test wasa reflection on our teacher. - 这有损你的名誉。

(=This is a reflection on your honor.)

2) reflecting (careful thinking) or beingreflected - On further reflection, she saw hermistake. - 他沉思片刻后做出了否定的回答。

(=After a minute’s reflection, he gave anegative answer.) Collocation:

cast a reflection on 使人们对…产生鄙视（或怀疑） cast/throw reflections on 指责（某人） on/upon reflection 经再三思考 without reflection 轻率，不经思考

look back on: think about (sth.) in one’s past

- I always look back on those days as thehappiest time of my life. - 当你回顾你的一生时，你最珍惜的是什么时候？

(=When you look back on your life, whatmoments would you cherish the most? )

After Reading >> UsefulExpressions After Reading >> UsefulExpressions

（门）关着但没上锁 带钥匙 （暂时）关闭 巡逻严密的城区街道

on the latch carrykeys close up

well-patrolled urbanstreets

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