15、
(河南省郑州市第47中学高一第一次月考) English is the most widely used language in the history of our
planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the
world’s books and three quarters of international mails are in English. Of all
languages, English has the largest vocabulary - perhaps as many as two million
words.
However, let’s face it:
English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor
apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while
sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted.
But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer
writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If
the plural (复数) of tooth
is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese - so one
moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a
fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites(相反)? How can overlook and oversee
be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather
be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by
people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out,
they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I
wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.