【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 oy the l and you shoul d not be sel fish. The l and is for everyone who l ives on it. Today m any different people cal l H awai thei r hom e. Indeed, H awai i is a place where peopl e make one bi g m uni ty from m any sm al er muni ti es. Each person gives kokua (hel p) to other peopl e so that al fel stronger. It’s believed that the isl ands can be a paradise when the peopl e li ve i n peace. Peopl e are tol d that their acti ons shoul d be as gentl e as the wi nd that bl ows from the sea. When probl em s happen, peopl e are asked to sol ve them wi th understanding. So when peopl e of H awai i tal k about ohana (fam il y), they are real y tal ki ng about al l those who li ve on the isl ands. Li ving i n peace, H awai ans have devel oped a thi rd si gn of fri endshi p. Thi s personal fri endshi p is shown by gi vi ng l ei s to one another. The lie, a string of fl owers, is put over a friend’s neck. Then the friend i s gi ven a ki ss on cheek. Visi tors to the i slands are al so gi ven l ies. When they hear al oha, vi sitors begi n to feel at hom e. Aloha al so means “goodbye”, so visitors wil hear it again when they l eave. It can also m ean “our hearts singing together”. Perhaps this i s how m ost visi tors wi l rem em ber thei r new fri endshi p. Unit 2 TH E RO AD TO MO DERN EN GLISH At the end of the 16th century, about fi ve to seven m il li on peopl e spoke Engli sh. N earl y al of them l ived i n Engl and. Later i n the next century, peopl e from Engl and made voyages to conquer other parts of the worl d and because of that, Engli sh begi n to be spoken i n m any other countri es. Today, m ore peopl e speak Engli sh as their fi rst, second or a forei gn l anguage than ever before. N ati ve Engl i sh speakers can understand each other even i f they don39。t speak the sam e kind of Engl i sh. Look at thi s ki nd of exam pl e: Bri ti sh Betty: Woul d you li ke to see m y fl at? Am eri can Amy: Yes. I’d l i ke to e up to your apartm ent. So why has Engl i sh changed over tim e? Actual y al l anguages change and develop when cul tures m eet and m uni cate wi th each other. At first the Engli sh spoken i n Engl and between about AD 450 and 150 was very di fferent the Engl ish spoken today. It was based more on Germ an than the Engl i sh we speak at present. Then gradual l y between about AD800 to 1150, Engli sh becam e l ess li ke germ en because those who rul ed Engl and spoke fi rst Dani sh and l ater French. These new setl ers enri ched the Engli sh l anguage and especial y its vocabul ary. So by the 1600’s Shakespeare was abl e to make use of a wi der vocabul ary than ever before. In 1620 some Bri tish settlers m oved to Ameri can. Later i n the 18th century som e Bri ti sh peopl e were taken to Austral ia to. Engli sh began to be spoken i n both countri es. Fi nal ly by the 19th century the language was settl ed. At that tim e two bi g changes in Engl ish spel i ng happened: fi rst Sam uel Johnson wrote hi s di cti onary and l ater N oah Webster wrote The Am eri can Di cti onary of the Engl i sh Language. The l atter gave a separate i denti ty to Am eri can Engl ish spel i ng. Engli sh now i s al so spoken as a forei gn or second l anguage i n South Asi a. For exam pl e, India has a very l arge num ber of fl uent Engli sh speakers because Bri tai n rul ed Indi a from 1765 to 1947. duri ng that ti m e Engl i sh becam e the l anguage for governm ent and educati on. Engli sh i s al so spoken i n Si ngapore and Mal aysi a and countri es i n Africa such as South Afri ca. Today the num ber of peopl e l earni ng Engli sh i n Chi na i s i ncreasing rapi dl y. In fact, Chi na m ay have the l argest num ber of Engl i sh learners. Wil Chi nese Engli sh devel op i ts own i denti ty? O nly tim e wi l tel . STAN DARD EN GLISH AN D DIALECTS What i s standard Engli sh? Is i t spoken i n Bri tai n, the US, Canada, Australi a, Indi a and N ew Zeal and? Bel i eve i t or not, there is no such thi ng as standard Engl i sh. Many peopl e beli eve the Engli sh spoken on TV and the radi o i s standard Engl ish. Thi s i s because i n the earl y days of radi o, those who reported the news were expected to speak excel ent Engl i sh. H owever, on TV and the radio you wil hear di fferences i n the way peopl e speak. When peopl e use words and expressions different from the “standard language”, it is cal ed a dial ect. Am erican Engl ish has m any dial ects, especial y the Mi dwestern, southern, Afri can Am eri can and Spani sh di al ects. Even i n som e parts of the USA, two peopl e from nei ghbouri ng towns speak a l ittle di fferentl y. Am eri can Engli sh has so m any di al ects because peopl e have e from al over the worl d. Geography al so pl ays a part i n m aki ng di al ects. Som e peopl e who li ve i n the mountai ns of the eastern USA speak with an ol der ki nd of Engli sh di al ect. When Am eri cans m oved from one pl ace to another, they took their di alects wi th them . So peopl e from the m ountai ns i n the southeastern USA speak wi th al m ost the sam e di al ects as peopl e i n the northwestern USA. The USA is a l arge country in whi ch m any different di al ects are spoken. Al though many Am ericans m ove a l ot, they stil l recognize and understand each other’s di al ects. TH E O XFO RD EN GLISH DICTIO N ARY You m ay thi nk that Engli sh di cti onari es have been used for many, m any centuri es. The spel li ng of Engli sh has al ways been a probl em but i t was more of a probl em i n the days before a di cti onary. Then peopl e coul d spel word in di fferent ways which you m i ght fi nd i t interesti ng. But i t m ade readi ng Engl i sh m uch m ore di fficul t. So di cti onari es were i nvented to encourage everybody to spel the sam e. In fact, an English dictionary l ike the kind you use today wasn’t m ade until the tim e of the l ate Qing Dynasty. There m en did m ost of the i mportant ea