Lesson 39
Nothing to worry about
不必担心
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
What was the difference between Bruce's behaviour and that of other people?
The rough across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
As we bumped over eh dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders. The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty years and was tow feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding half. A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!
New words and expressions 生词和短语
rough
adj. 崎岖不平的
boulder
n. 大石块
pit
v. 使得坑坑洼洼
perturb
v. 使不安
underestimate
v. 低估
swerve
v. 急转变
scoop
v. 挖出
hammer
v. （用锤）击打，锤打
ominously
adv. 有预兆的，不祥的
rip
v. 划破，撕，扯
petrol
n. 汽油
stretch
n. 一大片（平地或水）
obstacle
n. 障碍
clump
n. 丛，簇
fissure
n. （石，地的）深缝
renew
v. 重复
pleading
n. 恳求
gear
n. 汽车排档
astride
prep.骑，跨
crack
n. 缝隙
zigzag
n. “之”字形
shallow
adj. 浅的
grind (ground, ground)
v. 磨擦
halt
n. 停
dashboard
n. （汽车上的）仪表盘

穿越平原的道路高低不平，开车走了不远，路面愈加崎岖。我们想劝说布鲁斯把车开回我们出发的那个村庄去。尽管路面布满石头，坑坑洼洼，但布鲁斯却一点儿不 慌乱。他瞥了一眼地图，告诉我们前面再走不到20英里就是一个村庄。这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难，而是他压根儿没有一点儿危险感。他认为不管路面情况如 何，车必须以最高速度前进。 我们在尘士飞扬的道路上颠簸，车子东拐西弯，以躲开那些大圆石。车轮搅起的石块锤击车身，发出不祥的锤击声。我们想念迟早会飞起一个石块把油箱砸开一个窟 窿，或者把发动机砸坏。因此，我们不时地掉过头，怀疑车后是否留下了机油和汽油的痕迹。 突然大石块不见了，前面是一片平地，唯一的障碍只有一簇簇灌木丛。这使我们长长地松了口气。但是更糟糕的事情在等着我们，离我们不远处，出现一个大裂缝。 我们再次央求布鲁斯小心，他这才把车停了下来。我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。我们告诉他那个大裂缝长50码，宽2英尺，深4英尺。这也没有 对他产生任何影响。布鲁斯挂上慢档，把两只前轮分别搁在裂缝的两边，顺着弯弯曲曲的裂缝，以发疯的速度向前开去。我们还未来得及担心后果，车已重新开上了 平地。布鲁斯又看了一眼地图，告诉我们那座村庄离我们只有15英里了。下一个障碍是一片约半英里宽的浅水塘。布鲁斯向水塘冲去，但车开到水塘当中，嘎吱一 声停住了。仪表盘一盏黄灯闪着刺眼的光芒，布鲁斯兴致勃勃地宣布发动机里没油了！

■rough adj. 崎岖不平的
Eg: We’d better not take the rough road.
be rough on sb. 对某人苛刻，无礼
Don’t be rough on your friends.
cut up rough 发脾气

L38-05_39-01 end 9’11”

L39-02 begin 9’23”

■boulder n. 大石块
■pit v. 使得坑坑洼洼
■perturb v. 使不安
verp upset
be perturbed about sth 为…而心神不安
His threats didn’t perturb her in the least
disturb 并非用心去扰乱
Eg:It is disturbing to think that a wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.
plague 因病痛和类似的折磨而使人苦恼
Eg:The terrible disease plagued him
trouble
Eg:Sorry to give you trouble. / Sorry to trouble you.
worry
Eg:He is worried about his son’s safety.
fret
Eg:He freted himself all the time for news of her.
upset
Eg:I feel upset now because I am afraid I hurt you.
dismay 使沮丧
辨别：perturb ; disturb ; plague ; trouble ; worry ; fret ; upset ; dismay

■underestimate v. 低估
■swerve v. 争转变
■scoop v. 挖出
Eg:She sccped out some sugar.
make a scoop 走运
Eg:That guy made a scoop.

■hammer v. （用锤）击打，锤打
■ominously adv. 有预兆的，不祥的
ominous adj.
Eg:Look at those ominous black clouds.
omen n.
Eg:This is a good / bad omen.
Eg:The clouds omen rain.

