American English has so many _________ because the American people have come from all over the world.

A. grammar            B. vocabulary

C. pronunciations           D. dialects

 

Americans have taken over from the Indians many things besides their continent! Where did corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maple sugar come from? The Indians. Who invented moccasins, snowshoes and hammocks? The Indians!

A list of the tools, plants, materials and designs we owe to the Indians would include hundreds of items. But there is something far more familiar, something that is always at hand. It is used daily by every American: a large vocabulary of Indian words.

Potato, tomato, chocolate, moccasin and hammock came into English from Indian languages. So did cocoa, tobacco, maize (an Indian word for corn) and succotash. Some words have changed on the way. Potato, for example, comes from a word that sounds like “batata”. Cocoa began as “cacahuatl”.

Some meanings have also changed. The long Indian word from which succotash comes means “something broken off in bits”. Indian women often varied their dishes by mixing bits of one food with another. White men who ate an Indian dish of mixed lima beans (青豆) and corn began using the Indian word to mean this particular mixture.

Put on your moccasins and take a walk in the country. If it is a cold day and you wear a mackinaw, your jacket will be as Indian as your shoes. But mackinaw came from “michilimackinac”, the Indian name of a place where a fort (集市) served as a trading post. Bright-colored blankets or jackets bought at the post soon became known as “mackinaws”.

Early white visitors to the continent found Indian words useful for the things new to them. But some Indian sounds, such as the “tl” at the end of many words, were hard to say. That is why “coyotl” became coyote and “tomatle” became tomato.

Some words simply seemed too long. So, “musickwautash” became succotash and “rockahominy” became hominy.

1.The first two paragraphs may serve as a(n)     .

A. explanation    B. introduction    C. comment    D. background

2. Which of the following has been changed for easier pronunciation?

A. Batata        B. Chocolate     C. Tomatle     D. Rockahominy

3. Some words have changed because       .

A.  they are too long

B.  nobody can use them

C.  the things they refer to have disappeared

D.  they are too difficult for people to write

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A.  How Indian traditions affect us.

B.  Why Indian words were changed.

C.   Things we owe to the Indians.

D.  Indian words all around us.

 

 

Americans have taken over from the Indians many things besides their continent! Where did corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maple sugar come from? The Indians. Who invented moccasins, snowshoes and hammocks? The Indians!
A list of the tools, plants, materials and designs we owe to the Indians would include hundreds of items. But there is something far more familiar, something that is always at hand. It is used daily by every American: a large vocabulary of Indian words.
Potato, tomato, chocolate, moccasin and hammock came into English from Indian languages. So did cocoa, tobacco, maize (an Indian word for corn) and succotash. Some words have changed on the way. Potato, for example, comes from a word that sounds like “batata”. Cocoa began as “cacahuatl”.
Some meanings have also changed. The long Indian word from which succotash comes means “something broken off in bits”. Indian women often varied their dishes by mixing bits of one food with another. White men who ate an Indian dish of mixed lima beans (青豆) and corn began using the Indian word to mean this particular mixture.
Put on your moccasins and take a walk in the country. If it is a cold day and you wear a mackinaw, your jacket will be as Indian as your shoes. But mackinaw came from “michilimackinac”, the Indian name of a place where a fort (集市) served as a trading post. Bright-colored blankets or jackets bought at the post soon became known as “mackinaws”.
Early white visitors to the continent found Indian words useful for the things new to them. But some Indian sounds, such as the “tl” at the end of many words, were hard to say. That is why “coyotl” became coyote and “tomatle” became tomato.
Some words simply seemed too long. So, “musickwautash” became succotash and “rockahominy” became hominy.
【小題1】The first two paragraphs may serve as a(n)     .

A．explanation

B．introduction

C．comment

D．background

【小題2】 Which of the following has been changed for easier pronunciation?

A．Batata

B．Chocolate

C．Tomatle

D．Rockahominy

【小題3】 Some words have changed because       .

A．they are too long

B．nobody can use them

C．the things they refer to have disappeared

D．they are too difficult for people to write

【小題4】 What is the passage mainly about?

