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1、UNIT7LearningaboutEnglishPartIPre-ReadingTaskListentotherecordingtwoorthreetimesandthenthinkoverthefollowingquestions:1.Whatisthepassageabout?2.What'syourimpressionoftheEnglishlanguage?3.Canyougiveoneortwoexamplestoillustrate（说明）themessinessoftheEnglishlanguage?4.Canyouguesswhatthetextsinthisunita
2、regoingtobeabout?Thefollowingwordsintherecordingmaybenewtoyou:eggplantn.茄子pineapplen.菠萝hamburgern.汉堡牛肉饼，汉堡包PartIITextASomelanguagesresisttheintroductionofnewwords.Others,likeEnglish,seemtowelcomethem.RobertMacNeillooksatthehistoryofEnglishandcomestotheconclusionthatitstoleranceforchangerepresentsd
3、eeplyrootedideasoffreedom.THEGLORIOUSMESSINESSOFENGLISHRobertMacNeilThestoryofourEnglishlanguageistypicallyoneofmassivestealingfromotherlanguages.ThatiswhyEnglishtodayhasanestimatedvocabularyofoveronemillionwords,whileothermajorlanguageshavefarfewer.French,forexample,hasonlyabout75,000words,andtha
4、tincludesEnglishexpressionslikesnackbarandhitparade.TheFrench,however,donotlikeborrowingforeignwordsbecausetheythinkitcorruptstheirlanguage.ThegovernmenttriestobanwordsfromEnglishanddeclaresthatwalkmanisnotdesirable;sotheyinventaword,balladeur,whichFrenchkidsaresupposedtosayinstead—buttheydon't.Wa
5、lkmanisfascinatingbecauseitisn'tevenEnglish.Strictlyspeaking,itwasinventedbytheJapanesemanufacturerswhoputtwosimpleEnglishwordstogethertonametheirproduct.Thatdoesn'tbotherus,butitdoesbothertheFrench.SuchisthegloriousmessinessofEnglish.Thathappytolerance,thatwillingnesstoacceptwordsfromanywhere,exp
6、lainstherichnessofEnglishandwhyithasbecome,toaveryrealextent,thefirsttrulygloballanguage.HowdidthelanguageofasmallislandoffthecoastofEuropebecomethelanguageoftheplanet—morewidelyspokenandwrittenthananyotherhaseverbeen?ThehistoryofEnglishispresentinthefirstwordsachildlearnsaboutidentity(I,me,you);p
7、ossession(mine,yours);thebody(eye,nose,mouth);size(tall,short);andnecessities(food,water).ThesewordsallcomefromOldEnglishorAnglo-SaxonEnglish,thecoreofourlanguage.Usuallyshortanddirect,thesearewordswestillusetoda
