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The Oxford English Dictionary

You may think that English dictionaries have been used for many, many centuries. The spelling of English has always been a problem but it was more of a problem in the days before a dictionary. Then people could spell words in different ways which you might find interesting. But it made reading English much more difficult. So dictionaries were invented to encourage everybody to spell the same. In fact, an English dictionary like the kind you use today wasn’t made until the time of the late Qing Dynasty. Three men did most of the important early work on dictionaries: Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Muray. These men spent nearly all of their lives trying to collect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn’t only a job; it was a wonderful journey of discovery. The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for short. The idea for this 20 dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in 1857. Twenty-two years later, Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor of its new dictionary.

Murray had never been to college. At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught himself while working in a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had a place built in the garden behind his house to do his work. Part of it was one meter underground. In winter it felt like a barn; he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o’clock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by candle light into the evening. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still adding words for the letter A! Then more people went to work with Murray, including his two 1928 daughters. He worked on the dictionary until he was very old. Forty-four years later, in 1928, other editors finished it. It included more than 400,000 words in twelve 1879 books. And you thought your English dictionary was big.

【小题1】Why was the English spelling more of a problem before a dictionary? Because________.
A.the spelling of English has always been a problem
B.people liked to spell words in interesting ways before a dictionary
C.people could spell words in different ways before a dictionary
D.reading English was much more difficult before a dictionary
【小题2】Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A.Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray did all of the important early work on English dictionaries
B.Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray did all of the important early work on the Oxford English Dictionary
C.Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray did most of the important early work on English dictionaries
D.Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray did most of the important early work on the Oxford English Dictionary
【小题3】When did James Murray begin to work for the Oxford English Dictionary?
A.Many centuries agoB.In the late Qing DynastyC.In 1857D.In 1879
【小题4】Which of the following about Murray is the correct order according to the text?
a. Murray left his village school.                      b. Murray had a place built in the garden.
c. Oxford asked Muray to be the editor.             d. Muray worked in a bank.
e. Murray became a great teacher.                      f. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years.
A.a,d,b,e,c,fB.d,a,b,e,c,fC.a,d,b,e,f,cD.a,d,e,c,b,f
【小题5】How long did it take for the Oxford English Dictionary to come into being?
A.More than seventy yearsB.More than forty years
C.More than sixty yearsD.More than fifty years
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A good joke can be the hardest thing to understand when people are studying a foreign language. As a recent article in The Guardian noted, “There’s more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar.”

Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an unbelievable icebreaker for a language learner eager to form friendships with native speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling that I could never break through,” Hannah Ashley, a public relations account manager in London, who once studied Spanish in Madrid, told The Guardian. “I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”

In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way. Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn't think his Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.

In Australia, meanwhile many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao, who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”

In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while British people use irony(反话)——basically, saying something they don’t mean to make a joke—every day, people in the US don't see the point of using it so often. “British jokes tend to be more subtle and dark, while American jokes are more obvious with their meanings, a bit like Americans themselves,” he wrote in The Guardian.

【小题1】It is implied in the noted sentence in Paragraph 1 that __________.
A.making jokes is a possible way for one to learn a foreign language better
B.humor is always conveyed to foreigners through vocabulary and grammar
C.vocabulary and grammar help you understand jokes in a foreign language
D.there tends to be something behind the words of a joke in a foreign language
【小题2】What can we learn about Hannah Ashley?
A.She thought that Spanish people generally did not have much of a sense of humor.
B.She believed that one had better rely on facts when speaking a foreign language.
C.She found that humor was a barrier to her to get along well with Spanish people.
D.She had a better command of Spanish language than English language.
【小题3】Joe Wong is used as an example to ___________.
A.suggest that there are cultural differences in humor
B.show that it’s hard to put jokes into another language
C.prove that local people have different taste in humor
D.show that expressing ability affects the sense of humor
【小题4】From the text we can learn that ___________.
A.jokes about sports are difficult for all foreigners to understand
B.Americans are generally more humorous than British people
C.not all English speakers can understand English jokes easily
D.British people’s dark jokes often make people uncomfortable

Language gives us the power to describe countless actions, properties and relations that compose our experiences, real or imagined. As for how languages were created, scientists found iconicity might play a key role.

