the North star  北极星

另外：star还有其他的意义：

the Red Flag with Five Stars 五星红旗

film stars 影星(电影明星)

famous stars明星

6. So far, no man has traveled farther than the moon, but spaceships without people have reached other parts of the universe. 到目前为止，还没有人到达比月球更远的地方，但是无人驾驶宇宙飞船已经到达宇宙的其他地方。

(1) so far 的意思是到目前为止，可解释成“until now, up to now”。

【例】They have been to many cities in the south so far. 到目前为止，他们已经去过许多城市了。=　They have been to many cities in the south up to now.

(2) without的意思是“无;没有”。它可以用来完成同义句的改写。

【例】Fish can’t live if there is no water. 鱼儿离不开水。= Fish can’t live without water.

(3) These satellites go round the earth and … 这些卫星围绕地球运行……

注意：客观存在的事实在表示一般过去时的句子中做宾语从句，依旧用一般现在时，表示客观真理。如：Our teacher told us that the sun is round.

7. Our knowledge of the universe is growing all the time. 我们对宇宙的认识一直在增长。

(1) knowledge是know的名词形式，作“知识;学问”讲，是不可数名词。one’s knowledge of…的意思是“对……的认识/了解。”knowledge 的前面若有定语修饰，可与a连用，表示“对……某种程度的了解”。

【例】Your knowledge of English is weak. He has a good knowledge of study.

你的英语知识较差。他对学习很在行。

(2) grow作及物动词时，表示“种植”;作不及物动词时，表示“生长;成长;增长;发展;渐渐变成”等意思。

【例】Chinese people are growing more trees to protect their environment.Those trees are growing well.中国人民正在种更多的树以保护环境。那些树长得很好。

She has grown into a pretty girl.But she grows older and older as well.

她长成了一个漂亮的姑娘。但她同时(年纪)也变得越来越大了。

(3) all the time的意思是“一直”，在句中作状语。

【例】We have been here all the time.我们一直都在这儿。

8. The world itself is becoming a much smaller place and people from different countries

now understand each other better. 世界的本身正变得更小，来自不同国家的人们彼此间能更好地相互了解。

反身代词itself在句中做主语the world 的同位语。

【例】Tom himself learns English day and night. I myself will go to the farm to help the farmers.

汤姆自己日日夜夜地学习英语。我自己也将去农场帮助农民。

9.Man-made satellites are about 8,000 kilometres away from the earth.

人造卫星离地球大约有八千公里远。

(1) 这是距离的一种表示方法，距离的表示方法还有：

It’s about 200 metres from my home to our school. = Our school is about 200 metres from my home.

从我家到学校大约有二百米。

The city is about two thousand kilometres by train (from here).

(从这儿)乘火车去那座城市约有二千公里。

It’s two hours by plane from here to that city.

从这儿乘飞机到那座城市需要二小时。

The post office is about ten minutes’ walk from here.

从这儿步行去邮局大约要十分钟。

(2) earth, world与globe

1) earth作“地球”解，需加the。：

【例】We live on the earth. 我们生活在地球上。