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1、identity?Onlytimewilltell. STANDARDENGLISHANDDIALECTS WhatisstandardEnglish?IsitspokeninBritain,theUS,Canada,Australia,IndiaandNewZealand?Believeitornot,thereisnosuchthingasstandardEnglish.ManypeoplebelievetheEnglishspokenonTVandtheradioisstandardEnglish.Thisi
2、sbecauseintheearlydaysofradio,thosewhoreportedthenewswereexpectedtospeakexcellentEnglish.However,onTVandtheradioyouwillheardifferencesinthewaypeoplespeak. Whenpeopleusewordsandexpressionsdifferentfromthe“standardlanguage”,itiscalledadialect.AmericanEnglishhasman
3、ydialects,especiallytheMidwestern,southern,AfricanAmericanandSpanishdialects.EveninsomepartsoftheUSA,twopeoplefromneighbouringtownsspeakalittledifferently.AmericanEnglishhassomanydialectsbecausepeoplehavecomefromallovertheworld. Geographyalsoplaysapartinmakingdi
4、alects.SomepeoplewholiveinthemountainsoftheeasternUSAspeakwithanolderkindofEnglishdialect.WhenAmericansmovedfromoneplacetoanother,theytooktheirdialectswiththem.SopeoplefromthemountainsinthesoutheasternUSAspeakwithalmostthesamedialectsaspeopleinthenorthwesternUSA
5、.TheUSAisalargecountryinwhichmanydifferentdialectsarespoken.AlthoughmanyAmericansmovealot,theystillrecognizeandunderstandeachother’sdialects. THEOXFORDENGLISHDICTIONARY YoumaythinkthatEnglishdictionarieshavebeenusedformany,manycenturies.ThespellingofEnglishhas
6、alwaysbeenaproblembutitwasmoreofaprobleminthedaysbeforeadictionary.Thenpeoplecouldspellwordindifferentwayswhichyoumightfinditinteresting.ButitmadereadingEnglishmuchmoredifficult.Sodictionarieswereinventedtoencourageeverybodytospellthesame.Infact,anEnglishdiction
7、arylikethekindyouusetodaywasn’tmadeuntilthetimeofthelateQingDynasty.Theremendidmostoftheimportantearlyworkondictionaries:SamuelJohnson,NoahWebster,andJamesMurray.Thesemenspentnearlyalloftheirlivestryingtocollectwordsfortheirdictionaries.Forthem,itwasn’tonlyajob;
8、itwasawonderfuljourneyofdiscovery.ThelargestdictionaryintheworldistheOxfordEnglishDictionary,orOEDforshort.TheideaforthisdictionarycamefromanimportantmeetinginBritain