A Brief History of Englishword文档良心出品
A brief history of the English language
A brief history of the English language--- its origins, change and developmentEnglish is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. It is actually a mixture of language spoken by the 'Celtic' tribes living in the British Isles, Latin from the Romans, a 'Germanic' language from which modern German developed （This explains why German and English are often similar, as many of their words developed from the same original language), the Old French language due to the dramatic arrival of the Norman army from France, led by King William.The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes,(盎格鲁族、撒克逊族与朱特族)crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants(居民) of Britain spoke a Celtic(凯尔特人) language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders—mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland.Old English (450-1100 AD)The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots.Middle English (1100-1500)In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy (part of modern France), invaded and conquered England. The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French wordsadded. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poetChaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers tounderstand today.Modern EnglishEarly Modern English (1500-1800)Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation(the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter.From the 16th century the British had contact with many peoples from around theworld. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words andphrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there wasnow a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned toread. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar becamefixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became thestandard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published. Hamlet's famous "To be,or not to be" lines, written in Early Modern English by Shakespeare.Late Modern English (1800-Present)The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English isvocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principalfactors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for newwords; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth'ssurface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries. Varieties（多样性） of EnglishFrom around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creationof a distinct American variety of English. Some English pronunciations and words"froze" when they reached America. In some ways, American English is more like theEnglish of Shakespeare than modern British English is. Some expressions that theBritish call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that werepreserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain (for example trash for rubbish, loan as a verb instead of lend, and fall for autumn; another example, frame-up, was re-imported into Britain through Hollywood gangster movies). Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English), withwords like canyon, ranch, stampede and vigilante being examples of Spanish words that entered English through the settlement of the American West. French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English).Today, American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance ofcinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). Butthere are many other varieties of English around the world, including for exampleAustralian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English,Indian English and Caribbean English.Since the time of Shakespeare, English has continued to change. Settlers fromBritain moved across the world - to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia and Africa, and in each place, the language changed and developed, and took in words from other local languages. For example, 'kangaroo' and 'boomerang' are native Australian Aborigine words, 'juggernaut' and 'turban' came from India.With the increase in communication, travel, radio and television, all these different types of English have mixed. So in Britain now, because of American and Australian TV programming, we use many parts of Australian and American English. And words from many other languages - French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, even Nepali - have been borrowed. So English continues to change and develop, with hundreds of new words arriving every year.Global languageFor better or worse, it has truly become the world's international language.It has become the language of science, air traffic control, the world of computers, and most of the Internet. And in many countries, where there are other competing languages and people groups, English has been chosen as a common second language. This has happened in Nigeria and Ghana.This may not seem fair to other important and valuable languages which are also international! For example, those of us who know and love France, realize that the French regret the way their language may not be so much of an international language as it used to be. And it is sad that English people are often lazy, and don't bother to learn other languages!So, for many jobs and situations, English has become an essential gateway. If you are learning it - best wishes and we hope you enjoy it!Indeed, if one looks at some of the facts about the amazing reach of the English language many would be surprised. English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN. It is the working language of 98 percent of international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the European Central Bank, even though the bank is in Frankfurt and neither Britain nor any other English-speaking country is a member of the European Monetary Union. It is the language in which Indian parents and black parents in South Africa overwhelmingly wish their children to be educated. It is believed that over one billion people worldwide are currently learning English.English has without a doubt become the global language.attached:A brief chronology of EnglishBC 55Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar. BC 43Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of rule of Britain. 436Roman withdrawal from Britain complete. 449 Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders begins450-480 Earliest known Old English inscriptions.1066 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy,and conquers England.c1150 Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English. 1348in most schools.1362 English replaces French as the language of English is used in Parliament for the first time.c1388 Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales. c1400 The Great Vowel Shift begins.1476press.1564 Shakespeare is born.1604 Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, published.1607World (Jamestown) is established. 1616 Shakespeare dies.1623 Shakespeare's First Folio is published1702 The first daily English-language newspaper, Daily Courant, is published in London.1755 Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary. 1776of Independence.1782 Britain abandons its American colonies.1828 Webster publishes his American English dictionary. 1922 The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded. 1928 The Oxford English Dictionary is published.。
historyofenglish
A Brief Look at the History of EnglishThe history of English is conventionally(按惯例), if perhaps too neatly(巧妙地), divided into three periods usually called Old English (or Anglo-Saxon), Middle English, and Modern English. The earliest period begins with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A. D., though no records of their language survive from before the seventh century, and it continues until the end of the eleventh century or a bit later. By that time Latin, Old Norse (the language of the Viking invaders), and especially the Anglo-Norman French of the dominant(占优势的) class after the Norman Conquest in 1066 had begun to have a substantial impact(冲击) on the lexicon(词法), and the well-developed inflectional(词尾变化的) system that typifies(代表) the grammar of Old English had begun to break down. The following brief sample of Old English prose illustrates several of the significant ways in which change has so transformed(转化) English that we must look carefully to find points of resemblance(相似) between the language of the tenth century and our own. It is taken from Aelfric's "Homily on St. Gregory the Great" and concerns the famous story of how that pope came to send missionaries(传教士) to convert(使...改变信仰) the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after seeing Anglo-Saxon boys for sale as slaves in Rome.A few of these words will be recognized as identical(一致) in spelling with their modern equivalents(对应词) -- he, of, him, for, and, on -- and the resemblance of a few others to familiar words may be guessed -- nama to name, comon to come, w?re to were, w?s to was -- but only those who have made a special study of Old Englishwill be able to read the passage w ith understanding. The sense o f it is as follows: "Again he [St. Gregory] asked what might be the name of the people from which they came. It was answered to him that they were named Angles. Then he said, 'Rightly are they called Angles because they have the beauty of angels, and it is fitting that such as they should be angels' companions in heaven.' " Some of the words in the original have survived in altered form, including axode (asked), hu (how), rihtlice (rightly), engla (angels), habbae (have), swilcum (such), heofonum (heaven), and beon (be). Others, however, have vanished from our lexicon, mostly without a trace, including several that were quite common words in Old English: eft "again," eeode "people, nation," cw?e "said, spoke," gehatene "called, named," wlite "appearance, b eauty," and geferan "companions." Recognition of some words is naturally hindered by the presence of two special characters, t, called "thorn," and e, called "edh," which served in Old English to represent the sounds now spelled with th.Other points worth noting include the fact that the pronoun system did not yet, in the late tenth century, include the third person plural