【故事复现】一场不明原因的大火
• Step 1: Listen and answer the question.
第一步：听Freya慢速朗读的故事，回答下列问题。
Question: What caused the fire?
问题：是什么引起了大火？
• 词汇准备
• fireman 消防队员
• cause 原因
• examine 检查
• accidentally 意外地，偶然地
• remains 尸体，残骸
• wire 电线
• volt 伏特(电压单位)
• power line 电力线
• solve 解决
• mystery 谜
• snatch 抓住
• spark 电火花
• Step 2: Intensive reading.
第二步：故事精读。
At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California.
消防队员们终于扑灭了加利福尼亚的一场森林大火。
Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began.
从那时起，他们一直试图找出起火的原因。
Forest fires are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people
carelessly throw away.
森林火灾时常由破碎的玻璃或人们随手扔掉的香烟头引起。
Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any
broken glass.
昨天，消防队员仔细查看了地面，但未能发现碎玻璃。
They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire.
他们还十分肯定火灾也不是由烟头引起的。
This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause.
然而今天上午，一个消防队员偶然发现了起火的原因。
He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a
16,000-volt power line.
他发现了缠绕在16,000伏高压线上的一条死蛇。
In this way, he was able to solve the mystery. The explanation was simple but very
unusual.
就这样，他解开了起火之谜。解释很简单，却异乎寻常。
A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires.
The snake then wound itself round the wires.
一只鸟把蛇从地上抓起来，然后把它扔到了电线上。于是蛇就缠住了几根电
线。
When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire.
当它这样做时，把火花送到了地面，这些火花立刻引起了一场大火。
• Step 3: Listen again and answer the questions.
第三步：再听一遍，回答下列问题。
1 Have firemen put out a big forest fire in California or not? Have they been trying
to discover its cause?
2 Was there any evidence that it was started by broken glass or by a cigarette end or
not?
3 Who has just solved the mystery?
4 What did he notice? Had it been dropped by a bird on to the electric wires or not?
5 Where did the snake wind itself? What had it sent to the ground? Did this cause
the fire?
Answer: Now that firemen have put out a big forest fire in California, they
have been trying to discover its cause. There was no evidence that it was
started by broken glass or a cigarette end. However, a fireman has just solved
the mystery. He noticed the remains of a snake which had been dropped by a
bird on to some electric wires. In winding itself round the wires, the snake had
sent sparks to the ground and this caused the fire.
• Exercise: Sentence structure and vocabulary.
课外练习：句型及词汇训练。
1 Firemen examined the ground carefully because they________.
(a)were looking for cigarette ends
(b)were looking for broken glass
(c)wanted to find out what had caused the fire
(d)were looking for a snake
2 The fire had been caused by _________.
(a)a bird which flew on to the wires
(b)a snake which climbed on to the wires
(c)a bird which was eating a snake
(d) snake which had been dropped on to the wires by a bird
3 The firemen have been examining the ground ________ yesterday.
(a)since
(b)for
(c)ago
(d)by
4 Broken glass often ________fires.
(a)is causing
(b)has caused
(c)causes
(d)is caused by
5 They were quite sure it wasn't a cigarette end. They were ________.
(a)almost certain
(b)fairly certain
(c)completely certain
(d)nearly certain
6 He was able to solve the mystery. He ________.
(a)could if he wanted to
(b)could but he didn't want to
(c)succeeded in solving it
(d)didn't succeed in solving it
7 The bird had snatched the snake from the ground. The snake had been ________
the ground.
(a)at
(b)from
(c)over
(d)on
8 Firemen have put out the fire. They have _________.
(a)controlled it
(b)checked it
(c)extinguished it
(d)turned it off
9 Firemen discovered the cause ________.
(a)today morning
(b)today in the morning
(c)in the morning today
(d) this morning
10 They discovered the cause of the fire accidentally. They discovered it _______.
(a)by chance
(b)chancily
(c)fortunately
(d)luckily
11 In this way he was able to solve the mystery. ________he did it.
(a)That's so
(b)Like this
(c)That's how
(d)So
12 The bird had snatched up the snake from the ground. It had ________ it
(a)taken
(b)pulled
(c)seized
(d)carried
Key: 1c 2d 3a 4c 5c 6c 7d 8c 9d 10a 11c 12c
第四十二单元【语法点拨】
表语从句和同位语从句
名词性从句在be等系动词后作表语时被称为表语从句，表语从句要用陈述语
序。
• My idea is that the design plan should be put into practice immediately.
