America has been a land of naming freedom and self-expression. While other governments impose restrictions—German parents have t

admin2013-09-04  31

问题     America has been a land of naming freedom and self-expression. While other governments impose restrictions—German parents have to choose a name that clearly indicates the gender of the child and is not a surname, and the French, among others, forbid names that might expose a child to mockery—in the United States, anything goes.
    When Lum and Chin Nguyen had their first child, 26 years ago, they wanted to give him an American name. Newly settled in North Carolina, they chose Duke, in honor of nearby Duke University. Best of all, the name could work in both their old and new cultures by spinning its spelling to Duc or Duck, as the boy’s teachers insisted on pronouncing it, to the great amusement of his classmates. With his pride injured, Duc Nguyen decided to reinvent himself and his name. His new choice was tried-and-true American and impossible to screw up: Wes.
    "Your name is a way of marketing yourself," says Wes Nguyen, who turned his personal adventures in naming into a career as a corporate product namer. "When we create a new name for clients, we create imagery behind it, and I did that when I chose my own new name. Wes reminds me of the West Coast, of someone young and sophisticated and innovative. I think of a surfer, of someone who has work-life balance."
    The search for a name that screams "I’m unique!" leads some parents to invent names or play with traditional spelling. However, a downside of a "creative" name is that it may come with baggage, not all of it positive. "I always felt I was prejudged by my name," says Gestin Skaggs, 43, whose parents named her for a word they heard in a German love song. "I’ve either had to overcome some stereotype of a short, fat German man or live up to an expectation that I’m a really wild and creative thinker. People ascribe all kinds of personality traits to me that I don’t have."
    But that’s a small price to pay, say the teens with offbeat names we spoke with. "I’ve met a lot of people because of my name. They hear it and think it’s cool," says Calypso Gibaldi, 15, named by her ocean-loving father for Jacques Cousteau’s boat. "If my name was Jane, I’d be average like everyone else."
According to Paragraph 2, the name Due______.

选项 A、was a good name connecting the two cultures
B、was just a common English name
C、caused misunderstanding among students
D、brought hurt feelings and bad memories

答案D

解析 第二段介绍了一对新移民夫妇为了让孩子的姓名既有美国特点,又能与原有文化联系,给他起名Duke。在他们自己的文化中Duke也可以拼做Duc,但是却被老师念成Duck。这个孩子因此受到了同学们的讥笑。自尊心受到伤害的Duc决定改名。说明Duc这个名字给他带来的是伤害。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/K6HO777K
0

最新回复(0)