王文琴专八人文知识.docx

1、王文琴专八人文知识精编英语专业八级人文知识主编 ： 王文琴 世界图书出版公司出版 A1. ABC (abb.) American Broadcasting Company; Associated British Cinema.2. Abilene A town of Kansas, USA. It was a railway terminus and lawless town until order was introduced by Marshal Wild Bill Hickok in 1871. There is an Eisenhower museum.3. Abolitionists

2、 (US hist.) Those who opposed slavery between 1830 and 1860-in the years leading up to the Civil War .4. A bomb Atomic bomb.5. Abortion The death or killing of the fetus before birth. Abortion has been legal in GB (Great Britain) since 1968, in certain circumstances. In the US the laws concerning ab

3、ortion vary from state to state. Since 1967 nine states have made abortion legal.6. Abstract Expressionism A movement in art that began in New York in the 1940s and dominated American painting in the 1950s. Abstract expressionism grew out of surrealism; the most important single figure in its develo

4、pment was Arshile Gorky. Other leading figures in the movement were Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and the German-American painter Hans Hoffman.7. Acronym A combination of the initials of several words: e. g. WTO, from World Trade Organization.8. Adams, John (1735-1826) Second President of the

5、 USA (1797-1801). He was born at Quincy, Massachusetts. He was one of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.9. A.D. Latin: Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord, i. e. after Christ.10. AEC (abb.) (US) Atomic Energy Commission.11. Agincourt, Battle of a battle fought in 1415 between the Fre

6、nch and the English, during the Hundred Years War. It was a famous victory for the English, under Henry V.12. Air Force (GB) The Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 by merging the Royal Flying Corps (1912) and the Royal Naval Air Service. During the First World War aircraft were used first only for r

7、econnaissance; then air fighting developed. During the Second World War the R.A.F. played a very vital part, defeating the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. (US) The US was the first country to practice any form of war from the air; balloons were used in the American Civil War. During the F

8、irst World War, the US air force was very small. During the Second World War and after it, US air strength and aircraft production increased greatly, the US built up a strategic air-force. US strategic air command keeps up a 24 hour a day patrol of bombers armed with nuclear weapons.13. Air Transpor

9、t (GB) The first flight across the Atlantic was made by two Englishmen, John Alcock and Arthur W. Brown, in 1919. In 1924 Imperial Airways was established, it Was replaced by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), and in 1946 British European Airways (BEA) was founded. These are now combined a

10、nd known as British Airways, a nationalized public corporation. (US) There are no state airlines in the USA, but some of the private ones are very large, e.g. Trans-World Airlines (TWA) and Pan-American Airways (Pan-Am).14. Alabama A state of the USA, in the Deep South, known as the cotton state. Th

11、e capital is Montgomery and the largest city is Birmingham. The state is mainly agricultural. During the 1950s and 60s Alabama was the scene of conflict over civil rights and integration.15. Alamein, Battle of one of the most important battle of the Second World War. It was fought in October-Novembe

12、r 1942, in the Western Desert of North Africa. The British 8th Army, under General Montgomery, defeated the Germans and Italians under Rommel.16. Alaska A state of the USA, in the extreme north-west of the continent, geographically separate from the rest of the USA. The capital is Juneau. It is the

13、largest of the state but the one with the lowest population. Alaska includes the highest peak in North America, Mt. McKinley (20,320 feet).17. Albee, Edward Franklin (b. 1928) American playwright. His plays include The Zoo Story, Whos Afraid of Virginia Wool f and Tiny Alice. He won a Pulitzer Prize

14、 in 1967 for A Delicate Balance and in 1975 for Seascape.18. Albert Hall A concert hall in Kensington, London, built in 1867-1871, in memory of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. It is the home of the Promenade Concerts, and many other forms of entertainment.19. Alfred the Great (c. 848-c

15、. 900) English king. He forced the Danes out of Wesses and made peace with them in 878 (the peace of Wedmore). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun during his reign. He strengthened government, law and education.20. Allies, the 23 countries that were allied against the Central Powers in the First Wor

16、ld War, including the British Empire, France, Italy, Russia and the USA; the 49 countries that were allied against the Axis in the Second World War, including Belgium, China, Denmark, France, GB and the Commonwealth, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, the YSA, the USSR, Yugoslavia.21. Allophone Distin

