Ⅲ.语篇（Discourse）

一句话，并非每个单词都要看懂；一篇文章，也无需每句话都看懂。英语文章的逻辑性和层次感决定了读者只要把握文章结构，就能舍次留主，明确作者重点、略过繁文缛节、减少干扰信息的影响。本章将论述英文论文结构、如何区分论点和论据、识别过渡段和过渡句以及把握文章的整体结构。

1.论文结构

英文论文结构很简单——开头出论点、总分贯始终、结尾重申法。形象地说，它是一条鱼。

2.区分论点和论据

Exercise A：Figure out the theses of the following paragraphs.

The computer is assumed to have widened our horizons with a bombard of information.When we consider our children's knowledge, they can get more information and more ways of entertainment than they could without access to a computer.However, allowing their time dominated by computers has progressively eroded children's independent thinking ability.Children have lost much of their motivation to explore a question on their own but to depend on the information available online.In recent surveys, when parents in some cities were asked about their own childhood experiences, the majority remembered having more, or far more, opportunities to reflect on a question and discuss it with peers, compared with their own children today.

I don't know where I'm gonna go when the volcano blows—these words， suggested in a song by Jimmy Buffet in his 1979 Volcano album, probably reflect the concerns of many people living near active volcanoes.Volcanoes are beneficial to humans living on or near them.They produce fertile soil, and provide valuable minerals, water reservoirs, geothermal resources, and scenic beauty.But volcanoes can be very dangerous.Where can a person go to be safe from an erupting volcano?What types of volcanic hazards might they face?These questions are difficult to answer because there are many types of volcanic eruptions which produce different types of volcanic hazards.

Our research shows that no company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people.It must instead find the unique value that it alone can deliver to a chosen market.We have identified three distinct value discipline, so called because each discipline produces a different kind of customer value.Choosing one discipline to master does not mean that a company abandons the other two, only that it picks a dimension of value on which to stake its market reputation over the long term.

Undoubtedly the desire for food has been, and still is, one of the main causes of great political events.But man differs from other animals in one very important respect, and that is that he has desires which are, so to speak, infinite, which can never be fully gratified and which would keep him restless even in Paradise.When the Abrabs, who had been used to living sparingly on a few dates, acquired the riches of the Eastern Roman Empire and dwelt in palaces of almost unbelievable luxury, they did not, on that account, become inactive.Hunger could no longer be a motive, for Greek slaves supplied them with exquisite viands at the slightest nod.But other desires kept them active：four in particular, which we can label acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity and love of power.

Adapted from On Human Nature and Politics by Bertrand Russell

Exercise B：Figure out the topic sentences of the following paragraphs.

Read a poem more than once.A good poem will no more yield its full meaning on a single reading than will a Beethoven symphony on a single hearing.One does not listen to a good piece of music once and forget it；one does not look at a good painting once and throw it away；a poem is not like a newspaper to be hastily read and cast into wastebasket.It is to be hung on the wall of one's mind.

Companies pursuing product leadership continually push products into the realm of the unknown, the untried, or the highly desirable.Reaching that goal requires that they challenge themselves in three ways.First, they must be creative.More than anything else, being creative means recognizing and embracing ideas that may originate anywhere—inside the company or out.Second, they must commercialize their ideas quickly.To do so, all their business and management processes are engineered for speed.Third and most important, they must relentlessly pursue ways to leapfrog their own latest product or service.If anyone is going to render their technology obsolete, they prefer to do it themselves.Product leaders do not stop for self-congratulation.They are too busy raising the bar.

The value of snobbery in general, its humanistic‘point'，consists in its power to stimulate activity.A society with plenty of snobberies is like a dog with plenty of fleas：it is not likely to become comatose.Every snobbery demands of its devotees unceasing efforts, a succession of sacrifices.The society-snob must be perpetually lion-hunting；the modernity-snob can never rest from trying to be up-to-date.Swiss doctors and the Best that has been thought or said must be the daily and nightly preoccupation of all the snobs respectively of disease and culture.

Excerpted from Selected Snobbery by Aldous Huxley

论点与分论点所处的位置

3.论据的特征

Exercise C：Answer the questions below.

