学位英语

English and English Community

1 There is no denying that1 English is a useful language. The people who speak English today make up the largest speech community in the world with the exception of speakers of Chinese. Originally they were small tribes of people from northern Europe who settled in England. Their languages became more and more similar to each other. Finally, the language had enough uniformity2 to be used by all speakers in England. The people were united into a speech community through their shared language.

2 A speech community is similar to other kinds of communities. The people who make up the conimunity share a common language. Often they live side by side, as they do in aneighborhood, a village, or a city. More often they form a whole country. National boundaries, however, are not always the same as the boundaries of a speech community. A speech community is any group of people who speak the same language no matter where they happen to live.

3 We may say that anyone who speaks English belongs to the English speech community. For convenience3, we may classify the speakers into two groups: one in which the speakers use English as their native language, the other in which the speakers learn English as a second language for the purpose of education, commerce, and so on.

4 English serves as an alternative language in several areas of public activity for the many nations of the world which employ it as an international second language.4 English has been adoptedas the language of air traffic, commerce, as well as international diplomacy. Moreover, English is the language of the majority of published materials in the world so that education has come to rely heavily on an understanding of English.

5 Learning a second language extends one's vision and expands the mind. The history and literature of a second language record the real and fictional lives of people and their culture;5 a knowledge of them adds to our ability to understand and to feel as they feel. Learning English as a second language provides another means of communication through which the window of the entire English speech community becomes a part of our heritage.

注释：

1.There is no denying that…：毫无疑问……

2.uniformity：一致性。uniformity是uniform的名词形式。全句译为：最终，这种语言具有足够的统一性，致使所有在英格兰居住的人都能使用。

3.for convenience：意为“为了……方便起见”

4.English serves as an alternative language in several areas of public activity for the many nations of the world which employ it as an international second language.对世界上许多在国际交往中把英语作为第二语言的国家来说，英语是在公共活动的几个领域中可供选用的语言之一。

5.The history and literature of a second language record the real and fictional lives of people and their culture.第二语言记载的历史和文学记述了一个民族真实和虚构的生活和文化。句中history和real lives相对应，literature和fictional lives相对应。

练习：

1.Paragraph 2_________

2.Paragraph 3_________

3.Paragraph 4_________

4.Paragraph 5_________

A The Wide Use of English

B Historical Account of English and Its Community

C The Advantages of Learning a Second Language

D The Composition of the English Community

E The Threat That English Poses to Other Languages

F The Definition of a Speech Community

5.Only through the shared language_________.

6 The idea of the national boundaries is often different from_________.

7.Speakers are classified into two groups_________.

8.An understanding of English_________.

A that of a speech community

B can a speech community be formed

C in order to learn English better

D for the sake of simplicity

E has played an important role in the field of education

F is widely used in several areas of public activity

答案与题解：

1.F 此段解释何为语言群体，最后一句话是关键，可以看做是语言群体的定义。

2.D 此段是讲英语语言群体包括的两类人，所以用composition“构成”一词。

3.A 此段讲述英语在全世界许多领域被广泛应用，如航空、商务、外交、教育等。

4.C 此段主要谈的是学习第二语言的益处，最后一句话更具体到学习英语的益处。

5.B 答案来自第一段最后一句，说明人们是通过他们所拥有的共同语言组成一个语言群体。以only开头的句子谓语部分要求使用倒装句。

6.A 第二段第四句话表明国界与语言群体的界限并不总是一致的。that用来替代the+有关前述名词，以避免重复。

7.D 第三段第二句表明，为了方便起见我们将说话者分为两类。for the sake of指“出于……的考虑”。

8.E 第四段最后一句话表明教育越来越依赖对英语的理解。也就是说对英语的理解能力在教育中起着重要的作用。

编辑推荐：

2015年职称英语考试合格证书领取时间汇总

2016年职称英语考试网络辅导

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