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Reading and Writing外语教学与研究出版社Book OneUnit 4外语教学与研究出版社Book OneContent外语教学与研究出版社Book One外语教学与研究出版社Book One1. Questions: 1) Which kind of English are you studying now, American English or British English? What are the differences between them?2) In which aspests does American English attracts you? Through what channels does American English spread to the rest of the world? Offer some examples.3) Chinese is increasingly popular outside China, do you see any possibility that Chinese will become the most prevailing language throughout the world in the future? Why/why not?2. Each group appoint one representative to give a presentation about the groups discussion. Group discussionGroup discussion 外语教学与研究出版社Book One THE FUTURE OF ENGLISHH. L. Mencken 外语教学与研究出版社Book One外语教学与研究出版社Book One Main Idea and Structuren First reading: Scan the text and try to catch the main idea. The following words are for your reference to organize the idea: English most prevailing succinctness and simplicity American English resisted developing conquern Second reading: read the passage again and try to identify the structure of this passage. For your referenceFor your reference外语教学与研究出版社Book OneEnglish is the most prevailing language throughout the world and wins by its succinctness and simplicity. Though resisted by the English, American English is developing and surpassing British English, and it will eventually conquer the world.外语教学与研究出版社Book One Para. 4-7 Main idea:English is the most prevailing language and the worldwide spread of English is due to the extraordinary dispersion of the english-speaking people.Main idea: English wins by its advantage in vocabulary, pronunciation and arrangment. Its succinctness and simplicity is especially attractive to foreigners.Main idea:Though resisted by the English, American English is developing fast. Its reasonable to predict that American English will eventually conquer the world. Para. 8-14Para. 1-3外语教学与研究出版社Book OneText StudyText Study外语教学与研究出版社Book Onen1 In the middle of the sixteenth century, English was spoken by between four and five millions of people, and stood fifth among the European languages, with French, German, Italian, and Spanish ahead of it in that order, and Russian following. Two hundred years later, Italian had dropped behind but Russian had gone ahead, so that English was still in fifth place. By the end of the Eighteenth Century English began to move forward, and by the middle of the nineteenth it had forced its way into first place. Today it is so far in the lead that it is probably spoken by as many people as the next two languagesRussian and German combined.n2 How many people speak it today? It is hard to answer. Besides those to whom English is their native tongue, there are people who, though born to some other language, live in English-speaking communities and speak English in their daily business. More importantly, English is now spoken as a foreign language throughout the worldvery often, to be sure, badly, but nevertheless understandably. It has become a platitude that one may go almost anywhere with no other linguistic equipment and get on almost as well as in New York.Para.1-2外语教学与研究出版社Book OnePara.3-4n3 In part, of course, its spread has been due to the extraordinary dispersion of the English-speaking peoples. They have been the greatest travelers of modern times, and the most adventurous merchants, and the most assiduous colonists. Moreover, they have been, on the whole, poor linguists, and so they have dragged their language with them, and forced it upon the human race.n4 But there is more to the matter than this. English, brought to close quarters with formidable rivals, has won very often, not by force of numbers, but by the sheer weight of its merit. “In wealth, wisdom, and strict economy,” said the eminent Jakob Grimm a century ago, “none of the other living languages can vie with it.” To which the eminent Otto Jespersen was adding only the other day: English is simple, it has clear sounds, it packs its words closely together, it is logical in their arrangement, and it is free from all pedantic flubdub. 