Download About World War II

Related Information
Practical Writing
Check Yourself
Fun Time
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I. Related Information
1. World War II, was also called the Second
World War (1939－1945). The principal parties
were the Axis powers (轴心国)—Germany,
Italy, and Japan, and the Allies (同盟国)—
France, Great Britain, the United States,
the Soviet Union and China. The war was in
many respects a continuation of the conflicts left
unsettled by World War I. The 45－50 million
deaths in World War II made it the bloodiest conflict
a s w e l l a s t h e l a r g e s t w a r i n h i s t o r y.
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2. World War II in Europe
By order of Adolf Hitler, the German armies poured
across the Polish frontier on the morning of
September 1, 1939—without a declaration of war.
Two days later Great Britain and France declared war
again Germany. But Poland was defeated within four
weeks by the Germans who had developed a new kind
of warfare called blitzkrieg (“lightning warfare”),
which centered around the use of tanks and planes to
achieve mobility and surprise. Then in April, 1940,
Hitler turned west and conquered Denmark and
Norway. On May 10,1940, Hitler ordered his troops to
cross the borders of Holland and Belgium and drive
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into France. Within six weeks the campaign was
over. Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg had
surrendered as had France. The Germans occupied
Paris and about two-thirds of the country. But in
other parts of the world, Frenchmen continued
their fight against the Nazis under the leadership
of General de Gaulle (戴高乐将军). After the fall
of France, German planes began to bomb England.
Buildings and homes were destroyed. Thousands
of people were killed. But the British, with
Winston Churchill as their wartime leader, refused
to give up. The British Air Force destroyed so
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many enemy planes that the air raids became
fewer and subsided in June, 1941, when Hitler
began to invade the Soviet Union.
By then, the German and Italian armies had swept
over most of Europe. Mussolini had seized
Albania. Hitler had invaded Yugoslavia and
Greece. German and Italian troops had meanwhile
occupied most of North Africa.
On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched his longplanned attack on the Soviet Union. It was a
surprise attack and German armies drove deep into
Soviet territory. On December 5,1941, the
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Germans arrived at the gates of Moscow, but the
next day they were thrown back. It was the first
German defeat in the war. Then from September
1942 to February 1943, a decisive battle was
fought at Stalingrad (斯大林格勒). The German
Sixth Army of 300,000 were trapped by the Soviet
army and forced to surrender. The Soviet victory
at Stalingrad was the turning point of the war.
After this battle, the Soviet Red Army began to
advance and the German forces began to retreat.
The U.S.A. entered the war against the Axis
powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) in December
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1941, after Japanese planes bombed the American
naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In November
1942, American troops landed in North Africa, and
together with the French and British, they
completed the defeat of the Axis forces in Africa.
Then from North Africa, the Allies invaded Italy
in August, 1943. Mussolini fled and the fascist
government of Italy fell.
On June 6, 1944, “D-day”, American, British and
Canadian forces landed in Normandy, France, and
opened the second front in Europe (the Soviet
Union being the first front). In March 1945, the
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Allied forces began pouring into Germany from
both the west and the east. The Soviet army took
Berlin on May 2,1945. Two days earlier, Hitler had
killed himself. On May 7, Germany surrendered.
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(Marshal Goering)
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(Marshal Goering)
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(Marshal Goering)
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3. Marshal Goering was born in Bavaria.
Trained for an army career, Goering received his
assignment in 1912 and served with distinction
during World War I. Later, Goering met Adolf
Hitler and joined the small National Socialist
German Workers’ (Nazi) Party in 1922. Since then,
Goering worked tirelessly as Hitler’s most loyal
supporter. He was Reich official for air fighters
and head of the newly developed Luftwaffe
(German air force). He had, at one time, been
responsible for the Gestapo and the concentration
camps.
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Goering was the most popular Nazi leaders not
only with the German people but also with the
representatives and agents of foreign powers. But
he was shamed when the Luftwaffe failed to win
the battle of Britain or prevent the Allied bombing
of Germany. After Hitler’s suicide, he surrendered
himself to the Americans. He was sentenced to be
hanged, but instead he drank some poison and
died in his prison room at Nurnberg the night he
was given his death sentence.
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4. Home Guard
Home Guard is usually a military organization of
citizens with limited military training for emergency
service, usually for local defense. During World War
II the Home Guard was established in the U.K.
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5. The Allied Nations
The main countries involved in World War
II were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy,
and Japan, and the Allies (the Allied
Nations)—France, Great Britain, the United
States, the Soviet Union and China. The war
ended with the victory being won by the
Allied Nations in 1945.
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(Adolf Hitler)
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(Adolf Hitler)
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6. Adolf Hitler: Before World War II
Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, at Braunau, Austria.
