A． committed    B． compared   C． contact    D． delegation     E． destructive  F． humble   G． negotiate   H． respelled I． similarity  J． superiors  K． witnessed

Some Very "American" Words Come from Chinese

   Many of the Chinese words that are now part of English were borrowed long ago． They are most often from Cantonese （粤语） or other Chinese languages rather than Mandarin． Let's start with them．

   kowtow

   The English word kowtow is a verb that means to agree too easily to do what someone else wants you to do， or to obey someone with power in a way that seems （1） 　　． It comes from the Cantonese word kau tau， which means "knock your head"． It refers to the act of kneeling and lowering one's head as a sign of respect to （2） 　　such as emperors， elders and leaders． In the case of emperors， the act required the person to touch their head to the ground． Britain's Lord George Macartney refused to "kau tau" to the Qianlong Emperor． Soon after， the English word "kowtow" was born． In 1793， Britain's King George III sent Lord George Macartney and other trade ambassadors to China to （3） 　　a trade agreement． The Chinese asked them to kowtow to the Qianlong Emperor． As the story goes， Lord Macartney refused for his （4） 　　to do more than bend their knees． He said that was all they were required to do for their own king．

   It is not surprising， then， that Macartney left China without negotiating the trade agreement． After that， critics used the word kowtow when anyone was too submissive to China． Today， the usage has no connection to China， nor any specific political connection．

   gung﹣ho

   Another borrowed word that came about through （5） 　　between two nations is gung﹣ho． In English， the word gung﹣ho is an adjective that means extremely excited about doing something． The Chinese characters "gong" and "he" together mean "work together， cooperate．" The original term gongyehezuoshe means Chinese Industrial Cooperatives． The organizations were established in the 1930s by Westerners in China to promote industrial and economic development． Lt． Colonel Evans Carlson of the United States Marine Corps observed these cooperatives while he was in China． He was impressed， saying "…all the soldiers （6） 　　themselves to one idea and worked together to put that idea over．" He then began using the term gung﹣ho in the Marine Corps to try to create the same spirit he had （7） 　　． In 1942， he used the word as a training slogan for the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion during World War II． The men were often called the "Gung Ho Battalion．" From then， the word gung﹣ho spread as a slogan throughout the Marine Corps． Today， its meaning has no relation to the military．

   typhoon

   In English， a typhoon is a very powerful and （8） 　　storm that occurs around the China Sea and in the South Pacific． The word history of typhoon had a far less direct path to the English language than gung﹣ho． And not all historical accounts are the same． But， according to the Merriam﹣webster New Book of Word Histories， the first typhoons reported in the English language were in India and were called "touffons" or "tufans．" The word tufan or al﹣tufan is Arabic and means violent storm or flood． The English came across this word in India and borrowed it as touffon． Later， when English ships encountered violent storms in the China Sea， Englishmen learned the Cantonese word tai fung， which means "great wind．" The word's （9） 　　to touffon is only by chance． The modern form of the word typhoon was influenced by the Cantonese but （10） 　　to make it appear more Greek．