外语教学与研究出版社Book OnePara. 5-6n5 When American pedagogues speak of the virtues of English they almost always begin by hymning its enormous vocabulary, which is at least twice as large as that of any other language. But this is not what enchants the foreigner; on the contrary, the vast reaches of the vocabulary naturally alarm him. The thing that really wins him is the succinctness and simplicity of the language. We use, for all our store of Latin polysyllables, a great many more short words than long ones, and we are always trying to make the long ones short. What was once puniligrion is now pun; what was gasoline only yesterday is already gas. No other European language has so many three-letter words, nor so many four-word sayings. “First come, first served”that is typically English, for it is bold, plain, and short.n6 The English psychologist, Dr. Ogden believes, indeed, that 850 words are sufficient for all ordinary purposes, and he has devised a form of simplified English, called by him Basic, which uses no more. Of his 850 words no less than 600 are the names of things, which leaves only 250 for the names of qualities and actions, and for all the linguistic hooks and eyes that hold sentences together. 外语教学与研究出版社Book OnePara.7-8n7 Does this seem too few? Then it is only to those who have forgotten one of the prime characteristics of Englishits capacity for getting an infinity of meanings out of a single word by combining it with simple modifiers. Consider, for example, the difference between the verbs to get. To get going, to get by, to get on to, to get wise, to get off, to get ahead of, and to get over. Dr. Ogden proposes to rid the language of a great many verbssome of them irregular, and hence difficultby substituting such compounds for them. Why, for example, should a foreigner be taught to say that he has disembarked from a ship? Isnt it sufficient for him to say that he has got off? And why should he be taught to say that he has recovered from the flu, or escaped the police, or obtained a job? Isnt it enough to say that he has got over the first, got away from the second, and simply got the third?n8 But as English spreads, will it be able to maintain its present form? Probably not. But why should it? Every successful effort at standardization seldom succeeds. The schoolmaam has been trying since the Revolution to bring American English to her rules, but it goes on sprouting, and it will eventually conquer the English of England.外语教学与研究出版社Book OnePara. 9-10n9 This guess indeed is rather too easy to be quite sporting. English has been yielding to American for fifty years past, and since the turn of the century it has been yielding at a constantly accelerated rate. The flow of novelties in vocabulary, in idiom, even in pronunciation, is now overwhelmingly eastward. We seldom borrow an English word or phrase any more, though we used to borrow many; but the English take in our inventions almost as fast as we can launch them. The American movie, I suppose, is largely responsible for this change, but there are unquestionably deeper causes too. English is still a bit tight, a bit stiff, more than a little artificial. But American has gone on developing with almost Elizabethan prodigality. All the processes of word-formation that were in operation in Shakespeares England are still in operation here, and they produce a steady stream of neologisms that he would have relished as joyfully as he relished the novelties actually produced in his time.n10 The English, from the Age of Anne onward, have resisted the march of American with a mixture of patriotic watchfulness and moral , albeit with steadily decreasing effectiveness.