A
English is changing faster than ever with the development of society. Do you long to keep up with the times? If so, here are some old-fashioned words you should remove from your vocabulary list.
Whippersnapper
As an alteration of the term "snippersnapper'', the word first appeared in the 17th century, expressing our ancestors' annoyance at ill-mannered children. In its more contemporary version, the word relates to a young person who is too confident and does not show enough respect to older.
Tape
Are you born in the 1980s? If so, you may still be using the term "tape" when speaking of recording music or TV shows. Today, though digital media has made data storage on magnetic an outdated thing, this old linguistic habit still exists.
Stewardess
In the earlier age of air travel, female crew members serving airline passengers were called stewardesses. It was due to the development of women's rights movement in the 1960s that the word fell out of use. "Stewardess" was replaced by a more gender-neutral term, "flight attendant”.
Dungarees
What we know as "jeans" today were once called “dungarees" to refer to trousers made of denim
(蓝粗棉布).As traders began importing the cloth from Genoa in Italy, this kind of trousers got a new name ’jeans”. So don't be surprised if you catch your grandpa saying dungarees.
1. Who can be described as a whippersnapper nowadays?
A. An elder who has confidence and influence.
B. An elder who doesn't like children.
C. A teenager who is overconfident and impolite.
D. A child who is bad-tempered
2. Which of the following has become out of date with women's rights movement ?
A. Whippersnapper.
B. Tape.
C. Stewardess.
D. Dungarees.
3. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?
A. To analyze the differences among modern words.
B. To propose readers not using some old-fashioned words.
C. To show readers the inconvenience the old-fashioned words have brought us.
D. To explain how to keep up with the times.