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课文内容

　　By the time he was 13 years old, a rare disease had taken away Erik Weihenmayer’s eyesight. Despite losing his sight, he did not lose his courage. On May 25th, 2001, the 32-year-old from Colorado becamethe first blind person to climb the world’s highest mountain. The amazing story of Weihenmayer’s journey up Mount Everest is told in his own words in a book called“Touch the top of the world”.

　　As well as being a world-class mountain climber, Erik is also a good skier and skydiver. He has taken part in long-distance cycle races and run several marathons. He hopes to become one of the“Seven Summits”, the highest mountains on each of the world’s seven continents. Probably the best thing he has done, however, is show the world that it is possible to overcome even the greatest difficulties.

　　Sentence 4U

　　As well as…“和……，除了……”，例如：

　　My brother likesto eat apples as well as oranges.

　　我弟弟喜欢吃苹果和橙子。

　　英语小教室

　　The highest summits of each continent世界七大洲的最高峰：

　　Asia亚洲 Everest (in the Himalayas) 喜玛拉雅山的珠穆朗玛峰8848米

　　South America南美洲 Aconcagua 阿空加瓜山 6964米

　　North America北美洲 Mount McKinley 麦金利山 6194米

　　Africa非洲 Mount Kilimanjaro 乞力马札罗山 5895米

　　Antarctica南极洲 Vinson Massif 文森峰 5140米

　　Europe欧洲 Mont El’brus 厄尔布鲁士山 4807米

　　Oceania大洋洲 Puncak Jaya 查亚峰 5030米

　　英语练功房：

　　despite+N./V.-ing=though +S.+V.“虽然”

　　说明：despite是一个介词，相当于in spite of,意思是“尽管，虽然”，后面接名词或动名词作宾语。而though或although则是连词，后面接从句。例如：

　　Despite losing his sight, he did not lose his courage.

　　=Although he lost his sight, he did not lose his courage.

　　虽然失明了，但他并没有失去勇气。

　　Despite his young age, he knows a lot about the world.

　　=Though he is young, he knows a lot of the world.

　　他虽然年轻，却深谙世事。

　　练习：

　　1.这个人年纪虽大，却仍然很强壮。

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　　2.尽管我鼓励他，他还是放弃比赛了。

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　　词汇小补贴：

　　world-class世界级的

　　skier滑雪者

　　skydiver特技跳伞者

　　long-distance长距离的

　　cycle race自行车竞赛

　　marathon马拉松