forms beginning with th-: hi appears where we would use they. Several aspects(方面) of word order will also strike the reader as oddly unlike ours. Subject and verb are inverted(倒装) after an adverb -- ta cw?e he "Then said he" -- a phenomenon(现象) not unknown in Modern English but now restricted to a few adverbs such as never and requiring the presence of an auxiliary verb like do or have. In subordinate(复合句) clauses the main verb must be last, and so an object or a preposition may precede it in a way no longer natural: te hi of comon "which they from came," for ean ee hi engla wlite habbae "because t heyangels' beauty have."Perhaps the most distinctive difference between Old and Modern English reflected in Aelfric's sentences is the elaborate(细微) system of inflections, of which we now have only remnants. Nouns, adjectives, and even the definite article are inflected for gender, case(格), and number: e?re eeode "(of) the people" is feminine(女性的), genitive(属格的), and singular, Angle "Angles" is masculine(男性的), accusative(宾格的), and plural, and swilcum "such" is masculine, dative(与格的), and plural. The system of inflections for verbs was also more elaborate than ours: for example, habbae "have" ends with the -ae suffix characteristic(特性) of plural present indicative verbs. In addition, there were two imperative(祈使) forms, four subjunctive forms (two for the present tense and two for the preterit, or past, tense), and several others which we no longer have. Even where Modern English retains(保留) a particular category(范围) of inflection, the form has often changed. Old English present participles ended in -ende not -ing, and past participles bore a prefix ge- (as geandwyrd "answered" above).The period of Middle English extends roughly(大概) from the twelfth century through the fifteenth. The influence of French (and Latin, often by way of French) upon the lexicon continued throughout this period, the loss of some inflections and the reduction of others (often to a final unstressed(非读的) vowel spelled -e) accelerated(加强), and many changes took place within the phonological(音韵的) and grammatical systems of the language. A typical prose passage, especially one from the later part of the period, will not have such a foreign look to us as Aelfric's prose(散文) has; but it will not be mistaken for contemporary writing either. The following briefpassage i s drawn from a work of the late fourteenth century called Mandeville's Travels. It is fiction(小说) in the guise(外观) of travel literature, and, though it purports(主旨) to be from the pen of an English knight, it was originally written in French and later translated into Latin and English. In this extract(摘录) Mandeville describes the land of Bactria, apparently not an altogether inviting place, as it is inhabited(居住) by "full yuele [evil] folk and full cruell."The spelling is often peculiar by modern standards and even inconsistent(不一致)and contree, o [griffoun] and a [gret hors], tanne within these few sentences (contréand tan, for example). Moreover, in the original text, there is in addition to thorn another old character 3, called "yogh," to make difficulty. It can represent several sounds but here may be thought of as equivalent to y. Even the older spellings (including those where u stands for v or vice versa) are recognizable, however, and there are only a few words like ipotaynes "hippopotamuses" and sithes "times" that have dropped out of the language altogether. We may notice a few words and phrases that have meanings no longer common such as byttere "salty," o this half "on this side of the world," and at the poynt "to hand," and the effect of the centuries-long dominance(统治) of French on the vocabulary is evident in many familiar words which could not have occurred in Aelfric's writing even if his subject had allowed them, words like contree, ryueres, plentee, egle, and lyoun.In general word order is now very close to that of our time, though we notice constructions like hath the body more gret and three sithes more tan is the water of the see. We also notice that present tense verbs still receive a plural inflection as in beren,dwellen, han, and ben and that while nominative(主格的) tei has replaced Aelfric's hi in the third person plural, the form for objects is still hem. All the same, the number of inflections for nouns, adjectives, and verbs has been greatly reduced, and in most respects Mandeville is closer to Modern than to Old English.The period of Modern English extends from the sixteenth century to our own day. The early part of this period saw the completion of a revolution in the phonology(音韵学) of English that had begun in late Middle English and that effectively redistributed(再分散) the occurrence(发生) of the vowel phonemes(音素) to something approximating(接近) their present pattern. (Mandeville's English would have sounded even less familiar to us than it looks.) Other important early developments include the stabilizing(固定) effect on spelling of the printing press and the beginning of the direct influence of Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek on the lexicon. Later, as English came into contact with other cultures around the world and distinctive(不同的) dialects(方言) of English developed in the many areas which Britain had colonized, numerous other languages made small but interesting contributions(贡献) to our word-stock.The historical aspect of English really encompasses(包括) more than the three stages(阶段) of development just under consideration. English has what might be called a prehistory(史前的) as well. As we have seen, our language did not simply spring into existence; it was brought from the Continent by Germanic tribes who had no form of writing and hence left no records. Philologists(语言学家) know that they must have spoken a dialect of a language that can be called West Germanic and thatother dialects of this unknown language must have included the ancestors(祖先) of such languages as German, Dutch, Low German, and Frisian. They know this because of certain systematic similarities which these languages share with each other but do not share with, say, Danish. However, they have had somehow to reconstruct what that language was like in its lexicon(词法), phonology(音韵学), grammar, and semantics(语义学) as best they can through sophisticated(先进的) techniques of comparison developed chiefly(主要地) during the last century. Similarly, because ancient and modern languages like Old Norse and Gothic or Icelandic and Norwegian have points in common with Old English and Old High German or Dutch and English that they do not share with French or Russian, it is clear that there was an earlier unrecorded language that can be called simply Germanic and that must be reconstructed in the same way. Still earlier, Germanic was just a dialect (the ancestors of Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit were three other such dialects) of a language conventionally designated (指定)Indo-European, and thus English is just one relatively young member of an ancient family of languages whose descendants(后代) cover a fair portion of the globe.Selected from homepage by Eleston。
(完整word版)教育督导学习题库(word文档良心出品)
教育督导学习题库一、选择题1．以专业权威为核心的教育督导体制称之的为。
A.监督型B.集权型C.视导型D.指导型答案:C2．美国教育督导一般称之为。
A.教育辅导B.教育监督C.教育控制D.教育命令答案:A3．按照所表现出的个性特征、工作行为特征进行评价，称之为。
A.综合考评法B.联系行为评价法C.特征考评法D.目标定向考评法答案:C4．英国的教育督导人员分为。
A.女皇督学和地方监督员B.教育部督学与地方督学C.女皇督学与地方视导员D.教育与科学部督学与郡督学答案:C5．教育督导复查工作主要包括。
A.检查B.定期复查和抽查C.定期检查和随机检查D.定期检查和抽查答案:B 6．教育行政督导是指上级教育督导部门对进行的督导。
A.下级政府及其教育行政部门的工作B.教育行政部门和学校的工作C.教育行政部门的工作D.下级政府的教育工作答案:A7．我国公立中小学校实行的是。
A.党支部领导下的校长负责制B.党支部与校长合作制C.集体负责制D.校长负责制答案:D8．教育事业的发展主要依靠两支队伍完成。
A.师资队伍B.教育管理队伍C.教师队伍和教育管理队伍D.教师队伍和学生干部队伍答案:C9．我国教育督导人员是。
A.专职教育督导人员B.兼职教育督导人员C.专职和兼职两类人员D.业余人员答案:C10．对一项活动结束后的效果进行评价，称之为。
A.过程评价B.自主评价C.终结评价D.综合评价答案:C11．我国学校组织机构建设督导主要有三个方面的内容：。
A.机构建设、制度建设和党政关系B.政风、党风和教风C.管理制度、教学制度和学习制度D.行政机构建设、党组织建设和群团组织建设答案:A 12．根据我国《教育督导暂行规定》规定。
A.村以上均设教育督导机构B.地方县级以上均设教育督导机构C.地方乡镇以上均设教育督导机构D.地方省级以上均设教育督导室答案:B13．目前我国教育督导人员的选拔办法主要有两种：A.任命和招聘B.推荐和任命C.考试和任命D.选举和招聘答案:A14．法国的教育督导人员从上到下依次分。
A Brief History of the English Language
A Brief History of the English LanguageEnglish is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes several major branches:Latin and the modern Romance languages (French etc.);the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish etc.);the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.);the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.);the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian;the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek. The influence of the original Indo-European language can be seen today, even though no written record of it exists. The word for father, for example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that share the same root.Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the development of English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the Romance (called that because the Romance languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome). English is a member of the Germanic group of languages. It is believed that this group began as a common language in the Elbe river region about 3,000 years ago. By the second century BC, this Common Germanic language had split into three distinct sub-groups:•East Germanic was spoken by peoples who migrated back tosoutheastern Europe. No East Germanic language is spokentoday, and the only written East Germanic language thatsurvives is Gothic.•North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic (butnot Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and Estonian and isnot an Indo-European language).•West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.Old English (500-1100 AD)CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLANDWest Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark: the Angles (whose name is the source of the words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes, began to settle in the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisian - the language of the northeastern region of the Netherlands - that is called Old English. Four major dialects of Old English emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast.These invaders pushed the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is, in linguistic terms, now a dead language. (The last native Cornish speaker died in 1777) Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions and settlement, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt. The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this is deceptive; Old English is much more important than these statistics would indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots.Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, lasted until about 1100. Shortly after the most important event in the development and history of the English language, the Norman Conquest.The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. TheNormans were also of Germanic stock ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots. Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury , and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; crime replaced firen and uncle replaced eam. Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French gentle and the Germanic man formed gentleman. Other times, two different words with roughly the same meaning survive into modern English. Thus we have the Germanic doom and the French judgment, or wish and desire.It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c. 1000) sample:Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonumsi þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonumurne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dægand forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendumand ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice. Rendered in Middle English (Wyclif, 1384), the same text is recognizable to the modern eye:Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene.yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us.And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.Finally, in Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611) the same text is completely intelligible:Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our daily bread.And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters.And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.For a lengthier comparison of the three stages in the development of English click here!In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France. This began a process where the Norman nobles of England became increasingly estranged from their French cousins. England became the chief concern of the nobility, rather than their estates in France, and consequently the nobility adopted a modified English as their native tongue. About 150 years later, the Black Death (1349-50) killed about one third of the English population. And as a result of this the labouring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-Norman.This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English. The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Unlike Old English, Middle English can be read, albeit with difficulty, by modern English-speaking people.By 1362, the linguistic division between the nobility and the commoners was largely over. In that year, the Statute of Pleading was adopted, which made English the language of the courts and it began to be used in Parliament.The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English.Early Modern English (1500-1800)The next wave of innovation in English came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the Language. These borrowings were deliberate and many bemoaned the adoption of these "inkhorn" terms, but many survive to this day. Shakespeare's character Holofernes in Loves Labor Lost is a satire of an overenthusiastic schoolmaster who is too fond of Latinisms.Many students having difficulty understanding Shakespeare would be surprised to learn that he wrote in modern English. But, as can be seen in the earlier example of the Lord's Prayer, Elizabethan English has much more in common with our language today than it does with the language of Chaucer. Many familiar words and phrases were coined or first recorded by Shakespeare, some 2,000 words and countless idioms are his. Newcomers to Shakespeare are often shocked at the number of cliches contained in his plays, until they realize that he coined them and they became cliches afterwards. "One fell swoop," "vanish into thin air," and "flesh and blood" are all Shakespeare's. Words he bequeathed to the language include "critical," "leapfrog," "majestic," "dwindle," and "pedant."Two other major factors influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English. The first was the Great Vowel Shift. This was a change in pronunciation that began around 1400. While modern English speakers can read Chaucer with some difficulty, Chaucer's pronunciation would have been completely unintelligible to the modern ear. Shakespeare, on the other hand, would be accented, but understandable. Vowel sounds began to be made further to the front of the mouth and the letter "e" at the end of words became silent. Chaucer's Lyf (pronounced "leef") became the modern life. In Middle English name was pronounced "nam-a," five was pronounced "feef," and down was pronounced "doon." In linguistic terms, the shift was rather sudden, the major changes occurring within a century. The shift is still not over, however, vowel sounds are still shortening although the change has become considerably more gradual.The last major factor in the development of Modern English was the advent of the printing press. William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476. Books became cheaper and as a result, literacy became more common. Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as opposed to Latin, became more common. Finally, the printing press broughtstandardization to English. The dialect of London, where most publishing houses were located, became the standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the first English dictionary was published in 1604.Late-Modern English (1800-Present)The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling are largely the same, but Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are the result of two historical factors. The first is the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed. The second was the British Empire. At its height, Britain ruled one quarter of the earth's surface, and English adopted many foreign words and made them its own.The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear, and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots. Such neologisms were not exclusively created from classical roots though, English roots were used for such terms as horsepower, airplane, and typewriter.This burst of neologisms continues today, perhaps most visible in the field of electronics and computers. Byte, cyber-, bios, hard-drive, and microchip are good examples.Also, the rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served not only to introduce English to the world, but to introduce words into English. Hindi, and the other languages of the Indian subcontinent, provided many words, such as pundit, shampoo, pajamas, and juggernaut. Virtually every language on Earth has contributed to the development of English, from Finnish (sauna) and Japanese (tycoon) to the vast contributions of French and Latin.The British Empire was a maritime empire, and the influence of nautical terms on the English language has been great. Phrases like three sheets to the wind have their origins onboard ships.Finally, the military influence on the language during the latter half of twentieth century was significant. Before the Great War, militaryservice for English-speaking persons was rare; both Britain and the United States maintained small, volunteer militaries. Military slang existed, but with the exception of nautical terms, rarely influenced standard English. During the mid-20th century, however, a large number of British and American men served in the military. And consequently military slang entered the language like never before. Blockbuster, nose dive, camouflage, radar, roadblock, spearhead, and landing strip are all military terms that made their way into standard English.American English and other varietiesAlso significant beginning around 1600 AD was the English colonization of North America and the subsequent creation of American English. Some pronunciations and usages "froze" when they reached the American shore. In certain respects, some varieties of American English are closer to the English of Shakespeare than modern Standard English ('English English' or as it is often incorrectly termed 'British English') is. Some "Americanisms" are actually originally English English expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost at home (e.g., fall as a synonym for autumn, trash for rubbish, and loan as a verb instead of lend).The American dialect also served as the route of introduction for many native American words into the English language. Most often, these were place names like Mississippi, Roanoke, and Iowa.Indian-sounding names like Idaho were sometimes created that had no native-American roots. But, names for other things besides places were also common. Raccoon, tomato, canoe, barbecue, savanna, and hickory have native American roots, although in many cases the original Indian words were mangled almost beyond recognition. Spanish has also been great influence on American English. M ustang, canyon, ranch, stampede, and vigilante are all examples of Spanish words that made their way into English through the settlement of the American West.A lesser number of words have entered American English from French and West African languages.Likewise dialects of English have developed in many of the former colonies of the British Empire. There are distinct forms of the Englishlanguage spoken in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and many other parts of the world.Global EnglishEnglish has now inarguably achieved global status. Whenever we turn on the news to find out what's happening in East Asia, or the Balkans, or Africa, or South America, or practically anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English. To illustrate the point when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Middle East recently to retrace Christ's footsteps and addressed Christians, Muslims and Jews, the pontiff spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Italian, not