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1、TheHall-MarksofAmerican美国的特点ByH.L.MenckenH．L．门肯ThecharacterschieflynotedinAmericanEnglishbyallwhohavediscusseditare,first,itsgeneraluniformitythroughoutthecountry;second,itsimpatientdisregardforgrammatical,syntactical,andphonologicalruleandprecedent;andthird,itslargecapac
2、ity(distinctlygreaterthanthatoftheEnglishofpresent-dayEngland)fortakinginnewwordsandphrasesfromoutsidesources,andformanufacturingthemofitsownmaterial.所谓的特点主要是指大家所谈论的美式英语。首先是它全国通用，差别不大。其次是它不注重语法，句法和音韵规则及过去的成例。第三，它大量地（明显的大于当下英语的数量）采用外来的新词和短语，并且把它们变成自己的语言。Thefirstofthesechar
3、actershasstruckeveryobserver,nativeandforeign.Inplaceofthediscordantlocaldialectsofalltheothermajorcountries,includingEngland,wehaveageneralVolksspracheforthewholenation,andifitisconditionedatallitisonlybyminordifferencesinpronunciationandvocabulary,andbythelinguisticstru
4、gglesofvariousgroupsofnewcomers.Noothercountrycanshowsuchlinguisticsolidarity,noranyapproachtoit—notevenCanada,fortherealargeminorityofthepopulationresistsspeakingEnglishaltogether.TheLittleRussianoftheUkraineisunintelligibletothecitizenofMoscow;thenorthernItaliancanscarc
5、elyfollowaconversationinSicilian;theLowGermanfromHamburgisaforeignerinMunich;theBretonfloundersinGascony.EvenintheUnitedKingdomtherearewidedivergences.‘Whenweremember’,saystheNewInternationalEncyclopedia,‘thatthedialectsofthecountiesinEnglandhavemarkeddifferences—somarked
6、,indeed,thatitmaybedoubtedwhetheraLancashireminerandaLincolnshirefarmercouldunderstandeachother—wemaywellbeproudthatourvastcountryhas,strictlyspeaking,onlyonelanguage.’Therearesomeregionalpeculiaritiesinpronunciationandintonation,butwhenitcomestothewordstheyhabituallyusea
7、ndthewaytheyusethemallAmericans,eventhelesstutored,followprettymuchthesameline.ABostontaxi-drivercouldgotoworkinChicagoorSanFranciscowithoutrunninganyriskofmisunderstandinghisnewfares.Oncehehadflattenedhisa’sabitandpickedupafewdozenlocalisms,hewouldbe,toalllinguisticinten
8、tsandpurposes,fullnaturalized.这些特性中的第一个特性就已让国内的和国外的所有观察者都受到震撼。其它的说英语的主要国家，包括英国，都有很多的地区方言，而我们整个国家