外语教学与研究出版社Book OnePara.11-12n11 The English travelers who began to swarm in America after 1800 gave willing aid in this benign work, and scarcely one of them failed to record his horror over the new American words that he encountered, and the unfamiliar American pronunciation. Captain Basil Hall, who was here in 1827 and 1828, went to the length of making a call upon Noah Webster, then over 70 years of age, to lodge his protest. “Surely,” he said, “such innovations are to be deprecated.” “I dont know that,” replied Webster stoutly. “If a word becomes universally current in America, why should it not take its station in the language?” “Because,” answered Hall, with a magnificent resort to British complacency, “there are words enough already.”n12 This hostility continues into our own day. At regular the London dailies and weeklies into sonorous complaints against the American invasion. Even the relatively cautious and plainly useful simplicities of American spelling (as in the -or words, 外语教学与研究出版社Book One for example) are sometimes denounced with great rancor. But it is really too late for the English to guard the purity of their native tongue, for so many Americanisms have already got into it that, on some levels at least, it is now almost an American dialect. There are hundreds of them in daily use in England, and many have become so familiar that an Englishman, on being challenged for using them, will commonly argue that they are actually English. n13 There are Englishmen who believe that the time has come to compromise with the invasion, and even to welcome it. The father of this pro-American party seems to have been the late William Archer, who was saying so long ago as 1899 that Americans had enormously enriched the language, not only with new words, but with and luminous colloquial metaphors. The late Dr. Robert Bridges, Poet Laureate from 1913 until his death in 1930, was of like mind with Archer.Para.12-13外语教学与研究出版社Book Onen14 I turn to Dr. Ogdens list of fifty “international” nouns for the Basic vocabulary, and find that no less than nine of them are American, not English. I turn to Professor Ichikawas list of English words that have been taken into Japanese, and Americanisms bristle from every page. Plainly enough, the conquest of the world by English, if it ever comes off, will really be a conquest by American.Para.14外语教学与研究出版社Book OneSentence AnalysisSentence Analysis外语教学与研究出版社Book One1. English, brought to close quarters with formidable rivals, has won very often, not by force of numbers, but by the sheer weight of its merit. (Para. 4, Line 1-2)bring to close quarters with: bring into contact withformidable: difficult to defeatformidable rivals: 劲敌merit: a quality deserving praise or approval Paraphrase:When English had to compete with other languages (like French and German) which were also very strong, it had very often won, and its victory was not because it had a greater number of speakers, but because it had great advantages over other languages. Translation：英语在与其劲敌的竞争中取胜，往往不是因为数量原因，而完全是因为其优点。外语教学与研究出版社Book One2. When American pedagogues speak of the virtues of English they almost always begin by hymning its enormous vocabulary (Para. 5, Line 1-2)Pedagogue: a schoolteacher, an educatorvirtue: a particularly good qualityhymn: to praise, glorify, or worship in or as if in a hymn Paraphrase:When American educators speak of the advantages of English, they almost always begin by speaking highly of its enormous vocabulary.Translation：当美国的教育工作者谈及英语的优点时，几乎总是以赞美其词汇量之庞大为开头。 外语教学与研究出版社Book One3. But this is not what enchants the foreigner; on the contrary, the vast reaches of the vocabulary naturally alarm him. (Para. 5, Line 3-4)enchant: to attract and delight reaches: the extent or distance something can reach; scope alarm: to fill with alarm; frightenParaphrase:But the large size of the vocabulary of English is not what the foreigner is really interested in; on the contrary, the great variety of meanings and implications frighten him. Translation：然而，吸引外国人的并不是词汇量大，相反，浩瀚的词汇很容易令外国人担忧。