发信人: oceann (dany), 信区: English
标 题: [好文共赏]Why English is so difficult to learn?(�
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (Sun Aug 3 21:52:50 2003)
This article have been circulating via e-mail for more than a year. The author
is unknown.
• The bandage was wound around the wound.
• The farm was used to produce produce.
• The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
• The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
• Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
• When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
• I did not object to the object.
• The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
• There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
• They were too close to the door to close it.
• A seamstress and a sewer fell into a sewer.
• The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
• After a number of injections my jaw got number.
• Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
• I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
• How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant
nor ham in hamburger; and neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins
weren’t invented in England or French fries in France.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t g
roce and hammers don’t ham? If teachers taught, why don’t preachers praught?
And if Dad is Pop, how come Mom isn’t Mop?
The plural of box is boxes, but the plural of ox is oxen not oxes. One fow
l is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never b
e meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of h
ouse is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always men, why shouldn’t the plural of pan be pe
n? If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a
pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn’
t the plural of booth be beeth?
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we n
ever say methren. If the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, why aren’t t
he feminine she, shis and shim?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that yo
u can comb through annals of history but not a single annal?
Sometimes, I think all English speakers should be committed to an asylum f
or the verbally insane. What other reason could there be for saying that peopl
e recite at a play and play at a recital? Or ship cargo by truck and send carg
o by ship? Or have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a
wise guy opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a
lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and
cold as hell another?
Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Or met a sung h
ero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combo
bulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who are in
deed spring chickens or who would actually hurt a fly?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house
can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out an
d in which an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not
computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course,
isn’t a race at all).
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights
are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, bu
t when I wind up this essay, I end it.
--
好想振作一点点，真的好想
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