外研必修五Module1 British and American English 话题阅读Passage 1A teacher of English as a second language is the 2004 Teacher of the Year in the United States. Kathy Mellor of Rhode Island will spend the next year as an international spokeswoman for education. President Bush and his wife, Laura, honored her during a ceremony（仪式）at the White House last week.For the past nineteen years, Kathy Mellor has taught English as a second language at Davisville Middle School in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, in the northeastern United States. She redesigned the program for E.S.L students at her school to provide each student with one to three periods per day in classes for English learners. How much instruction the students get depends on their level of skill in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The amount of time they spend in these classes in reduced as their level of English increases.A teacher describes this as the most successful E.S.L. program in North Kingstown. She also praises Kathy Mellor for providing help to students and their families by forming a local parents group for speakers of other languages .This improved their ability to help their children.Kathy Mellor earned a master’s degree in education from Rhode Island College. She studied teaching English as a second language.She was chosen for the national honor of Teacher of the Year from among top teachers in each of the fifty states. As Teacher of the Year, Kathy Mellor will travel around the United States and to other countries. She will talk about the importance of education and the work of teachers.1. This passage is mainly about______.A. Teacher of the Year 2004 in the United StatesB. Ms Mellor’s English teaching instructionC. Ms Mellor’s teaching skills of learning EnglishD. praises to Ms Mellor from other teachers2. What does ―E.S.L.‖ in the passage stand for?A. English study learners.B. English speaking and listening.C. English special learners.D. English as a second language.3. From this passage we can learn that ______.A. middle school teachers from each state are honored Teachers of the YearB. middle school teachers in the USA have to get master’s degreesC. Ms Mellor’s students have no problems in learning EnglishD. the American government pays much attention to education1. Who is suitable to work as a Community Representative in YOUTH International?A. One who enjoys working with teenagers from different countries.B. One who hopes to take action in fighting against diseases.C. One who has a strong desire to improve his or her English.D. One who wants to earn some pocket money in the program.2. Where will Jack, a volunteer, receive the training before he is sent to work in Malawi?A. In some local offices in the US.B. In an ESL organization in China.C. In a preparation program in Demark.D. In an exchange student center in Africa.3. If Mrs. Black in the US hopes to learn some Chinese at home, she may contact ______.A. takeaction@B. ram3462@C. club3864@D. staff@4. What are volunteers for an experiment over the Internet supposed to do?A. To interview people online.B. To do some house work.C. To offer advice on Child AidD. To provide language exercises.Passage 3I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language—the way it can evoke（唤起）an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as ―broken‖ English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ―broken‖, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholenes s. I’ve heard other terms used, ―limited English,‖ for example. But theyseem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions（认识）of the limited English speaker.I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s ―limited‖ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as ―broken‖, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal（内在的）language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.1. By saying ―Language is the tool of my trade‖, the author means that ______.A. she uses English in foreign tradeB. she is fascinated by languagesC. she works as a translatorD. she is a writer by profession2. The author used to think of her mothe r’s English as ______.A. impoliteB. amusingC. imperfectD. practical3. Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?A. Americans do not understand broken English.B. The author’s mother was not respected sometimes.C. The author’ mother had positive influence on her.D. Broken English always reflects imperfect thoughts.4. The author gradually realizes her mother’s English is ______.A. well structuredB. in the old styleC. easy to translateD. rich in meaning5. What is the passage mainly about?A. The changes of the author’s attitude to her mother’s English.B. The limitation of the author’s perception of her mother.C. The author’s misunderstanding of ―limited‖ English.D. The author’s experiences of using broken English.Passage 4As more and more people speak the global languages of English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, other languages are rapidly disappearing. In fact, half of the 6,000—7,000 languages spoken around the world today will likely die out by the next century, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).In an effort to prevent language loss, scholars from a number of organizations —UNESCO and National Geographic among them—have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.Mark