Unit 1 Welcome back!

1．　Chinese surname
　　The Chinese have had surnames long before the period of the Three Emperors and Five Kings, that is, during the time when recognition was given only to one's mother and not one's father. Hence, the Chinese character for surname is made up of two individual characters----one meaning woman and one meaning to give birth. That is to say, the surnames of the early Chinese followed the maternal line. Before the three dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou (2140-256 BC), the people in China were already having surnames (Xing) and clan-names (Shi). The surnames originated from the name of the village in which one live or the family to which one belonged, while the clan-name derived from the name of the territory or the title granted, sometimes posthumously, by the emperor to a noble for an achievement. Hence, only nobles had surnames as well as clan-names.
　　A man and a woman of the same clan-name could marry each other but they could not if they were of the same surname. This is because the Chinese had discovered, long ago, that marriages of close relatives would be detrimental to future generations.
　　In any solemn ceremony or important celebration, the Chinese have their clan-names written on lanterns which are hung high in a prominent place, such as the main entrance of the house. As a clan-name indicates the ancestral home, it is also carved on a man's tombstone to indicate a hope that he will return there.
　　This went on for 800 years until the rule of Emperor Tang Tai Zong (627 AD). Gao Shi Lian, a government official, made a survey and found that there were a total of 593 different surnames. He then wrote and published a book called "Annal of Surnames" which became a reference for selecting qualified personnel as government officials and for arranging marriages.
　　The book, "Surnames of a Hundred Families", which was popular in China during the old days, was written more than 1,000 years ago during the Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD).It records 438 surnames of which 408 are single-word surnames and 30 were double-word surnames.
　　According to the latest statistics from China, Chinese with the surname Zhang alone number more than 100 million, making it probably the surname which the most number of the Chinese have.
　　Another set of statistics compiled in 1977 reveals that the number of the Chinese with the first 10 major surnames make up 40% of the Chinese population. The 10 major Chinese surnames are: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu, Liu, Huang and Zhou.
　　Below are the next 10 major surnames. The Chinese with these surnames make up over 10% of the Chinese population: Xu, Zhu, Lin, Sun, Ma, Gao, Hu, Zheng, Guo and Xiao.
　　The number of the Chinese in the third category of 10 major surnames makes up just about 10% of the population: Xie, He, Xu, Song, Shen, Luo, Han, Deng, Liang and Ye.
　　The following 15 surnames from the fourth largest group of the Chinese surnames are: Fang, Cui, Cheng, Pan, Cao, Feng, Wang, Cai, Yuan, Lu, Tang, Qian, Du, Peng and Lu.
A total of 70% of the Chinese population have one of the surnames above. The surnames of the remaining 30% are comparatively rare. Some of these surnames are: Mao, Jiang, Bai, Wen, Guan, Liao, Miao and Chi.

3．千僖酷名
Here are appropriate name selections for a new millennium. 这里是新千年里最被人欣赏的名字
Girl Names 女孩
Audny - Scandanavian - New Prosperity 奥德妮-斯堪地纳维亚-新世纪的繁荣
Nova - Latin: New 诺娃-拉丁-新的
Ramla - African: One who Predicts the future 瑞穆拉-非洲-能预言将来的人
Desiree - French: So long hoped for 德丝蕊-法国-长久的希望
Sesha - Hindi: Serpent who symbolizes time 瑟莎-海地-一种代表时间的蛇
Blossom - English: Fresh 布露苏姆-英语-新鲜
Boy Names 男孩
Horace - Latin: Hour in time. 荷拉斯-拉丁-及时的时间
Milo - English: Merciful 米洛-英文-有怜悯心的
Arden - Celtic: Lofty; eager阿顿-塞尔第-高耸的，渴望的
Achir - Indian: New 阿契尔-印度-新的
Keegan - Gaelic: Small and fiery 克甘-盖力克-小而热情的
Nikolai - Slavic: Victorious 尼古莱-塞尔维克-胜利者
Anwar - Welsh: Wild 安瓦尔-威尔士-野性的
4．英语姓名小常识
　　英语姓名的一般结构为：教名+自取名+姓。如 William Jafferson Clinton。但在很多场合中间名往往略去不写，如 George Bush，而且许多人更喜欢用昵称取代正式教名，如 Bill Clinton。上述教名和中间名又称个人名。
　　现将英语民族的个人名、昵称和姓氏介绍如下：
I. 个人名 按照英语民族的习俗，一般在婴儿接受洗礼的时候，由牧师或父母亲朋为其取名，称为教名。以后本人可以在取用第二个名字，排在教名之后。
英语个人名的来源大致有以下几种情况：
1. 采用圣经、希腊罗马神话、古代名人或文学名著中的人名作为教名。
2. 采用祖先的籍贯，山川河流，鸟兽鱼虫，花卉树木等的名称作为教名。
3. 教名的不同异体。
4. 采用（小名）昵称。
5. 用构词技术制造新的教名，如倒序，合并。
6. 将母亲的娘家姓氏作为中间名。 英语民族常用的男子名有：James, John, David, Daniel, 　　　　Michael, 常见的 女子名为：Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, Catherine.
II. 昵称 昵称包括爱称、略称和小名，是英语民族亲朋好友间常用来表示亲切的称呼， 是在教名的基础上派生出来的。
通常有如下情况：
1. 保留首音节。如 Donald => Don, Timothy => Tim. 如果本名以元音开头， 则可派生出以'N'打头的昵称，如：Edward => Ned.
2. +ie 或 -y 如：Don => Donnie, Tim => Timmy.
3. 采用尾音节，如：Anthony => Tony, Beuben => Ben.
4. 由一个教名派生出两个昵称，如：Andrew => Andy & Drew.
5. 不规则派生法，如：William 的一个昵称是 Bill.
III. 姓氏 英国人在很长的一段时间里只有名而没有姓。直到16世纪姓氏的使用才广泛流行开来。
英语姓氏的词源主要有：
1. 直接借用教名，如 Clinton.
2. 在教名上加上表示血统关系的词缀，如后缀-s, -son, -ing；前缀 M'-, Mc-, Mac-, Fitz- 等均表示某某之子或后代。
3. 在教名前附加表示身份的词缀，如 St.-, De-, Du=, La-, Le-.
4. 反映地名，地貌或环境特征的，如 Brook, Hill等。
5. 反映身份或职业的，如：Carter, Smith.
6. 反映个人特征的，如：Black, Longfellow.
7. 借用动植物名的，如 Bird, Rice.
8. 由双姓合并而来，如 Burne-Jones. 英语姓氏虽然出现较教名晚，但数量要多得多。常用的有：Smith, Miller, Johnson, Brown, Jones, Williams.
IV. 几点说明
1. 较早产生的源于圣经，希腊罗马神话的教名通常不借用为姓氏。
2. 英国人习惯上将教名和中间名全部缩写，如 M. H. Thatcher；美国人则习惯于只缩写中间名，如 Ronald W. Reagan。
3. 在姓名之前有时还要有人际称谓，如职务军衔之类。Dr., Prof., Pres. 可以用于姓氏前或姓名前；而Sir 仅用于教名或姓名前。