Unit 3 Out of Step
Key to the Exercises
Text comprehension
I. Decide which of the following best states the author's purpose of writing.
A
(The author brings the attention of Americans to the fact that they walk too little by citing many of his personal experiences as well as others'. He does not write out any solution to the problem; he simply \"sounds the siren\" as the last sentence of the passage shows: \"And if that isn't sad, I don't know what is.\")
II. or false.
Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true
1. T (Refer to Paragraph 1. The author and his wife wanted to live in a small,
compact, and sedate town where they can go about their business on foot when they moved back to the United States. As a result, they settled down in Hanover, a typical New England town.)
2. T (Refer to Paragraph 6. Though it was convenient to go about one's
business on foot in the town, the author could hardly find anyone else who did so. His acquaintances in the early days would \"depart reluctantly, even guiltily\" when
failing to persuade the author to accept a ride as if they escaped the scene of an accident without giving their names.)
3. F (People like the man who drove his car to do the chores and the
woman who complained about the difficulty of parking outside the gymnasium make a clear distinction between exercise and walking for business. They \"jog extravagant distances\" or walk on the treadmill, but they never take walking on the sidewalk as a form of exercise.)
4. T (Refer to Paragraphs 18 and 19. The pedestrian mall constructed in the
early 1970s in Laconia proved to be a commercial disaster simply because people had to walk one whole block to the mall from the nearest parking place. When the shopping mall was reconstructed so that people could park their cars immediately before the stores, downtown Laconia thrived again. That suggests how reliant Americans are on their cars.)
III. Answer the following questions.
1. Refer to Paragraphs 3 to 6. They find it odd to see the author walking
around for his business and they even feel slightly guilty for leaving the author on the sidewalk without driving him to the place he is going to.
2. Refer to Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7. Ordinary Americans, even in this
agreeable and easy place to go about on foot, have virtually never done so. In fact, in the U.S., people have got accustomed to using the car for everything.
3. Refer to Paragraphs 7 to 9. The American people have come to depend
on cars for almost everything to the extent that they have forgotten about what they can do with their legs. Sometimes, they would take great and ridiculous trouble with driving rather than take an easy walk.
4. Refer to Paragraph 14. According to an editorial in The Boston Globe, the
U.S. has spent less than one percent of its transportation budget on facilities for pedestrians. The government, in this sense, has basically ignored the need for pedestrians, which has caused some trouble for the author and discouraged people from going about on their business on foot.
5. Refer to Paragraphs 16 and 17. He is sad because he has come to realize,
from the case of Laconia, N.H., that people don't walk anywhere anymore in the country.
IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences.
1. People in the United States tend to drive for every purpose, so much so that they have forgotten that they still have legs and about what their legs can do.
2. I admit that I had never realized how poorly equipped our bodies are in this respect.
3. … Maybe I was the only person who had ever attempted to cross that intersection on foot.
Structural analysis of the text
The author develops his ideas by means of examples. He cites factual and verifiable examples: the man he observed outside the post office, his conversation with an acquaintance of his who would drive to the gym to do exercises, his own effort to walk across the street and the commercial failure of the pedestrian mall in Laconia. These examples have made his idea more effective and convincing.
Rhetorical features of the text
1. \"I confess it had not occurred to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in the regard.\" (Paragraph 13) (for self-debasement)
2. \"An acquaintance of ours was complaining the other day about the difficulty of finding a place to park outside the local gymnasium. She goes there several times a week to walk on a treadmill. The gymnasium is, at most, a six-minute walk from her front door.\" (Paragraph 10) (for satire on some ridiculous contradiction in a particular act)
Vocabulary exercises
I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.
1. pleasant/comfortable, practically
2. very long, (places of) physical exercises
3. was made to realize this
4. decided not to have coffee and instead to go (to the bookstore)
5. held in mind
II. Fill in the blank in each sentence with a word taken from the box in its
appropriate form.
1. negotiated 2. debonair
3. dodging 4. notion
5. compact 6. contortion
7. thrive 8. undertaking
III. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.
1. disagreeable 2. eccentricity
3. acquainted 4. ridicule
5. triumphal 6. deficiencies
7. woefully 8. contorted
IV. Fill in the blank in each sentence with an appropriate phrasal verb or collocation taken from the text.
1. going about 2. going through
3. pops out 4. pace off
5. pulled up 6. dug out
7. stroll up to 8. habituated to
V. Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence
in the sense it is used.
