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1、Unit 1 travel languageThe Academie Francasie has for decades been the watchdog over the French language. A few years ago, French sensitivity to the influx of English words became so great that law for the purification of French was adopted. The law covers even technical applications. For example, in
2、 theory, it is now compuslory in France to refer to the Boeing 747 as a gros-porteur, leasing as credit-bail, etc. the list is very long and detailed and applies to all facets of life. Mr. Chirac, the French President, might well expand on this list and come up with some new French terms for words s
3、uch as “internet” or “byte stream” just to name a couple. The mind boggles at what the world might face.Unfortunately (or perhaps not), the English language is not so protected. Quite apart from the unforgivable deviations from the kings English prevlent in America, where “honour” is commonly writte
4、n as “honor” and “night” as “nite,” many well-tested has also been give new meanings, making communication somewhat difficult. For example, the boot of a car has become to be called a trunk a word reserved in England for the main part of a tree. The bonnet is a hood, good old nappies are diapers, an
5、d a babys matinee jacket is a vest. Its obvious that the two countries are indeed separated by what once was a common language! From an American point of view, of course, it could be argued that the British speak English with a speech deficiency.Even worse English, however, is in use. Anyone who tra
6、vels in foreign countries and observes it on menus and posters, in hotels, and indeed in everyday life can testify that what used to be the kings lingo has become in these places but a poor relation thereof. Allow me to elaborate.The travel writer Perrot Phillips has taken pains to highlight some of
7、 his experiences, which I feel should not be withheld from a wider readership. He refers to a Dutch bulb catalogue which promised customers “a speedy execution” and to an East Berlin cloakroom sign that requested guests to “please hung yourself here.” One hopes that nobody took the advice literally.
8、To these I can add some of my own experiences, encountered in long years of traveling the world. There was, for example, the observation in an Ostend novelty shop that “revolting new ideas” were being marketed, and the boast of some Bombay bakers that “we are No. 1 loafers, best values in whole town
9、.”I realized how far Christinanity had come when I read in Hong Kong the following call by a dentist: The teeth they are extracted here by the latest Methodists.I fear it can not be answered with certainty whether these actually illustrate a progressive use of English or are simply reflections of lo
10、cal usages. I feel quite strongly, however, that the Haifa Medical Association should have prevented one of its members from claiming on his brass plate that he is a “Specialist in Women and Other Diseases.”Hotels seem to revel in their multilingual signs. One supposes these signs were designed to f
11、acilitate the use of modern services in otherwise sterile and barely functional establishments. Nevertheless, the unsuspecting guests confronted in a Brussels hotel with the following instruction for the use of the life (elevator) might well prefer to walk: “To move the life, push button to wishing
12、floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should push number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by natural order. Button retaining pressed position shows received command for visiting station.” The less sophisticated notice in Istanbul (“To call room service, please
13、 to open door and call ROOM SERVICE”) at least does not confront the guest with electronics that might not always work.In Turkey, the delight in “straight talk” expresses itself in the by-now-famous Ankara brochure which advises, “Visit our restaurant where you can eat Middle East foods in an Europe
14、an Ambulance.” A note on a Swiss menu that “Our wines leave nothing to hope for” was equally inviting.Eastern European courtesies have never left the once grand hotels of the former Austro-Hungarian empire. A notice in the hotel rooms that “the honoured guests are invited to take advantage of the ch
15、amber maids from 12-14 oclock” might, however, result in some unplanned traffic jams. A recent Moscow exhibitions announcement drew attention to “a showing of 300 paintings by Russian artists, most of whom were executed in the last ten years” hardly a welcoming thought to the occasional visitor.A Ba
16、ngkok laundrys advertisement to the visiting public (“Leaving your clothes here and enjoy yourself”) could also be seen as a invitation to extracurricular activities in that Far Eastern capital of fun.In Rome, a laundry advertised a similar invitation: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the a
