大学英语精读.pptVIP

unit 5 The Villain in the Atmosphere Isaac Asimov There is one gas present in the air we breathe that is essential to life. Unfortunately,one can have too much of a good thing and the growth in carbon dioxide threatens to warm up our planet to a dangerous extent.Isaac Asimov introduces us to this villain in the atmosphere ,explaining how it works and what can be done about it. The villain in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. It does not seem to be a villain.It is not very poisonous and it is present in the atmosphere in so small a quantity-only 0.034 precent-that it does us no harm. Whats more,that small quantity of carbon dioxide in the air is essential to life. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into their own tissue,which serve as the basic food supply for all of animal life(including human beings,of course).In the process they liberate oxygen,which is also necessary for all animal life. essential Essential :a. absolutely necessary;extremely important 必不可少的；非常重要的；必需的，基本的 Food is essential to life.食物是维持生命不可或缺的。 Her most essential quality is kindness.她最主要的品质是厚道。 essential ,necessary ,requisite都具有“必要”的意义，可以互相通用；但essential语气最强，表示“必不可少”，necessary次之，requisite语气最弱。 n. 要素，要点 One of the essential for success is diligent.成功的要素之一是勤奋。 introduce to introduce...to... 把...介绍给... He introduced his friend to me. 他把他的朋友介绍给我。 threaten threaten:威胁，恫吓，预示... 的恶兆，使有... 的危险 His father threatened to beat the boy if he stole again. 男孩的父亲威胁他说如果他再偷东西的话，就要揍他。 poisonous poisonous :a.containing or producing poison 1有毒的，有害的，恶毒的 This medicine is poisonous if taken in large quantities. 这种药若服用过量是有害的。the remaining poisonous influence 余毒 be poisonous to sbs mind 对某人的思想有害 a poisonous rumor 恶毒的谣言 give sb. a poisonous look 恶狠狠地看某人一眼2 讨厌的，令人不悦的，使人无法忍受的The heat is simply poisonous. 热得令人无法忍受。 poison Poison:n. 1 毒药，毒物 use poison as an antidote(解毒剂) to poison 以毒攻毒 drink poison to quench(抑制) ones thirst 饮鸩止渴 2【作定语】 poison gas 毒气 a poison pen 写匿名信的人 3vt.使中毒，