17、ct variants of a phoneme.22. A.M. (abb.) Ante meridiem, before noon. 23. American Independence, War of (1775 - 1783) (US: The Revolutionary War) The struggle of the thirteen British colonies in North America for independence, which ended in the forming of the USA. The main causes of the war were tax

18、es imposed by the British government. The colonies rebelled in 1775, the first shots were fired at Lexington, and the first battle was fought at Bunker Hill. The Continental Congress appointed General Washington as leader of its forces, and issued the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. The

19、war was ended by the Treaty of Paris, 1783, which recognized the independence of the USA.24. Anderson, Sherwood (1876-1941) American writer. He became well-known with the volumes of short stories Winesburg, Ohio (1919) and The Triumph of the Egg (1921). He deals with the difficulty of natural behavi

20、or in an industrial society.25. Anglican Communion A body of churches that includes the Church of England and other churches that hold essentially the same beliefs. Altogether the Anglican Communion includes 540 dioceses, representing over 73 million members.26. Anglo-Saxons The Germanic tribes who

21、conquered Britain between the 5th and 7th centuries, The English-speaking people in general are sometimes called Anglo-Saxons (wrongly), and the name is also given to the Old English Language. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: (c. 891-c. 1154) is a series of national histories begun under King Alfred.27. A

22、nne (1665-1714) Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, the main events of her reign were the Act of Union with Scotland in 1707 and the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713). Annes reign is remembered as a time of fierce struggles between the political parties.28. Antonymy The oppositeness of meani

23、ng between words, e.g. tall and short. There are several types of lexical opposites: gradable opposites, complementarity and relational opposites. Gradable opposites involve some kind of degree in relationship. e.g. between large and small. Mutually exclusive words are called ungradable opposites, t

24、hat is, complementarity. e.g. between female and male. Relational opposites denote the reversal of a relationship. E.g. between buy and sell .29. Appalachian Mountains A general name for the mountain system of eastern North America, stretching nearly 1,500 miles, from Quebec province, Canada, to Ala

25、bama.30. Applied linguistics the application of linguistics. Often it refers to the application of findings in linguistics to education, especially to teaching English as a foreign or second language.31. Arbitrariness There is no natural relationship between the acoustic image and the concept of the

26、 word. Take the word table for example. There is no reason to explain why the concept of table should be represented by the sound of the word table.32. Archery The use of the bow and arrow in war or sport. During the Middle Ages English archers won a high reputation, especially by their use of the l

27、ong-bow at the battle of Agincourt.33. Aristocracy (GB) The term that is used to describe a group of people with inherited titles of nobility. The British titles of hereditary nobility are, in order of rank: Duke, Duchess; Marques, Marchioness; Earl, Countess; Viscount, Viscountess; Baron, Baroness.

28、 The people holding these titles are called peers or peeresses. The British aristocracy is still a living thing, but it has on the whole lost its political importance.34. Aristotle (384-322BC) Greek philosopher. An important linguist in the early history of western linguistics . He made great contri

29、butions to logic, rhetoric, and poetics. Many of the terms later used in grammar originated from Aristotles work.35. Arizona A state of the south-west USA. The capital is Phoenix. Arizona contains the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, and the Painted Desert.36. Arkansas A state of the southern cen

30、tral USA. The capital is Little Rock. The state is largely agricultural, the main crops are cotton, rice and soya beans.37. Armstrong, Louis (1900-1971) American jazz musician; he was a trumpet-prayer. His early trumpet solos, with the King Oliver band and with his own Hot Five, changed the characte

31、r of jazz.38. Arthur Legendary British king in the wars against the Saxons (c. 6th century), Arthur is the hero of many stories that describe his Round Table, his knights and their search for the Holy Grail etc.39. Ashmolean Museum A museum in Oxford, England, formed in 1683, and based on the collec

32、tion of the antiquary Elias Ashmole (1617-1692). It was the worlds first public museum.40. Associative relation Saussures term for the relation between phonemes or words that can be replaced at the same position. E.g. shop and theater in the sentence I came to the shop. Shop can be replaced by other units like theatre.41. Astronomer Royal The title of the astronomer in charge of the Royal Observatory in England. The Royal Observatory was at Greenwich from 1675 to 1958, when it was moved to Herstmonceux, Sussex.42. Athletics In GB the term athletics covers, only track and field