Questions for revision 1. What are the grammatical features of headlines? 2. Do you know the types of headlines? What are they?Lecture 3The Lexical Characteristics of News LanguageWhat pose an obstacle in understanding news story? Background knowledge; News words; Sentence patternsThe Lexical Characteristics A. Midget words; abbreviated and shortened words are often used. B. Coinage of words by way of hyphen or affixes. C. Frequently used patterns or rhetorical devices D. Ways of Revealing the source of news.The Syntactical Characteristics A. Participles used at the end of a sentence telling the result or used in the middle of a sentence as parenthesis providing background or manner. B. Apposition frequently used to introduce the status of a person, location and business of an organization, etc.A.Midget words; abbreviated and shortened words 1. Hall, a 6-ft. 6-in. 185 lb. 21-year-old swimmer, is one of the U.S.s best hopes for Atlanta gold in swimming. (From Time) 豪尔，一名21岁的游泳运动员，身高6英 尺6英寸，体重185磅，是美国最有希望 成为亚特兰大游泳金牌的得主之一。A.Midget words; abbreviated and shortened words 2. EBay Buys Payment Service From VeriSign By GREG SANDOVAL The Associated Press Monday, October 10, 2005; 6:53 PM SAN FRANCISCO - EBay Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy an online-payment business from Internet services company VeriSign Inc. for $370 million in a deal that could bring new security measures for eBay users. 3. This trend has given rise to an older pool of graduate students: Today, more than half are over age 30, and nearly one quarter are over 40. Distance education often is a great fit for these working adults, many of whom find it difficult to skip a childs ballet lesson or fight rush-hour traffic to get to a university campus for class. (From U.S. News & World Report, April 10, 2000) 4. By almost every education gauge, young Asian Americans are soaring. They are finishing way above the mean on the math section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and according to one comprehensive study of San Diego area students, outscoring their peers of other races in high school grade-point averages. 无论以什么教育标准来测量，年轻的亚裔学 生几乎都遥遥领先。根据对圣地亚哥地区学 生的综合调查，亚裔学生在大学入学考试中 数学成绩远高于平均分，而且他们在高中的 平均成绩积点分也高于其他种族的同龄学生 。 5. Govt website THOUSANDS visited the Chinese central government website www.gov.cn, which opened on a trial basis last Saturday. The website includes the latest government news, policies and content of press conferences. It also enables people to apply for approvals, lodge complaints and sign petitions online. In a survey on the website, 40 per cent of respondents chose “online interaction” as their primary concern about government websites. (KEY WORDS in 21ST CENTURY October 5, 2005)B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 1. He described G. O. P. campaign strategy as “big-lie technique.” 他把共和党的竞选战略称之为“ 撒弥天大谎的技巧”。 Grand Old Party (Republican)美国共和党 的别称B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 2. Dan Cusick, 37, of San Francisco learned last July that an AIDS-related illness was eating away at his brain and would probably kill him by October. In a last- ditch effort to save his life, his doctors gave him three anti-HIV drugs all at once. last-ditch - 作最后努力（或尝试）的； 孤注一掷的B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 3. Even the B-1 bomber, a cold war relic that had never seen combat despite its $280 million-per-plane price tag, got in on the action. (From Time) 甚至B-1轰炸机，这个标价2亿8千万美 金从未参加战斗的冷战产物，也参加 了这次行动。B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 4. China plans an October blast-off for Shenzhou VI Chinese people have a cause to cheer next month with the likely launch of the nations second manned space mission. Media reports on Monday said that the five-day space trip will happen sometime in mid-October. （ 21st Century, Oct.5, 2005)B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 5. In the meantime, many netizens started to look for the patient in the real world. (21st Century, Sep.7, 2005) 6. In 1992, EuroDisney opened in what was a sugar-beet field east of Paris. But at first it wasnt seen very sweetly by the French. (21st Century, Sep.7, 2005) （sugar-beet：糖用甜菜） 7. Grass-roots outcry against the nationwide restriction on compact cars reached a peak this week. (21st Century, Sep.14, 2005)B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 8. In Shanghai, automobiles with engines smaller than 1.2 litres are forbidden to use overpasses. In fact, compact cars have long been praised as both economical and fuel-efficient. This has become a crucial trait with the rise of gas prices. (21st Century, Sep.14, 2005)B. Coinage by hyphen or affixes. 9. Certainly many neurotic boomer parents and their stressed-out, resume-building teenagers assume that it is always better to choose Harvard over Big-State U. because of Harvards presumably superior educational environment, better alumni connections, and more lucrative on- campus recruiting opportunities.