■rip v. 划破，撕，扯
tear
rip one's mask away 撕下某人的假面具
let things tip==let things be 听其自然
rip into 猛攻，抨击
rip off 偷窃
rip up the back 背后说坏话

■petrol n. 汽油
■stretch n. 一大片（平地或水）
at a stretch 连续的，一口气的，不停顿的
a stretch of land
a stretch of water
Eg: He worked for hours at a stretch.
We drove fast on a stretch of open field.
He is unable to work for long stretches.
a stretch of hill 连绵不断的群山
vt.
He stretched out his hand to get the apple.
There are forests stretching for hundreds of miles.
Transport was rather stretched in the Spring Festival.
■obstacle n. 障碍
Lack of education is an obstacle to success.
constitue an obstacle to 构成…的障碍
remove/ overcome an obstacle 克服困难
put obstacle in sb's way 妨碍某人的发展
obstacle to 介词to
L39-02 end 9’23”

L39-03 begin 9’04”

要英语中有好多动词要与介词to搭配：
key; answer; shred; advantage; disadvantage; admission; damage to
辨别：obstacle; obstruction; hindrance
Eg: Lake of education is obstacle to success.
There must be an obstruction in the pipe.
You are more of hindrance than help.

■clump n. 丛，簇
■fissure n. （石、地的）深缝
■renew v. 重复
■pleading n. 恳求
■gear n. （汽车）排档
■astride prep. 骑，跨
■crack n. 缝隙
■zigzag n. “之”字形
■shallow adj. 浅的
■grind (ground, ground )v. 磨擦
grind wheat into flour
grind sth to pieces 把……弄成碎片
grind one's teeth in anger 气得咬牙切齿

■halt n. 停
==stop
They halt for a few minutes.
stop; halt; cease
Eg: The heart will cease to beat when life ceases.
pause vi.
He paused for a breath.
halt
They halted for a few minutes.
halt; cease; pause; stop
halt n.
come to a halt / stop 停下来

■dashboard n. （汽车上的）仪表盘

Nothing to worry about
get sb. to do sth.: persuade / advise sb. to do
Please get them to finish the work as quickly as possible.
Please get him to give up smoking.
be littered with
be pitted with
even though: even if

not in the least= not at all / not a bit/ not the least bit 一点也不
not a little = very much

by no means= in no way =on no account =at no times= under no circumstances 绝不

a mere==only （必须和不定冠词搭配）

It was not (to say )…… 这并不是说

dusty track==dusty road

look back 回头看
wondering 从句做伴随状况状语
How relieved we were

give way to 为……所代替
Eg: The great clouds gradually broke up and give way to blue sky.
He has no intention of iving way to your demands.

in response to : in reaction to

本课优秀结构：Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.

hardly ... when...
He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house.
Before he had hardly had time to worry about what might happen when we were back on the plane again.

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Comprehension
1 Why were the passengers so relieved when the boulders disappeared?
a. Bruce could now drive even faster.
b. They had covered the greater part of the distance to the village.
c. It seemed less likely that they would meet with disaster.
d. They had seen the huge fissure that lay ahead of them.

2 When they reached the fissure, Bruce stopped the car because _____ .
a. the passengers had begged him to do so
b. he wanted to know the exact dimensions of the fissure
c. he thought it was safer to drie across it without the passengers
d. he was not sure whether the car was wide enough to bridge it
In response to renewed pleadings , Bruce stopped.

3 Bruce’s reaction to the final episode shows that _____ .
a. he was not the sort of person to be perturbed by anything
b. he was extremely brave in face of danger
c. he had underestimated the depth of the pool
d. when it came to crossing water, his driving was nto good enough
(背熟)

Structure
4 He believed _____ a car as fast as it could possibly go. (ll.7-8)
a. driving in b. he would drive c. to drive d. in driving
believe sb. / sth. that / in

5 _____ when the boulders suddenly disappeared. (l.13)
a. How relieved we felt b. What a relief we were feeling
c. So relieved we felt d. How we felt relieved
what感叹句的主体词是名词；how 感叹句的主体词是形容词。

6 Bruce _____ when the car came to a grinding halt. (l.21)
a. hadcharged through it midway b. charged through it to the middle
c. charged midway through it d. was in the middle of charging through it

7 Bruce cherfully announced that the engine _____ out of oil. (l.22)
a. ran b. had run c. was running d. has run
run out of

Vocabulary
8 Glancing at his map, heinformed us that the next village was _____ twenty miles away. (ll.4-5)
a. simply b. boringly c. only d. in significantly

9 ---- where nothing could _____ but clumps of trees. (ll.13-14)
a. hinder our rogress b. spoil our course c. hold up our train d. harm our way
hinder== obstacle

10 When we pleaded _____ , bruce stopped. (l.15)
a. afresh b. aloud c. repeatedly d. forcibly

11 He said: ‘It’s fifteen miles _____ the village. ’ (ll.19-20)
a. until b. to c. from d. before

12 ---- obstacle was a shallow pool of water half a mile _____ . (ll.20-21)
a. side by side b. from top to bottom c. from side to side d. up and down

【Key to Multiple choice questions】
1. C 2. A 3. A 4. D 5. A 6. D 7. B 8. C 9. A 10 .C 11. B 12. C