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Unit 2 Working the land (60分钟81分) Part A 一、阅读理解(共8小题;每小题2分,满分16分) A It has happened to all of us.You want to talk about an object,but you forgot the name of it.Or you never knew the name at all.Maybe you are not even sure there is a word for it. For example,that thing,that you need to fix your bicycle.Or perhaps it is something you need for your computer.Or that part on your motorcycle that never,ever seems to work. What are these things? They are called “doohickeys”.A doohickey is a word you use when you do not know or you have forgotten the real name of an object. The Macmillan Dictionary defines doohickey as “something such as a small object or tool that you cannot remember the name”.The American Heritage Dictionary says it is “something,especially a small device or part,whose name is unknown or forgotten”. Language experts say the word first started being used in the United States in the early 1900s.But other experts say they have seen examples of words like that in writings from the middle 1800s. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Learners of American English gives this example of how native speakers might use doohickey:“I need one of those doohickeys,you know,with the long handle.” Merriam-Webster adds that doohickey may be a combination of two other words:“doodad” and “hickey”.Strange as it may be,both of the two words mean the same as doohickey.The dictionary lists a lot of strange words as synonyms for doohickey.The most common are whatchamacallit,whatnot and whatsit. | 
