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
(1) It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." My first
(1) It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." My first
admin
2017-02-25
58
问题
(1) It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." My first personal experience of this was when I worked as a camp counselor for two months in 1993 in Summer Camp run by the Boy Scouts of An erica, as part of an international leader exchange scheme. Before I went, all the participants in the scheme were given a short list of words that are in common use in the UK which Americans would either be confused by or would even offend them. I memorized the words and thought "I’ll cope".
(2) When I finally arrived in the States three months later, I realized that perhaps a lifetime of watching American television was not adequate preparation for appreciating and coping with the differences between American and British speech. In the first hour of arriving at the camp I was exposed to High School American English, Black American English and American English spoken by Joe Public, all very different to each other. Needless to say, I did cope in the end. The Americans I met were very welcoming and helpful, and I found they were patient with me when I made a social faux pas when I used an inappropriate word or phrase.
(3) Upon my return I began to wonder whether anyone had documented the differences between American and British English. I found several books on the subject but often these were written in a dry and academic way. I felt that I could do better and use my sense of humor and personal experiences to help people from both sides of Atlantic to communicate more effectively when they meet.
(4) My research into the subject led me to several conclusions.
(5) Firstly, American English and British English are converging thanks to increased transatlantic travel and the media. The movement of slang words is mostly eastwards, though a few words from the UK have been adopted by the Ivy League fraternities. This convergent trend is a recent one dating from the emergence of Hollywood as the predominant film making center in the world and also from the Second World War when large numbers of American GIs were stationed in the UK. This trend was consolidated by the advent of television. Before then, it was thought that American English and British English would diverge as the two languages evolved and absorbed words brought to their respective countries by immigrants and their colonies.
(6) In 1789, Noah Webster, in whose name American dictionaries are still published in to this day, stated that: "Numerous local causes, such as a new country, new associations of people, new combinations of ideas in the arts and some intercourse with tribes wholly unknown in Europe will introduce new words into the American tongue." He was right, but his next statement has since been proved to be incorrect. "These causes will produce in the course of time a language in North America as different from the future language of England as the modern Dutch, Danish and Swedish are from the German or from one another."
(7) Webster had underrated the amount of social intercourse between England and her former colony. Even before Webster had started to compile his dictionary, words and expressions from the America had already infiltrated the British language, for example "canoe" and "hatchet". Very few people in Britain realise how many of the words they use are of American origin. Often this importation of American words has encountered a linguistic snobbery by the British, which was a manifestation of the cultural snobbery that bedevilled Anglo-American relationships for a long time. This is not, thankfully, the case now.
(8) Secondly, there are some generalizations that can be made about American and British English which can reveal the nature of the two nations and their peoples. British speech tends to be less general, and directed more, in nuances of meaning, at a sub group of the population. This can become a kind of code, in which few words are spoken because each, along with its attendant murmurings and pauses, carries a wealth of shared assumptions and attitudes. In other words, the British are preoccupied with their social status within society and speak and act accordingly to fit into the social class they aspire to. This is particularly evident when talking to someone from "the middle class" when he points out that he is "upper middle class" rather than "middle class" or "lower middle class". John Major (the former UK Prime Minister) may have said that we are now living in a "classless society" but the class system still prevails. At that moment both he and the Leader of the Opposition were talking about capturing the "middle England", "middle class vote" as the key to winning the next general election.
(9) American speech tends to be influenced by the over-heated language of much of the media, which is designed to attach an impression of exciting activity to passive, if sometimes insignificant events. Yet, curiously, really violent activity and life-changing events are hidden in blind antiseptic tones that serve to disguise the reality. Two examples come readily to mind—the US Military with their "friendly fire" and "collateral damages" and the business world with their "downsizing". British people tend to understatement whereas Americans towards hyperbole. A Briton might respond to a suggestion with a word such as "Terrific! " only if he is expressing rapturous enthusiasm, whereas an American might use the word merely to signify polite assent.
(10) Thirdly, The American language has less regard than the British for grammatical form, and will happily bulldoze its way across distinctions rather than steer a path between them. American English will casually use one form of a word for another, for example turning nouns into verbs or verbs and nouns into adjectives. In Britain, a disrespect for grammatical rules, particularly amongst the middle classes, would immediately reveal you to be "not one of us". Listening to listener feedback programmes on Radio 4 (one of the radio stations run by BBC) would reveal this. People actually write into complain about grammatical mistakes made by news presenters!
The author decided to write about the differences between American and British English to _____.
选项
A、support the statement of Bernard Shaw
B、describe his personal experiences
C、show his sense of humor
D、help people’s communication
答案
D
解析
第3段提到,有关这个主题的书都比较枯燥、充满学究气,作者觉得自己能用幽默感和亲身经历帮助人们更好的沟通,因此答案为D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/oa7O777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Therichnessofourlanguagesisconsideredbymanytobethedistinctiveandcrowingachievementinhumanevolution.Languagep
GeorgeBernardShaw’s______isacommentaryonIbsen’sdramaticworksandalsoservedastheauthor’sownprogramofdramaticc
LaozihaoisaChinesetermfortime-honoredbrands,orthoseprominentstate-ownedenterpriseshavingalonghistoryandunique
Nowadays,manypeopleusecomputerstohandleordinaryissuessuchasbankingandofficework,andtospendtheirsparetimeon
Amongthecollegestudentsnowadays,thereisatendencytoattachtoomuchimportancetoforeignholidays,whiletheyneglecto
InterculturalLearningManyteachersmaywonder"WhatamIactuallydoing?"sometimes.Itdoesn’tseemenoughtoteachgram
______referstothelanguagesystemofanindividualasexpressedbythewayheorshespeaksorwriteswithintheoverallsyste
InAmerica,peoplebornintheperiodfrom1946to1964wereconsideredas
WithinEUprimaryeducation,aclearmajorityofpupilschoosetostudyEnglishlikeaforeignlanguage.Indeed,learningEnglis
Becauseoftherisingcostoffuel,scientistsarebuildingautomobileengineswhowillconservegasolinebutstillrunsmoothly
随机试题
十五络脉指十二经脉之别络,以及
鼓胀的病位在
A.《本草纲目》B.《重修政和经史证类备急本草》C.《神农本草经》D.《温疫论》E.《黄帝内经》最早的一部中医典籍
如图所示,折射率为n2,厚度为e的透明介质薄膜的上方和下方的介质的折射率为n1和n3,已知:n1<n2>n3。若用波长为λ的单色平行光垂直入射到该薄膜上,则从薄膜的上、下两表面反射的光束①和②的光程差是()。
理财规划合同宜采用( )形式。
位于市区的某电子设备生产企业,主要生产电脑显示器.拥有固定资产原值6500万元,其中房产原值4000万元,2008年发生以下业务:(1)销售显示器给某销售公司,开具增值税专用发票,按销售合同约定取得不含税销售额7000万元;购进原材料,取得增值税专用发票
在上完一节课后,老师对今天所学知识进行模拟小测验,这属于()。
“大有大成,小有小成”是()教学原则具体运用的结果。
素质教育的首要任务是()。
Manypeopleliketotravel.Theproblemisgettingyourpettothe(1)______.Inrecentyears,transportingpetsonflightshasg
最新回复
(
0
)