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 Today, though digital media has made data storage on magnetic an outdated thing, this old linguistic habit still exists.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 Which of the following has become out of date with women's rights movement ?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.
【答案】1. C 2. C 3. B
【解析】
【分析】这是一篇说明文。文章分别介绍了四种有些过时的语言表达。
【1题详解】
细节理解题。根据Whippersnapper部分“In its more contemporary version, the word relates to a young person who is too confident and does not show enough respect to older.”(在其更现代的版本中，该词指的是一个年轻人太自信了，对老年人没有足够的尊重。)，可知whippersnapper在当今时代用来形容一个过分自信和不礼貌的青少年。故选C项。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。根据Stewardess 部分“It was due to the development of women's rights movement in the 1960s that the word fell out of use. (正是由于20世纪60年代妇女权利运动
发展，这个词才不再被使用。)中的due to the development of women's rights movement可知，stewardess这个词由于女权运动的发展而过时。故选C项。
【3题详解】
推理判断题。根据文章第一段“If so，here are some old-fashioned words you should remove from your vocabulary list. (如果是这样，那么你应该从词汇表中删除一些老式的单词。)”并结合全文理解可知，作者写这篇文章的目的是劝告读者不要使用一些过时的单词。故选B项。
