题目内容：

Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

It goes without saying that the language spoken by the majority of British people has the same name as the language spoken by most citizens of the U.S.A. Nonetheless, quite apart from well-documented lexical (词汇的) differences - pavement/sidewalk, lift/elevator, etc. - there are still some words and phrases which can cause confusion and misunderstanding between speakers of the two different forms. That's why some people say that Great Britain and the United States are nations separated by a common language. There are practical reasons for this.

When the first English settlers arrived in what we now call America, the language they spoke was naturally the same as that spoken by their compatriots (同胞) on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, However, they immediately saw things which didn't exist in Europe, often items used and made by Native Americans, such as canoes and moccasins and creatures such as buffalo. They also picked up words which they heard being used by other European immigrants. The word "boss", for example, was used by settlers from Holland in New York in the mid-17th century. It comes from the Dutch word "baas", which means master. The word "cookie" also comes from the Dutch "koekje".

There are many words, phrases and even grammatical structures which are mistaken for Americanisms (美式英语用语) in Britain when they are nothing of the sort. Very often, they represent not an American import, but an original form of British English which has disappeared in Britain. The verbs "guess" meaning think and "loan" meaning lend and the adjective "mad" meaning angry are frequently criticized as Americanisms, yet they all appeared in British English hundreds of years ago. In the case of "loan", it was used as long ago as 1,200 years! In fact, English spoken in the UK has changed so thoroughly in the last 500 years that American English now represents the last place where some original British English forms can be found.