Text 1  First There Was the Land

Information related to the text

The Appalachian Mountains: The mountain system in the East of North America extending from southeast Quebec to north Alabama. Its highest peak, Mt. Mitchell is 6 684 feet high (2 037 meters).

The Mississippi River: A river in the central part of the United States which is 2 470 miles long (2 037 kilometers), flowing from the north of central Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Rocky Mountains: The mountain system in the west of north America extending from North Alaska to north Mexico.

The Gulf Stream: The warm current in north Atlantic flowing from the gulf of Mexico along the US coast northeastward to Nantucket and then eastward.

The Missouri River: A 2 700-mile-long (4 345-kilometer-long) river in the west of the US flowing from southwest Montana into the Mississippi in the east Montana. It is the chief western branch of the Mississippi.

The Gulf of Mexico: The inlet of the Atlantic in Mexico on southwest coast of north America.

The Great Plains: The plain region in the west of the central part of the US and the west of Canada to the east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Great Lakes: A chain of five lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) in the central part of north America in the US and Canada draining through St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic.

Columbia River: A 1 270-mile-long river in southwest Canada and northwest United States, flowing southwest into the Atlantic.

Snake River: A river 1 038 miles long. Rising in northwest US, flowing from northwest Wyoming across the south Idaho and into the Columbia River in Washington.

South Pass: A broad level valley in the southwest of central Wyoming crossing continental Divide near southeast end of the Wind River range.

Language notes

1) No single force has been responsible for shaping the background of American history, but of the many that have contributed, none played a more important role than the land itself.

（美国历史背景绝非由某单一因素形成。诸多因素中，土地起着最重要的作用。）

Although many factors, not just a single one, have played an important role in American history, the land plays a more important role than any other factors.

Be responsible for means to be the cause or explanation of something.

e.g. I am partly responsible for the confusion.

2) They were drawn westward by the land, a land vast in size, often free for the taking, and rich in undeveloped natural resources.

（他们被那片西部土地所吸引。这片土地幅员辽阔，通常可以无偿获得，而且那里未开发的资源也极其丰富。）

Free for the taking means obtainable without having to pay for it.

3) In the central area, there are plains on the coast which give way rapidly to the foothill of the Appalachians and then to the mountains themselves.

（位于中部地区沿海的平原与阿巴拉契亚山脉周边山麓毗邻，与连绵的群山相接。）

Give  way rapidly to the foothill here means plains do not expand much before they are replaced by the foothills.

Foothill is a low hill at the bottom of a mountain or chain of mountains.

To give way to means to be replaced.

e.g. The storm gave way to bright sunshine.

4) Plenty of rainfall and fertile soil permit a long growing season for its main crops of pineapples and sugar cane.

（充裕的降水和肥沃的土壤使当地长年盛产菠萝、甘蔗等主要作物。）

Permit a long growing season means to make a long period of time of the year suitable for the growth of certain crops.

Text 2  The Birth of the Modern World

Information related to the text

Middle Class: The social class that includes professional people such as doctors, engineers, teachers or managers, but does not include people who are very rich and people who mainly work with their hands.

The Christian Church: In this passage, the Christian Church refers to the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation. After the Reformation, the Christian Church was divided into two major sects, namely, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, the latter having a number of denominations.

Roman Catholic Church: The part of the Christian religion whose leader is the Pope.

The Representative government: A government that allows everyone to express their opinions by voting for representatives.

Kings' role was more or les that of a figurehead, a chief in name only ...: Traditionally, in western Europe, Kings and Queens were of the same social status as aristocracy. The lords including army generals, bishops and high priests of the church believed that the kings and queens could not have absolute power. kings and queens only held suzerainty(宗主权) instead of sovereignty (主权).Their greatest authority was to enfeoff (授予封地)land to the feudal lords which was to be agreed upon by the groups of lords because kings and queens did not own all the land of the country. Kings and queens were supposed to meet royal expenses out of their own wealth. If a king or queen wanted to wage a war, he or she would have to persuade the assembly of the leading wealthy feudal lords and lords spiritual, “Great Council”, to provide him with extra money. This is one of the characters of aristocratic democracy.

The Magna Carta: In the 13th century, some feudal lords and the Church opposed some of King John's (1199-1216) policies. This opposition was so powerful that the king finally granted them a charter of liberty and political rights whose medieval name is Magna Carta. The charter limited king's ability to abuse his royal power, and reflected the rights of citizens against the Crown.

The New World: North, central and south America discovered by Europeans since 15thcentury.

The Near East: The region that includes countries of southwest Asia and northeast Africa.

Mediterranean Cities: The cities of Europe and Africa around the Mediterranean Sea, a sea 2 330 miles long between Europe and Africa, connecting with the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar and with the Red Sea through the Suez Canal.

The West Indies: The islands lying between the southeast of North America and the north of South America, bordering the Caribbean and comprising the Great Antilles, Lesser Antilles and the Bahamas.

John Cabot: (1450-1499) An Italian navigator who later became a subject of Great Britain, and discovered the continent of North America for Great Britain.

Language notes

1) Better maps reduced fears of the unknown, and the earlier invention of the compass took the guess work out of sailing a ship on course.

（较为精确的海图减少了人们对于未知世界的恐惧。早先发明的指南针也使船只不必再揣测航向而能沿正确航向行驶。）

Took the guess work out of sailing a ship on course here means no longer used the ancient practice of estimating the position of the ship on the ocean and its direction.

2) Upon his voyages, England rested its claim to the lands which would finally become the United States.

（由于他的数次远航，英格兰宣称她对这片土地拥有主权,而这些土地最终成为了美国。）

Rest its claim to the lands  means declare that the lands discovered belonged to (Great Britain).

3) Almost every way of life in the medieval period was washed away by the tide of change.

（改革浪潮荡涤了中世纪生活的几乎每个方面。）

To wash away means to remove effects of something.

e.g. Time has washed away their feud.

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