Hebrew, not his native Polish. He spoke in English.Indeed, if one looks at some of the facts about the amazing reachof the English language many would be surprised. English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN. It is the de facto working language of 98 percent of international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the European Central Bank, even though the bank is in Frankfurt and neither Britain nor any other predominantly English-speaking country is a member of the European Monetary Union. It is the language in which Indian parents and black parents in South Africa overwhelmingly wish their children to be educated. It is believed that over one billion people worldwide are currently learning English.One of the more remarkable aspects of the spread of English around the world has been the extent to which Europeans are adopting it as their internal lingua franca. English is spreading from northern Europe to the south and is now firmly entrenched as a second language in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark. Although not an official language in any of these countries if one visits any of them it would seem that almost everyone there can communicate with ease in English. Indeed, if one switches on a television in Holland one would find as many channels in English (albeit subtitled), as there are in Dutch.As part of the European Year of Languages, a special survey of European attitudes towards and their use of languages has just published. The report confirms that at the beginning of 2001 English is the most widely known foreign or second language, with 43% ofEuropeans claiming they speak it in addition to their mother tongue. Sweden now heads the league table of English speakers, with over 89% of the population saying they can speak the language well or very well. However, in contrast, only 36% of Spanish and Portuguese nationals speak English. What's more, English is the language rated as most useful to know, with over 77% of Europeans who do not speak English as their first language, rating it as useful. French rated 38%, German 23% and Spanish 6%English has without a doubt become the global language.A Chronology of the English Language449Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain begins450-480Earliest Old English inscriptions date from this period597St. Augustine arrives in Britain. Beginning of Christian conversion731The Venerable Bede publishes The Ecclesiastical History of the English People in Latin792Viking raids and settlements begin871Alfred becomes king of Wessex. He has Latin works translated into English and begins practice of English prose. TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle is begun911Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking chief Hrolf the Ganger. The beginning of Norman Frenchc. 1000The oldest surviving manuscript of Beowulf dates from this period1066The Norman conquestc. 1150The oldest surviving manuscripts of Middle English date from this period1171Henry II conquers Ireland1204King John loses the province of Normandy to France1348English replaces Latin as the medium of instruction in schools, other than Oxford and Cambridge which retain Latin1362The Statute of Pleading replaces French with English as the language of law. Records continue to be kept in Latin. English is used in Parliament for the first time1384Wyclif publishes his English translation of the Bible c. 1388Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales1476William Caxton establishes the first English printing press 1492Columbus discovers the New World1549First version of The Book of Common Prayer1604Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, Table Alphabeticall1607Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, established1611The Authorized, or King James Version, of the Bible is published1702Publication of the first daily, English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, in London1755Samuel Johnson publishes his dictionary 1770Cook discovers Australia1928The Oxford English Dictionary is published。
History of English (A Brief Introduction)
A historical overview of the English language
1.2.1
The Period of Old English (A.D. 4501100) (古英语时期) 1.2.2 The Period of Middle English (11001500)(中古英语时期) 1.2.3 The Period of Modern English (after 1500) (现代英语时期)
St. Augustine of Canterbury (died ca. 606), the Apostle of England In 597 a mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great and led by St. Augustine of Canterbury landed in Kent to begin the work of converting the peoples of what is now Britain.
1.2.2 The Period of Middle English (1100-1500)
1.2.3 The Period of Modern English (after 1500) 1.3 English as a world language
1.1 The Indo-European Family of languages (印欧语系)
Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC)
What did the Romans leave behind?
five
superb highways Roman baths complete with heating equipment and piped water supplies houses built in the Roman style little of their Latin language, e.g. castra (―camp‖) as in Winchester, Chester, Lancaster
A Brief History of the English Language
A Brief History of the English LanguageEnglish is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes several major branches:Latin and the modern Romance languages (French etc.);the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish etc.);the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.);the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.);the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian;the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek. The influence of the original Indo-European language can be seen today, even though no written record of it exists. The word for father, for example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that share the same root.Of these branches of the Indo-European family, two are, as far as the study of the development of English is concerned, of paramount importance, the Germanic and the Romance (called that because the Romance languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome). English is a member of the Germanic group of languages. It is believed that this group began as a common language in the Elbe river region about 3,000 years ago. By the second century BC, this Common Germanic language had split into three distinct sub-groups:∙East Germanic was spoken by peoples who migrated back tosoutheastern Europe. No East Germanic language is spokentoday, and the only written East Germanic language thatsurvives is Gothic.∙North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic (butnot Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and Estonian and isnot an Indo-European language).∙West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.Old English (500-1100 AD)CLICK HERE TO SEE A MAP OF ANGLO-SAXON ENGLANDWest Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark: the Angles (whose name is the source of the words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes, began to settle in the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisian - the language of the northeastern region of the Netherlands - that is called Old English. Four major dialects of Old English emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast.These invaders pushed the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is, in linguistic terms, now a dead language. (The last native Cornish speaker died in 1777) Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions and settlement, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt. The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this is deceptive; Old English is much more important than these statistics would indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots.Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, lasted until about 1100. Shortly after the most important event in the development and history of the English language, the Norman Conquest.The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. TheNormans were also of Germanic stock ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots. Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury , and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; crime replaced firen and uncle replaced eam. Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French gentle and the Germanic man formed gentleman. Other times, two different words with roughly the same meaning survive into modern English. Thus we have the Germanic doom and the French judgment, or wish and desire.It is useful to compare various versions of a familiar text to see the differences between Old, Middle, and Modern English. Take for instance this Old English (c. 1000) sample:Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonumsi þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonumurne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dægand forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendumand ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice. Rendered in Middle English (Wyclif, 1384), the same text is recognizable to the modern eye:Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene.yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us.And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.Finally, in Early Modern English (King James Version, 1611) the same text is completely intelligible:Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our daily bread.And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters.And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.For a lengthier comparison of the three stages in the development of English click here!In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France. This began a process where the Norman nobles of England became increasingly estranged from their French cousins. England became the chief concern of the nobility, rather than their estates in France, and consequently the nobility adopted a modified English as their native tongue. About 150 years later, the Black Death (1349-50) killed about one third of the English population. And as a result of this the labouring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-Norman.This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English. The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Unlike