A
(2018江西质检)
The US president Donald Trump has popularized the phrase “fake news”. But not too long ago these words in combination would have meant little to everyday English speakers.
Anatoly Liberman, a German, writes about the origins of the word “fake”. The word, it turns out, has a very dark past. The best guess at how “fake” became the mainstream, argues Liberman, is that it was a kind used by thieves in the London underworld. But “how it got there, nobody in the world knows, and probably nobody will ever know,” he tells Quartz.
Liberman is a professor at the University of Minnesota and the author of Word Origins and How We Know Them. He writes that early records of “fake” as an English adjective appeared around the middle of the 18th century. The word likely comes from cant, or thief jargon(行话).
The OED mentions “fake” as a verb starting in 1819, which basically meant “to do” in jargon, but also “to kill, wound, or rob”. An entry from a dictionary that year reads:
“To fake any person or place, to rob them; to fake a person may also imply to shoot, wound, or cut; to fake a man out and out, is to kill him.”
Liberman traces the word next to Charles Dickens, who used “cly-faker”,where “cly” means pocket, in Oliver Twist. This is how he believes the knowledge of “fake” as a word that means to steal, spread. Eventually it became a commonplace English word.
1.The underlined word “fake” in Paragraph 1 probably means .
A.lying B.true C.common D.interesting
2.What can we learn about Anatoly Liberman?
A.He is skilled in some foreign languages.
B.He is interested in all the English words.
C.He lived in England for a long time.
D.He likes writing articles in English very much.
3.What is mainly discussed in this passage?
A.The history of English words.
B.Some stories about English words.
C.The importance of the English word “fake”.
D.The origins of an English word.
4.What can we infer from this passage?
A.We must focus on the words of Donald Trump.
B.We should study English words very carefully.
C.“Fake” likely comes from words used by a class of people.
D.Anatoly Liberman likes to trace the commonplace English words.
答案
[语篇解读] 美国总统特朗普使得“假新闻”这个词成为流行词。文章探讨了“fake”这个词的起源。它曾是伦敦底层社会里小偷之间的行话,意为“做”“杀死”“偷”等。
1.A 词义猜测题。美国总统特朗普使得“假新闻”一词成为流行词。由此可知,fake的意思应为“假的”,故选A项。
2.A 推理判断题。由第三段中的“Liberman is a professor at the University of Minnesota and the author of Word Origins and How We Know Them.”可知,Liberman是明尼苏达大学的教授,也是Word Origins and How We Know Them一书的作者。且在文中他探索了fake一词的起源。由此可以推知,他非常擅长外语。故选A项。
3.D 主旨大意题。由文章第二段中的“Anatoly Liberman, a German, writes about the origins of the word ‘fake’.”和下文的具体介绍可知,文章探讨了“fake”这个词的起源,也就是探索一个英语单词的起源,故选D项。
4.C 推理判断题。由第二段中的“The best guess at how ‘fake’ became the mainstream, argues Liberman, is that it was a kind used by thieves in the London underworld.”可知,Liberman提出,关于“fake”一词如何成为主流词,最可靠的猜测应该是,它曾是伦敦底层社会里小偷之间的行话,也就是社会某一阶层的人使用的语言,故选C项。
