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
The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its American branch most particularly, assaulted as it is from
The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its American branch most particularly, assaulted as it is from
admin
2013-09-28
50
问题
The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its American branch most particularly, assaulted as it is from all sides by those who would reduce it to puzzling and obscure jargon, pop-psychological nonsense and vague beautified words, but it is not without its defenders. Ken Smith, author of Junk English, is the leading figure. He begins with a brief and clear declaration:
"Junk English is much more than loose and casual grammar. It is a signal of human weaknesses and cultural license: abandoning the language of the educated yet giving birth to its own self-glorifying words and phrases, favoring appearance over substance, broadness over precision, and loudness above all. It is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important. Its scope has been widened by politicians, business executives, and the PR and advertising industries in their employ, who use it to spread fog before facts they would rather keep hidden. The result is... a world of humbug in which the more we read and hear, the less we know."
Smith is, of course, saying something not true—it is difficult to imagine that Junk English will be noticed, much less read, by those who most could profit from it—but it is an instructive and entertaining instructions and explanation all the same. He tries his hands at all the right places—jargon, cliches, euphemisms, and exaggeration—but he doesn’t swing blindly. "Although jargon often sounds ugly to outsiders, it speeds communication within the community that uses it"—and that "clich6s, though popular objects of scorn, are useful when they most compactly express an idea; deliberate avoidance of an appropriate cliche sometimes produces even worse writing."
In other words, Smith may be passionate but he’s also sensible. In a section about "free-for-all verbs," for example, he acknowledges that "There is no law against inventing one’s own verbs" before citing a few funny instances of what happens when "Things get a little out of hand," i.e. "We’re efforting to work this out" or "She tried to guilt him into returning the money." In the end, though, being sensible about language is in essence trying to insist that words mean what they properly mean and are used accordingly. Thus, for example, Smith insists that "dialogue" and "discussion" are not synonyms and should not be used interchangeably; that "complimentary" does not mean "free"; that "experience" does not mean "feel"; that "facilitate" does not mean "ease"; that "generate" does not mean "produce"; that "lifestyle" does not mean "life".
Smith obviously has spent a lot of time making notes about the ways in which we min and abuse our language, with results that are impressive in their thoroughness and depressing in their going to far. Occasionally he overlooks the obvious—among euphemisms he mentions "customer care representative" but not "courtesy call," and among the previously mentioned palsy-walsy language he inexplicably overlooks "Your call is important to us"—but then, as he says at the outset, he intended to write a short book and as a result had to leave out many misdeeds. The ones he includes more than do the job.
The item "humbug" in the last sentence of Para. 2 can be replaced by ______.
选项
A、tempt or temptation
B、deception, or trickery
C、nonsense or rubbish
D、mannerism, pretense
答案
D
解析
词义理解题。文章第二段第二句话指出:垃圾英语矫情虚饰,华而不实;倒数第二句又说许多人利用它来“to spread fog before facts they would rather keep hidden”,最后一句说结果是以至于满世界都是humbug,所以“the more we read and hear, the less we know”,可以推断humbug在这里意思是“矫揉造作”,选项A “诱惑”不合题意;选项B 言过其实;选项C 没有抓住中心要害,应排除。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/UkLK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisNOTaconditionforthereductionofdebts?
Surprisingly,nooneknowshowmanychildrenreceiveeducationinEnglishhospitals,stilllessthecontentorqualityofthate
Publicofficialsandcandidatesforpublicofficeroutinelyusepublicopinionpollstokeeptrackofwhatthepeoplearethinki
HealthMinisterNicolaRoxon’slatestproposalthatpatientsbeallocatedtodoctorsonalistbasisisstraightoutoftheplay
Thebankisreportedinthelocalnewspaper______inbroaddaylightyesterday.
Itwas______thattherestaurantdiscriminatedagainstblackcustomers.
ThereisawindowintheofficewhereIworkthatoverlookstheplaygroundnextdoor.Seatedatmydesk,Icanlookoutthiswin
Isthis______villagersspottedthetiger?
Unlikemostsports,whichevolvedovertimefromstreetgames,basketballwasdesignedbyonemanto(l)______aparticularpurpo
SevenExcusesNottoGotoCollegeThinkcollegeisforotherkids,andnotforyou?Wrong.Don’tgiveuponcollegebefore
随机试题
普通话声母g、k、h不能拼舌面元音[i],z、c、s可以拼[i]。()
启动PowerPoint后,出现PowerPoint启动对话框,其中提供了三种新建演示文稿的方法:内容提示向导、设计模板和______。
邓小平指出,在无产阶级政党建设方面,把列宁的建党学说发展得最完备的是()
下列药物的性、味,其作用属于升浮的是
公司能力是指公司配置资源并施展其生产和竞争作用的能力。是公司内部因素之一,其中生产治理能力非常重要,以下不属于生产治理能力涉及的方面是:()。
申请执行人张三与被执行人李四在执行程序中达成和解协议,李四在和解协议达成后履行了部分义务,但对剩余的部分拒不履行。张三申请法院恢复执行原判决,对于李四已经履行的部分如何处理?()
《生产安全事故报告和调查处理条例》规定,事故发生后,有关单位和人员应当妥善保护事故现场以及相关证据,任何单位和个人不得破坏事故现场、毁灭相关证据。因抢救人员、防止事故扩大以及疏通交通等原因,需要移动事故现场物件的,应当()。
下列利息支出,可以在企业所得税税前全额扣除的是()。
关于社会主义发展阶段,毛泽东提出。社会主义可分为两个阶段。这两个阶段分别是()
【B1】【B10】
最新回复
(
0
)