1. In an African village, eleven-year-old Ajani hears a far-off scream as he washes his little sister in a bath that leaks water. (page 34)

far-off: adjective

(1) describes a time that is a long way from the present, or in the distant past or future:

some point in the far-off future

(2) describes a place that is a great distance away

as: conjunction while; during the time that:

I saw him as I was coming into the building.

He gets more attractive as he gets older.

leak: verb [I or T]

(1) (of a liquid or gas) to escape from a hole or crack in a pipe or container or (of a container) to allow liquid or gas to escape:

Water was leaking from the pipe.

Oil leaked out of the car.

The tin was leaking.

The car leaked oil all over the drive.

(2) to allow secret information to become generally known:

He leaked the names to the press.

News of the pay cuts had somehow leaked out.

2. Unprotected sex is the most common way that the virus is spread, accounting for 75 percent of adult infections worldwide. (page 34)

unprotected adjective

(1) not protected and therefore able to be harmed or damaged:

Water and other liquids can stained unprotected wood surfaces.

Although some marine mammals are protected by environmental laws, many remain unprotected.

The lack of a shell leaves the larvae unprotected against predators.

(2) unprotected sex sexual activity without a condom

common adjective the same in a lot of places or for a lot of people:

It's quite common to see couples who dress alike.

The surname 'Smith' is very common in Britain.

account for sth phrasal verb to form the total of something:

Students account for the vast majority of our customers.

3. To avoid this, some infected women seek an abortion rather than risk their child’s health. (Page 34)

avoid: verb [T] to stay away from someone or something, or prevent something from happening or not allow yourself to do something:

I try to avoid supermarkets on Saturdays - they're always so busy.

[+ ing form of verb] I try to avoid going shopping on Saturdays.

The report studiously avoided any mention of the controversial plan.

The plane narrowly avoided disaster when one of the engines cut out on take-off.

Unnecessary paperwork should be avoided at all costs.

seek: verb [T] sought, sought

(1) to try to find or get something, especially something which is not a physical object:

"Are you actively seeking jobs?" she asked.

Hundreds of dissidents are seeking refuge/asylum in the US embassy.

(2) to try or attempt:

They sought to reassure the public.

risk: verb [T]

(1) to do something although there is a chance of a bad result:

"It's dangerous to cross here." "I'll just have to risk it."

[+ ing form of verb] He risked losing his house when his company went bankrupt.

(2) If you risk something important, you cause it to be in a dangerous situation where you might lose it:

I'm not risking my life/INFORMAL neck in that old car.

He risked life and limb to get the cat down from the tree.

She was prepared to risk everything on a last throw of the dice.

4. Although many people are familiar with Aids and how it is transmitted, more than a few people subscribe to the view that HIV and Aids are an African problem because the infection rates there are very high. (Page 34)

are familiar with: 熟悉…的；通曉…的

Are you familiar with this type of car?

你熟悉這種型號的汽車嗎？

Are you familiar with the rules of baseball?

你熟悉棒球規則嗎?

He is familiar with that book.

他熟悉該書。

He is familiar with Chinese ancient history.

他通曉中國古代史。

Cf: be familiar to 為某人所熟悉

The street was familiar to me.

transmit： verb -tt-

（1）to pass something from one person or place to another:

a sexually transmitted disease

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated water.

Some diseases are transmitted from one generation to the next.

[R] Somehow your panic and fear transmits itself to the horse that you're riding.

（2） [I or T] to broadcast something, or to send out or carry signals using radio, television, etc:

Radio Seven transmits on 201 medium wave (= uses those particular radio waves to broadcast on).

The information is transmitted electronically to the central computer.

more than

(1) more than +數量詞，表示“……以上”、“多于”

More than 500 workers were involved in strikes last month

(2) more than +形容詞/副詞/動詞，表示“十分”，“非常”。

If you tell your father what you’ve done, he’ll be more than happy.

What he said more than disappointed me

(3) more than＋名詞，表示“不僅僅”，“不只是”

Learning English is more than a newspaper; it can also help to improve our English.

(4) more than…can /could, 意思是“不能…”,表示否定意義。

The cold was more than people could bear.

高考鏈接：

--Do you need any help, Lucy?

--Yes. The job is _____ I could do myself. (福建2007)

A. less than B. more than C. no more than D. not more than

答案：B

subscribe to sth： phrasal verb to agree with or support an opinion, belief or theory:

Frank subscribed firmly to the belief that human kindness would overcome evil.

5. Since it was discovered in the 1980s, it has become a serious problem in many places, infecting over 60 million people worldwide. (Page 34)

infect: verb [T]

(1) to pass a disease to a person, animal or plant:

The ward was full of children infected with TB.

All the tomato plants are infected with a virus.

(2) to make someone have the same feeling or emotion as you:

Her optimism seemed to infect all those around her.

(3) to pass harmful programs from one computer to another, or within files in the same computer:

A computer virus may lurk unseen in a computer's memory, calling up and infecting each of the machine's data files in turn

6. Apart from government efforts, international help has also been very important in fighting Aids in China. (Page 35)

apart from: 除…外

All the children like music apart from Bobby.

除了博比外所有的孩子都喜歡音樂。

The writer lives apart from his family.

