Unit 3 Preview

2. Read the text for the better comprehension and answer the questions.

1) Here it means in the countryside.

2) It is difficult to tell the difference between the root crops you buy from stores and those you grow yourself in your garden. Note:

(1) root crops: What are grown so that the

roots can be used for food, such as carrots.

(2) tell apart: Recognize the difference

between two people or things that are very similar.

(3) when store bought: when they are bought in stores

3) having a particular effect or influence 在起作用

It refers to the back-breaking labor human beings pretend to do in a game. (Does he not refer to pretence as back-breaking? Maybe as

when a very sick person pretends to be well to save someone worry?)

4) It means that he thought about it very calmly and carefully before he made this decision never to plant it again. He was exaggerating of course.

5） waft through: float through the air in a gentle way, said of smell or noise

6） It means “seriously intend to do what you say you will do.

7） The worms were slowing coming out of the melting soil and they were delicious food for the birds of course. (And he was thinking it was delicious too, because it meant the end of winter and he could begin to garden.) 8） a piece of land for a particular purpose “Conflict” here refers to the struggle in his mind. (No. I think it is the sense of conflict with the earth required to make a garden that he likes?)

9） Sparingly: in small quantities 节约地。少量地

Broadcast: sow seeds over a wide area, especially by hand

10） “neurotic” means “ extremely worried about something unimportant in a way that seems unreasonable to other people. The author is using this in a self-mocking tone. 11)Also, your natural tendency to act as a kind and caring father or mother begins to have an effect.

12) as it were: used for making a description sound less definite or less exact (well, used to make a comparison – gardener as parent? A kind of personification of the growing things) 可以说；在某种程度上可以说

turn upon you: Here, “turn upon/on sb” means “attack sb suddenly and without warning”

13) occupation: a job or employment, but here: a way of spending your time; a pastime

14) Here, a pointed piece of wood or metal etc for driving into the ground as a mark or for holding a rope etc

15) slight differences in degree of green

16) pocket: a small area different from the areas around it

personal reassurance: sth that makes a person feel less worried

thrusting life: life that is moving forward quickly and powerfully

17) an extension of oneself: the further growth or development of a person

Paraphrase: Gardening has to be another place where people continue to work hard to achieve something.

18) character: the qualities that make up a person’s personality

character-building: helping to develop one’s character 性格锻炼；品德培养。 The

author is now openly expressing the belief that gardening is an extremely important occupation, something human beings have been doing since Adam and Eve’s time. The final sentence is ironical and humorous, referring to how they disobeyed God and was

driven out of the Garden.

Vocabulary

1. Do the following exercises on word formation rules.

1) Translate the following compound words and study how they are composed. 1. 累人的/繁重的 2. 耗费时间的

3. 炼性格/培养人品 4. 立法 5. 救火

6. 找工作/求职 7. 保护脸面的 8. 维和 9. 捣乱分子 10. 止疼药 11. 摘棉工人 12. 筹集资金的人 13. 算命先生 14. 管家