1. There are very significant time and money costs for parents associated with transporting their children to school, sport and to other locations.Research in the United Kingdom estimated that this cost, in 1990，was between 10 billion and 20 billion pounds.

When parents drive their children to school

A. children are more keen to play sport.

B. the costs are significant.

C. it reduces parents'free time.

D. traffic jams are a problem.

2. Instead, many deaths and injuries result from falling objects and collapsing buildings, while fire resulting from broken gas or fallen power lines is another danger.The Kobe earthquake in January 1995 lasted only 20 seconds, yet resulted in a death toll of over 5，000 and injured approximately 26，000 people.Fires burnt out of control for several days after the earthquake, which was followed by hundreds of after-shocks.Because of fears of damage to gas pipelines and any leaks being potentially disastrous, inhabitants endured freezing winter conditions.

Why does the author referred to Kobe here?

3.There is a danger in paying too much heed to seemingly high risk zones and erecting less stable buildings solely because of their being in a low risk zone.Prior to the earthquake, Kobe was not regarded as at serious risk, but after the disaster, investigation of the damage revealed that nearly all deaths occurred in small buildings that shattered rather than twisted when stressed.

Less stable buildings are built in……risk zones.

A. high

B. low

4.识别过渡段与过渡句

过渡段与过渡句的特征

位置：

关键词：

显著特征：

Exercise D：Figure out the main idea of Section A and Section B within 10 seconds respectively. Finish the choices.

Gift

Section A

Gifts are a fundamental element of culture and our lives as social creature：a bar of chocolate on Valentine；a rosy carnation on Mother's Day or a bottle of Chardonnay for a party, though small, can convey a wealth of meaning about your gratitude and appreciation as well as the importance you place upon the relationship.There are occasions when giving a gift surpasses spoken communication, since the message it offers can cut through barriers of language and culture diversity.Combine the act of giving with knowledge of the culture, and you have an invaluable chance to lay the foundations of a durable relationship.

For all countries, take account of climate. A pack of preserved tofu can be ruined by extremely hot or humid climates, possibly causing the receiver considerable anguish.Consider the products that are abundant in the country concerned and try for something uncommon there.Think about the level of language skills：a book in English may be at best useless, at worst embarrassing, to a person with limited English.Inform yourself as much as possible about local customs, rules and etiquette, especially to do with wrapping, presenting, superstitions, taboos and importantly, customs and quarantine regulations.The following is a brief account of the etiquette of gift-giving in some countries of Asia and the Middle East.

Section B

Hong Kong Chinese appreciate greeting cards, though obviously they will not refuse small tokens of friendship in the form of gift.

Books with plenty of illustrations are most appreciated in Indonesia. Inappropriate items are alcohol, products made from pigs and warm clothing.Ties and cuff links are not commonly worn.

In Iran, short-sleeved shirts and any visual representation of naked people, are highly inappropriate. Don't bother with ties, videos or records.As in all Islamic countries, there is a strict taboo on any pork products.

Respecting the Arab tradition, gifts should endeavour to praise the recipient in Iraq and should always be in an order that can be reasonably reciprocated.

Avoid certain colour combinations：red, white and black（colours of the Nazi flag）；red, green and black（the Palestinian flag）in Israel.

Gifts are normally exchanged at the beginning of meetings with Japanese and should be given and received with both hands. It is seen as impolite to give an unwrapped gift.The emphasis should be on high quality, though not necessarily expensive, items.

When in Jordan, it is preferable, but not vital, to avoid green in packaging. Do not give books, videos that mention Israel.Normal Arab customs apply, so no alcohol, pork, women's clothing, etc.

Again, the exchange should be made with both hands in Korea. Do not use red ink to write the names of the recipients.

Laos has virtually no cultural taboo items. It would be difficult to offend with virtually any gift.

Business contacts in the People's Republic of China are keen recipients of good Scotch whisky and American cigarettes, to the point where it is almost obligatory to take some along when you go there.

Do not open gifts in the presence of the giver in Philippines. Not recommended are items alluding to religion.

For Thailand, gifts should not be wrapped or packaged in black. Modest gifts, like ties, scarves and key rings, are much appreciated.Traditionally, sharp objects like knives or even letter openers are not given as gifts.

No special gift-giving customs in Vietnam, but liquor and wine can be problematic, for reasons pertaining to Vietnamese tastes rather than morality or religion.

