Perhaps you have seen some strange English before, like “big meter” for dami and “small buy” for xiaomaibu in Chinese. These are examples of incorrect translations (翻译) in China. They can be seen everywhere.
While many people find this “Chinglish” to be funny, it also confuse (使困惑) English speakers. On Dec 1, China carried out its first national standards (规范) for the use of English in public service areas. The standards include more than 13 areas, including transportation, sports and education. This means that many Chinese words will now have standard English names.
For example, the English words for the Chinese dishes huntun and lamian are “wonton” and “lamian noodles”. For kaochuan and mixian, the English names are “barbecue” and “rice noodles”.
As for places, shaoniangong is called “children’s palace”. The entertainment activity nongjiale that we enjoy in rural areas is called “agritainment”. There are also many English warning (警示) phrases.
The standards are part of efforts China has made in past years to fix incorrect English. Many cities have already fixed signs with poor English translations. Shanghai opened a 12345 hotline to encourage people to report incorrect translations.
1. Which of the following is correct about the national standards? ________
| A．They was carried out on Jan 1, 2017. |
| B．They are China’s first translation dictionaries, |
| C．They have 3, 500 English-to-Chinese translations. |
| D．They give many Chinese words standard English names. |
| A．malatang. | B．lamian. |
| C．hundun. | D．kaochuan. |
| A．a rural place | B．an entertainment activity |
| C．a warning sign | D．a place for kids |
| A．To fix incorrect English. |
| B．To teach English speakers. |
| C．To improve other countries’ images. |
| D．To help more people learn English. |
| A．some cities have already corrected all the signs |
| B．all the cities have corrected lots of signs |
| C．lots of wrong English translation signs have been fixed in many cities |
| D．correct translations in China can be seen everywhere |
相似题推荐
| A. Salad days Salad days are the time when we are young and we don’t have much life experience. We usually act as we want. We like adventures and do some exciting things. B. Bread and butter People work hard to make their living. When they make money by doing a kind of job, we can say that is their bread and butter. C. Sour grapes When people don’t get the things they want, they would like to say the thing is bad and it is not what they want. That’s sour grapes for them. D. A fish out of water A person who is in a strange or uncomfortable environment may feel like a fish out of water. E. Couch potato A couch potato is a lazy man who spends a lot of time lying on the sofa, watching television and doing nothing all the day. F. The early bird catches the worm A bird will go hungry if it cannot catch worms (虫子). The bird that gets up early is sure to get some food, so the early bird catches the worm. G. Eyes in the back of your head Some people seem to know what’s going on behind them, as if they had eyes in the back of their heads. “Eyes in the back of your head” describes the ability to notice everything happening around you. |
【推荐2】An idiom is a phrase that we can’t understand from the meaning of each word. For example, if an American boy asks his mom what’s for dinner tomorrow, she may say “I’ll play it by ear”, that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will decide later.
“Play it by ear” used to mean playing music without using the sheet music(乐谱), but now people often use it when they’re not talking about music!
There are many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be much more vivid(生动的)and colourful.
Have you ever heard the idiom “He bought the farm”? It means he died. Do you know how it became popular? It was first used during World War I. When a soldier died, the government gave his family enough money to buy a farm.
In the early 1930s, people in the U.S. often did not know when or where their next meal was coming from. So as soon as they got something in their hand that could be eaten, it would go into their mouth. That was how people began to use the idiom “living hand to mouth” to mean “living a poor life”.
And don’t be angry if your English friend says this to you, “Break a leg in your game!" In fact, he is wishing you good luck! Hundreds of years ago, people believed in sprites. Sprites enjoyed causing trouble. If the sprites heard you ask for something, they would make the opposite take place. Tell someone to “break a leg” and the sprites would make something good take place.
Aren’t English idioms interesting? And break a leg in your next football match!
1. The idiom “play it by ear” means“________”| A．have no plans for dinner today. | B．have no plans for dinner tomorrow. |
| C．play music with sheet music. | D．have no plans and will decide what to do later. |
| A．buys the farm. | B．lives hand to mouth. |
| C．breaks a leg. | D．plays it by ear |
| A．loved buying farms. | B．lived a hard life. |
| C．had meals at different places and times. | D．liked eating from their hands. |
| A．make something good take place. | B．break a leg. |
| C．make trouble. | D．make bad things take place |
| A．Bad luck | B．Good luck | C．Have fun | D．Enjoy the game |
【推荐3】①There are nearly 6, 000 different languages in the world. But have you ever noticed any similarities among them? Language studies have shown that the words for “mama” and “papa” around the world have surprisingly similar sounds.
②Scientists used to believe the words might be similar because many languages started from Proto-Indo-European(原始印欧语). Many languages now spoken in Europe came from this language. In France people say “mama” and “papa”, and “mamma” and “papa” in Norway. However, this does not explain why there are similarities outside of Europe, such as “nanay” and “tatay” in the Philippines(菲律宾) as well as in some areas in China. So what could cause this similarity around the world?
③Russian-American linguist Roman Jakobson shares his findings. “If you’re a baby trying to make a sound, the easiest vowel(元音) is ‘ah’. Because you can make it without doing anything with your tongue or lips(嘴唇) ,” Jakobson said. As babies begin to make other noises, they try some of the easier consonant(铺音) sounds. “M” and “p” are also made easily, so these sounds often develop next. Babies make the new sound “mmmm”, and then relax into an open mouth sound, usually “ah”. So the sound of “ma” or “pa” is often connected to a child’s first words all around the world.
④Babies “speaking” in this way are just playing. But parents don’t think so. When a baby says “mama” and “papa”, the parents think he or she is talking to them. It leads parents to be called “mama” and “papa”.
