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发表于 2018-6-1 00:52:05
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Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
No one expressed this attitude more strongly than Noah Webster
(17581843).
Born near Nartford, Connecticut, he received his education at Yale College
and later began to practise law. But business in this profession was slow, and
he was forced to turn to teaching. As a teacher, he soon discovered that the
English school books then in use were unsatisfactory, and the American
Revolution reduced the supply of such books as there were. Webster therefore
began to work on three simple books on English, a spelling book, a grammar, and
a reader, and these were the first books of their kind to be published in this
country. The success of the first
part was surprisingly great. It was soon issued again under the title THE
AMERICAN SPELLING BOOK, and in this form about 80 million copies were sold
during the next hundred years. From a profit of less than one cent a copy,
Webster got most of his income for the rest of his life. Not only did the little
book have great influence on many generations of school children, but it also
had the effect or turning its author's attention to questions of language. In
1806 he produced a small dictionary,and this was followed by his greatest work,
AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, published in two volumes in1828.
In both of these works and in many smaller writings he had one purpose: to show
that the Englsih language in his country was a truly American thing, developing
in its own special way and deserving to be considered from an independent,
American point of view. As he himself wrote,“ It is not only important, but in a
degree necessary, that the people of this country should have an AMERICAN
DICTIONARY of the English language; for, although the body of the language is
the same as in England…some differences exist…. No person in this country will
be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress, senate,
assembly, court, and so forth, for although these are words used in England, yet
they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in
that country.” By giving American meanings and American pronunciation, by
adopting a number of American spellings, and especially by introducing
quotations from American authors beside those from English literature, he was
able, to a great extent, to justify the title of his work. If, after a hundred
years, some people still doubt the existence of a separate American language,
his efforts, nevertheless, have left a lasting mark on the language of his
country.
31.Webster first tried to earn his living in the field of ____.
A) education C) law
B) journalism D) medicine
32.Webster earned most of his money from the sale of his ____.
A) dictionary of 1828 C) grammar
B) spelling book D) reader
33.Apparently Webster published his first books while he was a
____.
A) teacher C) lawyer
B) student D) doctor
34.This article could be entitled ____.
A) Noah Webster and American English Spelling
B) Noah Webster, the author of An American Dictionary of the English
Language
C) Noah Webster
D) Noah Webster and American English Grammar
35.According to the article, Webster ____.
A) had created American English and its usages
B) had discovered American English and improved it
C) had tried his best and left a milestone on the language of his
country
D) had left a language which was not used in England.
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