Question

【題目】

What do you say when you pick up the phone?

You say “hello”, of course.

What do you say when someone introduces a friend, a relative, anybody at all?

You say “hello”.

“Hello” has been for a long time considered to be the standard English language greeting since English people began greeting. But is that true?

It may be the most spoken word on the planet and the English word that most people learn first. The word is so familiar to us that it's surprising how new it is: “hello” has only been in use for about the last 200 years of the 1000-year history of English.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the first published use of “hello” goes back only to 1827. But it wasn't mainly a greeting back then. People in the 1830s said “hello” to attract attention (“Hello, what do you think you're doing?”), or to express surprise (“Hello, what do we have here?”).

But the true breakthrough for this now-common word was when it was used in the service of brand-new technology: the telephone. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it was Thomas Edison who put “hello” into common usage. He asked the people who used his phone to say “hello” when answering—which required people to address an unseen and unknown person. It was simpler and more efficient (高效的) than some other greetings used in the early days of the telephone, such as “Do I get you?” and “Are you there?” However, the actual inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, thought that the better word was “ahoy”, which turns out to be much longer—at least 100 years longer—than “hello”. It too, was a greeting from the Dutch (荷蘭語) “hoi” meaning “hello.” For his entire life, Bell insisted on answering the phone with “Ahoy.”

“Hello” obviously caught on, and spread along with the telephone. Had it not been for Edison, our greetings might be very different today. It could be possible that we are still greeting people with “Ahoy” when picking up the phone.

【1】How long has “hello” been used in the 1000-year history of the English language?

【2】What was the purpose of people saying “hello” in the 1830s?

【3】Who put “hello” into common usage?

【4】What word did Bell prefer to use when answering the phone?

【5】What is the passage mainly about?

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】For about 200 years.

【2】To attract attention or to express surprise.

【3】Thomas Edison.

【4】Ahoy.

【5】The history of using “hello” as greetings.

【解析】

長時間以來“你好”一直用于標準英語的問候，但是最開始，“你好”是用來引起注意的或表達驚訝。但是直到發(fā)明了電話，“你好”才成為常用語。本文介紹了“你好”作為問候的歷史。

【1】根據(jù)“‘hello’ has only been in use for about the last 200 years of the 1000-year history of English.”可知在英語的1000年歷史里“你好”在最后的200年左右被使用。故答案為For about 200 years.

【2】根據(jù)“People in the 1830s said ‘hello’ to attract attention (‘Hello, what do you think you're doing? ’), or to express surprise (‘Hello, what do we have here? ’).”可知當時的人們說“你好”是為了引起注意或者表達驚訝。在故答案為To attract attention or to express surprise.

【3】根據(jù)“According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it was Thomas Edison who put “hello” into common usage.”可知，牛津詞典中寫道，托馬斯·愛迪生把“你好”用作常用語。故答案為Thomas Edison.

【4】根據(jù)“…Alexander Graham Bell, thought that the better word was ‘a(chǎn)hoy’…”可知Bell更習慣用“ahoy”應(yīng)答電話。故答案為Ahoy.

【5】本文第五段“‘Hello’ has been for a long time considered to be the standard English language greeting since English people began greeting. But is that true?”引出下文，介紹Hello最開始用于表達驚訝或引起注意，然后電話的發(fā)明開始，才用于問候，因此本文主要介紹“hello”作為問候的歷史。故答案為The history of using “hello” as greetings.