Old English, Middle English can be read, albeit with difficulty, by modern English-speaking people.By 1362, the linguistic division between the nobility and the commoners was largely over. In that year, the Statute of Pleading was adopted, which made English the language of the courts and it began to be used in Parliament.The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English.Early Modern English (1500-1800)The next wave of innovation in English came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the Language. These borrowings were deliberate and many bemoaned the adoption of these "inkhorn" terms, but many survive to this day. Shakespeare's character Holofernes in Loves Labor Lost is a satire of an overenthusiastic schoolmaster who is too fond of Latinisms.Many students having difficulty understanding Shakespeare would be surprised to learn that he wrote in modern English. But, as can be seen in the earlier example of the Lord's Prayer, Elizabethan English has much more in common with our language today than it does with the language of Chaucer. Many familiar words and phrases were coined or first recorded by Shakespeare, some 2,000 words and countless idioms are his. Newcomers to Shakespeare are often shocked at the number of cliches contained in his plays, until they realize that he coined them and they became cliches afterwards. "One fell swoop," "vanish into thin air," and "flesh and blood" are all Shakespeare's. Words he bequeathed to the language include "critical," "leapfrog," "majestic," "dwindle," and "pedant."Two other major factors influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English. The first was the Great Vowel Shift. This was a change in pronunciation that began around 1400. While modern English speakers can read Chaucer with some difficulty, Chaucer's pronunciation would have been completely unintelligible to the modern ear. Shakespeare, on the other hand, would be accented, but understandable. Vowel sounds began to be made further to the front of the mouth and the letter "e" at the end of words became silent. Chaucer's Lyf (pronounced "leef") became the modern life. In Middle English name was pronounced "nam-a," five was pronounced "feef," and down was pronounced "doon." In linguistic terms, the shift was rather sudden, the major changes occurring within a century. The shift is still not over, however, vowel sounds are still shortening although the change has become considerably more gradual.The last major factor in the development of Modern English was the advent of the printing press. William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476. Books became cheaper and as a result, literacy became more common. Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as opposed to Latin, became more common. Finally, the printing press broughtstandardization to English. The dialect of London, where most publishing houses were located, became the standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the first English dictionary was published in 1604.Late-Modern English (1800-Present)The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling are largely the same, but Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are the result of two historical factors. The first is the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed. The second was the British Empire. At its height, Britain ruled one quarter of the earth's surface, and English adopted many foreign words and made them its own.The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear, and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots. Such neologisms were not exclusively created from classical roots though, English roots were used for such terms as horsepower, airplane, and typewriter.This burst of neologisms continues today, perhaps most visible in the field of electronics and computers. Byte, cyber-, bios, hard-drive, and microchip are good examples.Also, the rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served not only to introduce English to the world, but to introduce words into English. Hindi, and the other languages of the Indian subcontinent, provided many words, such as pundit, shampoo, pajamas, and juggernaut. Virtually every language on Earth has contributed to the development of English, from Finnish (sauna) and Japanese (tycoon) to the vast contributions of French and Latin.The British Empire was a maritime empire, and the influence of nautical terms on the English language has been great. Phrases like three sheets to the wind have their origins onboard ships.Finally, the military influence on the language during the latter half of twentieth century was significant. Before the Great War, militaryservice for English-speaking persons was rare; both Britain and the United States maintained small, volunteer militaries. Military slang existed, but with the exception of nautical terms, rarely influenced standard English. During the mid-20th century, however, a large number of British and American men served in the military. And consequently military slang entered the language like never before. Blockbuster, nose dive, camouflage, radar, roadblock, spearhead, and landing strip are all military terms that made their way into standard English.American English and other varietiesAlso significant beginning around 1600 AD was the English colonization of North America and the subsequent creation of American English. Some pronunciations and usages "froze" when they reached the American shore. In certain respects, some varieties of American English are closer to the English of Shakespeare than modern Standard English ('English English' or as it is often incorrectly termed 'British English') is. Some "Americanisms" are actually originally English English expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost at home (e.g., fall as a synonym for autumn, trash for rubbish, and loan as a verb instead of lend).The American dialect also served as the route of introduction for many native American words into the English language. Most often, these were place names like Mississippi, Roanoke, and Iowa.Indian-sounding names like Idaho were sometimes created that had no native-American roots. But, names for other things besides places were also common. Raccoon, tomato, canoe, barbecue, savanna, and hickory have native American roots, although in many cases the original Indian words were mangled almost beyond recognition. Spanish has also been great influence on American English. M ustang, canyon, ranch, stampede, and vigilante are all examples of Spanish words that made their way into English through the settlement of the American West.A lesser number of words have entered American English from French and West African languages.Likewise dialects of English have developed in many of the former colonies of the British Empire. There are distinct forms of the Englishlanguage spoken in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and many other parts of the world.Global EnglishEnglish has now inarguably achieved global status. Whenever we turn on the news to find out what's happening in East Asia, or the Balkans, or Africa, or South America, or practically anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English. To illustrate the point when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Middle East recently to retrace Christ's footsteps and addressed Christians, Muslims and Jews, the pontiff spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Italian, not Hebrew, not his native Polish. He spoke in English.Indeed, if one looks at some of the facts about the amazing reachof the English language many would be surprised. English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN. It is the de facto working language of 98 percent of international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the European Central Bank, even though the bank is in Frankfurt and neither Britain nor any other predominantly English-speaking country is a member of the European Monetary Union. It is the language in which Indian parents and black parents in South Africa overwhelmingly wish their children to be educated. It is believed that over one billion people worldwide are currently learning English.One of the more remarkable aspects of the spread of English around the world has been the extent to which Europeans are adopting it as their internal lingua franca. English is spreading from northern Europe to the south and is now firmly entrenched as a second language in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark. Although not an official language in any of these countries if one visits any of them it would seem that almost everyone there can communicate with ease in English. Indeed, if one switches on a television in Holland one would find as many channels in English (albeit subtitled), as there are in Dutch.As part of the European Year of Languages, a special survey of European attitudes towards and their use of languages has just published. The report confirms that at the beginning of 2001 English is the most widely known foreign or second language, with 43% ofEuropeans claiming they speak it in addition to their mother tongue. Sweden now heads the league table of English speakers, with over 89% of the population saying they can speak the language well or very well. However, in contrast, only 36% of Spanish and Portuguese nationals speak English. What's more, English is the language rated as most useful to know, with over 77% of Europeans who do not speak English as their first language, rating it as useful. French rated 38%, German 23% and Spanish 6%English has without a doubt become the global language.A Chronology of the English Language449Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain begins450-480Earliest Old English inscriptions date from this period597St. Augustine arrives in Britain. Beginning of Christian conversion731The Venerable Bede publishes The Ecclesiastical History of the English People in Latin792Viking raids and settlements begin871Alfred becomes king of Wessex. He has Latin works translated into English and begins practice of English prose. TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle is begun911Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking chief Hrolf the Ganger. The beginning of Norman Frenchc. 1000The oldest surviving manuscript of Beowulf dates from this period1066The Norman conquestc. 1150The oldest surviving manuscripts of Middle English date from this period1171Henry II conquers Ireland1204King John loses the province of Normandy to France1348English replaces Latin as the medium of instruction in schools, other than Oxford and Cambridge which retain Latin1362The Statute of Pleading replaces French with English as the language of law. Records continue to be kept in Latin. English is used in Parliament for the first time1384Wyclif publishes his English translation of the Bible c. 1388Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales1476William Caxton establishes the first English printing press 1492Columbus discovers the New World1549First version of The Book of Common Prayer1604Robert Cawdrey publishes the first English dictionary, Table Alphabeticall1607Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, established1611The Authorized, or King James Version, of the Bible is published1702Publication of the first daily, English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, in London1755Samuel Johnson publishes his dictionary 1770Cook discovers Australia1928The Oxford English Dictionary is published。