作家不與家人同住。

Apart from being too large, the trousers don't suit me.

這條褲子不但太大,而且我穿著也不合適。

Apart from a few words, I do not know any French at all.

除了很少的幾句外,我對法語一無所知。

Test yourself:

______ being fun and good exercise, swimming is a very useful skill.

A. Except for B. Apart from C. Or rather D. in spite of

答案: B

For reference:

介詞besides，except，except for，but，apart from 和 in addition to 在用法上有何區別？

besides 和 in addition to 同義，表示“除……之外(還)……”。但是，當與nothing，nobody或no one等否定意義的不定代詞連用時，besides與except同義，表示“除…之外(其余都不)”。例如：

She knows Japanese besides English.

In addition to English, she knows Japanese.

All of them went to climb the mountain except me.

except 表示“除……外，(其余都)……”，常與“all，every，no，none，nothing”等含有整體肯定或否定意義的詞連用。

except for： 它的賓語與前述對象完全是兩回事。例如：The room was very cold and, except for Jack, entirely empty.這個房間很陰冷，而且除了杰克，完全是空蕩蕩的。

Except：指同一類事物的總體中除去一部分。如：He gets up early everyday except Sunday. 除星期天外，他每天早起。

Except that后面跟從句，語意與上同。如：He has always been in good health except that he has had a slight headache in the past few days. 除了在過去幾天里有些頭痛之外，他身體一直很好。

But：常可與 except互換，強調“不在其中”。例如：Everyone attended the meeting but Mary. 大家都出席了這次會議，但瑪麗不在其列。

besides:強調“除此之外，還包括”。例如：She can speak French and Japanese besides English. 除英語外，她還會講法語和日語。

apart from；其含義主要依據上下文而定，有時可與except換用，有時可代替besides.例如：Apart from the coat, the hat doesn't suit me. 除價錢太貴，這帽子也不適合我戴。

7. Dr David Ho, a Chinese American leading Aids expert, has devoted his body and soul to bringing up-to-date technology and international attention to China’s Aids problem. (Page 35)

devote sth to sth/sb to give all of something, especially your time, effort or love, or yourself, to something you believe in or to a person: （與to連用）獻身；專心于…

He left government to devote more time to his family.

She has devoted all her energies/life to the care of homeless people.

He devoted all his time to his job.

This magazine is devoted to science.

"After he has retired, he will devote himself to gardening."

up-to-date: adjective modern, recent, or containing the latest information:

Great trouble is taken to keep our database up-to-date.

8. It is estimated that between 2000 and 2020, over 68 million people will die of Aids in the countries most affected by this epidemic. (page 35)

estimate: verb [T] to guess the cost, size, value, etc. of something:

Government sources estimate a long-term 50% increase in rail fares.

They estimate (that) the journey will take at least two weeks.

It was difficult to estimate how many trees had been destroyed.

die of: verb [I] dying, died, died to stop living or existing, either suddenly or slowly:

to die of an illness

Twelve people died in the accident.

She died of/from hunger/cancer/a heart attack/her injuries

Every winter some old people die from hypothermia.

9. Their grandfather is taking care of them, and because their mother had access to prescription. (Page 35)

access: noun [U] the method or possibility of approaching a place or person, or the right to use or look at something:

The only access to the village is by boat.

The main access to the building is at the side.

The tax inspector had/gained complete access to the company files.

The system has been designed to give the user quick and easy access to the required information.

10. He believes that educating people at risk, as well as treating infected people, is the key to stopping the disease in the future. (Page 35)

risk: noun [C or U] the possibility of something bad happening:

In this business, the risks and the rewards are high.

There's a high risk of another accident happening in this fog.

The risk we might fail made us work twice as hard.

It's always a risk starting up a new business.

The company is quite a good risk

We want clean rivers and lakes, where you can swim without risk to your health.

It's a low/high-risk strategy.

at risk 有危險 children at risk

treat: verb [T] to use drugs, exercises, etc. to cure a person of a disease or heal an injury:

He is being treated for a rare skin disease.

Western medicine tends to treat the symptoms and not the cause.

11. I saw a TV new special focused on the worldwide Aids epidemic last night. (Page 37)

focus (sth) on/upon sb/sth : to give a lot of attention to one particular person, subject or thing:

Tonight's programmer focuses on the way that homelessness affects the young.

When the kitchen is finished I'm going to focus my attention on the garden and get that sorted out.

12. Their story was so sad that I had to choke back sobs. (Page 37)

choke: verb [I or T] If you choke, or if something chokes you, you stop breathing because something is blocking your throat:

She choked to death on a fish bone.

Children can choke on peanuts.

Peanuts can choke a small child.

choke sth back If you choke back feelings or tears, you force yourself not to show how angry or upset you are:

Choking back my anger, I tried to speak calmly.

"John has had an accident, " she said, choking back the tears.

Test yourself:

1. Hearing her mean words, I stood there trembling and tying to ______ tears.

A. choke out B. choke on C. choke back D. choke up

答案：C

13. If everyone in world spent just a penny on it, we could make a really big difference! (Page 37)

make a difference 有影響，很重要; 區別對待

What you have done now will make a difference to your future.

A year or two will make a great difference to us.

Hueper made a difference between the two things.