‘Long time no see’ is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s E-mail, I 36 . I thought it was a classic example of Chinglish.
Obviously, it is a word-to-word 37 translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruined English structure and grammar! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting. I had too many 38 to believe her. Her words were not convincing enough. So I did a 39 on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages 40 ‘Long time no see’. This sentence has been 41 used in E-mails, letters, newspapers, movies, books or any other possible place. Though it is 42 informal, it is part of the language Americans use daily. Ironically(讽刺地说), if you type this sentence in Microsoft Word, the 43 will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.
Nobody knows the 44 of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully 45 a world wide famous Chinese detective named ‘Charlie Chan’ on wide screens. Detective Chan liked to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom 46 using what Confucius said. ‘Long time no see’ was his trademark. 47 Charlie Chan, ‘Long time no see’ became a popular phrase in the real world thanks to the popularity of the movies.
Some people 48 America to a huge melting pot(大熔炉). All kinds of culture are 49 in the pot together, and then change the color and taste of each other. American Chinese though a minority ethnic group in the United States, has also contributed some changes to the stew(大杂烩)! Language is usually the first thing to be 50 in the mixed pot.
36. | A. jumped | B. scared | C. laughed | D. cried |
37. | A. indirect | B. literal | C. classic | D. good |
38. | A. ideas | B. doubts | C. proud | D. confidence |
39. | A. search | B. research | C. survey | D. job |
40. | A. printing | B. publishing | C. expressing | D. containing |
41. | A. hardly | B. widely | C. deeply | D. seldom |
42. | A. plenty of | B. lots of | C. sort of | D. part of |
43. | A. software | B. hardware | C. operator | D. speaker |
44. | A. origin | B. use | C. meaning | D. expression |
45. | A. did | B. uncovered | C. published | D. created |
46. | A. in | B. with | C. of | D. by |
47. | A. Long before | B. Before long | C. Shortly after | D. The moment |
48. | A. join | B. compare | C. tie | D. add |
49. | A. mixed | B. connected | C. done | D. damaged |
50. | A. used | B. considered | C. mentioned | D. influenced |