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  There are some stories behind English words

  You've spent a lot of time studying how to use English in a proper wayBut have you ever wondered why English speakers say some of the things they say?For example, why do they sayan easy taskisa piece of cake?Why do the two lettersOKmeansall right?

  Many English words and phrases have stories behind themSometimes these stories can help us look back into old western historyLet's take a look at a few of the original * common English words and phrases

  OK

  “OKwas an American who lived in the 19th centuryHis name wasOld Kinderhook”.In one year he was trying to take the place of the leader of his townHis supporters went around the town shoutingOK\OK\The supporters thought their future leader wasall right”.The expression caught on, and now if something isall right, people like to sayOK|

  Boss*

  Is your boss nice to you?If not, just be glad you weren't living in the old timesBack to that time, bosses could do anything bad to their men and could even beat* them!That explains why the wordbosscomes from an old German word meaningto beat”.

  A piece of cake

  A famous American writer named Ogden Nash lived in the 1930sMany readers enjoyed his poems and wrote them down in their notebooksIn one of his poems, Nash wrote,Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake.”His readers found these words interesting and quickly wrote them downThey thought that if one picture in a newspaper could make you famous, wouldn't life be easy?

  For nearly 70 years,a piece of cakehas meant any task or activity that is easy

(1)

Some of English words can tell us stories about ________

[  ]

A.

how people learned English

B.

how English speakers create the words

C.

how people spoke English

D.

how people taught others to speak English

(2)

The wordbossin old German means________”.

[  ]

A.

to work

B.

to help

C.

to beat

D.

to kill

(3)

OKcomes from________”.

[  ]

A.

Old King

B.

Old Kindman

C.

Old Kinderhook

D.

Old Mcdonald

(4)

In this passagea piece of cakemeans________”.

[  ]

A.

an easy task or activity

B.

a difficult task or activity

C.

a simple newspaper to read

D.

a famous picture in a newspaper

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