Question

Most people who travel from China to the US find that, despite having studied English for years, they have to “re-learn” it upon arriving.

Words that we learned in English classes are not pronounced the same way here. To truly be part of the “melting pot”, fluency in English is not enough. You need an accent to stand out.

When I first came to the US for graduate school, I was a nervous foreigner. I felt so out of place that I wanted to hide everything about me that was “different”. To talk like an American became one of my goals.

During my first term as a teaching assistant (TA), my students complained they could not understand me. I learned later from a study that this complaint was common among US students with an international TA．It is called the “Oh, no!” syndrome (情緒、舉動): “Oh，no! Not another international TA, and not that accent again!’’

So I imitated（模仿）the way native speakers talk and, over time, I made such good progress that American friends started to praise my English as having “almost no accent’’. I took this as a sign of my success. Ever since, people have often mistaken me for someone from many places: the Midwest, the West Coast, China, Japan, South Korea. Most frequently, people think I am from California.

Suddenly, conformity ( 一致) was no longer a praise: If I talk like an American ， am I still Chinese? If I lose my Chinese accent, do I also lose my cultural identity? Am I denying my past by being absorbed into a new culture?

Now I realize that a person’s accent is a permanent record of their past cultural experience and it is amark of one’s experience and exposure to different cultures.

As a fourth-year student in the US，I am no longer a nervous foreigner. My nervousness has been replaced by a desire to hold on to my cultural origins. Now I consciously add some Chinese“accent” when I speak．I do not wish to speak “perfect” English because I am proud of who I am.

1.Why does the author think people have to “re-learn” English upon arriving? ( No more than 10 words).

2.How did the author feel when others praised her English? (No more than 5 words)

3.Why did the author decide to speak with a bit of a Chinese “accent”? (No more than 10 words)

4.Please explain the underlined part in English in another way. (No more than 8 words)

5.What is the article mainly about? (No more than 8 words)

Answer 1

1.Because she thinks they need to learn an American accent.

2.She was proud of herself./ She felt she was successful.

3.Because she wanted to keep some of her Chinese identity.

4.A strong will to keep her Chinese culture.

5.The author’s changing attitude towards her Chinese accent.

【解析】本文描寫了作者到美國的口音由不純正到純正再到不純正的態(tài)度的轉(zhuǎn)變。根據(jù)短文回答問題需要注意嚴(yán)格按照格式進(jìn)行回答，嚴(yán)格按照書面語規(guī)范，不可省略助詞。同時要注意按照題目限制的詞語作答。

1. that we learned in English classes are not pronounced the same way here. To truly be part of the “melting pot”, fluency in English is not enough. You need an accent to stand out.我們在英語課堂上所學(xué)的單詞，在這里發(fā)音卻并不同。想要真正的成為“大熔爐”的一部分，英語流利是不夠的，你需要突出口音。從這里看出，之所以要重新學(xué)習(xí)的理由是因為口音的問題。Why句式的回答為Because……，題目要求限制在10個字以內(nèi)，符合題意即可。

2. took this as a sign of my success. 在作者得到表揚之后，她認(rèn)為這是一種成功的跡象。要求在5個詞之內(nèi)作答，調(diào)整原句，增刪詞語，符合題意即可。

3. 第六段作者產(chǎn)生了疑問If I talk like an American ， am I still Chinese? If I lose my Chinese accent, do I also lose my cultural identity? 如果我說話像美國本地人，那我還是中國人么？如果我失去了我的中國口音，我也失去了我的文化印記么？作者擔(dān)心的正是，如果繼續(xù)說美國口音的英語，是不是會失去了自己文化印記。題目要求限制10個字以內(nèi)，符合題意即可。

4. a desire to hold on to my cultural origins一種保留我的文化起源的想法。題目要求換種說法，限制在8個詞之內(nèi)，符合意思即可。

5.

考點：考察記敘文閱讀