我的意见是这项设计方案应立即实施。
• The question remains whether we should put off the meeting till next month.
问题仍然是我们是否应该将会议推迟到下月举行。
▶ 表语从句的引导词
▪ 用连词that引导
• The indication is that it is an underworld killing.
迹象表明它是下流社会的谋杀。
• My chief worry is that he doesn’t have experience.
我的主要忧虑是他没有经验。
• The trouble with my job is that it is all work and no play.
我工作上的困扰是一味工作而全无玩乐。
注：①在非正式文体中，连词that可以省略。
• “What I can say is the people have decided, ”he said.
他说：“我能说的是，人民已经做出了决定。”
②当主句的主语为trouble, fact, reason等时，还可以在主句与从句之间使用
逗号而省略连词that。
• The fact is, you’ll probably do better.
实际上，你很可能就会表现得更完美。
• The trouble is, whatever you ask, he will never give you a straight answer.
麻烦的是，无论你问什么，他从不愿坦率地回答你。
▪ 由wh-疑问词引导
• The problem is what we should do to help him out.
问题是我们应该做什么帮助他渡过难关。
• That is why they decided to get divorced.
这就是他们决定离婚的原因。
▪ 由名词性关系词引导
在where, why, how等引导的表语从句作This is/That is的表语时,它们不含有
疑问意义,而是分别表示具体的地点、原因、方式等。
• April is when lilacs bloom.四月是丁香开花的季节。
• That is why we canceled the party.这就是我们取消聚会的原因。
• His home telephone number is what I want to know.
我想知道的是他的住宅电话号码。
▪ as, as if/though和because可以引导表语从句
• Things are not as they used to be.事情不是像它昔日那样了。
• He looks as if/though he didn’t care at all.他看起来好像一点不在乎。
注：主语是reason的表语从句要用that引导，而不可误用because
• The reason why he was late on his job was that he was held up in the traffic
jam.他上班迟到的原因是他遇到了交通堵塞。
同位语从句
在复合句中，充当同位语的名词性从句称为同位语从句。同位语从句表示与之
同位的名词(短语)的实际内容，它的作用相当于名词，对前面的名词(短语)加以
补充说明或进一步解释，同位语从句有时被称为内容从句。
▶ 同位语从句的先行词和引导词
▪ 同位语从句的先行词都是抽象名词
announcement, answer, belief, conclusion, decision, discovery, doubt, evidence,
explanation, fact, hope, idea, information, knowledge, law, news, opinion, possibility,
principle, problem, promise, report, risk, rumor, statement, truth, wish,等等。
• They are faced with the problem whether they should continue the
experiment.
他们面临着是否应继续那项试验的问题。
• The scientists have come to the conclusion that there is no life on Mars.
这些科学家们已得出结论：火星上没有生命。
▪ 同位语从句的引导词
(1)同位语从句的引导词有从属连词that, whether，疑问代词和疑问副词who, what,
why, how, when, where,等等，但用得最多的是that。
• I have no idea when she will come back from abroad.我不知道她何时从国
外回来。
• That’s the reason why I wrote to him.那就是我写信给他的原因。
• I have no idea what size shoes she wears.我不知道她穿几号的鞋。
• We haven’t yet settled the question where we are going to spend our summer
vacation.
到哪儿去度暑假，这个问题我们还没有决定。
(2)that引导词的同位语从句，不能直接放在介词之后，必须在介词之后加上一
个含有限定词的名词短语,如the fact, the belief, the truth等先行词，才能作为同位
语从句出现在这个介词之后。
• He always works hard in spite of the fact that he is not in good health.
尽管他健康状况不佳，但他总是努力工作。
• Is there any basis for the belief that our team will win the football match?
认为我们队会打赢这场足球赛有什么根据吗?
注：有时同位语从句不是紧跟在其先行词的后面而是被其他的短语隔开，形成
分离现象。
• The news came to the small seaside town that a powerful typhoon was
coming.消息传到了这个小海滨城市：一个强大的台风即将到来。
第四十三单元