外语教学与研究出版社Book One4. The English, from the Age of Anne onward, have resisted the march of American with a mixture of patriotic watchfulness and moral indignation, albeit with steadily decreasing effectiveness. (Para. 10)indignation: anger aroused by something unjust, mean, or unworthy albeit: although“with a mixture of patriotic watchfulness and moral indignation” is a adverbial clause of result (方式状语从句 ); “with steadily decreasing effectiveness.” is adverbial clause of manner (结果状语从句 ). Paraphrase:From the Age of Anne up to now, the English people have been against the development of American English with a mixture of patriotic watchfulness and moral indignation, although their resistance has been less and less effective.外语教学与研究出版社Book OneTranslation：自安妮时代以来，英国人就以一种带有爱国者的警惕和义愤的复杂心情，来拒绝美语的进入，尽管效果在日渐下降。外语教学与研究出版社Book One5. At regular intervals the London dailies and weeklies break into sonorous complaints against the American invasion. (Para. 12, Line 1-2)at regular intervals: regularly, once in a specific period of timeat intervals: from time to timesonorous: having or producing a full, deep, or rich soundParaphrase:From time to time the London newspapers and weekly magazines publish articles to complain vigorously against the Americanisms in the English language.Translation：每隔一段时间，伦敦的日报和周报便对美语侵入提出大声抗议。外语教学与研究出版社Book One6 . who was saying so long ago as 1899 that Americans had enormously enriched the language, not only with new words, but with apt and luminous colloquial metaphors. (Para. 13, Line 3-4)enrich: to make fuller, more meaningful, or more rewardingapt: exactly suitable; appropriateluminous: easily comprehended; clearColloquial: characteristic of the spoken languageParaphrase:He said in 1899 that Americans had greatly enriched the language by introducing new words as well as appropriate and clear metaphors with the features of spoken language.Translation：他早在1899年就说过，美国用语大大丰富了英语语言，不仅为英语增加了新词，而且增加了一些恰如其分、通俗易懂、带有口语特色的比喻用法。外语教学与研究出版社Book OneLanguage PointsLanguage Points外语教学与研究出版社Book Onevi. to (cause to) move faster (使)加快，加速 反义词decelerate e.g. The car accelerated as it overtook me. 那辆汽车一加速就超越了我。 The leader is losing ground as the rest of the runners accelerate. 领先者在其余赛跑者加速时就逐渐失去了优势。 vt. fml to cause to happen faster or earlier than expected (正式)使加快，促进，提前e.g. China is accelerating its economic development. 中国的经济发展速度正在加快。 to accelerate the educational system reform 加快教育体制改革 accelerated promotion 提前晋升accelerate外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneapt adj. having a natural or habitual tendency to do something; likely 有.倾向的，易于的 近义be inclined to/tend toe.g. This kind of shoe is apt to slip on wet ground. 这种鞋在湿地上容易打滑。 Its apt to rain this afternoon. 今天下午可能下雨。 adj. exactly suitable; pertinent 适当的，恰当的e.g. an apt remark 适当的话例题例题:The words were all _ and well chosen. A. suitable B. appropriate C. apt D. fitC. apt外语教学与研究出版社Book Onebenignadj. kind and gentle 慈祥的，和蔼的，亲切的，温和的e.g. a benign nature/smile 和善的性情/微笑 The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop. 温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。 adj. med (of a disease) not dangerous to life; not malignant (医) 疾病无致命危险的，非恶性的，良性的e.g. a benign tumor 良性肿瘤 A benign tumour will not cause you any fatal harm. 良性肿瘤不会对你有致命的伤害。 例题：例题： This is a _ tumour, so you dont have to be worried about it. A. good B. king C. benevolent D. benign C. benevolent 外语教学与研究出版社Book Onebristlen. short stiff hair 短而硬的毛发e.g. His chin was covered with bristles. 他的下巴长满了胡子茬。v. (hair or fur) to stand up stiffly (e.g. because of anger, distrust, etc.) （因愤怒等原因而毛发）竖立，硬挺; （比喻义）怒发冲冠e.g. The dogs hair bristled (up) when the visitors came to the door. 访者走近大门时,那条狗的毛都竖起来了。 They bristled (with anger) at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。 外语教学与研究出版社Book Onebristle with sth: to have plenty of (something especially unpleasant or unattractive); be full of 到处都是，尤指不愉快的事e.g. The street bristle with armed guards after the latest terrorist attack. 最近一次恐怖分子攻击后，街道上武装警卫遍布。例题：例题： Paint brushes are usually made of pigs _. A. fur B. bristle C. wool D. feather B. bristle外语教学与研究出版社Book Onecomplacentadj. pleased or satisfied with a situation, often unreasonably; not worrying, even though one perhaps should be 自满，自鸣得意(n. complacency)e.g. a complacent smile 洋洋自得的微笑 He had become complacent after years of success. 