【注意】作此義講，responsible是表語(yǔ)形容詞，不能作定語(yǔ)。若人作主語(yǔ)，表示"應(yīng)負(fù)責(zé)任的"，若主語(yǔ)是物，表示造成事實(shí)的原因。如：① Who is responsible for this terrible mess? 誰(shuí)應(yīng)對(duì)這一團(tuán)糟局面負(fù)責(zé)? ② The weather is responsible for the delay. 由于天氣原因才耽誤了。

　　22. Conferences like the Earth Summit help people understand that there exist serious problems and that there is still time to take action. 像地球峰會(huì)這樣的會(huì)議幫助人們了解還存在著嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題及還需要時(shí)間來(lái)采取行動(dòng)。(p.68 Reading 第三段 第1行)

　　1) conference；meeting的區(qū)別：conference比較正式，指重大、規(guī)模較大的會(huì)議或?qū)�業(yè)性較強(qiáng)的學(xué)術(shù)(研討)會(huì)議。meeting為普通用語(yǔ)，指一般性的會(huì)議。 ① Our English teacher has gone to Beijing to attend the conference on education. 我們英語(yǔ)老師赴京參加教育會(huì)議。 ② The important conference was held at the Hague in 1899. 那次重要會(huì)議于1899年在海牙召開(kāi)。③ We have a class meeting every Friday. 我們每周五開(kāi)班會(huì)。④ When is the school sports meeting going to be held? 學(xué)校運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì)什么時(shí)候召開(kāi)?

　　2) 在there be結(jié)構(gòu)中，根據(jù)需要be可換成stand，appear，seem，remain，exist，come，lie，happen，enter等。如： ① There once lived an old hunter in the house. 這所房子里曾經(jīng)住過(guò)一位老獵人。② There seems to be some misunderstanding about the matter. 在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上似乎有誤會(huì)。③ There came shouts for help from the river. 從河邊傳來(lái)了求救聲。④ There happened an event. 發(fā)生了一件事。⑤ There appear to be several reasons for changing our plans. 看來(lái)改變我們的計(jì)劃有幾個(gè)理由。(不能說(shuō)：There appears...，因主語(yǔ)為復(fù)數(shù))

　　3) take action意為"采取行動(dòng)"。如：① The police had to take firm action to deal with the riots. 警方不得不采取果斷行動(dòng)來(lái)對(duì)付騷亂。② Let's see how they take action next. 且看他們下步如何。③ An action must be taken to check this tendency. 必須采取行動(dòng)，制止這種傾向。

　　【辨析】act；action: act指短暫、簡(jiǎn)單而具體的個(gè)別動(dòng)作，也用于具有某性質(zhì)的動(dòng)作。action指時(shí)間持續(xù)較長(zhǎng)、復(fù)雜的、多步驟的、抽象的動(dòng)作。☆在用不可數(shù)名詞表示總的概念時(shí)，多用action，而不用act。① The young man did another foolish act. 這青年又做了一件傻事。② Force is the action of one object on another. 力是一物體在另一個(gè)物體上的作用。③ It was your act and you must accept the consequences. 那是你的行為，你必須自食其果。④ He is a man of action. 他是一位實(shí)踐家。

　　23. If all of us make small changes, we could make a big difference．如果我們所有的人都做出點(diǎn)小的改變，那么我們就能夠產(chǎn)生巨大的差別。(p.68 Reading 第四段 倒數(shù)第1行)

　　make a／the difference意為"產(chǎn)生差別；有影響；起重要作用"。如：① It makes a difference which you choose. 你選擇哪一個(gè)，關(guān)系重大。② It makes no difference to me whether he goes or not. 不管他去或者不去，對(duì)我都沒(méi)多大影響。③It doesn't make any difference to me whether you go or stay. 對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，你走還是留關(guān)系不大。

　　【拓展】make a difference 還可作"區(qū)別對(duì)待"講。如：    We should make a strict difference between friends and enemies. 我們必須嚴(yán)格區(qū)分?jǐn)秤选?br />
　　【鏈接】與difference構(gòu)成的習(xí)慣搭配have a difference 有差異 / tell the difference 辨別差異 / split the difference 把差額平分；互讓 / wipe out the difference 消除分歧／差別 / difference between A and B  A與B的差別 / difference of opinion 意見(jiàn)分歧 / difference in age 年齡差別

　　24. A better understanding of the environment is necess- ary, as is the willingness to act. 更好地了解環(huán)境是必要的，這是心甘情愿的行動(dòng)。(p.68 Reading 第五段 第2行)

　　as在此用作關(guān)系代詞，引導(dǎo)非限制性定語(yǔ)從句，用來(lái)指代主句的整個(gè)概念，可置于句首、句中或句末，含有"正如......的"之意。如：① As we know，more than seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered by water. 我們知道，百分之七十以上的地球表面被水所覆蓋。② This kind of computer, as is well-known, is out of date. 眾所周知，這種計(jì)算機(jī)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)過(guò)時(shí)了。③ Yesterday Mr．Green quarrelled with his wife, as seldom happened. 昨天格林先生同妻子吵了架，他們是很少吵架的。

　　【辨析】as；which: 兩者都可引導(dǎo)非限制性定語(yǔ)從句，指代主句或主句的一部分內(nèi)容，有時(shí)可以互換，但as位置靈活，which只能置于主句之后；as常用于as has been said，as is well-known，as often happens，as may be imagined，as we know，as we can see，as we expect等結(jié)構(gòu)中，而which不能；但當(dāng)從句的謂語(yǔ)動(dòng)詞是否定形式或謂語(yǔ)類似是一個(gè)復(fù)合賓語(yǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)時(shí)，一般用which而不用as。① Abraham Lincoln was shot at a theatre in Washington, which made the American people very sad. 亞伯拉罕?林肯在華盛頓一家劇院遭到槍殺，這使美國(guó)人民非常悲痛。② He was strongly against the idea, as would be expected. 正如可預(yù)料的那樣，他強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)這個(gè)意見(jiàn)。    ③ He made the same mistake, which made the teacher very angry. 他又犯了同樣的錯(cuò)誤，這使得老師非常生氣。 ④ His son turned thief, which surprised everyone in the village. 他的兒子當(dāng)了賊，村里的人都感到驚奇。