1. Antonym: bustling (exciting)
2. Synonym: old (time-honored)
3. Antonym: depressed (downhearted, low-spirited)
4. Synonym: absurd (ridiculous)
5. Antonym: indifferent (unconcerned)
6. Synonym: infuriating (irritating)
7. Antonym: failure (defeat)
8. Synonym: again
VI. Explain the underlined phrasal verbs in your own words.
1. encountered 2. cause
3. agreed to 4. limited to
5. idling about 6. relied on
7. tolerate 8. deserted/abandoned
Grammar exercises
I. Complete the sentences with the progressive of the verbs in brackets.
1. had been talking
2. had been working
3. had worked
4. had been applying
past perfect or the perfect past
5. had broken
6. had been standing
7. had swallowed
8. had been
II. Complete the following sentences according to the given situation.
1. has been empty
2. had been working for the company
3. had been waiting for me for half an hour
4. had had lunch
5. had left
6. has been living
7. had repaired the engine
8. had told
III. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.
had seen returned didn't have didn't have
had done was didn't have did
left had was
decided picked went slammed
felt had reminded had searched found
remembered were
IV. Complete the following sentences with shall, should, will or would.
1. will
2. shall
3. Should (Should ministers decide = If ministers should decide)
4. would
5. will (Will expresses strong intention.)
6. shall (When shall is used with the third person, it suggests strong determination.)
7. should
8. should
9. would (Here, we use would not to say that Mary is unwilling to or refuses to listen to the doctor.)
10. would (Stressed would is used to criticize. It means \"it is typical of you… )
V. Fill in each blank with a word or phrase taken from the box.
1. nowadays
2. ages ago
3. lately, just
4. soon, after a long time
5. immediately, Eventually
6. once
7. recently
8. for weeks
VI. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the italicized parts in your sentences.
1. After standing in the queue for hours, we got good seats.
I always feel better after talking to you.
2. You look as if you knew each other.
He lay still, as if shot.
Translation exercises
I. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1. 我几乎每天都步行到邮局、图书馆或书店，心情特别不错的时候，路过罗斯·杰可斯咖啡店还会进去喝上一杯卡布奇诺。
2. 为了省力不走路，我们宁可大费周折。
3. 我肯定，他天天长跑，会打壁球，还会进行各种各样有益健康的运动，但我同样也肯定，他去健身时每次都是开车去的。
4. 当时我真是觉得又好气又好笑，但后来我意识到，可能也就只有我一个人想要步行通过那个十字路口。
II. brackets.
Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in
1. The university is one of the most venerable institutions of higher learning in the world.
2. If one is deficient in practical experience, he can hardly make himself a success with only what he has acquired in class.
3. I felt exasperated by constant interruptions, for I had to finish writing the monograph by the end of this week.
4. He feels that it is ludicrous to write on a contemporary theme in an ancient style.
5. The Bund in Shanghai was a place where young couples liked to come to coo in the 70s and the 80s of the last century.
6. His daughter is very sedate for a girl of about ten, for she likes reading more than playing.
7. The couple strolled hand-in-hand along the country road when the sun in its first splendor steeped the earth.
8. The poet was commonly considered as an eccentric romantic genius
when alive.
III. Translate the following passage into Chinese.
大约三年前，我和我妻子对大城市的嘈杂生活感到厌倦，因此，决定在一个小镇落户, 那里安静宜人。现在我们的生活很好，因为这地方方便，办点事步行去就行。我经常四处走走，心情好的时候，在咖啡店歇一下，喝杯饮料，或在洲际戏院停住脚步，看一场戏。但是，有些人似乎不理解我的怪僻行为。我喜欢尽可能地多走路，这是大部分人所不能理解的，因为他们太过于依赖车子了。有时，几乎到了荒唐滑稽的程度，即便只是10分钟步行的路程，他们仍然喜欢驾车。有时，我在独自散步，他们会问我是否需要搭车。但我认为，车子使腿脚功能退化。在这个社会里，多数派占据主导地位。我意识到，我或许是唯一主张短距离步行的人，这也就是我不时地遇到麻烦的原因。比如：许多商店把门前清理出来，只容顾客停车，店家关心的只是商业成功。
Exercises for integrated skills
I. Dictation script
Recently in the United States,/ there has been a debate concerning old drivers./ There have been a series of accidents/ committed by elderly drivers/ and they have given rise to new debates on the old issue:/ how old is too old to drive?/ Some people point to statistics/ showing that older drivers are safer than teenagers,/ at least until they reach seventy-five./ Moreover, elderly drivers are less likely to drive drunk/ than other drivers. However, at least twenty-one states/ have
special requirements on older drivers:/ those over sixty-five and older/ are required to renew their driving license every year/ and undertake vision tests./ Taking away a license can rob older people of their independence/ and force them to rely on others/ for trips to the grocery store or doctor's office./ Some people argue/ whether someone continues to drive or not/ should be based on performance/ not just simply age.
II. Fill in each blank in the passage appropriate.
(1) more (2) around
(3) free (4) leave
(5) programs (6) ease
(7) it (8) signed
(9) environmental (10) handing
(11) only (12) With
below with ONE word you think
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