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Today, after 1,500 years of promiscuous acquisitiveness, the vocabulary of English is vast. The Oxford English Dictionary lists more than 600,000 words; German has fewer than one third that number, French fewer than one sixth. What makes English mammoth and unique is its great sea of synonyms, words with roughly the same meaning but different connotations, different levels of formality and different effects on the ear. Anglo-Saxon words are blunt, Latin words learned, French words musical. English speakers can calibrate the tone and meter of their prose with great precision. They may end (Anglo-Saxon), finish (French) or conclude (Latin) their remarks. A girl can be fair (Anglo-Saxon), beautiful (French) or attractive (Latin). A bully may evoke/ fear (Anglo-Saxon), terror (French) or trepidation (Latin).
Its depth and precision have helped make English the foremost language of science, diplomacy and international business — and the medium of T-shirts from Tijuana to Timbuktu. It is the native tongue of 350 million people and a second language for 350 million more. Half the books being published in the world are in English: so is 80 percent of the world’s computer text. While Americans debate bilingualism, foreigners learn English. Its popularity is fed by U.S. wealth and power, to be sure. But Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of Language and other books on the peculiarities of English, believes the language’s “internationality” has innate appeal. Not only are English’s grammar and syntax relatively simple, the language’s sound system is flexible and “user friendly” — foreign words tend to be pronounced the same as in their original tongue. “We have the most cheerfully democratic and hospitable language that ever existed,” Lederer says. “Other people recognize their language in ours.”
Read the article to find the derivation of some words. Then complete the chart and give Russian equivalents of all the words in the chart.
| WORDLANGUAGE OF ORIGIN | ||
| raised | ||
| reared | ||
| zoo | ||
| conclude | ||
| boondocks | ||
| skill | ||
| bonanza | ||
| trepidation | ||
| camel | ||
| aphorism | ||
| schlock | ||
| opera | ||
| shampoo | ||
| fear |
III. Лексические упражнения
1.Одним из многочисленных примеров полисемантизма, характерного для английского языка являются слово power, встречающегося в тексте данного занятия. Дайте значение этого слова в зависимости от контекста.
Its popularity is fed by U.S. wealth and power, to be sure.
Определите значение этого слова в зависимости от контекста.
He is a man of considerable powers.
They have no power over me.
The judge exceeded his powers.
This man is a great power for good.
This medicine has done me a power of good.
He was so drunk that he had lost the power of speech.
The party has been in power since independence in 1964.
There is enough power to run up to four lights.
2.Переведите на русский язык предложения содержащие фразеологизмы со словом power.
In response to the anti-monopoly movement of the New period, Congress passed legislation which was supposed to disclose the real powers behind the corporate thrones.
Clyde Mercer was a careerist of a very special kind, a man of altogether priceless value to the powers that be in Canada.
3.Дайте русские эквиваленты сложных слов, в состав которых входит power.
power-boat, power-driven, power-house, power-lathe, power-plant/station.
4. Дайте русские эквиваленты сложных слов, в состав которых входит слово friendly:
user-friendly, reader-friendly, environment-friendly, planet- или earth-friendly.
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