Question

【题目】Do you know what really troubles me? For some reason, words with silent letters have always bothered me. For example, consider these words: know, design, island, school, wrist, naughty, and salmon. All of these words have at least one letter that is not typically pronounced, and these words are just a very small part of words with silent letters in them.

Some words are even worse, consider this word: colonel. Not only are some letters not pronounced, but letters that are not even there are pronounced.

Even foreign languages, especially French, are guilty of this needless complexity and confusion. I know there must be some main historical reasons why the words are spelled and pronounced the way they are, but that does not mean bad traditions must continue to survive. Especially if they are no longer logical.

Unfortunately, there is very little that anyone can do for it, because there’s no group of people who can change or have the right to change the English language for everyone. However, the only thing we can do is make changes in the way we talk and write in hopes that it_____For example, I pronounce the letter “l” in salmon on purpose to make people annoyed and to sound more different or complicated. I even pronounce colonel the correct or French way.

I can only hope these two minor changes to the English language make sense to you, and you will help to keep up these minor changes forever in your everyday life.

【1】Which of the following is the main reason for silent letters?

A. French language. B. Historical reasons.

C. Some linguists D. Bad traditions.

【2】The underlined phrase “catches on” probably means “________”.

A. becomes popular B. gets across

C. follows the fashions D. doesn’t fall behind

【3】Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A. Troubles in everyday life

B. Traps in English words

C. Words with silent letters

D. Necessary changes of languages

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】C

【解析】试题分析：

【1】考查细节理解。根据第三段中I know there must be some main historical reasons why the words are spelled and pronounced the way they are,…可知：不发音字母主要源于历史原因，故选B。

【2】考查猜词能力。根据下文我的发音方式，可知：我是想让我说话时做的这些改变“变得普及”，被大众接受，故选A。

【3】考查主旨大意。根据第一段及全文，可知：文章主要讲述了单词中不发音的字母，故选C。