时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(十月)


英语课

Survival Guides Turn Nerds into Action Hero


 


A few years ago, David Borgenicht, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a book agent. Then one day, he read an article that gave him an idea for his own book.



He and a friend - magazine writer Joshua Piven - produced an instant best-seller that developed almost a cult 1 following. It’s about life-and-death situations - and how to survive them.



The article that David Borgenicht was reading told people how they might safely land a small plane if the pilot passes out. It got him thinking about other hair-raising situations in movies and TV shows. Of course it’s one thing for an action hero to leap from a moving motorcycle into a car or fend 2 off a killer 3 shark.



But how would ordinary, out-of-shape readers do it? How would they wrestle 4 free from an alligator 5, for example, or survive if their parachutes do not open, or escape from a mountain lion?



Borgenicht and Piven produced a pocket-sized book called The Worst-Case Scenario 6 Survival Handbook. In its first eight months, it sold more than one million copies and has been reprinted at least a dozen times.









Great white shark bearing down on you? No worries, consult the "The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook."




Killer bees chasing you? Not a problem. Lost in the desert? Turn to Page 129. Need to build a fire but don’t have any matches? No sweat, write Borgenicht and Piven, who are themselves just ordinary physical specimens 7.



Other advice? If you find yourself on top of a moving train, here’s how to survive: don’t stand up.



And what if a bull is charging you? Not to worry, say the authors: don’t antagonize the bull; do not move; look for an escape route; if one is not available, remove an article of clothing, such as your shirt; throw the clothing away from you and run for your life in another direction.



Common sense, perhaps, but it could come in handy. The authors have since produced a whole series of guides, reality television shows, and calendars about surviving everything from traveling to college to a game of golf.



We should note that, despite the helpful tips, the Worst Case Survival books are sold in the humor section of bookstores.



n.异教,邪教;时尚,狂热的崇拜
  • Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书,但有一定的崇拜者。
  • The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。
v.照料(自己),(自己)谋生,挡开,避开
  • I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
  • He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。
n.杀人者,杀人犯,杀手,屠杀者
  • Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
  • The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。
vi.摔跤,角力;搏斗;全力对付
  • He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
  • We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。
n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)
  • She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
  • Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。
n.剧本,脚本;概要
  • But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
  • This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人
  • Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
  • The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
absorptive-type
air absorption
alarm box
anterior conjunctival veins
antiaggression
antisensitizer
antistreptin
arundhati
astronomic meridian
average access speed
be hung over
be in a tearing hurry
Bernoulli constant
besogne
bliley
blinder
bread winner
cench cure
chicken-soup
clean room
Conference of Baltic Oceanographers
Cushing's reaction
Dal'neye Konstantinovo
Dalhousie, George Ramsay
deep sea submergence vehicle
deepsea research vehicle
dip gauge
dispersed formation
Documentstion Clause
drizzler
dry law
educational supply
electron inertia
electrophobicity
exmeridian altitude
Falklands factor
filter tank
forced magnetization condition
full of myself
gesticulating
Haber, Fritz
half brother and half sister
hemoendocrinopathic
hung-wu
I transmit later
IBRB
IDF - intermediate distribution frame
impropering
improved market
inclusively
kahuma
Kijwa
linearizes
lower low water
Mohamedanism
multiple-point tool
N-end
nickelhexahydrite
nylon copolycondensate
Ockhamist
offstage
Olimpiady, Mys
oxygen tolerance test
pan-spiro-computer
paraformaldehyde pulp mummi-fying agent
paralytic spinal poliomyelitis
peacock mites
potentia concipiendi
precision flatnosed pliers
property change
pyrogallol
quantum leaps
ratkoes
reactance component
reactive histocytosis
remicades
restore original loadings
rhumb card
Ruysch's membranes
same frequency broadcasting
Schistosoma margrebowei
shafferoon
shitheaded
small economy
southwesterly flow
standard zation of wood
static indentation test
Strophomena
subechinolophate
suspended solid(ss)
swarm cluster
Swertia bifolia
ternary computer
toriconical head
tuba aucitiva
tusquets
urban homesteading
valuation charge
video journalist
Weil-Felix(reaction)
wheel animalcule