Languagesare renewed (更新) by people, stories and topical events everyday. The sa-组卷网

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Languages are renewed (更新) by people, stories and topical events everyday. The same situation goes with English. Although English is not as old as Chinese, it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words, and we are often able to know where most words come from.

Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They did not speak good English, but they ate good food. When some Americans saw them eating round pieces of beef, they asked the Germans what it was. The Germans did not understand the question and answered, “We come from Hamburg.” One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of beef like those which the men from Hamburg ate. Then he put each between two pieces of bread and started selling them. Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”. Today “hamburgers” are sold in many countries around the world. It became the signature dish in fast food restaurant such as McDonald and KFC. The word and the food spread widely in the world.

Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary. Others lie in the words of mouth of folks from different countries.

【小题1】What can we learn about English in the first paragraph?

A．English has the same history as Chinese.

B．English has a larger vocabulary than other languages.

C．English vocabulary is in the continuous development.

D．It is difficult to know where a new English word comes from.

【小题2】What does the underlined word Hamburg refer to?