Question

Several days ago,，1 went to my aunt’s home and saw my cousin who is studying English linguistics in a university． He showed me his learning materials．H ere are two pages of t

Now I know at some point in history, the meanings of some common words that we see every day meant something much different. The English language is developing all the time.

Nice

Generally speaking, the word “nice” is quite an expression of praise. However, back in the late 12^th century, if someone said you were “nice”, it was far from saying good words about you.

Very long ago, “nice” was used to mean “foolish” and “stupid”. That sounds more like the kind of words that would start a fight, not put a smile on someone’s face. Later on in the 13^th century, ‘nice” came to mean “shy and nervous”. During the 14^th century, it even meant “being careful”. But finally in the 18^th century, it changed to the kinder meaning we know today, and ever since then, people have been using it in a lovable way.

Sad

All of us get sad from time to time. It’s a usual part of life. A loved one passes away. We expect too much progress in an exam. Or the store is out of our favourite drink. These are all things that can make us sad.

However, once upon a time, “sad” had a very different meaning. Back in the 14^th century, it was the perfect word if you had eaten too much food at dinner.

Through the years, the meaning of “sad” changed to “heavy” and then “tired”. Interestingly, when “sad”  took on its present meaning, it was actually used instead of “unrot”, an old English word that was the opposite of “rot” that meant “cheerful” or “glad”. 

1.When did "nice" come to mean "shy and nervous"?

A. In the late 12th century.      B. In the 13th century.

C. During the 14th century.     D. In the 18th century.

2.The underlined word "these" refers to指代) the following except that________.

A. a loved one passes away

B. we expect too much progress in an exam

C. the store is out of our favourite drink

D. we have eaten too much food at dinner

3. The purpose of the passage is to tell us        .

A. the meanings of all words are different at some point in history

B. my cousin learns English well because of his learning materials

C. we should know about all the different meanings of words in history

D. the meanings of some words are changing because language is developing

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.D

【解析】

试题分析：这篇短文主要介绍了作者在看望在大学学习英语语言的表哥时，表哥让他读了一些学习资料。他从中学习到我们现在日常常用的普通单词在历史上有非常不同的意思，英语语言一直在发展变化。

1.B 细节理解题。根据nice页中描述，可知是在十三世纪nice逐渐意味‘害羞和紧张’故选B。

2.D细节理解题。根据短文可知these指代上文提到的内容，而we have eaten too much food at dinner是十四世纪表达的意思，故选D。

3.

考点：文化类短文阅读。