【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 We hadn’t had any warm food to eat al l day, but we didn’t care. Mummy and Margot were too tired and woried to eat, and Daddy and I were too busy. FRIENDSHIP IN H AWAI Every culture has its own ways to show friendship. On the isl ands of H awai, friendship is part of the “al oha spirit”. In the language of the H awai ans who first setl ed the islands l ong ago, aloha had a very speci al meaning. That is “to be with happiness”. H awai ians beli eve that once som ebody loves the land, they are ready to l ove thei r peopl e or muni ty. Thi s i s the second m ost import sign of friendship. It is cal led l okahi in H awaian l anguage, which means “onenes with al people”. To enjoy the l and you shoul d not be selfish. The l and is for everyone who l ives on it. Today many different people cal l H awai thei r home. Indeed, H awai i s a pl ace where peopl e m ake one bi g m unity from m any sm al er muni ti es. Each person gives kokua (hel p) to other peopl e so that al l fel stronger. It’s believed that the islands can be a paradise when the peopl e li ve i n peace. People are tol d that their acti ons should be as gentl e as the wi nd that bl ows from the sea. When problem s happen, peopl e are asked to sol ve them wi th understandi ng. So when peopl e of H awai tal k about ohana (fami ly), they are real y talking about al those who l ive on the i sl ands. Li vi ng i n peace, Hawai ians have developed a third sign of fri endshi p. Thi s personal friendship is shown by giving leis to one another. The lie, a string of flowers, is put over a friend’s neck. Then the fri end i s given a ki ss on cheek. Vi si tors to the i sl ands are also given l ies. When they hear al oha, vi si tors begi n to feel at home. Aloha al so means “goodbye”, so visitors wil hear it again when they leave. It can al so mean “our hearts singing together”. Perhaps this is how most visitors wil remember their new friendship. Uni t 2 TH E RO AD TO MO DERN EN GLISH At the end of the 16th century, about five to seven m il ion people spoke Engl ish. N earl y al l of them li ved i n Engl and. Later i n the next century, people from England m ade voyages to conquer other parts of the world and because of that, Engli sh begi n to be spoken i n many other countri es. Today, m ore peopl e speak Engli sh as thei r fi rst, second or a foreign language than ever before. Nati ve Engli sh speakers can understand each other even i f they don39。t speak the same kind of Engli sh. Look at thi s ki nd of exam pl e: British Bety: Woul d you li ke to see m y fl at? Am eri can Am y: Yes. I’d l ike to e up to your apartment. So why has Engl ish changed over tim e? Actual y al l languages change and devel op when cultures meet and m unicate wi th each other. At fi rst the Engli sh spoken in Engl and between about AD 450 and 150 was very di ferent the Engl ish spoken today. It was based more on Germ an than the Engli sh we speak at present. Then gradual ly between about AD80 to 1150, Engli sh became l es li ke germ en because those who ruled Engl and spoke first Danish and l ater French. These new settl ers enri ched the Engl ish l anguage and especial y i ts vocabulary. So by the 160’s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British setl ers moved to Am eri can. Later i n the 18th century som e Bri ti sh peopl e were taken to Austral ia too. Engli sh began to be spoken in both countries. Fi nal y by the 19th century the l anguage was settl ed. At that tim e two bi g changes i n Engli sh spel li ng happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote hi s dicti onary and l ater N oah Webster wrote The Am eri can Di ctionary of the Engl ish Language. The l atter gave a separate i denti ty to Am erican Engli sh spel li ng. Engli sh now i s al so spoken as a forei gn or second l anguage in South Asi a. For exam pl e, Indi a 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 tim e Engli sh becam e the l anguage for governm ent and educati on. Engl ish is al so spoken in Si ngapore and Mal aysi a and countri es in Afri ca such as South Afri ca. Today the num ber of peopl e learni ng Engl ish in Chi na i s i ncreasi ng rapi dl y. In fact, China may have the l argest num ber of Engl ish learners. Wil l Chi nese Engli sh devel op i ts own i denti ty? O nl y tim e wi l tel l. STAN DARD EN GLISH AN D DIALECTS What is standard Engl ish? Is i t spoken i n Bri tain, the US, Canada, Austral ia, India and N ew Zeal and? Bel ieve i t or not, there i s no such thi ng as standard Engli sh. Many peopl e bel ieve the Engl ish spoken on TV and the radio i s standard Engli sh. Thi s is because i n the earl y days of radi o, those who reported the news were expected to speak excel lent Engli sh. H owever, on TV and the radio you wil hear di ferences i n the way people speak. When peopl e use words and expressions different from the “standard l anguage”, it is cal ed a dialect. American Engl ish has many dialects, especial y the Midwestern, southern, African American and Spanish di alects. Even in som e parts of the USA, two people from nei ghbouring towns speak a l ittl e differentl y. Am eri can Engli sh has so many di al ects because peopl e have e from al l over the worl d. Geography al so pl ays a part i n m aki ng dial ects. Som e peopl e who li ve i n the mountai ns of the eastern USA speak wi th an ol der ki nd of Engli sh di al ect. When Am ericans moved from one pl ace to another, they took their di al ects wi th them . So peopl e from the m ountai ns i n the southeastern USA speak wi th almost the sam e di al ects as peopl e i n the northwestern USA. The USA i s a l arge country in which many di fferent dialects are spoken. Al though m any Americans move a l ot, they stil recognize and understand each other’s dial ects. TH E O XFO RD EN GLISH DICTION ARY You m ay think that Engl ish dicti