【推荐1】Are you a different person when you speak a foreign language? That’s just one of the questions the New Yorker’s writer and native North Carolinian Lauren Collins explores in her autobiography, about her tough efforts to master French after marrying a Frenchman whose name —Olivier—she couldn’t even pronounce properly. When in French ranges from the humorously personal story to a deeper look at various theories of language acquisition and linguistics (语言学).

The couple met in London “on more or less neutral ground: his continent, my language.” But the balance shifted when they moved to Geneva for Olivier’s work. The normally voluble (健谈的) Collins found herself at a loss — “nearly speechless.” The language barrier, and her dependence on her husband for simple things like buying the right cut of meat worsened her mixed feelings about “unlovely, but not ridiculous” Geneva. She comments, “Language, as much as land, is a place__To be cut off from it is to be, in a sense, homeless.”

Her sense of alienation (疏离感) leads to an examination of America’s miserable record when it comes to foreign languages, “Linguists call America ‘the graveyard of languages’ because of its singular ability to take in millions of immigrants and make their native languages die out in a few generations,” Collins writes. Educated in Wilmington, N.C., and at Princeton, she could — like the vast majority of Americans — only speak their mother tongue.

Eight months after she moved to Switzerland, Collins gives up on the natural acquisition of language and finally attends a French course. As she struggles with grammar and vocabulary, Collins notes smartly that vert (green),verre (glass), ver (worm), vers (toward), and vair (squirrel) compose a quintuple homonym (同形异义). “Although it’s difficult, French can try” she says.

French is actually considered among the easiest languages for an English speaker to learn, especially compared to Arabic or Mandarin Chinese. Collins, whose notably rich English vocabulary includes glossolalia (nonsense speech) and shibboleth (catchword or slogan), finds plenty of terrific French words to love. She writes, “English is a trust fund, an unearned inheritance (遗产), but I’ve worked for every bit of French I’ve banked.”

Unlike Jhumpa Lahiri, who became so hooked on Italian and used it to write In Other Words, Collins’s goals for learning French were more modest, “I wanted to speak French and to sound like North Carolina.” She also wanted to be able to deal with chimney sweeps and butchers, communicate with her in-laws, and “to touch Olivier in his own language.” She admits that she feels different speaking French. ‘‘Its austerity (朴素) made me feel more confused.”

Readers looking for the romantic spark of classic cross-cultural love stories featuring an outgoing American and a shy Frenchman will find flashes of it here. Among the many cultural differences the couple argue over are her enthusiastic American habit of applying the verb love to express enthusiasm for shoes, strawberries, and husbands alike. But there’s far more to Collins, book than fantastic comedy, and those who have experienced linguistic crossings themselves tend to find particular resonance (共鸣) in its inquiry into language, identity, and transcultural translation.

Arranged by chapters named for verb tenses, When in French works its way from The Past Perfect (Le plus-que-parfait) to The Present (Le Present) and The Conditional (Le Conditionnel). Collins ends on a delightful note with Le Futur---fitting for a new mother about to move with her hard-won French husband, French language, and Swiss-born daughter to the French-speaking city of her dreams, Paris.

1. Which of the following statements is NOT the reason why Collin studied French?

A．She is eager to understand her husband in his own language.

B．She aims at dealing with everyday life affairs in French.

C．She wants to communicate with her husband’s relatives freely.

D．She tries to apply French to serve her writing career.

2. What does she mean by her comments “Language, as much as land, is a place. To be cut off from it is to be, in a sense, homeless.” in paragraph 2?

A．Understanding the language of a country helps you find the sense of belonging there.

B．If you understand the language of one country, you can get a house easily there.

C．You should forget your native language in order to get a home in a foreign country.

D．Language, as well as land, is a place on which you can build your own home.

3. What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?

A．Only English-speaking people can immigrate into America.

B．Other languages except English are forbidden in American’s universities.

C．American culture replaces immigrants’ native languages gradually.

D．So many immigrants may die very soon in America.

4. Who can find particular resonance (共鸣) in When in French?

A．Those who have to learn a foreign language.

B．Those who have suffered from linguistic crossings.

C．Those who became addicted to French.

D．Those whose native languages have died out.

5. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “Le Futur” in the last paragraph?

A．The past.

B．The Present Perfect.

C．The Future.

D．The Present Continuous.

6. This text would be probably found in ________.

A．science section of a local newspaper

B．literature section of a science journal

C．biography section of a social magazine

D．review and recommendation of a magazine

【推荐2】It happens all the time: during an airport delay, a Korean perhaps starts talking to a man who might be Colombian, and soon they are chatting away in what seems to be English. But the native English speaker sitting beside them cannot understand a word.

