高中英语Unit 2 English arou

号顿市安谧阳光实验学校Unit 2 English around the world 文化探究
Americans Want to Learn Chinese
1．1 Read this passage and try to get the general idea of the passage. Answer the questions after reading it.
Americans Want to Learn Chinese
At a Chinese restaurant in USA, Catherine Conway—an eight-year-old girl, surprised the waiter by speaking to him in Chinese. "He was so happy. He gave me extra sweets, "she said.
While most American children don't begin to learn a new language until the middle school, Catherine began to learn Chinese in kindergarten at Potomae Elementary in Rockville, Md. This school offers Chinese as a subject.
As China has become stronger economically, it has become an important trading partner of the USA. So US business and government leaders have recently started to wonder where the future Chinese-speaking Americans will come from. These people will help increase American trade with China. It is a fact that more people speak Chinese than any other language on Earth. There are about 875 million native speakers of Chinese and only 341 million English native speakers. But only 50000 American school children study it. Chinese is going to become a very important language. But the USA is not doing as well as the Chinese in trade and it will never understand them without a large number of Chinese speakers.
In the USA, it is surprising that some schools are cutting back or getting rid of foreign languages. To encourage more students to learn Chinese the US College Board recently added Chinese to its list of approved（批准，通过）subjects for high school students. At the same time, the Chinese government has promised to pay half of the $ 1.4 million it will cost to develop courses.
"We really can't understand other people without speaking their language. "says Marty Abbott, a former president of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. "We've never had to learn other languages in America because of our geography. We're not like the Europeans who learn many different languages because they have to cross borders all the time."
The American interest in China has varied during the last ten years. Today, they're very interested in China because it entered the world Trade organization in 2001. This interest has increased and will probably be the strongest in 2008 when China organizes the Olympic Games.
1．What did the Americans think of foreign languages?
答案：They never had to learn other languages.
2．Why do you think more and more Americans speak Chinese?
答案：Because China has entered the World Trade Organization. Besides, China has become an important trading partner of the USA.
3．How are the students encouraged to study Chinese in the USA?
答案：The US College Board recently added Chinese to its list of approved subjects for high school students.
Names for Americans and Europeans
Read the following passage and finish the exercises after it.
Names for Americans and Europeans
Usually Europeans and Americans take two or three names: the first （given, Christian）name, the middle name and the family name（surname）. The first（given, Christian）name is that given at baptism, as distinct from the family name（surname）. Surname—a name attached to a person, e. g. by reason of his occupation or place of birth or residence, later develops into such a family name. Many British and American people have a middle name, which is also called second Christian name. In other words, most British and American people have two Christian names, e. g. "Tom" is a Christian name and "White" is a family name or surname. In the name "Philip Sillince Tregidgo", "Philip" is the first name, "Sillince", the middle name, and"Tregidgo", the surname（or family name）.
The surname always comes last. Any first name is called a Christian name, whether it is truly Christian or not. Christian names are chosen arbitrarily for them by their parents. The surname is always handed down unchanged, from father to children, and regarded as a very permanent thing: apart from the regular change of surname suffered red by a woman on marriage, it is rare for a British or American person to change his surname or even its spelling.
In Britain and America, friends, relatives and children are addressed by their Christian name. Others are addressed by Mr. Mrs. or Miss with the surname. The surname alone is used for schoolboys, and also sometimes in business though never for women, except in the nursing profession.
Thus, the person's full name mentioned above is Philip Sillince Tregidgo; Philip and Sillince are the Christian names（the second one is little used）, and Tregidgo is the surname. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Percy James Tregidgo, his wife is Mrs. Vera Tregidgo（formerly Miss Vera Williams）, and his children are Stephen David Tregidgo, John Mark Tregidgo, and Jane Ann Tregidgo. Relatives and close friends call him Philip, Others call him Mr. Tregidgo, and when he was at school he was simply Tregidgo.
Study the following forms of address for a man called Robert Wilson: Formal: Mr. Robert Wilson
This can help them know about the history of Chinese name.
Less formal, but still quite formal: Mr. Wilson
Acceptable（between equals）: Wilson
His friends: Robert
His wife: Robert Dear
（When a child）: Bob, Bertie, Bobby, etc.
1．Which of the following is true?
A. Any first name in America and Europe is always a Christian
name.
B. Surname is handed down but never change.
C. The surname is just used for schoolboys and also sometimes
in business though never for women.
D. Friends call one another informally.
解析：从全文可看出朋友之间称呼较随便，不正式，故选D。

答案：D
2．What is the Christian name in the name Robert Zemeckis?
答案：Robert
3．Where does surname come from in Europe?
答案：Surname comes from their occupation or place of birth or
residence.
4．Where did Chinese family name come from?
答案：Ask students to collect some information about this after class.。