Unit 10
The Bermuda Triangle
Phenomenon
Backgroud Information:
The Bermuda Triangle
It should be pointed out
that the U.S. Board of
Geographic Names does not
recognize the Bermuda
Triangle as an official name.
The “Bermuda or Devil’s Triangle” is an imaginary
area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the
The graveyard of the Atlantic: refers to the
United States, which is noted for a high incidence of
Bermuda Triangle.
It is small
considered
as aaircraft.
unexplained
losses of ships,
boats, and
The
apexes（顶点）of
the triangle
areplanes
generally
graveyard
simply because
many
and
accepted to be Bermuda, Miami, Fla., and San Juan,
ships have disappeared there mysteriously.
Puerto
Rico.
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Backgroud Information:
Bermuda
Bermuda was first
settled in 1609 by
shipwrecked English
colonists headed for
Virginia. Now Bermuda
has developed into a
highly successful
offshore financial
center.
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Backgroud Information:
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)
A Genoese navigator
and explorer for Spain,
Christopher Columbus
explored Caribbean
islands, coast of Central
America, South America,
etc. in the 15th and 16th
centuries.
Backgroud Information:
Atlantis
It is said that over 11,000
years ago there existed an
island nation located in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean,
which was the domain of
Poseidon, god of the sea. When Poseidon fell in love
with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at
the top of a hill near the middle of the island and
surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land
to protect her. The city of Atlantis sat just outside the
outer ring of water and spread across the plain
covering a circle of 11 miles (17 km).
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Text Structure Analysis
The passage can be divided into 3 parts:
Part I (Para. 1-3):
Part II (Para. 4-8):
The
disappearance of the
Part
III world-shaking
(Para. 9):
planes has aroused considerable public
On the
of more Triangle,
mysteriesbut
recorded
interest
in basis
the Bermuda
there
about
triangle,
severalremains
theories
are
no the
convincing
answers
to
this mystery.
The
Bermuda
Triangle
toare
be a
brought
mystery forth.
to us and further efforts need to be
made.
summary:
More and more mysterious
disappearances of ships and
planes around Bermuda have given
rise to people’s diverse and even
fantastic explanations of the
Bermuda Triangle phenomenon.
Words and Expressions
disappear without trace
claim the life of
 go as far as
 turn up
 attribute sth to
 to date
 on display
 set up


disappear without trace:
trace: n. & v.
(L5)
消失得无影无踪
n. A visible mark, such as a footprint, made
or find
left or
bydiscover
the passage
of…a by
person,
an
v. 1)
about
examining


animal,
or a thing
痕迹 they have gone
the direction
in which
 Fianally and mysteriously, the plane
2) discover the cause or origin by
She
lost all hope
of tracing
her missing
disappeared
without
trace.
examining the way of developing
daughter.
最后，神秘地消失得无影无踪了。
她对找到失踪的女儿已不抱任何希望。
She traced her family tree back to the 16th
century.
 We’ve lost all trace of our daughter.
她追溯自己的祖先至16世纪。
我们失去了女儿的音信。
claim the life of:
kill; deprive sb of his life (L12)
 Heart disease is the biggest killer, claiming
180,000 lives a year.
心脏病是最大杀手，每年夺去18万人的生命。
 A powerful bomb exploded outside the hotel
in downtown Jakarta on Tuesday, claiming
16 lives and wounding 150.
星期二在雅加达市中心的一家宾馆外面发生了一起威力
强大的爆炸，夺去16条生命，伤150人。
go as far as: make such a strong statement or
take such strong action as to 说/做到···程度 (L23)



