2012高考英语一轮复习Module 1 British and American English-cultural corner and task 外研版必修5.docVIP

Period 5: CULTURAL CORNER—The Man Who Made Spelling Simple Objectives To read to know more about language To read more about spelling in English Procedures ▇ Before you read Please go over the word list for this module, paying attention to the pronunciation of the word, the relationship between its pronunciation and its spelling. ▇While you read Cut/ the sentences into thought groups, blacken the predicates, underline the useful expressions and darken the connectives. The Man Who Made Spelling Simple In English/ the spelling of words does not always represent the sound．So people say /rait/ but spell it right, or write, or even rite. Combinations of letters (like ough) may be pronounced/ in a number of ways. And/ some words just seem to have too many letters. For Americans/ things are a little bit easier, thanks to the work of Noah Webster, a teacher/ who graduated from Yale University/ in1778. As a young man/ he had fought against the British/ in the American War of Independence, and he felt that/ written English/ in the newly independent United States/ should have a distinctive American look. So/ he began his work/ on American English. His first book, The Elementary Spelling Book, suggested simplifying the spelling of English words．The book was extremely popular. By the 1850s/ it was selling one million copies/ a year, making it one of the most popular school books/ ever. Many of the suggestions were quickly adopted. Center instead of centre, program/ instead of programme, and flavor/ instead of flavour. Others, however, such as removing silent letters like s/ in island/ or the final e/ in examine, were not. Webster is best known/ for his American Dictionary of the English Language, which first appeared/ in 1828．It introduced lots of new American words, with information about their pronunciation and use, and, of course, the new spelling. The British criticised the dictionary, but it quickly became a standard reference book/ in the States. Today, Websters dictionary