1、 in the States chips are very thin and are sold in packets. The British call these crisps. The chips the British know and love are French fries on the other side of the Atlantic.Have or have got?There are a few differences in grammar, too. The British say Have you got.?An American might say My frien
2、d just arrived, but a British person would say My friend has just arrived. Prepositions, too, can be different: compare on the team, on the weekend(American)with in the team, at the weekend(British).The British use prepositions where Americans sometimes omit them(Ill see you Monday Write me soon)Col
3、our or colour?The other two areas in which the two varieties differ are spelling and pronunciation. American spelling seems simpler: center, color and program instead of centre, colour and programme. Many factors have influenced American pronunciation since the first settlers arrived four hundred ye
4、ars ago. The accent, which is most similar to British English, can be heard on the East Coast of the US. When the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw made the famous remark that the British and the Americans are two nations divided by a common language, he was obviously thinking about the differences.
5、But are they really so important? After all, there is probably as much variation of pronunciation within the two countries as between them. A Londoner has more difficulty understanding a Scotsman from Glasgow than understanding a New Yorker.Turn on the TVSome experts believe that the two varieties a
6、re moving closer together .For more than a century communications across the Altantic have developed steadily. Since the 1980s,with satellite TV and the Internet, it has been possible to listen to British and American English at the flick of a switch. This non-stop communication, the experts think,
7、has made it easier for British people and Americans to understand each other. But it has also led to lots of American words and structures passing into British English so that some people believe that British English will disappear.However, if you turn on CNN, the American TV network, you find newsr
8、eaders and weather forecasters all speaking with different accents-American, British, Australian, and even Spanish. One of the best -known faces, Monita Rajpal, was born in Hong Kong, China, and grew up speaking Chinese and Punjabi, as well as English.This international dimension suggests that in th
9、e future, there are going to be many Englishes not just two main varieties. But the message is Dont worry. Users of English will all be able to understand each other -wherever they are.必修五 Module 2The Human Traffic Signal At 3500meters,La Paz, in Bolivia, is the highest capital in the world. Life is
10、 hard at high altitude, and the mountains make communications difficult. Many roads are in bad condition and accidents are frequent. One road in particular, which goes north from La Paz, is considered the most dangerous road in the world. On one side the mountains rise steeply: on the other side the
11、re is a sheer drop, which in places is hundreds of metres deep. Although there is not a lot of traffic, on average, one vehicle comes off the road every two weeks. The drop is so great that anyone inside the vehicle is lucky to survive. In theory, the road can only be used by traffic going uphill fr
12、om 8 in the morning ,and by traffic coming downhill from 3 in the afternoon. But in practice, few drivers respect the rules. But thanks to one man, the death toll has fallen. Timoteo Apaza is a gentle 46-year-old man who lives in a village near the most dangerous part of the road, known locally as l
13、a curva del diablo(the Devils Bend).Timoteo has an unusual job-he is a human traffic signal. Every morning he climbs up to the bend with a large circular board in his hand. The board is red on one side and green on the other. Timoteo stands onthe bend and directs the traffic. When two vehicles appro
14、ach from opposite directions they cant see each other, but they can see Timoteo. Timoteo is a volunteer. No one asked him to do the job, and no one pays him for it. Sometimes drivers give him a tip, so that he has just enough money to live on. But often they just pass by, taking he human traffic sig
15、nal for granted. So why does he do it? Before he volunteer to direct the traffic, Timoteo had had lots of jobs. He had been a miner and a soldier.Then one day while he was working as a lorry driver he had a close encounter with death. He was driving a lorry load of bannanas when he came off the road
16、 at abend and fell three hundred metres down the mountain. Somehow he survived. He was in hospital for months. Then, a few years later, he was called out in the night to help pull people out of a bus which had crashed at la curva del diablo. This last experience had a profound effect on Timoteo. He
17、realised that he was lucky to be alive himself, and felt that it was his mission in life to help others. And so every morning, week in, week out, from dawn to dusk, Timoteo takes up his place on the bend and directs the traffic.必修五 Module 3 the steamboat There was a big storm after midnight and the
18、rain poured down. We stayed inside the shelter we had built and let the raft sail down the river.Suddenly, by the light of the lightning, we saw something in the middle of the river. It looked like a house at first, but then we realized it was a steamboat. It had hit a rock and was half in and half
19、out of the water. We were sailing straight towards it. It looks as if itll go under soon, Jim said, after a couple of minutes.Lets go and take a look, I said.I dont want to board a sinking ship, said Jim, but when I suggested that we might find something useful on the boat, he agreed to go. So we pa
20、ddled over and climbed on to the steamboat, keeping as quiet as mice. To our astonishment, there was a light in one of the cabins. Then we heard someone shout, Oh please boys, dont kill me! I wont tell anybody!A mans angry voice answered, Youre lying. You said that last time. Were going to kill you.
21、When he heard these words, Jim panicked and ran to the raft. But although I was frightened, I also felt very curious, so I put my head roundthe door. it was quite dark, but I could see a man lying on the floor, tied up with rope. There were two men standing over him. One was short, with a beard. The
22、 other was tall and had something in his hand that looked like a gun.Ive had enough of you. Im going to shoot you now, this man said. He was obviously the one who had threatened the man on the floor. And it was a gun he had in his hand.No, dont do that, said the short man. s leave him here. The stea
23、mboat will sink in a couple of hours and hell go down with it.When he heard that, the frightened man on the floor started crying. Hesounds as if hes going to die of fright!I thought. I have to find a way to save him!I crawled along the deck, found Jim, and told him what I had heard. Wemust find thei
24、r boat and take it away, then theyll have to stay here, I said. Jim looked terrified. m not staying here, he said. But I persuaded himto help me, and we found the mens boat tied to the other side of the steamboat. We climbed quietly in and as we paddled away we heardthe two men shouting. By then we
25、were a safe distance away. But nowI began to feel bad about what we had done. I didnt want all three mento die.必修五 Module 4The Magic of the MaskThink of carnival, and you think of crowds, costumes, and confusion. The sounds and sights change from one country to another but the excitement is the same
26、 everywhere.“Carnival” comes from two Latin words, meaning “no more meat”. In Europe, where it began, carnival was followed by forty days without meat, as people prepared for the Christian festival of Easter. People saw Carnival as a last chance to have fun at the end of the winter season. Having fu
27、n meant eating, drinking, and dressing up. The most famous carnival in Europe was in Venice. At the beginning , it lasted for just one day. People ate, drank, and wore masks. As time passed, however, the carnival period was extended, so that it began just after Christmas. For weeks on end people wal
28、ked round the streets wearing masks, doing what they wanted without being recognised. Ordinary people could pretend to be rich and important, while famous people could have romantic adventures in secret. Many crimes went unpunished.The government realised that wearing masks had become a problem. The
29、ir use was limited by laws, the first of which dates back to the fourteenth century. Men were not allowed to wear masks at night; and they were not allowed to dress up as women. In later times more laws were passed. People who wore masks could not carry firearms; and no one could enter a church wearing a mask. If they broke the laws, they were put into prison for up to two years. Finally, when Venice became part of the Austr
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