He went so far as to call him a fool.
他竟然叫他傻瓜。
We have gone so far as to collect some
useful statistics.
我们甚至收集到了一些有用的统计资料。
They(L23-24)
went so far as to break off a fruitful
discussion
on this crucial question.
译：有些科学家和通俗作家居然猜测此三角地带是外
他们竟然中断了对这个重要问题进行的富有成效的讨
星人为他们的动物园捕捉人类标本之地。
论。
Whatever/Whoever/Wherever/Whichever/
However/Whenever clause, … 不管/ 不论······,······
•
Whatever the truth may be, planes and ships
regularly disappear in the triangle. (L. 25)
不论真相如何，飞机和船只仍常常消失在这个三角地带。
•
Whatever we may think of Tom, we have to
admit that he’s a highly competent man.
不管我们怎么看汤姆，我们必须承认他是个非常能干的人。
turn up:
(L27)
1) discover
2) happen

How do you turn up the necessary proof?
 你打算如何去找必要的证据？
A serious mistake has turned up in the
planning.

I在规划方面出现了一个严重的错误。
think I can turn up his letter if I look
through these files.
如果我在这些文件中找，能找到他的信的。
attribute sth to:
(L44)
1) regard sth as belonging to
2) be caused by or produced by

He attributed his success to hard work.
 The majority of disappearances can be
他把自己的成功归于勤奋。
attributed
to unique features of the area’s
environment.
canpoem
be caused
by the strange
features
 =…
This
is reportedly
attributed
to
of
…
Shakespeare.
(三角地带的)大多数失踪事件都
应归咎于该地区的独特
据说这首诗出自莎士比亚笔下。
的环境特征。
to date: so far, up to now


(L54)
To date, he has done half the work.
到现在为止，他已完成一半的工作。
To date, we have spent 5 million dollars on
the project.
迄今为止，我们在这个项目上投入了500万美元。
up to date: newest, modern
 We want our methods to be up to date.
我们希望我们的方法是最新的。
on display: being displayed (L58)


Her paintings are on display at the art gallery.
她的绘画作品在美术馆展出。
On display are more than 40,000 samples of
export commodities.
陈列的出口商品样品有四万多种。
set up:


cause sth to take place; trigger (L35)
The politician’s speech set off violence in
the crowd.
那个政治家的讲话引发了人群中的骚乱。
The careless handling of international
relations can set off a war.
国际关系处理不慎可能引发战争。
Questions for discussion:


Share with your group-mates some
mysterious phenomena you have come
across.
Search on the internet for more
information about the Bermuda Triangle
phenomenon.
Writing:
What Enlightenment Can Be
Gained from the World’s Mysteries
1) 人类社会面临着世界之谜的挑战。
2）分析该挑战给我们的启迪。
3）我们应怎样对待之？
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1) While we watch man’s ability to tame the
nature increase with each passing day, the
human world is often at a loss what to do in the
face of such challenges as the world’s mysteries.
(议论的主题) 2) The mystery of black holes, for
example, has cast much doubt on what we have
long been proud of or firmly convinced of. 3)
With a constant emergence of the unknown in
the future, in fact, man will have to be faced with
more and more of such challenges.
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4) If taken seriously, however, these
challenges can shed new light on our ways of
seeing and changing the world. 5) For one
thing, they can help build up man’s curiosity
for the world around him, as it is the nature of
man to seek for the better explanation of
something foreign to him.(分析I) 6）For
another, they can remind man of his ignorance
about the objective world, thus making him
aware of the fact that man is still far from
perfect in knowledge acquisition.(分析II)
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7) And best of all, they can prove man to be a
part of the nature rather than the master of
the nature.(分析III) 8) In this light, man
has every reason to take account of all the
important factors concerning the nature in
the course of his struggle for a better
survival and attach to each its due weight.
(进一步阐述)
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9) So most important for us now is how to
respond to the challenges with positive action.
10) On the one hand, in my opinion, we must
give full play to their strong incentive for our
further exploration of the unknown world.(建
议I) 11) But on the other, we must prevent
them from becoming the breeding ground for
pseudo-science or superstition. (建议II) 12) As
long as we see them in perspective, therefore,
they will serve as an ever-increasing force
behind the human progress. (结论句)
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The end
Thank you!