17、fternoon having a good time.It should not surprise the traveller that nightspots advertise their wares in Europe in many and diverse language. The German preoccupation with Majorca led a Munich nightclub to copy a trilingual Palma announcement that dancing was going on in what is indeed a surprising
18、 way. The notice read, “Baile! Baile! Baile!” in Spanish, “Tanz! Tanz! Tanz!” in German, and “Balls! Balls! Balls!” in what was meant to be English. We are spared the upper Bavarian version of the activity.The Black Forest Germans, on the other hand, are known to be rather prudish in their outlook,
19、but is it really necessary to post a sign: “It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping site that people of different sexes, for example men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.”I am told that for the otherwise unsuspecting tourist,
20、the following sign proved a real crowd puller. Parrot Phillips claims it to be true that in an Austrian hotel room he found the sign: “If service required, give two strokes to the maid and three to the valet.”There are undoubtedly more and varied versions of the use of English, unprotected as our la
21、nguage is from the interference of emerging and ambitious entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, I prefer seeing English develop as the lingua franca around the world rather than being suffocated for the sake of so-called purity by some ill-advised legislative process.Unit 2 Lies and TruthWhat is truth? and t
22、he opposite question that goes with it: what makes a lie? Philosophers, teachers, and religious leaders from all cultures and periods of history have offered many answers to these questions. Among Euro-North-American writers, there is general agreement on two points. The first is that what we call a
23、 “lie” must be told intentionally that is, if someone tells an untruth but they believe it to be true, we dont consider them a liar. The second point is that practically everyone lies, and lies frequently. But there the agreement ends.One rather extreme point of view is that lying is always bad and
24、that we should try to find ways avoid doing it. The reason is that lying hurts not only the listener, but also the liar. Each lie makes the next one easier to tell, and the liar comes not only to disrespect herself, but to mistrust others, whom she believes will lie as easily as she. In a society, w
25、here lying is common, trust becomes impossible, and without trust, cooperation can not exist. Furthermore, by lying to people, we remove their power to make important choices about how to spend money, what future career to take, what medical treatment to take.Toward the opposite extreme is the posit
26、ion that although some lies are evil, many others are not in fact, they are necessary to hold our society together. We lie in harmless ways to protect others feelings and to better our relationship. These are not lies that try to hurt others. We laugh at the bosss joke which we have heard before and
27、 which she doesnt tell very well; we pretend interest in a friends story of something uninteresting that happened to him. If someone asks us a question that is very personal and is none of their business, we may lie in response. Sometimes we lie to protect the reputation or even the life of another
28、person. On a larger scale, government may protect national security by lying.Each person seems to have some point at which they draw the line between an acceptable lie and a bad lie. Obviously, this point varies from individual to individual and from culture to culture. A sometimes painful part of g
29、rowing up is realizing that not everyone shares your own individual definition of honesty. Your parents and your culture may teach you that liars suffer, but as you go through life, you find that often they dont: in fact, dishonest people often seem to prosper more than honest ones. What are you to
30、do with this realization? It may make your moral beliefs look weak and silly in comparison, and you may begin to question them. It takes a great deal of strength and courage to continue living an honest life in the face of such reality.Little white lies: This is our name for lies that we consider ha
31、rmless and socially acceptable. They are usually told to protect the liar or the feelings of the listener. Most of them would be considered social lies, and they include apologies and excuses: “I tried to call you, but your line was busy.” “Youre kidding! You dont look like youve gained a pound.” So
32、me people, however, would consider it acceptable to lie to save themselves from responsibility in a business transaction: “After I got home, I noticed that it was broken, so Im returning it and would like my money back.”Occasionally a “little white lie” may have a very profound effect on the lives o
33、f the listeners, and may even backfire. Author Stephanie Ercsson tells of the well-meaning U.S. Army sergeant who told a lie about one of his men who had been killed in action. The sergeant reported the man as “missing in action,” not killed, so that the military would continue sending money to the
