Unit 4 Earthquakes
Word usage
1.shake 1)v. (shook, shaken)
to (cause to) move up and down or from side to side with quick short movements. 2) n. [C usually sing.] an act of shaking
The house shook when the earthquake started.
Shake the bottle before taking the medicine.
He came forward and shook me by the hand. =He came forward and shook hands with me.
He was shaking with anger.
She answered “no” with a shake of the head.
2. rise 1) vi. (rose, risen) to move from a lower to a higher level or position; go up 2) n. [C (in)] an increase in quantity, price, demand etc.
The sun has not yet risen.
The population of the city has risen to five million.
He rose and left the room.
There will be a rise in unemployment next year.
There’s been a sharp rise in the cost of living.
2.pond n. an area of still water smaller than a lake, especially one that has been artificially made
Some cattle were drinking at the pond.
There are some fish living in the pond.
When an earthquake is coming, fish will jump out of ponds.
3.burst 1) v. to (cause to ) break open or break apart suddenly and violently, usually as a result of pressure from within and often cause the contents to become widely scattered.
2) n. an act of result of bursting; (of) a sudden short period of great activity, loud noise, strong feeling; outbreak
The balloon burst.
After ten days of rain the river burst its banks.
A burst of hand-clapping followed the ending of the song.
4. canal n. an artificial stretch of water dug in the ground to allow ships or boats to travel along
it, or to bring water to or remove water from an area
Coal used to be sent here by canal.
Canals have been built to irrigate the desert.
The Panama Canal joins two oceans.
5.steam n. [U] 1) water in the state gas produced by boiling
2) power or effort produced by steam under pressure, and used for making things work or move
Who invented the steam engine?
Steam was used to be the power of a train.
There is steam bursting from that hole.
6.ruin 1. n. a) [U] the cause or state of destruction and decay
b) [C] a building that has been badly damaged or destroyed
2. vt. a) to spoil or completely destroy a person or thing
b) to cause someone to loss all their money
The temple has fallen into ruin.
We visited the ruins of the temple.
The heavy rain ruined our holiday.
The hurricane ruined all the houses here.
The flood ruined the crops.
If I lose my lawsuit(官司), the cost will ruin me.
7.injure vt. to cause physical harm to (a person or animal), especially in an accident; hurt seriously; to damage
I hope I didn't injure her feelings.
His back was injured.
Two people were killed and seven were injured.
His reputation will be badly injured by the vicious rumour.
8.destroy vt. to damage sth so severely that it can not be repaired; put an end to the existence of; ruin
A fire destroyed the house.
What he said destroyed our last hope.
All hopes of peaceful settlement were destroyed by his speech.
9.brick n. [C,U] 1) a hard piece of baked clay used for building
2) sth. in the shape of a brick
They used yellow bricks to build the house.
The tower is made of bricks.
Bricks covered the ground like red autumn leaves.
10. useless adj. not of any use
This knife is so blunt. It’s useless.
I realized it was useless to reason with him.
I was useless at maths. = My maths is very poor.
11. shock 1) n. a) [C, U] a violent force from sth such as explosion, a crash or a hard blow
b) [C, U] the feeling you get after sth unexpected and usually very unpleasant has suddenly happened, or you have received an unexpected piece of news
c) the poor medical condition of someone who has an accident and whose heart and lungs are not working properly
2) v. to make someone feel very upset, angry, or unpleasant
Earthquake shocks are often felt in Japan.
The news of his death was a shock to us.
The traffic accident sent him into a state of shock.
They were shocked by her rudeness.
We were shocked by his sudden death.
12. rescue v. to save someone or sth from harm or danger
He rescued three children from the burning building.
The life boat was sent out to rescue the sailors from the sinking ship.
The boy was rescued after hours at sea.
13. disaster n. [C,U] a sudden event causes great loss or harm
We were all shocked by the disaster.
The earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters the country has ever suffered. People began to wonder how long the disaster would last.
14. organize v. to plan and arrange an event; to arrange things in a sensible order
We'll organize an oral English contest.
The story is very well organized.
They organized the truckers into a union.