(完整word版)高中英语阅读理解(附答案解析)精排版(word文档良心出品)
英文阅读理解Passage 1There are stories about two U．S . presidents，Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren，which attempt to explain the American English term OK．We don’t know if either story is true，but they are both interesting．The first explanation is based on the fact that President Jackson had very little education．In fact，he had difficulty reading and writing．When important papers came to Jackson，he tried to read them and then had his assistants explain what they said．If he approved of a paper．he would writ e“all correct”on it．The problem was that he didn’t know how to spell．So what he really wrote was“ol korekt”．After a while，he shortened that term to“OK”．The second explanation is based on the place where President Van Buren was born，Kinderhook，New York．Van Bnren’s friends organized a club to help him become President They caned the club the Old Kinderhook Club，and anyone who supported Van Buren was called“OK”．31．The authorA. believes both of the stories B．doesn’t believe a word of the storie sC．is not sure whether the stories are true D. is telling the stories just for fun32.According to the passage，President JacksonA．couldn’t draw up any documents at all B. didn’t like to read important papers by himselfC．often had his as sistants sign documents for him D .wasn’t good at reading，writing or spelling33．According to the first story, the term “OK” A. was approved of by President Jackson B．was the title of some Official documentsC．was first used by President Jackson D．was an old way to spell“all correct’’34 .According to the second story，the term‘‘OK”A．was the short way to say‘‘old Kinderhook Club” B．meant the place where President Van Buren was bornC．was the name of Van Buren’s club D．was used to call Van Buren’s supporters in the election35．According to the second story．the term“OK”was first used __A．by Van Buren B．in a presidential electionC．to organize the Old Kinderhook Club D．by the members of the‘‘Old Kinderhook Club”Passage 2Although the United States covers so much land and the land produces far more food than the present population needs，its people are by now almost entirely an urban society Less than a tenth of the people are engaged in agriculture and forestry(林业)，and most of the rest live in or around towns，small and large．Here the traditional picture is changing：every small town may still be very like other small towns，and the typical small town may represent a widely accepted view of the country，but most Americans do not live in small towns anymore．Half the population now lives in some thirty metropolitan areas(1arge cities with their suburbs、of more than a million people each—a larger proportion than in Germany or England，let alone France．The statistics(统计)of urban and rural population should be treated with caution because so many people who live in areas classified as rural travel by car to work in a nearby town each day．As the rush to live out of town continues．rural areas within reach of towns are gradually filled with houses，so that it is hard to say at what moment a piece of country becomes a suburb But more and more the typical American lives in a metropolitan rather than a small town environment．36．If now America has 250 million people．how many of them are engaged in agriculture and forestry?A．About 25 million．B．More than 25 million．C．Less than 25 million． D. Less than 225 million37．Which of the following four countries has the smallest proportion of people living in metropolitan areas?A．United States．B．Germany．C．France．D．England．38．What’s the meaning of the word“metropolitan”in the middle of the passage?A .Of a large city with its suburbs．B．Of small and large towns．C．Of urban areas．D．Of rural areas．39．According to the passage，what can we learn about small towns in the United States?A Most small towns become gradually crowded B．Small towns are still similar to each other．C．As the traditional picture is changing，towns are different． D .Small towns are turning into large cities40．Why is it hard to say when a piece of country becomes a suburb?A．Because they are the same．B．Because the rush takes place too quicklyC．Because the process is gradual．D．Because more and more Americans live in metropolitan areas．Passage 3If we were asked exactly what we were doing a year ago，we should probably have to say that we could not remember But if we had kept a book and had written in it an account of what we did each day，we should be able to give an answer to the question.It is the same in history Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them Sometimes men did keep a record of the most important happenings in their country，but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war．Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to Write．For example，we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4，000 years ago, because they could write and leave written records for those who lived after them．But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in central Africa．because they had not learned to write．Sometimes．of course，even if the people cannot write，they may know something of the past．They have heard about it from older people，and often songs and dances and stories havebeen made about the most important happenings，and these have been sung and acted and told for many generations For most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past．T his we may call ’remembered history’．Some of it has now been written down. It is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history is，because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing．But where there are no written records，such spoken stories are often very helpful．41. Which of the following ideas is not suggested in the passage?A．“Remembered history”，compared with written history，is less reliableB．Written records of the past play the most important role in our learning of the human history．C．A written account of our daily activities helps US to be able to answer many questions．D．Where there are no written records．there is no history．42．We know very little about the central Africa 200 years ago because ___A．there was nothing worth being written down at that timeB .the people there ignored the importance of keeping a recordC．the written records were perhaps destroyed by a fireD．the people there did not know how to write43．“Remembered history”refers to ___．A．history based on a person’s imaginationB .stories of important happenings passed down from mouth to mouthC .songs and dances about the most important eventsD .both B and C44．“Remembered history”is regarded as valuable only when ____.A. it is written down B .no written account is availableC．it proves to be time D．people are interested in it45 .The passage suggests that we could have learned much more about our past than wedo now if the ancient people had _____A．kept a written record of every past event B. not burnt their written records in wars C．told exact stories of the most important happenings D．made more songs and dancesPassage4When Mrs．Joseph Groeger died recently in Vienna，Austria，people asked the obvious，“Why did she live to be 107?”Answers were provided by a survey conducted among 148 Viennese men and women who had reached the age of 100．Somewhat surprising was the fact that the majority had lived most of their lives in cities．In spite of the city’s image as an unhealthy place，city living often provides benefits that country living can lack．One factor seems to be important to the longevity(长寿)of those interviewed．This factor is exercise．in the cities it is often faster to walk short distances than to wait for a bus．Even taking public transportation often requires some walking．Smaller apartment houses have no elevators(电梯)，and so people must climb stairs．City people can usuallywalk to local supermarkets Since parking spaces are hard to find，there is often no alternative to walking．On the other hand，those who live in the country and suburbs do not have to walk every day．In fact，the opposite is often true．To go to school，work，or almost anywhere else，they must ride in cars．31．The Vienna survey may help to explain _____A．the complaints of people in apartment houses B．the cause of Mrs Groeger’s death C．the longevity of people like Mrs．Groeger D. the image of cities in general 32．The purpose of the second paragraph is to list some _____A．benefits of walking B．occasions for walking in city lifeC. comments made by city people D．problems of city living33．To reach the third floor of a building．it would probably be most healthful __A. to take the elevator B．to walk up the stairs C．to ride in a car D．to find an alternative to walking34．People who live in the country probably do more driving than walking because __ A．they don’t live near business areas B. they don’t need the exerciseC．they never have parking problems D．they can’t afford to take the bus35．A conclusion that can be drawn from this passage is that _A．air pollution is not serious B．anyone can live to be 107 C．country people should move to the city D．