A．How Indian traditions affect us.

B．Why Indian words were changed.

C．Things we owe to the Indians.

D．Indian words all around us.

Two worlds come together

Imagine landing in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, understand the culture and don’t know anybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend who could help you out?

John Smith, an English explorer who landed in America in 1607, found the best friend ever. She was a Native American named Pocahontas (1595-1617). And she did more than teach Smith the language: she saved his life, twice.   

Smith was captured(捕獲) by members of Pocahontas’s tribe (部落) and was going to be killed. But for some reason, the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, felt sorry for Smith (who was probably the first white man she had ever seen) and threw her body over his to protect him. Smith returned safely to the small village he was living in.

During the winter the English settlers did not know how to get food from nature. Pocahontas often brought food for Smith and his friends.

A year later Pocahontas’s father tried to kill Smith again because the Native Americans were very scared the English would try to take over their land. Pocahontas warned him and he was able to escape.

Later she became a Christian and eventually married an Englishman named John Rolfe.

She spent the last year of her life in London.

Pocahontas has become an American legend. Her life story has been re-created in many books and films, including Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas.

One of the reasons she is so popular is that many Europeans look at Pocahontas as an excellent example of how a minority can adjust into the majority. Pocahontas is also respected because of her selfless love. She proved that people can be kind and loving even to people of a different race or culture. John Smith was very different from Pocahontas but she could see he was a good man and that was all that mattered. No race or country owns goodness, love and loyalty.

1. What difficulties might early European settlers meet in America EXCEPT ________?

A. the fierce conflict with Native Americans   B. bad-tempered natives who enjoyed killing

C. unfamiliarity with a foreign land          D. lack of food in winter

2. Pocahontas saved John Smith twice because ______.

A. he was the first white man she had ever seen in her life

B. she wanted to become a Christian and marry an Englishman

C. she believed in general kindness even to people of a different race

D. she was on the settlers’ side and against her cruel father

3. According to the text, Europeans think Pocahontas _____.

A. was brave to break away from her own tribe       

B. set a good example for other natives to accept the white settlers  

C. was a selfless Christian who can love her enemy

D. was open to a more advanced culture

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A. The battles between early settlers and Native Americans resulted from their fighting for land.

B. The Europeans think the early settlers should have learned to adjust to the local cultures.

C. The creation of America is based on the settlers’ victory over the Native Americans.

D. People from different cultures can never really get along well with each other.

 

 

How the years have rushed by! It has been a long time since I knew Marget Swenson. I was a child when I knew her, and now I myself have children. The mind loses many things as it matures, but I never lost Marget — my first love and first hurt.

I met Marget Swenson when she joined our sixth-grade class.

Marget, just fresh from Sweden, and I, a sixth-generation American. She spoke very little English, but somehow we did manage to understand each other. We took to each other at the first instant.

Marget lived up on the hill. That was the place where there were many large and pretty houses. I suppose it was only in passing that I knew only white people lived there.

We had so much fun together. We sat for hours in my garden or hers, surrounded by grass. Her words were Swedish; mine, English. We laughed at the way each of us slid our tongues over the unfamiliar words, I learned the Swedish words of “hello”, “friend”, and “goodbye”.

However, such fun did not last long, and the disaster began at Marget’s birthday party.

It was a Wednesday. I arrived at the party early. Marget and I whizzed around(忙碌著), putting the finishing touches on the decorations.

Some fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang, and in came Mary, another girl in our class.

But after that nobody came. No one.

When it got to be after five, Mrs Swenson called Marget inside. She was there for a long time, and when she came out, she looked very, very sad. “my mother does not think they are coming,” she said.

“Why not?” Mary blurted(突口而出).

Marget gave a quick glance at me, but she didn’t say anything.

I took Marget’s hand. “It’s me, isn’t it?” I said. Oh! I remember so painfully today how much I wanted her quick and positive “No!” to my question. But I was only aware of Marget trying to slip her hand from mine. I opened my hand and let her go.

