2021年职称英语选读文章 ENGLISH IS A CRAZY

1、职称英语选读文章 English is a Crazy 职称英语选读文章：English is a Crazy 1.Lets fa _ it-English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins werent invented in England nor French fries in Fran _. Sweetmeats are can _s while sweetbreads,wh

2、ich arent sweet,are meat. 让我们接受现实吧-英语是一种疯狂的语言。茄子(eggplant，字面意为鸡蛋植物)里并没有鸡蛋，汉堡包(hamburger，字面意为火腿夹饼)里也没有火腿。同样，菠萝 (pineapple，字面意为松树苹果)里既没有松鼠也没有苹果。松饼(English muffin，字面意为英式松饼)并不是英国人发明的，而炸薯条(French fries，字面意为法式油炸食品)也不是法 _发明。“甜肉”(sweetmeat)指的是蜜饯，而“甜面包”(sweetbread)不是甜的，它指的是牛杂碎。 2.We take English for granted.

3、 But if we explore its paradoxes,we find that quicksand can work slowly,boxing rings arc square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why it is that writers write but fingers dont fing,gro _rs dont gro _ and hammers dont ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth,why isnt the plural

4、 of booth beeth? If you have one goose,two geese,why not one moose,two meese,or one index,two indi _s? 我们理所当然地接受了英语的一切，但是如果我们分析一下英语中似是而非的情况，我们马上就会发现“快的沙子”(quicksand，流沙，也只陷阱，困境)往往走得很慢，“拳击的圆圈”(boxing rings，拳击场)是方的，“几内亚猪”(guinea pig，天竺鼠)既不是几内亚，也不是猪。还有，既然名词作家(writers)去掉词尾的rs 就可以成为动词“写作(write)”，那 _名词“手指”

5、(fingers)、杂货店(gro _rs)、锤子(hammers)去掉rs就不能成为各自相应的动词呢?如果牙齿的复数是teeth，那 _售货亭的复数不是beeth?一只鹅我们用goose，两只鹅用geese，那么，一只驼鹿用 moose(单复数同形)，两只驼鹿就应该是meese了? _一条索引是index，两条索引却成了indi _s? 3.Doesnt it seem crazy that you can _ke amends but not one amend,or that you can b through the annals of history but not a single

6、 annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them,what do you call it? 如果你赔偿时只能赔偿复数不能赔偿单数，这是不是很莫名其妙?你可以 _ _编年史， _却不能复 _一个单个的编年史?如果你有一堆麻烦，那么在你把其他的都解决了只剩下一个的时候该怎么说呢? 4.If teachers taught,why didnt preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables,what does a hu _nitarian

7、 eat? 如果教师教学是taught，那 _传教士不是praught?如果素食主义者(vegetarian)吃蔬菜(vegetable)，那人道主义者(hu _nitarian)吃什么? 5.Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be mitted to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital; ship by truck and send cargo by

8、ship; have noses that run and feet that _ell; park on driveways and drive on parkways? 有时候我觉得根据英国人说话时疯狂的用词可以将他们送进精神病院。哪一种语言人们可以在一出戏中朗诵，在朗诵中玩(分别指演戏和开独唱会)?用卡车运船，用船运货(分别只用卡车运输和用船运输)?鼻子可以跑而脚可以闻味道(分别指流鼻涕和脚有臭味)?车可以停在驾驶路上，而且在停车路上驾驶 (driveway从字面上理解是驾驶路，parkway从字面上理解是停车路)。 6.How can a slim chan _ and a fat c

9、han _ be the same,while a wise _n and wise guy are opposites,and quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? _一个苗条的机会(slim chan _，指没机会)和一个肥胖的机会(fat chant，也指没机会)意思是一样的，而一个聪明的人(wise _n，聪明人)和一个聪明的家伙(wise guy，自作聪明的人)却意思相反? _相当多(quite a lot)

10、和相当少(quite a few)意思一样?(实际上quite a lot和quite a few都是相当多的意思。) _天气可以热的像地狱也可以冷得像地狱?(as hell字面意思像地狱一样，指非常)7.You have to _rvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down,in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on.

11、 7.你不得不对这种精神病一样的语言表示惊奇，在这种语言中，你的房子在被烧下去(burn down，意为烧为平地)的同时又被烧上去(burn up，意为烧起来，烧掉)。你用填出来(fill out，意为填写)的方法填进去(fill in,意思也是填写)一个表格。闹钟在走(go on)的时候响(go off)了。 8.English was invented by people,not puters,and it reflects the creativity of the hu _n ra _. That is why,when the stars are out,they are visible,but when the lights are out,they are invisible. And why,when I wind up my wa