Multiple Choices：

1.When giving a gift to a person in Indonesia, the giver should

A. give ties or cufflinks.

B. give a bottle of wine or beer.

C. give a book with many pictures.

D. give warm clothing.

2.When giving gifts to a person in Iran

A. items made from pigs are often appreciated.

B. videos and records are popular.

C. short-sleeved shirts should be avoided.

D. certain colour combinations should be avoided.

3.When giving gifts to a Japanese person

A. you should give a gift with one hand and receive a gift with the other.

B. you should not give an unwrapped gift.

C. the quality of the gift is not important.

D. the gift should be expensive.

4.When giving a gift to a person in Laos

A. the gift should be a cultural taboo.

B. the gift might easily offend the receiver.

C. almost any gift will be acceptable.

D. gifts are not well-received.

5.When giving a gift to a person in China

A. cigarettes are an excellent choice.

B. cigarettes are taboo.

C. gifts are generally not opened in the presence of the giver.

D. gifts are generally reciprocated.

6.When giving a gift to a person in Vietnam, alcohol should be avoided because

A. Vietnamese morality forbids it.

B. Vietnamese religion forbids it.

C. Vietnamese law forbids it.

D. Vietnamese people don't like the taste.

5.文章整体结构

Exercise E：Figure out the logic of the whole passage by using the passage, the questions, or the title only.

Example 1

Road Technology since the Romans

Between 43 AD and 81 AD Roman Britain acquired a 6，000 km network of technically advanced, hard wearing and straight highways linking towns of importance. Today Britain's motorway system is only half that length.The basic Roman philosophy of building a road to cope with different types and volumes of vehicles and using local materials where possible still applies today.

Roman roads were cambered with ditches on either side and built on embankments to give them a properly drained base. A surfacing layer of small stones was used over gravel or larger stones, although some Roman roads were covered with large paving flags, which is where term‘pavement'originates.

Once the Romans left Britain, its roads fell into ruin through lack of maintenance. They became run down, dusty highways in the summer and quagmires in the winter.It seems that the next milestone in the history of roads was not until the 18th and 19th centuries, with the advent of the Turnpike Trust.This raised cash for necessary maintenance in local areas to cope with the increasing numbers of wheeled vehicles, coaches and carriages wishing to travel at faster speeds.

In 1816 John McAdam observed that it was the native soil that supported the weight of traffic which, when dry, would carry any weight without sinking. He advised that the native soil be made dry and a covering impenetrable to rain be placed over it.However, road maintenance was not given much priority due to the popularity of the railways, until the motor car superseded the horse and cart.Cars, however, accentuated the problem of dust, described by the medical journal‘The Lancet'in 1907 as‘the greatest'modern plague.

Like so many other scientific advances, the solution came by accident. Tar mixed with stone had been used in footpaths in certain parts of Britain in 1832，and tarred gravel was applied to roads in Nottingham in 1869，but the biggest breakthrough came in 1901.A surveyor called E.Purnell Hooley was visiting Denby Iron Works near Derby when he noticed a dust-free length of road produced by a burst tar barrel.The resulting pool of tar had been covered with ironworks slag.Hooley experimented with blending hot slag and tar as a byproduct from the coal industry and in 1902 patented the process produced by a company known as Tar MacAdam syndicate Ltd.The company's name was later changed to Tarmac.

Nowadays, blacktop materials are made up of bitumen from oil which is blended with rock, gravel or slag. A number of varieties have evolved for different uses in road construction, including hot-rolled asphalt for surfacing major roads, dense bitumen macadam for lower layers of a road and open-textured macadam.Modern surfaces are bituminous-bound, graded stone supplied as a premix.Binders themselves have undergone technical developments.They are customized, ranging from soft to very hard to suit the traffic flow.

To accommodate higher traffic levels, either the thickness of the road must be increased or the materials improved. Hence the introduction within the last 10 years of heavy duty macadam in the road base which is three times as stiff as the dense bitumen and aggregate mix.

Alternatively, the structural design can be changed. For example, on an experimental reconstruction section of the M6 at Bescot, West Midlands, the heavy duty‘upside-down design'was introduced in the 1980s.Here, rolled asphalt overlays a thinner than normal road-base macadam, over a second rolled asphalt layer, all of which lie on a sub-base which is again thinner than normal.This structure is thought to perform well due to the lower rolled asphalt layer being more resistant to deformation and inhibiting cracking at the bottom of the road base.

