Lesson_5 The facts

自学新概念:逐句精讲新概念英语3(汇总)_新概念_新东方在线 (koolearn.com)

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their reader with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refuse to publish it. The article began: 'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace'. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.

The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two more faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that the he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.

与数字有关的表达总结:

Tens of 几十

Dozens of 几十

Thousands of 成千上万的

Tens of thousands of 数十万的

Millions of 数百万的

Tens of millions of数千万的

Hundreds of millions of 数亿的

Billions of 数十亿的

例句支持:

　　Hundreds of millions of people are living in harmful environment in the world. 全世界有数亿人仍然生活在有害的环境当中。

sb. take + 时间 + to do sth.=it takes sb.+ 时间 + to do sth.，意思是“某人花费多少时间做某事”。

　　例句支持:

　　I took five hours to do my home work.(=It took me five hours to do my homework.) 我花了5个小时做家庭作业。

开始做某事

（1） set out to do sth. 带着某种特殊目的

（2） begin to do sth. 描述某种状态的开始，反义词end

（3） start to do sth. 强调动作，反义词为stop

例句支持:

　　They set out to write a book on Chinese history. 他们开始着手写一部关于中国历史的书。

　　I begin to recover confidence. 我开始渐渐恢复了信心。

间接否定的说法总结:

Refuse to do sth.=do not want to do sth,

Fail to do sth,=do not do sth.

Object to doing sth.=do not agree to do sth.

be impatinet to do sth.意思是“急不可耐地做某事”。

　　例句支持:

　　I am impatient to see you.(=I cannot wait to see you./I am anxious to see you.) 我迫不及待地要见到你。

“yet+another/once/again”表示“又，再”，起强调作用。

　　例句支持:

　　This led to yet another angry argument. 这又引起了一场唇枪舌剑的争吵。

fail+动词不定式”的搭配看似肯定，实则否定。

　　例句支持:

　　I fail to see why you think so. 我不明白你们为什么这么想。

　　They fail to revive the economy. 他们没能使经济复苏。

be allowed to do sth.=be permitted to do sth.意思是“被允许做某事”

知识点

1  go to extremes.  走极端。

重要写作短语总结:描述做某事的状态

　　Go to extermes to do sth. 做某事走极端

　　Carry sth. To extremes 做某事很过分

　　Take a lot of risks doing sth. 冒险做某事

2  provide…with…作“向……提供……”解。

3  to write an article on, 写一篇有关的报道。

4  lead to …作“通往……”、“导致……”解

5  go to press, 付印。

6  Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well.  这是 not only… but… as well 引导的并列句子，如果将not only置于句首，后面主谓语应采取倒装结构。