American and British people use different greetings. In the USA the commonest greeting is “Hi”. In Britain it is “Hello!” or “How are you?” “Hi!” is creeping（不知不觉地进入）into British, too. When they are introduced to someone, the Americans say, “Glad to know you. ” The British say, “How do you do?” or “Pleased to meet you. ” When Americans say “Good-bye”, they nearly always add, “Have a good day. ” or “Have a good trip. ” etc. to friends and strangers alike. Britons are already beginning to use “Have a good day. ”
The British usually use “got” in the sense of “have”. The Americans hardly ever do. AmE: Do you have a car, room, etc. ? Yes, I do. BrE: Have you got a car, room, etc. ? Yes, I have.
There are a number of differences between American and British English in the spelling of words, e. g. check（US）/cheque（UK）. Many American words ending in “or”, e. g. honor, labor are spelt in British English with an “our,” e. g. honour, labour. Many verbs in American English with “ize” or “izing” forms, e. g. organize, realizing are spelt in BrE with “ise” or “ising”, e. g. organise, realising. In American English, “practice” is used both for the verb and noun. In BrE, the verb is spelt “practise”, and the noun “practice. ” In AmE, one writes “traveler,” while in BrE, one writes “traveller”.
It was once predicted that British and American English would become separate (各自的)languages finally. But the opposite has happened. The links（联系）between the two countries are so strong that linguistically（语言上）,and probably culturally（文化上）too, they are closer together than ever before.
AmE—— American English BrE——British English
小题1:The Americans hardly say “_____”
A．Good-bye. Have a good day!
B．Glad to know you!
C．Hi!
D．Have you got a car?小题2:What does the 3rd paragraph talk about?
A．There are lots of differences in spelling between AmE and BrE.
B．Why do the Americans and the British use different spellings.
C．There are few differences in spelling between AmE and BrE.
D．The different usages of words in AmE and BrE.小题3:Which of the following is TRUE?
A．The two languages will become separate languages.
B．American English will be used more and more.
C．The two languages will be closer and closer.
D．British English will be used more and more.小题4:The underlined word “predicted” means ______ in Chinese.
A．解释
B．预言
C．考虑
D．证明
