英语听力精选进阶版 11222

Spam 

Professor David Crystal 

Technology always has an influence on language. When printing came 

in, it brought new words into the language. When broadcasting first 

started new words came into the language. And now the internet has 

come along so it’s not surprising that quite a large number of new 

words have come into English vocabulary since, especially the last 10 

years really since the, world wide web came into being. And of course 

if you’ve got emails, and most people have these days, then you will 

have encountered¹ the word 'spam'. 'Spam' flooding your email box 

with ads or other unwanted messages. But why the word 'Spam' for 

this sort of thing? 

Spam was originally a tinned meat back in the 1930s, a brand name for 

a particular kind of cold meat. But it became very fashionable when 

Monty Python, the satirical television comedy series back in the 70s and 

80s, they had a sketch² where just for fun they had spam with every 

item on the restaurant menu - bacon and spam, egg and spam, ham 

and spam, spam and spam. Spam spam spam spam… and they actually 

sang a song about it and it caught on.  

And therefore it became a real part of the language meaning any unwanted material of 

any kind and so when the internet came along it wasn’t surprising really that spam 

became part of that kind of experience. And the evidence that it’s become part of the 

language is not just because of the noun³ 'spam' which you might expect to see in the 

internet context⁴ but because it’s generated⁵ other kinds of linguistic⁶ expression as well.  

You’ve now got verbs based upon it, and adjectives⁷ based upon it. You can now have 

"I’ve been spammed" or "somebody’s spamming me" and the actual people who do the 

work themselves who send all these horrible emails out to everybody so that we’re 

flooded with these things, what are they called? Well there’s a new noun, they’re called 

‘spammers’.  

1 encountered   

adj. 遇到的，遭遇的 动词encounter的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• We encountered a number of difficulties in the first week. 我们在第一周遇到了一些困难。
• The army encountered stiff resistance from rebels in the hills. 部队在山里遭到叛乱者顽强的抵抗。

2 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

3 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

4 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

5 generated   

a.生成的

参考例句：

• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
• It generated much excitement and frenetic activity. 这使人们非常激动并导致了狂热的行动。

6 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

7 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》