GooglefightisasimpleserviceavailableontheInternetwhichoffersyouthechancetocomparetwodifferentitemsandseehowmanyhitstheygetontheGooglesearchengine.Theseeminglysimpledevicehasprovedinvaluabletousers,especial

　　GooglefightisasimpleserviceavailableontheInternetwhichoffersyouthechancetocomparetwodifferentitemsandseehowmanyhitstheygetontheGooglesearchengine.Theseeminglysimpledevicehasprovedinvaluabletousers,especiallytohelpwinarguments.

　　Forexample,imaginethatyouandyourfriendsarearguingaboutwhoarethemostpopularmusicormoviestars,youcandecidetheargumentbywritingthenamesintheGooglefightboxes.Let’ssaythatyouarearguingaboutJackieChanandJetLi.YouwillquicklydiscoverthatJetLiismentioned16milliontimesonGooglepages,whereasJackieChanismentionedamere12milliontimes!Inthisunscientificway,youcanclaimvictoryforoneStaroveranother.

　　ButteachershavecomeupwithwaysofusingGooglefightwhicharemuchmoreusefulfromanacademicpointofview,particularlywhenitcomestostudyinglanguages.Youcan,forexample,findoutthefrequencyoftwowordswiththesamemeaning,anddeduce(推断)fromtheanswerswhichoneismorecommon.Forexample,let’stakethewords“buy”and“purchase”,whichmeanthesamething(although“buy”isonlyaverband“purchase”isbothaverbandanoun).ItisimmediatelyclearfromGooglefightthat“buy”ismuchmorecommonlyused,withamassivethreeandahalfbillionhits,comparedtoonlyonebillionoccurrencesforthemoreformalword.

　　ButtherealvalueofGooglefighttothelanguagelearnerisindeterminingwhichisthemorecommonoftwophrases.Forexample,“rainingcatsanddogs”isanold-fashionedEnglishexpressionabouttheweather.DoEnglishspeakersstilluseit?Oraretheymorelikelytosay“pouringdown”?Googlefightsuggeststhelatter.“Pouringdown”has898,000Googlehits,whereas“rainingcatsanddogs”onlyhas326,000.

　　Withphrases,it’simportanttorememberthatyouneedtousequotemarkstomakethesearchmoreaccurate.Forexample,ifyoutypeinthesimilarphrases“lookafter”and“takecareof“withoutquotemarks,thesecondphraseseemstobemorecommon,butwithquotemarks,theresultisreversed.

　　小题1:WhatisGooglefight?A．AfightbetweentwopeopleonGoogle.B．Awaytomakesureyouwinanargument.C．Awebsiteshowinghowmanyhitstwodifferentthingshave.D