研究生英语第四单元.pptVIP

* Unit 4 THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH H.L.Mencken paragraph 8—11 8. But as English spreads, will it be able to maintain its present form? Probably not .But why should it? Every successful effort at standardization seldom succeeds. The schoolma’am has been trying since the Revolution to bring American English to her rules, but it goes on sprouting, and it will eventually conquer the English of England. schoolma’am n. a female school teacher 学校女教师 sprout vi. grow or develop quickly 长出新芽；迅速发展 conquer vt. gain control over征服 the American Revolution (1775-1783) 但是随着英语的广泛传播，它是否能够保持现在的形式？也许不能。但为什么要保持现在的形式呢？每次使英语规范化的所谓的成功的努力其实很少成功。自从大革命以来，学校女教师一直努力使美式英语遵守语法规则，但是，美式英语仍然在不断发展，最终必将征服英国英语。 9.The guess indeed is rather too easy to be quite sporting. English has been yielding to American for fifty years part, and since the turn of the century it has been yielding at a constantly accelerated rate. The flow of novelties in vocabulary, in idiom, even in pronunciation, is now overwhelmingly eastward. vt. increase the speed of 加快速度 novelty n. sth. new, invention; the quality of being new 新颖，新鲜感 We seldom borrow an English word or phrase any more, though we used to borrow many; but the English take in our inventions almost as fast as we can launch them. The American movie, I suppose, is largely responsible for this change, but there are unquestionably deeper causes too. English is still a bit tight, a bit stiff, more than a little artificial. But American has gone on developing with almost Elizabethan prodigality. All the processes of word-formation that were in operation in Shakespeare’s England are still in operation here, and they produce a steady stream of neologisms that he would have relished as joyfully as he relished the novelties actually produced in his time. neologism n. a newly-coined word,phrase,or expression 新词，旧词新义 n. extreme abundance;reckless wastefulness;profuse generosity 丰富，大量；浪费，奢侈 relish vt. take pleasure in 从