They don’t know they are speaking Globish, the latest addition to the 6,800 languages that are said to be spoken across the world. Not that its inventor, Jean-Paul Nerriere, considers it a proper language. “It is not a language, but it is a tool, ” he says. “A language is the vehicle of a culture. Globish doesn’t want to be that at all. It is a means of communication.”

The seeds for Globish came about in the 1980’s when Nerriere was working for IBM in Paris with colleagues of about 40 nationalities. At a meeting where they were to be addressed by two Americans whose flight had been delayed, they started chatting. Then the Americans arrived and beyond their opening phrases, “Call me Jim, ”“Call me Bill, ”no one understood a word. And Jim and Bill, needless to say, did not understand the strange English spoken by others. They all spoke low-quality English. Except Jim and Bill, everyone was speaking Globish though they didn’t know it.

The main principles of Globish are a vocabulary of only 1,500 words in English, gestures and repetition. One of the interesting things in Globish is that with 1,500 words you can express everything. The target is to reach the point where you will be understood everywhere. The list goes from “able” to “zero”. “Niece and nephew, for example, are not included, but you can replace them with the children of my brother, ” Nerriere says.

But a small problem is still waiting for him. The fluent Globish speakers will not be understood by native English speakers. To this question, Nerriere responded confidently, “This is the way to get Americans to learn another language. ”

1. From the first two paragraphs, we can know that ________.

A．the Korean realizes he is speaking Globish

B．Globish is the working language at airports

C．Nerriere thinks Globish is a communication tool

D．the native English speaker is interested in Globish

2. Which of the following can explain the reason for inventing Globish?

A．The IBM workers in Paris couldn’t speak English at all.

B．Nerriere needed to keep in touch with the IBM corporation in America.

C．Two Americans Jim and Bill wanted to make themselves understood.

D．The IBM staff in Paris were from many different countries.

3. How can Globish speakers communicate beyond the Globish vocabulary?

A．They might use French words instead.

B．They might use body language.

C．They might create new words.

D．They might consult a dictionary from “able” to “zero”.

4. What is Nerriere’s attitude towards the future of Globish?

A．Optimistic.	B．Cautious.
C．Worried.	D．Doubtful.

【推荐1】Keira age 15

I am very passionate about dancing. When I dance, it lights a spark inside of me. I get a burst of energy, and it gives me the power to go on and on. I don’t really know how to explain my love for dance, like I was born to dance.

I love my enthusiasm. When I’m in the moment of something amazing, I take it for everything it’s worth and share it with whoever will interest me!

Clara age 16

Art and acting. They make me feel confident and happy. I love seeing something from out of pencil marks on paper and the feeling while on stage. I’ve made great friends through these activities, too!

I don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up, but some of my first few choices include an architect, actress, artist, or author. I’m working to make my dreams a reality by working hard in school and trying to be my very best.

Isabelle age 16

When I grow up, I want to be a teacher because I am passionate about helping people and love playing with kids! At school, I help take the little kids to the bus and sit with them, and I play with the 1st graders at break.

Being nice also benefits me because if two friends are in a fight, I can listen to both sides of the story with kindness. It makes me the peacemaker. Being nice makes me feel good knowing that I put a smile on someone’s face.

1. Who likes dancing most?

A．Keira.	B．Clara.
C．Isabelle.	D．Kathleen.

2. How does Clara make her dream come true?

A．Acting on the stage.	B．Studying art and acting.
C．Making lots of friends.	D．Working hard in school.

3. What does Isabelle want to be?

A．An artist.	B．A dancer.
C．A teacher.	D．An actress.

【推荐2】The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed on from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made principle for living and for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and present.
The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Fire making, Property Rights, and Tool making. I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don’t know how to play polo, and rich kids don’t spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, football, and basketball. Despite some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate   tongues, we all, in fact, share the same language.
There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous to say that all Americans don’t speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a common theme.
There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation to religion and ethnic background — funeral customs and cooking, for example. But if there is one place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein. Specific differences that might be identified as signs of separate cultural identity are relatively insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons in the paragraphs and pages of American life.
1. According to the author’s definition of culture, ________.

A．a culture should be accepted and maintained universally

B．a culture should be free from falsehood and evils

C．the items of a culture should be taken for granted by people

D．the items of a culture should be accepted by well-educated people

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Baseball, football and basketball are popular sports in America.

B．Different classes have different cultures.

C．Playing polo is popular among kids.

D．There is no variation in using the American language.

3. It can be inferred that ________ will most probably be included in the seventy-three items.

A．accent

B．polo

C．dream patterns

D．table manners

4. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage is to ________.

A．prove that different people have different definitions of culture

B．warn that variations exist as far as a culture is concerned

C．indicate that culture is closely connected with social classes

D．show that the idea that the poor or the rich establish a separate culture is an absurdity