“Long time no see is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentenc
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“Long time no see” is a very interestingsentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, Ilaughed. I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish.
Obviously, it is a word-by-word literaltranslation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar andstructure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting.I was too thrilled to believe her. Her words could not convince me at all. So Idid a research on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand webpages containing “Long time no see.” This sentence has been widely used inemails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible places.Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans usedaily. Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software willtell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.
Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglishsentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinesedetective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan likes to teachAmericans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius. “Long time no see” was histrademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrasein the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies.
Some scholars refer to America as a hugepot of stew. All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and theychange the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minorityethnic(少数民族的成员)group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew!Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew.
You can have some other examples thanadoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, susi from Japanese, anddéjà vu from French etc. There is a long list! Americans do not just simplyborrow something from others. They will modify it and make it their own, so youwould not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in arestaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in agrocery store. Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and morenowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future.In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor.
1.The writer himself felt surprised at______.
| A．the Chinglish expression “Long time no see” |
| B．“Long time no see” used as standard American English |
| C．so many literal translation of the expressions used in America |
| D．finding out Americans use the expression every day |
2.The word “stew” in the 4thparagraph probably means ______.
| A．mixture literature | B．Confucius’ words |
| C．a kind of cooked dish | D．American changing cultures |
3.According to the passage, it can beinferred that ______.
A. detectives translate the phrase “Longtime no see”
B. Hollywood made “Long time no see”popular
B. “Long time no see” used as standardAmerican English
D. cultures can be changed in the huge potof stew
4.The main idea of the passage is that______.
| A．some Chinese expressions are introduced into English |
| B．you’ll not be surprised at a tofu in a restaurant in America |
| C．some American expressions can be used in China |
| D．American English keep being enriched from different cultures |
5.According to the passage, which of thefollowing statements is not true?
| A．Informal language sometimes doesn’t go with grammar and structure. |
| B．Languages are always ruled by grammar and structure. |
| C．Long time no see” has been used in at least four media mentioned in the passage. |
| D．There are four languages mentioned to be adopted in the American stew. |
试题答案
【答案】
1.B
2.A
3.B
4.D
5.B
【解析】
试题