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There are hundreds of funny and strange expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or nationalities. Take these examples:
The Dutch（丹麥人）are the target of most English expressions about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English? And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word. So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used expression. This means not being able to believe something.
An expression with a similar meaning to double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the expression is actually hundreds of years older.
If you take French leave, you are not present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.
There are Chinese whispers, which mean confused（令人困惑的）messages. This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.
Many people find English expressions confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun finding out many more funny English expressions.
【小題1】Are there many jokes about the Dutch in English?
【小題2】When did Dutch become a bad word?
【小題3】What does “French leave” mean?
【小題4】Which three expressions mentioned above have similar meanings?
【小題5】What do the funny and strange expressions in the passage have in common?

Australia has an unusual kangaroo—although he is a pet, he lives like a man. He is dressed in clothes, likes watching TV and drinking, also eats bread, plays football and does some exercise.
His name is Bi Muer. Months ago, a 50-year-old woman, Julia Bradley adopted (收養) him. He now lives a happy life. Every morning, he can enjoy delicious bread and later watch TV with his "mom". In the afternoon, he can go to the garden and play football and in the evening, he can drink while watching TV.
In the beginning, Muer was only 20cm tall, but now, he can easily jump over a one-meter fence.
【小題1】The kangaroo likes______________.
A. watching TV and drinking B. seeing a movie   C. playing basketball
【小題2】Who adopted the kangaroo?
A. Bi Muer. B. Julia Bradly.    C. Bill Smith.
【小題3】What can the kangaroo do every morning?
A. Drink.   B. Go to the garden.
C. Enjoy delicious bread and watch TV.
【小題4】How tall was the kangaroo in the beginning?
A. 10cm.    B. 20cm.    C. 30cm.
【小題5】The passage is mainly about    .
A. An unusual kangaroo  B. An Australia woman
C. A kangaroo' s hobbies

There are hundreds of funny and strange expressions in the English language. A lot of them include country names or nationalities. Take these examples:

The Dutch（丹麥人）are the target of most English expressions about nationalities. Why are there so many jokes about the Dutch in English? And what do these expressions mean? In the 17th and early 18th centuries, there were three wars between the British and the Dutch, and Dutch became a bad word. So double Dutch means something that has no meaning or is impossible to understand. A Dutch uncle is someone who gives much stronger advice than they need to. There are later expressions, which are funnier and kinder, like to go Dutch, which is nowadays a popular expression. It means to pay for your part of a bill. This often happens when a group of friends have a meal together, and each person pays for the food they ate. I’m a Dutchman is another commonly used expression. This means not being able to believe something.

An expression with a similar meaning to double Dutch is it’s all Greek to me, which means I don’t understand. The expression was made famous in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar although the expression is actually hundreds of years older.

If you take French leave, you are not present or leave somewhere without permission. For example, you could take French leave from a classroom or the place where you work. This expression is from the 18th century when French people left parties without saying goodbye to the host or hostess.

There are Chinese whispers, which mean confused（令人困惑的）messages. This describes the fact that a message can often change as it is passed from person to person. This expression comes from the First World War when foreigners were often confused by Chinese language.

Many people find English expressions confusing, but now that you know about some of them, you can easily have fun finding out many more funny English expressions.

1.Are there many jokes about the Dutch in English?

2.When did Dutch become a bad word?

3.What does “French leave” mean?

4.Which three expressions mentioned above have similar meanings?

5.What do the funny and strange expressions in the passage have in common?

“How many common English words were invented by Shakespeare?”

How long did it take people to find the answer to this question 15 years ago? And now! You can google it and find the answer immediately!

Google is the most popular Internet search engine（搜索引擎）in the world. It was invented by two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met in 1993, when they were studying computer science at Stanford University, USA. They dreamed of producing something that could also answer any question in seconds.

Internet search engines at that time were slow and gave many websites that weren’t useful. In January 1996, Page and Brin decided to make a better and faster search engine. They thought the results should be based on the most popular websites.

Nobody would give them money for their project, so they used their own money. They also borrowed money from family and friends. Then, in 1998, they were given a cheque for $100,000, and they started their own company(公司). Their first office was in a friend’s garage(車庫).The company name is Google, a word which comes from mathematics. A “google” is a very high number — 1 followed by a hundred zeros.

The Google search engine was soon used by thousands of people worldwide because it was fast, easy and correct. By 2002 it was the biggest search engine on the Internet. Now, more questions have been answered by Google than any other Internet service, from sport to science, and from music to medicine. Google hopes that in the future all the world’s information will be put on the Internet, so that everybody can find everything.

1.Why did the writer begin this passage by asking you a question?

A．Because he or she liked to begin this passage by asking readers a question.

B．Because he or she was afraid that the readers didn’t know this question.

C．Because he or she wanted to make the readers interested in this passage.

D．Because Shakespeare is one of the most famous people in the world.

2.The underlined word “cheque” in the fifth paragraph means _______.

A．樓房             B．賬單             C．訂單             D．支票

3.From the passage we know that at the beginning of their project, _______.

A．there was not any search engine on the Internet

B．nobody supported them except their family and friends

C．Larry Page and Sergey Brin dreamed to answer any question

D．one of the most popular websites gave them a cheque for $100,000

4.Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Now the Google search engine is widely used in the world.

B．The Google search engine was not the biggest one before 2002.

C．Larry Page and Sergey Brin named google after a hundred zeros.

D．The service of the Google search engine is very popular.

5.The passage mainly tells us _______.

A．the development of the Google search engine

B．about Larry Page and Sergey Brin

C．how to find information on the Internet

D．how to use the Google search engine