约3190字。

　　M4U3  Tomorrow’s world
　　Project Writing a science fiction story
　　Aims
　　1. To read summaries of two scientific fiction novels;
　　2. To learn the usage of some important words and expressions;
　　3. To learn to write your own science fiction story.
　　Procedures
　　1. Read through the whole passage;
　　2. Get the main idea by completing the task based reading on Learning English, 44th issue;
　　3. Learn the phrases and try to recite them;
　　4. Analyze the structure of long sentences.
　　I. Phrases
　　1. 科幻小说science fiction
　　2. 基于be based on
　　3. 收拾行李get things packed
　　4. 像太阳放射光芒give off light like the sun
　　5. 起航set sail
　　6. 突然之间All of a sudden, .../ Suddenly, ...
　　7. 偶遇come across/ run across/ run into/ meet with
　　8. 四处闲逛 wander/ hang around/ about
　　9. 发现远处有一个人靠着树坐着notice a man sitting against a tree in the distance
　　10. 从顶部掉下 the ceiling
　　11. 炸碎 blow up
　　12. 太快了以至于没法逃跑be too fast to escape
　　13. 在恐惧中抓紧小船hold on to the boat in terror
　　14. 时间飞逝(days and nights) zip by
　　II. Sentence structure
　　1. As they were wandering around, they noticed a man sitting against a tree in the distance—he was at least four meters tall.
　　【译文】当他们到处转悠时，发现远处有一个人背靠着树坐着——那人至少四米高。
　　句中as they were wandering around 用作时间状语；sitting against a tree in the distance 是现在分词短语，用作宾语a man的补足语。介词against此处译为“靠着”。
　　against 反对；靠着；在...映衬之下
　　① Are you for or against the plan?
　　② The mother laid the sleeping boy against her shoulder.
　　③ The red clothes stood out clearly against the snow.
　　2. They set sail again, and saw that what looked like an exit, but it was blocked by rocks which had fallen down from the tree.
　　【译文】他们继续航行，看到一个像出口的地方，但是被从洞顶掉下来的石头给堵住了。
　　句中what looked like an exit为宾语从句，其中what在从句中作主语；which had fallen down from the tree是定语从句，修饰先行词rocks。
　　3. The water rushed beneath them, pushing them out into the sunlight.
　　【译文】水猛烈地冲击着他们的船底，把他们推出洞口。
　　句中pushing them out into the sunlight作结果状语，现在分词v-ing作结果状语表自然产生的结果；而不定式to do 作结果状语，表意料之外的结果。
　　① I went to the station, only to find the train had left.
　　② His parents died, leaving him an orphan.
　　③ He was so angry that he threw the glass, breaking it into pieces.
　　④ He attempted to cover the facts, only to let them out.
　　【巩固练习】
　　① A little plane crashed into a hill, ___________(kill) 5 people.
　　② He hurried to the hotel, only ______________(tell) that all the tickets have been sold out.
　　③ football is played in nearly 80 countries, ________(make) it a popular sport.
　　④ He wop, only ________(find) himself in a hospital.
　　4. Days and nights zipped by and everything changed before my eyes.
　　【译文】白天、黑夜飞速交替，一切都在眼前变换。
　　句中zip是动词，表示“快速移动”的意思。如：When chatting with a friend, you will find that the hours can zip by.
　　此外，zip用作名词时，本意是“拉链”，作动词用意为“拉上拉链”。如：Walt of the house, I zipped up my overcoat because it’s freezing outside.
　　5. They lived underground, where they kept machines running so that Eloi would be happy and well fed.
　　【译文】他们住在地下，让机器保持运转，这样艾洛伊人就会很开心，被喂养的很好。
　　句中where they kept machines running so that Eloi would be happy and well fed是非限制性定语从句，修饰underground；其中还包含由so that 引导的目的状语从句。
　　① I'll give you all the facts so that you can judge for yourself.
　　② She worked hard so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
　　③I think we should live in harmony with the environment so that our next generation would benefit from it in the long term.