Well,I'vegotaheadonmyshouldersandagoodpa...t'ssecurity,isn’tit?
举一反三
- Inmostlanguages,agreetingisusuallyfollowedby“smalltalk”.Smalltalkmeansthelittlethingswetalkaboutatthestartofaconversation.InEnglish-speakingcountriespeopleoftenmakesmalltalkabouttheweather:"Niceday,isn’tit?""Terribleweather,isn’tit?"Butthereissomethingspecialaboutsmalltalk.Itmustbeaboutsomethingwhichbothpeoplehavethesameopinionabout.Thepurposeofsmalltalkistoletbothpeopleagreeonsomething.Thismakesmeetingpeopleeasierandmorecomfortable.Peopleusuallyagreeabouttheweather,soitisasafetopicforsmalltalk.ButpeopleoftendisagreeaboutreligionorpoliticssothesearenotsuitabletopicsforsmalltalkinEnglish.Thetopicsforsmalltalkalsodependonwheretheconversationistakingplace.Atfootballmatches,peoplemakesmalltalkaboutthegametheyarewatching:"Greatgame,isn’tit?"Atbus-stops,peoplemaycommentaboutthetransportsystem:"Thebusserviceisterrible,isn’tit?"Greetingsandsmalltalkareanimportantpartofconversationinanylanguage.Thewaypeoplegreeteachotherandthethingstheytalkabout,however,maybedifferentfromonelanguagetoanother.Thisshowsthatthereismuchmoretolearnwhenwelearnalanguagethanjustthevocabularyandthegrammarofthelanguage.Wealsohavetolearnthesocialbehaviorofthepeoplewhospeakit.
- Jane isn’t feeling well today. I dare not do ( ) to upset her.
- It’sburninghottoday,isn’tit?
- The_____ofCollegeEnglishTestsistohelpstudentslearnEnglishbetter,isn’tit?
- A: The performance is terrific, isn't it? B: _______. A: I've never seen anything like this B: Well, maybe C: Probably D: But I didn't get it