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
2013-11-10
15
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 defenders①. 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 some times 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, clichés, 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 "clichés, though popular objects of scorn, are useful when they most compactly express an idea; deliberate avoidance of an appropriate cliché 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 ruin and abuse our language, with results that are impressive in their thoroughness and depressing in their going to far②. 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足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/g0GK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Peopleborninautumnlivelongerthanthoseborninspringandare【C1】______likelytofallchronicallyillwhentheyareolder,
Peopleborninautumnlivelongerthanthoseborninspringandare【C1】______likelytofallchronicallyillwhentheyareolder,
Thewomanwaslatebecause
Duringthewholeofadark,cloudydayneartheendoftheyearIhadbeen【C1】______myhorsealongcountryroadswithlittleli
Duringthewholeofadark,cloudydayneartheendoftheyearIhadbeen【C1】______myhorsealongcountryroadswithlittleli
By1950,theresultsofattemptstorelatebrainprocessestomentalexperienceappearedratherdiscouraging.Suchvariationsin
Whatwasthemandoingbeforethewomanarrived?
Unlessallthemembersagreeto______totheplantheremaybefurtherdevelopmentinthecourseofaction.
Whatdidspacesatellitescapturerecently?
Theinvestigators______forlunch.
随机试题
下列是行为主义者的主张的是()
常见药物制剂的化学配伍变化是
根据《招标投标法》的规定,不属于评标专家库专家必备条件的是()。
关于理财业务的客户需求调查,下列说法正确的是()。
A有限责任公司注册资本为8000万元,净资产为10000万元,现A公司根据公司经营战略的需要变更为B股份有限公司。根据规定,B股份有限公司折合的股份总额不得高于( )。
下列不属于我国三大石窟的是()。
爆胎:事故:保险
长尾理论是网络时代兴起的一种新理论,由美国人克里斯安德森提出。长尾理论认为,由于成本和效率的因素,过去人们只能关注重要的人或重要的事,如果用正态分布曲线来描绘这些人或事,人们只能关注曲线的“头部”,而将处于曲线“尾部”、需要更多的精力和成本才能关注到的大多
Theopeningbetweentherockswasverynarrow,buttheboysmanagedto_________through.
HowExerciseMakesYouSmarterExercisedoesmorethanbuildmusclesandhelppreventheartdisease.Newscienceshowsthat
最新回复
(
0
)