Another innovative idea is the use of geotextiles. In research geotextiles are being placed between the sub-grade soil and a drainage layer beneath the sub-base.The sub-grade material is often clay and in the absence of the geotextile could, over time, clog the sub-base and reduce its efficiency as a drainage layer.But geotextiles can also have structural uses, and could provide improved resistance to cracking and rutting in roads.

The logic_____

Example 2

New Rules for the Chemical Logistics

The logic______

Example 3

Questions 1-3

1.Among the following media, which one had the superior popularity in the past?

A. Radio

B. Books

C. TV

D. Internet

2.Most people were attracted by soap series because

A. They were difficult to get

B. They were exotic and rare

C. They were featured by light humor

D. They attested to the modernity of art

3.According to the passage, the phrase‘couch potato'refers someone who

A. is very wealthy

B. is indulged in watching TV

C. extremely favors a couch

D. likes nothing but potatoes

Questions 4-8

As the most popular medium, the distinguished characteristic of computers is that they are more   4   than books, more   5   than television, more   6   than movies, more   7   than radio. In a word, they are   8  .

The logic_______

Example 4

Nomadic Bedouin are well known for traditions of hospitality in the desert. According to Middle Eastern tradition, guests are served both tea and coffee from pots kept ready on the fires of guest tents where men of the family and male visitors gather.Cups of‘bitter'cardamom coffee and glasses of sugared tea should be constantly refilled by the host.

For over a thousand years, Arab traders have been bringing Islamic culture, including tea drinking, to northern and western Africa. Techniques of tea preparation and the ceremonial involved have been adapted.In West African countries, such as Senegal and The Gambia, it is fashionable for young men to gather in small groups to brew Chinese‘gunpowder'tea.The tea is boiled with large amounts of sugar for a long time.

Tea drinking in India remains an important part of daily life. There, tea made entirely with milk is popular.‘Chai'is made by boiling milk and adding tea, sugar and some spices.This form of tea making has crossed the Indian Ocean and is also popular in East Africa, where tea is considered best when it is either very milky or made with water only.Curiously, this‘milk or water'formula has been carried over to the preparation of instant coffee, which is served in cafes as either black, or sprinkled on a cup of hot milk.

In Britain, coffee drinking, particularly in the informal atmosphere of coffee shops, is currently in vogue. Yet, the convention of afternoon tea lingers.At conferences, it remains common practice to serve coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.Contemporary China, too, remains true to its long tradition.There are as yet no signs of coffee at such occasions.

The logic_____

Example 5

Title：Worrying about Entering an Aging Society?

The logic______

Example 6

Title：Refer to Exercise D：Gift

The logic_______

Example 7

Love and Marriage

Love is holding hands in the street；　Love is losing your appetite；

Marriage is losing your figure.　Marriage is holding arguments in the street.

Love is a dinner for two in your favorite restaurant；　Love is sweet nothings but in the ear；

Marriage is Chinese take-out.　Marriage is sweet nothings but in the bank.

Love is cuddling on a sofa；　Love is a flickering flame；

Marriage is deciding on a sofa.　Marriage is flickering television.

Love is a romantic drive；　Love is one drink and two straws；

Marriage is a tarmac drive.　Marriage is‘Don't you think you have had enough！’

The logic_______

Example 8

The Value of Studying A Foreign Language at an Early Age

The logic____________

Example 9

Some Misconceptions about Aboriginal Australia

In the early 1960s, the consensus of academic opinion was that Australia had been peopled for less than 10，000 years. Stone tools found in Kakadu have now been dated to at least 50，000 years, and camp sites as diverse as lake Mungo in the Willandra lakes region of NSW and WA's upper Swan River have yield tools charcoal radiocarbon-dated to between 38，000 and 45，000 years.They are indisputable evidence of the great antiquity of Aboriginal culture.

Thirty years ago, the first Australians were still thought of as a backward race. Trezise recalls in his book Dream Road, that there was much sage discussion on whether they were even capable of abstract thought.Since then, reawakened interest in and growing knowledge of Australia's Aboriginal heritage has demonstrated that this is a complex, subtle and rich culture.

