Passage Two
About three hundred words in the English language come from the names of people. Many of these words are technical words. When there is a new invention of discovery, a new word may be coined after the inventor or scientist.
It is interesting to observe how many common English words have found their way into the language from the names of people. For example, sandwich, you may eat everyday. Lord Sandwich who lived from 1718 to 1792 used to sit at the gambling table eating slices of bread with meat in between. This kind of eating tastes delicious.As the Lord was the only one among his friends who ate bread in that way, his friends began to call thebread-Sandwichfor fun. Later on the word became part of the English language.
The word boycott means to refuse to have anything to do with somebody or something. This word is another example. The word comes from a man called Captain Boycott. He was a land agent in 1880 and he collected rents and taxes for an English landowner in Ireland.But the Captain was a very harsh man. He treated his poor tenants very badly. His tenants decided not to speak to him at all. Eventually word got back to the landowner and the Captain was removed. The word boycott became popular and was used by everyone to mean the kind of treatment that was received by Captain Boycott.
Questions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard.
【大学英语六级考试听力的预测试卷(11)】相关文章:
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