题目内容：

Learning any language is hard, but learning English can be especially challenging. Why? Because native speakers use the language in some ways that textbooks could never describe. In particular, words that British people use cause many language students to scratch(抓) their heads.

Here’s an example: You overhear(无意中听到) an Englishman calling someone a “wazzock”. But what exactly is a wazzock? This word, in fact, means a foolish person, although there’s nothing about it that would help you guess that. There are many strange terms like this in British English – the Oxford English Dictionary would be much smaller without these odd (古怪的) usages filling its pages.

How can these odd words be explained? Part of the answer is the British sense of humor. The British don’t like to take things too seriously, and this is obvious through many British words and phrases. For example, to “spend a penny” means to use the bathroom. It refers to the days when people had to pay a penny to use a public toilet.

In an interview for the BBC’s website, British linguist David Crystal suggested there may be historical reasons for the number of odd words and phrases in British English. He thinks that they began in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This was a great age for the theater, when Shakespeare and other writers worked hard to keep up with the demand for new plays. The theater’s popularity also created an incentive (刺激) to invent new words.

With this in mind, perhaps Shakespeare and his peers are to blame for unusual British words such as “codswallop” and “balderdash” – which both mean “nonsense”.

While these strange words may be confusing to non-native speakers, they certainly make studying English a lot more interesting.

1.According to the text, why may non-native speakers find it hard to learn English?

A. Dictionaries don’t explain odd usages of many words.

B. A great many strange words make no sense to them.

C. The English textbooks they study are usually out of date.

D. They are unable to understand the humor in conversations.

2.With the example of “spend a penny”, the author intends to _________.

A. explain one reason of how some strange phrases were created

B. complain about the meaning and background of the phrase

C. show what typical British sense of humour is

D. show British people’s attitude toward strange words

3.According to David Crystal, _________.

A. many of the words that Shakespeare invented were nonsense

B. Shakespeare’s works are boring because of the odd words involved

C. the theatre’s success in the 17th century inspired the birth of many odd words

D. the odd words in Shakespeare’s plays contributed a lot to the theatre’s popularity

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. The development of the British English.

B. Shakespeare’s influence on British English.

C. The origin and meanings of British humour.

D. Some reasons for the large number of odd words in British English.