The closer we look at Australian prehistory, the more it continues to confound our assumptions. Until recently, the authoritative view was that the population of Australia in 1788 was probably somewhere between 250，000 and 500，000.But the discovery, beginning two years ago, of a vast Aboriginal graveyard at Lake Victoria near the confluence of the Murray and Darling rivers has thrown even this into doubt.At least 10，000 skeletons are buried in the sands of lake Victoria, possibly as many as 40，000.Archaeologist Dr Colin Pardoe of the SA museum says the idea of 300，000 or so people in Australia before white settlement must be radically re-evaluated.'I believe that we should be thinking 10 times that'，he told science writer Julian Cribb recently.

Though Aborigines might see themselves as indigenous, there is no doubt that they were in fact Australia's first migrants.Their springboard was provided by the last ice age, or Pleistocene period, during which so much water was locked up on land that the ocean level dropped perhaps 150m.There was never a complete land bridge to South East Asia, but Arnhem Land was linked to Papua New Guinea for most of the past 100，000 years.This would have been one of the easiest routes for ice-age immigrants moving south.

Exercise F

1.Figure out the main idea of Paragraphs A and C in the above passage.

4 mis+conception+s

Paragraph 1：____________

Paragraph 2：Culture：complex or backward

Paragraph 3：___________

Paragraph 4：Origin：immigrant or indigenous

2.Figure out the topic sentence in each paragraph going with the title.

Paragraph 1：The consensus of academic opinion was that……

Paragraph 2：_____________

Paragraph 3：__________

Paragraph 4：______________

Exercise G：Figure out the outline of the following passage.

Common Faults and Eye Movement

There are a number of bad habits which poor readers adopt. Most of these involve using extra body movement in the reading process.In efficient reading, the muscles of the eye should make the only external movement.Of course there must be vigorous mental activity, but extra movements, such as pointing with the finger or moving the lips, do not help reading and often slow it down.

A fault that is often seen when students are trying to concentrate is pointing to the words with a finger, pencil or ruler. While marking the line might be helpful for beginning readers, it is certainly unnecessary for normal readers.Besides slowing down the reader, pointing at lines or words tends to cause the student to focus his attention on the wrong thing.The important thing to concentrate on while reading is not the location of the words on the page but the idea that the author is trying to communicate.

Another common fault easily observed is head movement. The belief that this head movement aids reading is pure nonsense.Eye muscles are quite capable of shifting the eyes from word to word, and they need no help from neck muscles.Often students are quite unaware that they are moving their heads while reading and they need to be reminded by the teacher not to do it.

Vocalization is another fault. Some poor readers think it necessary to pronounce aloud each word as it is read.The chief disadvantage of pronouncing words while you read them is that it tends to tie reading speed to speaking speed, and the silent reading of most normal readers is nearly twice as fast as their speaking.Usually this fault can be eliminated in older students by their own conscious effort, possibly with the aid of a few reminders from the teacher.

Subvocalization is the most difficult of all types of vocalization, where there is no body movement. But an inner type of speech persists：within the student's mind he is saying each word to himself, clearly pronouncing each word and then listening to himself, as it were.This fault is difficult, but not impossible, to cure.Probably the main reason for this problem is the nature of written language.English is written in an alphabet：a set of symbols which stand for speech-sounds.The speech-sounds in turn stand for an idea or thought.But it is not necessary to say or hear the word in order to get its meaning.It is quite possible to look at the printed word and get the idea directly.Students should practice grasping quickly the ideas presented on a printed page, and not reading aloud without error.

When the eyes are reading a line of print they make a series of short jerky movements along the line, stopping after every one or two words for a very brief pause. The eyes do not, as some people erroneously believe, make a smooth even movement along the line.Each time the eye stops it sees a certain span of material and this span is called the‘span of recognition'.The span of recognition for most readers is a little over one word.When eye movements are photographed and recorded on a moving strip of film it can be shown that good readers do actually see two or three words in a fixation, while poor readers see one word or less per fixation.

One more reading fault the students might see while observing another reading or become conscious of in their own reading is the making of‘regressions'. A regression is a backward movement along a line of print.All readers make regressions, but good readers make very few and bad readers make a large number.Possibly this bad habit was started by the student's reading material not being properly graded for him.Forcing him to read too difficult material has engendered the habit of making regressions.To cure this habit the student should be given ample amounts of easy reading.

