首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
In recent years criticisms have been voiced concerning sexist bias in the English language. It has been argued that some of the
In recent years criticisms have been voiced concerning sexist bias in the English language. It has been argued that some of the
admin
2015-09-26
52
问题
In recent years criticisms have been voiced concerning sexist bias in the English language. It has been argued that some of the vocabulary and grammar we use reflects and reinforces a traditional view of the world as one in which men are dominant and women play a secondary role.
Take the word "chairman", for example. While this can in fact apply to people of both sexes, it appears to some people to be male-oriented as it ends in "man". In the past people taking the role of chairman were exclusively male, and the word was obviously originally a compound of "chair" and "man". Many English speakers, however, have ceased to view this word as a compound and no more feel it to be composed of two units, "chair" and "man", than they perceive "cupboard" as composed of "cup" and "board". In addition the continued use of chairman might be defended on the grounds that the final syllable is pronounced /m’n/ rather than / m
n/, just like the final syllable of woman. Despite such considerations other speakers take a contrary view and are sensitive to the components of which it is made up. They clearly perceive it as a title which perpetuates traditional ideas about the place of women in society. For this reason they seek to replace it with neutral terms such as "chairperson" or "chair" , so that it is now possible to ask questions such as: "Who is chair of the committee?"
Other changes advocated include the replacement of words such as "postman", "fireman" and "policeman" with more clearly neutral terms such as "postal worker", "fire-fighter" and "police officer". There is, however, continuing controversy about how far such language changes should go. Should changes also be considered to traditional idioms such as "man in the street" and titles such as "Peking Man"? What about those words where the male meaning of "man" is no longer dominant, such as "manhandle"?
To the extent that changes have taken place, they have done so more in the written language and formal pronouncements than in everyday speech. You would be quite likely to read in the paper that "Postal workers are to receive a pay increase". But "Has the postman been?" would be most likely to be heard in informal conversation. Here "postman" remains firmly entrenched in popular usage.
The lack of a sex-neutral third-person singular in English has also attracted attention. How, for example, do we fill in the blank in the following sentence? "A good teacher always makes sure is well prepared for the lesson. " Traditionally, this would be filled in with "he". The male pronoun in such cases is clearly intended to refer to both sexes. It is still widely used in this way, but some people, especially women, dislike it. They may prefer to add the female pronoun to the male, as in "A good teacher always makes sure he or she is well prepared for the lesson". Some people, however, feel that this looks and sounds awkward. Another solution is to use the plural "they" for the singular; "A good teacher always makes sure they are well prepared for the lesson. " This is often heard in conversation, but is less frequent in formal written English. More cautious souls can avoid the problem altogether by rephrasing in the plural: "Good teachers always make sure they are well prepared for the lesson. "
The extent to which language reflects and shapes attitudes and behaviors is a matter of conjecture. Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Turkish do not make the kinds of sex distinctions English makes through its system of pronouns, but it would be difficult to maintain that males who speak these languages are less sexist than males who speak English!
What’s the difference between "postal worker" and "postman" according to the passage?
选项
A、The former is informal; the latter is formal.
B、The former is formal; the latter is informal.
C、They have the same usage.
D、Both of them are informal.
答案
B
解析
细节题。从第四段You would be quite likely to read in the paper that“Postal workers are to receivea pay increase”.But“Has the postman been?”would be most likely to be heard in informal conversation.可以看出,postal worker是正式用法,常出现在报纸等书面文字中,而postman则是非正式用法,常用在15语中,所以[B]是正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/BYXK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Ireallyappreciate______metogetoutofthetroublesthatIranintorecentlybutfoundithardtohandle.
Whydoadultsbelievethatalcoholicawarenessprogramsteachyoungpeoplenottooverdrink?Recently,readinganarticleabout
InrecentyearscriticismshavebeenvoicedconcerningsexistbiasintheEnglishlanguage.Ithasbeenarguedthatsomeofthe
Shewasteachingme______youwouldteachayoungerchildtospeakthelanguage.
Surprisingly,nooneknowshowmanychildrenreceiveeducation,inEnglishhospitals,stilllessthecontentorqualityofthat
Surprisingly,nooneknowshowmanychildrenreceiveeducation,inEnglishhospitals,stilllessthecontentorqualityofthat
随机试题
全球性产品结构是以销售为中心的组织结构。()
A.麦淀粉 B.果糖 C.乳糖 D.纤维素 E.果胶肾功能不全患者经常食用的多糖为()。
甲医师发现临病房乙医师的诊治失误后,及时反映给主管部门。这体现了哪一条正确处理医务人员之间关系的道德原则
按照2013版《建设工程施工合同文本》通用条款规定,工程具备隐蔽条件后,施工单位进行自检,并在共同检查前()以书面形式通知监理人验收。
案例一:刘教授今年75岁,老伴今年72岁,他们有一个儿子,儿子与他人合伙经营一家会计师事务所。现在刘教授生病住院,想制订一份财产传承规划方案,到理财规划师处进行咨询。根据案例回答下列问题。刘教授的遗产不包括()。
根据法律、法规以及规章规定,属于税务行政复议受案范围的案件包括()。
企业所得税采用的税率为()。
某科研单位由于体制转轨开始面向市场,单位原来实行的工资体系也因此受到冲击。科研人员对目前的收入极其不满,认为既不具有内部公平性,也不具备外部竞争性。鉴于以上情况,单位领导请来专家小组,对此进行诊断并提出相应对策。专家组采用评分法对单位内部工作岗位进行了重新
某玩具生产企业(增值税一般纳税人)注册资金1000万元,2017年销售收入5500万元,销售成本2600万元,可以扣除的相关税金及附加500万元,销售费用1100万元,管理费用790万元,财务费用410万元,投资损失26万元,营业外支出100万元,账面利润
根据以下资料,回答下列问题。2010年底,全国高速公路里程为7.41万公里,居世界第二位,比“十一五”规划目标增加9108公里。其中,国家高速公路5.77万公里,比上年末增加0.54万公里。“五纵七横”12条国道主干线提前13年全部建成。全国有11个省份
最新回复
(
0
)