Do you know that some words in English were taken from Chinese? They are most often from Cantonese, the language used by people from Guangdong Province.

Word 1: typhoon

In English, a typhoon is a very powerful storm that happens around the China Sea. According   to the Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories, the first typhoons reported in the English language were in India and were called “touffons” or “tufans”. They meant great storm or flood.

Later, when English ships met violent wind and rain in the China Sea, Englishmen learned the Cantonese word “tai-fung”, which means “great wind”. The modern form of the word “typhoon” was spelled in another way to make it like an English word.

Word 2: ketchup

Most Americans would have a hard time believing that ketchup was not created right here in the USA.

Ketchup is America’s most popular sauce. But the story of ketchup began more than 500 years ago in South-east Asia. The word “ketchup” probably came from a Chinese word “ke-tsiap”. The word first met the English language in the late 17th century, when a British person in Indonesia found this sauce. Back in England, “ketchup” once included many types of sauces. Later, English people brought ketchup with them to the USA and put tomatoes in it until the mid-19th century.

As we all know, there are many differences between western culture and Chinese culture. 【小题1】 Let’s look at some words about animals and plants. Most of the expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have negative meanings. 【小题2】 In English, people use: the dog to describe positive actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”, the word “dog-tired” means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is unkind. 【小题3】

【小题4】 People think the rose stands for love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

【小题5】 We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how words are used.

判断正(A)误(B)。

Now let me tell you something about the world. Canada and the U.S. are western countries. China and Japan are eastern countries. Different countries have different food. Hamburgers, donuts and hot dogs are the favorite foods in the western countries. Dumplings, rice, noodles are the favorite foods in China. The U.S. is very far from China. Japan is near China. People in different countries speak different languages. Chinese speak Chinese and Japanese speak Japanese. Do Canadians speak English? Yes, they speak English and French. People in the U.S. also speak English. We call it American English.