Exercise H：Analyze the structure of the writing by Bertrand Russell and pay attention to the thesis, the topic sentences, the transitions, the ways to list examples and the balance within a sentence.

What I Have Lived for

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life：the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss.I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men.I have wished to know why the stars shine.And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux.A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth.Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart.Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be.I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

Exercise I：Read the passage and finish the following two tasks.

Vocabulary Change

Borrowing is a way of adding new vocabulary items to a language. Speakers of a language often have contact with speakers of other language.If a speaker of one of these languages does not have a readily available word for something in the world and a speaker of the other language does, the first speaker often borrows the word from the second speaker.The first settlers in North America had contact with the Indians who had already developed names for places and things peculiar to the North American continent.Consequently, the settlers borrowed such words as Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Chicago, and Mississippi, to mention a few place—names only.

Another large group of words came into English as a result of contact through invasion, in this case the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Various kinds of words were borrowed into English：for matters of government like crown, country, duke, court, and prince；for matters of law like judge, jury, crime, accuse, marry, and prove；for matters of war like battle, arms, soldier, siege, danger and march；and for matters of religion like angel, saint, pray, save, blame, virtue, and vice.Then, too, today we find interesting pairs of words such as cow and beef, sheep and mutton, calf and veal, and pig and pork in which the first item, the name of the animal, is Germanic in origin and the second item, the meat of the animal, is a borrowing from French.Perhaps the occurrence of such pairs reflects a society in which the conquered Englishmen raised the animals for the table of the conquering Norman.

Several points can be made about the Normal Conquest. First, the borrowings from French do not show much, if any, cultural superiority in the invaders.Secondly, although the Normans were conquerors, they eventually gave up their French to become speakers of English, just as their ancestors had eventually given up their Germanic language when they invaded France.Thirdly, the borrowings do not show the same intimate relationships between the conquered and conqueror as the borrowings that resulted from the earlier Danish invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries, when‘everyday'words such as egg, sky, gate, skin, skirt, skill, skull, scatter, sister, law, weak, give, take, call and hit, and particularly the pronouns they, them, and their and the verb are were borrowed from the Danish invaders.

The kinds of contact speakers have with each other may often be judged from the particular items that are borrowed. For example, English has borrowed numerous words from French having to do with clothing, cosmetics and luxury goods, like ensemble, lingerie, suede, perfume, rouge, champagne and deluxe.From German have come words associated with food like hamburger and delicatessen.From Italian have come musical words like piano, opera, solo, sonata, soprano, trombone and serenade.From various Indian languages have come words for once exotic dress items like bandanna, sari, bangle, and pajama.And from Arabic have come some interesting words beginning with al-（the Arabic determiner）：alcohol, alchemy, almanac and algebra.

Of course, Latin and Greek have provided English with the richest resource for borrowing more formal learned items. Large numbers of words have been borrowed into English from both languages, particularly leaned polysyllabic words.Numerous doublets also exist in English, that is, words that have been borrowed twice, once directly from Latin, and the second time through another language, most often French.

Latin　　English　　French　　English

magister　　magistrate　　maitre　　master

securus　　secure　　sur　　sure

North American English shows a wide contact with other languages in its borrowings：French, Spanish, German, Dutch, American Indian and various African languages.

At different times speakers of certain languages have shown noticeable resistance to borrowing words, and they have preferred either to exploit native resources or to resort to loan translations instead. Such an English word as superman is a loan translation of the ubermensch just as marriage of convenience is a loan translation of the French marriage de convenance and it goes without saying of the French ca va sans dire.

Borrowings are also assimilated to different degrees. Sometimes a borrowing is pronounced in a decidedly foreign way for a while, but it is usually soon treated according to native sound patterns if it occurs frequently.In English, words such as garage, salon, masseur, ghoul and hickory, borrowed from a variety of foreign languages, are pronounced according to the sound system of English and not according to the phonological rules of the source language.

