Googlefight is a simple service available on the Internet which offers you the chance to compare two different items and see how many hits they get on the Google search engine. The seemingly simple device has proved invaluable to users, especially to help win arguments.
For example, imagine that you and your friends are arguing about who are the most popular music or movie stars, you can decide the argument by writing the names in the Googlefight boxes. Let’s say that you are arguing about Jackie Chan and Jet Li. You will quickly discover that Jet Li is mentioned 16 million times on Google pages, whereas Jackie Chan is mentioned a mere 12 million times! In this unscientific way, you can claim victory for one Star over another.
But teachers have come up with ways of using Googlefight which are much more useful from an academic point of view, particularly when it comes to studying languages. You can, for example, find out the frequency of two words with the same meaning, and deduce (推断) from the answers which one is more common. For example, let’s take the words “buy” and “purchase”, which mean the same thing (although “buy” is only a verb and “purchase” is both a verb and a noun). It is immediately clear from Googlefight that “buy” is much more commonly used, with a massive three and a half billion hits, compared to only one billion occurrences for the more formal word.
But the real value of Googlefight to the language learner is in determining which is the more common of two phrases. For example, “raining cats and dogs” is an old-fashioned English expression about the weather. Do English speakers still use it? Or are they more likely to say “pouring down”? Googlefight suggests the latter. “Pouring down” has 898,000 Google hits, whereas “raining cats and dogs” only has 326,000.
With phrases, it’s important to remember that you need to use quote marks to make the search more accurate. For example, if you type in the similar phrases “look after” and “take care of “ without quote marks, the second phrase seems to be more common, but with quote marks, the result is reversed.
【小题1】What is Googlefight?

E
Language is a major problem for the European Union (EU) . The argument or treaty (条约) which created the organization that finally became the EU, the Treaty of Rome, stated that each country’s language must be treated equally. The original six countries had only three languages between them: French, German and Dutch/Flemish. However, there are now 15 countries in the EU, with a total of 12 languages. EU documents must be translated into all these languages, and at official meetings the speeches must be translated into all the languages by interpreters.
All this translating is very expensive and time-consuming. It is said that nearly half of all employees of the EU are engaged in translating documents and speeches and nearly half of the EU’s administrative (管理方面的) costs are spent on this task. In the near future it is probable that several more countries, most of them having their own languages, will join the EU, thus making the situation even worse.
The problem is just cost; there are practical difficulties as well. With 12 languages, there are 132 possible “translation situations” that might be needed. It is often difficult to find people in the right place at the right time who can translate from, for example, Danish into Greek, or Dutch into Portuguese, at a high professional standard.
In practice the problem has been less serious by the use of English in many contacts between EU officials , since almost all of them speak some English. However, any move to reduce the number of official languages (perhaps to four or five) would be a blow to the pride of the smaller countries. Another commonly suggested solution is to make English the official language for all EU business. However, this is strongly resisted by powerful member countries like France and Germany .
77.What’s the main purpose of this passage?_____________.
A. To give a solution to a problem.  
B. To find out a problem and show how serious it is.
C. To criticize (批评) the European Union for inefficiency.
D. To show that the problem cannot be solved.
78. According to the writer, the use of English in contacts among EU officials has_________.
A. angered the officials who don’t speak English
B. reduced the number of official languages.
C. lessened the effect of the problem.  
D. been opposed by powerful member countries.
79. The writer mentions “Danish into Greek” as an example of ______________.
A . a situation that might be difficult to deal with.         B. a situation that occurs often.
C. one of the 12 situations that requires an interpreter.       D. languages easily being interpreted
80.The writer suggests that if the number of official languages was reduced, _____________.
A. the EU would not know which official languages to choose.
B. countries whose languages were not used officially would be unhappy.
C. only languages which are easy to translate would be used officially.
D. the smaller member countries would be pleased.

Language is a major problem for the European Union(EU) . The argument or treaty(条约) which created the organization that finally became the EU, the Treaty of Rome, stated that each country’s language must be treated equally. The original six countries had only three languages between them: French, German and Dutch/Flemish. However, there are now 15 countries in the EU, with a total of 12 languages. EU documents（文件）must be translated into all these languages, and at official meetings the speeches must be translated into all the languages by interpreters (口译者).

