Reading II

Standard English and Dialects

1.Find out the topic sentence of each paragraph.

Para 1: There is no such thing as standard English.

Para 2: American English has so many dialects because people have come from all over the world.

Para 3: Geography also plays a part in making dialects.

Standard English andDialects

1. Read the passage carefully and do the following exercises. 1. Standard English is spoken _____. A.in Britain B.in America

C.in the city D.in no place 2. As many Americans move a lot, they ___. A.change their dialects B.take their dialects with them C.don’t speak their dialects D.don’t recognize each other’s dialects

1. What is standard English in many people’s opinion?

Many people believe the English spoken on TV and the radio is standard English.

2. What is called dialects? When people use words and expressions different f

rom the “standard English”, it is called dialects. 3. Why does American English have so many dialec

ts? 1)Because people have come from all over the worl

d. 2)Geography also plays a part in making dialects.

A Dialect in the USA 1.Read the passage quickly and answer the

se questions: Where is the dialect spoken? What is the story about? 2. Look at Ex.3. Now listen to the tape and r

ead the passage again. Then do the Ex.3.

Hello, everyone, I am Buford’s teacher, Jane, from Britain. Perhaps you didn’t quite understand everything Buford said. He said that he lives in Houston, a city in Texas. He wants everyone to know that he doesn’t believe Texas is a state in the USA but a different country. Buford says that he would like to tell you a story about him when he was a small child. One hot summer’s day he was swimming with Big Billy Bob and Lester. They were jumping into the water, which felt good. Then he says that they saw a catfish almost the size of a house but, he adds, that the catfish was really smaller. Buford says that Lester thought he was going to be eaten by the catfish. He says, goodness, you should have seen Lester! He says that Lester got out of the water faster than lightning and climbed up a tree. Buford and Big Billy Bob just laughed a lot. To this day, he says, Lester won’t visit that place.

2.Do Ex.4 Answers: 1. He doesn’t believe Texas is a state in the

USA but a different country. 2. He thought that the catfish was almost the

size of a house. 3. He thought that the catfish would eat him. 4. Because Lester got out of the water faster

than lightening and climbed up a tree. Because Lester believed the catfish would

hurt him.

Read the passage “Standard English and Dialects” frequently after class.

Do exercise in P34-42 (优化方案 ).