Young Hitler received poor grades in school and left at
16 without graduating. During the First World War, he
served four years in the German Army as a dispatch
runner. He was twice wounded and twice decorated for
bravery with the Iron cross. Like many other Germans,
Hitler could not accept Germany’s military defeat in
1918. He decided to go into politics. In 1919, he joined
a small political group—the German Workers’ Party,
and soon became the Party’s president. He changed the
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name of the party to the “National Socialist German
Workers’ Party”. ( The term “Nazi” is an abbreviation
of the first part of the German name for the party—
Nationalsozialistische).
In 1923 Hitler organized a putsch (暴动), or revolt,
against the German government. The putsch failed.
Hitler was captured and found guilty of treason (叛
国). The sympathetic court gave him the minimum
sentence of five years, and he was released before
serving a year. While in prison, Hitler began Mein
Kampf (My Struggle), an autobiography in which he
expressed his hatred for the Jews, his worship of
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power and his plans to conquer the world. He
proclaimed the Germans the “master race” and said
that they would create an empire in eastern Europe,
ruling over the “inferior” Slaves.
The Nazis remained a small party until 1930,
when the world depression struck Germany. In the
1930 elections Nazi representation in the
Reichstag ( the lower house of parliament) soared
from 12 to 107.
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With the support of military officers and
industrialists, the Nazis became Germany’s largest
party in 1932 and on January 30, 1933, Hitler
became Chancellor (Prime Minister) of a coalition
government. When the Reichstag building was
burned down on the night of February 27, 1933, the
Nazis blamed the fire on the communists, and had
them expelled from the Reichstag. The Reichstag
then passed a law giving Hitler virtually absolute
emergency powers. With these powers Hitler forced
the non-Nazi members of the coalition out of the
government, banned all political parties, suppressed
the trade unions, and abolished freedom of speech
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and freedom of the press. He also launched a violent
and brutal crusade (十字军) against the Jews.
On the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler
combined the offices of Chancellor and President and
took the title of Fuhrer (leader). As successor to
Hindenburg, he also became Commander in Chief of
the Armed Forces. He proclaimed his regime as the
“New Order” and German state as the “Third
Reich”(empire).
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7. About the Royal Air Force
What’s this ?
The badge of the
Royal Air Force
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Royal Air Force (RAF) is the youngest of
the three British armed services, charged
with the air defense of the United Kingdom
and fulfillment of international defense
commitments. At the beginning of World
War II in September 1939, the first-line
strength of the RAF in the United Kingdom
was about 2,000 airplanes. The RAF fighter
pilots, however, distinguished themselves
during the Battle of Britain in the early
stages of the war against the many more
German Luftwaffe.
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II. Practical Writing
Letters of sympathy to someone who is ill
or injured have the same function as getwell cards. That is, they express your care
and concern for the sick or injured person
and offer comfort and best wishes for a
quick and full recovery.
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Sample One
A letter to a relative
who was hurt in a car accident
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Sample 1
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Sample Two
A letter to a friend
who got a low score on the TOEFL
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Sample 2
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Task
Write a letter to a foreign
professor who is ill.
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III. Check Yourself
B
1. The battle was very ______.
A. history
B. historic C. historical
D. historian
C
2. His long speech _______
my patience.
A. ended B. tired C. exhausted D. finished
A
3. He is _______
by his wife and two babies.
A. survived B. left
C. gone D. beyond
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B
4. The defendant in a criminal case is ______
until proved
______.
A. guilty … innocent B. innocent … guilty
C. wrong … innocent D. innocent … wrong
C
5. You are ______
your little boy ______ possible dangers
by letting him play in the street.
A. imposing … to
B. imposing … on
C. exposing … to
D. exposing … on
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D
6. The project failed _____
bad management.
A. in
B. to
C. with
D. through
B
7. The grasslands have ______
many high buildings.
A. been replaced with
B. given way to
C. been placed by
D. given place to
8. She ____
A the cake with chocolate.
A. flavors B. favors
C. flows
D. flourishes
9. She takes a(n) ______
interest in clothes.
C
A. intensive B. successive
C. excessive D. comprehensive
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A
10. Poor people can’t always live in _____
conditions.
A. decent B. recent C. accent D. debate
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(The Beatles)
A Song—Imagine
By John Lennon from the Beatles
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IMAGINE
Imagine there’s no heaven.
It’s easy if you try.
Listen to the song and
above us only sky
No hell below us, _______________.
fill
in the
blanks.
Then
Imagine
all the
people living
forsing
today along.
… ah
Imagine there’s no country.
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing
to kill or die for and no religion too.
____________________,
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
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You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us
__________________________,
and the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.
(John Lennon)
No need for greed or hunger
_______________________.
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people sharing all the world …
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You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us,
and the world will live as one
________________________.
The End