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  3. The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its America

The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its America

游客2024-10-09  20
问题    The English language exists in a condition of everlasting danger, its American branch most particularly, assaulted as it is from all sides by those who would reduce it to puzzling and obscure jargon, pop-psychological nonsense and vague beautified words, but it is not without its defenders. Ken Smith, author of Junk English, is the leading figure. He begins with a brief and clear declaration:
     "Junk English is much more than loose and casual grammar. It is a signal of human weaknesses and cultural license: abandoning the language of the educated yet giving birth to its own self-glorifying words and phrases, favoring appearance over substance, broadness over precision, and loudness above all. It is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on ourselves to make the unremarkable seem important. Its scope has been widened by politicians, business executives, and the PR and advertising industries in their employ, who use it to spread fog before facts they would rather keep hidden. The result is... a world of humbug in which the more we read and hear, the less we know."
     Smith is, of course, saying something not true—it is difficult to imagine that Junk English will be noticed, much less read, by those who most could profit from it—but it is an instructive and entertaining instructions and explanation all the same. He tries his hands at all the right places—jargon, cliches, euphemisms, and exaggeration—but he doesn’t swing blindly. "Although jargon often sounds ugly to outsiders, it speeds communication within the community that uses it"—and that "clich6s, though popular objects of scorn, are useful when they most compactly express an idea; deliberate avoidance of an appropriate cliche sometimes produces even worse writing."
     In other words, Smith may be passionate but he’s also sensible. In a section about "free-for-all verbs," for example, he acknowledges that "There is no law against inventing one’s own verbs" before citing a few funny instances of what happens when "Things get a little out of hand," i.e. "We’re efforting to work this out" or "She tried to guilt him into returning the money." In the end, though, being sensible about language is in essence trying to insist that words mean what they properly mean and are used accordingly. Thus, for example, Smith insists that "dialogue" and "discussion" are not synonyms and should not be used interchangeably; that "complimentary" does not mean "free"; that "experience" does not mean "feel"; that "facilitate" does not mean "ease"; that "generate" does not mean "produce"; that "lifestyle" does not mean "life".
     Smith obviously has spent a lot of time making notes about the ways in which we min and abuse our language, with results that are impressive in their thoroughness and depressing in their going to far. Occasionally he overlooks the obvious—among euphemisms he mentions "customer care representative" but not "courtesy call," and among the previously mentioned palsy-walsy language he inexplicably overlooks "Your call is important to us"—but then, as he says at the outset, he intended to write a short book and as a result had to leave out many misdeeds. The ones he includes more than do the job. [br] What is meant by "he doesn’t swing blindly" (Line 4, Paragraph 3)?
选项 A、Ken Smith provides sufficient examples for his criticism.
B、Ken Smith hits junk English in the right point.
C、Ken Smith acknowledges some positive side to junk English.
D、Ken Smith bravely defends jargon, cliches, euphemism and exaggeration.
答案 C
解析 推断题。文章第三段第三句说Smith对行话、陈词滥调、委婉语和夸张等垃圾英语进行抨击，但是紧接着第四句话又说“jargon... speeds communication...”，“cliches... are useful”，所以这种抨击不是盲目的，因为垃圾英语有其合理的地方：可以加快交流，避免繁琐和不便等，C 正合题意。选项A 偏离题意，不在于论据多少；选项D 矫枉过正，为垃圾英语勇敢辩护不是Smith的本意，只是他没有一刀切而已；选项B 是干扰项，hits in the right point正好跟not swing blindly对应，但是在这里文章意思并不是说他正击中要害、一针见血。
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