walking is a healthful exercisePassage 5For any Englishman，there can never be any discussion as to who is the world’s greatest dramatist(剧作家)．Only one name can possibly suggest itself to him：that of William Shakespeare Every Englishman has some knowledge，however slight，of the work of our greatest writer．All of US use words，phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’s writings that have become part of the common property of the English-speaking people．Most of the time we are probably unaware of the source of the words we used，rather like the old lady who was taken to see a performance of Hamlet and complained that it was full of well—known proverbs and quotations．Shakespeare，more perhaps than any other writer，makes full use of the great resources of the English language．Most of US use about five thousand words in our normal use of English；Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand．There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it．Such a study is well worth the effort(it is not，of course，recommended to beginners)even though some aspects of English usage，and the meaning of many words，have changed since Shakespeare’s day．36. English people ______A．have never discussed who is the world’s greatest dramatistB．never discuss any issue concerning the world’s greatest dramatistC．are sure who is the world’s greatest dramatistD．do not care who is the world’s greatest poet and dramatis t37．Every Englishman knows ______A．more or less about Shakespeare B．Shakespeare，but only slightlyC．all Shakespeare’s writings D．only the name of the greatest English writer 38．Which of the following is true?A．We use all the words，phra ses and quotations from Shakespeare’S writings．B．Shakespeare’s writings have become the property of those who are learning to speak English．C．It is likely to be true that people often do not know the origins of the words they useD All the words people use are taken from the writings of Shakespeare39．What does the word “proverb” mean?A．Familiar sayings B．Shakespeare’s plays．C．Complaints．D．Actors and actresses．40．Why is it worthwhile to study the various ways in which Shakespeare used English? A．English words have changed a lot since Shakespeare’S time．B．By doing SO one can be fully aware of the richness of the English languageC. English words are now being used in the same way as in Shakespeare’s timeD. Beginners may have difficulty learning some aspects of English usagePassage 6Trees are useful to man in three very important ways：they provide him wood and other products；they give him shade；and they help to prevent drought(干旱)and floods．Unfortunately，in many parts of the world，man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important．In his eagerness to draw quick profit from the trees，he has cut them down in large numbersTwo thousand years ago，a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships，with which to gain itself an empire It gained the empire but，without its trees，its soil became bare and poor．When the empire fell to pieces，the country found itself faced by floods and starvation．Even where a government realizes the importance of a plentiful supply of trees，it is difficult sometimes to make the people realize this．They cut down the trees but are too careless to plant and look after new trees So，unless the government has a good system of control，or can educate the people，the forests slowly disappearThis does not only mean that there will be fewer trees．The results are even more serious：for where there are trees，their roots break the soil up，allowing the rain to sink in，and also bind the soil．This prevents the soil from being washed away．But where there are no trees，the rainfalls on hard ground and flows away on the surface，and this causes floods and the rain carries away the rich topsoil in which crops grow When a11 the topsoil is gone．nothing remains but worthless desert．41．Trees are useful to man mainly in three ways，the most important of which is that they can ____A. keep him from the hot sunshine B．enable him to build warshipsC．make him draw quick profit from them D .protect him from droughts and floods 42．It’s a great pity that ____A．man is only interested in building empires B．man is eager to profit from trees C．man hasn’t realized the importance of trees to him D. man hasn’t found out that he has lost all trees43．Sooner or later the forests will disappear ______．A. unless a country has a plenty supply of trees B．unless people stop cutting down their treesC．unless aIl people are taught the importance of planting treesD．unless the government punishes those who cut trees instead of planting them 44．The word“bind”in Paragraph 5 means“_____”A．to wash away B．to make wet C．to make stay together D．to improve 45. When there is a heavy rain．trees can help to prevent floods．as they can.A．keep rain from falling down to soft ground B，cause the soil to allow rainwater to sink inC．prevent the soil from being washed away D .make the topsoil stick togetherPassage 7Some of the notebooks George Washington kept as a young man are still in existence．They show that he was learning Latin，was very interested in the basics of good behavior in society，and was reading English literature．At school he seems only to have been interested in mathematics．In fact，his formal education was surprisingly brief for a gentleman，and incomplete For unlike other young Virginian of that day，he did not go to the College of William and Mary in the Virginian capital of Williamsburg．In terms of formal training then，Washington contrasts sharply with some other early American Presidents such as John Adams，Thomas Jefferson and James Madison．In later years，Washington probably regretted his lack of intellectual training He never felt comfortable in a debate in Congress(国会)，or on any Subject that had not to do with everyday，practical matters And because he never learned French and could not speak directly to the French leaders，he did not visit the country he admired SO much．Thus，unlike Jefferson and Adams，he never reached Europe31．Why didn’t Washington go to college?A．His family could not afford it． B A college education was rather uncommon in his time．C．He didn’t like the young Virginian gentlemen D．The author doesn’t give any reason．32．Washington felt uncomfortable in Congress debates because he _____A．1acked practice in public speaking B．felt his education was not good enoughC．didn’t like arguing and debating with people D felt that debating was like intellectual training33 The reason why Washington didn’t visit France was probably that he _____A．didn’t real ly care about going B．didn’t know French 1eadersC．couldn’t communicate directly with the French leaders D．was too busy to Navel34 According to the author ______A Washington’s lack of formal education placed him at a disadvantage in later l ife B．Washington should have gone to France even though he could not speak French C．Washington was not as good a president as Adams，Jefferson or MadisonD Washington was a model for all Virginian gentlemen35．The main idea of the passage is that Washingto n’s education _____A was of great variety，covering many SubjectsB was probably equal to those of most young gentlemen of his timeC．may seem poor by modern standards．but was good enough for his timeD was rather limited for a presidentPassage 8Like most people，1 was brought up to look upon life as a process of getting It was not until in my late thirties that 1 made this important discovery：giving-away makes life so much more exciting You need not worry if you lack money This is how 1 experimented with giving-away．If an idea for improving the window display of a neighborhood store flashes to me，I step in and make the suggestion to the storekeeper．One discovery I made about giving-away is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something back，though the return often comes in all unexpected form．One Sunday morning the local post office delivered an important special delivery letter to my home，though it was addressed to me at my Office．1 wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation More than a year later I needed a post—office box for a new business 1 was starting 1 was told at the window that there were no boxes left，and that my name would have to go on a long waiting list．As 1 was about to leave，the postmaster appeared in the doorway．He had overheard(无意中听到)our conversation．“Wasn’t it you that wrote US that letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?”I said yes“Well，you certainly are going to have a box in this post office if we have to make one for you．You don’t know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get nothing but complaints．’’36．From the passage，we understand that ______A the author did not understand the importance of giving until he was in late thirties B．the author was like most people who were mostly receivers rather than giversC．the author received the same education as most people during his childhoodD．the author liked most people as they looked upon life as a process of getting 37．According to the author _____A giving means you will lack moneyB the excitement of giving can bring you moneyC you don’t have to be rich in order to give D．when you give away money，you will be rich38．The author would make the suggestion to the storekeeper ___A．in writing B．in person C in the window display D．about theneighborhood39．When the author needed a post-office box，______A．he had to put his name on a waiting list B he wrote the postmaster a note of appreciationC．many people had applied for post-office boxes before him D．he asked the postmaster to make one for him40．In reply to the postmaster’s question．the author said ______A．it was the special delivery B．it was the post-office boxC．it was the note of appreciation he wrote D it was he who wrote him a letter a year agoPassage 9Children in the United States are exposed to many influences other than that of their families．Television is the most significant of these influences，because the habit of watching television usually begins before children start attending school．Parents are concerned about the lack of quality in television programs for children．The degree of violence in many of these shows also worries them．