职称英语选读.doc

职称英语选读 第1课English is a Crazy Language 1． English is a Crazy Language英语是一种疯狂的语言 1．Let’s face it——English is a crazy language.There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger；neither apple nor pine in pineapple．English muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France．Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads，which aren’t sweet，are meat． 1．让我们接受现实吧——英语是一种疯狂的语言。茄子(eggplant，字面意为鸡蛋植物)里并没有鸡蛋，汉堡包(hamburger，字面意为火腿火饼)里也没有火腿。同样，菠萝(pineapple，字面意为松树苹果)里既没有松树也没有苹果。松饼(English muffin，字面意为英式松饼)并不是英国人发明的，而炸薯条(French fries，字面意为法式油炸食品)也不是法国人的发明。“甜肉”(sweetmeat)指的是蜜饯，而“甜面包”(sweetbread)不是甜的，它指的是牛杂碎。 2．We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes，we find that quicksand can work slowly，boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig．And why it is that writers write but fingers don’t fing．grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth，why isn’t the plural of booth beeth ? If you have one goose,two geese，why not one moose,two meese,or one index,two indices? 2．我们理所当然地接受了英语的一切，但是如果我们分忻一下英语中似是而非的情况，我们马上就会发现“快的沙子”(quicksand，流沙，也指陷阱，困境)往往走得很慢，“拳击的圆圈”(boxing rings，拳击场)是方的，“几内亚猪”(guinea pig，天竺鼠)既不是来自几内亚，也不是猪。还有，既然名词作家(writers)去掉词尾的rs就可以成为动词“写作(write)”，那为什么名词手指(fingers)、杂货店(grocers)、锤子(hammers)去掉rs就不能成为各自相对应的动词呢?如果牙齿的复数是teeth，那为什么售货亭的复数不是beeth?一只鹅我们用goose，两只鹅用geese，那么，一只驼鹿用moose(单复数同形)，两只驼鹿就应该是meese了?为什么一条索引是index，两条索引却成了indices? 3．Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend，or that you can comb through the annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,what do you call it? 3．如果你赔偿时只能赔偿复数不能赔偿单数，这足不是很莫名其妙?你可以梳理历史的复数编年史，为什么却不能复习某一个单个的编年史?如果你有一堆麻烦，那么在你把其他的都解决了只剩下一个的时候该怎么说呢? 4．If teachers taught，why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables，what does a humanitarian eat? 4．如果教师教学是taught，那为什么传教士传教不是praught?如果素食主义者(vegetarian)吃蔬菜(vegetables)，那人道主义者(humanitarian)吃什么? 5．Sometimes I think all the English speakers should