Turin, a scientist at the Macmillan Centre Yale University, who specializes in the languages and oral traditions of the Himalayas, is following in that tradition.His recently published book, A Grammar of Thangmi with an Ethnolinguistic Introduction to the Speakers andTheir Culture, grows out of his experience, living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. But he is not content to simply record these voices before they disappear without record.At the University of Cambridge Turin discovered a wealth of important materials—including photographs, films, tape recordings, and field notes—which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection.Now, through the two organizations that he has founded –the Digital Himalaya Project and the World Oral Literature Project —Turin has started a campaign to make such documents, found in libraries and stores around the world, available not just to scholars but to the younger generations of communities from whom the materials were originally collected. Thanks to digital technology and the widely available Internet, Turin notes, the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities.1. Many scholars are making efforts to ______.A. promote global languagesB. rescue disappearing languagesC. search for language communitiesD. set up language research organizations.2. What does ―that tradition’ in Paragraph 3 refer to?A. Having full records of the languagesB. Writing books on language teaching.C. Telling stories about language usersD. Living with the native speaker.3. What is Turin’s book based on?A. The cultural studies.B. The documents available at Yale.C. His language research in Bhutan.D. His personal experience in Nepal.4. Which of the following best describe Turin’s work?A. Write, sell and donate.B. Record, repair and reward.C. Collect, protect and reconnect.D. Design, experiment and report.Passage 5Today, we complete our story about the influential English writer William Shakespeare. He wrote plays and poems during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, which remain very popular today.During earlier times, people would probably have learned several ancient Roman and Greek plays. It was not unusual for writers to produce more current versions of these works. For example, in Shakespeare's play "The Comedy of Errors" Shakespeare borrowed certain details from the ancient Roman writer Plautus. For his play "Macbeth", Shakespeare most likely used a work on Scottish history by Raphael Holinshed for information. Shakespeare might have borrowed from other writers, but the intensity（强度）of his imagination and language made the plays his own. While many plays by other writers of his time have been forgotten, Shakespeare and his art live on.Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. He described the sights andsounds of London in his plays. His works include observations about political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city’s tradesmen. Shakespeare's knowledge of the English countryside is also clear. His works include descriptions of deep forests, local flowers, and the ancient popular traditions of rural people.It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which Shakespeare’s works have influenced the world culture. But the first and greatest example would be his great influence on the English language. During his time, the English language was changing. Many new words from other languages were being added. Shakespeare used his sharp mind and poetic inventiveness to create hundreds of new words and rework old ones. For example, he created the noun forms of "critic", "mountaineer‖ and "eyeball". Many common expressions in English come from his plays, including "pomp and circumstance（装腔作势）"from "Othello", "full circle（绕圈子地）" from "King Lear", etc. The list of cultural creations influenced by Shakespeare is almost endless. From paintings to television to music and dance, Shakespeare was well represented. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into every major language in the world.Shakespeare became a well-known writer during a golden age of theater. His years of hard work paid off.1.What can we infer from the passage？A. Many of Shakespeare's works were influenced by earlier writings.B. Shakespeare was hard-working when he was a student.C. The experience of living in London helped a lot with Shakespeare's works.D. Shakespeare became rich later because of the popularity of his works.2.Shakespeare might have learnt some information from ancient Roman works in______.A. "King Lear"B. "The Comedy of Errors"C. "Macbeth"D. "Othello"3.Why could Shakespeare's works survive his time？A. Because there were so few people writing plays in his time.B. Because he produced too many works that nobody else could do.C. Because he was a rich and influential person of his time.D. Because his works were rich in imagination and language.4.Shakespeare's greatest influence should be on______.A. the English languageB. paintingsC. televisionD. music and dance5.The passage is mainly about______.A. an introduction to Shakespeare’s life and his worksB. the main features and styles of Shakespeare's playsC. how culture influenced Shakespeare and he influenced culture.D. Shakespeare’s greatest influence on the world culture.Passage 1 ADDPassage 2ACBDPassage 3 DCBDAPassage 4 BADCPassage 5ABDAC。