Studies indicate that，when children are exposed to violence，they many become aggressive or insecure.Parents are also concerned at，out the commercials that their children see on television．Many parents would like to see fewer commercials during programs for children．And some parents feel that these shows should not have any commercials at all because young minds are not mature enough to deal with the claims made by advertisers．Educational television has no commercials and has programs for children that many parents approve of The most famous of these is Sesame Street，which tries to give preschool children a head start in learning the alphabet(字母)and numbers．It also flies to teach children useful things about the world in which they live．Even though most parents and educators give Sesame Street and shows like it high marks for quality，some critics argue that all television，whether educational or not，is harmful to children．These critics feel that the habit of watching hours of television every day turns children into bored and passive(被动的)consumers of their world rather than encouraging them to become active explorers of it．41．Which of the following statements is NOT based on the passage?A．Parents are worried about the influence from television on their children B Television has much influence on childrenC Both parents and their children like watching educational television．D．Some critics think that television is no good for children．42．In what ways do children suffer from television?A．They become the victims of social violence B They spend hours watching television instead of doing school workC The programs make the children lose interest in the world．D The programs make the children spend too much of their parents’ money 43．Parents would not like their children to see commercials because ____A．they think that their children ore not old enough to handle advertising B．commercialsteach children alphabet and numbersC．commercials help to sell products D．they don’t like commercials 44．Educational television is widely appreciated becauseA．it does have the same commercials as others B．it offers programs for both children and their parentsC many parents like the programs it offers for their children D．children can learn some school subjects before they go to school45．Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?A．Watching Too Much Television May Be Harmful to Young Minds B．Television Is More Harmful than EducationalC．Television’s Influence on Children D More Education Televi sionPassage 10We can make mistakes at any age．Some mistakes we make are about money．But most mistakes are about people．“Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?…‘When I got that great job，did Jerry really feel good about it，as a friend? Or di d he envy my luck?” When we look back．doubts like these can make US feel bad．But when we look back．It’s too late Why do we go wrong about our friends-or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning．And if we don’t really listen，we miss the feeling behind the words．Suppose someone tells you．‘‘you’re a lucky dog”．Is he really on your side? if he says．“You’re a lucky guy”or“You’re a lucky gal”．That’s being friendly．But“lucky dog”?There’s a bit of envy in those words Maybe he doesn’t see it himself．But bringing in the‘‘dog”bit puts you down a little．What he may be saying is that he doesn’t think you deserve your luck．How can you tell the real meaning behind someone’s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking．Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says square with the tone of voice? His posture(体态)?The look in his eyes? Stop and think．The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save another mistake 31．From the questions in the first paragraph we can learn that the speaker _____A．feels happy，thinking of how nice his friends were to himB．feels he may not have“read” his friends’true feelings correctlyC．thinks it was a mistake to have broken up with his girl friend，HelenD is sorry that his friends let him down32．In the second paragraph．the author uses the example of“You’re a lucky dog”to show that ．A．the speaker of this sentence is just being friendlyB this saying means the same as “You’re a lucky guy” or “You’re a lucky gal”C sometimes the words used by a speaker give a clue to the feeling behind the words D．the word“dog”shouldn’t be used to apply to people33．This passage tries to tell you how to ______A．avoid mistakes about money and friends B．bring t he“dog’’bit into our conversation C．avoid mistakes in understanding what people tell you D keep people friendlywithout trusting them34．In listening to a person．the important thing is ______A．to notice his tone，his posture，and the look in his eyes B to listen to how he pronounces his wordsC．to check his words against his manner，his tone of voice，and his posture D．not to believe what he says35．If you followed the advice of the writer，you would ______A be able to get the real meaning of what people say to you B．avoid any mistakes while talking with people who envy youC．not lose real friends who say things that do not please you D．be able to observe people as they are talking to youPassage 11Why was Bastille important to the citizens of Paris? The building of the Bastille had been started in 1370 under Charles V By the seventeenth century it had stopped to be important for defense．Cardinal Richelieu turned it into a prison．It was not an ordinary prison to punish common crimes．Its huge doors closed only on enemies of the King The Bastille’s workings were secret．Prisoners were taken to it in closed vehicles．Soldiers on guard duty had to stand with their faces to the wall NO talking was allowed Worst of all，a prisoner never knew if he would be there a day，a week，a year，or forever．Only the King’s letter could set him freeOver the years the number of arrests by King’S letter had become fewer．By the time of its fall．most of the prisoners were writers who had written against the corruptions(贪污腐败)of the government V oltaire，the famous French writer，spent a year there in 1717～1718，and another 12 days in 1726.For those who believed in free speech and free thinking，the Bastille stood for everything evil．The day it was captured，only seven prisoners were found inside．Still，the Bastille was hated by the people It was a symbol of the King’s complete power.36．The Bastille had been a prison _____A．since the time of Charles V B．since 1370 C．before the seventeenth century D．since血e time of Cardinal Richelieu37．According to the passage，which of the following statements is FALSE?A．Anyone who did something wrong could find himself suddenly in the Bastille B．The Bastille was only for those who were opposed to the King．C．Things done in the Bastille were hardly known to people outside D．V oltaire was twice put in the Bastille．38 At the time of its fall，the Bastille housed ____．A．a large number of prisoners B a lot of writers who had been against the governmentC．some dozens of people who believed in free speech and free thinking D only a few prisoners39 Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?A．All prisoners in the Bastille had to stay there for lifeB Over the years the number of prisoners in the Bastille was getting more and more．C．The King could put people in，or let them go out，as he wanted.D．At the time it was captured，there were so few prisoners in it that it meant little to the people．40 This passage mainly _______A．tells how the prisoners were controlled by the King B．tells how little was known about the BastilleC shows the inner workings of the BastilleD gives a brief history of the BastillePassage 12Almost every family buys as least one copy of a newspaper every day．Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers But why do people read newspapers?Five hundred years ago，news of important happenings--battles lost and won，kings or rulers overthrown(推翻)or killed--took months and even years to travel from one country to another．The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate．Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in far away countries on the same day they happen．Apart from supplying news from all over the world，newspapers give us a lot of other useful information There are weather reports，radio，television and film guides，book reviews，stories，and of course．advertisements．The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products．They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for the advertising space，but it is worth the money for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country For those who produce newspapers，advertisements are also very important．Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit．41 The phrase “subscribe to’’ in the first paragraph means“ ________”A．go to the newspaper stand and buy B．send their own news stories to C．agree to buy for a specific period of time D become faithful readers of42 The habit of reading newspapers is _____A．widespread B．found among a few families C．not popular D．uncommon 43．Before the time of the newspaper，_____A bad news traveled quickly and good news slowlyB few people cared about events that took place in far away countriesC．kings and rulers were often overthrown or killed D．news was passed from one person to another44 The author seems to agree that money spent on advertisements is ______A．wasted B．not much C well spent D．of no use to anyone45．Which of the following statements is TRUE?A．Five hundred years ago it took a long time for news to reach other countries．。
A Brief History of English知识分享
A B r i e f H i s t o r yo f E n g l i s hA Brief History of EnglishN o understanding of the English language can be very satisfactory without a notion of the history of the language. But we shall have to make do with just a notion. The history of English is long and complicated, and we can only hit the higl1 spots.不了解英语的历史很难真正掌握这门语言，然而对此我们只能做到略有所知。
因为英语的历史既漫长又复杂，我们只能抓住其发展过程中的几个关键时期。
At the time of the Ro1nan Empire, the speakers of what was to become English were scattered along the northern coast of Europe. They spoke a dialect of Low German. More exactly, they spoke several different dialects, since they were several different tribes. The names given to the tribes who got to England are Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who are referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons4.在罗马帝国时期，散居在欧洲北部沿海的居民说一种西部德语的方言，这就是英语的前身。