One process involves narrowing the meaning of word so that the word achieves a more restricted meaning over the course of time. Meat now means a particular kind of food, not food in general, as it does in the following quotation from the King James version of‘Genesis'：‘And God said, Behold, I have given you eery herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed；to you it shall be for meat.'Likewise, deer now refers to a particular kind of animal, not animal in general, as it did in Shakespeare's words‘But mice and rats and such small deer have been Tom's food for seven long years.’Worm now refers to a particular kind of crawling creature, not any crawling creature, although some of the original more general meaning is contained still in slowworm, blindworm, and glowworm.Fowl and hound refer to a particular kind of bird and dog and wife, to a particular kind of woman.However, in the case of the last word we can note a more general meaning in midwife, wife of Bath, and perhaps housewife.Finally, North Americans use the word corn in a narrow meaning to refer to maize, whereas the British use it to refer grain in general.Keats'Ruth standing‘amid the alien corn’is not standing in a field of maize.

The opposite process is widening of meaning. In this process a word achieves a more general meaning.The words bird and dog once referred to specific types of birds and dogs, not to the species in general.The word virtue described a characteristic associated with men, but not with women, just as only women could be said to be hysterical, since men were not possessed of wombs（hystera being the Greek word for‘uterus'）.The word sensible once meant‘sensitive，'as it still does in French, and alibi referred to the fact that a person was elsewhere when something happened, not that he had some kind of excuse for something.

1. Figure out the outline of the passage with ONE WORD ONLY.

Threes ways of vocabulary change

I.   （1）  

i. Two  （4）  to borrow words from other languages

ii.  （5）  features of Norman Conquest

iii.  （6）  of words borrowed from other languages

iv. Words from  （7）  and  （8） 

v. Wide  （9）  between North American English and other languages

vi.  （10）  to borrowing words

vii.  （11）  of borrowing words

II.  （2） 

III.  （3） 

2. English has borrowed a variety of words from other languages.However, we may still figure out the origin of some words by their nature.Complete the table below with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

Exercise J：Read the following passage and figure out its outline.

How Market Leaders Keep Their Edge

Our research shows that no company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people. It must instead find the unique value that it alone can deliver to a chosen market.We have identified three distinct value disciplines, so called because each discipline produces a different kind of customer value.Choosing one discipline to master does not mean that a company abandons the other two, only that it picks a dimension of value on which to stake its market reputation over the long term.

The first value discipline we call operational excellence. Companies that pursue this are not primarily product or service innovators, nor do they cultivate deep, one-to-one relationships with customers.Instead, operationally excellent companies provide middle-of-the-market products at the best price with the least inconvenience.Their proposition to customers is simple：low price or hassle-free service, or both.

The second value discipline we call product leadership. Its practitioners concentrate on offering products that push performance boundaries.Their proposition to customers is an offer of the best product period.Moreover, product leaders do not build their positions with just one innovation；they continue to innovate year after year, product cycle after product cycle.Johnson＆Johnson, for instance, is a product leader in the medical equipment field.With Nike, the superior value does not reside just in its athletic footwear, but also in the comfort customers can take from knowing that whatever product they buy from Nike will represent the hottest style and technology on the market.For these product leaders, competition is not about price or customer service（though those can't be ignored），it's about product performance.

The third value discipline we have named customer intimacy. In adherents focus on delivering not what the market wants but what specific customers want.Customer-intimate companies do not pursue one-time transactions；they cultivate relationships.They specialize in satisfying unique needs, which often only they recognize, through a close relationship with—and intimate knowledge of—the customer.Their proposition to the customer：We have the best solution for you and we provide all the support you need to achieve optimum results, or value, or both, from whatever products you buy.Long-distance telephone carrier Cable＆Wireless, for example, practices customer intimacy with a vengeance, achieving success in a highly competitive market by consistently going the extra mile for its selectively chosen small-business customers.

Questions 1-8

The following is a list of features of the disciplines.

A. if the feature is specific to the first discipline

B. if the feature is specific to the second discipline

C. if the feature is specific to the third discipline

D. if it is not mentioned in the passage

Investing a large sum of fund in R＆D

Providing products of superior quality

Fostering one-to-one relationships with customers

Following an operating model to buy large quantities and negotiate better prices

Developing a new style and sticking to it throughout the year

Representing the state-of-art technology on the market

Aiming to be a trouble shooter for customers

Devoting a lot to advertising and promotion