首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Allan Metcalf s new book claims that the word "OK" is America’s greatest invention. This offers a pair of provocations. How can
Allan Metcalf s new book claims that the word "OK" is America’s greatest invention. This offers a pair of provocations. How can
admin
2014-01-07
30
问题
Allan Metcalf s new book claims that the word "OK" is America’s greatest invention. This offers a pair of provocations. How can "OK" be an invention? On a certain day, a certain guy just dreamed up the expression that has become the most frequently spoken word on the planet? And even if it is an invention, can one little word really be greater than jazz, baseball, and the telephone? Is it better than The Simpsons?
The answer to the first question, implausible as it sounds, is yes. In OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word, Metcalf locates the first use of OK in an obscure corner of a Boston newspaper on March 23, 1839. As for the alleged greatness of the word, Metcalf s slim volume doesn’t entirely persuade you that OK is a more valuable invention than, say, electric light. But the fact that he even raises the question is intriguing. If it does nothing else, Metcalf makes you acutely aware of how universal and vital the word has become.
True story: the world’s most popular word began as a joke. In the late 1830s, America’s newspapers had great enthusiasm for abbreviations—also, to judge by Metcalf s account, a sorry sense of humor. He devotes a chapter to trying to explain why readers of the Boston Morning Post might have been amused to see "o. k." used as a jokey abbreviation for "oll korrect," an intentional misspelling of "all correct." Apparently you had to be there. But the word soon got an enormous boost from Andrew Jackson—or his enemies, anyway. They circulated the rumor that the man of the people was barely literate and approved papers with the initials "O. K." for "oll korrect." It was a joke, Metcalf concludes, "but without it there’d be no OK."
The word didn’t remain a joke for long. Telegraph operators began using it as a way to say "all clear." It became ubiquitous, turning up in all corners of the world, and beyond. Metcalf points out that OK was technically the first word spoken on the surface of the moon.
When you pause to consider what a weird and wonderful little word OK is, the most remarkable thing isn’t that it’s so great or that it was invented but that it’s American. To foreigners in the 20th century, Metcalf writes, the word embodied "American simplicity, pragmatism, and optimism." To us today, the word sums up "a whole two-letter American philosophy of tolerance, even admiration for difference."
How was "OK" created?
选项
A、It was created to shorten a word.
B、It was created by mistake.
C、It was created to play a joke on a reporter.
D、It was created to convey a sense of humor.
答案
D
解析
第3段第1句中的joke和第3句中的jokey,都表明OK是源于一个玩笑,且该段第2句指出这体现了a sorry sense of humor,故D与文意最相符。OK这个词的出现包含了“缩写”和“幽默”这两个要素,主要是后者,且OK也并不是一个单词的缩写,故A不正确;根据第3段第3句末的intentionalmisspelling可排除B;C中的a joke on a reporter缺乏原文依据。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/sGmMFFFM
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
InwhatrespectistheUnitedStatesveryfortunate?
InwhatrespectistheUnitedStatesveryfortunate?
HappyFourthofJuly!MostpeopleareprobablyawareofthesignificanceofJuly4toAmericans./Theymightnothowever,b
InAmerica,thetraditionaltimeforgraduationsis______.
MartinLutherKingIntheyearssincehisdeath,DoctorKinghasoftenbeencalledoneofthemosthonoredAmericansinhist
Whydoesthemanmentionthatheisanewstudentattheschool?
Whilethoseearningmaster’s,doctoral,orprofessionaldegreesstillearnmoreduringtheircareersthanthosewithlesseducat
BilingualeducationiscontroversialintheUnitedStates.【C1】______,agrowingbodyofresearchshowsthat【C2】______speakingtw
Whatisthemainsubjectofthedebate?
Whichofthefollowingitalicizedpartsisasubjectclause?
随机试题
WindowsServer2003内核的一个重要功能是将________和处理机体系结构的差异隔离开。
进行报价解释时必须遵循的原则有()
Ontheboy’sface,therewasasweetsmile,whichsuggestedthathe______happytogivehislifeforhiscountry.
以下对紫外线最敏感的部位是
骨髓涂片细胞学检查的内容中,不正确的是
简易程序
下列说法错误的有()
某法院对儿子不给父母赡养费的案件,采取了卫星定位的方法来强制执行。你是怎么看的?
现有K个人在某大楼的一层进入电梯,该楼共n+1层.电梯在任一层时若无人下电梯则电梯不停(以后均无人再人电梯).现已知每个人在任何一层(当然不包括第一层)下电梯是等可能的且相互独立,求电梯停止次数的平均值.
Teachersneedtobeawareoftheemotional,intellectual,andphysicalchangesthatyoungadultsexperience.Andtheyalsoneed
最新回复
(
0
)