【新外研版】教材帮必修第一册 Unit 2 Understanding ideas
Neither Pine nor Apple in Pineapple
1 Have you ever asked yourself why people often have trouble learning English?I hadn't,until one day my five-year-old son asked me whether there was ham in a hamburger.There isn't.This made me realize that there's no egg in eggplant either.Neither is there pine nor apple in pineapple. This got me thinking how English can be a crazy language to learn.
2 For example,in our free time we can sculpt a sculpture and paint a painting,but we take a photo.And when we are traveling we say that we are in the car or the taxi,but on the train or bus!While we're doing all this traveling,we can get seasick at sea,airsick in the air and carsick in a car,but we don't get homesick when we get back home.And speaking of home,why aren't homework and housework the same thing?
3 If "hard" is the opposite of "soft",why are "hardly" and "softly" not an opposing pair?If harmless actions are the opposite of harmful actions,why are shameless and shameful behaviors the same?
4 When we look out of the window and see rain or snow,we can say "it's raining" or "it's snowing". But when we see sunshine,we  can't say "it's sunshining".
5 Even the smallest words can be confusing.When you see the capitalized "WHO" in a medical report,do you read it as the "who" in "Who's that?"What about "IT"and "US"?
6 You also have to wonder at the unique madness of a language in which a house can burn up as it burns down,in which you fill in a form by filling it out,and in which an alarm is only heard once it goes off!
7 English was invented by people,not computers,and it reflects the creativity of the human race. That is why when the stars are out,they are visible,but when the lights are out,they are invisible.And that is why when I wind up my watch,it starts,but when I wind up this passage,it ends.