15. shelter 1) n. a) [U] protection, especially from bad weather or danger b) a building that protects you from weather or danger.
2) vt. to protect someone or sth from bad weather or danger;
vi. to stay in a place in order to be protected from bad weather or danger
The umbrella is a poor shelter from heavy rain.
Their immediate need is for food, clothing and shelter.
The wall sheltered us from the wind.
She was accused of sheltering a murderer.
She wad sheltered by the USA.
In the rain people were sheltering in the doorways of shops.
16. fresh adj. 1) new and different (only before a noun ); 2) recently picked, caught, produced and therefore in good condition (used of food); 3) clean, cool and pleasant
They buy fresh meat.
This kind of fish lives in fresh water.
She is fresh from university.
She is quite fresh to office work.
17. percent n. parts for each 100
The bank has increased its interest rate by one percent.
Over ninety percent of the islanders here are illiterate.
He spends a large percent of his income on food and drink.
18. speech n. 1) [C] a formal talk to a group of listeners
2) [U] the ability to speak or the act of speaking
3) [U] way of speaking
The chairman made an opening speech.
She is researching speech development in children.
We express our thoughts by speech.
By your speech I can tell you're from Hong Kong.
19. judge 1) vi. & vt. to decide who or what is the winner in a competition
2) [vt. + that] to form or give an opinion about someone or sth after careful thought
judging from, judging by…
3) n. a public official who has the power to decide questions brought before a court of law; a person who has the knowledge and experience to give an opinion about the value of sth
You can't judge a book by its cover.
He is going to judge the first race.
We must judge whether he is guilty.
The prisoner was taken before the judge.
He was one of the judges at the horse race.
20. honour 1) n. a) [U] great respect and admiration
b) [sing] sth that brings great respect and pride
2) v. to show respect to sb. or to praise sb. publicly
We fight for the honor of our country.
He is an honor to our school.
Children should be taught to show honor to their elders.
He honors his teachers.
20. prepare 1) vt. to make sth. ready for a future event or action
2) vi. to get ready to do sth.
They prepared themselves for the worst.
When we arrived home, mother had already prepared dinner for us.
I was preparing for bed when I heard a knock at the door.
Useful expressions
1.right away
at once ; in no time; immediately
I will return the book right away.
I am getting in touch with him right away.
We are about to start right away.
2.end
1) at an end
finish; over
It seems that the world was at en end.
2) bring… to an end ＝put an end to…
I wonder how I can bring the dispute to an end.
＝I wonder how I can put an end to the dispute.
3) come to an end
The meeting came to an end at midnight.
4) at the end of…
At the end of the road there is a shop.
5) by the end of…
How many English words have you learned by the end of last term?
6) in the end =at last; finally
He will be a scientist in the end.
3.dig out
1) to get sth out of a place, using a spade or your hands
2) to find sth you have not seen for a long time, or that is not easy to find
Let’s dig out the roots.
Why did you dig out all those old magazines?
We must dig the truth out of him.
4.a (good \ great \ large) number of+ n.(pl.)
many; a large quantity of; a lot of
A good number of students are not interested in modern art.
I’ve seen the film a number of times.
The Great Wall attracts a great number of foreign tourists every day.
the number of…
The number of private colleges has increased.
= Private colleges have increased in number.
５. give out
1) to give sth to a number of different people, especially to give information to people
2) to produce light, heat, a sound, a gas, smell etc
You have no right to give my telephone number out.
Students were giving out leaflets(传单)to everyone on the street.
The teacher gave out the examination papers.
The radiator (散热器) is giving out a lot of heat.
与give有关的常用短语还有：
give away 送掉，捐赠
give in 让步，屈服
give off 发出（气味、光、热、声音等），此时相当于give out
give up 放弃
give back 归还
６. thousands of
基数词＋s，并不表示确切的具体数字，可以单独使用，也可以先接介词of再接复数名词。
There are thousands of people in the park on May Day.
Thousands of people died of hunger.
Mr. Smith gave thousands of books to the school.
注意：tens of thousands of 数以百万计的
hundreds of hundreds of 成百上千的
hundreds of thousands of 数十万的
millions of 数百万的
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