必修一（2）

（一）

The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts had found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.

Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent (口音) changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.

He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year. ”

　　“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. And ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’. ”

　　The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch. (传统火鸡午餐).

　　The results were published (发表) in the Journal of Phonetics.

1. The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.

A. she has been Queen for many years

B. she has a less upper-class accent now

C. her speeches are familiar to many people

D. her speeches have been recorded for 50 years

2. Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?

A. “duaty”          B. “citee”

C. “hame”          D. “lorst”

3. We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on _________.

A. speech sounds         B. Christmas customs

C. TV broadcasting       D. personal messages

4. What is the text mainly about?

A. The relationship between accents and social classes.

B. The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV.

C. The changes in a person’s accent.

D. The recent development of the English language.

答案：1. D  2. B  3. A  4. C

（二）

English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.

However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.

And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese—so one moose, two meese?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的);  but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

1. According to the passage ______.

A. sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things

B. there should be egg in an eggplant

C. pineapples are the apples on the pine tree

D. boxing rings should be round

2. Which of the following is the correct plural?

A. Beeth.            B. Geese.

C. Meese.            D. Tooth.

3. Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?

A. A wise man and a wise guy.

B. Overlook and oversee.

C. Quite a lot and quite a few.

D. Hot as hell and cold as hell.

4. The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “______”.

A. blow       B. roll up

C. get hurt     D. finish

5. Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.

A. clever       B. crazy

C. lazy         D. dull

答案：1. A  2. B  3. C  4. D  5. A

（三）

    An angry viewer is suing(起诉) Japan’s national broadcaster for “mental trouble” caused by too much use of words borrowed from English. Hoji Takahashi, 71, is seeking 1.4 million yen (＄14,300; ￡9,300) in damages from NHK. “The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanised,” his lawyer Mutuo Miyata told the news agency AFP.

    English became more prevalent in Japan after World War Ⅱduring the US-led occupation. This was followed by a growing interest in American pop culture. The country’s modern vocabulary is filled with borrowed words, many of which are changed to fit the Japanese phonic(语音的) structure.

    Mr Takahashi, who is a member of a campaign group supporting the Japanese language, highlighted words such as “toraburu”(trouble), “risuku”(risk) and “shisutemu”(system) in NHK’s news and entertainment programmes.

    He accused NHK of irresponsibility by refusing to use native Japanese equivalents(对应词). “With Japanese society increasingly Americanised, Takahashi believe that NHK, as Japan’s national broadcaster, shouldn’t go with the trend, but remain determined to stick to the use of Japanese, which he thinks would go a long way towards protecting Japanese culture,” Mr Miyata told the Japan Times on Wednesday.

    Mr Takahashi filed his complaint on Tuesday with the Nagoya District Court in the central Chubu region of Japan, the newspaper said. NHK said it would not comment until it had studied the legal documents.

    Other examples of English words often used in Japanese include:

   ·terebi(TV)

   ·rajio(radio)

   ·konpuraiansu(compliance)

   ·koraboreeshon(collaboration)

   ·dejitaru(digital)

   ·taoru(towel)

    Vocabulary is also borrowed from other foreign languages. The German “arbeit” becomes “arubaito” to mean work, and the Portuguese “pao” is used as “pan” for bread.

    Traditionalists in France and French-speaking Canada also worry about the influx(涌入) of English words into their native tongue. France’s 1994 Toubon Law makes French compulsory(强制性的) in government publications, most workplaces, advertisements, parts of the media and state-funded schools. However, the French government is debating relaxing these rules so that university courses can be taught in English.

    Japanese words used in the English language include “haiku”, “origami” and “Bonsai”. Other commonly used “loanwords” are the German “kindergarten”, “zeigeist” and “blitz” as well as French terms such as “faux-pas”, “decor” and “cafe”.

1. Why was Hoji Takahashi angry?

A. Because NHK’s programmes were of low quality.

B. Because NHK spread too much American culture.

C. Because NHK used many borrowed words from English.

D. because NHK wrongly used native Japanese equivalents.

2. The underlined word “prevalent” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to________.

A. formal             B. popular

C. difficult            D. important

3. What’s the aim of Hoji Takahashi’s suing NHK?

A. To get some money.

B. To attract public attention.

C. To protect Japanese culture.

D. To improve NHK’s programmes.

4. The author gave the example of France to show that________.

A. English is very popular in France

B. France faces the similar situation as Japan

C. France pays much attention to French learning

D. the French government is trying to refuse English

5. Which of the following words isn’t from the English language?

A. Zeitgeist            B. Dejitaru

C. Shisutemu          D. Konpuraiansu

答案：1. C  2. B  3. C  4. B  5. A

（四）

Different Countries Have Different Kinds of Englishes

不同的国家有不同的英语

    Voyages of people from England play an important part in spreading the English language. At present, English is frequently spoken as an official or common language in many countries, such as America, Singapore, Malaysia and some African countries. All based on British English, the English spoken in these countries can be well understood by native English speakers. But actually, these Englishes have been gradually changing in accents, spellings, expressions and the usage of vocabulary.

Because of this fact, you can make use of the differences to tell which country the foreigners of your block are from. For example, if a boss fluently commands his driver, “Come up straight to my apartment by elevator and take some gas for my trucks and cabs”, instead of requesting, “Please come to my flat by lift and take some petrol for my lorries and taxis”, you can recognize his American identity, while the latter suggests that he is British.

英国人的航海在英语的传播中扮演了重要的角色。目前，英语在许多国家被作为官方语言或通用语言频繁地使用，例如美国、新加波、马来西亚和一些非洲的国家。这些国家的英语都以英式英语为基础，能很好地为以英语为本族语的人所理解。但是实际上，这些英语在口音、拼写、表达和词汇的使用方面都在逐渐变化。

因为这一情况的存在，你就可以利用这些英语之间的区别说出你们街区的外国人是哪个国家来的了。例如，如果有个老板流利地命令他的司机：“Come up straight to my apartment by elevator and take some gas for my trucks and cabs（直接搭电梯到我公寓上来拿卡车和出租车的汽油）”，而不是要求说，“Please come to my flat by lift and take some petrol for my lorries and taxis（请直接搭电梯到我公寓上来拿卡车和出租车的汽油）”，你就可以轻易地辨认出他的美国人身份，而后者却暗示着那是一位英国人。