34、dead mans family every month. What he didnt consider was that because of his lie, the family continued to live in that narrow space between hope and loss, always watching for the mail or jumping when the telephone or the doorbell rang. They never were able to go through the normal process of sorrowi
35、ng for, and then accepting, the death of their father and husband. The wife never remarried. Which was worse, the lie or the truth? Did the sergeant have the right to do what he did to them?What we really mean when we call an untruth a “little white lie” is that we think it was justifiable. Into thi
36、s category fall many of the lies told within the walls of government. A person may lie to government, or a government official may lie to the public, and believe that by doing so, he becomes a hero. Clearly, however, one persons “little white lie” is another persons “dirty lie.” That brings us to th
37、e second category:Dirty lies: There are lies told with intent to harm the listener or a third party and to benefit the liar. Into this category fall the lies of some dishonest salespersons, mechanics, repairmen; husbands or wives who are having an affair with someone else; teenagers who lie to get o
38、ut of the house in order to do things that their parents would die if they knew about it; drug addicts who beg family members for money to support their habit. Dirty lies my be told to improve one persons reputation by destroying anothers, to hurt a colleagues chances of promotion so that the liar w
39、ill be advanced.Lies of omission: Some people believe that lying covers not only what you say, but also what you choose not to say. If youre trying to sell a car that burns a lot of oil, but the buyer dont ask about that particular feature, is it a lie not to tell them? In the United States, a favor
40、ite place to withhold the truth is on peoples income tax returns. The government considers this an unquestionable lie, and if caught, these people are severely punished. If omission can be lying, history books are great liars. Until recently, most U.S. history textbooks painted Christopher Columbus
41、purely as a hero, the man who “discovered America,” and had nothing to say about his darker side. Moreover, most Native American and African-American contributors to science, technology, invention, literature, art, discovery, and other areas of civilization used to be omitted form childrens schoolbo
42、oks. Many people considered this a lie, and todays history books usually mention at least some of it, though not as much as some people might like.False promises: This category is made up of promises that the promiser knows are false, that he has no intention of keeping even as the world leave his l
43、ips. While some are fairly harmless and social, others are taken more seriously and can hurt the listener: “Ill never do it again, I promise.” Advertisers and politicians suffer from terrible stereotypes because of the false promises of some of their number: “Lose 50 pounds in two weeks.” “Read my l
44、ips: No new taxes.” Probably everyone would agree that if we make a promise but have no intention of keeping it, we lie. But what if we really do plan to keep it, and then something happens to prevent it? Consider the journalist who promises not to indentify his resources, but then is pressured by h
45、is newspaper or by the law. How far should he go to keep his word? If he breaks his promise, is he dishonest?Lies to oneself: This is perhaps the saddest and most pathetic kind of lying. These are the lies that prevent us from making needed changes in ourselves: “I know I drank/spent/ate too much ye
46、sterday, but I can control it any time I really want to.” But there is a fine line between normal dreams and ambitions on the one hand, and deceiving ourselves on the other, and we have to be careful where we draw it. Its common for young people to dream of rising to the top of their company, of win
47、ning a Nobel Prize, of becoming famous or rich; but is that self-deception, or simply human nature? Were they lying to themselves? More likely, they really believed that such a future was open to them, because they had seen it happen to others. We shouldnt be too hard on ourselves, but if we have tu
48、rned a blind eye to our faults, we should take an honest look in the mirror.There is no question that the terms “lying” and “honesty” have definitions that vary across culture boundaries. Members of one culture may stereotype members of another as “great liars,” “untrustworthy,” or “afraid to face t
49、he truth.” But what may lie behind these differences is that one culture values factual information even if it hurts, while another places more value on sensitivity to other peoples feelings. While the members of each culture believe that of course their values are the right ones, they are unlikely to convince members of other cultures to change over. And thats “the truth.”Unit 3 Generation XIts often said that kids today arent what they used to be. But is this new generation of teenag
