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这篇短文讲述的是百年之前的几个杰出女性的传奇故事。You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Marie Curie指鼎鼎大名的居里夫人；Rachel Carson是美国著名的的环保主义先驱。heard是hear“听见”的过去式和过去分词；hear of表示“听说”；还可以表示出于善意的“拒绝；不允许”：Jack wants to be an actor, but his mother won't hear of it.杰克想当演员，但他妈妈不同意。He wouldn't hear of my walking home alone.他不让我独自一人走回家。
再复习一个有关hear的短语hear from“收到某人的信或电话”：I'm very glad to hear from you.很高兴收到你的来信/接到你的电话。may not have heard of:情态动词后接现在完成时，表示对过去发生事情的推测“或许没听说过”。如果用might表示比may更弱的语气，并不表示过去的时态。Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years? 这句稍长，但只要明白句子变长只是修饰成分增加，抓住主干，准确识别不同形式的修饰成分即可；listed below作后置定语修饰ladies，Of the outstanding ladies listed below和of the past 100 years两个介词短语都是修饰成分，在句中作状语。outstanding /'aʊt'stændɪŋ/ 杰出的美国女社会改良家及和平主义者，致力于改善社会状况，争取妇女、黑人权利，在1931年获得诺贝尔和平奖。 Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. social worker社会工作者；剔除who引导的定语从句，句子主干很简单：Anyone has Jane Addams to thank. have sb to thank “要向某人表示感谢”：I have her to thank for helping with my English.Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. 定冠词the接形容词表示某一类人，the poor指“穷人”，又比如the rich指“有钱人”；the weak指“弱者”等等。She encouraged a sense of community by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. sense 在这里表示“意识或者观念”；community /kə'mjʊnəti/ “社区；族群”；community background 社会背景；shelter “庇护；庇护所”；promote “推动；促进”；in need“处于困境”。
补充promote的一个常用意思“推广；推销”（If a firm promote a product, it tries to increase the sales or popularity of that product.）:He was in town to promote his new books.他在城里推销他的新书。In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. 动词不定式短语to win the Nobel Peace Prize作woman的后置定语，“获得诺贝尔和平奖的”。
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) If it weren't for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. environmental movement“环保运动”。If it weren't for ..., 表示对现在事情的虚拟（要不是...，...就...）；exist /ɪg'zɪst/ 存在。Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world's lakes and oceans. 这一句依然是多个介词短语作后置定语让句子变得复杂。raise /reɪz/ 提高；awareness /ə'wɛənis/ 意识；chemical /'kemɪk(ə)l/ 化学制品。effect /ɪ'fekt/影响（The effect of one thing on another is the change that the first thing causes in the second thing.）Sandra Day O'Connor (1930-present) When Sandra Day O'Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. Stanford Law School 斯坦福法学院；law firm 律师事务所She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and, in 1981, the first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona /ˌæri'zəunə/ 美国亚利桑那州；senator /'senətə/ 参议员；supreme /suː'priːm/ 最高的；court /kɔːt/ 法院O'Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court. deciding /dɪˈsaɪdɪŋ/ 决定性的；vote /vəʊt/ 投票；case /keɪs/ 案例；the top court 最高法院On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. give up 我们熟悉的意思是放弃（stop doing sth），在这里是把...让给某人（give up sth to sb.）；white在此并非指颜色，而是“白种人（的）”。Her simple act landed Parks in prison. land 使...陷入（困境）：land sb in prison使某人入狱；be landed in court被送上法庭；land sb in trouble使某人陷入麻烦But it also set off the Montgmery bus boycott. set off 有“出发；动身”的意思，此处指“引发；激起”（to start a process or series of events）；boycott /'bɒɪkɒt/ 抵制；Montgmery bus boycott蒙哥马利巴士抵制运动。It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. kick 是踢的意思；kick off 可以指（足球比赛等）开始，开球；此处指巴士抵制运动使民权运动civil-rights movement开始。
“The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks. give in 指屈服；让步，就是to do sth that you don't want to do；be tired of 指厌倦，厌烦，相当于have enough of sb/sth。
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