未来的冠军
文章讲解
Experiments have proved that children can be instructed in swimming at a very early age. At a special swimming pool in Los Angeles, children become expert at holding their breath under water even before they can walk. Babies of two months old do not appear to be reluctant to enter the water. It is not long before they are so accustomed to swimming that they can pick up weights from the floor of the pool. A game that is very popular with these young swimmers is the underwater tricycle race. Tricycles are lined up on the floor of the pool seven feet under water. The children compete against each other to reach the other end of the pool. Many pedal their tricycles, but most of them prefer to push or drag them. Some children can cover the whole length of the pool without coming up for breath even once. Whether they will ever become future Olympic champions, only time will tell. Meanwhile, they should encourage those among us who cannot swim five yards before they are gasping for air.
一、 词汇部分
1.instruct /ɪnˈstrʌkt/ v. 指导,传授
搭配:instruct someone to do something
2.Los Angeles 洛杉矶
Los Angeles Spanish for "The Angels"; , officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a U.S. Census-estimated 2016 population of 3,976,322, it is the second most populous city in the United States (after New York City) and the most populous city in the state of California. Located in a large coastal basin surrounded on three sides by mountains reaching up to and over 10,000 feet (3,000 m), Los Angeles covers an area of about 469 square miles (1,210 km2). The city is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is the center of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, with 13,131,431 residents, and is part of the larger designated Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area (CSA), the second most populous in the nation with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.
3.reluctant /rɪˈlʌk.tənt/ adj. 勉强的,不愿意的
reluctant to do something
e.g. Maddox was reluctant to talk about it.
4.weight /weɪt/ n. 重物
动词:weigh
e.g. I weigh 55 kilograms.
5.underwater /ˌʌn.dɚˈwɑː.t̬ɚ/ adj. 水下的
6.tricycle /ˈtraɪ.sə.kəl/ n. 三轮车
扩展:bicycle/unicycle/recycle
7.compete /kəmˈpiːt/ v. 比赛,对抗
扩展:competition/ pet-追求;appetite 胃口
e.g. Ihave a very poor appetite in the morning. I don’t feel like eating anything after I get up.
8.yard /jɑːrd/ n. 码
英文解释:a unit of measurement equal to three feet or approximately 91.4 centimeter.
9.gasp /ɡæsp/ v. 喘气
二、文章讲解
1.Experiments have proved that children can be instructed in swimming at a very early age. At a special swimming pool in Los Angeles, children become expert at holding their breath under water even before they can walk.
1)【复习】语法点:宾语从句
性质:名词
连接词:that/wh-
时态:跟主句相关
语序:陈述语序
2)at a very early age
e.g. She’s played tennis from a very early age.
e.g. If you get to know about these things at an early age you lose your shame and shyness.
3)become expert at something/doing something
e.g. If you want to become expert at something, teach it to someone else.
e.g. If you want to become expert at something, you should try deliberate practice.
4)breath部分必备搭配:
take a breath:
e.g. She took a long slow breath to calm down.
a deep breath (=a breath that fills your lungs):
e.g. Take a deepbreath and dive into the water.
Bad breath 口臭(breath freshener口气清新剂)
e.g. You know why I don’t want to kiss you? because you have a very serious bad breath.
2.Babies of two months old do not appear to be reluctant to enter the water. It is not long before they are so accustomed to swimming that they can pick up weights from the floor of the pool. A game that is very popular with these young swimmers is the underwater tricycle race.
1)It is not long before …. 不久就
2)Be accustomed to something/doing something
e.g. I'm not accustomed to getting up so early.
e.g. Her eyes quickly became accustomed to the dark.
备注:become/grow/get accustomed to something
备注:get used to
3)so… that…如此以至于(和倒装句结合)
e.g. So hard Peter work that everyone thinks he deserves his success.
4)weigh 用法总结
put on weight (also gain weight formal)e.g. He have put on weight since I last saw him.
lose/shed weight
e.g. She lost a lot of weight when she was ill.
watch your weight (=try not to get fatter, by eating the correct foods)
e.g. He has to watch his weight because he has a heart condition.
a weight problem (=a tendency to be too fat)
e.g. I’ve always had a weight problem.
weight gain
e.g. The medication can cause rapid weight gain.
weight loss
e.g. After the first month, weight loss slows down.
somebody’s target weight (=the weight someone is trying to be)
e.g. I’ve reached my target weight.
excess weight (=the pounds that make you heavier than you should be)
e.g. You’ll feel better if you lose the excess weight
3.Tricycles are lined up on the floor of the pool seven feet under water. The children compete against each other to reach the other end of the pool. Many pedal their tricycles, but most of them prefer to push or drag them. Some children can cover the whole length of the pool without coming up for breath even once.
e.g. Peter pedalled up the road towards the town centre.
4.Whether they will ever become future Olympic champions, only time will tell. Meanwhile, they should encourage those among us who cannot swim five yards before they are gasping for air.
1)倒装句
2)定语从句