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Unit 10
DIALOGUE I
Lost and Found
A: Hi, Ben.
B: Hi, Tony. I haven't seen you for ages. Where have you been?
A: My wife and I travelled around the world for most of the past year.
B: What a terrific experience! Did you have a good time?
A: Sure. Most of the time, I mean.
B: Did you come upon anything unpleasant?
A: Well, when we first started on our sabbatical trip I'd hoped to fully relax after five years of strenuous work at the university.
B: You deserved it.
A: Yeah, but we only relaxed for two days, then...
B: What happened?
A: On the third day, Fanny and I were walking along an avenue in a Mediterranean metropolis looking at the window display when three young men came sauntering towards us. Suddenly one bumped into me and another tripped on something beside me. And the third stepped on Fanny's toes. Later that day, just when we were about to pay for a set of glassware at a souvenir shop, I found my wallet was gone!
B: Oh, no. The pickpockets got you, to say the least.
A: Believe it or not, we experienced similar tricks in some big cities in other countries, too.
B: I'm sorry to hear that.
A: So when we arrived in China, which was our last stop, we had become extra careful with our possessions.
B: Naturally. I would, too. Did you have any unpleasant experience in China?
A: No, no more of those. On the contrary, things lost were recovered, sort of automatically, too.
B: Tell me about it.
A: The minute we landed in Beijing, we got really excited. We had at last come to the site of the renowned Oriental Dragon, a country with five thousand years of history behind her! In our great excitement, we left a small suitcase in the taxi, but we didn't realize that until we were in our hotel room. My wife was just about to call the receptionist when we heard a knock on the door. It was a travel service man with our precious suitcase in his hand.
B: You were lucky. These days there aren't very many big cities where you can wander about in the streets without worrying about your personal security or possessions. Beijing is perhaps among the few cities where you needn't worry.
A: But we were still a bit on the lookout. It was only after Fanny's purse was returned that we became fully relaxed.
B: What happened this time?
A: We were in the crowded Wangfujing Department Store. Fanny was very happy with three lovely stuffed pandas she'd bought, so happy that she left the cash register without her purse. It had our passports, credit cards and a fairly large sum of cash.
B: What a shame!
A: But the purse was sent to our hotel in almost no time. I mean we got it even before we went back to the hotel. Nothing in it was touched. We learned that a customer found the purse and handed it to the security guard, who in turn gave it to the manager on duty. They found our hotel check-in slip and sent it there through express mail service.
B: You were lucky once again.
A: Yes, we were lucky in a city and a country where the government and the people care about overseas tourists.
DIALOGUE II
Dialogue:
Margaret and Helen meet each other while shopping one day.
M: Hello, Helen. How are you? I haven't seen you for ages.
H: Hello. What a surprise meeting you like this! I'm fine, thanks. And you?
M: Not too bad. But the weather could be better!
H: Yes, isn't it dreadful?
M: How's John these days? Is he better now?
H: Yes, thank you. He's much better now. He came out of hospital last week.
M: Oh, good!
H: And your family? All right?
M: Yes, no problems there. Graham's busy with his exams at the moment.
H: Oh, that's always a terrible time for the whole family, isn't it? Well, I'd better be going, I think. I've got an appointment at the hairdresser's at 3 o'clock.
M: Yes, I must go too. Be seeing you, Helen. Cheerio!
H: Bye!
READING I
The English Language, Part I
Like a living organism, a language has an unbroken history which goes back so far in time that scholars are not able to find its ultimate origin. Every language is part of a specific linguistic family, which in turn is part of a larger linguistic family. People who speak English, for example, are often surprised to learn that it is a member of the Germanic language family and that, ultimately, it is part of a much larger group of languages called the Indo-European family. This latter family is the largest linguistic family on the globe, comprising the chief languages of Europe together with Indo-Iranian and other Asiatic tongues.
Thus, Modern English is distantly related to many languages, among them Russian, Iranian, and Greek. In vocabulary, a large percentage of English words come from French and Latin; English is more closely related in grammar, however, to Dutch, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.
Unfortunately, the fact that one's native language is related to another language doesn't help a great deal when one starts to learn the other language. Even though languages such as English and Dutch are closely related and are quite similar in some respects, still each one actually operates in a system of its own. Each system includes the particular sounds, stresses, and intonation patterns that are used by speakers of that system. Each language has its own strict grammatical rules pertaining to the ways words are formed and put together in sentences. And each language determines the meanings which words may have in given situations.
When one is endeavouring to learn a language, its grammatical rules may seem very strict, but actually the rules do permit slight variations that do not make a great deal of difference in meaning or seriously interfere with the clarity of communication. When variations of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation accumulate through the centuries, however, languages within a single language family become quite different from one another. Such changes also account for the development within a particular language. For instance, if a student were to read or hear the English that was used in the nineteenth century, he would realize that pronunciation and grammar have changed somewhat since that time. He would also note how vocabulary has changed, as well as grown.
READING II
The English Language, Part II
People who have spoken English all their lives are usually surprised to learn that Old English, which was spoken in the British Isles from about 450 to 1100 A. D., is like a foreign language to them. To understand it, they must study it in school, just as they would study Spanish, Latin, or Japanese. Many of the sounds of Old English, as well as the grammar and a great deal of the vocabulary, are different from those of Modern English. The spelling is so different that, without special study, one cannot read the language at all.
The language of Chaucer's time, known as Middle English, is more like Modern English; even so, most people feel at a loss when they first start to read it and find that they need special instruction. The language of Shakespeare's time is sometimes called Early Modern English, but most students of English need some help in order to read Shakespeare's plays intelligently. Shakespeare's vocabulary was large, and the words he used often had different meanings from what they have today. His grammar, too, was different from modern grammar, especially in word order.
Even in Modern English there are variations in usage from place to place. For instance, the English used by an Australian is not exactly like that used by a Canadian. But most educated speakers of English have little trouble communicating with each other, regardless of what part of the world they come from. As was pointed out earlier, there is enough tolerance within any language so that minor variations in pronunciation, grammar, and word usage do not interfere with communication, even though another's use of the language may sometimes seem a little strange. English is not unique in this respect. Every living language grows and changes, losing some sounds, grammatical features, and words, while changing others and adding new ones. Thus, your own language will surely continue to develop in the future. These changes are interesting to observe.
What does make English unique is the unusual increase in the number of people who speak it. As recently as the sixteenth century, English was spoken by as few as three million people, most of whom lived in England. Today, more people speak English than any other single language. It is the mother tongue for well over three hundred million people and the second language for many millions more. Over two hundred million of the native speakers of English live in the United States, but English is the native language of people living all around the globe, with more than fifty million speakers in the British Isles, fifteen million in Canada, twelve million in Australia, and a total of over ten million in New Zealand, South Africa, the Philippines, and other places.
English is the language of one of the greatest bodies of literature in the world. And so much other writing has been done in English that a person who knows this language has a tool with which he can explore every known field of study. Not only has a great body of writing been produced in English, but most of the significant literature and information produced in other languages has been translated into English.
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