Module 1 British and American English（Reading and Speaking）

what does the sentence mean?
the british and the americans are two nations divided by a common language.英國和美國是被同一種語言分開的兩個民族。
step 7 the fifth part
what is the main idea of the first paragraph of this part?
it says the two varieties of english are moving closer.
what is the reason?
the reason is that for more than a century communication across the atlantic have developed steadily.
will there be more than two varieties of english? not just two main varieties.
step 8 listen to the tape.
step 9 complete the sentences with the correct words or phrases.
1. there are ______ differences between american and british varieties of english.
a. no             b. a few          c. lots of
2. americans________ understand what the british are saying.
a. sometimes      b. usually          c. never
3. there are _________ differences between british and american grammar.
a. no             b. many          c. not many
4. american spelling is _____ british spelling.
a. the same as     b. simpler than      c. harder than
5. for a londoner, an american accent may be easier to understand than _______.
a. a chinese accent b. some british accents c. a cnn newsreader.
6. television and the internet have made it ______ for the british and americans to understand each other.
a. harder         b. easier           c. impossible
the key: 1.b 2. b 3. c 4. b 5. b 6. b
step 10 listen to the recording of a program of bbc and voa. let students judge the speaker is british or american.
step 11 match the british and american words in the box.
apartment autumn elevator fall first floor flashlight flat garbage gas ground floor holiday lift stand in line lorry pavement petrol queue up rubbish sidewalk torch truck vacation 
british english: flat autumn lift ground floor torch rubbish petrol holiday queue up lorry pavement
american english: apartment fall elevator first floor flashlight garbage gas vacation stand in line truck sidewalk
rewrite the sentences using british words.
1. we really like going on vacation in the fall.
2. you don’t need to take the elevator. our apartment in on the first floor.