Unit Two Crossing Limits
July 12, 2006
I…Try to translate the following sentences into Chinese, recite them and then pay attention to the underlined expressions.
1. To people of early civilization, the world map is a great puzzle.
2. It is well known that Africa has contacts with India and the Red Sea civilization from the earliest times.
The Arabic contacts to the African coast led to the next meeting between black people and a Chinese.
The contacts between China and Africa over the centuries led to the awareness of each other’s existence.
3. Silk from China found its way over land along the Silk Road to India, the Middle East and Rome , in exchange for spices and glass.
4. Ceylon, with its central position, was the place where Chinese merchants met with Arab merchants and heard about the westernmost lands
5. In the eleventh century, the Africans made several voyages to the court of the Song Dynasty.
6. It was a major development that the Africans were reaching out to China.
7. By the beginning of the fifteenth century the time was ripe for a grand meeting.
By the middle of the 1920s, the farthest corners of the earth had already been explored.
8. The Ming government had a large navy and the will to use it.
9. In the years between 14005 and 1433, seven treasure fleets sailed westwards on voyages of trade and exploration.
10. Under the command of Zheng He, the fleets set sail from the South China Sea across the Indian Ocean to the mouth of the Red Sea, and then traveled further south, discovering the eastern coast of Africa.
11. The wonderful gift and the contact with the black court so excited China’s curiosity about Africa that Zheng He sent a message to the king and to other African states, inviting them to send ambassadors and open embassies in the new Ming capital, Beijing.
12. The exchange of goods had a symbolic meaning far more important than the value of the goods themselves.
13. All that was left to be conquered was the “ third pole ”, the highest mountain on earth, Mount Qomolangma.
14. Apart from the cold, thin air and low oxygen levels can cause mountain sickness which can kill.
15. From the first British Qomolangma expedition in 1921, Sherpa strength,skill,honesty, and dedication have made them ideal companions on the mountain.
16. They had no idea what they were up against.
17. The local Tibetans and Sherpas laughed at the strange bottles containing what they referred to as “English air”.
18. After 1953 several hundred people have succeeded in climbing the mountain, some to be the first of their nation and many in attempts to climb the mountain over different slopes.
19. The New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, as members of a British team, were the first to make it to the summit of Mount Qomolangma.
20. In later years the question arose who was the first to reach the top.
21. At the age of 25, Qu Yinhua was the youngest ever to have reached the summit.
22. He believed south of the India Ocean a continent existed with a mild climate, where the people were very wealthy.
23. He was positive about the existence of a large unknown continent, and believed its northern coast to be lying somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
24. ……he was sure that there was no great southern continent with a mild climate, as scientists had believed for hundreds of years.
II. Useful expressions
1. 形成。。。。。的基础 form the foundation
2. 。。。。。。的交易中心 a trading center for
3. 发展成为 develop into
4. 提供有关。。。。。的信息 give information on
5. 势力达到了顶峰 reach the height of one’s power
6. 在新朝代的统制下 under a new dynasty
7. 启航 set sail
8. 再向南航行 travel further south
9. 进行几次探险 make several expeditions
10. 被俘虏 be taken prison by
11. 漫游在。。。。 wander through
12. 恢复和。。。。。。。的关系 renew relations with
13. 一个皇家的礼物 a royal present
14. 作为回报 in return
15. 由陆路 over land
16. 寻找海上通道 search for sea routes to
17. 经过几个世纪 over centuries
18. 沿海城市 coast towns
19. 以。。。。。的名义，代表 in the name of
20. 培养，提出 bring up
21. 红海口 the mouth of the Red Sea
22. 短暂时间 for a short time
23. 明朝廷 the Ming court
24. 世界主要河流的起源 the origin of the world’s major rivers
25．极限条件 extreme conditions
26．在死亡地带 in the death zone
27．几天 a couple of days
28．在这样的高度 at such a high height
29．神圣的 be sacred
30．尝试 make an attempt
31．技术进展 technological advances
32．在某人返回的时候 on one’s return
33．在这样搞得海拔 at such high altitude
34．没有冒险 without risk
35．用完 run out
36．29个其他中国人 29 other Chinese people
37．我们是作为一个集体登山的 We climbed as a team,period.
38. 火环 a ring of fire
39．直到那时 up till then
40．队。。。有把握，确信 be positive about
41．或多或少出自偶然 more or less by accident
42．派送某人再进行一次探险 send sb on a second expedition
43．尽可能向南方更远的地方航行 sail as far south as possible
44．迟在1767年 as late as 1767
45．这次且为最后一次 once and for all
III. Spelling
1. It is too early to evaluate ( 估计 ) his success now.
2. You can see various flowers in the garden.
3. There is a lot of old equipment in the workshop.
4. He gained his wealth by printing the works of some famous people.
5. The new government recalled its ambassador ( 大使 0 to that country.
6. Men’s social existence ( 存在 ) determines their consciousness.
7. My watch is not accurate.
8..They joined in the volunteers ( 志愿兵 ).
9. There isn’t enough evidence ( 证据 ), to prove him guilty.
10. An air raid is an attack delivered by aircraft.
IV. Translation
1. 吸烟通常被看成是一个坏的习惯，你最好把它戒了。
Smoking is usually referred to as a bad habit. You had better stop it .
2．使医生们最为困惑的是他们找不到这种疾病的起因。
What puzzled the doctors was that they couldn’t find the cause of the disease.
3．除了英语之外，他还会几种其他外语。同事们都很羡慕他。
Apart from English, he knows some other foreign languages. His colleagues admired him very much..
4．这家工厂配有现代化机器，因而产量去年翻了一翻。
This factory is equipped with modern machines, so the output is double that of last year.
5．她们不遗余力地试图重修两国之间的外交关系。
They spared no efforts to attempt to renew the foreign relations between the two countries.