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
2014-07-20
89
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 /msn/, 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", "firefighter" 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"? Wrhat 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 is informal.
答案
B
解析
细节题。从第四段“You would be quite likely to read in the paper that‘Postalworkers are to receive a pay increase’.But‘Has the postman been?’would be mostlikely 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,常用在口语中,所以[B]是正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/yPTK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Thailand’offtarget’withlanguageteachingplansAmbitiousplanstoincreaseEnglishlanguageteachinginThailand’sschoo
Caraccidentswhichhappensbetween______aremorethanexpectednumber.
Accordingtothepassage,theEnglishmakecleardistinctionsbetween______.Accordingtothepassage,whowillNOTeattogeth
Israeliarchaeologistshavediscoveredhumanremainsdatingfrom400,000yearsago,(1)______conventionalwisdomthatHomosapie
______shouldnotbecomeaseriousdisadvantageinlifeandwork.(2010年考试真题)
Thoughherparentshermusicalability,Linda’spianoplayingisreallyterrible.
Althoughmostpeoplereturnfrompackageholidaysreasonablysatisfied,thisisnotalwaysthe(1)_____.Take,forinstance,the
WhydidtheWHOsuspenditsoperation?
Theglobalfinancialcrisisof2008hitconsumershard.Twoyearslater,andthey’restillreeling.Spendingisdownacrossthe
Accordingtothespeaker,whywasitaproblemformailcarrierstocrossriversinthe1600s?
随机试题
各种类型反应器采用的传热装置中,描述错误的是()。
A.脐带先露B.脐带脱垂C.脐带缠绕D.脐带长度异常E.脐带扭转胎膜未破,胎动、宫缩后胎心突然减慢,改变体位后迅速恢复,考虑可能存在
男性,27岁,农民。11月23日以“发热、头痛、腰痛2天”入院,自行口服“感冒药”无好转。查体:醉酒貌,腋下见条痕状出血点,上腹部压痛。该病的传染源主要是
复方丹参滴丸功效主治
下列等式不正确的是()。
劳动关系当事人基于集体合同、劳动合同约定的权利与义务所发生的争议属于()。
小明是个3岁3个月的孩子,十分活泼可爱,父母很喜欢他,可令父母不理解的是:小明无论做什么事情之前从不爱多思考。比如,玩插塑时,让他想好了再去插,而他却是拿起插塑就开始随便地插,插出什么样,就说插的是什么。在绘画或要解决别的问题时也是这样。夫妻俩认为这样不好
一天早上你刚上班,有以下三件事,让你马上去做,你怎样处理?(1)你的领导让你马上写一个工作方案,下午开会就用,并且你对这个工作方案,认为还有不妥之处。(2)群众上访,牵扯到你负责的工作,需要你马上去解释,但是你对于需要解释的内容还没了解清楚。(3)你同科室
在μC/OS-Ⅱ启动过程中,BootLoader执行完毕后,执行应用程序主文件中main()时,依次执行的三个主要的函数是:①OSInit();②【67】;③【68】。
Neverbeforethatmoment______theextentofmyownpower.
最新回复
(
0
)