Although English is not as old as Chinese , it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words and we are often able to know where most words come from.
Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They didn’t speak good English, but they ate good food. When some Americans saw them eating round piece of beef, they asked the Germans what it was. The Germans didn’t understand the question and answered, “We come from Hamburg.” One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea. He cooked some round piece of bread and started selling them. Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”. Today, “hamburgers” are sold in many countries around the world.
Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary.
小题1:Hamburg is ____________
| A．a kind of food | B．a round piece of beef |
| C．the name of a village | D．a city in Germany |
小题2:According to the passage, ___________.
| A．few Americans like hamburgers |
| B．hamburgers are made with beef |
| C．hamburgers are made with ham |
| D．hamburgers were first sold about a century ago |
小题3:According to the writer, which of the following can often be found in any large English dictionary?
| A．Where all the new words come from. |
| B．Where those Germans came from. |
| C．The reason why a word has a certain meaning. |
| D．The reason why English is spoken around the world. |
小题4:From the story, we can know that the word “hamburger” comes from ___________.
| A．China because it has a long history |
| B．English because Germans don’t speak good English |
| C．The round piece of beef which those people from Hamburg were eating |
| D．English speakers because they always create new words |