成功多年后他变得自我满足起来。 After so many wins we grew complacent and thought wed never loseso of course we lost the next match. 赢了许多场以后，我们得意忘形了，以为我们决不会输，因此我们 在接下来的比赛中当然就输了。外语教学与研究出版社Book Onedenouncevt. to express strong disapproval, esp. publicly; condemn (尤指公开)职责，谴责，告发e.g. The ministers action was denounced in all the newspapers. 这个部长的行为在各个报纸上遭到强烈谴责。 She was denounced as a traitor. 她被告发为叛徒。例题:The mass rally at the Town Hall _ him as a traitor. A. scolded B. denounced C. censured D. criticized B. denounced外语教学与研究出版社Book Onedisperse v. to scatter or spread in different directions, so as to be no longer present 分散，消散，驱散 近义词scatter, distributee.g. After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们都四散回家了。 Police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. 警察用催泪弹驱散人群。 The airplane dispersed the leaflets over the city. 飞机在城市上空散发传单。例题：例题：Groups of police were _ all along the street where the Queen was to pass. A. scattered B. dispelled C. dispersed D. compelled句意：一排排警察分布在女皇将要经过的街道两旁。C. dispersed外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneadj. (of a person) famous and admired; distinguished (指人)卓越的，杰出的，出名的近意词distinguishede.g. Even the most eminent doctors could not cure him. 甚至连最杰出的医生都治不好他的病。 an eminent schoolar 知名学者例题：例题：Churchill was one of the worlds most _ statesmen. A. eminent B. imminent C. illicit D. explicableA. eminenteminent外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneindignation n. feelings of surprised anger (because of something wrong or unjust) (因错事和不公正的事情而感到的)愤怒近义词：outragee.g. I expressed my indignation at being unfairly dismissed. 我对遭到不公正的解雇表示愤慨。 He was blazing with indignation. 他勃然大怒。例题:The men were full of _ because they thought their friends had been unjustly punished. A. diagnosis B. indigestion C. indignation D. aggression C. indignation外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneresort n. a place where people regularly go for holidays 度假地，旅游胜地 e.g. a health resort 疗养地n. the action of resorting to something 诉诸，求助，采取e.g. If this cant be settled reasonably, it may be necessary to have resort to force. 如果这个问题不能得到合理的解决，诉诸武力可能是必要的了。 As a last resort, we could borrow more money from the bank. 作为最后的手段，我们可以向银行再借点钱。vi. to make use of; turn to (often something bad) for help 采取，诉诸，求助于(通常为不好的事物)e.g. You should resort to your parents. 你应该求助于你的父母。外语教学与研究出版社Book OneUseful ExpressionsUseful Expressions外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneforce sth on/upon sbto cause to be accepted by an unwilling person(使)被迫接受e.g. You shouldnt force food on children. 你不该强迫孩子吃东西。 He didnt want to be paid, but we forced the money on him because we knew he needed it. 他不想要报酬，但我们强迫他收下这笔钱，因为我们知道他需要钱。 The war was forced upon us by powers that needed our coal and iron. 战争是那些需要我们的煤和铁的强国强加给我们的。外语教学与研究出版社Book Onego to any length(s)to be willing to do anything, however difficult, dangerous, unpleasant, or morally wrong 不遗余力，竭尽所能，不折手段e.g. He will go to any lengths to get his child back from his ex-wife. 不管花多大力气都要把儿子从前妻那要回来。 They went to unprecedented lengths to limit press coverage of the trial. 他们竭尽全力限制新闻界对这次事件的报道。 外语教学与研究出版社Book Oneintervals at intervals: now and then; with short period of time between 不时；时时；每隔一会儿e.g. at regular intervals 每隔一定时间 Rain fell at intervals throughout the night. 雨断断续续下了一整夜。 at intervals of: thappening regularly after equal periods of time or appearing at equal distances 每隔时间/距离e.g. The bell rang at intervals of half an hour. 钟每隔半个小时敲响一次。 There seeds are planted at intervals of three inches. 这些种子的播种间隔为3英寸。外语教学与研究出版社Book Onecome offto take place, happen 举行，进行，发生e.g. The wedding came off as planned. 婚礼按计划举行了。to succeed; have the intended effect 成功，达到预期的效果e.g. It was a clever joke but it didnt quite come off. 那消化不错，可惜没有达到预期的效果。to finish in the stated way; have the stated degree of success 结果是，成为e.g. She came off rather badly in the debate. 她在辩论赛中输的很惨。Come off it! 别胡说了，别撒谎了，别装蒜了e.g. Now come off it. I never said that. 行了，别胡说了，我从来没那么说过。外语教学与研究出版社Book Onetake in to receive into ones home; pr
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