英语冷知识

江丽

主題语境：英语趣用法 篇幅：348词 建议用时：7分钟

Last week， our forum asked if you had any funnyor strange stories about using English. We didnt expectto get so many posts. Here are some of our favourites toremind us that some of the English we learn in the class?room is rather different from the English in the outsideworld！

Yancy： People say that the British always play safe with what they eat. Its not true！ Iwent to a summer school in Manchester and my English teacher was called Maggie. Oneday， a different teacher took our class. He told us that Maggie couldnt teach that daybecause she had a frog in her throat. Poor Maggie—but why did she try to eat such a bigfrog？

Sophie： When I first visited New York， I went to a downtown shopping centre to buysome winter boots. At the information desk at the entrance， I asked a lady where the shoesection was. She said that it was on the first floor. So I went up to the first floor， but Icouldnt find any shoes. I decided to leave. When I was looking for the exit， I saw that shoeswere actually sold downstairs on the ground floor， not the first floor. Why did she give methe wrong information？

Julien： Ive got an English penfriend， who I finally got to meet in London this sum?mer. He had told me that his grandfather was“ really wicked”. But when I met his grand?father， I liked him a lot. I found it very odd. Why did my friend use a negative word aboutsuch a nice man？

Zheng Xu： The British must have really high standards. I was part of a student ex?change programme between a university in England and my university in China. I spentdays preparing and writing my first English paper. I knew I had done a good job and waslooking forward to getting a positive comment. When I got the paper back， I found myteacher had written the comment“ Not bad！”. Not bad？ But there werent any errors in mypaper.

ReadingCheck

1. Whats wrong with Maggie？

A. She ate a frog by mistake.

B. Her throat was hurt by a frog.

C. She probably had trouble in speaking.

D. Her throat was probably stuck by a frog.

2. Why did Sophie have trouble finding the shoe section？

A. The lady at the information desk gave her wrong direction.

B. The shoe section was on the first floor.

C. The ladys direction was misunderstood.

D. The shoes were sold out.

3. What can we know about Julien and his penfriend？

A. Juliens penfriend didnt like his grandfather.

B. Juliens penfriend had a bad relationship with his grandfather.

C. Juliens penfriend used a wrong word to describe his grandfather.

D. Julien liked his penfriends grandfather a lot.

4. How did Zheng Xu feel about the comment“ Not bad！” on his English paper？

A. Proud. B. Confused. C. Scared. D. Pleased.

LanguageStudy

Ⅰ. 日积月累

forum n. 论坛

funny adj. 滑稽的

downtown adj. 市中心的

entrance n. 入口

wicked adj. 邪恶的；缺德的；非常好的

odd adj. 奇怪的

summer school 暑期班

have a frog in ones throat 嗓子哑了

shopping centre 购物中心

winter boot 冬靴

information desk 服务台

shoe section 鞋区

high standard 高标准

exchange programme 交流项目

Ⅱ. 语法填空

English 1. （idiom） are treasures that reveal the richness and diversity of thelanguage while providing insights into cultural beliefs and practices. They act as a vitallink between language 2. culture.

3. （master） idioms not only enhances language comprehension and fluencybut also 4. （enable） effective communication filled with cultural understanding.Yet， learning idiomatic expressions can be 5. （challenge） for non?native speakers.What can they do？ They can learn idioms by 6. （immerse） themselves in Englishmaterials， such 7. books， movies， and music. Learning idioms in context is key8. understanding their meanings.

In 9. （conclude）， English idioms bring life to the language. Embracing themnot only boosts our language skills but also deepens our understanding of theEnglish?speaking culture. Lets start this enriching journey， 10. （celebrate） thelinguistic and cultural wonders of English idioms.