Unit 3 Leisure Activity 高等院校研究生英语系列教材 综合教程（上）.ppt

3. The weekend I was in Paris, an estimated 500,000 kids descended on Berlin for the annual Love Parade. (Para. 3) descend: 1) If a large number of people descend on a person or a place, they come to visit or stay. e.g. 数百名球迷突然来到了这座城市。 Hundreds of football fans descended on the city. 2) If darkness, silence, a feeling etc descends, it becomes dark etc or you start to feel something, especially suddenly. e.g. An air of gloom descended over the party  headquarters. Reading More – Language Point “descend” can also be used in other contexts. e.g. 1) The hotels are listed in descending order of price. 2) She claims to be descended from Abraham  Lincoln. 3) Our plane started to descend. Reading More – Language Point 4. Europeans seem to be throwing themselves into fun and festivity with unprecedented zeal. (Para. 3) Translation: 欧洲人仍然能够以极大的热情投入到娱乐和欢庆当中。 Reading More – Language Point 5. Cities that for reasons of politics or religion were once gloomily repressive — Madrid, say, or Dublin — now rock to the small hours. (Para. 3) “rock to the small hours” means “dance to rock music till very early in the morning, soon after midnight”. Reading More – Language Point 6. American conservatives, meanwhile, came to believe that Europeans’ desire to devote themselves to the pleasures of life and—the shame of it! — six weeks annual vacation was evidence of a lack of seriousness and would, in any event, end in economic tears. (Para. 5) Paraphrase: At the same time, American conservatives started to think that Europeans’ desire to enjoy life and have six weeks vacation every year, which was a real shame, reflected that they didn’t take things seriously and would result in a gloomy future in economy anyway. Reading More – Language Point 7. Why do Europeans and Americans differ so much in their attitude toward work and leisure? (Para. 6) differ (from …) in … e.g. 1) We