Online Class Notes (Mike)
Homework
写一篇关于你的家乡的文章
地理位置/气候/人口/食物/风景/独特之处（以…闻名）/你喜欢或不喜欢之处
Reading
A village without phones
The UK is not a big country, and it certainly is not a poor country. So you probably think communications are very good and everybody can use the internet and mobile phones. But this is not true. In some remote parts of the country, communications are very bad.
Staylittle is a village in the centre of Wales. In 1965, a journalist wrote about the village in a newspaper. He said, ‘it is miles from anywhere’. He also complained that the telephone lines in the village did not work well. That was a long time ago, but communications in the village have not changed very much. You cannot use a mobile phone in Staylittle because there is no signal. There are also problems with the telephone lines. When the villagers make phone calls, they often hear other people’s conversations at the same time!
The people who live there are tired of these problems. ‘You need good telephone lines these days,’ said one woman. ‘Last month I tried to buy something online. Unfortunately, the company refused to bring it here. That was because I couldn’t give them a phone number.’ Other people have stopped using their phones completely. They’ve started writing letters to friends and relatives instead, just like in the past.
The British government is spending money to improve internet connections in remote parts of the country. For this reason, most of the people in Staylittle hope that communications will get better soon. But in fact they have become worse recently. A few days ago, there was a bad storm in the area. Because of this, most of the telephone lines to Staylittle have stopped working completely. Now the village has only got one telephone, in the post office.
A few houses in the village have internet access. Their owners can get online and send emails However, it isn’t a good idea to use email in an emergency. ‘Imagine there’s a fire,’ said one man. ‘You can’t email the fire station and hope that they read it. You need to phone them!’
Writing exercise
I live in a country with my parents, looking out into the distance, I can see the coastline.
our house is a manor, A total of 1000㎡， There is a huge pool at the door and beautiful garden at the back of the house, My father has are many followers and vegetables in the garden.
I live in the countryside with my parents, looking out into the distance, I can see the coastline.
Our house is a manor/mansion, a total of 1000㎡(square meters). There is a huge pool in front of the house and a beautiful garden behind/in the back of the house. My father has are/grows many flowers and vegetables in the garden.
Our manor/mansion has five floors. The first floor is a spacious sitting room, we can hold parties there. In the summer, the pool can be used to hold parties, such as birthday party or music party.
The second floor is my parents’ room, there is a spacious balcony here.
The third floor is my room. Here’s my exclusive cloakroom, I can see the sunset when I take a bath/I can see the sunset from where I shower. The fourth floor has a gym and a cinema. And of course the basement is where I keep my limos/my parking lot.
Pronunciation
follower (n) 关注着，跟随者
flower (n) 花
flour (n) 面粉
Grammar
前： in front of sth
The hospital is in front of the museum.
I am standing in front of you.
后: behind
Behind me there is a big tree.
There is a big tree behind our house.
左/右: on the left/right side of
There are 2 families live on the left side of our house, and three on the right side.
7,000:
10,000:
20,000
56,000
110,000
Vocabulary
backyard (n) 后院
countryside (n) – city (n)
village (n) 村庄
rural (adj.) 农村的，乡村的，乡下的
rural area/region 乡村/农村地区地域
town (n) 小镇
Southern/Northern rural town
mansion (n) 豪宅
hold an event/party/meeting/game
organize (v) 整理 activity
hold (v) 举办
population (n)
China’s population is 1.4 （one point four）billion.
millionaire (n) 百万富翁
billionaire (n) 亿万富翁
billion (n) 十亿
cause (v) 引起，导致
pollution (n) 污染
air/water pollution
pollutant (n) 污染物
average (adj.) 平均的
inhabitant (n) 居民
altitude (n) 海拔
climate (n)气候
tropical climate 热带气候
climate change 气候变化
supply (n) 供应
open-air market (n) 露天市集、
crime (n) 犯罪，罪行
Reading
A Norilsk
Norilsk is in Russia and is further north than any other large city in the world. It is a very cold place, often -30°C (minus thirty degrees)in winter. You can’t get to Norilsk by car or bus because there aren’t any roads. You have to fly or, in summer, arrive by boat. (In winter, the sea turns to ice.) The city has a population of around 180,000. A lot of these people work for Norilsk Nickel, one of the biggest metal companies in the world. The factories there cause a lot of pollution. In fact, the ave rage life of an inhabitant of Norilsk is ten years shorter than other Russians. N地的居民的平均生命/寿命比其他的俄罗斯人短十年。
B Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas is in the south of Chile, in South America. It is the furthest south of any large city in the world. It is near the Antarctic circle （南极圈）, but because of the ocean, the winters are not very cold (usually above 0°C). The population of Punta Arenas is around 110,000 (one hundred and ten thousand). The city has a main square with large, attractive buildings. There are also interesting museums. And Punta Arenas is a good place to start a walking holiday, because it is on the edge of Patagonia, a region with amazing scenery. You can explore mountains and beaches – and see penguins too!
C El Alto
El Alto is the second largest city in Bolivia, a country in South America. It is also the highest large city in the world, with an 《altitude 》of 4,150 metres above sea level. It is near the capital, La Paz, but is bigger than the capital, with a population of about a million people. El Alto is not an easy place to live. There is a lot of traffic and the climate is cold: around -3°C in winter and only around 7°C in summer. And there are often problems with the water supply. The city’s main attraction is a large open-air market. Tourists sometimes come to El Alto to visit the market, but they have to be careful – there is a lot of crime in this region.
(minus thirty degrees)
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