It was different between us after her birthday. Marget stopped coming to my house, and when I asked her when she would, she looked as though she would cry.

One day, uninvited, I went to her house, climbed up the hill, and a restless thing grew within me at every step, almost a knowing.

Marget almost jumped when she opened the door. She stared at me in shock. Then, quickly, in a voice I’d never heard before, she said, “My mother says you can’t come to my house any more.”

I opened my mouth, and closed it without speaking. The awful thing had come; the knowing was confirmed. The awful thing had come because Marget was white I was not. I did know it deep within myself.

Since that meeting Marget and I did not speak to each other at all.

On the last day of school, screwing up a courage, I handed my autograph book to Marget. She hesitated, then without looking up, wrote words I don’t remember now; they were quite common words, the kind everyone was writing in everyone else’s book. I waited. Slowly, she passed her book to me and in it I wrote with a slow, firm hand, some of the words she had taught me. I wrote Adjo min van — Goodbye, my friend. I released her, let her go, told her not to worry, told her that I no longer needed her. Adjo.

68. What can be the best title of the passage?

       A. My best friend.         B. My first hurt.            C. Black and white.                     D. Adjo.

69. By saying “…but I never lost Marget…”, the author means “________”.

       A. I got in touch with her later.            B. We are still friends.

       C. I remember her forever                   D. I met her after many years

70. What does the underlined word “a knowing” refer to?

       A. Marget was white while I was not.   B. Marget refused to let me into her house.

       C. Marget’s mother didn’t like me.              D. Marget and I did not speak to each other at all.

71. According to the passage, ________ put an end to their once dear friendship.

       A. some outside force                         B. Marget

       C. Marget’s mother                             D. different personalities

Two worlds come together
Imagine landing in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, understand the culture and don’t know anybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend who could help you out?
John Smith, an English explorer who landed in America in 1607, found the best friend ever. She was a Native American named Pocahontas (1595-1617). And she did more than teach Smith the language: she saved his life, twice.   
Smith was captured(捕獲) by members of Pocahontas’s tribe (部落) and was going to be killed. But for some reason, the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, felt sorry for Smith (who was probably the first white man she had ever seen) and threw her body over his to protect him. Smith returned safely to the small village he was living in.
During the winter the English settlers did not know how to get food from nature. Pocahontas often brought food for Smith and his friends.
A year later Pocahontas’s father tried to kill Smith again because the Native Americans were very scared the English would try to take over their land. Pocahontas warned him and he was able to escape.
Later she became a Christian and eventually married an Englishman named John Rolfe.
She spent the last year of her life in London.
Pocahontas has become an American legend. Her life story has been re-created in many books and films, including Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas.
One of the reasons she is so popular is that many Europeans look at Pocahontas as an excellent example of how a minority can adjust into the majority. Pocahontas is also respected because of her selfless love. She proved that people can be kind and loving even to people of a different race or culture. John Smith was very different from Pocahontas but she could see he was a good man and that was all that mattered. No race or country owns goodness, love and loyalty.
【小題1】 What difficulties might early European settlers meet in America EXCEPT ________?

A．the fierce conflict with Native Americans	B．bad-tempered natives who enjoyed killing
C．unfamiliarity with a foreign land	D．lack of food in winter

【小題2】 Pocahontas saved John Smith twice because ______.

A．he was the first white man she had ever seen in her life

B．she wanted to become a Christian and marry an Englishman

C．she believed in general kindness even to people of a different race

D．she was on the settlers’ side and against her cruel father

【小題3】 According to the text, Europeans think Pocahontas _____.

A．was brave to break away from her own tribe

B．set a good example for other natives to accept the white settlers

C．was a selfless Christian who can love her enemy

D．was open to a more advanced culture

【小題4】 What can we infer from the passage?

A．The battles between early settlers and Native Americans resulted from their fighting for land.

B．The Europeans think the early settlers should have learned to adjust to the local cultures.

C．The creation of America is based on the settlers’ victory over the Native Americans.

D．People from different cultures can never really get along well with each other.