unit7TheGloriousMessinessofEnglish最新分析和总结.pdfVIP

Some languages resist the introduction of new words. Others, like English, seem to welcome them. Robert MacNeil looks at the history of English and comes to the conclusion that its tolerance for change represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom. 有些语言拒绝引入新词。另一些语言，如英语，则似乎欢迎新词的引入。罗伯特·麦 克尼尔回顾英语的历史，得出结论说，英语对变化的包容性体现了根深蒂固的自由思想。 The Glorious Messiness of English Robert MacNeil 1 The story of our English language is typically one of massive stealing from other languages. That is why English today has an estimated vocabulary of over one million words, while other major languages have far fewer. 英语中绚丽多彩的杂乱无章现象 罗伯特·麦克尼尔 我们的英语的历史是典型的大量窃取其它语言的历史。 正因为如此， 今日英语的词汇 量据估计超过一百万，而其它主要语言的词汇量都要小得多。 2 French, for example, has only about 75,000 words, and that includes English expressions like snack bar and hit parade. The French, however, do not like borrowing foreign words because they think it corrupts their language. The government tries to ban words from English and declares that Walkman is not desirable; so they invent a word, balladeur, which French kids are supposed to say instead -- but they dont. 例如，法语只有约 75,000 个单词， 其中还包括像 snack bar （快餐店） 和 hit parade （流 行唱片目录） 这样的英语词汇。 但法国人不喜欢借用外来词， 因为他们认为这样会损害法语 的纯洁性。法国政府试图逐出英语词汇，宣称 Walkman （随身听）一词有伤大雅，因此他 们造了个新词 balladeur 让法国儿童用——可他们就是不用。 3 Walkman is fascinating because it isnt even English. Strictly speaking, it was invented by the Japanese manufacturers who put two simple English words together to name their product. That doesnt bother us, but it does bother the French. Such is the glorious messiness of English. That happy tolerance, that willingness to accept words from anywhere, explains the richness of English and why it has become, t