Let's face it-English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant (茄子) nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple(菠蘿). English muffins (松餅) weren't invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes (似是而非的說(shuō)法),we find that quicksand(流沙) can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers "praught"? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can a person be "pretty ugly"?

You will be very surprised at the unique lunacy(荒謬) of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on. Why is a "crazy man" an insult(侮辱), while to insert a comma and say "crazy, man" is a compliment (as when clapping for a Jazz performance).

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.

According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. A wise man is similar in meaning to a wise guy.

B. "An alarm clock goes on" and"An alarm clock goes off" are opposite.

C. Boxing rings are square rather than round.

D. Sweetmeats are sweet meat while sweetbreads are not sweet at all.

Which of the following pairs contains expressions that are opposite in meaning?

A. "A fat chance"and "a slim chance".

B. "To fill in a form"and "to fill out a form".

C. "Crazy man" and "crazy, man".

D. "Quite a lot" and "quite a few".

Which of the following statements about the English language is NOT true according to the passage?

A. It is a crazy language.

B. It reflects the creativity of the human race.

C. It was invented by the British people.

D. It can be quite irregular.

【小題1】C

【小題2】C

【小題3】C


解析:

【小題1】第二段即本題答案出處。按字面意思,ring意為"圓圈;圓環(huán)";而boxing rings(拳擊場(chǎng)) 卻是方形的。。

【小題2】由第四段最后一句可知,稱(chēng)一個(gè)人是crazy man,是對(duì)這個(gè)人的侮辱;如果在crazy和man之間加上逗號(hào),則是表"贊揚(yáng)"。

【小題3】由第五段第一句可知,"英語(yǔ)是人發(fā)明的,它表現(xiàn)了人類(lèi)的創(chuàng)造力。"括號(hào)中又進(jìn)一步解釋了human race(意為"人類(lèi)")根本不是指某一"種族"。

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