   All this translating is very expensive and time-consuming（花时间的）. It is said that nearly half of all employees of the EU are involved in translating documents and speeches and nearly half of the EU’s administrative（管理方面的）costs are spent on this task. In the near future it is probable that several more countries, most of them having their own languages, will join the EU, thus making the situation even worse.

   The problem is just cost; there are practical difficulties as well. With 12 languages, there are 132 possible “translation situations” that might be needed. It is often difficult to find people in the right place at the right time who can translate from, for example, Danish into Greek, or Dutch into Portuguese, at a high professional standard.

   As a matter of fact, the problem has been less serious by the use of English in many contacts between EU officials, since almost all of them speak some English. However, any move to reduce the number of official languages (perhaps to four or five) would be a blow to the pride of the smaller countries. Another commonly suggested solution is to make English the official language for all EU business. However, this is strongly resisted by powerful member countries like France and Germany.

1. What’s the main purpose of this passage? _____________.

A. To give a solution to a problem.

B. To find out a problem and show how serious it is.

C. To criticize（批评）the European Union for inefficiency.

D. To show that the problem cannot be solved.

2. According to the writer, the use of English in contacts among EU officials has_________.

A. angered the officials who don’t speak English.

B. reduced the number of official languages.

C. lessened the effect of the problem.

D. been opposed（反对）by powerful member countries.

3.The writer mentions “Danish into Greek” as an example of ______________.

A . a situation that might be difficult to deal with.             B. a situation that occurs often.

C. one of the 12 situations that requires an interpreter.  D. languages easily being interpreted.

4.The writer suggests that if the number of official languages was reduced, _____________.

A. the EU would not know which official languages to choose.

B. countries whose languages were not used officially would be unhappy.

C. only languages which are easy to translate would be used officially.

D. the smaller member countries would be pleased.

Googlefight is a simple service available on the Internet which offers you the chance to compare two different items and see how many hits they get on the Google search engine. The seemingly simple device has proved invaluable to users, especially to help win arguments.

 For example, imagine that you and your friends are arguing about who are the most popular music or movie stars, you can decide the argument by writing the names in the Googlefight boxes. Let’s say that you are arguing about Jackie Chan and Jet Li. You will quickly discover that Jet Li is mentioned 16 million times on Google pages, whereas Jackie Chan is mentioned a mere 12 million times! In this unscientific way, you can claim victory for one Star over another.

But teachers have come up with ways of using Googlefight which are much more useful from an academic point of view, particularly when it comes to studying languages. You can, for example, find out the frequency of two words with the same meaning, and deduce (推断) from the answers which one is more common. For example, let’s take the words “buy” and “purchase”, which mean the same thing (although “buy” is only a verb and “purchase” is both a verb and a noun). It is immediately clear from Googlefight that “buy” is much more commonly used, with a massive three and a half billion hits, compared to only one billion occurrences for the more formal word.

But the real value of Googlefight to the language learner is in determining which is the more common of two phrases. For example, “raining cats and dogs” is an old-fashioned English expression about the weather. Do English speakers still use it? Or are they more likely to say “pouring down”? Googlefight suggests the latter. “Pouring down” has 898,000 Google hits, whereas “raining cats and dogs” only has 326,000.

With phrases, it’s important to remember that you need to use quote marks to make the search more accurate. For example, if you type in the similar phrases “look after” and “take care of “ without quote marks, the second phrase seems to be more common, but with quote marks, the result is reversed.

1. What is Googlefight?

A. A fight between two people on Google.

B. A way to make sure you win an argument.

C. A website showing how many hits two different things have.

D. A list of all the websites on Google.

2. Language teachers find it useful because _______.

A. there are a lot of words on Googlefight

B. it can tell them which of the two words with the same meaning appears more often

C. some words mean the same thing

D. common words have a billion hits

3. What must you remember to do if you are checking phrases by Googlefight?

A. Make sure they mean be same thing.

B. Make sure they are different.

C. Remember to put quote marks round the phrase.

D. Don’t put quote marks round the phrase.

4. Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Googlefight is effective to determine the more common of two phrases.

B. Googlefight is a scientific way to decide an argument.

C. Quote marks can make the search more accurate.

D. Googlefight is invaluable to help win arguments.