People can’t bridge language gap and understand each other without iconicity. When playing a game of charades (猜字谜) , we act out our meaning, using our hands and bodies to describe the sizes and shapes of objects. The key to this process of forming new symbols is the use of iconicity. Not limited to gesturing, iconicity appears in our visual communication too. Traffic signs, food packaging, maps. . . wherever there are people communicating, you will find iconicity.

According to our research, iconicity might also exist in our voices. We organized a contest in which we invited contestants to record a set of sounds to express different meanings. The winner of the contest was determined by how well listeners could guess the intended meanings of the sounds based on a set of written options. Critically, the sounds that contestants submitted couldn’t include actual words or onomatopoeias (拟声词) .

Listeners were remarkably good at interpreting the meanings of the sounds. Yet, all of the contestants and listeners were speakers of English. Thus, it was possible that listeners’ success relied on some cultural knowledge that they shared with the speakers. Did the listeners also understand the speakers from completely different cultural backgrounds?

Later, an Internet survey translated into 25 different languages was carried out. Participants listened to each sound from the English speakers and guessed the meaning by choosing from six written words. Guessing accuracy for the different groups ranged from 74 percent for English speakers to 34 percent for Portuguese speakers. It is far from perfect, but well above the chance rate of eight percent expected by us.

Taken together, these studies show that our capacity for iconic communication has played a critical role. Without this special talent, language would likely never have gotten off the ground.

【小题1】Which of the following can explain “iconicity” ?
A.A skill in foreign language learning.B.The process of acting out our meanings.
C.The connection between form and meaning.D.A barrier between different language speakers.
【小题2】What can we know about the contest?
A.It required sounds containing meanings.B.Its winners were creative in recordings.
C.It aimed to prove iconicity in words.D.Its entries were familiar to listeners.
【小题3】What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
A.English pronunciations differ.B.The research has a limitation.
C.The cultural gap is narrowing.D.Listening skills vary in cultures.
【小题4】What is the significance of the research?
A.Clarifying the influence of sounds.B.Proving the necessity of exchanges.
C.Uncovering the origin of languages.D.Identifying the function of gestures.

China's hot word, tuhao, may be in Oxford English Dictionary.

​In Chinese, tu means rude and hao means rich. In recent years, people use this term to describe those who spend money in an unreasonable way. The word became more popular with Apple's gold-colored iPhone, which is loved by China’s rich people. The color became known as “tuhao golden”. The word is now often used to refer to people who have money but lack taste.

​There are two other Chinese hot words: dama and No Zuo No Die, which may also be taken in the dictionary. Dama, meaning middle-aged women, was first used in the Western media by the Wall Street Journal. Thousands of Chinese women were buying a large amount of gold when the gold price had gone down. Another phrase No Zuo No Die, meaning if you don't do stupid things, they won't come back to bite you, is also very popular. Other words, such as Maotai, Chinglish and dim sum have also been included in the dictionary.

​BBC World News recently made a special program called “Tuhao, let’s be friends!”“ The frequent use of Chinglish by foreign media suggests that foreign people are looking more to the lifestyle and popular culture of China,” says Zhang Yiwu, professor of Beijing University.

​What does this trend suggest about the Chinese language’s influence?

​Xing Hongbing, a professor from Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) said “These show that Chinglish is now being accepted by the rest of the world and they play important roles in daily life of Chinese. Behind these Chinglish words and phrases are the Chinese culture. They are reflections of the changes and trends in the Chinese society and they help people from other countries to understand what’s happening in China.”

【小题1】Which of the following words is NOT a hot Chinglish word?
A.DamaB.Karaoke
C.TuhaoD.Dim sum
【小题2】The word “dama” becomes so popular because ________.
A.they are wealthy middle-aged women
B.they bought gold crazily when the price was down
C.they made the gold price up
D.they worked on the Wall Street
【小题3】According to the passage, Xing Hongbing agreed that _________.
A.Foreigners want to know more about the culture of China from Chinglish.
B.Chinglish hot words tell some funny things about China.
C.Chinglish plays important roles in daily life of Chinese.
D.Chinglish hot words are so vivid that people like using them a lot.
【小题4】What’s the purpose of writing this article?
A.To describe the hot words in Oxford English Dictionary.
B.To explain the meanings of some Chinese hot words.
C.To describe the use of Chinglish hot words and their influence.
D.To show the different opinions about Chinglish hot words.

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