题目内容
“What's your English name?” I asked in my first oral class. “Goat” came the reply. I tried to keep myself from laughing, as I'm sure the poor boy had no idea of the other meanings associated with(与……有关)the word goat: “a dirty old man” or “a foolish person”.Later, my thoughts turned to why Chinese students take an English name. Obviously, for foreign teachers such as me, English names help us to learn names and recognize students more rapidly. And it's a means of easily setting up communication with Westerners.
As Sharon, a student displays(展示)her knowledge of western culture and ideas. Once Sharon has graduated, if she is fortunate to find employment that involves(涉及)regular communication across international boundaries, relationships will be smoothed if others can easily remember her name.
Parents in English-speaking countries do not usually choose words at random to name their child. For every parent who seeks to be truly creative by inventing a unique(独一无二)name, there will be nine others selecting from a recognized book of names. These books have been passed on from generation to generation.
While English names do have meanings, this is rarely of great importance for parents in making their choice. Often, associations with heroes, pop idols(偶像)will influence(影响)a decision. My son's name, Luke, was chosen because of a film “Cool Hand Luke”, with the US star Paul Newman. Other names are chosen because of family connections, after a beloved grandfather, for example.
There are a great many names to choose from, and at any one time some will be more fashionable(时髦的)than others. When our present Queen was crowned, many baby girls were christened Elizabeth, while Princess Diana's marriage to Charles led to a generation of Dianas. Most parents seeking to be original or unique(特殊)look through lists for names that haven't been used regularly in recent years.
So, if you are thinking of taking an English name stop and think. Before you accept any old name, make sure you are happy with its sound, its meaning and its associations.
1.Why did the author feel funny when she heard the name “Goat”?
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2.What's the meaning of the underlined phrase in the fourth paragraph?
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3.What is the best title of the passage?(Please answer within two words)
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4.Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the ?following one? An English name can help Chinese people to communicate with westerners easily.
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5.Translate the underlined sentence in the sixth paragraph.
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1. Because it means “a dirty old man” or “a foolish person”.
2. In a careless way. 3. Be careful in choosing an English name. 4. And it's a means of easily setting up communication with westerners. 5.在当今女王加冕时,许多女婴被命名为伊丽莎白,而戴安娜王妃与查尔斯王子的婚姻又催生了一代叫戴安娜的女孩。 |
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The lights dimmed,the musical hall grew quiet and out walked the conductor (指挥) shiny and white and 4 feet and 3 inches tall.
ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., met its latest challenge Tuesday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony (底特律交响乐团), in a performance of “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha”.
“Hello, everyone,” ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra. As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked (模仿) the actions of a conductor,
nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both hands. ASIMO took a final bow to excited shouts from the audience. Later, cellist Yo-Yo Ma joined ASIMO onstage to receive an award for his efforts in music education.
Honda spokeswoman Alicia Jones says it is the first time ASIMO has conducted an orchestra, and it may be the first time any robot has conducted a live performance. But ASIMO has its limits. ASIMO's engineers programmed the robot to mimic Charles Burke, the Detroit Symphony's education director, as he conducted the piece in front of a pianist about six months ago. But it can't respond to the musicians.
“It's not a communicative device. It simply is programmed to do a set of gestures,” said Leonard Slatkin, the orchestra's musical director. “If the orchestra decides to go faster, there's nothing the robot can do about it. Hopefully, I keep that under control.”
But several musicians also said ASIMO was more realistic than they expected. “The movements are still a little stiff (僵硬的), but very humanlike, much better than I thought,” Hutchinson said.
1.What's the audience's response to ASIMO's performance?
A.Disappointed. |
B.Moved. |
C.Excited. |
D.Astonished. |
2.Whose conducting was ASIMO made to copy?
A.Yo-Yo Ma's. |
B.Charles Burke's. |
C.Leonard Slatkin's. |
D.Alicia Jones's. |
3.We can learn from the passage that ASIMO ________.
A.was designed and trained by Yo-Yo Ma |
B.can communicate with the audience freely |
C.only performs according to the designed programs |
D.can change its conducting style freely |
4.What would be the best title for this passage?
A.Detroit Symphony gives a good performance |
B.Honda robot conducts Detroit Symphony |
C.“The Impossible Dream” from Detroit Symphony |
D.Cooperation between Honda and Detroit Symphony |