Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.
Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena.”The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.
Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs ,which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”, In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.
57.The author mentions Dr.Johnson’s comment to show that________.
【2016届高考英语冲刺卷:07(浙江卷)(原卷版)】相关文章:
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(9)附答案
★ 四川省2016届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(36) Module 6 War and Peacel 外研版选修6
★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮(精品)训练题(8)附答案
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(8)附答案
最新
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-21
2017-04-21