根据语篇内容，选择最佳选项。
1. What are the language studies about?
| A．Sounds of “mama” and “papa”. |
| B．Spellings of “mama” and “papa”. |
| C．Meanings of “mama” and “papa”. |
| A．To show their history. | B．To show their similarity. | C．To show their difference. |
| A．Babies make the sound “p” difficultly. |
| B．Babies make “ah” with the tongues or lips. |
| C．Babies make the sound “ah” more easily than “m”. |
| A．Parents quite understand how babies make sounds. |
| B．Words “mama” and “papa” come from babies’ first sounds. |
| C．Babies say “mama” and “papa” as soon as they see their parents. |
| A．The importance of making a sound. |
| B．The introduction to different languages. |
| C．The reason why we say “mama” and “papa”. |
【推荐1】Do you know World Sleep Day? World Sleep Day is an important event. It is a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important things related to（与……相关的）sleep, such as medicine, education and driving.
People celebrate it on the Friday before the spring equinox（春分）of each year. Events and activities of World Sleep Day are free and open to the public. “World Sleep Day is an important and successful event. Everyone needs to understand how important sleep is. Good sleep is so necessary, if you want to have a healthy life,” Dr William C. Dement, a spokesperson of World Association of Sleep Medicine said.
We all need to sleep, and the sleep hours are different from person to person. Without enough sleep, the body can die. For many of us, sleep is one of the biggest pleasures in life. In fact, many people see sleep as a hobby! Enough sleep can make us full of energy, so it is very important.
However, it is difficult for many people to get to sleep at night. That is to say, they have insomnia（失眠）. There are over 80 kinds of sleep-related problems. Some people are lucky and have no sleeping problems. They sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Do you sleep well?
1. How often do people celebrate World Sleep Day?| A．Once a month. | B．Twice a month. |
| C．Once a year. | D．Twice a year. |
| A．When we should go to sleep. |
| B．Why sleep is so important. |
| C．How many people like sleep. |
| D．How many hours’ sleep is the best for people. |
| A．Health. | B．Travel. | C．Future. | D．Sports. |
When students complete a book， they consider the job of reading done. When they are asked what they have got from the book， quite a few of them can give you some information about the plot(情节). But if we ask them more detailed questions， they have nothing to say. In fact， that is not what a good reader is supposed to do.
To be a good reader， firstly， is to know the background. We need knowledge of the life story of the writer， the culture and society in which the story takes place， Otherwise， it is hardly possible for us to better understand the book or come to realize the theme.
Then， we start to read the book. A good reader will not stop since he has already made a good preparation. He goes through the whole book to get the general idea of it instead of reading
Next comes an important step一read the book once again and write annotations(注释) when there is something impresses us deeply. It helps us get close to the mind of the writer. Many students underestimate(低估)the importance of writing annotations. They say that they also can understand the writer although they do not write annotations. It is true that it brings us some trouble of writing， but it also gives us a lot of ideas of our own at the same time.
Finally， a good reader needs to write a book report. It is a time when we can sum up all our thoughts and turn them into a report. We start to think of the characters， the plots and the theme. Some say it is boring but in fact it is fun if we do it. Producing something of our own is really wonderful because we are on our way to be better than a good reader.
All of us move our eyes back and forth from words to sentences to paragraphs. However， as a good reader， we learn much more from reading one book carefully than we do from reading ten roughly(粗略地)
1. What background should a good reader know before reading a book?
| A．The life story of the characters. |
| B．The theme of the book. |
| C．The society where the story happens. |
| D．The general idea of each paragraph. |
| A．上上下下地 | B．断断续续地 |
| C．来来回回地 | D．里里外外地 |
| A．can just tell the plots of a book |
| B．can finish reading ten books at a time |
| C．underestimates the importance of annotating |
| D．will read a book more than once |
| A．ask readers to prepare well before reading |
| B．encourage readers to write a book report |
| C．tell what a good reader is supposed to do |
| D．remind readers to sum up their thoughts |
【推荐3】China is planning to carry out more than 40 rocket launches(火箭发射) in 2021, the highest ever total, as it continues to expand its ambitions in space.
The planned launches include the core module of China’s first space station, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation(CAST)’s (中国航天科技集团公司）official WeChat account.
Before 2007, China had never carried out more than 10 launches a year. But since then it has rapid growth, carrying out 152 launches over the last five years—more than any other country.
“China’s manned space station project will enter a critical stage, and will be the top priority of the space programme throughout the year,” CAST said in January, 2021.
It plans to launch the core module of the Tiangong Space Station in spring and aims to complete the construction by the end of next year.
Astronauts are already in training for the mission, and will also carry out retrieval missions and test in-orbit technologies, according to state media.
The country’s first mission to Mars Tianwen-1 is also due to reach the Red Planet in February, and will aim to land a rover on the surface.
The space programme will also continue to work on space station modules and prepare for a crewed lunar mission, as well as continuing to develop the Beidou navigation system, a rival to the US GPS, for use in the civilian aviation industry.
1. According to CAST, the planned launches include ________.| A．the China’s first space station | B．152 rockets |
| C．the core module of China’s first space station | D．the core module of a rocket |
| A．简单的 | B．关键的 | C．批评的 | D．方便的 |
| A．the last two decades | B．the last year | C．the last month | D．the last five years |
| A．It aims to complete the construction of the Tiangong Space Station by the end of 2021. |
| B．China has carried out most launches over the last five years. |
| C．Astronauts are already in training for the mission. |
| D．Tianwen-1 is due to reach Mars in February. |
| A．the trip of Tianwen-1 | B．the space programme of China |
| C．the rocket launches of China over the last year | D．the core module of the Tiangong Space Station |
