题目内容

CANADIAN ENGLISH 1 Canadian English is a regional variety of North American English that spans almost the entire continent. Canadian English became a separate variety of North American English after the American Revolution, when thousands of Loyalists, people who had supported the British, left the United States and fled north to Canada. Many Loyalists settled in southern Ontario in the 1780s, and their speech became the basis for what is called General Canadian, a definition based on the norms of urban middle-class speech. 2 Modern Canadian English is usually defined by the ways in which it resembles and differs from American or British English. Canadian English has a great deal in common with the English spoken in the United States, yet many Americans identify a Canadian accent as British. Many American visitors to Canada think the Canadian vocabulary sounds British--for example, they notice the British "tap" and "braces" instead of the American "faucet" and "suspenders." On the other hand, many British people identify a Canadian accent as American, and British visitors think the Canadians have become Americanized, saying "gas" and "truck" for "petrol" and "lorry." 3 People who live outside North America often find it difficult to hear the differences between Canadian and American English. There are many similarities between the two varieties, yet they are far from identical. Canadian English is instantly recognizable to other Canadians, and one Canadian in a crowded room will easily spot the other Canadian among the North Americans. 4 There is no distinctive Canadian grammar. The differences are mainly in pronunciation, vocabulary, and idioms. Canadian pronunciation reflects the experience of a people struggling for national identity against two strong influences. About 75 percent of Canadians use the British "zed" rather than the American "zee" for the name of the last letter of the alphabet. On the other hand, 75 percent of Canadians use the American pronunciation of "schedule," "tomato," and "missile." The most obvious and distinctive feature of Canadian speech is probably its vowel sound, the diphthong "ou." In Canada, "out" is pronounced like "oat" in nearby U.S. accents. There are other identifying features of Canadian vowels; for example, "cot" is pronounced the same as "caught" and "collar" the same as "caller." 5 An important characteristic of the vocabulary of Canadian English is the use of many words and phrases originating in Canada itself, such as "kerosene" and "chesterfield" ("sofa"). Several words are borrowed from North American Indian languages, for example, "kayak," "caribou," "parka," and "skookum" ("strong"). The name of the country itself has an Indian origin; the Iroquois word "kanata" originally meant "village." A number of terms for ice hockey--"face-off, blue-line," and "puck"--have become part of World Standard English. 6 Some features of Canadian English seem to be unique and are often deliberately identified with Canadian speakers in such contexts as dramatic and literary characterizations. Among the original Canadian idioms, perhaps the most famous is the almost universal use of"eh" as a tag question, as in "That’s a good movie, eh Eh" is also used as a filler during a narrative, as in "I’m walking home from work, eh, and I’m thinking about dinner. I finally get home, eh, and the refrigerator is empty." 7 The traditional view holds that there are no dialects in Canadian English and that Canadians cannot tell where other Canadians are from just by listening to them. The linguists of today disagree with this view. While there is a greater degree of homogeneity in Canadian English compared with American English, several dialect areas do exist across Canada. Linguists have identified distinct dialects for the Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland, the Ottawa Valley, southern Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, the Arctic North, and the West. The author discusses the expression "eh" in paragraph 6 as an example of

A. an idiom that uniquely characterizes Canadian speech
B. an expression that few people outside Canada have heard
C. a style of Canadian drama and literature
D. a word that cannot be translated into other languages

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What does the man say about students who are put on the waiting list for a class

A. They are informed immediately when they are enrolled in the class.
B. They may not attend the class as long as they are on the waiting list.
C. Their name is kept on the waiting list until the following quarter.
D. They must have the professor’s permission to be on the waiting list.

What does the professor mean when she says this:

A. He is one of the best teachers available.
B. You should ask for a different teacher.
C. Some teachers are more effective than others.
D. Students are not allowed to select their teachers.

CANADIAN ENGLISH 1 Canadian English is a regional variety of North American English that spans almost the entire continent. Canadian English became a separate variety of North American English after the American Revolution, when thousands of Loyalists, people who had supported the British, left the United States and fled north to Canada. Many Loyalists settled in southern Ontario in the 1780s, and their speech became the basis for what is called General Canadian, a definition based on the norms of urban middle-class speech. 2 Modern Canadian English is usually defined by the ways in which it resembles and differs from American or British English. Canadian English has a great deal in common with the English spoken in the United States, yet many Americans identify a Canadian accent as British. Many American visitors to Canada think the Canadian vocabulary sounds British--for example, they notice the British "tap" and "braces" instead of the American "faucet" and "suspenders." On the other hand, many British people identify a Canadian accent as American, and British visitors think the Canadians have become Americanized, saying "gas" and "truck" for "petrol" and "lorry." 3 People who live outside North America often find it difficult to hear the differences between Canadian and American English. There are many similarities between the two varieties, yet they are far from identical. Canadian English is instantly recognizable to other Canadians, and one Canadian in a crowded room will easily spot the other Canadian among the North Americans. 4 There is no distinctive Canadian grammar. The differences are mainly in pronunciation, vocabulary, and idioms. Canadian pronunciation reflects the experience of a people struggling for national identity against two strong influences. About 75 percent of Canadians use the British "zed" rather than the American "zee" for the name of the last letter of the alphabet. On the other hand, 75 percent of Canadians use the American pronunciation of "schedule," "tomato," and "missile." The most obvious and distinctive feature of Canadian speech is probably its vowel sound, the diphthong "ou." In Canada, "out" is pronounced like "oat" in nearby U.S. accents. There are other identifying features of Canadian vowels; for example, "cot" is pronounced the same as "caught" and "collar" the same as "caller." 5 An important characteristic of the vocabulary of Canadian English is the use of many words and phrases originating in Canada itself, such as "kerosene" and "chesterfield" ("sofa"). Several words are borrowed from North American Indian languages, for example, "kayak," "caribou," "parka," and "skookum" ("strong"). The name of the country itself has an Indian origin; the Iroquois word "kanata" originally meant "village." A number of terms for ice hockey--"face-off, blue-line," and "puck"--have become part of World Standard English. 6 Some features of Canadian English seem to be unique and are often deliberately identified with Canadian speakers in such contexts as dramatic and literary characterizations. Among the original Canadian idioms, perhaps the most famous is the almost universal use of"eh" as a tag question, as in "That’s a good movie, eh Eh" is also used as a filler during a narrative, as in "I’m walking home from work, eh, and I’m thinking about dinner. I finally get home, eh, and the refrigerator is empty." 7 The traditional view holds that there are no dialects in Canadian English and that Canadians cannot tell where other Canadians are from just by listening to them. The linguists of today disagree with this view. While there is a greater degree of homogeneity in Canadian English compared with American English, several dialect areas do exist across Canada. Linguists have identified distinct dialects for the Maritime Provinces, Newfoundland, the Ottawa Valley, southern Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, the Arctic North, and the West. The word norms in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to

A. patterns
B. history
C. words
D. ideas

What will the woman probably do

Ask the registrar’s office to remove her from the waiting list
B. Search elsewhere for a less expensive copy of the book
Complain to the bookstore manager about the refund policy
D. Purchase the book now so she can start reading it

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